.5A
OPINIONS/Oarlotte $o«t
Thursday, December 21,2006
Christmas and
college sports:
Who owns them?
What do big-time colleges sports have in common with
Christmas? It is a question of ownership.
Elvery year, the holiday season seems to bring new ways
for people to argue about how others are trying to take
Christmas away for “us,” raising the question, who owns
Christmas?
Last ye£u-, I wrote about how some reli
gious and political leaders had criticized the
use of terms like “hohday” and “season’s
greetings” when they are used in place of
“Christmas” in advertising and greeting
r . cards. Some of them urged us to boycott
businesses that were not using “Christmas”
in their holiday ads.
But the threat to the real Christmas is not
the failure to use the “Christmas” term in
connection with the orgy of holiday sales,
parties, and parades. The real danger is the surrender of
the religious holy day to a holiday season that has less and
less to do with its religious origins.
Even the non-commercial aspects of the season have
become so divorced from religion, that some atheists
embrace the celebration, as reported in a recent New York
Times article, “The Grinch Delusion: An Atheist Can
Believe in Christmas” by Randy Kennedy.
The article quotes Sam Harris, a best selling author and
defender of atheism, “It seems to me to be obvious that
everything we value in Christmas - giving gifts, celebrat
ing the holiday with our families, enjoying all of the kitsch
that comes along witii it — aU of that has been entirely
appropriated by the secular world.”
Last year I urged that those who wanted to protect the
“real Christmas” should distance their observances from
the other winter holiday activities. If they, for instance,
owned the “Christmas” trademark, like Disney owns
■ “Mickey Mouse” and Coca-Cola owns “Coke” they should
• restrict the use of that term to religious observances relat
ing to the celebration of the birth of Jesus and rejecting all
‘ commercial “exploitation” of the term. Of course, nothing of
the sort is going to happen.
Tbo many “Christians” have bought into the commercial
and secular holiday. Many of us have important economic
interests in Christmas as we know it. This kind of
‘ Christmas has so wrapped itself around our culture that
" Santa Claus is as sacred as the Christ Child and “Jingle
'■ BeUs” is as holy as “0 Holy Night.”
' Purists like me urge that we break away from nonreli
gious activities of Christmas. But, if we got what we ask
for, there would be a big problem. If Christmas were sim
ply a religious holy day, if it had to stand without the sup
port of tile traditions of the secular festivities, would it give
• the Christian religion the same boost that Christmas gives
' it?
The holiday, with all of its faults, is a blitz marketing
time for Christians. The institutional advertising from
; Christmas is better than hundreds of thirty-second ads on
' a Super Bowl broadcast, in terms of building the brand
' and gathering support. Christmas the way we celebrate it
' may not be pure Christianity, but today’s Christianity
probably cannot do without it. Nothing to brag about to be
sure, but it’s come to that. Here is where the connection to
big-time college sports comes in.
Although it is hard to rationalize the partnership
between the multimillion dollar sports business that is
connected to our great colleges and universities, there is no
doubt that much of the support for many of those institu
tions has become dependent on success in the sports busi
ness.
The bread and butter service of imiversities is to do
groundbreaking research, to serve their communities, and
to prepare students to succeed. Purists like me can argue
all day long that big time sports complicate and compro
mise these efforts. The power of the sports establishments
in universities gives them incredible independence and
separation from university governance. The universities
that are identified with them no longer really own them.
But the universities cannot do without them.
The attention and the broad based loyalty that sports
, teams have brought their universities have been critical to
building the support that American universities get from
government and private donors.
It is not pretty and it is hard to defend-or even explain.
There is really nothing like it.
Except, perhaps, Christmas.
D.G. MARTIN is the host of UNC-TV’s “North Carolina
• Bookwatch,’’ which airs Sundays at 5pjn. Check his blog and view
prior programs at www.unctv.org/ncboohvatch/
Connect with TOJe ^oslt
a. Send letters to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box 30144 Charlotte, NC
28230 or e-mail editorial@thecharlottepost.com. We edit for gram
mar, clarity and space. Include your name and daytime phone num
ber.
