Film captures HBCU experience
Nigel
Alston
Motivational
Moments
"He will challenge their
traditions . Their traditions will
change his life." .
? from the movie, "Stomp
The Yard"
I was reminded of the neb!
experience gained from altend J
ing a black college this week,'
end after seeing the movi*,
"Stomp The Yard." The movie
is a love story between pj
Williams (Columbus Short) and
April (Meagan Good). It is ilso
about a rivalry of fraternities
and their quest to be recogilized
as the best stepper; in a nation
al competition. And, it is about
being part of something bigger
than you. A lesson DJ finally
comes to understand.
It took me back, way back
to a time of meeting new peo
ple, developing relationships
that have weathered the test of
time, finding love and falling in
love, finding myself, pledging a
fraternity and living up to its
cardinal principles. The movie
is about all those things and
more. By the time it was over,
my wife and I were ready to do
a two-person step show; then
? we came to our senses and
laughed out loud, realizing that
stepping has passed us by.
Drew Belton introduced me
to Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
\ Like me, he was a member of
the football team, and for some
reason, decided to invite me to
an Omega party early in my
freshman year. That was all it
took for me to know what fra
- temity I would join. It was and
is common for fraternities and
sororities to recruit those they
would like to join their organi
zation and invite them to
events.
That's the hook that capti
vated DJ after enrolling in Truth
University. Rival fraternity
leaders attempted to recruit him
MB CI L?? ? tn .... i J
Nigel, left, with a frat brother at Livingstone College.
with promises of being the best,
with lasting friendships that
would prove beneficial, and, of
course, the opportunity to step
against the other fraternity.
The movie does an excel
lent job of being authentic in
portraying black college life
and not just with the phenome
nal stepping it showcases. It
would be easy to get caught up
in the stepping competition and
phenomenal moves and miss
the heart of the message - char
acter building and what it takes
tasucceed - teamwork.
1 learned similar lessons
while pledging. At the time, in
April 1972, there were three
guys pledging - one Alpha, one
Kappa and one Omega. That
was it. The Kappa was a friend
of mine and also a fellow foot
ball player. I would often hide
in his room late at night to"avotd
my "big brothers." It was diffi
cult pledging with 32 big broth
ers always after you, studying
and playing football.
I was number one on my
line. Actually, I was the only
ONE. I pledged by myself. I
was the "Only
Commandment," which was
my line name. My wife. Sarah.
also pledged at the same time
on a line of 17, known as the
"17 Drops of Soul." I could
identify with DJ, who saw a
beautiful girl (April) walk by as
he was standing in line to regis
ter for classes. He had to meet
her and he did. She would play
an important role in his life. I
saw a similar young woman
walking across the campus of
Livingstone College my fresh
man year, in a mini skirt. She
captured my attention. I would
later meet her and become
engaged years later. We have
been married for 29 years now.
I did quit once though. I just
couldn't take it any longer. I
wrote a long letter explaining
that I was not going to continue.
I would pledge later, I told
them. I couldn't make the con
nection between what I was
going through and the bigger
picture of brotherhood . Those
from the "old' school" know
what I am talking about.
Fortunately for me, I was talked
out of quitting and made it
across those "bjiming sands." I
persevered. 1 am glad I did.
And that is what DJ did.
Questioning why he should
pledge a fraternity. April asks
him if he has been to Heritage
Hall. He had not. Visiting it
later would be a pivotal
moment in the movie and in his
life. It is in this hall full of his
tory - a photo exhibit - that he
examines and connects the dots
and sees all the different frater
nity and sorority members form
Martin Luther King, Jr. to Rosa
Parks, and Dr. Betty Shabazz to
Michael Jordan. It is that sense
of history that inspires him to
take the next step.
It was that sense of history
for me too and the principles of
manhood, scholarship, perse
verance and uplift that appealed
to me . The one thing I have quit
though was stepping. It is hard
for one person to put on a
dynamic step show. I tried once.
It wasn't pretty. Of course, the
value in pledging is bigger than
stepping. That's what DJ
learned at Truth University.
Nigel Alston is a radio talk
show host, columnist and moti
vational speaker. He is a mem
ber of the Winston-Salem State
University Board of Trustees.
Visit his Web site at wwwmoti
vationalmoments^om.
Apologizing for slavery isn't enough
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
A Virginia legislator created
a stir recently when said Whites
living today shouldn't apolo
gize for slavery. If subjugation
of African-Americans had
ended with slavery, that would
be one thing. But the rancid
stench of state-sponsored
racism extended well into the
1960s. So. if there is to be an
apology in Virginia or any other
state, it should not be limited to
slavery.
