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EDITORIAL OCTOBER 5, 1992 ] Fanner & Scott address criticism of BCC rally Written by Thontias Scott and Michael Fanner On September 10, 1992, The Daily Tar Heel published a letter that was sent to Chancellor Paul Hardin regarding his stance on a free-standing Black Cultural Cen ter. The letter analyzed the events of the prior three weeks and re vealed the hidden truth behind the issue of the BCC. It examined these events in the context of the three major symptoms of racism- isola tion, alienation, and anxiety. That particular letter merely addressed a broader scope of racism on this cam pus. Now, a situation has arisen in relation to the BCC Coalition rally held Friday, Sept. 18. The response liiat the majority of students on cam pus gave to this event brought to my attention the presence of yet another phenomenon within the greater phenomenon of white rac ism. In an interview the DTH fea tured concerning the letter to Chan cellor Hardin,racism was described as a disease or sickness which has afflicted the Western world. Now, based on the white majority’s reac tion to the rally, I can definitely see that a greater disease can cause an individual or a society to develop other minor diseases. For example, when a person develops a disease, such as AIDS, his body becomes susceptible to other illnesses. Like wise, when a person is oriented into a racist culture, he develops other complexes as a result of the overall prevailing illness. This fact seems applicable to the case of the many white students who reacted in anger and disgust towards the Friday night rally. These individuals directed most of their resentment toward the fmal speaker. Minister Khalid X of the Fruits of Islam, who scintillingly addressed the role of white America in the oppression of African people. Many of these students internalized the Minister’s remarks as a personal attack upon their integrity. Yet, the most highly chargcd reaction came when the Minister used the term “cracker”, or if you will, the straw which broke the camel’s back. By listening to many white stu dents, this word clearly upset them most profoundly. Although he did not address every while individual at the rally, many white people per sonally felt offended by this term. On the other hand, the words of Minister Muhamm did not affect every white person who attended the rally. One white student from Pennsylvania said that the term “cracker” had no effect upon him nor had he ever heard the term be fore. However, from my experi ence, many white Southerners have a particular aversion to this term. This point leads to the question: Why do white people, in general, seem unable to listen to blacks talk about the disgraceful legacy that white society has left behind? Also, if these individuals do not regard themselves as oppressors, why can ’ t they listen to black people express theirangerat those within their white race who sustain a racist system of oppression. Furthermore, why does the term “cracker” have a profound effect upon white students, espe cially those from this part of the country? In my opinion, the major ity of white students on this cam pus, particularly white Southern ers, suffer from what can be called the cracker complex. Before discussing this mental disorder in detail, a brief history can provide an understanding of the powerful significance of the term, “cracker”, to the white majority. During the founding of the Ameri can colonies, an overflow of crimi nals flooded the prisons of the mother country, England. At the same time, England was trying to develop her colonies in the New World. To solve the crowding of penal institutions, England, along with France and Germany, exported into the colonies her undesirables: prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, and desperadoes. During this period. Chief Justice Slokes of the colony of Georgia wrote, “The Southern colonies are overrun with a swarm of men from the eastern parts of Virginia and NORTH CAROLINA, distinguished by the name of Crack ers . Many of these people are de scended firom convicts that were transported from Great Britain to Virginia at different times and in herited so much profiigacy from their ancestors that they are the most abandoned set of men on Earth.” Stokes understood rather well that these men and women, or, as they called themselves. Crackers, repre sented a poison to the New Wwld. For it is easy to comprehend the annihilation of Native Americans and theconstant inhumanity toward African people in this country as a result of the coundess generations that these dreaded men produced. Curiously, the descendants of these European whores and con victs, particularly in the South, bore the label of cracker as a badge of honor. Today, you would only have io visit many small towns in this state to find that this case still re mains. Obviously, these proud in dividuals were/are too ashamed to confront the reality of their past. Therefore, as in the present day, they strived to degrade others, that is, blacks, to cover their own shame ful heritage. Yet, in recent decades, black people convened the term “cracker” into acruel epitaph against whites as these blacks struggled against