Coming full circle:
Activism returning
to original level
By Deepa Perumallu
Staff Writer
A visitor to UNC 25 years ago would have
witnessed many of the same things distinctive
to the campus today the Old Well, a com
petitive research program, legendary basket
ball coach Dean Smith.
But one element now inherent to student
life at the University was missing then— the
Black Student Movement.
The BSM first opened its doors in Upendo
Lounge in Chase Hall in October of 1968.
Former Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson,
who served from 1966 to 1972, said there was
,
no question about the need for such an orga
nization. “It’s almost impossible for me to
convey the difference of status between blacks
on campus then and now,” he said. “(Blacks)
were isolated to a certain degree because the
campus was virtually all white then.”
Sitterson, who implemented recruitment
programs that increased the number of black
students at UNC from 200 to 1,000 during his
term, said few visible signs of controversy
over the newly established BSM existed until
it presented an official list of grievances and
began its activism in earnest.
Within fouryears, the BSM had won afight
to improve cafeteria workers’ conditions and
place them on the state payroll. And it had
begun an African-American studies program,
a black library, an off-campus tutorial pro
gram, its own newspaper the Black Ink
and a black radio program.
NEW DECADE, NEW PROBLEMS
A tragedy in November 1970 forced the
BSM to focus inward and address the prob
lem of unity among blacks on campus. James
Cates, a black youth from Chapel Hill, had
been stabbed to death behind the Student
Union in a clash between local gangs.
The BSM organized a 200-person march a
year later in commemoration of Cates’ death.
In the Pit rally that followed, BSM President
Jimmie Mcßae stressed the need for blacks to
band together and tackle problems such as the
University using blacks for cheap labor.
By 1973, the BSM had conducted investi
gations concerning discrimination in depart
mental hiring of faculty members and put the
issue at the top of its agenda.
Vice Chancellor Harold Wallace, 20-year
faculty adviser to the BSM, recalled other
major challenges during his first year advis
ing the organization. “That was when we first
began talking about and fighting for our bud
get with the Campus Governing Council. My
advice was to ask them whether they really
wanted to do that because it meant relying on
an outside agency to carry out our destiny.”
The response from BSM members was an
overwhelming yes, and they began doing
everything possible to be appropriated stu
dent funds, Wallace said. “And Suite C, the
legislative branch and the executive branch
have played games with the BSM ever since.”
Gloria Carney Shealey, 1974-75 BSM
president, said the budget problem had detri
mental effects on BSM programming. “No
: ' —— -
one understood that
African Americans
needed to be ad
dressed more inde
pendently. Instead,
they saw us as a spe
cial-interest group.”
Such accusations
reached a climax
CELEBRATING
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
when two white students filed a lawsuit in
June 1974 charging the University and The
Daily Tar Heel with discriminating against
nonblacks. The students requested a court
order to end the allocation of student fees to
support the BSM. The BSM voluntarily added
its name to the list of defen
dants, but the case was dis
missed in August 1975 because
the BSM had opened to
nonblacks.
A MORE INTEGRATED
OUTLOOK
D. Lester Diggs, BSM presi
dent at the time of the case’s
dismissal, began moving the
organization a little more to
the center, he said. “The per
ception of the BSM had been
that it was too far to the left,
something only for the benefit
of black students, and that was
hindering our campuswide ef
fectiveness.”
Diggs even started lobby
ing the Campus Governing
Council on behalf of other cam
pus organizations, both minor
ity and nonminority. “You see,
I inherited the presidency after
one of the most intense racial
dilemmas during my four years
at Carolina,” he explained.
That dilemma arose when
the Carolina Union Forum
Committee invited Klansman
David Duke to speak at UNC.
Three to four hundred black
students banded together to prevent him from
speaking.
“After his introduction, we clapped along
with everyone else, but we kept on and on
long after they had stopped,” Diggs said.
“Finally, the program was canceled.”
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The BSM soon brought a more positive
speaker—boxing champion Mohammed Ah
to UNC. “As one of the most sought-after
speakers in the world, he was well-attended
by all races,” Diggs said. “He spoke about
everything from world politics to local af
fairs.” Diggs said his own perception of the
BSM changed as a result of his work. “I got
involved initially because I was black. As I
learned more, I realized the BSM was a ben
efit to the entire University.”
FIGHTING TO KEEP ITS SPACE
Serious confrontations again surfaced the
next year, under the administration of the
BSM’s first chairwoman, Jackie Lucas.
Approximately 200 students marched from
the Pit to Memorial Hall on University Day to
protest the University Space Committee’s
decision to reallocate the BSM’s space in
Chase Hall to Servomation Inc.
The showing embarrassed the University
because so many “bigwigs” attended the cer-
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emony, Lucas said. “We did it as a show of
infidelity. We did not disrupt ceremonies ....
All we did was make our presence felt.”
Although Lucas had received threats prior
to the march, with one dean even warning that
the National Guard might be called in, the
BSM forged ahead with plans. “I felt it was
the only thing we could do,” she said.
The confrontation ended in a victory for
the BSM, and the administration conceded
the space. “It wasn’t the space so much as
what it represented,” Lucas explained. “We
were always struggling to keep that space.”
Lucas’ administration also faced and helped
resolve problems within the black commu
nity, namely the harmful competition among
various fraternities and black cultural groups,
which resulted in a fight in the Pit.
“That was a great embarrassment for me,”
Lucas said. “As an umbrella organization,
(the BSM’s) whole premise was built on
unity .... That was the lowest point of my
tenure.” But toward the end of her tenure, the
BSM leaders met with the groups involved
and helped to calm the situation.
