Dammit! BCC Does Not Segregate
Some argumcnls arc built on Gibraltar, standing the onslaught of time.
Such arguments are indicative of authors who carefully turn situations over
in their minds, authorswho prod an issue, liftitup, tumit over, make careful
analyses and duly record their observations. Needless to say, this kind of
argument is rare. Other arguments are formed from clay and can be broken
down with just the right amount of intellectual digging or can be dissolved
with the waters of reason. And then there arc the arguments built on the
sinking sands of ignorance. Against any type of scrutiny, these simply
cannot stand. A particularly irritating example of this last type of argument
is summed up by these words: “A free-standing Black Cultural Center
promotes segregation.”
This belief is found wanting on several counts. First, it is highly
offensive to African Americans to be told that the stxidy of their culture
inevitably promotes segregation. A properly-equipped BCC is just like an
Afro-American Studies course or a women studies class; it should not and
will not be limited to just the groups whom the course is about. A BCC is
for the edification of the entire campus. Of course, many whites, fean'ul of
being a temporary minority, will avoid the center, and if that is the case, the
finger should be pointed squarely at them for voluntarily segregating
themselves (which of coiu^ is their right).
But UNC Chancellor Paul Hardin and many others have taken a different
and very peculiar stance: they think that only afree-standing BCC would be
segregative. How odd! This same chancellor, seemingly a rational fellow,
told the public on March 17 that Dean of Student Affairs Donald Boulton
was possibly looking into Chase Hall as a short-term site for a BCC. Chase
Hall is on South Campus, where the vast majority of campus blacks reside,
and placing a BCC there would greatly frustrate the few legitimate efforts
to bring black students northward. If any BCC plan would promote
segregation this one would, so one has to question the real reason the
chancellor is opposed to a free-standing facility. I will be the first to say I
don’t know. If placement of the center did determine its level of multiracial
interaction, then one question immediately surfaces. Whatiftheccnter was
housed in a centralized place on North Campus as promised by the UNC
Board of Trustees, according to some students? A place like Howell Hall,
Ter insUiricc'^
The extremely conservative campus publication. The Carolina Critic,
has uken a similarly extreme position on the BCC. They liken BCC-
supporters to white supremacists in South Africa, whci,want to uphold the
system of oppression and injustice there. I suppose then, that once we angiy
negroes carve out our spot on the University landscape, we will begin our
reign of unchecked terror and systematically deny whites the opportunity to
go toclass and vote in campus elections? That this comparison can even crop
up in a respected academic institution proves the statement made by one
contemporary rap musician: public education is making some dumber.
When someone or some institution does not want to do something, there
are always legitimate arguments against doing it. These arguments range
from the rock-hard ones to just simply saying, “I don’t want to do it.” For
instance, a multicultiu'al center makes sense, although one is led to question
why this idea remained unmentioned until students began agitating for a
black cultural center. I would even rather hear a frank denial than a
ridiculous argument built on not even sand, but excrement. Because no
matter which way you ttrni it chancellor, it still stinks.
God Bless, Myron B. Pitts
Black Ink
'I know me and culture (murderer).
Editon Myron B. Pitts
Associate Editor: Jacqueline Charles
Photography Editor: Kelly Greene Business Manager: Kevin McNair
On-Camptis Editor: Lee Richardson
Staff: Tiffany Ashhurst, Natalie Baucum, Michael Bowden, Keisha Brown,
Delancey Bennett. Jennifer O. Ferguson, Scott Johnson, Fells Lewis, John T.
McCann, Charles McNair, Chandra McLean, T.J. Stanril, Tonika M.
Tillman, Sharilyn Seale, Stefan Tyson, Natarsha Witherspoon
Contributors: Alex DeGrand, Dwight “Freddy” Foxx, Tuere Randall
Inside Black Ink
Tuesday, March 31,1992
Cover Story
IT’S NOT ALL THEY WANTED
Students at N.C. State battled five years for an African-American Cultural Center, and they
got one - housed in an annex to the student union. Those involved in that movement
encourage students here to seek a free-standing building. Page 6.
A LULL OF SORTS
The Black Cultural Center was officially named for late professor Sonja Haynes Stone amid
a campuswide controversy over whether the BCC should become an independent structure.
Page 3.
RING THE ALARM!
Frustrated by recent editorials in The Carolina Critic and The Daily Tar Heel that oppose a
free-standing BCC, writer Charles McNair issues a call to arms to black students.
•Critic editor compares BCC-supporters to white supremacists. Page 4.
•Students in movement misrepresented. Page 10.
MY PEOPLE, MY PEOPLE
One wnter says the apathy toward the BCC displayed by black students is downright
disgraceful, and the Greenlaw Hall wall-sitters exemplify this nonchalance. Page 4.
RACIST INCIDENT OF THE MONTH
Two black students found a nasty surprise when they returned to their Hinton James room
after Spring Break. Page 5.
FINALLY, LETTERS
•Wonderboy comes under heavy fire. Page 5.
•An organizer for Race Relations Week defends their selection of Sister Souljah as
keynote speaker. Page 5.
READ HIS LIPS, “NO FREE-STANDING BCC”
The chancellor addressed campus issues ranging from the housekeepers to the BCC at a
press conference March 17. Page 8
THE UNDAUNTED COLUMNIST
Never wanting to bore his readership, Wonderboy comes out in support of multicultural
center. Page 12.
About the Cover
N.C. State University has done with its African-American Cultural Center what Chancellor
Paul Hardin and others want to do with UNC’s Black Cultural Center, i.e., make it a
permanent part of the Student Union. The director of State’s center encouraged UNC
students to continue their fight for a free-standing facility. Page 6