Page Two
THE CAMPUS ECHO
Friday, December 6, 1963
Cam© Echo
Member
ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
A View From Morehouse College
African Unity: Myth or Reality?
HAROLD FOSTER
Editor
EVERETT ADAMS
Business Manager
JEAN NORRIS
Adyisor
OFFICE EXTENSION 325
The CAMPUS ECHO is the official student publication of North
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regular school year, except during college holidays, at Service
Printing Company, Durham, N. C.
All editorials appearing in the CAMPUS ECHO are the opinions
of the editor, unless otherwise credited; they do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of the other members of the staff.
Subscription rates. $1.35 per semester, $2.50 per school year.
Second class mail privilege at Durham, N. C.
Let Us Now Move Forward
The death of our 35th Commander-in-Chief, John Fitz
gerald Kennedy, has left a shocked and bewildered nation in
mourning and vigil. The North Carolina College community
has joined the many other communities in eulogizing the
fallen leader. And we personally share in the sadness ex
pressed by multitudes over the terrible bereavement visited
upon the late President’s immediate family.
The chief suspect for the assassination of JFK is also
dead, shot by night club owner Jack Ruby of Dallas, Texas,
as was seen by persons watching the television coverage of
the event surrounding the death of the President. To the
family of Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin, we also send
our words of sympathy—sympathy not because we condone
the act for which he was accused of doing, but because we are
opposed to the hate and violence which has engulfed this na
tion, and because we feel for those who are victims of these
two absurdities.
VIOLENCE SHIPWRECKED . . .
Violence is interwoven into the history of this nation. It
was used to gain this land from the Indians; it was used to
gain independence from the British; it was used to settle our
19th century domestic conflict; it was used in our dispute
with Spain; it has been used in two wars to make the world
safe for our so-called democracy; and it was used to settle
our dispute with the Koreans.
Our national policy for dealing with the opposition is
violence, and therefore we as individual citizens regard
violence as the only course for dealing with those opposed to
our way of thinking. Messrs. Kennedy’s and Oswald’s deaths
were indeed individual acts (and not of God, as some would
have us believe) but indeed collective thoughts. This, let us
add, is not saying that we motivated the killings or partic
ipated in them, but rather that a great number of us, as a na
tion, had that same hatred for those killed as those that com
mitted the acts.
... ON A LONELY ISLAND OF HATE
Unfortunately, we conceived relations between nations,
races and idealogies in terms of conflict which pit human be
ings against one another. Horrible atrocities have been
committed against citizens of this nation who have dared to
forge the “American Dream,” and who have sought the
primary rights presumably entitled them under our United
States Constitution. The bomb manufactured in Birmingham,
Ala., which we pleaded against in our first editorial this year,
has now exploded in another section of the country; this time
bringing the results of its devastating blow to the heart of
the country. If we cannot protect the least esteemly held
citizens of the nation from the atrocities of hate and violence,
then when it come to our leaders we shall be completely out
of practice, as was the case recently.
We have a nation that we love and will defend (for
what?), therefore military means are justifiable if they are
used as an ultimate recourse. But our national leaders, alas,
have and continue to operate on the old assumptions, old
motivations that war is inevitable, that “there will be wars
and rumors of wars,” and therefore hate and violence and
killing are to be expected. With such leadership and with
us following such leadership, the events such has happened in
the recent past, are bound to occur; they can surely be passed
off as everyday occurrences.
. . . BUT LET US BEGIN
Many persons, through many means, have exclaimed
that, “Wliatever the problem of the recent situation is, a
bullet is not the way to solve it, violence will not solve the
problem.” And whether they be sincere or not, we join them,
in a very sincere way, in their contention.
This is a time to assess the life of this nation and the
activities of its people. It will be tragic for us to continue
to view life and politics in terms of coMlict with our fellows.
But it will be reasonable for us to resolve not to accept vio
lence as a means to achieve personal and national security
and justice, and finally, it will be reasonable for us, God
knows it would, to join hand in hand and strive for a world
based on truth, love and respect for each other as human
beings. This, alas, is all we can do if we are to survive!
By DEJI ADEYOYIN
Somehow in the past hundred
years the world of European
thinkers have come to regard
the continent of Africa as a vast
jungle of darkness and savagery
peopled by a race without a his
tory or culture. The unkind cari
cature from the mental graph of
missionary absurdity, the inborn
racial arrogance of adventurers
and travelers, the morbid craze
for sensational journalism and
the overall effect of all these on
European and American infants
whose imagination is thus fired
to draw sniggering pictures of
the African—all have combined
to produce a type of congenital
prejudice which will take time
to undo. This in turn has led to
the dogmatic pronouncements of
armchair investigators who take
pride in drawing comparisons
about the ways and wisdom of
a people whose culture and mind
From Rotide
are so completely strange to
them.
Under the circumstances.
