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NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
JANUARY 14,1993
(Editorials
Chancellor Deserves
University Support
Welcome back. Eagles.
We hope that everyone had a Happy New Year, and we
wish everyone success in all their endeavors for 1993.
We also welcome our new students, staff, and especially our
new chancellor Julius L. Chambers.
We hope that Chambers is prepared for a productive first
year with NCCU.
Chancellor Chambers can accomplish this by having open
communication with the student government, the staff, and
most important the students of NCCU.
In these critical times of financial aid cutbacks and the lack
of respect between some students and staff, we do not need a
phantom chancellor-that is, someone who’s only involved
with the problems of the university on a surface level. We
need someone to probe deeply into problems that face this
university. We need a chancellor that’s willing to guide NCCU
into the 21 century. Chambers said during a Faculty Senate
Meeting during Homecoming that he plans to assist NCCU
become a recognized force of intelligence in the RTF area.
We applaud him for his aspiration and hope that his staff is
willing to accept the challenges.
The chancellor cannot do everything alone. He will need
the assistance of those students who have complained about
the problems of the University and talked about what they
should do and how they should do it.
These students involve themselves with student government
or any other organization that is committed to making
changes they want. Together “we”-the entire University com
munity-can solve problems the anonymous “they” could never
tackle.
May he bring us all together, and may we bring ourselves
together to welcome him. In that spirit we welcome the chan
cellor to the campus
by Mike Peters
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Thoughts of Malcolm X: The Man,
His Beliefs, And The Movie X
1993: A New Year, A New Chance for Students
Welcome back from your Christmas vacation. We at the
Campus Echo hope that you had a safe, restful and enjoyable
holiday. As the semester opens, the Echo looks forward to a
new year of reporting the news to the students of North Caro
lina Central University.
Once again we ask the students of North Carolina Central
University to participate in the school newspaper. A great
newspaper is accomplished by the hard work and dedication of
people with different personalities and different skills.
When you look back upon your college years willyou say
that you have accomplished the goals you set as a freshman?
What organizations have you joined, what have you been
involved in and most importantl)^ what insights have you
gained about yourself?
The Campus Echo wants to give you a chance to explore
your own strengths, learn about the campus and the world of
news, entertainment and sports, from a new perspective.
Come join us on our journey.
It’s a ride well worth the trip
If you are interested in joining the Campus Echo Staff,
contact Jason Williams, Dezmona Mizelle or Maurice Crocker
at 560-6504 or in room 319 Farrison-Newton Communications
Building. We are currently looking for news, sports, entertain
ment reporters and artists and persons to work on layout.
Congratulations, NCCU
Men's Basketball Team!!!
9-0
We Wish You Much
Success
For this month,
Malcolm X is probably the
most talked about per
sonage in America. Vir
tually every major maga
zine in America has ran a
cover story on Malcolm X
in the last few months;
clothing sporting the “X”
insignia are in vogue from
Harlem to Westchester;
popular songs lionize him;
and now he is the subject
of a more than three hour-
long niotion picture. Yet
at the time of his murder
in 1965, it would have
seemed impossible he
would become a defining
figure in popular culture
and public discourse.
In the eariy 1960s,
Malcolm X was the na
tional spokesman of the
Nation of Islam, a bizarre
cult that taught that blacks s
were superior to other
races-who they believed
were genetically engi
neered by a mad scientist
in ancient times. He was
also, by his own account,
a reformed pimp, drug
dealer, and thief. It later
turned out that he was a
man capable of intellec
tual and spiritual growth,
and he spent the last
months of his short life in
a quest for truth. He was a
man with a penchant for
igniting controversy. But
he was a man who, at the
end of his life, affirmed
his dedication to
“help(ing) to destroy the
racist cancer that is malignant in
the body of America.” He came to
believe that through worshipping
God and living'a’ dedicated ittli.^
gious life, all people could come
together and see each other alihiih"
not as races.
Malcolm X was both a radi
cal and a conservative—a believer
in “extremism in defense of liberty,
extremism in quest of library,” yet
a man of great reserve, who dressed
in severe clothes, who disapproved
of dancing and athletics, who
condemned alcohol, tobacco, pork,
and women’s liberation, who
preached indefatigably in favor of
what we call today “family values.”
