DTH Omnibus Page 6
Thursday December 3, 1992
DTH Omnibus Page 7
Thursday December 3, 1992
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ive black women talk jovially around a table in Chase Dining
Hall.
"What's black entertainment like at UNC?" they're asked.
"You're looking at it," they respond, laughing.
According to at least 15 other black undergraduates, that
assessment is not far from the truth.
Representing 8.7 percent of the student population, UNC's
2,078 black students are likely to
spend their leisure time in differ
ent ways and in different places
than their white counterparts.
Many of them would agree that
their entertainment choices on
campus and in Chapel Hill are
limited.
Think about it Pick a bar on
Franklin Street or Rosemary
Street Walk in thereon just about
any Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
or Saturday. You're likely to find
it full of white students, standing
(or sitting, depending on the size
of the crowd) drinking beer, lis
tening to rock'n'roll music.
Chandra Bennett, a 20-year-old
sophomore, said that this was
not her scene.
"Black people don't have a
good time at those clubs because
they're for white people," she said.
Reggie Taylor, a 25-year-old
senior, dee-jays black Greek and
other parties. He agreed with
Bennett
"I've gone to Players before
and it's a different type of social
scene than what I'm accustomed
to seeing," Taylor said. "To me,
standing around drinking all day
long is not a party."
Taylor said he doesn't go to
bars downtown because he
doesn't drink and doesn't like the
music the bars play.
William Hawkins, a 22-year-old
senior, said he liked music
that is "danceable."
"It has to have a hard beat,"
Hawkins said. "It makes you
want to move. If it was a good DJ,
he would play music that would
make you want to stay on the
floor all night" .
Few Chapel Hill bars have
dance floors and none of them
regularly play bass-line driven
dance music.
"A lot of clubs won't say it but
a lot of them fearhaving events
that will cater to African Ameri
cans because they fear violence
(often associated with black
events)," Hawkins said. "A lot of
merchants decide that it's really
not worth it It's kind of sad."
Cat's Cradle hosted dances
that catered to black audiences in
die spring and summer of 1991,
but Chapel Hill police encour
aged Cradle owner Frank Heath
to discontinue the events when
shootings occurred downtown
near the club after a dance. Heath
At UNC.
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And at other schools..
Duke (est.)
N.C.A&T
N.C. Central
N.C. State
UNC
total students
6,000
7,580
5,667
27,156
23,944
black students
510
6,516
4,747
2,461
2,078
percentage black
8.5 percent
86 percent
83 percent
91 percent
8.7 percent
Source: Registrar or institutional research office of Bach school
had to cancel a dance at the time
and hasn't held another since.
"Basically, we were told that if
we had anymore black DJ par
ties, that (the police) would get an
order to prevent us from opening
that night" Heath said. "People
were just coming in from all over
the place and it was getting to be
an ugly scene ... It was too bad
because it was popular and people
really enjoyed it"
Heath said he had no plans to
hold the dances again.
"I found that it just draws too
many people from varying groups
that may or may not like each
other," he said. "There were a lot
of people coming from Durham
and Raleigh that weren't quite as
friendly as the (UNC) students
who were actually attending the
event"
Many black students in the
Triangle area travel to other cam
puses to party on weekends.
Black Greek parties those at
UNC as well as those at N.C.
State in Raleigh, Duke and N.C.
Central in Durham, and N.C. A
& T in Greensboro are big
social events. For many black
undergraduates, a Greek party
anywhere within driving distance
makes the weekend.
Funke Moses, a 20-year-old
junior, said that if there wasn't a
Great Hall party scheduled, black
UNC students were left with few
options.
"It's not a problem with meet
ing people, because through go
ing to classes or being on the yard
(the area between the Undergrad,
Greenlaw and Lenior), you meet
people," she said. "We hang pretty
close. The problem is having
something to do in Chapel Hill."
Moses also said that movie
theaters in Chapel Hill don't ca
ter to black audiences.
"It's rare that you have the
aters, that are easily accessible to
black (UNC) students, that show
movies with major black actors
and actresses," she said.
Moses said she usually goes to
Durham to see those movies.
Many black freshmen have
discovered the same thing that
a lot of what's happenning is
happenning out of town.
"It was easy to meet upper
classmen with cars," said Jamika
Warren, a 18-year-old freshman.
Kenya Windley agreed: "You
meet one friend and then you
meet all their friends."
Like many other freshmen,
Warren and Windley occasionally
drink in dorm rooms and spend a
lot of time just hanging out on
South Campus, where they live.
"If you live on North Cam
pus, most of your friends would
be down here," Windley said.