Letters and photos will not be returned by mail unless accompa
nied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Are you ready to
bring back black?
I know I am. I am ready to connect with brothers and sisters who
are unwavering and unapologetic when it comes to who they are
and what their obligation is to our people. I am ready to stand
shoulder to shoulder with black folks who are unafraid and unflap
pable when attacked from without and from within.
I am ready to work with a new cadre of black leaders, not new in
experience but new as it relates to their current unsimg status,
their active youth status, and new in respect to what they have
done and are doing “under the radar screen” so to speak. There are
many “new” leaders out there, and I am ready to
follow them as we Bring Back Black.
The new book by W.D. Wright, The Crisis of the
Black Intellectual, which I highly recommend you
read, contains the following passage on page 311.
(Get your copy from Third World Press, Chicago.)
“Tbday there is no general black leadership and
the black political body is fragmented isolated,
individualistic, fanciful, delusional, susceptible to
posturing, and has no real sense of engaging with
black politics that are designed to help black peo
ple in America, specifically those millions still ‘stuck at the bottom.’
What could interrupt this situation and force blacks back to a gen
eral leadership and to a consciousness of black politics would be
the emergence of new and differently oriented local black leaders.
This would include some individuals drawn from those ‘stuck at
the bottom.’
There are enough black local leaders, commimity organizers,
and activists who could initiate this new and different leadership
across the country and who could consciously and actively seek to
recruit and train individuals ‘up from varied misery for local lead
ership.”
The weekend of December 8,2006 was the first step on a journey
some of us have taken before. It was the weekend when strong,
dedicated, determined, and consciously black brothers and sisters
gathered to begin the Bring Back Black movement. We came
together because we know W.D. Wright is correct in his assess
ment of black leadership. We came together to find one another, to
meet one another, to connect with one another, to support one
another, and to work with one another.
The Bring Back Black gathering comprised stalwart and res
olute black folks, some of who have been working for decades
empowering our people. No need to name them; they are not look
ing for the spotlight. No need to number them; they are not look
ing for accolades. This group, as well as those who wanted to be
there but could not, simply works to overcome the psychological
barriers that now prevent black people from moving forward
together as weU as individually.
They do their work quietly and without fanfare, in the same
manner that Frederick Douglass described Harriet Tubman and
' the work she did. They work by building their own businesses,
opening their own schools, and being serious about their political
involvement. They do their work by meeting payrolls from which
their black employees take care of their families. They do it by
standing up and speaking out against injustice and inequity. They
do it by sacrificing their time and their resources for the collective
cause of black people. That’s why they came to the Bring Back
Black gathering, which was held in the city Kwesi Mfume called
“ground zero:” Cincinnati.
I want to publicly state my gratitude to all who came, and those
who could not, foryour trust and confidence in me. Yes, I made the
call, but you came, and it was all of you who made our gathering a
milestone in the annals of our history in this country. It was you,
aU of us, who have etched a new thought into the minds of our peo
ple, a,thought that if nurtured and promoted, will sm-ely take root
and spring up as the movement we have searched for during the
past 40 years.
In the 1960ss we had the Black Power Movement, in which our
songs, our products, our language, oior clothing, our hair, our ges
tures, and our love of self, displayed a new thought, a new resolve,
and a new dedication. What happened to it? Those were the first
stages of what could have been a most powerful movement for
Black people. The remnants are still with us, but the substance of
collective progressiveness and prosperity are far lacking.
Shortly after Martin Luther King’s death, it seems black folks
were more susceptible to being bought off; they were more pliable
and, thus, easy targets for political and social program positions
and handouts. During that period, in which strong, fistiin-the-air,
black men and women capitulated to the temptations of betrayal,
we heard the death kneU of our movement. It was sad to see strong
black voices silenced by the line of “jobs” “grants” “sponsorships”
and appointments to “Advisory Boards.” But to many in 1960’s, I
suppose, it beat the alternative of being ostracized like Ibmmy
Smith and John Carlos were, or even murdered like Fred
Hampton was.