Consider the following,
taken from the National Park
Service Web site, that I recount
in some of my speeches: f
From the 1800s into the
mid-1960s, there were Jim
Crow laws mandating separa
tion of the races. They were
comprehensive, covering every
imaginable circumstance such
as toilet facilities, railroads,
buses, education, the selling of
wine and beer, restaurants,
housing, parks. hospital
entrances, prisons, textbooks,
libraries, circus tickets, theaters,
reform school, fishing, lunch
counters, theaters, telephone
booths, cemeteries, and. above
all intermarriage.
Let's look at a few of them:
North Carolina had a law
that said: "Books shall not be
interchangeable between the
white and colored' schools, but
shall continue to be used by the
race first using them."
Mississippi: "There shall be
maintained by the governing
authorities of every hospital
maintained by the state for treat
ment of white and colored
patients separate entrances for
white and colored patients and
visitors, and such entrances
shall be used by the race only
for Which they are prepared ."
Georgia had one governing
mental hospital that provided:
"The Board of Control shall see
t|>at proper and distinct apart
ments are arranged for said
patients, so that in no case shall
Negroes and white persons be
together."
'So if you were mentally ill.
you couldn't be together in
Georgia. Louisiana even kept
blind people apart. Its law stat
ed, "The board of trustees
shall .. .maintain a separate
building... on separate ground
for the admission, care, instruc
tion, and support of all blind
persons of the colored or black
race."
Blacks and Whites not only
couldn't interact on a normal
basis while they were alive,
they were even kept apart after
they had aied.
A Georgia law stated.'The
officer in charge shall not bury,
or allow to be buried, any col
ored persons upon ground set
apart or used for the burial of
white persons."
These Jim Crow laws wj;re
rigorously enforced against
children as well as adults.
Not only could the Jim
Crow laws not be violated.
Southern customs were also
enforced.
In 1951 - three years before
the Brown decision - Mark
Ingram, a Black man in
Yanceyville, N.C., was prose
cuted for assault with intent to
rape because, standing 70 feet
away, he supposedly
"undressed" a 1 7-year-old,
White girl with his eyes. That
became known as reckless eye
balling [Randall Kennedy,
Interracial Intimacies, p. 1%
and Jack Green berg. Crusaders
in the Courts, P. 1 0 1 ] .
We all know about Emmett
Till the 14-year-old boy who
was murdared in Mississippi in
1955 for allegedly whistling at a
White woman. He Was brutally
beaten, shot in the head, and
thrown into a river.
In 1958, in Monroe, N.C.,
two Black boys - Fuzzy
Simpson, age 7, and Hanover
Thompson, age 9, were invited
to join a group of five White
children, including two girls.
One of the girls remembered
that she had played with
Hanover when his mother
worked as a maid in her fami
ly's house. Oveijoyed at being
reunited with her old playmate,
she kissed him on the cheek.
That wasn't quite the kiss of
death but it was close. When the
girl innocently told her mother,
the two boys were arrested, and
convicted of attempted rape.
The Juvenile Court judge sen
tenced Fuzzy to 12 years in jail
and Hanover to 14. Fortunately,
there was a public outcry and
President Eisenhower got the
governor to intervene
[Kennedy, P. 197-1981.
What we collectively refer
to as Brown et al. v. Board of
Education of Topeka et al pro
duced three Brown decisions.
The first one in 1954 outlawed
"separate but equal" schools
because they violated the 14th
Amendment to the
Constitution. The second one.
handed down on May 31 . 1955,
held that school must be deseg
regated "with all deliberate
speed." Of course, "all deliber
ate speed" ended up being
almost no speed at all. The third
Brown case was filed in U.S.
District Court in Topeka on
Nov. 19, 1979 by a group of
parents. including Linda
Brown, whose father was the
lead plaintiff in the original
case. They charged that Topeka
still refused "to fully carry out"
the 1954 court decision. An
appeals court agreed with them,
saying: 'Topeka has not suffi
ciently countered the effects of
both the momentum of its prc
Brown segregation and its sub
sequent acts in the 1960s." That
order was not lifted until 1999.
Yes, there is plenty to apol
ogize for, but it doesn't stop
with slavery.
? George E. Curry is editor
in-chief of the NNPA News
Service and
BlackPressVSAjCom. To con
tact, go to his Web site,
vmwgeorgecurrycom .
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