The State News Bi-weekly Magazine Thursday, April 4, 1968 pecial issue The Black Revolution, through the eyes of MSU students. P h oto by Bob Ivins 2 Michigan State News, E ast Lansing, Michigan to ^ I x J>C- c J! D if" < o TJ IE s L < O -T-Q J • to E O < 01 Q- O) • io.® u a Jf c •m— < to cl c 3 *5) u l_ CL T. Q- IK 3 CL ® a 2 > 3 CL “O to < -2 J « *4- « o^ < CL to > -2 X O tvU T GO. Q > < 3 O to O U Q r-O T d «« %_ < ■X 4- to to Ul o Q l_ o c 10 3 ; C Z _o 3111 Z o > *Oi c -4- ° o E o o « to O L. o 0) o i. CO n w o on L o o Q. —ì W UJ o £ to Q- o ? CD Q. to T• • to to o Si d cn q lk 3 a r c • to C o _> O c lu ì: o ^ a* cm-■» o c o ““ o - «o0.tft 3 3 ® ID to % -J no O • ^M o • E U CO • • L. 5 5 ” -C 4- <3 to o «> £7 O E "O to to • 0- * oT *■ fc*u c > « > < ,£ » O g :.O , > 3 CL >o o CL ■for 1S»j<; c o E 3 - _ ° < «0 l_ o to •• > * CO f w(Oto < ft- JO « c < > N r ~ o® > r liv o < o o • O ~ £¿55® < L ^ «3 to c o o tfT c L. 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CQ Ol CL t—O o |L A % Thursday, April 4, 1968 '3 Racism in search of ideology The problem, however, is not just that Amer illiterate sharecropper? It was clear to most By Cedric C. Clark ica's racist practices are in contradiction to Black Americans thdt the differential punish Despite early sales of some 100 000 copies other values, but that there is no ideological ment metered out to Senator Thomas Dodd per day. there is little indication t£?t the Re justification whatsoever for these practices. and Congressman Adam Powell had less to do port of the President's CommissK n on C ivil Members of American m in ority groups have with education than with race. Disorders w ill make any signific nt impact long recognized that the “ Em peror has no The bankruptcy of the educational ideology on American society. The Presidi ,it himself clothes" in this regard, and it is not uiym us- also made it clear that arguments along class has yet to speak decisively on th - Commis ing for them to witness the various attempts lines would be no less unsatisfactory, for sion's Report, let alone propose ..legislation to fasten loin cloths around the country’s education and economic class are highly cor designed to implement some of ts recom nakedness. I t was during the Second World related. At this point the issue becomes clear mendations. Thus i t appears th a t^ ie Report War that such attempts firs t began in earnest; ly academic because America was not pre w ill suffer the fate of the 1919 C! tcago Riot Americans found it strangely inconsistent that pared. under any circumstances, to adopt an Report, the 1935 and 1943 Harleiiv Riot Re they were fighting Nazi racist ideology w ith ideological base developed along class lines. ports, and the 1965 Report on the Watts riot. segregated troops. P rio r to the Second World While the "What the Negroes need is edu That is to say. the Report w ill lie read by War. Americans did possess an ideological cation" school of thought is still prevalent some, shelved by most, and forgotten by all. base for their racism. The impact of D arw in’s (indeed, this is what George Wallace’s follow This is unfortunate because th { Commis Origin o f t h e S p e c i e s was profound enough to e r s point to as his “moderate" racial stand), sion’s Report on the 1967 riots reached a con ju s tify the further extinction of American there is a brand-new ideological trend on the clusion which seemed to indicate that Amer Indians as well as the sub-human categoriza horizon. The new loin cloth is no bigger than ica was fin a lly coming to grips w ith her ma tion of Black Americans. Darker-skinned peo the old one, but it is considerably m ore stylish. jo r social problem. The Report s conclusion ple were treated as inferior because, consist The latest attempt to fill the ideological vacu was that the basic cause of th ^ riots was ent w ith the Zeitgeist, they were genetically um might be called the “ breakdown in com white racism. In the words of tl t Commis inferior. And for those who rejected Darwin's munication" school. The proponents of this sion: evolutionary thesis but who desired an ideolog school did not grow up in a Zeitgeist of Social “ What white Americans hav< never ical base for their racist practices, there was Darwinism as did their parents, and are thus fully nnderstood-bnt what th* Negro always the Bible which, fortunately enough, quite prepared to accept (or at least hot reject) can never ferget-is that w h it^ ociety was sufficiently ambiguous to ju s tify virtua lly the basic equality of all races. More important is deeply implicated in the ghetto. ly. and this is what gets them into trouble in any belief. White institutions created it white After the Second World War, it was clear the Progressive South, they are willing to con institutions maintain it, and v lite so that somethin* else had to replace the blatant cede that "Negro education” is an unsatisfac ciety condones it.” racist ideology! There was thus a sudden shift tory answer. The "breakdown in communica So unpalatable was this conelus.in that the in emphasis: non-white Americans were no tion" school is unique because it attempts to m ajor television networks sought m t the only longer considered genetically inferior-they fill the ideological vacuum with something two Negro members of the Commission. Sen were simply “uneducated,” but “ educable.” akin to a parity relationship between white and ator Edward Brooke and NAACP s Roy W il The solution to the racial problem was seen in non-white Americans. The essential thesis kins. to deliver the Commission s verdict. terms of “better education for the Negro.” i one which, to their discredit, the Commission The irony of this was not lost on {-lack Amer The White Man’s Burden, both at home and accepts) is that if communication between icans. abroad (i.e., in Puerto Rico and the Philip the races were made more effective, misunder In part, the non-acceptance of t e Commis pines), became one of education. Negro col standing would disappear and harmony and. sion's m ajor conclusion is due f t a lack of leges sprung up all over the South and Amer above all, order would prevail in American v isib ility of the relationship betv een an ab ica’s smitten conscience was salved-tbe society. This argument is no less fallacious straction like “ racism " and the vi< '¡ence which loin cloth was firmly in place. than that proffered by the “ lack of education" characterized Am erican cities in ¡*>67. Funda Education as an ideological base ran into school. The truth is that perhaps never before m ental to the basic value systwn of most trouble, however, fo r it did not consider the has there been as much communication be Americans is the tendency to hold*the individ fundamental racist nature of American so tween the races and never before has there been ual to ta lly responsible fo r his beh ,vior. Thus, ciety. If education was the solution, why was it less harmony and more disorder. To be sure, Presidential aspirant Richard N jton is not necessary to have separate educational fa cil most of the communication is one way (Blacks being wholly dishonest when hr claims in ities for black and white Americans? If edu are more exposed to white views than vice- righteous indignation that "th e Commission cation was the solution, why was it that a Ne versa). but it is to grossly demean the cognitive blames everybody but the perpett »tors them gro Ph.D. was no more permitted to buy a capabilities of white Americans to suggest selves.” The worst he can be accu ed of is not house of his own choosing as he was no less that they have not received the essential so much insensitivity to the plight .J the ghetto susceptible to police intim idation than an elements of Black America's communication. dweller (though this. too. is a larg^ part of it», Recent communications by Black Americans, but an inability to handle abstractions. Amer • because of their fundamental inarticulateness, icans (black and white) are pragmatic people, Clark, Pennington, N .J., graduate student, have dealt not with abstractions but with issues quite uncomfortable w ith ideas—particularly is a communications major. He has published which even the most ignorant white man cart when the articulation of ideas run 4 counter to two important articles, one in the Journal of grasp. That many people may not like the m es established practices. Racism, of course is in Clinical Psychology, and the other in Human sages they receive should not be confused with basic conflict w ith the egalitaria i ideal held Organization. (or a t least professed) by most Am* ricans. (continuedonpage4) 4 Michigan State News, E ast Lansing, Michigan The Kerner Commission Report By B A R R Y AMIS Obviously, most whites s till believe this On Feb. 29 the bipartisan National Commit cliche, ju s t as they believe that the Kerner tee on Civil Disorders released a summary of its project is "ju s t another re p o rt" and that its investigation of the 1967 big-citv riots. The full views are alarm ist. report was reteased on March 2. The report The truth is, however, that millions of black emphasized that "our nation is moving toward Americans have decided that the time is now. two societies, one black, one white-separate Equality now. Dignity now. They—we—are will and uneqwl." ing to fight for it, to die for it. No one doubts the "It also stated explicitly that white racism wlute community’s ability to completely was the principal cause and that "what white crash and destroy the black community, but Americans have never fully understood-but for many of us the quick death of a lost revolu what the Negro can never forget- is that white tion is preferable to the slow, psychological society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. death that every black in this country suffers. White institutions created i t white institutions The Report has tried to tell white America maintain i t and white society condones it." this. Y e t it is not white racism which concerns Black leaders have been saying it fo r years. me because most Macfcs are fully aware of it Watts. Newark, and D etroit o ffe r the evidence. and most whites minimize or disclaim it. Wake up. white America, before it is too late! Rather, it is the reception of this report which Many readers may wonder what this has to is important and revealing. Civil rights lead do w ith MSU? A whole lot. This white, middle- ers understandably welcomed it. southerners class U niversity is a bastion of racism and predictably disparaged it. and the general pub apathy. American Thought and Language can lic shrugged it off. find no room fo r the w ritings of Negro leaders T h e C h ir m fn T r ib u n e typifies the public re in the study of the development of American sponse when it stated in an editorial on March 2 ideas. The U niversity thinks that bringing that "the report . . . is awash with tears for in twenty-five students per term led jointly by Gillespie and Oscar Petti- stayed away from the w'hite women " Ex ford> began working in New York during the periences such as these plus the obvious dis winter of 1944. proportion in the division of the proceeds de Dr. Rout is assistant professor of History and The public and many musicians were Intahy riving from jazz activity only reinforced the a professional jazz musician, formerly with unprepared for the nuances of Be Bap, nail black jazzman's contention that white soeietv the Paul Winter Sextet. was determined to take mos' of the fru its of what his people had brought into existence (continuedonpage7> V 6 Michigan State News, E ast Lansing, Michigan B l a c k P o w e r t h e o r i s t t a l k s o n C a r m i c h a e l , c i v i l r i g h t s By FRANKIE THORNTON strumental and expressive. (Carmichael Charles V. Hamilton, chairman of the Polit doesn't address himself to these, but Ham ilton ical Science Dept, at Chicago's Roosevelt Uni likes to "create categories. "' Instrumental versity and co-author of Stokelv Carmichael's violence is the organized type, w ith specific M a r k P tH r e r : T h e P t M lt r * n f l.ih v m iit t n in goals and discernible ends. Expressive vio interim, met Carmichael in 1964 at SNCC's lence is of the nature of the summer rebellions Waveland. Mississippi. Institute. Hamilton -n o discernible goals, not necessarily pre reflects that Carmichael was a "rather com meditated. The black masses are now at the mitted guy then, although in the traditional expressive stage. I f the system does not move civil rightsv protest' vein. by acts of expressive viqlence. it is reasoned After thé Mississippi Freedom Democratic that at some point the seasonal violence may Partv challenge and subsequent defeat at At become instrumental. “ That.” Hamilton lantic City in August. 