April 28, 1983
The Voice
Page 3
suffered with Angel, played by Maricia
(Rohari) Emerick, when she was
taunted by Teddie, performed by First
Lieutenant (P) Jody Wilkerson, little
did they realize how much work went
into preparing the cast and the stage for
the production.
The performers were long
remembered after the final curtain.
Every where they go on campus they are
called by their stage names. Instead of
Larry Boney, it is Stephen; and instead
of Angela Johnson, it is Cheryl.
The people who are long forgotten
after the final curtain are the members
of the technical staff. These individuals
put long hours into preparing the set,
insuring that the lighting and timing
was correct; and seeing to it that the
props were in place during the right
scene; they also made sure that the
publicity and announcements were
made and that the performers make
up was on.
Credit should be given to Angela
Collins, lighting and engineering
technician; Marcia (Kohari) Emerick,
wardrobe mistress; Kim Townsend,
Angela Johnson, Assistant Director
and props, Denise Williams, Sonja
Thomas and Genevieve Jones,
properties crew; Michael Moesey,
make-up artist; Martin Ricks, David
Lee Myers, Walter Seldon, Jr., stage
crew; Genevieve Jones, publicity and
programs; Vickie Rozier and Freeman
Bunch, ushers; and Brenda Smith,
programs and Marion Crowe, stage
manager. This is not meant to take away
from the members of the cast, for they
did an outstanding job with their roles,
but without the untiring effort and
dedication of the personnel of the
technical staff. Red Ryder may never
have come home.
Black
'^Dropouts
Are Decreasing
The proprotion of blacks who have
dropped out of school has declined over
the past several years while that of
whites has remained the same,
according to a report issued by the
Commerce Department's Census
Bureau.
Among black civilians 18 and 19
years old, 19 percent were not in school
and had not graduated from high
school, a 1981 survey shows. In 1967,
when such date were first gathered by
the bureau, the proportion was 26
percent.
The proportion of white dropout was
16 percent in both years. That of youths
of Spanish origin was 36 percent in
1981; no Hispanic figures are available
for 1967.
Total enrollment at all school levels
remained about the same in 1981 as in
1980, but enrollment had changed
markedly from 1970. The number of
children in nursery school nearly
doubled because of higher enrollment
rates of 3 and 4 year-olds. The number
of elementary school students dropped
about 18 percent from the 1970 peak,
and the high school total was down 9
percent from the apparent peak of 1976-
77.
The proportion of elementary and
secondary students in prevate schools
was about the same in 1981 and 1971.
About 11 percent of elementary school
age children were in private schools in
those two years and the percent has
The Decline Of The Black Mind
Cont. on p»ge 9
By Preston Imhotep Barnes
This paper is concerned with the
minds of the students and faculty of
Fayetteville State University.
I am talking about the Black man and
women, and 1 start by asking: What has
happened to our minds? Where is our
vision? We are in a more critical of a
period than chattered slavery because of
our mental slavery. Malcom X called us
“20th century slaves.” Bob Marley said
“Emancipate yourself from mental
slavery; no one but ourselves can free
our minds.” (Uprising LP, 1980)
We are people who reject our cultural
beginnings. If I call you an African in
America, you would reject me. You
might say, “I am not an African in
America because 1 was born here.” But
Malcolm X and Kwame Toure both
said that if a cat has babies in an oven,
you do not call them baby biscuits.
Africans born anywhere are still
Africans. Some of us really think that
we are from New York or Atlanta.
Some slaves were born on slave ships;
what are they? Some slaves were born in
Europe; what are they? Europeans? No,
it is your genes that determine your
physical and mental development.
Africans' were the first people to give
the world the calendar, mathematics,
science, law, public administration,
religion, and yes....tools which now
belong to people to whom any type of
public policy can be used on us without
us saying anything. We are like dust.
A NUCLEAR
FREEZE',! HOW
CANTHEVASK
N\ETDTAKETHE
FOREIGN FDUCy
I'VE DRAWN UP
AND BASE IT ON
ANIDEATHAT
ISSO-
...SIMPLISTIC?.'
Jesse Jackson For President?”
Manning Marable/From The Crrois/’Oo^s/March, 1983
As 1 see matters, there are only two ways
Dust is insignificant and unwanted. It is
matter that has little or no function.
When we see dust on our books, we
blow it off; we just move it right out of
the way. When it is time for urban
renewal or a consent decree, we get
moved away like dust. We rise up and
stir for a while and then settle back
down where the wind takes us.
