Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / May 1, 2001, edition 1 / Page 14
Part of Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
itor j I ole Okay, this is where I talk about what it's been like working on the Black Ink this year, run down the list of goals I made for the Ink at the beginning of the year and decide whether they were achieved. I don't like to bore people, so instead, 1 would like to take this time to express my opinions about some things that are on my mind right now, 'Somewhere in Germany" Imagine you go to a university that honors the founder of the local hate group. Imagine you are forced to attend class in a build ing named for the leader of an association that took pride in killing your ancestors. Imagine yourself at a university that does n't see a problem. Imagine this scenario: Board of Governors meeting at a university somewhere in Germany: Board member #i: "Hey, I know Hitler did some bad things, but he made some great contributions to this university." Board member #2: "Still, I don't think the Jewish students would appreciate It if we refused their request to rename Hitler Hall." Board member #1: "Let's not rewrite history here. We're drown ing all the positive things he's done for the university in one flaw." Board member #2: "You're right." It wouldn't happen there and it shouldn't happen here. As the Genocide Awareness Campaign has taught this campus, everything does not compare to Germany and the Holocaust. But I do think this analogy accurately reflects the absurdity of refusing to change the name of Saunders Hall. Saunders Hall is named for the founder of the North Carolina branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a man who rose to prominence in the late -1800s, a man who, I think it's safe to say, definitely knew how to string a noose. For many of you reading this, your question to the UNC-CH administration is, "What kind of university would show respect for such a man?" But our question as black students at this uni versity is, "What kind of university would show such disrespect for us?' Everybody seems to fear the very scary slippery slope. Agreeing to rename Saunders Hall will lead to demands to rename Aycock Residence Hall and Cameron Avenue. I heard a classmate say sarcastically, "We're going to have to rename South Building because of it's association with the Old South and therefore with slave owners." I have a policy of not addressing silly arguments so I'll leave that one alone. But I will say that there is entirely too much slippery slope phobia going around on campus. There are already demands to rename Aycock Residence Hall and Cameron Avenue and for good reason. And even if Saunders Hall is not renamed, the black students on this campus will continue to demand respect. Furthermore, did we not take anything away from Philosophy 22? The slippery slope argument is the weakest and least effec tive strategy for debate. I challenge all Saunders Hall supporters to come up with something a little stronger, like, "The KKK didn't really kill black people." If you can prove that, then you can have Saunders Hall. I had a professor make the argument that we shouldn't immediately link the KKK with wrongdoing because sometimes its members acted as ministers of vigilante justice when the justice system neglected to step in. Hate Fighters' demand #5 calls for mandatory diversity training for all faculty and staff. Why? Because it should never cross a professor's mind to tell a black student her ancestors were lynched justifiably. It has been suggested that I need to realize that this is the South and the South has a passionate grip on its history. However, we also have to realize that this is a new millennium and the world has a rather passionate grip on its future, one that permits us to remember a shameful past but not to celebrate it in the face of those it violated. If holding on to an ugly past prevents us from moving into a better future, then maybe it's time to let go. "The Daily Tar Heel Welcomes Reader Comments and Criticism" Fellow Black Ink staff member Leah Irvin and I recently wrote a letter to the Daily Tar Heel in response to a Matt Dees' column titled "Disagree, debate, but don't kill the messenger." In the col umn Dees stated that he supported the ideas expressed by David Horowitz in what we perceived to be a racist and highly misin formed editorial. We aptly titled our letter to Dees, "Killing the messenger." The letter was 60 words under the maximum word limit. It was neither vulgar nor unclear. And since the DTH staff reserves the right to edit letters solely for space, vulgarity and clarity, we looked forward to seeing our letter, in its entirety, in the next days paper. Well, we saw our letter in the paper, however, stripped of a few sentences by a suspicious editing job. Poignant sentences including the one in which we called Matt Dees a the saurus abuser were taken out. I was later told that the sentences were removed because, among other things. Matt Dees did not appreciate being called a thesaurus abuser. What is interesting to note is the fact that the letter was printed with 17 paragraph breaks, 13 more than the four it was submitted with. Why? Because one-word paragraphs create the illusion of length and length makes it look like the missing sentences would never have fit. I understand the knee-jerk reaction to hush unfavorable crit icism, but if you can't overcome it, change the part in the paper that says. The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticism." I chose this time to voice my concerns in the Black Ink rather than in the DTH because apparently the paper reserves the right to edit letters not only for space, clarity and vulgarity, but for dif ference of opinion as well. Regon/ze These Standouts in Black History?" One goal we as a staff have for next year's batch of Black Inks is to dispense a higher quality publication. I could count the num ber of times misspellings and other mistakes in the Black Ink have been called to my attention but do you really have the time? I appreciate all reader feedback, both positive and negative but fear that readers are especially concerned about my spelling abilities. Speaking on behalf of the Black Ink copy editing team, myself included, I would like readers to know that misspellings are gen erally overlooked typos and not really the way we think words are spelled. No need to call me up and let me know that “wsa" is actu- 13 Black INK
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 1, 2001, edition 1
14
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75