Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / Feb. 13, 1998, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Broncos’ Voice February 13,1998 J OUR VOICES “AMISTAD: Should America Aplogize for Slavery?” Dr. Manning Marable In recent weeks since the release of Steven Spielberg’s new film, “Amistad,” a major public debate has emerged about the continuing burden of slavery within the radicalized culture of America. Much as the televised depiction of sla very in Alex Haley’s “Roots” two decades ago captures the public imagination, “Amistad” has generated new awemess and interest in America’s “pe culiar institution” of black bondage. Spielberg’s film focuses on actual historical event, the 1839 slave uprising aboard the Spansh ship, Amistad. Led by Cinque’, the Africans seized control of the ship, which was ultimately captured by the US navy off Long Island. Aboli tionists rallied to defend the legal rights of the imprisoned Africans. After a series of court hearings, the former salves were freed by the US supreme court, and were per mitted to return to Africa. In a general way, Spielberg keeps to these central facts, but tells the story in a manner that places white men, not African people, at the heart of t h e narative. What is truly fasci- nating to Spielberg is the complex, ambivalent figure of former president John Quincy Adams, who agreed to defend the Amistad rebels be fore the Supreme Court. Some critices of “Amistad” have attacked the seriees of historical distortions and fic tional characters utilized by Spielberg, such as the black abolitionist character depicted by Morgan Freeman, or the scene where Adams enter tains Cinque’ in his home, which never happened. To me, such concerns are not sig- Magizine blunty put it, “Should America Ap[oloigize for Slavery?...Lomg descirbed as America;s original sin, slavery is also our shadow: dogging our steps forward, projecting in black against the sunlight of democratic ideals.’ Long described as Americans original sin, slavery is also our shadow: dog ging our steps forward, projecting in black against the sunlight of demo cratic ideals, ” nificant. Artists and filmakers should have some literary li cense to dramatize real events. The larger questions should be concerned about should focus on the racial politics behind the contempory discussion about slavery. As Newsweek There are so many problems and such deep-rac- ism in the Newsweek sentence above, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Maybe the fist poiunt to be made is that virtually all people and civilizations have experienced enslavement. Thorough most history, slaves were not indentified by the color of their skin. Most greeks who lived in ancient athens, peole we todya would define John R. Douglas: Our Black History Month Hero byAlysiaR. Wilson Last semester, I wrote an article entitled “Living On the Dock of the Bay.” Originally, the article was written in sym pathy for a man on this cam pus that I thought was home less; however after speaking with him, I found out that he was not. My basis for think ing that he was homeless was the mere fact that I saw him digging through that trash cans on this campus everyday, in search of recyclable items. Rather than “dis” him, I de cided to make myself a part of his life by bagging my own trash ( i.e. cans and plastic bottles) and giving it to him. This was a good deed, but I wanted to know more about this man. . . his life, his struggles. I interviewed him. John R. Douglas, a native of Jackson, Tennessee, is the man that I met. He is a man with the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations that we all have in life; but to many people, he is just a bum, a hoodlum, a thug. He faces the same struggles that we all, as Afri can-Americans, face. How ever, those of us who choose to ignore him because we think he is dirty or dangerous be cause of his appearance and his “profession” are rnissing out on a hero. Mr. Douglas came to Fayetteville in 1958 as the As sistant Manager of Holiday Inn. With the help of a few young men, who had recently graduated from college, Mr. Douglas directed the opening of six Holiday Inn franchises along the east coast. After doing so, he let the men that he had trained take over the hotel management business, and he moved to Monterey, California. In sunny Califor nia, he worked as a plumber at Ft. Ord, until he was trans ferred to Ft. Bragg, where he would work for sixteen years. It was here that he decided to start recycling. This decision stemmed from his observa tions of the retired soldiers at Ft. Bragg ant Ft. Ord who did so to pay for the expensive vehicles they had purchased. Today, Mr. Douglas is still recycling and making a suffi cient amount of money doing so. He is seventy-one years old with fifteen children; for sons, three of which are dead, and eleven daughters. From these children, he is the proud grandfather of eighty-two grand and great-grandchildren. During our interview, he men tioned two of his children that he is extremely proud of, say ing, “[They are] independent and [they] never take back seat to anyone or down.” The children that he was speaking of are his daughter, who is the manager of a K-Mart in Rich mond, California and his son, who is a retired Sergeant Ma jor. Mr. Douglas was seven when his father was killed. Since he did not know his mother, he was left to be raised by the white people for whom he worked. He began traveling (from Detroit to Chi cago to Maryland and back) and establishing his own life at age nine. So, as you can see, he has had a hard life, but he has managed to make it through without going crazy. In this, John R. Douglas is a hero. During Black History Month, we have a tendency to focus solely on historical fig ures. Though that is the gen eral purpose of the month, we should take a moment to look at the heroes of today. These people aren’t necessarily people that pave the way for future passage of laws or do things that change the world, rather they are simply people that do positive things in our communities. Mr. Douglas’ recycling benefits our planet Earth'; but his life, his struggles, and strength can benefit each of us individually. This Black History Month, 1998, we should hot only cel ebrate those that came before us, but also the. strong broth ers and sisters that are around us, to include ourselves. Af ter all, a generation is nothing without a past .Without a pasl> there is no present. A present with no direction or hope, can have no future. INJURY from pg. 1 Robinson was offered and accepted the opportunity to meet with the university’s le gal counsel, Ms. Wanda L. Jenkins, to discuss her legal op tions. However, Robinson said that at this time she didn’t know what her next course of action might be. Although Hood Hall was one of the many buildings that benefitted from the $6 million in dormitory renovations that were completed in 1995, and although hs roof was identified as needing repairs, budget con straints forced administrators to prioritize the overall repairs made to the historic building. Fixing the roof was given a lower priority (new air condi tioning and upgrading the bath rooms came first), but because of this latest incident, the roof’s priority status was heightened and placed on a timeline that should have it re paired this summer. as white were slaves, jew of course, experince long periodsof bondage. The great majority of Europens who settled this nation befoer 1800 arricved as indentured ser vants, gorced to work for certian trems of year. These historical facts are important, because the point must be made that slavery was about economic exploitation, not just about color. What was different about slavey I nthe americas and the Caribbean was the construc tion of white supremavy— am ideologuy of privilege and power that rationalized black bondgae. Legal slavery wsa lutlawed mor that 130 years ago, but the ideology of white racsim is still powerfiil today. The question, “Should Amercia Apologize?”, raises additional problems. Any apol ogy involves two elements: the recogintioj that one peroson or party has offended a second party, and that there is an at tempt to express regret and make amends. An apology without some compensation to the agreed party is a empty gestur, word uttered without meaning. ^‘Legacy”frompjg. 2 During slavery, the slave mas ters classified people as qua droons and octoroons (persons with a quarter and an eighth of African blood in them, re spectively). Though these ac- Imowledgments may seem to hint to a greater level of con sideration for people’s ethnic background than that which we have today, this was not the case. These labels were created for the sole purpose of identifying who was more tainted with black blood than whom. It was this kind of thinking which was responsible for the notion that says, “If you’re not white you’re black.” However, in these modem times where an open mind is the key to successful interac tion with one’s fellowman, we cannot allow these archaic and insensitive views of thousands of racist planters and their families to dictate the way in which we look at ourselves. How often have we heard someone say, “My dog is a Labrador crossed with Dober man and ridge back” or any of the other various combinations of cross breeding among dogs Bronco Pnde! A S
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