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|FEBRIMRW0j_19^ NEWS 8 Proactive or Reactive? The choice is yours, black people By Charles McNair /nJc Columnist Whal is activism? When most people think of that word, mass demonstrations, a flurry of activity and “organized” chaos, mihtancy and marching, chants and shouts come to mind. Webster’s Ninth New Colle giate E>ictionary defmes activism as “a doctrine or practice that em phasizes direct vigorous action (as a mass demonstration) in support of or in opposition to one side of a controversial issue.” The word active means to be “characterized by action rather than by contemplation or specula tion.” Do most people have a reac tive notion of activism rather that a proactive one? It is the former, re activity, that pervades the hearts and minds of the black population here at the University. We all know what reactivity means. If someone hits you then you hit them back—that’s reactiv ity and reactionary. Proactivity is taking the neces sary steps before hand to discour age someone from hitting you at all. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu leaches that hand-to-hand fighting is a low form of warfare. The high est form is actually defeating your enemy without physical conflict. Use your intellect and wit to outsmart and defeat your enemy before he even know there is ten sion, thereby retaining peace. I am not saying that there is never a time for reactivity but proactivity should be the primary goal. This is along the same lines as the saying, “The best offense is a good defense.” You say, “Where is your evi dence of this reactive nature among UNC blacks?” 1 reply with the ex ample of the on going struggle for a free standing BCC. Yes, 1 say on going because what we won was a battle, not the war. In my opinion, it was a minor skirmish because if the tides turn, which they may do at the Board of Trustees or State Legislature lev els, then 1 fear that the battle for the Sonja Haynes Stone BCC may be lost I say this, of course, with a little skepticism, because I still have faith in my people and more faith in God but, “He helps those who help themselves.” My evidence for UNC’s black reactivity is the amount of activity and hype that occurred when the media and Spike Lee were in town a couple of months ago compared to the inactivity now. And I am just as guilty as anyone. “But,” you say, “there’s nothing going on now, inactivity is inevi table. Besides, I got other, more important things to worry about” All of these statements are false. There are things going on right now, especially in the BCC. Communiversity needs student volunteers; the Cross Cultural Com munications Institute needs more participants; the Sonja Haynes Stone BCC is understaffed (and they can employ work study students too); the BSM sponsors programs that are more or less organized by the same group of overworked mem bers; the BAC has many proactive programs; Bringing Racial Aware- j ness Through Cultural Ed ucation i (B.R.A.C.E.) is forming and has I several empowering programs; and I there are hundreds of other things I going on. 1 Inactivity is only inevitable at i death. You can only be defeated ! with a defeatist attitude. It is not ! that things slow down or stop; it is j that you choose to slow down or I stop. The activity continues on at a ! different level and it is only when I enough people caich this defeatist i attitude when there is inactivity, ' i.e. death. Proactivity is vital to winning ' the war against White World Su- ! premacy. They used it and en slaved your minds and spirits for 400 years and the meter is still run ning. Activism must encompass proactivity. The Communiversity teacher is as much an activist as Malcolm X was; both employ ac tion after contemplation and specu lation, which is the root of activism. For all of you who talk and call yourselves conscious, but don’t walk, you need to truly wake up or go to Hell! There is no lime for ' empty rhetoric as black jjeople die every day of AIDS, drugs, homi cide, suicide, genocide, ignorance. poverty, self-destruction and the list goes on and on. Remember this, as your people die, so do you. And when your people are dead, so are you. If the current trend of death continues, all that will be left of the black pres ence in America is a handful of house niggas whose passport to in dividual integration was a college degree or entertaining the oppres sor. We are at a crossroads black UNC. Which path will we choose? Will we continue to choose reactiv ity and sentence ourselves and our people to die a slow death? Or will we be proactive and help insure a long and prosperous life for hundreds of generations to come? Choose life so that we may live. The choice is yours. Aluta Con- tinua sisters and brothers. Teach Your Tfls! The Center for TeacMng and Learning $eeidtid Afkican^Ameiican students to participate in its^Diversity in tlieClasis- room^ projects ii^ant to hear about your experiences at WiC witli instruc tors, courses, campus climate, etc. Oet Involved and belp create an inclu> sive clasaroonu Fosslbiiity of payment. Call Kurt at the CTL, 96& 12S9, for details. MLK Scholarship becomes endowment Ink Staff Reports In its 11th year of existence, the Martin Luther King Jr. Schol arship Fund has now reached the $10,000 minimum amountneeded to become an endowment. The Theta Omicron chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was a major factor in the drive to achieving this endowment The or ganization contributed in excess of $ 1,000 to the MLK, Jr. Scholar ship Fund making it the only cam pus group to be on the corporate sponsor list. This donation doubled the organization’s contribution of ap proximately $500 firom 1992. Archie W. Ervin, chairman of the MLK Scholarship Committee, accepted the check on behalf of the MLK Scholarship Fund. Ervin said that the scholarship, which was $200 two years ago, has taken a giant step forward in becoming an endowment and that it’s now in the bank earning inter est for future awards. This year’s $500 award was given to JarvisT. Harris. The other finalists were Jacqueline Charles Bennett gives check to Ervin as Luse and Watkins observe. and April Turner. The money was raised through the Def Comedy Jam performance during the University’s Homecom ing festivities. Bennett and Ervin teamed with the production com pany M&R Prime Inc. to make the event possible. Don Luse, director of the Carolina UnicHi, and Debra Watkins, Union box office man ager, helped negotiate contractual agreements and ticket sales with M&R Prime President Reginald Bailey. Kappa President Maurice Bennett said that the planners of the event put in several overtime hours to help make the show hap pen. “The show would not have been possible without the help of Archie, Don, Debra and her staff, Bennett said. “To put together a show of this magnitude in a week was a risk, but it paid off.” An additional $300 was raised through Martin Luther King, Jr button donations that have be«;n seen on the bookbags and jacke. of many students.
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Feb. 10, 1993, edition 1
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