December, 1991
The Broncos' Voice Page 9
WORDS IN BLACK
AND WHITE:
REFLECTIONS
FROM A WHITE
STUDENT
ATTENDING A
HISTORICALLY
BLACK COLLEGE
by Kimberly Smith
"/ do not know which makes a
man more conservative - to know
nothing but the present, or nothing but
the past." J.M. Keynes (1926)
Some people live each moment
as if it were their last, drinking in each
experience as if it were the very manna
that their soul needed for subsistence
and survival. Still others live in a world
shrouded by the dark clouds of the past,
the unresolved issues floating in their
lives like angry, cumbersome, cumulus
clouds - storms waiting for the
opportunity to strike. There are those, of
course, that live as if the now had no
purpose, no meaning, as if the future is
all that is relevant. These insatiable
planners overlook the importance of the
present, all the while planning for that
which is yet to come. Progress means a
delicate balancing act between the past,
the present and the future. This is a
foolhardy task not easily accomplished.
Education is not an easy task in
itself, regardless of which college the
focus is upon. Graduating from college
requires the delicate balancing act of
seeing the present requirements for what
they are now and what they will mean
in the future, all the while drawing upon
the past as a reference source.
Drawing upon the experience
I’ve gained from other colleges I’ve
attended has led me to realize that
definite distinctions can be made from
one university to the next, particularly
when the other universities are more
culturally .diverse. Is this due to race?
Yes it is due to race; it is due to the fact
that FSU is a historically black college.
Other colleges I’ve attended were more
integrated and provided a more
culturally diverse experience. However,
the other universities were larger,
somehow colder, more alienating. The
topics of debate, however, focused on a
much broader scale of social, political,
economic and class consciousness. This
is logical in that the cultural mix added
diversity to conversation.
At Fayetteville State I am
dealing with a majority of black students
and a minority of white students, and
very few people of other races.
Analytically speaking, it makes sense
that topics would involve black issues
and white issues. There is no problem in
this. Blacks experienced a cultural
debasing as a direct result of slavery,
and are still experiencing the effects 128
years after the signing of the
"Emancipation Proclamation." This act
supposedly abolished slavery.
Yet this proclamation did not
free all slaves as some history teachers
would have you believe. It .excluded the
slaves in the border states and in
Southern areas under Union control,
such as parts of Tennessee, Louisiana,
and Virginia. This was left out of any
history I was ever privy to. Is this due
to race? Yes, you can bet it is. The fact
that the proclamation strengthened the
North’s war effort was also overlooked
in all of those somewhat biased history
courses. By the end of the war more
than 500,000 slaves fled behind Union
lines and many of them joined the
Union Army or worked as laborers for
the Union Army. The Armed Forces and
Navy enlisted almost 200,000 former
slaves. These slaves helped the North
win the war. All of these efforts
eventually led to the 13th Amendment
which freed slaves in all parts of the
United States.
How many of you who are
white were ever taught any of this in
your history classes? If you were taught
this, consider yourself the recipient of a
historically accurate education. If you
were simply told the Emancipation
Proclamation freed all slaves, then it is
time you did some self educating. Use
Max Weber’s process of Verstehen -
interpretive understanding. You might
try to put your white feet in the black
man’s shoes and possibly come away
from the experience understanding some
of the anger that is common to somfe
blacks when discussing hot topics of
debate.
Blacks are still trying to
overcome the cultural debasing that
occurred during slavery. Blacks are
trying to regain self esteem and a lost
culture. That is a fact. And, thus, the
topic of slavery comes up often. There
is no problem with this at all. The
problem lies in the fact that blacks were
not the only ones treated improperly in
this country. (Stay with me now, you
made it this far!)
Why isn’t the plight of the
Native American brought up? Could you
imagine living somewhere for hundreds
of years and read in history books today
that a blue-blooded Englishman
"discovered" your country? How about
the other immigrants that came into this
country, with little more than the shirt
on their back and a family to feed? Why
is this never brought up in class? Signs
in businesses used to read "No Indians",
"No Irish", "No Chinese" and on and
on. Why is this never mentioned? It
seems to always be a black-white issue.
Why is this? Is it due to race? Yes it is.