So what do we do now? We seek and follow new leadership; we
take more control of our children’s education; we get serious about
politics by playing to win rather than just playing to play; we take
better care of oiu bodies; we use technology and commercial
media, to its fullest, to tell our own story, because he who defines
you controls you; we cormect with our brothers and sisters in
Africa, in Haiti, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands, and in
Brazil’s Bahia, and in London, and throughout the world. And
finally, but importantly, we pool some of our money and invest in
our own projects.
Those are the things we did at our Bring Back Black meeting.
Now, I ask you again: Are you ready to Bring Back Black?
JAMES E. CUNGMAN, an adjunct professor at the University of
Cincinnati's African American Studies department, is former editor of the
Cincinnati Herald newspaper andfounder of the Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of Commerce. He hosts the radio program,
"Blackonomics," and has written several books. Web site: wwwblackonom-
ics.com . Telephone:. (513) 489-4132.
Xavier University
president in pursuit
of better soeiety
uroan i^eague
mnual confer-
■
Xavier University’s Norman Francis, the longest-
serving college president in the nation, was recently
chosen to receive the highest honor granted a civilian
-the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Few Americans
deserve this honor as much as Dr. Francis, who in
2005 was recognized by the National Urban League
recognized as a living legend at oim annual confer
ence in Washington, D.C.
His commitment to the education of [
African Americans in the fields of phar
macology, science and pre-med is
unparaHed. Xavier, one of the first and
longest-standing participants in our I
Black Executive Exchange Program,
graduates more black pharmacists, sci
entists and aspiring doctors than any MarC
institution nationwide. The university MORIAL
has accounted for roughly one-quarter
of black pharmacists practicing in the United States
and more future African-American doctors than any
other undergraduate school.
“These are the sorts of things that happen in one’s
lifetime that you never expect,” Dr. Francis told the
New Orleans Times Picayxme recently. ‘’I accept it for
all the people who made this possible, whose shoul
ders I’m standing on and who helped me be encour
aged to work hard and to serve the career that I
chose. They all are part of this award. It’s not for me
alone.”
The parents of Dr. Francis, bom in Lafayette, La. in
1931, knew their son was destined to go places. They
did all they could to send him to St. Paul Catholic ele
mentary and secondary schools. Though a barber and
homemaker of modest means, they made great sacri
fices to give their son the best education possible.
And Dr. Francis more than delivered on his
promise, first earning a B.S. from Xavier in 1952 and
then a J.D. from Loyola University Law School,
where he was the first black student. He couldn’t stay
in the dorms at Loyola because he was black so he
lived at his alma mater, serving as dean of men until
1956 when he joined the U.S. Army’s Third Armored
Division. He returned to his old job and in 1963 then
he was promoted to director of student personnel ser
vices. By 1968, Dr. Francis took the helm of nation’s
only historically black Catholic imiversity.
Over his nearly 40-year tenure, Xavier grew at an
unprecedented clip. The campus became known as
Emerald City for its lavish green landscaping and
housed a $15-million library; a 430-bed, $13 million
dorm and a $23-million science complex, including a
school of pharmacy. From 1999 to 2005, enrollment
increased 35 percent to more than 4,000 students,
and 470 graduates were accepted to medical schools.
But in August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed
everything. Not only was the first floor of Dr. Francis’
house reduced to “nothing but studs and walls” but
the university he led sustained major water and wind
damage, he told Tavis Smiley in 2005.
Floods resulting from breached levees in Katrina’s
aftermath rushed in, deluging the Xavier campus
and damaging every single building. That five years
earlier Congress had passed legislation exempting
private colleges and universities from Federal
Emergency Management Administration aid didn’t
help matters much. Xavier, which has a small endow
ment and whose students depend heavily on govern
ment aid, faced footing the bill for its own Katrina
recovery.
