February 2005
OPINION
BOONE
Editorial:
Welcome back,
just in time for
Black History
Month and love
Happy New Year and welcome back.
Within the pages of this month's issue
of The News Argus, you' 11 find stories
on everything from student views on
President Bush's proposed changes to
Social Security to a column on the neg
ative effects of rap music on today's
youth to how to celebrate Valentine's
Day on $25 or less. In other words,
there's something for everyone.
As you know, or should know,
February is Black History Month. As
students at a histori
cally black university,
we should take pride
in knowing that
many Rams have
gone before us,
paving the way for
our success.
But in the midst of
this celebration we
should also ask ourselves these ques
tions; Why are only 28 days of the 365
days in a year dedicated to teaching
and celebrating the history of African
Americans? Why isn't Black history
taught as part of American history in
our nation's schools? And, why it is
celebrated in the shortest month of the
year?
Tke answers to these questions I'll
leave for you to ponder, but recognize
that we, especially those of us here at
Winston-Salem State University, can
celebrate our heritage every day of the
year, if we so choose.
President Bush's controversial plan
to change Social Security is a matter of
national news that we should keep on
top of as America ' s future workers.
The privatization of Social Security, if
enacted, will have a profound impact
on us, which is why editors for The
News Argus decided to feature this dis
cussion so prominently on our pages.
Sports enthusiasts will enjoy reading
about Ken Carter, the high school coach
that actor Samuel L. Jackson portrays
in a movie at the theaters now. Argus
staff writer Kiandra Jefferson attended
a talk Carter gave at Wake Forest
University and interviewed him after
the lecture. She even invited him to
speak here at WSSU. Now that's what
you call school spirit and loyalty.
And, of course, Valentine's Day is
this month. Step back from your daily
grind of juggling classes, extra-curricu
lar activities and work schedules to
remember those who have made it pos
sible for you to obtain a higher educa
tion here. Pick up a phone, call Mom,
Dad or whoever counts most in your
life on this special day, and give them a
priceless gift.
Say, "1 Love You."
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
We’re not carrying the torch
By Steven Gaither
ARGUS REPORTER
Forty-five years ago, at a campus
right here in the Piedmont Triad, four
college freshmen refused to move
from the whites-only section at a
Woolworth's lunch counter Their
brave stance ignited the sit-in move
ment. The year was 1960.
Also in 1960, the Student Non-
Violent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) came into existence. Student
leaders developed a massive educa
tion program to educate the poor
about their constitutional rights, and
later the groupis members began a
door-to-door voter registration cam
paign.
Then in 1961, the jail-in movement
started in Rock Hill, S.C., when
arrested students demanded to go to
jail rather than pay fines.
In 1963, award-winning journalist,
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, along with a
fellow student, integrated the
University of Georgia. She withstood
riots and hatred to earn a degree and,
during her stellar career as a journal
ist, she has won two Emmy awards
for working on public TVis The
MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour.
Then in 1968, students in
Orangeburg, S.C., tried to end the dis
criminatory practices of a local bowl
ing alley. Their confrontation with
police and the National Guard, and
the subsequent death of three stu
dents, created widespread outrage
among students across campuses in
the South.
Ever consider where would we be
today if college students of yesteryear
had not taken a stand for justice and
equality? Where would we be if they
were apathetic about life, as many of
us on the campuses of historically
black colleges are today.
Apathy is a contagious disorder that
is crippling young African-Americans
and it threatens our very existence. In
creeps up slowly and then engulfs us.
Picture the student who sits in the
back of the class and talks when the
teacher is speaking because he or she
doesni't care what the teacher has to
say.
Where does this attitude come from?
Is it the fallout of a super-individualist
society, a society that glorifies self over
all else? I know from my own associa
tions that many young people believe
that no one cares about them, so why
should they care about themselves or
anyone else.
However, think back to the Civil
Rights movement and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These
men and others put their lives on the
line so that we might finally inherit
the full rights of citizenship guaran-
See HISTORY, Page 7
Coach Carter is
grea^ but he's no
match for Mom
By Kristin Smith
ARGUS REPORTER
My mother was my Coach Ken Carter. At
the age of 16, she sat my brother and me
down for a family meeting. The topic of the
meeting: Homework. We weren't doing it.
Instead of concentrating on my studies, I
focused on volleyball, a sport 1 played for
eight years and loved so much that I
dreamed of one day competing in the
Olympics. My brother played football and
ran track, another sport that I enjoyed.
My mother repeated something that she
had told us all of our lives, which is that
education comes before sports. She
reminded us that there are plenty of oppor
tunities waiting for us, provided we didm't
slack off, academically.
We followed her advice, although she
didnft hesitate to yank us off our teams
when our grades dropped. But Iim glad
that she was a tough life coach. She cared
enough to keep us on the right path, not too
mention the fact that she surely realized
that her daughter (standing 5 feet 1 inch
tall) wouldm't make the Olympic volleyball
team.
Carter has said, "It is not what you can
do from the neck down, but what you can
do from the neck up. 1 agree.
Not every sportsman or sportswoman
will make it to the top of his or her game,
but everyone can reach the top of his or her
career goals with a good education. Love
the sport, but cherish your education. It
lasts a lifetime.
Rap has lost its way, right into the gutter
By IVIichael Champaign
ARGUS REPORTER
Growing up, my mother taught me to
treat others as I would like them to treat me.