While they agreed that finding
entertainment was a challenge,
Warren and Windley said they
weren't disappointed by
Carolina's entertainment scene.
"It was better than I expected,"
Warren said. "I was expecting
that I wouldn't be around as many
blacks as I am."
Stormie Forte, a 22-year-old
senior, said that she anticipated
the lack of black entertainment
options before she came to Chapel
Hill, but that conditions had wors
ened during her four years here.
Dorm parties have been elimi
nated and restrictions have tight
ened on Great H all parties. Forte
said small business could help
solve the problem.
"A group of black people who
are out of school should come
and buy a piece of land in Chapel
Hill and provide a place for black
students," she said, adding that
the club could feature diverse
music each night
This would provide more
black entertainment choices at
UNC, which Forte dubbed, "the
place where black students have
the least to do."
To drink or to dance: the differences between black and white frats
' f you want to get drunk this weekend,
head uptown or to a white fraternity party.
If you want to dance, head to a black
fraternity party.
That's the advice of some black frater
nity members who believe the emphasis of black
and white frat parties are as different as, well,
black and white.
"White culture and black culture are differ
ent" said Lem Butler, a member of Phi Beta
Sigma fraternity. "And their parties are differ
ent." While the thrust of white fraternity parties is
usually drinking, black fraternity parties are
fund raisers by design, Butler said.
"Black frat parties originally are set up to
raise money for programs we have through the
year," he said. "They're designed for people to
come out and have a good time and make some
money."
The predomination of blacks at black frat
parties and whites at white frat parties reflects
society, Butler said.
"Carolina is set up so the majority of blacks
stick together," he said. "In society, and at Caro
lina, it's important for blacks to have a place to
go where they can identify."
Blacks already feel alienated at Carolina,
Butler said. Going to white fraternity parties
would make them feel even more alienated.
"There's really limited options for black people
in Chapel Hill," he said. "Black fraternity par
ties give black students something to do on
campus."
Entertainment options for black students have
decreased in the last four years, Butler said.
"When I first got here, in 1988, you could
usually find a party every weekend," he said.
"Now, in 1992, you can't find anything.
"There used to be dorm parties for the black
sororities and fraternities, but they've been cut
out because of some violence that just happened
to happen."
Last semester, fights broke out at a Great
Hall fraternity party, prompting Carolyn Elfland,
Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and
then-UNC Police Chief, to ban Great Hall par
ties for fear of future violence. Fraternities now
are limited to one party per semester, and must
follow guidelines.
The Carolina Union guidelines specify that
organizations may not give away beer or wine,
and maximum capacity is 800. If an organiza
tion chooses to extend its party past the Union's
closing hours on Friday or Saturday, it must pay
a minimum of two UNC security officers $30
hour for each hour past midnight Parties must
end by 1:30 a.m.
Partiers must present their UNC student
IDs. Carolina students can bring one guest who
must also present a college ID.
Union supervisor Jessica Guzek said the
guidelines were changed last spring as a result of
(die violence at black fraternity parties, but all
organizations that use Great Hall must follow
the guidelines.
The restrictions further limit entertainment
options for blacks, Butler added.
Maurice Bennett, the president of Kappa Al-
pha Psi fraternity, said the entire black commu
nity traditionally looked forward to black frater
nity parties, whereas white fraternity parties
were mainly just for members of that frat
"There have been some bridges made,"
Bennett said. "White fraternities ask us about
step shows, and we are interested in houses like
they have."
But black and white frat parties continue to be
separated, he said.
"At Great Hall, where most of the parties are
held, there's no alcohol allowed," Bennett said.
"At white fraternity parties, drinking is the main
thing. That's one major difference."
William Hawkins, a Kappa Alpha Psi mem
ber, said that while black partiers may drink, the
centerpiece of the night is the party itself.
"When people come to parties and clubs, they
are dressed," Hawkins said. "Your attire is sort
of a personal statement of yourself. There's a lot
. of high fashion, from hip-hop to very trendy."
"People come because they want to dance and
they want to socialize," he added.
Black Greek Council spokesman Anthony
Peay said the inherent differences in black and
white fraternities resulted in the different party
atmospheres. Because white fraternities typi
cally add more pledges each semester than
black fraternities, they lack the closeness of
smaller black fraternity pledge classes.
"The tightness in a black fraternity is a big
difference," Peay said. "They make sure
everyone knows about the frat and each
other so they can be strong in the brother
hood. When you bring in such a large num
ber of people, it's hard to make that attach
ment" Reggie Taylor, a Phi Beta Sigma mem
ber, said he had been to one white fraternity
party, but he didn't have much fun.