1964. Carmichael exper adds, " is not up to Stokelv or to black people. ienced a change. If Black Power had a gen The svstem is going to determine th a t." esis. Hamilton says, it was at this point It Black Power theorists address themselves became clear to Carmichael and to many others to the Third World concept. Technically, the that black people really were not going to be Third World is comprised of all oppressed peo permitted to operate even nominally within ple. Hamilton explains that the whole concept When asked about Carmichael and the de this system Carmichael began to speak to of the Third World is based on the fact that velopment of their book. Ham ilton explained growing black nationalistic sentiments His pos there are capitalistic interests which can no that the book was w ritten during the course of ture then was traditional "we should get our longer be looked upon as strictly nationalistic Carmichael’s year as Chairman of SNCC. selves together the same way the Italians did in nature. He believes most non-capitalistic Carmichael was on a very tight schedule but to take over Tammany Hall and so forth areas, many of which are underdeveloped the two managed to meet at Ham ilton's It was Ml ratil two years later, during the areas, are suffering from the same kinds of home, then in Oxford. Pa., about every two Meredith March la Mississippi, that Carmi colonial or neo-colonial oppressive forces at weeks. " I t would have been very simple for chael began «peaking from quite a different work in the United States. Stokelv to let me w rite that book and look it position He was an longer at the point of talk- The same forces of oppression that play on over and perhaps change a word or tw o." mg in terms of the methods used by the Irish 125th and Seveth Avenue.” Ham ilton explains. Hamilton says. "N o t Stokelv If he was going and the Italians. He was h> that time at a also play in the suburbs of Johannesburg. to co-author a book that's what it would be. point where the system was "absolutely no Some m ight say that's far-fetched but I m ight This is to me a very legitim ate m an." H am il longer legitimate." add that the same forces that exist at Chase ton added that Carmichael has a "fantastic aknd it would be a very very grave waste of Manhattan in downtown Manhattan also have a b ility " to absorb information, is a good w rit time Hamilton thinks for people like Car lucrative resources in downtown Johannesburg er. and a w arm human being. "There is a michael to engage in the little nit picky silly It is very clear to me that when the uprising genuineness that I came to term s w ith I really games of this society They cSNCCi went that comes in black South Africa, this country w ill came to adm ire the guy. and that made doing route They filed their little petitions to the want to come down on the side of white South the book that much easier Justice Department They held little Free Africa to protect its interests there Ham il Of Carmichael the speaker, Hamilton says dom Schools and thev taught people to read ton thinks that any upheaval in South Africa his strongest point was his precise understand and w rite As if that were relevent in the w ill be the real test of a number of issues fac ing of the m ultifunctions of language. Car context of the racist situation in which we ing Americans "N o t Vietnam because it's very michael is very much aware that each of his live clear that Red China is the greatest sphere of audiences w ill interpret his language from Hamilton thinks Carmichael is a legiti influence in Southeast Asia and if we had any their particular vantage point and their own mate revolutionary and that his language kind of sense we d move out of there grace experiences. todav is that of an animal unknown to this fully as Fulbright and all those other legitimate If I say. Man. we ought to burn this town svstem Even the Sam Adams were not rev people are saying South Africa w ill be the down tonight some people would hear that in olutionaries in the sense that the Carmichaels test one way. others would hear it in another So are " when Stokelv started articulating Black Power Carmichael and Hamilton believe that it was very clear to those people in Greenwood whatever changes are going to be brought about Miss Thornton. Washington, D C , graduate ' Mississippi, where Carmichael firs t used the will be accomplished through violence, student, is a speech major. She is currently co- term publicly t. But the little ole lady in Du authoring a junior high school textbook on the buque. Iowa, and the insurance man in Oak they believed, when they wrote the subject of Afro-American history. Park panicked like hell because they saw book, that violence is a very useful catalyst for social change in a crisis-reacting society. I I n n M a t t walking down the streets." Hamilton speaks to two types of violence--in- C O M M E N T A R Y White 'mainstream' not enough By JIL L WITHERSPOON It s in vogue to talk today about revolution. Negro intellectuals define "black power" for white folks and for those Negroes who have gotten so far away from what is happening on the block that it had to be spelled out for them. "Black Power" rallies are abundant. It’s the hip thing to do. But there is something happening on the street. There is something happening to a gen eration of young black people that has watched friends and relatives gunned and bayoneted to death by police and national guardsmen. Their own experiences tell them that what Stokelv Carmichael and Rap Brown say is for This change of attitude manifests itself in a teachers, black principals, black history class real, and that no teacher, social worker, or rejection of the old white system and a refusal es. improved learning fa cilitie s and other politician, will be very successful telling them to work w ithin it. This is perhaps an explana changes, even down to the school cafeteria, to be cool. While the white society talks about tion of the current wave of walk-outs by jun indicates something of the attitude of black last summer's insurrections in terms of “civil ior and senior high school students in D etroit. students. But the fact that they are making disobedience" and the need for effective anti- At Post Junior High School, for example, black these demands is even more significant and rfot tactics, these black youngsters feel the students submitted their grievances and de beautiful. lingering horror of murdered fathers and mands and then walked out of the building, Looking around MSU. it seems that black brothers, and of terrorized families. And filled causing the whole school to be closed. No students are s till under the delusion that with the indignation of centuries, they have pleas or threats or appeals fo r "responsible the white w stem has something in it fo r us. risen up with arrogance and an uncompromis behavior" by the white adm inistration were It seems we believe that we can "m ake i t " ing determination to make the world fit their considered. The students returned days later in the white system and s till be black m ili scheme of things. This is revolution. only a fte r certain concessions were made by tants. Or is black m ilita ncy what we are These black youngsters may lack the sophis the school. striving fof? We must ask ourselves if the Uni tication to articulate an ideology, but ideology The fact that numerous black students and versity is relevant