Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 6, 1963, edition 1 / Page 2
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Chris Farran "You Think They Might Really Pull An Inspection?59 n ite teventieth year of editorial freedom, unhampered by restrictions from either the University administration or the stu dent body. All editorials appearing in the DAILY TAR HEEL are the indivdual opinions of the Editors, unless otherwise credited; they do not necessarily represent the opinion of the staff. The edi tors are responsible for all material printed in the DAILY TAR HEEL. February 6, 1963 Tel. 942-2356 Vol. LXX, Xo. 84 Lean, Hungry Black Cat: From 'CooP To Cold James Baldwin, the self-described "tense, lean, abnormally am bitious, abnormally intelligent and hungry black cat," leaned and leaned hard on white America in a speech last month in Durham. The famed Negro writer and propagandist expanded on his sometimes compelling, sometimes bothersome, but always urgent message, which goes something like, "The black man is bad off but the white man is worse . ,. . and there's not much chance for the black man, and not a damn bit for the white . . ." His speech was in the spirit of his two books of essays, "Nobody Knows My Name" "the' integration dispute has to do with political power and it has to do with sex. And this is a nation which knows very little about either" ... "I remember myself as a little boy already so bitter about the pledge of allegiance that I could scarcely bring myself to say it, and never, never believed it" . . . "In exactly the same way that the South imagines that it "knows" the Negro, the North thinks it has set him free. Both camps are de luded") and "Notes of a Native Son" ("I was forced to admit some thing . . . that I hated and feared .white people. This did not mean that I loved black people; on the contrary, I despised them, possibly because they failed to produce Rem brandt. In effect, I hated and fear ed the world.') Baldwin has a manner, both in writing and speaking sometimes shrill, strident, "today, HERE, NOW, wait no longer . . .", and at other times, full of assurance and a strong disdain for the very effort of "caring." His speech in Durham (he is scheduled to .speak here in May) was spiced by this manner making full understanding of this very important American writer more difficult. Sponsored by the NAACP and CORE, Baldwin made clear his full support of the student non-violent protest movement and its national operations. The parents of today's student generation "inculcated in their sons and daughters a sense of dignity and pride," Baldwin said. This youth has "never said 'yes, sir' or 'no sir' to anybody." Baldwin spoke with the voice of the young whether he be picketer or artist, educator or student when he condemned the elders who say, "Go slow." "If we prefer to be JIM CLOTFELTER CHUCK WRYE Editors Art Pearce News Editor Wayne King Harry Lloyd Managing Editors Harry DeLang Night Editor Ed Dnpre Sports Editor Carry KIrkpatrick Asst. Spts. Ed. Jim Wallace Photography Editor Mike Roblnsoa Gary Blanchard Contributing Editors DAVE MORGAN Business Manager Gary Dalton Advertising Mgr. ; John Evans Circulation Mgr. - Dave Wysong Subscription Mgr. Tn Daily Tax Em la published AaHy " ' Keapt Monday, examination periods t and vacations. It la entered as scond class matter in the post ofTica In Chapel 1 Bill. N. C, pursuant with th act of i March C 1870. Subscription rates i MM per semester.tS per year. Tax Daily Tab Ejebl la a ubecrtber to 5 the United Press International an4 v utilizes the services of the News Bu reau of the University of North Caro lina. Published by the Publications Boar cf the University of North Carolina, &apel Hill. N. C. 'safe,'" Baldwin said, "we've doomed ourselves and all of our children. It is a time to take great risks, because if we don't, I don't believe we have a future. And I'd hate to see so much beauty die . . ." When his talk shifted to the na tional government, to the "distor tions" of American history and the myths we have made, and to the total American culture, Baldwin wildly flourished his peculiar brand of defeatism. Be it resolved that nothing or at least very little, is ever done for even remotely "good" reasons (Baldwin said the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation decision wras made "to assure the rest of the world that we were not racists." It had nothing "to do with the deter mination to bring about desegrega tion, or really to change"), and even if it looks as if some persons are behaving altruistically, . no one will believe them (on the 1954 court decision "Even if I'm wrong, that's the way all black people in the world read it . . ."), and there is no more hope for the future (Baldwin continued to link all "good" acts by whites as expatia tion of guilt for long-ago nights with slave girls under the moon and magnolias and, we are all, black and white, menaced by "the destruction and chaos" springing from centuries of unequal and un natural man-to-slave, or man-to-inferior man relationships.) Despite the words, which didn't always agree with each other after they have left Baldwin's mouth, what was he saying? As the cool, not-of-this-world artist, (late of Paris) he says, in effect, "Man, you're all fouled up with sex and a dream of this America bit which never was and there's nothing you can do about it; white men can't 'cause their motives are in sincere and, if sincere, ridiculous; black men can't because their great grandfathers were probably the same whites . . ." In his other per sonality Baldwin