"Everyone was just standing around
drinking," Taylor said. "No one was really
dancing, and if they were, they were too
drunk to know what they were doing."
"Basically, if you want to dance, go to a
black fraternity party," he continued. "If
you just want to get drunk, go to a white
fraternity party." -Jennifer Brett
Curtain rarely rises
on plays by blacks
Forget about budget cuts for a minute.
There's a shortage of black playwrights
and plays about black life at UNC.
"If anyone wanted to see a play about
African Americans or by an African
American playwright, they'd be hard
pressed to find it," said April C. Turner,
director of Ebony ReadersOnyx The
ater, a campus black performance group.
Larry Poston, a drama major who is
black, agreed.
"There are not a lot of black-oriented
shows out there," he said.
A look at the playbills of campus the
ater groups reveals few plays by black
authors. PlayMakers Repertory Com
pany, the Pauper Players and the Depart
" ment of Dramatic Art theater series have
no such plays planned for this year. The
LABlTheatre, a student-run experimen
tal theater group, presented one play by a
black author last year, and tentatively
plans another black-authored play for next
semester.
Leaders of campus theater groups say
they want to present more black plays,
but they often have trouble finding people
who are interested in staging them.
Mary Dail, a LABlTheatre producer,
said the group relied on students to present
proposals for directing plays. "We have to
go with what's presented to us," she said.
The LAB! presented a play, BLK J
T i CnMd 1 1 (s n Kir a hlaolf n 1 .1 ;
wnght last year. The
group has been try
ing to improve minor
ity involvement this
year, Dail said.
Charlanda Clav.
Pauper Players ad- jf
ministrator, E-l'
said that tYie-JT"0
group also had " tried to SO'
ucit minority participation.
"We try to trigger a lot of in
volvement," Clay said. "It's just a
matter of people wanting to go out
and join."
Herman La Veil Jones, a UNC
alumnus, said he had discussed ways
to boost black theater involvement in
a meeting this fall with Milly Barranger,
chairwoman of the Department ot
Dramatic Art.
A 1983 graduate of the
University's master's program in dramatic
art, Jones acted in PlayMakers Reper
tory Company's production of Little Foxes
this fall.
Jones said he and Barranger discussed
workshops and classes about black the
ater and PRC performances of plays by
black authors.
"I thought it would certainly improve
the cultural aspect of campus, particu
larly for black students," he said. "There
has been a constant concern with blacks
that there has not been much theater to do
that represents them," he said.
The program could operate in con
junction with the proposed new Black
Cultural Center, Jones said.
"A cultural center has to have real
programming for the people who use it,"
he said. "With the Black Cultural Center
i
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THEATRE
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being an issue that has brought the African-American
community together, a pro
gram that would have black theater could
be explored to a great degree."
Barranger said she was open to possi
bilities for more black theater on campus,
but she added that a lack of black actors
could hinder casting efforts for plays with
several black parts.
"We have had problems with the audi
tion pool," she said. "We don't see many
minorities auditioning for the department
productions."
Jones said PlayMakers would have a
difficult time staging a play with several
black roles because the company draws
many of its actors from UNC's dramatic
art graduate program. There are no black
students currently enrolled in the gradu
ate 5 program. PlayMakers could
jS produce such a play, but they
J " would have to hire profes
sional actors tor ait 01 tne macK
roles, Jon" a'd.
"I think 1 .' fakers could afford to
do it, if that was p at of their agenda," he
said.
Barranger said the LABlTheatre has
recently selected a text by a black play
wright that includes several black
x x parts. The number of students audi-
tioning for that play could be an
N indication of how many black
stuaenis are lmeresieu in act
ing, she said.
"The LABlTheatre tells
me that they have selected a
text by a black playwright (for
next semester)," Barranger said.
LAB! Producer Meg Dyer
would not confirm that the play
had been selected.
Turner said a demand for
'J black-oriented plays does ex
it! ist. Organizations like the
Carolina Union Activities
IJ Board and the Campus Y ask
the Ebony ReadersOnyx
Theater to produce plays, short skits and
readings, but the group sometimes has to
turn down their requests.
"The demand is there, but there are
not enough groups on campus to do (African-American
theater)," Turner said.
Poston said that the lack of black roles
had created an uncomfortable situation.
"Usually we get put into roles made for
white actors or no roles at all," he said.
Jones said the situation is regrettable,
especially since black authors have writ
ten several critically acclaimed plays.
"The people that have the knowledge
of what is going on in the world of litera
ture realize that African-American play
wrights have made a significant contribu
tion over the last 30 years," Jones said.
"That contribution is not represented on
stages in Chapel Hill.'lMike Workman
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