OPINION
Ho ard student revolt:
A gene;ration di
By
For someti
thing has been • in the air:.
A new sense of urgency about
the African-American condi­
tion; in the face of drugs, <rime,
violence, and C'YCIl the good life,
an expCctation tha life could be,
indeed must be better for all
African-American ; a new
demand for self-respect; a new
I awakening after countless racial
tracks in cities cross America
and racial flare-ups on college
campuses, to the reality that
r cism is alive and thriving in
America; Willie Horton being
rubbed in our faces; affirmative
action being set ide by the
. Supreme Court: DaVId Duke, a
Klansman elected to public of­
fice, Lee Atwater slipped
onto the Board of Directors of
Howard University. It was time,
past time to act. Howard
University" students rose in
I rebellion. Hope had been
reborn!
Each generation must out of
relative obscurity discover its
mission, fulfill j or betray it·,
"Each
generation
must out of
relative
ob curity
discover its
• •
rm ion,
fulfill· or
bet��� :�non l
This the maJbIge set forth
by Frantz Panon, the Black
Alegerian revolutionary who
became a prime tbeoretican of
anti-colonial truggles and
liberation movements in the 60s.
The "movement" in Amdica for
African-American liberation
too inspiration &om Fanon's
writings a )'Ouug generation
hammered at the walls of
racism, segregation, racial op­
pression and domestic
colonialism,
As the Black Power move­
ment exploded onto the stage in
the mid-sixties African­
American students at Cornell
University, Jackson State, Duke
University, Columbia, Kent
State, and a host of other col­
leges and universities seized
buildings or staged strikes
demanding that institutions of
higher learning learn to be
responsive to the needs of
African-Americans and Third
World Students.
In launching these
courageous protests these stu­
dents stepped into the path
blazed by students who sparked
I·
covet
it
lini
•
Ion
the civil-rights revolution wi1yh syndrome), and individualism,
set-in demonstrations in (do your own thing). It was a big,
Greensboro, Oklahoma City, lull that seemed to be putting
and a multitude of cities across African-Americans bac to
the south. In Little Rock, sleep,
Arkansas, nine high school stu- In the latter half of the
dents braved hostile mob to eighties, however, many ob­
de egregate 'Central High servers began to detect a new
school Students in the fifties "rising tide of self-affirmation
and sixties discovered their mis- and militancy, In recent years a
sion and fulfilled i variety of influences seemed to
In the seventies a great lull ·be converging to fuel rising
seemed to overtake the "move- aspirations and expectations
ment". among African-American
Those of us who taught on young people.
college campuses use to lament The rhythm and rhyme of rap
the fact that students in the music turned from the meaning­
seventies seemed oblivious to less to the meaningful as groups
the movement, to purpose, to a - like Public Enemy, and the
sense of mission as it related to Stetasonics found the sharp rut­
the liberation of African people ting edge of message music.
in America and the world The protest lyrics of Reggae
More often than not parents have blown in the from the Car­
had cautioned their sons and "bean and with it a whole new
daughters not to mess with that f icination with our culture!. In
"Black stuff" in college. That is the sixties we wore tikis around"
not to say that Black activism our necks. Today more and
died completely, but as a more the young bloods are
dominant force Black con- wearing leather medallions with
sciousness, Black Power, and the red, black and green of
Pan-Africanism receded in the Africa and the red, yellow and
fact of aAAjmilation, (the wanabe green of the Carribean.
S pike Lee calls himself a
"nationalist with a camera and
produces thought provoking
movies. Jesse J ackso chal­
lenged for the presidency two
times. And Tracy Chapman is
"talkin Bout a Revolution". Mal­
colm X is on the rise again!
Out of relative obscurity, a
young generation is apparently
discovering its mission.
The March 3 student revolt
at Howard University may well
be a watershed event signaling
renewed determination of
young African-Americans to
join in the spirit of their
predecessors and their contem­
poraries in south African, Nam­
bia, and Carribean to build a
new people, a new nation and a
new world
Y. I
__ .. mated in
MelDI*· .. TemL, 1968.
Ame can h
ory:
Aaplou, a
April S - (;QUIa ........
S , CMl War hero, born
1839. The caD Party
P tform tates: '!'We UDl'eser­
� condemn appeals to r ciaI
and religious �. diee", 1944.
Apil6 - Between 1870 and
1901 two aad 20
RepreseDtati\u �. Con-
Ja el 'leno. Be­
ckwpurth, explorer, trader,
(hom 1798. Jamea Augustine
Healy, fust Black Catholic
LITERACY COUNCIL .
eekiDg reading tutors inter­
ested in teaching an adult how
to read The next training for
this JlI'ogram will be on Mon­
days, April 10; 17 and 24 from 6-
10 p.m. Open up to ld of
ords for omeone. Flexible
daytime or eYening hours are
avtilable,
THE AMlLY CRISIS and
ComDMJDication Ceater i plan­
ning· next volunteer training
series for April 3, 6, 10, 13, and
17 &om 6-10 p.m. in St. J osepb.
Volunteers will be trained to
work with victims of domestic
vio eece and child abuse by as-
istiDg with the 24-bour crisi
I'