to us as blacks and if we. alone does not make a revolution. They have an black student groups are demanding black in turn, can be relevant to the black commu attitude, a posture of defiance with regard nity. If these things aren't going to happen to thoue things they consider meaningful. here, it's tim e to leave. Young blacks are re-defining their blackness Black fraternities and sororities must under and their humanity. The white society no longer Miss Witherspoon, Detroit junior, is a social stand that the days of exclusive, bourgeois, awes them, and paternalistic attempts at work major. status-minded cliques are over. They must integration won't work. There will be no more (continuedonpage 10) head-hanging by blacks. R a p B r o w n ’s p r i m e r o f b l a c k r e v o l u t i o n Hubert Geroid (known to the wo§ld as H. Our will to live must no longer «uper- Rap) Brown has, by his public uttera ices, dis cede our will to fight, for our fighting turbed many segments of A m e rica^ society. will determine if our race shall Hue. H. Q . Brown's pseudonym was adopted to To desire freedom is not enough. denote what he does-rap. Black ^parlance defines the word “ rap” as a verb» meaning We must move from resistance to to strip one's language of euphemisms and tell aggression, from revolt to revolution. it like i t is. Very often it upsets. It was this same quality in the language of Nfcjlcolm X and Stokely Carmichael which disturbed the For every Orangeburg there mast ho Am erican consciousness. 10 Detroits. For every Max Stanford While incarcerated in Parish Prison, New and Huey Newton, there must he 19 Orleans, Louisiana. Rap Brown dealt in another dead racist cops. And for every Black type of language, perhaps more, eloquent death there must be a Dien Biea Pha. than the normal. Brown wrote of power, of death, of oppression, and of freedom. Rem ini Brothers and sisters, and all oppressed scent of the rhetoric of Mao Tse T uu; and Che people, you must prepare yourself both Guevarra, the language of H. Rapf^Brown is mentally and physically for the major that of the true Black revolutionai§. Witness confrontation is yet to come. It is the the thoughts of one who has ridden $ie System people who in the final analysis make to the end of its line. .u and determine history, not leaders I am a p olitical prisoner, ja ile d fo r my or systems. The laws to govern you b eliefs-that Black people must be must be made by you. F o r e v e r y d a y I a m i m p r i s o n e d free. The government has taken a po i w i l l r e f u s e b o t h f o o d a n d w a sition true to its fascist nature: those who we cannot convert, we must si t e r . M y h u n g e r i s f o r t h e l i b e r America, if it takes my death to lence. This government has;become organize my people to revolt against a t i o n o f m y p e o p l e . M y t h i r s t you, and to organize your jails te revolt the enemy of mankind. i s f o r t h e e n d i n g o f o p p r e s s i o n . against you, and to organize your chil Being a man is the continuing battle — H . R a p B r o w n dren, your God, your poor, your country, of one’s life and one loses a b i^o f man and to organize mankind to rejoice in hood w ith every stale compromise your destruction and ruin, then here is to the authority of any poweriin which my life. But my soul belongs In my Death can no longer alter our path to people. one does not believe. t freedom. For our people death has No slave should die a' natural death. been the only known exit from slav Lasime Tushinde Mbilashaka. (We There is a point where cairtion ends ery and oppression. We must open shall conquer without a doubt). others. -H . Rap Br own and cowardice begins. J a z z 's d e b tto th e N e g r o sumably Negroid environment, could they hope I continued from pag 5) to join what Negroes allegedly possesoed in their appreciation was not enhan *d by the cold stinctively or learned from childhood. The net demeanor its disciples displayed bile perform result was that first in New York and then all ing Of m ajor importance, howev L was that for over the country, there appeared slashing, the firs t time, a jazz m oiem en, was not only highly-charged i overwhelmingly Negro* com originated by black jazzmen, ' j t trum peter bos placing what was called Hard Bop." or Gillespie was sold to the publ, as its high "Soul Jazz " priest White musicians aspirin^- to play Bop The success of the be-bop revival during the slavishly copied Gillespie's affectations in cloth l&a-CS periud had far-reacMag results. West ing and the musical characteristics of various Coast jattuiea discarded their previous ttyBugt Negro bopsters. aad demonstrated their allegiance to hnrd-hap More important the theoretical haste of the Mas. the acclaim of critics, musicians, jazz af- neo-bop movement seemed geaaraHy ac I monad os and public recognition of Gillespie cepted by a goad many white ametriuas Aa as the premier bopper. could not be transformed iiKTeasiag number of Negro moatctaus brgaa into coin of the realm In 1947. B illy Shaw left to bash w the spotlit* of papular appaat. aad \t( \ in order to give Gillespie a real publicity lor the first time, a coasideraMe «amber made build-up: but the campaign produced negligible truly large sums of money By 1 M , Negro lead results The scourge of the 1946-1949 period was ership ia the ja n field had beee estabhabrd as the all-white Stan Kenton band, pubbing his never before musical repertoire “Progressive Jazz." Ken The year 1959 ushered in the first major revol ton saw his orchestra become the firs t in ution in jazz since the Be-Boo expiasac A jazz history to reach an annual gross of $1 bearded saxophonist named Orneyte CoBman m illion in 1948 Meanwhile. Gillespie's disband trumpeted their own superiority and denigrated California jazz stvlings and its makers as “ Bop- arrived in New York from Loo Angeles. Coir ment in June. 1950 signalled the end of the man huffed and puffed, and stirred up winds of Be-Bop crusade. Musicians w hit and black sieland. " Such dyspeptic disdain may have provided emotional release, but it failed to change which have not vet ceased to blow continued to play Bop. but the rr. jsic lost the Cometh now Free Jazz. " or what its advocates separate status it had enjoyed s.,nce 1944-45. interrupt the frequent trek of Brubeek. Rogers and associates, to the banks of their choice. call the ’ New Thing ’ Contemporary jazz a ctivity wa* practically Like all previous jazz innovations, the most Black jazz makers were especially quick to eclipsed by a veritable renaissance of the Swing militant advocates were primarily yoang mu note that West Coast groups consisted almost and Dixieland style. Disgusted. di$ llusioned and sicians and a