Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / Oct. 7, 1966, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of North Carolina Central University Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Page Four THE CAMPUS ECHO Friday, October 7, 1966 STOKES REFLECTS MEANING OF BLACK POWER Smith Recalls Summer In Britain By Charles Stokes A renowned sociologist and chairman of the Columbia Uni versity Sociology Department, Professor Robin Williams said in a forum to the students of North Carolina College that in order for the Negro to get into the mainstream of the Ameri can life, he must appear as an ethnic group. . . . He contended that he had much respect for groups like the Black Muslims. One can see very easily that this is the attempt of the new ly born .Black Power Movement in America. When Stokley Car michael, chairman of the Stu dent Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was asked, “How do powerless people become pow erful?” Carmichael answered, “By organizing, by pooling their resources, and by moving to find out just how strong they really are. . .” “Like the workers in the ’30’s, like the Irish in Bos ton, we must demand the right to organize the way we want to organize. Black power is a de mand to organize around the question of blackness. We are oppressed because we are black. We must organize around that question.” The ethnic character istic here is blackness. Black Power does not mean power of the black over the white, but it means the power financially and politically to reach a status where black people can demand the needs so vital for their survival. It is absurd to presume that a black minority group can take a po sition over the white majority, but it is logical to predict that a black majority in the so-called black belts can be represented and his needs addressed, if he uses his power wisely through organizing and voting. For instance, in the South and some places in the North, like Harlem, and some parts of Chicago where the majority of the people are black and the congressmen are white. Demo crats, or Republicans are com plying to the wishes of the vari ous political parties and not to the wishes, needs, and demands of the impoverished and op pressed blacks whom they are supposed to represent. On the fi nancial level, for example, in the southeastern parts of North Carolina, black men and women constitute 90 per cent of tobacco labor and when the labor has ended these black workers have nothing to show for it but blist ers and broken backs. The other five per cent who are the white owners and foremen take home all the goodies. Why can’t the black people own, operate these farms and take home the good ies themselves? In the article by Lerone Ben nett Jr. that appeared in the September, 1966 edition of Ebo ny Magazine, he stated that one of the positive achievements of black power is “pride in being black.” All our lives we have been made to think that black is wrong or sinister. The whites have put white filling on a cake and called it angel food cake. They have put a chocolate fill ing on a cake and called it devil’s food cake, symboling white as good and black as bad, inferior, or evil. They have television com mercials that say all good guys wear white hats. We see Christ painted as white. The difference between objects are as differ ent as night and day. Night symbolizes something evil and day is something fantastically good. So we see that our minds have been conditioned to the idea that black is always bad., Thus, we buy Ultra Skin Tone Cream to make our faces lighter. We burn our hair to make it straight like a white woman’s. We buy cosmetics to make us have long eyelashes, red cheeks, and' pink, green, and red lips. This is implying that we do not want to be black, and that there is some thing wrong with being black. The so-called Negro knows more about the white culture than he desires to know of his own. So the first educational problem for Carmichael would be teaching black people how to be proud of the qualities of blackne^ that set us apart from our more pallid neighbors. Wa must learn to regard our natu ral and unaltered racial charac teristics, including our kinky hair and thick lips, not as “good” or “bad,” but rather as mere physical traits which car ry, in and of themselves, no in herent value judgments. Black power means any means by which the black people can obtain subsistence, whether they reach it by vio lence or by nonviolence by po litical means. Power is a basic need to sat isfy what Freud contends to be the primary process—a power to obtain subsistence. It is man’s ultimate hope, and in every sub conscious mind, power is the one thing man tries to attain. In the case of the black man of America, it’s the ultimatum of a political and economic subsis tence. In the book. “The Affluent Society” by John Gailberth, there is no relevance to the