Regardless of race, shape or size, I learned
to respect people, especially my elders, who
still today I address as "Yes, ma'am" and
"Yes, sir."
Nowadays, it seems that there are those of
us who don't respect anyone.
Whatever happened to common decency
and courtesy? Unfortunately, I believe that
too many young people leam their life
lessons from the wrong influences. Instead
of listening to their mothers, fathers, elders,
teachers and other responsible adult role
models, they listen to rap.
When rap first hit the music scene, its
lyrics were fairly tame, especially compared
to the profane, raw messages delivered by
today's rap artists.
Rappers such as Grandmaster Flash and
The Furious 5 rapped with meaning. Their
lyrics dealt with the struggles of everyday
life in urban black ghettos. For example. The
Message, by Grandmaster Flash, spoke elo
quently of how difficult it is to survive in a
tough environment:
Broken glass everywhere people ...on the
stairs, you know they just don't care.
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise
Got no money to move out, 1 guess I got no
choice.
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat!
1 tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed
my car.
Chorus:
Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge
Vm trying not to loose my head.
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me won -
der
How I keep from going under?
These lyrics are relatively clean, except for
one word, which is not so much obscene as
it is crude slang. But compare those words
to the lyrics of Knuck If You Buck:
Yeah
Well I'ma gat totin'pistol holdin'
* igga on yo damn street
Stompin jumpin bumpin
And get crunk off in this damn thang
Throwin dem bows up at dez ioes
They screamin they bleedin from they nose
But we start to swang we makin iggas hit
the flo'
Ain't no game off in this thang
We too deep offyo party
Crime mob iggasgettin started
Ellenwood Siggas be the hardest
So if a iggacome and run his mouth just
like *0
Punch em dead up in his nose
And stomp his %ss down to the flo'!
The lyrics of this song incite all sorts of
deviant behavior. Nowadays, rap lyrics rou
tinely degrade women, incite riotous activ
ity and degrade black people by using the
N-word in almost every line.
Do we really want generations of youth
listening to this? What kind of morals or
values are we teaching the future leaders of
tomorrow? Even the names of the rappers
and rap groups are insidious: Crime Mobb,
Mobb Deep, Masta Killah, Trick Daddy
Dolla, Trillville.
Rap lyrics encourage a young person to
pursue fast money, rob people, lead promis
cuous lifestyles, and smack anyone who
says anything perceived to be against them.
Rappers might not realize it, but some
people take their lyrics to heart. They seem
not to realize that their messages have the
potential to lead young people astray.
There is no hardcore evidence to show
that listening to rap music leads to all sorts
of bad behavior and choices. But we need to
at least consider that perhaps rap is con
tributing to a culture where dropping out of
high school is acceptable, where babies hav
ing babies is the norm, where stealing is glo
rified as a legitimate means of earning an
income, and where money is everything and
respect for one's self and others is not even
a consideration.
In one of his songs. Grandmaster Flash
spoke of the pursuit of fast money and
where it will ultimately lead. The lyrics
move us from the birth of an innocent child
to the child's ghetto home, where thugs,
pimps, pushers and big money makers rule,
and finally to the jail cell where that once
innocent child was found hanging, dead.
The song ends with cautionary words,
words that today's youngsters ought to
think seriously about the next time they
tune in to rap and tune out Mom.
But now your eyes sing the sad sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so
young...
Study: Parking spaces are too few, too far away
As many of you know, WSSU
has continued to grow at unprece
dented levels. We have experi
enced tremendous enrollment
growth as well as growth in the
members of our faculty and staff.
As we embrace this growth, we
recognize the need for correspond
ing infrastructure growth to pro
vide adequate space needs for our
growing campus community. One
such concern for our community is
parking.
Based on this growing concern,
I formed a Parking Committee in
October 2004 to gain a deeper
understandmg of parking con-
comer
wrth Dr. Harold L Martin
cems and potential solutions. I
selected faculty, staff, and students
to serve on the committee. Their
charge includes the collection of
data regarding parking at WSSU,
the assessment of data to deter
mine major parking concerns, the
determination of a series of recom
mendations surrounding the data,
and the implementation of the rec
ommendations.
The committee began a broad-
based assessment of parking start
ing with a study conducted in
2001 by the Walker Group. As a
result of their study of parking
trends, parking supply and
demand issues, and enrollment
growth trends. Walker made sev
eral key observations and result
ing recommendations. They
stated the following:
Based on the observed peak
conditions, WSSU currently has
inadequate parking.
Most of the vacant parking
spaces are located in the parking
areas furthest from the campus
core.
Parking patrons are currently
abusing the system by regularly
parking vehicles illegally in the
campus core.
The result is the perception of
a large parking problem even
though the deficit for student
parking areas is currently not very
large.
With the Walker study as a refer
ence, the committee has also
focused on conducting due dih-
gence through parking statistics
and a parking survey for the entire
WSSU community. The committee
will make its final recommenda
tions after the careful assessment
of the statistics and the parking
survey.
As we continue to explore solu
tions to this issue, I trust that you
will share your insight and opin
ions as many of you have done
thus far. Our solutions will be a
result of our ability to engage one
another for a deeper understand
ing of our campus community
parking needs balanced with our
capabilities.
I thank you for your continued
work, insight and assistance in
this effort.