Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / Nov. 14, 2002, edition 1 / Page 2
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Commentary The Title ^SerialKiller^Has No Color By Steven Ivory On October 24, 1994, Susan Smith, a 23 year old white woman, told South Carolina police she’d been caijacked by a black man with her two young sons still in their car seats. For By Garrett N. James Editor-In-Chief What did 1 ever do to get treated this way? I thought that I was doing my duty as a student leader in accepting the position as Editor-In- Chief of the Broncos’ Voice. However, it seems as though I have instantly become public enemy number one. All I ever wanted to do was keep our students aware by bringing only the most important and interest ing news possible. All of a sudden, \ have individuals from all over—students and non-students—offering weighted suggestions on what to and not to put in my paper. It has come to my atten tion that some people have problems with me calling The Broncos’ Voice “my paper.” I am able to say this because I have acquired a personal relationship with the school paper. This relationship allows me to focus more clearly on the paper mission and increase my dedication to it. These suggestions are almost not even suggestions anymore. The word, “threat” seems to fit the situation better. Recently, there was a rumor spread that we were nine days. Smith made tearful televised pleas for the safe return of her chil dren before finally confess ing to having rolled the car into a nearby pond with her children inside. I still recall news footage of an anonymous organizing an expose article on the past dealings of one of our beloved SGA officers. Even though I clearly stated that there was never any such article, most minds remained shut to the truth. Maybe the fear of unwanted subjects surfacing was too *much for one to ponder while still thinking clearly. My feelings were dearly hurt when our integrity was challenged and so many whom I have helped turned their backs on me. I couldn’t even get an honest snnile for an entire two weeks. Even now, many don’t seem sincere. It seems as though anytime we ask questions, many think we are looking for loop holes so that I may uncover the wrong doing in their wondering lives. Contrary to many beliefs. The Broncos’ Voice IS NOT A TABLOID. I can’t speak on the paper’s entire his tory, nor on the future of it after I’ve gone. I can, however, speak on the present. As long as I am called the chief and working with a staff of honest and dedicated individuals, our school paper will uphold the high standard that we have worked to so hard to obtain. man among a throng of the town’s embittered black community, reacting to Smith’s admission: “We rob, and we steal,” he said in an angry fit of prideful irony, “but we don’t do it all.” That man, wherever he With that being said, we have some needy advice to a few groups of people. First, for those who consis tently call my room and our office wanting personal favors done thorough the paper. Give up because it won’t happen. Do some thing noteworthy or just stop calling. Secondly, for the student leaders that get uptight when anyone questions his or her actions; We know who you are and we will find out what’s exactly going on. We don’t have time to spy, but cookie monsters always leave a trial of crumbs behind. You claim to defend your school so passionately, but is seems as though you are defending yourself We never challenged anyone, but the students need to and will know the truth. Lastly, for the school officials waving the knife and rope over our heads. We know our rights and the power that the students have. Let’s play fair and have a wonderful year. Our mission is centered on the students. Let’s all work together to make this university better. All comments are welcome. Bronco Pride! is, must have been as surprised as I was when ABC-TV interrupted a sitcom with breaking news on the Washington area sniper. Even before they posted a picture, it was the “Also Known As” that gave me the sinking feeling: John Allen ... WILLIAMS; could have easily been Washington; or Jackson. Before I could speculate further, up came the mug shot. The sniper that held a nation’s emotions hostage is ... a Brother? Apart from a chance that this might have been the work of al-Qaida, much of America figured the sniper’s identity would align with the history and statistics of most American serial killers- white, male, from a lower to middle class background in his twenties or thirties. While it was enough to know that people were being mindlessly slaugh tered and wounded and that others lived in terror, for the black community there is the added collective surprise and regret. For, as the cultural cliche goes, black folks just don’t do these kinds of things. Do We? Well, there WERE those 1979-81 Atlanta murders of twenty young black males, several of which Wayne Williams, a 23 year-old black man, was convicted as America’s first black serial killer—though, to this day many aspects of the case remain a riddle. However, black folks HAVE been doing some strange things of late. Perhaps not apparent rampant lunacy, but weird nonetheless. Like the black Noble, Georgia crematory operator arrested in February for stowing at least 339 dead bodies on his property because his cremation oven was on the blink. What do you charge this man with? Three hundred thirty-nine counts of Aggravated Trifling? It is easier to figure his punish ment—hand him over to those who entrusted him with the remains of their loved ones. We did learn, though, that black people do all sorts of things for a living, including own crematories. Sheer madness doesn’t just happen; it sneaks up on you. Like cancer, Alzheimer’s, misogynist lyrics, the accompanying videos and violent TV and film images, maniacal behavior quietly takes its place in your existence and you live with it until it finally reaches up and imparts tragedy. Sometimes we only see its result. For instance, before they arrested the sniper suspect, on the local news a South Central Los Angeles resident said she sympathized with Washington area citizens but that she and her grand babies have lived with gunfire daily, for years. Shame on her—compar ing a random sniper to the time-honored business and bloodshed of gang banging. By the way, not to change the subject: Are black men yet admitting to giving oral sex? That was supposed to be something else we don’t do. Maybe it’s like this: If there can be Oprahs, Colin Powells, brain surgeons named Keith Black, black brokers bilking Wall Street of millions; super rich blacks you never heard of and black middle-class families with three-car garages, then maybe black serial killers and other troubled souls are the price of assimilation in a society that is perfectly capable of driving anyone insane. Why, in this age, should blacks be immune to this kind of dysfunction? Still, there exists the irresistible urge to deal with the mysteriously complex evil that might possess John Allen Muhammad in an old fashioned way. Since he is black and attractive, decep tively, he doesn’t appear too deranged to grasp a stem, down home psychology session — from someone’s grandmother, father or big See Title Page 3 The Broncos’ Voice Staff HOW TO REACH US The Broncos’ Voice Aisha Brooks 1200 Murchison Road Kenyatta Raeford Akeshia Hudson Fayetteville, NC 28301 Russell Farley Sweetie Brown (910) 672-1357 Talia Higgs (910) 672-1279 Natasha Williams Eric Moore, Advisor Garrett N. James, Editor in Chief Douglas L. Blake Jr., Copy Editor Editor Sets Record Straight
Fayetteville State University Student Newspaper
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