black man in America and so the struggle is black versus white power for some of the af fluence of the white power. There is a great upheaval in America today because the Negro wants power and the white man wants to remain the only power. I personally feel that the up heaval will become a catas trophic devastation because black people will not stop and cannot stop until they have reached the means of survival in this great capitalistic mon strosity. Black people, I am afraid, will not take “no” for an answer. Black people, I am afraid, will become violent if they cannot reach a negotiable means nonviolently. Black Pow er is in the subconscious mind of every black man and woman. I too have a dream that one day black men will not think of power in America as the ul- By Aaron Graham James Walter Smith, a first- year law student here at North Carolina College was one of the 11 students from various uni versities in the United States and Puerto Rico participating in the 1966 Exoeriment in In ternational Living Summer Program in Great Britain. The Experiment in Interna tional Living is a private, non profit, non-sectarian organiza tion in the field of international education founded in 1932. The organization was founded in an attempt to answer one of the most pressing nuestions of our times; “Can peoole of different nations understand one another well enough to see to it that their governments live peace fully t o g e t h e r?” James W. Smith was to answer this ques tion after eight weeks in Great Britain. According to Smith, the eight weeks were divided into two parts. Four weeks were spent living with a host family, and four weeks were soent traveling through the country. He said he spent four weeks in Scot land, three weeks in England, and one week in France. The Paris trip was not directly sponsored by the experiment. Smith, a native of Louisburg, North Carolina, who now re sides in Brooklyn, New York, says that if he had to sum the British people up in one sen tence, he would say, “The Bri tish people, in particular, pos sess that hospitality which makes anybody from anywhere feel right at home.” timate assimulation of himself into white culture but to use what resources he has as an in fluence to fit his needs in this society. Two questions were asked of the Louisburg native: What was the most contrasting difference he found in the people, and what was Ms most memorable experience? In answering the first, he said, “There isn’t much difference in the people, only in minor things, such as the food they eat, the driving of cars on the left side of the road, and the different types of dances; but the people are about the same. He answered the second question by saying, “My most memorable experience was liv ing in the home of my Scottish host, Mr. and Mrs. Scott John stone. I had access to their home just as if it were mine.” The Experiment in Interna tional Living selects people with initiative and curiosity; people of leadership in extra curricular activities who can get along with others and who have a satisfactory academic record. In summer 1966 this ex periment sent representatives to 36 different countries in search of the answer to a most press ing question. “Can different na tions with different govern ments live peacefully togeth er?” Smith was asked this question. He said, “After a sum mer in Great Britain, under the Experiment in International Living Program, I have come to one conclusion: People of dif ferent nations can understand one another well enough to see to it that their governments live peacefully together.” Group Organizes (Continued from Page 1) All students interested in read ing will be invited to attend and to participate in the pro gram which they will help to formulate. When you can't afford to be dull, sharpen your wits with NoDoz,„ I M NoDoz Keep Alert Tablets fight off the hazy, lazy feelings of mental sluggishness. NoDoz helps restore your natural mental vitality...helps quicken physical reactions. You be come more naturally alert to people and conditions around you. Yet NoDoz is as safe as coffee. Anytime .. .when you can't afford to be dull, sharpen your wits with NoDoz. SAFE AS COFFEE NoOoi F R E E P A R KIN G While making or redeeming a loan on anything of value — we pay the parking ticket! Durham’s Largest Pawnbrokers Use our service — your fathers did! Five Points Loan Company, Inc. 339 W. Main St. at Five Points Welcome Students And Faculty CUT-RATE SUPER MARKET “SffOP AISD SAVE AT CUT-RATE” PHONE 682-9254 904 FAYETTEVILLE STREET SPI ilGHT'S AUTO SERVICE Business W ith A SouV’ Theodore Speight, Proprietor • SPEEDY ROAD SERVICE • CAR REPAIRS • GASOLINE AND CAR OIL • FUEL OIL PHONE 682-3575 Comer of Pettigrew and Fayetteville Streets
North Carolina Central University Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 7, 1966, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75