The News Argus, December 2003
Nat Irvin’s
response
NEWSARGUS NEWS
EDITOR JANELL J. LEWIS:
What is your reaction to the
readers reactions? Do you still
feel the same way now? Wbuld
you change anything about the
article now that you have
received various opinions and
more information about your
views ?
MR. NAT IRVIN: I'm not
surprised by the reaction that I
received. A lot of people care
about the university IWSSUj.
/ wanted to get the attention
of young students.
There's been an extraordinary
response ... I've probably gotten
about 65 IplusI letters ... proba -
bly 90 percent of the letters I
received saw things the way I
saw them.
A lot of letters reflected grad -
uate's awareness of image in the
futureand this is a very serious
matter. It is not a matter for the
faculty or the administration -
this is something for the stu -
dents.
We've got to get past the emo -
tion Iwe feel about the article]
and get analytical and critical.
I'm a futurist and that's what
I do — study the future ofpeo -
pie ... I can tell you that the
most important currency in the
future; will be image.
Nat Irvin was debating on if
he should write the article, but
said, I was confronted by an
older, elderly woman — she was
about 90 — and she asked why
was he [Alan Brown I wearing
that ... I owed it to anybody
who helped build that school [to
write the article].
S'-v, -VV
Photo courtesy of the News Argus
This Argus photograph is similar to one that appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal.
What’s
the
FUSS?
By Nat Irvin
JOURNAL COLUMNIST
“Celebrating Their
Achievements," read the cap
tion above the picture of
three members of the 2003-04
Mr. Ram Homecoming
Court, as they rode through
downtown Winston-Salem
during Winston-Salem State
University’s homecoming
parade.
But when 1 saw the brightly
colored picture prominently
displayed in the Winston-
Salem Journal, 1 cringed.
These were not academic
achievements, as one might
have hoped. Instead Mr. Ram
was dressed as a pimp,
decked out in a full-length
white fur coat, red leather suit
This is a reprint of Nat Irvin’s
column, “iVlr. Ram:
Celebrated the Worst of
Stereotypes,” originally
published in the Nov. 9
Sunday edition of the
Winston-Salem Journal
and white hat. In 80-degree
weather no less, waving to the
crowd, looking for all the
world like the Mack Daddy or
Superfly, an escapee from one
of the black exploitation films
of the '70s. The only thing
missing was a bottle of hip-
hopper Nelly's Pimp Juice,
which just last month went on
store shelves in many urban
communities, and the music
of rapper 50 Cent screaming,
"Ho make the pimp rich, I
ain't payin' bitch."
Some will point fingers at
the Journal for having selected
from among the many images
in the homecoming parade the
one that perpetuated the
worst of black stereotypes. But
such criticism misses the point
entirely.
A culture of violence
What students should be
asking themselves is much
more fundamental: Why do
they find it necessary to cele
brate pimp culture, when it is
the pimp who is directly asso
ciated with slapping, beating,
denigrating, abusing and oth
erwise misusing their mothers
See IRVIN, Page 4
Alan Brown’s
response
NEWSARGUS EDITOR-
IN-CHIEF NICOLE
FERGUSON: What is your
reaction to Nat Irvin's column he
published Nov. 9 in the Winston-
Salem Journal concerning your
attire in the Winston-Salem
State University Homecoming
parade?
MR. ALAN BROWN:
Anyone that knows me knows
that I am a happy, free-spirited
person. The smallest things just
make me excited. People thought
that something this big would
automatically bring me down,
but it didn't. I feel happy they
were talking about my coat. That
means I made a good investment.
I'm just somewhat shocked with
him [Irvin] being a professional,
an educator at Wake Forest and a
former administrator ofWSSU,
and having sons of his own, that
he would write this. If anything I
would think he'd be trying to
uplift youth and accentuate the
positive. Now if I was on the float
with my pants hangin' down or
huge earrings on, or maybe if my
dreads weren't clean, what would
we say about me then?
There's a grand possibility that
he [Irvin] was trying to prove a
point that we need to look at our -
selves, and I was a good tool in
which to do tiuit. Maybe he said
that this is a great person with a
great soul and a great spirit and
maybe I can use him he wouldn't
take offense. And if his inten -
tions were to "bring us down"
to lift us up and make the aver -
age person attentive to his issue,
he did just that. He lifted us up,
and made us come together and
become attentive.
What was your
reaction to the opinion article
printed in the Winston-Salem Journal
by Mr. Nat Irvin?
ampus j
"I feel that he
stereotyped the
Mr. Ram float
and organiza
tion, because I
didn't feel like
they were por
traying pimps;
They were portraying a cer
tain time period when
many people did dress like
that."
— Hezeklah Cunningham-Bey,
junior, mass communications
"1 felt it was
unfortunate that
out of all the
positive activi
ties that went on
during home
coming, he
noted a negative
aspect. However, it does
emphasize to the public
and students, how much
public appearance reflects
on people's perspectives of
you."
—Fellstia Davis,
senior, business
administration, marketing
"In reading
the article, I
found that it's
bigger than
Mr. Ram. A lot
of people got
the misconcep
tion that he's
talking about Mr Ram, but
he's actually talking about
all WSSU students. It's defi
nitely an eye-opener"
— Corry Ruffin,
Location Manager (Aramark),
Alum
"My
response to the
article was that
no matter the
approach of the
w'riter,
whether or not
it was WTong
or right, I feel now, it's the responsi
bility of the WSSU student popula
tion to work harder to supply peo
ple with evidence to confirm that
this picture is not an image that rep
resents us [the black race, WSSU
students]. Basically, 1 believe it's a
wake-up call, but 1 felt like he [Nat
Irvin] went about it the wrong way
and his approach was unfair to
use."
J:
"We have to real
ize that as stu
dents and as
black people, we
are attached to
image and his
tory. You have a
historical
responsibility to know who
we are, where we come from,
and where we need to go.
"You have a historical
responsibility to know some
thing about your history. You
cannot live in ignorance. You
must be aware of tradition.
Every culture and generation
should know something
about their people, their past,
and their traditions ... whether
good or bad."
"Knowledge helps people to
make the right choices. We
always have choices and con
sequences. Pop culture is
good. We have to go beyond
pop culture; the world does
not live there; it's just an ele
ment of human culture. It is
not the sum total of who we
are.
— Dr Michael Brookshaw,
Associate Professor, Spanish
"I think Mr.
Irvin is off base ...
he has installed
himself as the
"fashion police"
and it's an unfair
attack on the stu
dent dress and it
is not a representation of Mr Alan
Brown. Mr. Brown dresses with a
lot of style, daily. My generation
dressed like that and we were not
addressing the "pimp culture."
Today, people like the legendary
Ronald Isley dress like that and it
isn't glorified that way. I think it is
deployable and I think he's totally
off base.
"In the past, Mr. Irvin has criti
cized those who oppose conserva
tives like him as a part of the
"thought police." He now has
established himself as the "Fashion
Police" [Alan] Brown is an "old-
school" dresser. "He's a throwback
to my era of dress."
"People have a right to self —
expression; It's unfortunate; he
does a disservice to Mr Brown and
to the students and to the public."
"I find his views and Clarence
Thomas' views in opposing affir
mative action to be troubling and
dangerous to black people."
— Dr. Larry Little,
professor, political science
— Heather Davis,
senior, business management
— compiled by Janell J. Lewis