To fully benefit from the education
process, it must be more culturally
diverse. The plights of all people of
color, or country must be given equal
time. If not, history is being slanted
again, only this time it is not being
slanted by the system set up by the ever
powerful white male.
One of the things the black
man/woman is fighting for is truth. Do
not in turn make the same mistakes by
biasing the truths as they have been
biased before you. Yes, it is important
that black history be taughi to whites,
white history to blacks, and the history
of others to both. Everything does not
have to be a black-white issue. There
are a rainbow of issues out there. They
all need to be touched upon.
Even the media is biased.
Blacks are portrayed in the media as
being the root of the drug problem and,
of course, the major arteries of the
welfare system. This is not true. Wake
up. Why can’t we talk about this in
class also? I have had the pleasure of
some open minded debate in a certain
sociology class in which the professor
does allow all sides to be presented. It
may be a struggle for many blacks out
there, but it is a struggle for whiles as
well. There are more whites on welfare
and food stamps than blacks. Look at
the statistics. Whites need to quit
portraying blacks as vampires of the
system and blacks need to realize they
are not the only group with economic or
social problems. Drugs are equal
opportunity destroyers. They do not
discriminate due to race, religion or
creed. Poverty cares not what the color
of your skin may be. She has no qualms
about inflicting her burden wherever she
will.
Open your heart, open your
mind; see the forest and the trees at the
same time. Those of you who are
professors, and in a position of
authority, open up your curriculum.
Make it a point to cover more than just
black and white issues. Those of you
who are students, demand that you get
perspective from more than just a black
and white snapshot in time. Mention
issues, be vocal, get a culturally rounded
education. If they disagree, the worst
that can happen is they will take your
student ID. And if your picture looks
anything like mine, you would be glad
to let them have it back.
VAN SERTIMA, cont from p.3
from people, Van Sertima queries, "So
many people have mastered the bible.
Why can’t we master history?"
Brought up in the jungles of
Guyana, "similar to the ones(jungles) in
Raiders of the Lost Ark," Van Sertima
remembers the first movie he saw.
Watching Indians run from "John
Wayne" and "Ronald Reagan," the
young Van Sertima began to realize that
Indians and blacks were second class
citizens in their own country. Van
Sertima struggled with this ’second-class
citizenship.’ He entered college in
London at age 28. After much study he
found that tlie medicine, astronomy, and
scicnce of Africans had happened 300
years before Christ. Many African
achievements have been wiped out. Yet,
Van Sertima has gone to great lengths to
restructure our past.
Van Sertima’s slide
presentations present compelling
evidence to disprove the Columbus
myth. Photographs of statues found in
Mexico and other Latin American
countries depict heads with broad noses.
COVER
V
s' ' N ^
thick lips, and ’kinky’ hair. Also found
were designs similar to Egyptian culture
in which he head is considered the seed
of consciousness. This corroborates the
prevalence of statues and busts modeled
after great African warriors, kings, and
queens.
Stoneheads found in Mexico
attest to the similarities between
Mexican and African culture. The
stoneheads depict dual crowns indicative
of African influence. The Egyptian use
of birds and serpents on crowns is also
demonstrated in Mexican culture.
The African attempt to
influence Mexican culture is evident in
the existence of pyramids in Mexico.
Pyramids, originally built in Egypt, were
geologically impossible to build in
Mexico. Thus, many turned out in
irregular shapes due to soil erosion.
"Only through history you can
remake the world and learn that you’re
not second-class citizens." History can
be used as a guide to help the future,
and Van Sertima’s research has enabled
us to piece together the lost history of
man. Van Sertima believes "the race of
man is only just beginning."
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima was
educated at the School of Oriental and
African Studies at London University
and Rutgers Graduate School. He holds
degrees in African Studies, Linguistics,
and Anthropology and has made a name
for himself in all three fields. He’s
Associate Professor of African Studies at
Rutgers University and also Visiting
Professor at Princeton University. He is
Editor of the Journal of African
Civilizations which he founded in 1979.
Professor Van Sertima has lectured at
various settings all over the world. On
July 7, 1987, he appeared before
Congress to challenge the Columbus
myth.
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima spoke at
FSU on Nov.12 in the Shaw Auditorium.