says, "The chal lenge is in the moment, the time is always now" now, quick, before it's too late. Baldwin is fascinated by the in fluence of sex on the race contro versy just as he is in sex in gen eral ("the American Negro male is kind of a walking phallic .symbol" . . . "there are two sexes, which fact has given the wrorld most of its beauty, cost it not a little of its anguish, and contains the hope and glory of the world") but he seems to carry the sex bit past where so ciologists and psychiatrists admit its influence certainly some sex guilt lingers from ante-bellum days, but must this guilt be constantly paid for and irrevocably existent? Baldwin's message of urgency mixed with despair, immediacy in a context where the moment is of great consequence, left his audi ence, more than anything else, with a heightened awareness of their own usefulness. But to some, the words were more positive to a white girl who wanted to know what she could do for the "Negro integration move ment," Baldwin said, in effect, "Ask not what you can do for us, but ask what you can do for yourself" all Americans suffer by the racial barriers. Only once does the cool, unconcerned Baldwin merge with the strident voice for "now !" on the segregation dispute itself : "This is a criminally frivolous dispute, ab solutely unworthy of this nation; and it is being carried on, in com plete bad faith, by completely un .educated people." (JC) a if N ; W i 1 X. V; V Viewing More And Enjoying It Less? -v. t "Ms tr- 3 5 my rrzssf Bill lines A few days ago we were sitting around remembering how great mo vies were when we were kids. They just don't make them like that anymore. We started out by recalling the various pleasures and screaming terrors of "3-D"', certainly one of the most tinsled packages ever to come out of Hollywood. Those were the days, remember, when you had to wear mysterious glasses and you scrunched down in your seat with one hand in the pop corn box and the other hand grip ping the side of the seat, as In dian arrows and African spears whistled by your shoulders; wincing involuntarily as Redcoat cannons poured fire into Fort Ticonderoga; smiling palely as Dr. Jeckle ad vanced menacingly with a long serum-dripping needle aimed at your forehead. 3-D died young, perhaps because people got tired of those glasses and perhaps because there are on ly so many gimmicks you can thrust out into an audience (and after all, kids soon enough found out that if you took the glasses off to see which seventh-grade girls were sit ting nearby, the whole picture was flat and lifeless.) If 3-D had to go, it had a worthy successor, the hours-long "Satur day Morning Kiddie Party," when you could get in for a Sealtest milk carton (and that is probably the only reason for abandoning choco late milk and Coke when you're 13.) Those "parties" would start out with a Tom and Jerry cartoon (and everybody would cheer) or a Looney Toons (and everybody would cheer Meaning Of The University Revisited (Eds. Note: the following article by Bill Imes was the second-place winner in last spring's Senior Class essay contest in the "Meaning of the University." It is being printed to day for the first time, as a perti nent introduction to a new academic semester.) . The University can be one of the greatest servants of society. Today she resembles a maidservant of whom we might say with Jeremiah: "Thou has played the harlot with many lovers." A college education in America is thought of primarily in terms of monetary value. College brochures point out that the college graduate makes approximately one hundred thousand dollars more than his high school contemporary. Peo ple who can at all afford it send their children to college to improve them, i.e., to see to it that they are in a position to get a good-paying job. Business used to be satisfied with the situation; they could ask that applicants have a B.A., or an M.A., and even sometimes a Ph.D., and be reasonably sure of getting a well-qualified person, but then came the inevitable cheapening of the col lege degree and the realization that a college degree certifies nothing about its holder's talents, creativity, or imagination; it certifies nothing about him except that for the great er part of four years his address was at such-and-such a college. At the University what does one find? On the one hand it is a gloomy picture; one hardly knows where to start to castigate. There is the facul ty with its pretty departmental jealousies and squabbles. Teachers are becoming real professionals more concerned with the level of their income than with the quality of their teaching. Published or not is the al mighty question. The debunkers, who perform a great service if they jolt the complacent student, have be come so wrapped up in their debunk ing that fancy infiltrates fact, and the students laugh instead of pulling up short for serious reflection. The fraternity system is weather ing the perpetual attack upon it with less and less grace. The ideal is a stirring one a cohesive unit of men who share common ideals and live together to work and party as a group. In practice the fraternity serves as a great lathe rubbing the rough edges off of the individual member. The beer kegs roll in and the houses run like well-oiled ma chines. The fraternity- non-fraternity split functions like two huge well-greased gears. This is a case where there should be friction because friction would represent communication and an interchange of ideas, but the gears are so well greased with the cliches of each position that there is co friction. On the other