Senator Elender and his indoc-
trinators, t h ei Anglo-Saxons,
doubted the ability and integri
ty of the African to form any
type of unity. African heads of
the States, however, agreed on
Saturday, May 25, 1963, on a
charter for an organization of
African states to replace the so-
called. Casablanca and Monrovia
blocs. The headquarters was
temporarily located in Addis
Ababa. The states decided to
change the name of thei new
organization of African and Ma
lagasy States to the Organiza
tion of African Unity. The or-
ganiation includes an assembly
of kings, presidents, and pre
miers which will meet at least
once a year. Others are the
council of ministers, a perma
nent staff headed by a secretary
Letter To Senator Sam Ervin
Honorable Sam Ervin;
The untimely and unwarrant
ed assassination of our thirty-
fifth Commander-in-chief has
brought upon us a grave time,
indeed. Grave not only because
our brave and courageous Presi
dent John Fitzgerald Kennedy
is dead, but also because his
death could very well lead to
the death of many more inno
cent people at the hands of ra
cists, extremists on the left and
right, and people who have for
centuries beeii oppressed simply
because of their skin coloring
and biological differences. Let
it suffice for us to say that pan
demonium lurks at our nation’s
internal gates.
Therefore, we are calling on
you to do your best (we do not
expect anymore) in these try
ing times, and help save this na
tion from internal turmoil. We
ask that you not only endorse
the Civil Rights Bill now be
fore our Eighty-eighth Con
gress, but also that you aid in
every possible and reasonable
way to get it passed. We appeal
to you to do this as one of our
leaders and great statesmen
from our beloved state of North
Carolina. We ask you to do this
in order to liberate the oppress
ed Negro people of your state
and the nation who are con
stantly stalked by humiliation
in public places. We ask that
you endorse and help pass the
civil rights bill as a tribute to
the late John Fitzgerald Ken
nedy; this in itself would show
that you have dedicated your
self to that cause for which he
gave his last full measure of
devotion, freedom and justice
for all men. And lastly we
appeal to you to cease perpet
uating racial injustices; little is
to be gained from such perpet
uating.
The acts by the youths of
North Carolina to bring human
dignity to the Negro people are
perhaps the main reason a
strong civil rights bill has been
proposed to our national lead
ers. Their acts are just. They
have risen to forge the Ameri
can Dream. And now as they
continue to rise, we ask that
you throw off (in the name of
God and America) the burdens
of fear, superstition and politi
cal expediency, which have im
prisoned you, and rise with
them to erase our injust racial
himian conditions, and bring
statue to our national charact
er.
Sincerely,
Rotide
NCC DANCERS PREPARE for their 1963 recital to be given
in B. N. Duke Auditorium, Dec. 18. These three, Yvonne Sales,
Shirley Bradley and David Thompson, are members of the group
to perform modem creative dances; others will do folk dances.
general and one or more assist
ants, and a mediation and con
ciliation commission. The char
ter also established five special
agencieis. They are an economic
and social conmiission; an edu
cational and cultural commis
sion; a health, sanitation and
nutrition commission; a defense
council, and a scientific, techni
cal, and research council. This
conference was indeed a land
mark in the annals of African
history. Concurrent to this
establishment of the organiza
tion is the problem of effective
functioning.
What is the immediate reac
tion from the world? Some ob
servers believed this unity was
a myth; others thought it was
a mere dream. A group of some
perverted philosophers of apar
theid and paternalism doubted
the capability of Africans to
unite themselves in such a bloc.
These people forgot that com
mon suffering or problems can
be a welding tie for people.
These people should be remind
ed of a remark by the Secretary
of State for African Affairs,
Governor Williams, who said
that those who doubted the
forces of the organization of
African Unity are doing this at
their own risk.
Also reacting to this unity
were the old colonialists and
their allies who hurriedly con
vened the NATO conference in
Ottawa at the same time that
the African organization charter
was being established. Diplo
matic analysts may relegate the
occurrence or coincidence to
several reasons. It would be safe
here to suggest that the meeting
was occasioned for some
political reasons on the fear of
the growing unity of the
emerging nations.
The first test of this organi
zation was the outbreak of bor
der war between Algeria and
Morocco. This event was to lead
to the question of myth or real
ity of the African Organization
Unity. The effectiveness of the
mediation and conciliation com
mission is now on trial.
Thanks to the initial media
tion of Emperor Haile Selassie
I and President Modibo Keita
of Mali, the response from
President Ben Bella and Kling
Hasan was to be considered
reasonable. Both presidents re
turned home to praise the or
ganization of African Unity and
its organ for bringing the cease
fire accord. The foreign minis
ters are expected to convene to
settle the disputed territory. If
they succeed, the establishment
of the organization will lead to
reality in the atmosphere of
doubts and fears. It is unfortu
nate that some foreigners tried
to fail the organization’s effort
to bring about peace by intrud
ing into the disputes. Africans
should resist this with vigor and
determination.
The organization of African
Unity nwds to prove to the
world that its charter is suffi
cient to effect peace, tranquility,
and progressive economic, so
cial, cultural, and political
growth. This is the task before
it and the leaders of the Afri
can States are committed to up
hold the charter by using rea
son against superficial interest
in oppressed national territories.
This is the only way to prove
to the world that the orgauza*
tion is not a myth bat one oC
practicality.