handful of jazz critics The music pauperized, many white musician? joined dance- entirely of white musicians. Popular tastes change, and 1955 witnessed was sometimes provocative, usually harsh, and bands. while some black m usici; is embraced for most listeners, difficult to follow. Contro Mohammedanism. the initiation of a dram atic reversal of form . Old-fashioned be-bop returned to favor, but w ith versy over the relative merits of Free J a n has Before passing from the jaz* scene as a new tw ists: F irs t, the rhythm ic intensity of the continued to permeate the contemporary jass separate movement. Be-Bop gav b irth to one music increased noticeably (sometimes to the scene. Most New Thing performers, while illustrious progeny: “Cool Jazz. " : ;uropean jazz increasingly interested iu the economics of the men were quick to embrace it.'p u t it was a point of freneticism i : secondly, partisans of the revival maintained that west coasters had jazz field, still see themselves essentially Stan Kenton alumnus. M ilton "S i-prty” Rogers, as artists. Thei? exists, however, a small whose employment of the style, proved most over-cerebralized jazz by allowing foreign i that is. classical > form s to predominate. Jazz number of "left wingv ayant-guardists. who decisive. Settling in the Los Argeles Area in in addition, consider their music as a kind of 1950. Rogers found the west coa%t quite recep was to be purified, and returned to its "ro o ts ." And what were these origins? The Negro Baptist socio-political weapoa. Indeed, the socio tive to “ C o o l" Jazz interpretations. Some New political views expounded by this segment of York area musicians went west looking for and S piritualist Churches of the South, which were the incubators of the musical elements New Thing advocates has chiued nearly a s mach work. Publicists took note of the rapidly ex acrimonious debate as the music itself. panding jazz a ctivity in Los Angeles and en later forged into jazz. The economic and psychological effects of such a premise are One of the most articulate and vehemdht of virons and labelled it “ West Coast Jazz. " the left-wingers is Archie Shepp. tenor eaxaphon The sudden ascendancy of California-based clear: blade jazzmen, the obvious recipients of this heritage, played w ith "s o u l": white jazz ist: ..., jazzmen failed to endear them to their East Coast counterparts. The la tte r consistently men m ight im itate, but only by living in a pre (continuedonpage III QMichigan State News, ífast Lansing, Michigan* P O E T R Y By RICHARD THOMAS Black w rite rs are involved in an ideological search to legitimize black lite ra ry expression as both essentially black lin the manner of John Coltrane. Ray Charlés. e tc .1and human There is s till much search going on and many ideological camps worth belonging to. ranging from LeRoi Jones, black revolutionary poet-playwright and social c ritic , to Robert Hayden, who was cited at the F irs t World Festival of Negro Arts at Dakar. Senegal in 1966. Both are great black poets though they d iffer in their emphasis of what role a black w rite r should play in a racist society. Leroi Jones, to m y mind, reflects the deep er currents at work in the black experience all over the country. His message is both socially and personally revolutionary in its implications, what Ron Karega calls the com m itm ent to the revolutionary struggle, a black aesthetic as "c rite ria forjudging the validity . . . and beauty • of 3 w ork of a rt Robert Havden looks at black poetry, as 1 understand him. as a oart of the human ex perience. I understand him to mean that black poets should direct their efforts toward truth as they see or feel it as humans. Both poets are essential in understanding the present powerful currents in black A m eri can lite ra ry expression. Both reflect a corner of the black soul in search of itself, and are as valid in their own context as Coltrane and Charles-both are trying to do their thing. The black w riters here are diverse in their backgrounds, as w rite rs anvwhere--at least on T h e 9 t h S a v io r the surface. Their backgrounds are from well-to- do blacks to poor blacks, yet their essential I s t a r * up at m y se lf: message is this: as black w rite rs doing one the dungeons In m y m ind thing, defining their own lite ra ry legitim acy as they see and feel it to be. and contributing g r o w tigh te r to a more complete human thing. They are pro arou nd m y v is io n s . claiming the aesthetic legitim acy of each flow i ’m ta lk in g around where It er in the human garden--as black flowers. h u rts, w here the o rb it tr a v e ls a little at a tim e aw ay fro m hom e. The c h ild re n s fac e s E th n og rap h y ache out m y reflection . And G o d ’s sm ile h a s quicken In c o r n e r s where Im m o rta lity stu n s u s. W h e re can I go fro m O f A D o w n to w n Jo in t h e re : I w e ar m y go in g to bed. E v e r y Jukebox In c o rn e r jum ping w here I w e ar m y go in g. People laugh at It g u t s ’s bu stin g jazz e a g g ln g me, running m e down. How m any 2 cu ps coffee tim e s have they knock c o ld /a s h tr a y s , sp oons ed m e to m y kne e s; how m any tim e s have I gotten up, m y d rip p in g on a table top w h irlin g In sp a c e .& v is io n s in p ie ce s p lm p /p la y e r d rip p in g with fla sh e s yellow ra g -to p hog fr o m m y m iddle c r o s s ? How m any tim e s have m y m a m a sc re a m e d at p ile s in cu rb A . M F .M o f me c r y in g at h e r fe e t? b ack se at s p e a k e r s / Is there any way I cou ld tra c e the sun h is lady (ready, stan din g ta ll; both’re m ellow afte r the shadow h a s falle n between qu estions s m o k in g stuff) ge are d f o r t r ic k s In sid e these s m a ll tr a c k s hum anity leaves (flo atin g) In me, cutting to e d ges & leaning, tied down, waxed th e ir e y e s sw o lle n with g r a s p in g h a n d s? sp re ad ~ le gge d , hands on h ip s e x agge rate d & w o rld s explode behind m y sm ile , go painted e ye s like steel e v e n in g -c a ts h a lf napping out, com e Into bein g and fade Into fin g e r in g in lam e c r u is in g g r a y boys e s c a p is m s under w orn sheets. tip p in g c o r n e r s gru n tin g f o r b lack apples B o d ie s pum p fo r m e an in gs long In exile. s t a r v in g In th e ir b ra in s w lth*brokeneyes. Its m y turn to boys & g i r ls / do m y thing! On the h ill. in heat on e dges: O n that m id dle stic k I w as d ig g in g m is s u n ive rse batm an b o rn fo r. (only a few m e llo w s u g ly uncool w ill w alk me as f a r a s the co rn e r) in the M a n ’s econom y Hip block ch ick s b earded b ro th e rs g r u m b lin g th u n d er/ w ill wave goodby. a ir s w e lls (old janito rs