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February Z6
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
through
March 2,199b
Issue 56
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Wednesday, February 14,1996
Seale claims 'cheap* hislory
Black Panther Party co-founder shatters false notions
By Alicia B. Williams
Managing Editor
Bobby Seale made manifest the
faultiness of “cheap” history in a
standing-room only lecture on the
Black Panther Party in the B.N.
Duke Auditorium, Wednesday,
January 23,1996.
The salt and pepper haired Seale,
clad in a grey sports jacket and blue
shirt, looked deep into the audience
and proclaimed that he had come to
explain “the positive action of what
really went down.”
He began his Journey through
the retrospective by pointing out
that the majority of what was
portrayed in the movie. Panther,
directed by Mario and Melvin Van
Peebles, was untrue.
“You let people write little
pieces of cheap history and believe
it to be true,” Seale said. “Ninety
percent of what has been portrayed
on thescreenneverhappened,never
occured in the Black Panther Party
in the United States of America.”
Seale said that the media
perception that he and Black
Panther Party co-founder, Huey P.
Newton, were thugs, was
unfounded.
“We were not hoodlums and
thugs, brothers and sisters. The
Black Panther Party grew out of
young, black intelligentisia out of
Merritt College,” he said.
He said that “ Van Peebles dumb
Panthermovie,” never explored the
fact that he was a jazz drummer,
stand-up comedian, carpenter, four
year Air Force member and
engineeringdesignmajoratMerritt
College.
“But I’m a thug,” he said,
sheepishly.
Seale told the packed crowd of
the Party’s true begiiming, and
coalition-based work with any other
organization geared toward
bringing about change.
He drew this parallel of the need
for holistic humanity to the Nation
of Islam.
Seale affirmed that the demise
Bobby Seale came to NCCU to set the record straight
of the B lack Panther Party grew from
the fear of the FBI, headed by J.
Edgar Hoover, that the cooperational
humanism displayed by the Black
Panthers and other left wing
organizations would really bring
about revolutionary change in
America.
Referring to the Nation, Seale
said, “You waste so much time
hating...We don’t hate white people,
we hate oppression.”
Seale also addressed the Black
Panther Party’s intent for carrying
guns.
He said that civil rights
organizations had constantly been
brutalized for peace, so the guns kept
the police at bay, while stirring the
imagination of fhe people.
He also said that they researched
every California gun law before
going on one police patrol.
“Our objective was to capture the
imagination of the people to organize,
to vote, and to elect more minority
officials to office,” he said. “They
didn’t tell you that!”
But Seale admitted that the
election of Black officials and the
changing of written- law is only a
half victory.
“Half of those black politicians
ain’t worth doodly-squat!” he said.
Looking towards the future, Seale
advised the crowd that the best
consciousness-raiser in the world is
active involvement.
He said that too many times people
are sincere in the struggle, but get
caught in the traps.
“I know where I come from, but I
don’t dwell on that,” Seale said.
“Move beyond the myth. Racism
is based on insidious fears.”
He also told students to familiarize
themselves with the information
highway and to reach out to attain
the highly advanced technological
levels of understanding that science
allows, which have nothing to do
with race.
“Cooperational humanism,
brothers and sister, all liberation is
related.” he said.
Seale, now the community liason
for the African-American Studies
Program at Temple University, is
best known for being the legendary
co-founder of theBlack Panther Party
of Self-Defense, who was bound and
gagged in the Chicago seven trial for
conspiracy to disrupt the 1968
Democratic Convention.
Jazz ensemble to compete in Switzerland
Campus Echo Staff
The North Carolina Central
University Jazz Ensemblehas been
invited to participate in the
Montreux Jazz Festival in
Montreux, Switzerland.
The NCCU group, directed by
Ira Wiggins, will perform in the
part of the festival known in
English as Montreux Jazz Festival
Off, which highlights new talent
in the jazz world.
The festival, to be held July 5-
20 in the Swiss resort town, also
includes many of the world’s
foremostprofessional jazz artists.
J. Richard Dunscomb of
Hollywood, Fla., the American
CoordinatOT for the Montreux Jazz
Festival, issued the invitation in a
letter informing Wiggins that the
North Carolina Central University
Jazz Emsemble has met the ,
necessary musical standard to
perform in Montreux.
Dunscombe told Wiggins, “I
really enjoyed your CD, it’s high
quality, first class jazz! They will
love you in Montreux.”
The Montreux Jazz Festival is
among the oldest and most
prestigious jazz festivals in Europe,
covered by 500 journalists
annually.
Performers who have appeared
in Montreux Jazz Festival Off and
gone on to national and
international stardom include Roy
Hargroves, Marcus Roberts, and
the New York Voices.
Wiggins said the Jazz Ensemble
will begin fund-raising efforts to
acquire the travel costs for the
festival as soon as possible.
“We’re going to try very hard
to do this,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins has directed the NCCU
Jazz Studies Program for nine
years. The Jazz Ensemble’s first
compact disc recording, “Central
Visions,” was officially released
in November and has enjoyed
notable success in regional sales.
Environmental Affairs
Poor communities face
serious health hazards
Victor Blue
News Editor
Environmental hazards pose a
serious threat to life in many black
and poor communities in North
Carolina.
Few sciraitists, journalists or
residents of these areas are even
aware of the dangers associated
with environmental problems.
Amal Abu-Shakra, an assistant
biology professoratNOTthCarolina
Central University, has received a
grant from Learn and Serve
America to help her and her stu
dents increase awareness of envi
ronmental hazards in the Durham
community. The $3,060 grant,
which will be used this semester, is
being offered by the Historically
Black College and University Net
work.
The course is designed to intro
duce students to the various aspects
of environmental science that are
involved in studying air pollution,
water pollution, occupational
hazards, environmental disasters
and environmental research.
“When I first came to North
Carolina Central University, I was
impressed with the connection
between the university communi ty
and Durham,” Abu-Shakra said.
Chancellor Julius Chambers has
stressed involvement in the
school’s community service pro
gram, she said.
The community service pro
gram is an educational strategy
which allows NCCU students to
learn and participate in thought
fully organized public service ac
tivities. The program also helps
faculty members find grant money
to conduct their community-based
activities.
Abu-Shakra has conducted
post-doctoral research in the area
of environmental science at the
National Institute of Environmen
tal Health Sciences (1987-1990)
and the U.S. Environmental Pro
tection Agency (1990-1993), both
located in the Research Triangle
Park.
Abu-Shakra said she wants to
empower students in her course to
tackle emerging environmental
problems that have direct influ
ence on the community and to
provide the students with valuable
contacts in the area of environ
mental health.
Students in the course this se
mester will focus on Legionnaire ’ s
Disease, a condition which stems
from contaminated water inclosed
environments.
Last summer the disease
shocked the campus community
when the bateria was found in the
Shepard library.
This single case of
Legionnaire’s Disease did not
constitute a major outbreak but
was more than sufficient to make
students, staff and faculty become
more interested in learning about
the disease and its prevention.
The students’ findings in this
project can be copied and used to
handle other environmental haz
ards, Abu-Shakra said.
“There are several sources of
health risks in our direct commu
nity and the socio-economically
disadvantaged are always consis
tently at higher risk of those envi
ronmental hazards,” she said.
The NCCU Jazz Ensemble