The essence of freedom is understanding
Black Student Movement Official Newspaper
The University of North Carolina at Chaoel Hill
Vol. 17 No. 5 Feb. 11,1986
Philadelphia mayor
pushes human rights
By Shirley Hunter
Managing Editor
Americans must look to the
words of the U.S. constitution in
order to acheive their goals of
equality, according to W. Wilson
Goode. “All of us have a role to play.
Only then will the words in the
Preamble ,‘we the people’, include
all of the people,” he said.
Goode, Mayor of Philadelphia,
delivered the annual Martin Luther
King, Jr. Memorial Lecture in front
of about 100 people on February 6.
He stressed that all the basic
rights guaranteed in the U.S. Con
stitution were not reaching some
Americans —especially the rights to
education, jobs and freedom. He
said blacks have an especially hard
time compared to whites.
“Twenty percent of white
Americans do not have a high school
education, while 45 percent of black
Americans do not have a high school
education,” he said. “Nearly 16
percent of black Americans are
unemployed, compared to 7 percent
of white Americans.”
Goode said America must
guarantee equal opportunity for all
its people in order for these type of
statistics to balance themselves.
“All of us have a special obliga
tion to make sure the promises of
liberty and justice for all aren’t
empty,” he said. Martin Luther King
Jr. met these obligations, he said.
Goode attributed his mayorship
to the efforts of Dr. King.
“King led the most fierce, yet
nonviolent struggle for civil rights
this country has ever seen,” Goode
said. “He was the most practical and
continued on page 8
photo courtesy of DTH
Philadelphia MayoR W. Wilson[
Q^jode; lectures : in Hyj Hall
,audj|Rrium.
Media industry offers few
minority opportunities
by Darlene Campbell
Sto/y Writer
Minorities have a difficult time
getting into the media industry
because it is the most powerful
industry and those minorities already
in the industry indicate that they are
leaving because they feel there is no
opportunity for them in the business,
said the President of the National
Association of Black Journalists.
“Something is radically wrong,”
Albert E. Fitzpatrick told a group of
about 100 college students, newspaper
editors and recruiters at a Minority
Job Opportunity Conference Jan. 25.
Fitzpatrick’s speech was part of a
conference sponsored by Newsday
Jan. 24 and 25 at Hofstra University
in Long Island, N.Y.
Eight journalism students from
the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill attended the conference.
They are Laurie Willis, Denise
Moultrie, Shirley Hunter, Helene
Cooper, Joy Thompson, Kenneth
Harris, Phyllis Fair and Darlene
Campbell.
“Those who are in charge don’t
want to share the power,” he said
Minorities and editors have to con
tinue to make sure that diversity will
come to the newsroom, Fitzpatrick
said. The talent and the potential is
there, he added.
Minorities have to make sure
that they ge1 their fair share of the
power, he said.
For the blacks in the industry,
most are leaving because they feel
they have no power, Fitzpatrick said.
While 60 percent of newspapers
across the country employ no
minorities, according to Fitzpatrick,
opportunity is not abundant for the
5.2 percent of minorities in the
industry. When blacks get in the
industry, they get stuck in entry level
positions because of poor manage
ment, he said.
“Editors are not convinced that
minorities are capable of becoming
publishers,” he said. “It is time for the
industry to wake up. We can have
1000 minority reporters, but if they
aren’t making the decisions, there is
no use in having them.”
Fitzpatrick said that editors
should make sure staffs are comprised
of qualified people including
minorities. “Many editors ask what
difference does it really make,” he
said. “Why be concerned about diver
sity in the newsroom?”
Diversity, he said, means bring
ing other perspectives into view, “We
continued on page 4
BSM began
in struggle
for equality
by Richard White
Staff Writer
Riding on the heels of the Civil
Rights Movement and the assassina
tions of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. came the develop
ment of the Black Student Movement
on the UNC campus. Its creation and
evolution has mirrored the attitude
changes in black America.
The 1960s was an era in which
black Americans attempted to move
themselves as far away as possible
from all reminders of the past 200
years. “Negroes” began referring to
themselves as blacks. “Black Power”
was born and UNC shared in the
birth. Black students wanted their
demands met immediately.
In 1969, the BSM presented a list
of 23 demands to then Chancellor
Carlisle Sitterson. These demands in
cluded, according to the Observer
Carolina News Service, “more active
recruitment of black freshmen,
establishment of an Afro-American
Studies department, and the firing of
two university officials.”
After its organization, the BSM
gave its support to the cafeteria
strikes of 1969 and 1970. In 1971
cultural programs including a gospel
choir, the Opeyo Dancers, and the
Ebony Readers were added. These
BSM subgroups still perform to
enhance cultural enlightenment and
to recruit black students.
Cultural committee chairperson
Eric Walker said that the aim of that
committee is to “coordinate the
subgroup activities and to bring
speakers and programs to campus
with money appropriated by the Cam
pus Governing Council.
One of the main goals of the BSM
is to promote unity among university
blacks, but as with any organization,
the BSM has seen conflict. One con
flict occurred when'a BSM Constitu
tion stipulation was implemented.
continued on page 5