side of the picture, the dormitories frequently resemble either the bunkhouse of a great ranch, the pig-pen on some Iowa farm, or the Bronx Zoo. This is the domain of the common man: he likes beer, too, and he has a giant-econo-my-size inferiority complex. His so cial life too frequently consists of a retreat to Home. "No car" and "Where can ya go in this crummy little town" are the choral move ments of the Dorm Rat Symphony. The University is large; many of the dormitories are good-sized: this is the perfect place for Mass Man. He sinks into a routine of the mini mum school-work, presence at class (mute, of course), an occasional in-tra-mural game, the free flick, and week-ends at home. "Publications?" "No time." "Student Government?" "What a joke. Who wants the re sponsibility? I don't have the time. I intend to be a lousy citizen. The faculty shouldn't do it; they're old er and wiser." "Sports?" "Aw, ya gotta be good and work at it." "Glee club or band?" "No time." One would expect to find a fantastically large Phi Bete chapter on such a campus where the students are all so busy. What sort of scholars are the members of the student body, any way? Well, the girls, for the most part, do all their work and try to expand mentally. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for that swash buckling stud, the Carolina Gentle man. He usually could not give less a damn about matters intellectual. His mind functions like a player piano that has not had the roles changed for the last eight years.. But there is also much that is brought in the University picture. On the basis of what is bright we can build hope for a University that produces men who serve and lead society. There are dedicated faculty members who strive to impart knowledge and insight to their stu dents, and there are those who suc ceed with those students who are at jail teachable. Remarkably enough, there are indivduals in fra ternities, and they have the fore sight to see that changes must come in the fraternity system and the gumption to do something about it. They carry on an important dialogue with those dormitory men who can and do express their positions. The dormitories are not filled with robots. There are dorm men who realize that it is what you are and not so much who you do or where you go that makes a date. More and more people take part in more and more valuable extra-curricular activities. There are many serious students who deserve to be called scholars. Intellect is not laugh ted at; achieve ment is applauded. Where do we go from here, then? The first step is to seriously ask how the University can again become a servant who leads society rather than a slave whom society uses. Peo ple must realize that college is not for every one. Then, too, many col lege students are there because it was the thing to do: they drift for as long as they can, and sometimes they last, four years, but they have given little and receved little. Col leges must start to look for serious intent to participate in the college experience as well as grades and the money necessary to finance an edu cation. Too little money is available for public education to waste facili ties on those who are in college to let some of the atmosphere rub off on them. Students must go through the col lege experience with throttle wide open. Classes are important: first, for the insights and understanding a teacher can produce; second, for the discipline the performance of specific assignments produces; third, for the knowledge which is for the most part forgotten quickly. But most import ant is the broadening of the indivi dual's world that should take place at college. The student body makes the University; not the faculty, no matter how distinguished; not the football team, despite the ideas of the alumni; not the physical plant, no matter how large or adequate. The great University is great inso much as its student body establishes, maintains, and values a tradition of toleration and communication. There is interchange of backgrounds, ideas, and experiences. Minds are open, listening, testing, rejecting, accept ing. No mind stagnates. No indivi dual hibernates. The campus is alive, and one feels it in the atmosphere. People realize the simple truth that the world is made up of many differ ent people with many different ideas and backgrounds. Unconscious egocen tricity is shaken and destroyed. No blueprint nor pamphlet nor endow ment will ever show the way to make a University great. Only the students can do that. also we'd cheer at anything in those days) and then you'd get a pirate film with Tony Curtis or may be an Indian picture with Randolph Scott. Then you'd get a Three Stooges Comedy or the Marx Bro thers and we'd all still be scream ing with delight because in those days you didn't have to worry alut the psychological ramifications of why the Three Stooges were always bopping each other in the head an l tweaking each other's noses, or what early childhood trauma made Harpo honk a horn instead of talk ing like everybody else. I guess it's all gone now the lines and lines of painted Indians on the hills, the splintering broad sides as the pirates took on the French, the clash of armor as Ivan hoe cleared the lists. Today we got art films: sex with a message. Perhaps that stuff ended because it appealed to a particular genera tion of kids, and kids grow up, and the next group has a new favorite, like Buck Rodgers of maybe Cap tain Vidio. But 3-D . . . you know, if they aimed those films at adults, who can really appreciate a gimmick, and maybe had Jayne Mansfield looming