But that didn’t deter Dr. Francis. He not only
brought his university back to working order he
answered the call of his state by accepting the chair
manship of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. In this
capacity, he has figured prominently in efforts to help
Gulf Coast residents rebuild their lives in Katrina’s
wake.
Dr. Francis championed the notion that New
Orleans could be restored not only to its former but a
greater glory, challenging those who advocated
shrinking the city’s footprint after the storm. “One
thing that you can’t kill is the spirit and the dedica
tion that people have and we got a lot of people who
are dedicated to making this a different state and
every city a different place. We hope to use this oppor
tunity to make this state and our cities better than
what they once were. It’s not going to be easy,” he told
Tavis Smiley in 2005.
Xavier’s president has received commendation from
countless prominent figures, including Nelson
Mandela, President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jesse
Jackson and Pope John Paul II and has acquired
numerous honorary degrees. He joins the late John
“Buck” O’Neil, who up imtil his death served as the
Negro Leagues’ chief historian and also became the
first black coach in the major leagues, the great B.B,
King, literacy crusader Ruth Johnson Colvin, histori
an and journalist Paul Johnson and Nobel Prize-win
ning scientist Joshua Lederberg, in receiving the
medal. Previous winners include Bill Cosby, Hank
Aaron and Pearl Bailey.
America’s ‘surge’ in wasted sacrifice in Iraqi quagmire
By Eugene Robinson
, THE WASHINGTON POST
Here’s an idea: Let’s send
, more U.S. troops to Iraq. The
generals say itis way too late
. to even think about resiurect-
ing Colin Powell’s “over-
• whelming force” doctrine, so
' let’s send over a modest
• “sui^e” in troop strength that
has almost no chance of mak-
' ing any difference — except
• in tile casualty count. Oh,
and let’s not give these sol
diers and Marines any sort of
well-defined mission. Let’s
just send them out into the
bloody chaos of Baghdad and
the deadly badlands of Anbar
province with orders not to
come back until they “get the
job done.”
I don’t know about you, but
that strikes me as a terrible
idea, arguably the worst
imaginable “way forward” in
Iraq. So of course this seems
to be where George W. Bush
is headed.
Don’t assign any real signif
icance to the fact that the
president has decided to wait
until the new year before
announcing his next step in
Iraq, because if history is any
guide, all of this photo-op
“consultation” he’s doing is
just for show — to convince
us, or maybe to convince him
self, that he has an open
mind. The Decider doesn’t
have the capacity for indeci
sion.
'Through Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, he has
ruled out direct talks with
Iran and Syria to try to enlist
their cooperation in quelling
Iraq’s sectarian civil war.
Through his own remarks, he
has ruled out a firm
timetable for a U.S. vidth-
drawal. He has declared him
self open to any and all
advice, but he rules out any
course of action that in his
estimation will “lead to
defeat.”
So much for the Iraq Study
Group. So much for the will of
the voters. As Dick Cheney
helpfully spelled out just
before the election, “full speed
ahead.”
At least the Decider is con
sistent. From the start his
administration’s approach to
this botched war has been to
sort through all the tactical
alternatives and pick the
most counterproductive —
send too few troops, disband
the Iraqi army, stand by
while looters destroy critical
infrastructure and the social
order, allow sectarian militias
to fill the power vacuum,
make reconstruction an after
thought, and put know-noth
ings in charge of it.
There are more than
140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq,
and it’s unclear what they are
supposed to be accomplish
ing. It should be obvious that
to establish security in all of
Iraq and disarm the sectari
an militias — to conduct a
proper occupation, in other
words — would require a
massive infusion of boots on
the ground. The Pentagon
says that finding even an
additional 20,000 to 30,000
troops to send would be a
stretch, and officials warn
(perhaps a little melodramat
ically) of the danger that the
demands of Bush’s war “will
break” the U.S. Army.
EUGENE ROBINSON is a
Wa.shingto Po.st columnist.