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Page 2 Friday, February 17, 1967 THE DAILY TAR HEEL Otelia Connor atig ular ifm Opinions of The Daily Tar Heel are expressed in its editorials. All un signed editorials are written by the editor. Letters arid columns reflect only the personal views of their contributors. SCOTT GOODFELLOW, EDITOR -JL -w P owell Resurrects Issue It Added Insult To Injury Will wonders never cease. Yesterday, much to our disbe lief, we learned that Student Body President Bob Powell had turned in a requisition asking that plane fare for a return trip from Wash ington be paid for with student funds. That was the Rusk trip. We had thought Powell had got ten into enough trouble with para doxical statements about whom he was representing when he "ex- pressed doubts" over the present Vietnam policy. Within a day after the ill-fated trip to Washington, student opinion swelled with dis favor. The culmination came when a campuswide referendum was rec ommended to Student Legislature, in order to determine student opin ion. Powell himself encouraged the referendum, a laudatory ges ture. But now he's done it again. We .dislike resurrecting contro versies, but the situation involves an enduring principle represen tation. The principle was upheld yesterday when the Finance Com mittee turned down the requisition upon two bases: the requisition was turned in after the trip, a violation of the requisition system, and the trip was made by Powell as an individual, rather than the head of Student Government. . We strongly support the action of the Finance Committee, an ac tion which proved that making un equivocal statements sometimes doesn't pay. Local Juvenile Delinquency The Razor Meant Trouble Negro History Week ack Power And B ride: Better watch out for those Chapel Hill kids , because their parties are outclassing fraternity blasts. The whole juvenile delinquency , problem in Chapel Hill has been unveiled recently, through the ef 1 forts of the Chapel Hill Weekly. Each issue (the Weekly comes out twice a week) contains what is popularly known as the "wild par ty story." This week's was particularly i V cy. i. . i ' The story was about a fracas which occurred at a teenage beer ; party in southern Durham County, ' a fracas which ended with three ' injuries. The best part is the com ment of one of the young drink ers. . "Not a one of us was under 17. , We hadn't had time enough to get drunk when all this happened. "These Negro 'boys just came in and began dancing around, and we figured there was going to be trouble when a straight razor fell ' out of one of their coat pockets. We also saw a 'couple of guns, and knives were drawn during the fight." Guns? A straight razor? Swell. The episode even topped the ear lier one about the young teenagers who were found drunk in a pas ture. But the most amazing part was the end: "The Durham Sheriff was very nice about it, and he said he didn't think we were in the wrong, but he warned us to be careful, espe ially since several of us were in volved in the last party at Duke Motor Lodge. And it took $200 to repair the damage to that one." Whereas it doesn't particularly bother us that the boys were un derage and drinking with the in tent of getting drunk, the fact that three of the boys were taken to the hospital for treatment after the fight says something. Something is definitely amiss. When violence erupts anywhere, there are always greater reasons - for it than the superficial ones of the incident. In a series devoted to sampling teacher opinion in Chapel Hill pub lic schools, the Weekly quotes one teacher as saying: "It was easy to break my stu dents down as to type, and they fell into roughly equal groups. One of these was wonderful. Theother consisted the -academically ;poor performers; and1 the third was 5 simply morally cynical. They did not care. They were after the thrills and kicks, and they delib erately tried to terrorize me." Perhaps the reasons for such a social situation are due to the clash of low-class and middle class students. Perhaps they are due to the awkward position which teenagers find themselves in, liv ing in a university community and being excluded from the real uni versity life. Either way it is a sad situation. We do not think that it can be changed by the sheriff's depart ment or the PTA, but we are sure that acceptance of the extent of the problem will prove its chief assailant. The Road Will Be Roug .,3 - fp afor ?fl 74 Years of Editorial Freedom Tom Clark, Business Manager Scott Geodfellow, Editor Sandy Treadwell, Manag. Ed. John Askew Ad. Mgr. Peter Harris Associate Ed. Don Campbell ... ... News Editor Kerry Sipe Feature Ed. Jeff MacNelly Sports Editor Ernest Robl Asst. Sports Editor Jock Lauterer .... .. Photo Editor David Garvin . ... Night Editor Mike McGowan .... Photographer Wayne Hurder ........ Copy Editor STAFF WRITERS Lytt Stamps, Ernest Robl, Steve Knowlton, Carol Wonsavage, Karen Freeman, Hunter George, Drummond Bell, Owen Davis, Joey Leigh, Dennis San ders, Penny Raynor, Jim Fields. CARTOONISTS Bruce Strauch, Jeff MacNelly. The Daily Tar Heel is the official news publication of the University of North Carolina and' is published by students daily except Mondays, ex amination periods and vacations. Second class postage paid at the Post Office in Chapel Hill, N. C. Subscription rates: $4.50 per semes ter; $3 per year. Printed by the Ch?pel Hill Publishing Co., Inc., 501 V. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, N. C. (Editor's note : This is the final article-in a series which has been presented in recog nition of Negro History Week. This essay deals with the dra matic future which faces the . Negro and the nation.) Negro History Week has tra ditionally been a period for looking backward and for pa ternalistic gestures. It is the hope of the UNC-NAACP that it can contribute to an analy sis of some of the present challenges that America faces with regard to the Negro. What is needed is an ethic to go along - with the disparate and sometimes sporadic act ions that are taken. Principle is needed to guide us. Other wise, the revolution of hope becomes merely a response to; expediency. To be sure, many significant gains have been made in the area of civil rights. A fumbl ing effort, has been made to correct some of the economic problems that the Negro faces; In the area of employment, the number of Negroes in jobs formery denied to them' has increased. This, however has been in middle-income jobs nad principally in government positions. The general level of employment and the Negroes' family income as a percent age of white family income has remained steady since World War II. The lunch pub licized gains have gone to the Negro "middleclass." The converse trend exists in area of education. The number of Negroes in colletes has increased greatly in the last few years even in pre predominately "white" col leges. At UNC, for example, in 12 years the number of Ne groes has increased from less than five to nearly 70. This is still of only token significance since it represents only one half .of one percent of the to tal student body. In the 12 years since the Supreme Court decision, only 10 per cent of the Negro kids are in schools with whites. Discrimination in housing and in private (and often policy-making) groups are the chief bastions of segregation. The biggest gains, perhaps have been made in the politi cal arena. Negroes have made strong gains since Reconstruc tion. As many as 10 million , Negroes may be registered for the 1968 election. But these statistics do not tell the story of the past, nor do they describe the present situation. Actions and react ions have fostered strange and often violent episodes in our recent social history. For the white American, the growing coolness and anxiety has been the result of a de cade of social revolution. It is partly historic to become impatient when things don't work out immediately or; when the struggle becomes, long and personally costly. BLACK POWER The 15 Negro, angered by the slow rate of progress exper ienced by the whole Negro population, is becoming more impatient an impatience that has erupted into violence in more than 20 American cit ies. The anxiety of the whites has been loosely called a "backlash." The Negro impa tience has centered around the doctrine of "black power." The salient point to be made about "black power" (when stripped of its demogogic fat) is that it is the newest form of "Realpolitick." It repre sents the belated recognition on the part of the Negro and the political reformer that the Negro can no longer have po litical innocence. He cannot expect the power structure in the cities and in. the country - to play the game of policy -making according to an 18th century ideal. The Negro vote must be organized to form a block, or faction (like the comercial interests or the real estate interests), . to threaten or court anyone whose support is needed to gain h& necessary ends. "Black power" in its finest sense also reminds us that the protest stage of the move ment is dead. What is need ed is action and power to achieve and influence the de cisions in our nation. It would be good if Americans stop be coming defensive about "pow er" since it is what we all seek. The idea of black power" is part of a larger trend in the Negro subculture to devel op more pride in being Negro on one hand, and a better abil ity to understand the Ameri can way of politics, on the other hand. To illustrate, the majority of the gains in the civil rights movement have besn made by the Negro mid dleclass. This has caused re sentment on the part of the Negro who has been left out in the process. The advocates of the most violent form of "black power" are the low -class Negro. The verbal fire is their assertion that they too need help, that they too are Americans, and they too are Negroes and proud of it. They have developed a dou ble "credibility gap." They can't trust the Man downtown. And they find their prosperous "soul brothers" are turning their backs on them. What this demands in terms of policy and attitude is the recognition that our programs must be geered to meet the needs of those suffering from segregation, poverty and fa talism. The old statement that the Negro has been down so long that "low"-, doesn't both- , er him must be changed to say that the Negro has been down so long that low is be ginning to bother him. The white man can no longer ex-v pect the Negro to exhibit the patience of Job. He must be patient with the Negro's im patience. NEGRO LEADERSHIP But just as the Negro needs to be understood' the white man, also needs to understand his own leadership. The rev olution of hope" cannot be come the food for selfish and treasonous vampires black or white. At the same time, we " cannot blindly follow a leader whose tactics were good for an earlier day and under different circumstances. The Negro must also not al low himself to be taken in by a static institution no mat ter how benevolent. The mass American Church is one exam ple. What the Church wants is unity in conformity. This would not allow" the Negro to develop his own potential. Cre ativity and progress can only come in a society where there is unity in diversity. The Negro must not allow himself to adopt the "w h i t e middleclass values" because they are different or because he thinks he will be better off. Adopting what is valuable and useful will be helpful. There are many things that the Negro has that he should keep, be proud and pass on the whole society. The worse