I go to the campus library, and 1 see
an exhibit on Jesus which are pictures of
white men, white models for the
publication. The things that 1 have read
tells me that Jesus was not...white until
CA. 325 A.D. when the Council of
Nicaea was held by Ruler Constatine;
check it out! Research it! We are
looking at Michaelango's cousin, who
was the model for the portrait. The fact
is that the Ethiopian Coptic Church, in
Africa, is the oldest Christian church in
the world. Any history source will tell
you this. Also you can find out about
the taking of some books out of the
Bible the establishment of Easter and
Christmas...the original color of the
Madonna in Poland today. I should say
that the Pope is from Poland and his
country's holiest shrine houses a Black
Madonna (Mary). “The Cathedral of
Millau in' France, the Cathedral of
Augsburg, Germany, the Church of San
Francisco at Pisa, Italy, the Borgia
Chapel in Rome, Notre Dame des
Hailes in Belgium-all proudly display a
Black Christ.” (Black Christian
Nationalism, pg. 278, Albert Cleoge,
Many Americans recognize that next
year's pesidental race will be more than
referendum on Reaganism. Properly
understood, Reaganism represents an
attempt by the corporations to
accelerate captial accumulation at the
expense of workers, an effort to reduce
permanently the levels of social services
and public programs at the expense of
an unpredented arms buildup. In short,
the basic tenor of our debate with the
Right must be cast into three slogans —
jobs, peace and freedom.
In this regard, members of the
Congressional Black Caucus have taken
the lead in defining the pressing
concerns which affects Blacks, Latinos,
poor and working class people. John
Conyers of Detroit is developing
perhaps the most progressive full
employment bill in U.S. history. Parren
Mitchell of Baltimore has taken the lead
in denouncing Reagan's economic
austerity programs. And Washington
D.C.'s Walter Fauntroy- was even
arrested last year in a public
demonstration against the dumping of
toxic waste in a rural. Black North
Carolina county.
The problem before us, therefore, is
making sure that these questions of jobs
(a full employment economy), peace
(reductions in both conventional and
nuclear weapons) and freedom
(affirmative action legislation, a
restoration of human services, etc.)
become part of the presidentla debate.
to begin this process. One strategy
would involve running a progressive
Black candidate for the Democrateic
Party nomination in a select group of
ten to twelve states. The states should
have either sizeable blocs of Black
Latino, and trade union voters, or a
tradition of political liberalism (for
example. New York, Massachusettes,
Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania,
California, Washington, D.C.). The
goal of this strategy would be not to win
the nomination, of course, but to force
the frontrunner, Mondale, to the left.
Whomever emerges as the Democratic
party's alternative to Reagan - whether
Mondale, Glenn, or any of the other
lesser lights - he will not respond to the
demands of the Black Freedom
Movement except in token gestures,
unless he is absolutely forced to do so.
This cannot be done unless a
progressive Black candidate goes into
the convention with 300 to 400 delegate
votes, and when no single white
candidate has a majority of delegates
votes. This also means, of course, that
Mondale must be denied a first-ballot
victory at the convention.
Unquestionably, the best qualified
candidate for this strategy is Ronald V.
Dellums. Since his election to Congress,
Dellums has represented the most
principled and progressive alternative
available in American politics. His
unique strength is his ability to relate to
a diverse constituency: Blacks, trade
Cont. on page 9
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Jr., William and Morrow and Comp. physical growth i« controlled by foods
Inc., NY, 1972). Well, you may say
Christ had no color. 1 will say how did
they see him?
These citations are only used to show
some cases of mental slavery. We run to
foolishness and run away from truth.
The intellectual is disliked in his own
community. The layman is looked
down upon by the college community
because he gets dirty and cleans up after
we leave paper, chicken bones, and our
bottles in our own environment. Did
not you read Booker T. Washington's
paper on technology? We study how to
build houses, and we need someone to
put it into practice. We study methods
of sanitation, and we need someone to
provide their labor to keep our
environment clean. Heads and hands
work together; they both need each
other. There should be as much dignity
in harvesting an acre as there is in
disigning the harvesting machine.
Look at the minds of ourselves! Our
we eat; and yes, our mental expansion is
controlled by the things we perceive.
What am 1 saying? Our environment is
important. If we have loose women, we
will have loose men. The intelligence of
a nation is seen through its women. As a
tree is known by the fruit it bears, so is
the women. A wise woman will produce
a wise child, and a foolish woman will
produce a foolish child. Why? She is the
first teacher and nurse. If she eats
potato chips and drinks sodas then the
child will do the same. She is the shaper
of society, just as she takes the sperm
and shapes it into a child.
Why do I say these things. Because I
love you, and somebody has to sound
the horn. I do not like doing this! It
hurts.
Due to space I have not even began to
develop the subject dealing with our
minds and how it works. Maybe, if God
permits, 1 will be able to develp it at a
later time.