He taught self-respect, but a self-
respect bom of good woiks and
life lived according God’s
commandments. As his widow
Betty Shabazz says today,
Malcolm’s message to black people
can be summed up,”no one can
oppress you for 400 years unless
you allow it.” In other words, he
thought that the black man’s
greatest problem was the that he
had come to believe that he was
Kially was inferior.
By embracing the religious life
and accepting God, a black man
could overcome his false feelings
of inadequacy. Likewise, a white
man could, by the same means,
cast off his mantle of assumed su
periority and view of other colors
as equals.
This idea is central to under
standing both the message and the
man. Malcolm X was a minister—
a devout, practicing Moslem—^who
sincerely believed he was doing
God’s will by preaching black
liberation. As a religious man, he
understood that the key to freedom
comes from within the oppressed,
f ; th^,^l|-;ie^katipn and a personal,
Teladc^liip'with God are prereq-
Wfe’s ob
stacles. His political utterances—
from “By any means necessary,”
to his infamous comment about the
Kennedy assassination’s being a
case of “chickens coming home to
roost”—must be understood
through the context of this reli
gious perspective.
First and foremost, Malcolm
X was not a buffoon, quite imlike
so many of the people who have
hijacked his legacy today. Rappers,
whose lyrics about Malcolm X
pretend to be deep, are no more
than self-indulgent prattling. Spike
Lee, a cnide loudmouth, uses his
film about Malcolm as a spring
board for self-promotion. One
could turn on the television and
hear Lee proclaim, “Carl Rowan is
a house nigger!” It is now crimi
nals, gangstars, and street thugs
who cry “by any means neces
sary,” but to justify wantonmurder
and drag dealing rather than to
advance black people.
The actor Ossie Davis,
eulogizing Malcolm, called
him, “our manhood, or living
black manhood. And in honor
ing him, we honor the best in
ourselves. “Rap stars who urge
killing Jews, Koreans, or cops;
punks who start firefights in
our streets over drug turf;
wealthy Hollywood blacks who
gratuitously throw around the
word “nigger,” are not honor
ing Malcolm, or the best in
black Americans. All of this is
the very antithesis of self-re
spect; indeed ofothers is, as Bruce
Perry argues in his biography of
Malcolm, a manifestation of self-
^ hataad.-.'
Somehow, the real message
' that Malcolm X embodied has been
lost. That message is an austere
one. It teaches that everyone must
be fully responsible for himself
first, before he demands respect
from others. And a key part of this
self-actualization is defining a per
sonal relationship with God.
This won’t be a popular
message today. The media and
the establishment black lead
ership explain to us that anyone
who talks about “God” is part
of a sinister plot by the “reli
gious right,” with more in
common with Pat Robertson
than most of the left-leaning
black leaders. Few consider
that it might be precisely those
fundamental values preached
by Malcolm X that black
Americans—
and all Americans—need to
regain to restore some decency
to our nation
Ironically, Lee’s movie
might undo some of the untruth
that surrounds the legend of
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (as
Malcolm came to be known
after his conversion to ortho
dox Islam). While the film is
somewhat worshipful, it por
trays Malcolm as a Man, not a
fool, not someone who despised
others without cause, but rather
as a man who respected
himself,who respected God,and
and who respected his people
the way we ought to respect
ourselves.
The Campus Echo
The Student Newspaper of North Carolina Central University
Editor-in-Chief-Jason Williams
Associate Editor-Dezmona Mizelle
Business Manager-Yolanda Alexander
Entertainment Editor-Reginald Jones
Layout Editor-Sereion Humphrey
News Editor-Maurice Crocker,
Staff Writers-Anthony Cooper, Rhonda Robinson,
Deborah Williams
Our Policy On Letters
The Campus Echo welcomes letters from students,
faculty, administrators and anyone else interested in the
North Carolina Central University community. Letters
must be no more than 300 words in length. The editors
of The Campus Echo reserve the right to edit all letters
for correctness and length. Address your letters to The
Campus Echo, Department of English, North Carolina
Central University, Durham, NC 27707.
How To Publicize Your Club
Or Organization In The Echo
The Campus Echo publishes news of campus meetings and
events, achievements, honors and activities of students, faculty
and staff. If you want your activity or event to be written up in the
Echo, just send a news release or fact sheet to The Campus Echo,
c/o The Department of English, NCCU. We encourage you to
send photographs when they are available. Let us hear from you.