FEATURES 9
Time to Put a Ban on Handguns
By Jenica McRae
Ink Contributor
Imagine yourself sitting in
the driveway of a friend’s home.
You drive out only to find
that you’ve driven into a shoot
out
Sounds of firecrackers
whizz in your ears, and the fire
from the guns lights up the
blackness around you.
Would this terrify you?
Many feel it is their
constitutional right to keep and
bear arms. But just how far
should this right go when
thousands die each year because
of these machines?
Is it fair for innocent people
to be gunned down for senseless
reasons or because they were in
the wrong place at the wrong
time?
Although it is the
constitutional right of every
American to own almost any
type of gun, we must decide on
the consequences of having such
a right today.
If
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your
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is the
sole
reason
w e
have
so many guns on the streets, then
why are gun-related deaths so
hostile and so tragic? And why
are they killing so many of our
black youths?
I do not support the use of
handguns because they lead to
violence on top of violence.
In particular, young black
males seem to be the target of the
kind of violence caused by guns
being on the streets.
Many of the males who carry
. .Young Wack males seem to be
the target of the kind of violence
caused by guns being on the streets.
guns are under the age of 18, and
a vast majority of them do not
think before they shoot
In addition, incidents like the
shoot-out I personally
experienced, fist fights that end
in shoot outs and the slaying of
other young men represent just a
few of the cases that kept black
males in the news everyday this
summer.
This activity is not helping
the black race at ail. Instead, it is
another anecdote used
to help our people kill
themselves.
I would gladly
give up the right to keep
and bear arms to ease
some of the violence in
the United States,
however, I support the
banning of handguns to
keep the black race
alive and thriving.
Adolescents,
especially, need thier peace of
mind back to educate themselves
with knowledge and not with
violence.
If you have ever been shot,
lost a loved one as a result of a
gun, or have been plain out
terrorized with a gun, think about
the situation one more time.
Now, would you give up your
right to bear arms to help save the
life of the black future?
B K
I
Advertise in the Ink,,
cdl 962-^m today.
Letters to the Editor
We Need BCC....
While sitting on the wall in
front of the Undergrad not too
long ago, I remember an article,
which appeared in \hQ Daily Tar
Heel on SepL 7, tided “Whites
Owe Blacks Public Recognition
of Racism” that a girl brought up
in my Afam 40 class. After
reading the article myself, I found
that it wasn’t as interesting as
she made it out to be. Being
totally unsatisfied because I got
my hopes up too high, I started
flipping through the paper to find
a more appealing article.
Then I came across an
editorial written by a guest
columnist, Joel Tolliver. The
tide of his piece, “Blacks Deserve
Proper Place in American
History,” immediately caught
my attention. This is the message
that Blacks have been trying to
get across for centuries. Curious
about what he was going to say,
I began to read the article. The
more I read, the more I found
myself agreeing with everything
Tolliver was saying. He talked
about a need to have a free
standing black cultural
center(BCC) and the reasons why
he felt this way.
Tolliver’s article made me
think about a lot of things. I
thought about being a black
student on apredominanUy white
campus, my need to find out who
I am, and I thought about why this
institution needs a free-standing
black cultural center.
In his article, Tolliver wrote:
“A free-standing black culuiral
center is required on this campus
for the simple fact that it is an
institution of higher learning.
Being such, here of all places, a
black student should be able to
find himself. I say this because
today the black man and woman
is lost in America.” This is very
true. Tell me, did you know that
when it comes to black history the
month of August is very
significant?
For instance, would you have
learned in a history class that both
the March on Washington and
the Watts riots took place in
August? Or that Nat Turner rode
in August? Or would you have
learned about Dr. Louis T.
Wright, inventor of the neck brace
used for the transporting and
handling of patients in Physical
Education 86? How about your
Drama 16 class? Did your
professor bother to mention the
name Paul Robeson? And if so,
did he or she tell you that
Robeson was the first black actor
to play “Othello?”
The answer is probably no.
These important and famous
blacks are usually overlooked in
our history, PE and drama classes,
despite the fact that they are very
relevant to the subjects we are
studying. And why? Is it because
you weretaughtthatitwaswhites
who really did these things? Or
was it because you were never
able to find a place that had these
extraordinary facts on file? Or
both?
A free-standing black culUiral
center is anecessity on thecampus
of the University of North
Carolina at Chi^jel Hill and other
predominantly while universities.
It should be a place where blacks,
in particular, can go and awe over
the hundreds of accomplishments
that blacks and others have
contributed to American society,
history and development.
By planning, developing and
building a free-standing BCC, we
and other races, can see the real
truth of how th is coun try came to
be. Anissa Harris is a freshman
Physical Ed major from Mebane.
My Brothers and Sisters...
My years at Carolina were
filled with classes, exams, parties
and trying to fit into the “in
crowd.” I would like to know
who is in the “in-crowd.” Is it
the people in fraternities or
sororities, or is it the guys on the
football team? Maybe 1 am
mistaken, but since when does
having Greek letters orplaying a
sport make you part of the “in
crowd?” Does any of these things
give you an identity or define
who you are?
I came to this university to
receive an education,not a
reputation. Don’t get me wrong. 1
am not disrespecting anyone who
is involved in any of these, but
have you ever asked yourself why
you became a part of these
organizations? Was it to give
yourself an identity, or was it to
give you a sease of belonging in
the “in-crowd” because you had
no idea of who you were or what
you stood for?
For those of you out there who
did this to belong to something
and to take on an identity, you
need to check yourself. Being a
part of something may look good
on the outside, but what do you
look like on the inside? Do you
know who you arc, or are you still
trying to figure it out?
My advice to you—get to know
who you are and what you're all
about, so that you won’t have to
become a part of these things to
have an identity in the end. You
will appreciate yourself and not
what you’ve become a part of.
Angela Snuills is a Senior RTVMP
major from Charlotte.