but over the first three rows ... I think I could get interested in green glasses again. REFLECTIONS I A very striking and unusual two minute talk has received inconsistent attention in the nation's press and we wonder why. At a National Press Club luncheon in Washington last week the XDC foreign correspondents gathered to forecast world events for 13 and to look back on 1962. Each corres pondent spoke for two minutes and then could be questioned. Most i the talks were general and uni!!urn inating. NBC's West German reporter was a different matter. lie rapidly and coldly, without the light w'( oi his fellow newsmen. He said i-;e U.S. State Department is !:'.. transmission of important news ec curing in West Germany, and part icularly in West Berlin. He said the State Department withheld news ..: Allied cars travelling between We-t Berlin and West Germany had be n shot at regularly for "at lcat t i-.i years" this news was withheld, l.o said, until a meeting, of Ea.st-Vo.-t foreign ministers made it a political instrument. The correspondent said the S; Department purposely distorts true economic picture of West I! lin, to make the city appear thrhi to make it truly the "showplace" capitalist democracy. Jn reality, said, West Berlin must depend he; ly on West German economic a I Finally, the newsman said he been smeared in rumors spread persons who wished to discredit h who had called him Communi-t. said the smearing came from U. S. State Department. But many papers including ir in this .state did not even run story. the r: -, Gottingen View . . . Language Limits Hurt Americans By ROBERT POWELL (Eds. Note: Powell is a former UNC student, attending Gottingen on the University's exchange program.) GOTTINGEN, West Germany One often hears in the States that there is no language problem in Europe because everybody speaks English. There is some truth in this. For in stance, I have yet to meet a Scan dinavian student who did not speak fairly good English. Many of the Dutch also speak English, as well as the Belgians. However, as a rule, when one gets off the beaten tourist tracks in Europe, one must expect to cope with the European in his own language. Indeed, many of the Germans picked up some English during the occupation and quite a few Americanisms, such as "baby sitter," "weekend" and "team work" are rather common in every day German. But this period now lies in the past, and the elementary English which was once so import ant in order to coexisit with the conquerors has been forgotten in the wake of the "VMschaftswunder." Such is not the case though, with the new generation of university students, the overwhelming majority of whom have been educated during and after the occupation, are there fore products of a somewhat differ ent education system. There are now very few German students who have not had at least 6 years of English. This includes not only a reading knowledge which enables them to enjoy contemporary litera ture, but also a speaking knowledge which goes quite a bit beyond the lch mochte gern ein Bier" which pretty well marks the limit of the American student's proficiency in German. These remarkable results stem from the fact that the study of for eign languages in Germany begins at about the age of 10. In the German Gymnasium, which prepares students for the University, at least six years of English are compulsory. Al so, there usually exisits the possibili ty of up to three more years. In addition, these students get two years of Latin and four of French or vice versa. Thus by the time he reaches the university level, the German stu dent is better prepared for advanc ed study than the American with two years of college already behind him. For instance, it allows him to plunge into such sophisticated idioms as "The English Romantics" and "The English Novel from Hardy to Joyce," two lectures at Gottingen which are attended by no less than 500 students each. We live today in a national and international situation which is in creasingly more complex and more difficult to understand. Since in a democratic society, the policies of the government reflect the general attitude and opinions of the public, it is clear that we can arrive at good and workable solutions only if the public in general and the educat ed leaders in particular have the necessary comprehension of these problems. The fact that language can help immensely in this process is so obvious that it hardly needs to be pointed out. It is a fiction that in four semesters, meeting three times a week for one hour c;. time, that the American student c: attain the degree of facility neces.-.a. to understand meaningful Ltera.; in that language. Granted, he c read it with a dictionary. La: t: process is so painful and so tlm consuming that it is hardly v.m the effort, and to think critica.' about what has been read is impossible. Thus, a tremen da body of important literature in e ; field is virtually closed to Amcr.c; student, simply because it is r. written in English. This is one the big reasons why the Amer:c-; student generally lacks the intellt tual sophistication of the Euro; student. This situation is significant to as Americans not simply becau.-e offers a challenge I don't pro;., that we enter an all-out lanrja race with, the Germans but tht J . A uemonsirates dramatically what c; be done with an intensive and d namic language program v.i starts early in grade school. Arr.e: can kids are no dumber than LW man kids. .n x:1
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 6, 1963, edition 1
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