Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Aug. 31, 1992, edition 1 / Page 7
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NEWS » 1 Frustrated Burnette Hangs Up His Cleats Although quarterback Chuctde Burnette’s decision to hang up his jersey has been a hot topic in the news for the past couple of days, his side of the story has not been told. In his first interview since officially leaving the team, Burnette tells the Ink’s Associate EditorKeishaBrown what’sreally up. BLACK INK: What rebuttals do you have to the articles in the Daily Tar Heel? BURNETTE; I didn’t really see them. [In reference to] the part about doing well in high school—playing in high school had to do with the communication level. Most (rf the guy s [cm his higji schod team] were black and everything moved so smooth. A quarterback is only as good as the personnel behind him. It [the offaisive line] was an inexperienced line because they [coaches] shuffled too many pet^le around—they were moving guys around putting them in unfamiliar positions. INK: Why did you quit the team? BURNETTE: Over the years, football has been firustrating with me, and I had some personal things that frustrated me also. I had a run- in with my position coach...it happened at my break[ing] point I walked off the field because I had to re-evaluate my life. Too much was going on; it frustrated me to a point where it was changing me as a person. INK: Did your involvement with the Black Awareness Council (B J^.C.),as far as speak outs, rallies and what’s happening on campus, have anything to do with your decision? BURNETTE: My involvement with B.A.C. was not part of my final decision. B. A.C. was a plus for me. I was getting a lot of negative publicity, and I got to the point where football wasn’t fun for me anymwe. INK: The DTH implied that you may be upset because you had moved to third string quarterback, and that is the reason why you left the team. Is this true? BURNETTE: It had nothing to do with my decisicm at all. INK: How have your teammates dealt with your decision to leave? Have you gotten any flack from them? BURNETTE: My teammates have been dealing with it good; we’re acting like we have been before. They want me to be there with them. I would like to be there for them, but right now it’s just not possible. They [his teammates] know that they’re going to need me at some ptMnt in the season, but we’re going to be friends no matter what We’vebeen through so much. INK: Now thatyou are no longer a part of the football team, what are your future plans? BURNETTE: Well, I am majoring in political science, and I plan to take the Law School Admissions Test in October. 1 am going to apply to law school at Howard University, North CaroUna Central University, New York University or Rutgers University. If that doesn’t work out, I may be a rehabilitation counselor or try this entertainment thang out! INK: Do you plan to get more involved in speak outs and other activities sponsored by B.A.C.? : BURNETTE: I want to be more active in B.A.C. I know that since Jim, John and the other guys are active in practice, and they haven’t had as much time to put into it lately. INK: How has your coach dealt with your decision? BURNETTE: He’s dealt with it good. He promised my mother that I would gel my degree from the University. He wants me to be happy; he thought it was better that I back away from football for a while because I had not been acting like m y self for the last three years. PANTHER from page 6 community volunteers. During its pilot year, about 3 sessions had to be missed because the Union was closed. There were sufficient volunteers from the campus and community to run the program on these days but the Union was closed. With programs like Communiversity, continuity and consistency are requisites for optimum success. Chancellor Hardin and others, if the idea of a separate building appalls your sensibilities then let me tell you what appall mine. I work in a building that is named after a man who, according to historians, helped to start the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina— Colonel Saunders. Erec ted on our campus is a statue in memory of the Confederate soldiers who fought and died to perserve the Confederacy, a nation whose ideology was thatall men are not created equally and that blacks and women don’t have the same rights as white males. I live in a state where they flew a flag of that Confederacy over the state capitol this year. I live in a state whCTe out of nine executive branch secretaries appointed by the Governor, only one of them is black. Guess which department he heads— corrections, i.e. the jails. I go to a University where they have 122 buildings named after Americans of European descent and only one after people of African descent. That one building is the Jackson and Roberta Blyden Admissions building. The problem with this recent renaming of the Mongram building is that for over half a year student activitists called for a building to house the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center, which would have made it the first building on campus named after an African American. The renaming of Monogram building is an affront to the black community because, once again, the establishment has employed its paternalistic judgement/powers and has tried to choose our leaders for us. LET IT BE HEARD, KNOWN AND UNDERSTOOD THAT WE HAVE CHOSEN DR. SONJA HAYNES STONE TO BE ONE OF OUR LEADERS AND THAT NO AMOUNT OF STALLING, REDIRECTING OR CONSERVATION ON THE PART OF THE ESTABLISHMENT SHALL ALTER OUR DECISION! I attend a University—the stale’s “flagship” institution of higher learning—where black males are symbolized as atheletes and black females are symbolized as care-free pickaninnies. If you don’t believe me then go take a look at the statues on display between Saunders Hall and Hamilton Hall entitled “Student Body.” The state of North Carolina seems only interested in and dedicated to constructing buildings that would house black criminals— their version of free-standing black cultural centers (thanks Peay). A fully realized and functional Black Cultural Center, housed in it’s own building with adequate space to provide the community with the necessary resources and knowledge (power), has the potential to do much to drain the prisons of black men, women and children as well as prevent their imprisonment. This is a not only a plus for the black community but for all of America. The University’s mission statement dedicates the University to helping the people of the stale and the nation. BAM! Here’s the University’s chance to help, if no one else, the black communities of Chapel Hill and Canboro. Why does the University owe these people in particular? It is because a lot of the land that we now call Chapel Hill was unethically appropriated from blacks due to the popularity and growth of the University. Why is this the “Year of the Panther,” you ask? Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party said, “It is not the panther’s nature to attack anyone first, but when he is attacked and backed into a comer, he will respond viciously and wipe out the aggressor.” Two years ago, the University had originally alloled the BCC $2.5 million in its campaign to raise $320 million for the Bicentennial. The BCC was also in Stage One(the priority stage) of the University’s long range development plan. Some lime between the original Bicentennial budget and last year, the BCC’s budget was reduced to $500,(XX)—a400percentreduction. While someone was killing the BCC’s funds, someone knocked the BCC from Stage One to the last stage of development. Stage Three. This cooperative effort forced the students and others to realize that the University was/is not fully committed to the BCC and UNC^ black community. We feel that we have been attacked and are backed into a comer. We will do whateyn necessary to effort a free-standiag BCC. What can you do to help acquiie a free-standing BCC? Join an> organization that is a member of tbc Coalition for a free-standing Black Cultural Center. Right now, lltc organizationsare: the Black Studenl Movement, Campus Y, SonJ^ Haynes Stone Task Force, Blafik Greek Council, Black Collegiate Caucus, Black Awareness Council, Student Environmental Action Coalition and Bringing Racial Advancement through Cultural Education (B.R.A.C.E.). Look aad listen for information concemiag events sponsored by the»c organizations. Speak out against injustice and then do someihiqg about it. Just take action! PANTHER POWER Brothers and Sisters.
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Aug. 31, 1992, edition 1
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