tre m b le water) N a lls In m y hands and feet are quake In su ra n c e s e llin g / c re d it c a rd s, (D ungeons In w h ltey’s pad. pendulum s sw in g back y o u r m in d s where I fe ll through & h is In k -m a c h ln e s c a n ’t stop them ! o n the way hom e In side ) — R ic h a r d W . T h o m a s — R ic h a r d W . T h o m a s E d ith m o t h e r o f m a n E d ith the m other of man: and the s i s t e r of broken b ro th e rs c a r r y u s to the cave; p re p a re o u r worn b odies who w ore th e ir iro n too b lack with perfu m e; steady the rock! steady the ro ck d e a r s is t e r ! w ould not adjust th e ir speed don't let them see us c r y ; hide us In you! to quit b um ping the white sun until we gath e r o u r bones in th e ir b leeding s k ie s . f o r the re su rre c tio n ! E dlth the m other of m an: E d ith the m other o f m an: understand the b la ck poets with th ick lip s c r ie s so ftly under o u r c r o s s and c r is p h a ir h u sh in g o u r s c r e a m s Into h e r b re a sts who sle e p under burned tre e s In a lle y s tr a n sla te s o u r pain; keeps o u r sto ry holy, liv in g o ff stra w and v is io n s o f ca stra te d fa th e rs f o r o u r ch ild re n b e ggin g a lm s at the c lo se d d o o rs o f o ld fa c to r le s . p la y in g behind the house. — B y R ic h a r d W . T h o m a s Poems of the Man For A ll Seasons i W a lk in g alo n g fences cou n try in kindness, T h e s m e ll o f g ro w in g P ro v o k e d m y b a rre n m ental state, C a s t le s s p r in g m olded o f childhood b lo c k s S e lf-c o n s c io u s re fle c tio n s w ater ; Im a g in a r y fie ld s Bu t a ll the w hile alie n d a y d re a m s C h o p o ff rein carn ate d feet. II A ll lush around me C h ild r e n with m a lic io u s u n de rtore s S in g . . but alone im p riso n e d is A convoluted b la ck box . . . I g a j f A t p a n e ls o f m u ltico lo re d lig h ts * B lin k new s . . . E x t r a . . . E x t r a s c r e a m s A r c h a ic a lly fro m the outside. Im a g in a r y gn o m e s o f v a r y in g in ttlllg e n c e R e ad the m e a n in g le ss codes - H e e d le ss of m igh ty battles O n the h eads of pin s P u sh buttons and pull le v e rs S t ill fo r the sake o f g lo ry . III How . . . wow, the im p act o f a p$ /chic B o m b . . . b la s ts upon the m in d s o f those T w o -le g g e d c re a tu re s O p p o site s attra ctin g and a ll that M o n g re l v ig o r , too much fo r < T h o se weekend sp a n s that p C r o s s and connect v o id to void. Is that s o much te le v isio n planned S p ir it o f the p ion e e rs Ju st an a d v e rtise m e n t’s lie ? B u t s t ill a rebel son C r i e s fo r you a s fo r A n ad u lte rou s m other So f a r in sid e O n ly w o rd s contain the fire . IV She told m e to shun the d ark A nd com e into h e r b rig h tn e ss W hat new breed liv e s In e le c tr ic a l Rub? So litu d e . . . that can -Jeny a flo w e r 's In a b a r r ic a d e d w h isp e r we talked O f diffe re nt liv e s. Hope of th in g s to com e M o m e n ta r ily e ra se d a m e m o r y ’s tyranny. O n e is fo rce d to think of O ld C ape Cod A nd the f ir e -d a r k d au gh te rs of that stra n g e st O f A r is t o c r a c ie s That s e lf -c o n s c io u s vain o f gold^d black C o n ce iv e d In m ix -m a tch e d beds O f an e v e r v a rie ty se e k in g South R a is e d to sh ow y adolescen ce In now urbane rubble Bequeathed to le s s blood injected c o u sin s F r o m which you, y o u r b ro th e rs, m y se lf S p ra n g . . . negatives W h e re a re we now that o u r yach 4 and P re te n tio n s meet a c o u s in 's con « m nation? VI P h o to B y Jim M o od e A sp id e r under the Influence o f h e m P F a sh io n s a re c ta n g u la r web T rum pet b la s ts of o v e r -e a g e r In n e r p r a is e H a il a technology o f e le c trifie d inner e c s ta s y Dig up, jim A b a r g a in com p a re d to the m e age r D ig up, jim M o n e y f o r wine P r ic e o f starva tio n . Jum p back, jack M a m a d in e s V II B e bop de do de wop O n p ig s feet and g r eens. W e re Joseph K. a liv e today C h ic k s get had B e bop de do de wop W hat rude aw akening w ould a ccu se h im ? D u d e s get lit B la c k p rid e d ie d ? T h e y a sk with c r y in g in d ifferen ce B e bop de do de wop O r - w a s it a liv e Tw o b a d ly m utilated p la stic m annequins W e re a l hip B e bop de do de wop P oin t f in g e r s and allude to crlrvw s M an- O f com p u te rize d subtlety. T ake a s ip A r e th a - In se lf-m a d e steel jungles B e bop de do de wop S in g y o u r song! A defense Is p rep ared Su rrou n de d by vice N ig g a h - But through the p rotective m aze of R e d b e ans and ric e D o y o u r thing! E x c re tio n a vap o ro u s and c a n c e ro u s Idea B e bop de do de wop F ro u g h t with illo g ic a l r a m ific a t ons A boy is a m an B e bop de do de wop G a s e s through sp o n gy p a ssa g e -* >ays B e fo re he can stand B e fo r e it d ie s And the m ind re co m m e n d s A n d talk Sweet T alk D ig up, jim . A m e rc y k illin g . B e bop de do de wop — F r a n c In s Knight — C a r le s H. Chew 10 Michigan State News, E ast Lansing, Michigan great American m yth of individualism. Cruse historically without radical substance." They have form u By LARRY THOMPSON challenges these integrationists to reject lated "no comprehensive radical philosophy extreme, group-defeating individualism and to replace either the liberalism they denounce THE CRISIS OF THE NEGRO or the radicalism of the past that bred them ." INTELLECTUAL instead realize the importance of collective group action as the best means for promoting ■According to Cruse, the American pro-capitalis HaroM Cruse tic propaganda machine has created the m yth (Morrow, Stt pp. $8.95) progress and security. They should recognize the fact that this country is based on racial, that the Negro protest movement is. in fact, * Several weeks ago. Donald Smith of Chica the Black Revolution in progress. However, go spoke on the rhetoric of “ riots." In his ad religious and national groupings, and that the individual progresses as his group progresses. the Negro movement at present is basically dress. he mentioned Harold Cruse's book. The a protest movement and not a revolutionary ( ' .r u n o f t h e \ e j r o I n t e l l e c t u a l as perhaps one And instead of trying to implement the Con stitution w ith almost meaningless laws movement. The movement cannot become of the moot important works . i non-fiction they should try to change the Constitution revolutionary u ntil it “ articulates objectives w ritten by a Mack man since T h e iiofciog- which transcend its present aim s-.racial inte r n p k y o f U n ic o m V. That