The essence of freedom is understanding
Black Student Movement Official Newspaper
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Vol. 17 No. 4 Jan. 28,1986
Robinson lectures on MLK, human rights
uy Kenneth Harris
Special Projects Editor
The American government has
allowed apartheid to exist in South
Africa while worrying constantly
about communism and overlooking
the issue of human rights, the execu
tive director of TransAfrica told an
audience of about 800 in Memorial
Hall Jan. 15.
The American government has
allowed apartheid to exist in South
Africa while worrying constantly
about communism and overlooking
the issue of human rights, the execu
tive director of TransAfrica told an
audience of about 800 in Memorial
Hall Jan. 15.
“There is something to oppose
besides communism,” Randall Robin
son said. In 1976 he was named the
executive director of TransAfrica, a
Washington-based blooby group for
Africa and the Caribbean.
Robinson’s lecture, “the Legacy
of Martin Luther King Jr.” was
delivered on the birthday of the slain
civil rights leader. On Jan. 20 King’s
birthday was observed; however
North Carolina did not officially
recognize the day.
“I sorrow to think that the only
thing we have opposed in this country
since World War H is communism,”
Robinson said. “Whatever side the
Soviet Union is on, we’re on the other
side of the issue.”
The 44-year-old Robinson com
mented that while on a recent trip to
Cape Town, South Africa, he was
amazed at how much the cities
resembled America. He said he was
angered to see a country so similar to
MLK birthday made
holiday except in N€
by Shirley Hunter
On Jan. 15, 1981, it became
evident that the 100,000 marchers
who converged on Washington, D.C.,
were dedicated to one cause—the
fight to make the birthday of Dr. Mar
tin Luther King Jr., a national holiday.
The march was the culmination of a
long struggle to legally celebrate the
birthday of the slain civil rights
leader.
After several thousand letters
had been written and several peti
tions signed, the battle was waged.
Led by the efforts of such prominent,
outspoken leaders and King’s wife
Coretta Scott King and Stevie
Wonder, a battle was fought that took
years to win. Finally, in 1983, the bill
that would officially make the King
Holiday a reality, was voted on by the
U.S. House of Representatives and
the U.S. Senate. After a long bout
with opponents, including N.C.
Senator Jesse Helms, who objected to
the holiday because of the cost of
another holiday, the bill was signed on
Nov. 3, 1983 by President Reagan. It
officially made every third Monday in
January a federal holiday beginning
this year. Under the bill, state and
local governments were not required
to close schools and banks, although
17 states did so.
In North Carolina, there was no
mandatory closing of schools and
banks, but some schools, such as
North Carolina Central University did
observe the holiday by suspending
classes. The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill did not
suspend classes this year.
According to Vice Chancellor of
University Affairs, Harold Wallace, a
special committee that planned the
celebration of Dr. King’s birthday
decided it would be better to
celebrate the holiday differently.
The committee, along with the
Carolina Union, planned the visit of
the King Lecturer, Randall Robinson,
on January 15. A candlelight service
preceeded the speech by Robinson,
which was recognized as the official
observance of Dr. King’s birthday.
Wallace said the committee, which
was composed of members from such
groups as the Black Student Move
ment, Student Government, the
Campus Y, and the Afro-American
Studies Curriculum, would be
available to accept proposals sug
gesting the holiday be celebrated by
suspending classes. This would come
in the next few years, Wallace said.
A member of the committee,
Archie Ervin, said that such a sugges-
continued on page 6
the United States denying its people
some basic freedoms. He then criti
cized corporations such as B.F.
Goodrich, General Motors Corp. and
IBM for investing in South Africa.
“I was walking down the street
in Cape Town and I said all this looks
familiar,” he said. “I said this not only
looks like America, this is America.”
“Our nation is and has been for
the last 40 years on the wrong side of
the issue,” he continued.
“Let us ask our corporations to
come home,” Robinson said. “Let us
ask our Congress to impose economic
sanctions.”
The news media and the
American public are partly to blame
for the injustices occurring in other
nations, according to Robinson. The
continued on page 6
Randall Robinson delivers the
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
lecture at Memorial Hall
on Jan. 15.
Dr. Floyd McKissick deUvers a speech at a program »>y Tammi Foust
in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
McKissick challenges
blacks to continue
struggle
by Suzanne Jeffries
Blacks must rededicate
themselves to the principles of the
Civil Rights struggle and carry it one
step further by becoming producers
in America’s economic society, a Civil
Rights activist said Jan. 12 in a speech
in Great Hall.
“We live in an economic society
and although it’s nice to work for
someone, it’s also important to
produce, own and manufacture and to
fully participte in American society,”
said Floyd McKissick.
“We’re (blacks) not seeking to
integrate by going into a Holiday Inn,”
he said. “We want to own three or four
inns whether they be the Holiday Inn
or the polka dot inn.”
continued on page 6