thing that could happen is for the Negro to be swallowed up in the mass society and thus loose all the vitality and pow er that minorities in he past have used to work for a great er society. The Negro must become in creasingly sensitive in two ways. First, he must learn who 'his friends are. This al lows progress to be unbroken and prevents the movement from being subverted. It would also prevent the shame ful continuation of "daytime segretation and nighttime in- ' tegration." Second, the Negro must be sensitive and sympa thetic to the white person who is struggling to throw off his "history. Always remembering that sincerity is subject to proof, the Negro must not be arrogant and revengeful. The history of the Negro may be learned and remem bered, but all history is worth less unless we can take the best of the past and the reali ties of the present and make a dynamic stride toward even greater freedom. A commit ment to this proposition is the proper order of business in this Negro History Week. Guidance Needed - At Youth Center. . I would like to quote an excerpt from the Episco pal Church bulletin which I believe calls for serious consideration by church members, taxpayers, as well as parents. It is in regard to the Youth Center that the church attempted to operate for the benefit of the youth of the village. "The rules we had were few and simple. We gave them a place to congregate, to play ping-pong, to play cards and to converse. This was strictly a day time activity. Mrs. Moore was present but not always in the room set aside for these activities. They put their cigarette butts on the floors instead of the ash trays provided. Things went from bad to worse and when they were found to be breaking our rule against drinking the center was closed." There has been much complaint by the people in the Village Apartments about the Youth Center that the Presbyterian church has operated for t h e benefit of the young people. In addition to the noise they make when they gather outside the church every day, they also had big snow fights. No one could walk on the sidewalk without danger of being hit by snow balls. An 80 year old woman who asked them not to run over her flower beds, was hit in the face by one of the boys, leaving her with a swollen face. Several girls went to the woman's apartment to apologize for the boy's conduct, although they did hot throw the snowball. I am not against snow ball fights, but they should not throw balls on the sidewalks, or against people who will not fight back. ' . The church bulletin continues? "If the center opens again it will have to be supervised not merely by Mrs. Moore but also by other adults willing to give their time to it. The problems faced by those who are grow ing up in this kind of world are serious ones and it is important that we do as much as we can to help. Closing the Center isn't the answer, but neither is keeping it open inadequately manned." I agree with the churches that young people need a place to gather for recreation and fun. But these cen ters need supervision, and it is up to the congrega tions to supply this supervision. It is not enough :to attend church services on Sunday, and the auxiliary : meetings once- a month; and think that your obliga tions as a church member have-been discharged; -Tfie churches are losing the status and high esteem that people once held for them because the members are not taking an active part in the world in which they live, or trying to help solve its problems. This work will have to be undertaken by young er members of the church. All my live I have been active in the work of the church. When I moved; to Chapel Hill I thought I would let the others carry on. Besides, I have my 13,0000 children to look after :a time consuming job! ' Peter Harris Cong Hold Cards; Vest Must Wait In his speech last week, Senator Jacob Javits de clared that he is developing a new approach to the war in Vietnam. He suggested, quite optimistically, that his new the sis will be based upon the apparent tide of good feel ing between the Soviet Union and the United States. This new cooperation, coupled with the bitter dis pute in ideology between the Russians and the Chinese, creates, Javits believes, a situation which is prime for forcing the North Vietnamese into peace negotia tions. With the emergence of this great new hope, does it actuary appear that the end of the war is near? When one considers the attitude of the North Viet namese and' then weighs the statement from Peking earlier this week announcing the continuation of sup port of the war, the answer can only be negative. It is highly doubtful that even the Soviet Union has a strong enough communication with the Viet Cong to convince them that the war is progressing in favor of the West. The problem lies in the different outlooks of the Asian people and the Western people. While West erners think in terms of war being a four or five year encounter, at the most, the Asians tend to con sider war in terms' 6f much longer periods, way be yond the present and into the future. Immediacy is not their primary goal Military force may yet convince the North. Viet namese that war is not in their best interests. This is our biggest and, perhaps, our only hope at bringing them to the conference table. Considering negotiations in those terms, however, reveals the sad, weak position which we are actual ly in. We are dependent upon their decision, which will come only when they want it to come. They hold the cards, and although those cards may eventually lose the ever - increasing pot, the sad fact is that only the North Vietnamese are in the position to call all bets. A
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 1967, edition 1
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