statement covers a in order to make it “ reflect the social rea lity of America as a nation of nations, or a nation gration.' ' Cruse w rite s : le t o f ground. However, since I heard that ini “ People who call the Negro protest tia l note of critical acclaim, more has been said of groups." As Cruse documents the failure of Negro movement a black revolution do not Of f i r t r i m • / i t r \ e f t r o I n t e l l e c t u a l . The book intellectuals in the Twenties and Thirties, really understand their own system, has re c eived favorable comments in T h e \ e g c o he also notes the failure of Negro intellec for a real social revolution in their I h ft e n l and T h e Veir lorfc K e r i e t c o f H t t o k s . tuals today. He points out that the ideology country would involve a social dy Now I rea lise that this fact alone is enough to of guerrilla w arfare has replaced M arxism in namic of correlated parts. Such a rev m ake som e M ack radicals suspicious of the some black radical circles. Cruse relates a olution would have very little in com book and its author. (Fo r these two publica-. journey that he and several other black people mon with foreign revolutions they have tions surely epitomize the middle-class, read about. It would amount to a mas unthinkingly pro-capitalistic press that Cruse made to Cuba shortly after the overth: ow of sive social transformation of a kind un and other M ack radicals so rightly regard with the Batista government by Castro. He notes how they were treated w ith great courtesy heard of before__ gran t suspicion.) However, after reading this and w ith the politeness of visiting dignitar That the Negro intellectual has not formu- book. I found the acclaim it has received great- ies. He states that, “ Our reward was the prize of phy.” is clearly seen when one examines tjie Iv justified. role of the Negro in the economic field. Cruse T h e l.r in i* o f t h e \ e /g r < > I n t e lle c t u a l is an im revolutionary protocol that favored those victim s of capitalism away from home.' Yet. notes that although the nncien regime of Ne portant and penetrating book. Cruse does not it seems that one crucial question was left un gro leadership desires more jobs, they want present any social program. His book, unlike, answered by the experience: "W hat did it all them w ithin the existing economic framework. fo r exam ple. Stokely Carmichael and Charles mean (The Cuban Revolution) and how did it So far. the Negro s economic struggle has been Hamilton's m ock Ptncer. does not present “ a relate to the Negro in Am erica?" carried on w ithin the fram ework of American political framework and ideology." Cruse's The role of the Negro intellectual is a special capitalism , w ith the exception, of course, of book serve s a clarifying function. It is a book one. The Negro intellectual must deal both those nationalists who blindly espouse a nine- which u tilises the technique of historical analy %ith the “white power structure and cultural teenth-centurv M arxian philosophy that com sis a s a way of understanding the problems of iapparatus and the inner realities of the black pletely ignores American realities. F or Cjuse. the present reality. This book examines the world at one and the same time.” Herein lies this is futile. Yet. present-day. integrationist. com plexities of the black man's situation in a basic difference between the role outlined by Negro middle-class leadership is a “ child o j this country. Out of this seemingly bizarre en Cruse and that advocated by some exponents the era of New Deal Capitalism and a ll that the tanglement of contradication. Cruse makes of Black Power. economic philosophy im plies." Interestingly, at some sense out of past mistakes and thus at Cruse sees some views of Black Power as too a Black Student Alliance meeting several tempts to ch a rt a course for future accomplish lim ited and too restrictive. " I t proposes to weeks ago. Stony Cooks addressed himself to ments. T h e T .c im o f t h e Negro I n t e l l e c t u a l is a his change not the white world outside, but the this very question: that black people must black world inside, by reforming it into some begin to consider alternatives to the Am eri tory of the Negro intellectual since the turn thing else p olitically or econom ically." Cruse can capitalistic system that are realistic and of the century. In essence, the book is an analy points out that the Muslims to an extent, have in line w ith the American situation. sis of integration and a defense of black nation already achieved this. And, it was for this In a chapter entitled “ The Role of the Negro alism. reason that Malcom X le ft the Muslims. For. Intellectual-Survey of the Dialogue D eferred." Craae begins w ith th e “ H arlem Renais this type of Black Power "lacked a dynamic, Cruse outlines what he means by a “ broad sance” when M arcus G arvey’s program of was static and aloof to the broad struggle." and comprehensive program of social M ack nationalism w as only one of many signs Thus. Cruse indicts today's Negro intellec change. " Cruse offers the example of the of a cultural and p olitical awakening among A m erican N egroes. F ro m these promising be tuals of a nationalist vein for. like those of white sociologist C. W right M ills to Negro the past, having “ taken on a radical veneer intellectuals. Cruse states that M ills, in tak ginnings, m any N egro intellectu als retreated ing to task some of the sacred dogmas and and b ecam e “ disor iented prisoners” of white leftists. T hese N egro intellectuals began to • shibboleths of the M arxian philosophy, laid the foundations fo r "a new radical criticism espouse “ te llu r illy ste rile ” and “politically Thompson, Hannibal, Mo., graduate stu of American society." M ills ' theory of "cu l- fu tile” doctrines o f p roletarian revolution. dent, is a sociology major. Thus, in the Tw enties and T h irties many Ne (continued on page 11 > gro i a l i l h i l n s l i b ecam e virtual intellectual “ captives” o f the w hite A m erican Communist * n Cruse states that it is wrong to categorically impose on the Negro situation a class analy W h i t e ' m a i n s t r e a m ’ sis which views Negroes as an oppressed pro letariat This strict and empty M arxian inter (continued from page 6) W'hv uoes tnis university go a ll over the pretation ignores American realities. And as understand that all blacks must come back United States in search of black athletes but the historian Christopher Lasch has pointed home. And if we cannot be socially relevant not potential black physicists and mathema o u t Negro intellectuals, instead of devising to the black movement then, when the old order ticians’’ When w ill blacks be in