oppression. Consequently, in the mindset of white America, the mere utterance of the word “cracker” changed from a call for self-pride into a harsh reminder of a dishonorable legacy of hostility and bloodshed. Thus, the cracker com plex summarizes the state of an guish and shame that white people suffer at the realization of what their experience has brought to human ity. Now that I have defined the cracker complex, one question re mains: How can an individual iden tify someone who harbors this emo tional disease. At first, the victim develops a sense of anger and frus tration. In other words, he appears disenchanted and irritated once the truth behind his ancestry and be havior becomes known. Within in the victim arises an inner conflict between accepting the truth or liv ing a legacy of dishonor. As a re sult, he develops a sense of insecu rity of which the signs range from profuse weeping to making empty excuses and showing mere discon tent This sense of anger and frus- uation can cause the victim to de velop the second symptom called denial. In the context of the cracker complex, the victim refuses to ac cept the reality of the hjstory of his ethnic group and the detrimental effects that this leg^y has created within present events. At the same time, the victim attempts to dis credit the validity of ideas and sen timents of those individuals affected by this same legacy. The third symp tom of the cracker complex is guilt. In other words, when confronted by the undesirable truth, the victim feels as if he stands under personal at tack. Hence, he possesses an open or internal preoccupation with the correctness of his character. Generally, most victims of the cracker complex choose to accom modate their illness rather than to confront the problem in a direct manner. Thus, their sickness re mains uncured. Yet, how do whites accommodate this cracker complex? In one way, they accommodate this sickness through displaced projec tion. In other words, the victim feels that his own feelings and actions coincide with those whom he has and still oppresses. For example, in the September 21 edition of The Daily Tar Heel, one editor wrote in response to the Coalition rally: ’’But, for the most part, many whites and blacks went home thinking that they weren ’t welcome in the BCC move ment”. Now, the overwhelming majority of blacks stayed through the entire event Most of the people who left early were white. Yet, this editor tries to project his feelings upon blacks. Another way that whites accommoexcuse the rhetoric”; “But in the two hours before Spike Lee spoke, nothing was said to con vince the ambivalent and the fencesitters (that is, the majority of this campus), that they should sup port the Coalition’s goals. Instead, all I heard were screams, accusa tions, angry words, and ultima tums.” This statement definitely in dicates that this writer did not listen to what was expressed by the speak ers who represent the frustrations and feelings of a considerable num ber of the black students on this campus. He refused to listen to the truth that was expressed. Has it not already been stated in this article that denial is the second symptom of the cracker complex? Let the answer to that question speak for itself so that we may continue. In addition, I consider Mr. Wagner’s final statement as my fa vorite one of all. “White support ers”, he states, “of the BCC should not make excuses, explain, ot ig nore what was said. For in the words of the Talmud, ‘ Those who show mercy on the cruel, will show cru elty to the merciful.’” This writer seems to imply to whites that they themselves have been merciful for the past400 years. Mr. Wagner, tell that to the black housekeeper who was raped, with much impunity, by a white man on campus this sum mer and ignored by the administra tion and the campus majority. Or, go to Winston-Salem and tell the relatives of the black man, who, this June, was castrated and murdered by four white men, about how mer ciful white society has been toward African people. Maybe, you would like to discuss this mercy with the numerous masses of black people who have been taxed, deceived, and cheated by this University in the name of growth and expansion. Better yet, Mr. Wagner, talk to the relatives of the 8 million of your fellow Semites who were murdered by this same global system of white supremacy. After all, didn’t you know that the prefix of the wwd Semite means half- half African, half white. If you don’t believe this fact, my brother, you might want to ask yourself why the Pope, at this present day, secretly vows in prayer before a picture of the Black Ma donna or the Black Mother of Christ, who was a Semite of the Jewish faith himself. Either Mr. Wagner, a fellow minority, has gained the cracker complex by adaptation, meaning that he has unconsciously convinced himself that he belongs with the white majority or this afore said quotation lacks history, which is nothing that a free-standing BCC couldn’t cure. Finally, I arrive upon the subject of Mr. John Moody who is our Student Body President leader of the ill-fated Multicultural Center see COMPLEX on page 14
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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