REORGANIZING IN THE ’BOS
After a relatively smooth transition into
the ’Bos, during which the group had sup
ported Professor Sonja Haynes Stone as she
vied for tenure, Jo Watson took over as BSM
president in 1981. Watson, now chaplain of
the Black Interdenominational Student Asso
ciation, said one of her greatest contributions
to the BSM was reorganizing. “You know,
the little things like record-keeping, office
management, more office space. But those
little things went a long way.”
Watson’s administration succeeded in get
ting the BSM Gospel Choir the highest fund
ing in its history and questioned the privi
leges given to the student body president and
cabinet officers but not to BSM officers.
“They often used funds to go to the beach
for retreats and the like but never hinted that
the BSM could do that.” Watson later was
able to gain similar privileges for the BSM.
Through it all, Watson learned the true
pressures of her position. “People really un
derrate what heavy responsibility falls on
leaders of minority groups,” she said.
“Being SBP, for example, can be a fun
learning experience because everything you
need is already there heavy resources,
office space, nothing material to struggle for.
When you’re BSM president, you have to
pull together issues that affect the lives of a
significant portion of this campus.”
Watson also remembers the many phone
calls both hostile and curious she re
ceived, as well as the parties and homework
assignments she missed while trying to bal
ance a student's life with an adult’s position.
Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, now an as
sistant dean of students and BSM adviser,
experienced the same pressures when she
became BSM president in 1985. “We were
desperately seeking mentors then," she said.
THE 25-YEAR
EVOLUTION OF THE
BLACK STUDENT
MOVEMENT
“Even though we were facing pretty much the
same issues as now, there is definitely much
more advising and mentoring now as well as
more ties to other on-campus organizations.”
The BSM was also in the forefront of
pushing the University to divest out of South
Africa, long before it was a popular issue
across the country, Anderson-Thomkins said.
In 1986, the Board of Trustees approved a
proposal by the BSM for a black cultural
center. “But the administration still grappled
with the idea a while. We wanted commit
ment instead of promises,” she said.
REVITALIZING ACTIVISM IN THE ’9OS
Sabrina Evans, 1990-91 BSM president,
said that because the previous decade had
brought frustration to blacks on campus, her
main goal was to re-establish the BSM’s
credibility asJb advocacy and activ
ism and to prove that it was by no means a
dead organization.’“When I came in, black
students were in that space between wanting
to do something and just wanting to graduate
and get the heck out of here,” said Evans, a
second-year UNC graduate student.
Though membership had been suffering,
cultural activities improved through new
programs like the Umoja Dinner Theater. |
Members also rallied around two racially
offensive incidents, Evans said. The first oc
curred when an employee of Rite Aid at 109
E. Franklin St. admitted that the store kept
black hair-care products at the front because
the management thought blacks had higher
tendencies to steal. After students pressured
Rite Aid about the stereotype, it moved all
products to the appropriate shelves.
The second incident involved a group of
statues that were placed in front of Davis
Library. Some students believed the stat- j
ues, including a black man spinning a bas- J
ketball.playedonthestereotypesofblacks. 1
The BSM worked closely with a UNC I;. i
student coalition, alumni and students at M l
colleges as far away as Cornell Univer- jS ’
sity to get the statues moved behind ™
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“We wanted to make sure ABj
black students felt just as
comfortable as white YkjJgjf
students walking
around cam- J|gj
pus, that they
were doing "* m ‘
more than just surviving,” Evans said.
NOW AND THE NEXT CENTURY *
Today, the BSM has more than 400 |
paid members, and much of the stu- H j
dent body participates in the events it
sponsors.
“The BSM is more active within than VH
I’ve ever seen it,” said current President
Michelle Thomas. “There are more people
in leadership positions and more taking the H
initiative.”
Although five standing committees ex-
The Daily Tar Heel /Wednesday, February 17, 1993i
ist, Thomas said new ones often were formed
on the spot to carry out special projects. “If
someone has an idea, they become the chair for
that project. Each person should feel owner
ship of the organization and be able to make
changes if he can carry them out.”
The BSM’s weekly meetings are likewise
structured but informal, with members sitting
in a circle to remove hierarchy and to represent
the African symbol of unity.
The BSM oversees subgroups such as the
Ebony Readers/Onyx Theater, the Opeyo!
Dancers and the BSM Gospel Choir as well as
the more recently formed group BSM Bud
dies. Started last semester, BSM Buddies pairs
BSM members with nonblacks, and each learns
about the other's life and culture.
Such strides often are overshadowed by the
still-remaining budget problem. Last year
alone, the BSM's funds were cut $5,000.
Wallace, with his 20-year perspective, said
the problem did not surprise him because he
had seen the BSM go full circle in other re
spects. “In the last two to three years, I’ve seen
activism come back to its original level,” he
said, referring specifically to last semester’s
marches for a free-standing BCC and the house
keepers’ movement. “The last 10 to 15 years
had taken us back because of the people in
Washington and several backwards court de
cisions.”
But BSM’s relations with other on-campus
groups has improved drastically, Wallace said.
“People have become more politically sophis
ticated. We now realize we have common
interests and goals and have been getting to
gether more.”
Wallace attributed the BSM’s longevity to
the consistency of its name and goals. “The
BSM has been the BSM from day one, unlike
at Duke (University), where the African-
American group has gone through many
changes over the years.”
When asked whether the BSM will ever
become unnecessary, Wallace said no. “Be
cause even if we could write down our agenda
for the rest of the century and have it imple
mented, there are still issues like women’s
rights to address.
! “Even if we realize all our political goals,
, we still need to educate
people about cur
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