policy-making strategies for the special situation of Ameri is overturned, we w ill be overturned with it. positions at this university? can Negroes, have imported ideologies which Black fraternities and sororities must use Only after we stop knocking ourselves out have no relevance to that situation and which the power, money, and resources that they to become a part of the mainstream of the sick, subordinate the needs of the American Negro have to bring about some changes. F ifty white American society, w ill we realize that to “ an abstract model of revolutionary cent dances at the Union won t get it any what's good fo r America isn't necessarily good change." Thus, it is one of the main theses of more. for blacks. Since it is a function of the Univer this book that American M arxism has disas Our black athletes must understand that a sity to white-wash and assimilate blacks into trously misled Negro intellectuals. call for black m ilitancy includes them too. that mainstream, we must ask ourselves if a Craae severely ca stig a tes those Negro intel They should realize that if they break their legs nioe house in the suburbs and a color TV (better lectu als whom he categorizes a s integration- todav. tomorrow they w ill be like the rest of to watch "those" people burning and looting' ists. They w aste th e ir strength fighting preju us. Whites have always insulted us by saying are what we want. Are we w illin g to sell-out d ice, when they shoaM he organizing-helping the only things we were good fo r were dancing and perpetuate the system that is killin g our to g et a s together. They w aste their time and sports. Why black MSU athletes don't feel black brothers’’ trying to achieve T h e G re a t A m erican Id e a l- insulted is d iffic u lt to say. A fter all. they are There ought to be no doubt about who we are tbe rig hts of the individuals which they are human beings-blacks firs t and athletes second and what we must do. Our identification w ith falsely led to believe a re sanctified by the And being one of D uffy's boys can t be that re the black masses necessarily means that we Conslihrtion. According to C rase, they are living warding see the relevancy of this university only in terms a He. F o r in rea lity , A m erica is a nation that Complaints about the lack of Negro history of its usefulness to our goals Black college is dominated by the “ social power of groups, courses and the fact that supposedly socially students are expected to be innovators in the d aoaes, in-groups, and diques—both ethnic relevant courses (education, social work, black movement and not laggers behind it. and religions.” The individual in A m erica political science» ignore blacks should not be We must understand that the three black stu h as lew rights th at a re not backed up by the something to be m erely mused over in dorm i dents murdered at Orangeburg. South Carolina poHtfeal, econom ic and social power of one tory g rills while sipping cokes. Why this and a ll the students demonstrating at Howard p w p o r another. Hence, Cruse points out that university has not actively taken a stand against U niversity were interested in something more th e “ individual Negro has, proportionately, the Vietnam war. and why it has not applied im portant than th eir grade point averages. very few rights indeed b ecaase his ethnic pressure for open housing in Lansing and East And when they were ready to do their thing, group (whether or not he actnally identifies Lansing, should not remain unanswered ques they didn't take tim e out to go to that 1:50 wMh It) has very little political, econom ic or tions. Humanities class. so cial power (keypad m oral grounds) to wield.” InMgi nlinniat i a re often taken in by the T h u rsd ay , A pril 4 , 1968 t J a z z ’s : d e b t t o t h e N e g r o (continued from page 7) the black revolution taking shape in America For example, pianist Cecil Taylor noted that Is "good." Sim ilarly, leftist political revolu after working for seven straight weeks fo r the “ Jazz is the product of the whites, the tions in Asia. Africa and South America are firs t tim e in several years, he underwent "m et ofay-too often my enemy. It is the progeny of the blacks-my. men. By also "good." Free Jazz is thus, the expression amorphosis." To interviewer Nat Hentpff. of the sentiments believed embodied in these Taylor declared: this I mean: You (i.e., whites) owi the revolutions. The left-wingers v illifv the Amer I expect that w ithin the next five music and we make it. You own » > in ican "power structure" which they see as the years. I should be making what a good whole chunks of .flesh . . . I play aftout great impediment to human freedom. In par chamber musician gets and that will the death of me by you. I exult it the ticular. they view themselves as oppressed, be quite a change.' life of me in spite of you . . . T in t's what the n m n i - f t n n l e is a ll a bo ut.. and believe that the club owners, representa These are hardly the words of a hardened revolu Is that segment of the thTt Shepp tives of the possessors of power, are united in an tionary. Even LeRoi Jones, who has called for represents a jazzman's S l t S - S \ ( ( f *‘re they e ffo rt to make them bow and scrape. the destruction of the white race, took stock of subtle racists preaching the destnation of While one may praise the courage and honesty the sad economic prospects for left-wing avant- white society by some anticipated A<¿0 -Asian of these out-raged young men, their beliefs and gardists and intimated that he believed practices are hardly consistent. Parties who do Caucasians m ight perform this beneficial act: coalition? These questions are of a mbre than not appreciate Free Jazz, or who do appreciate Great White liberals of the World, passing interest because Shepp and h i; associ the music but not the socio-political views of the give these young men a job or at least ates have received an inordinate amount of left-wing are generally dismissed as bigots. some money, u ntil they learn, and all publicity in the jazz press, and their Lifluence Shepp and his friends may hire white jazz other black people learn that they must in the field is fa r in excess of their a c tia l num men, but they infer that skin color somehow fin ally support themselves. bers. It is w ell to bear in mind that musicians, limits the potential of the whites. This same The Shepps and the Taylors are embittered, clique of New Thing jazzmen deplores the at but it would be interesting to review their like other artists, are sometimes incurable titude of nite-club owners, and intimate that a socio-political views if and when they obtain idealists in their view of socio-political prob vast conspiracy has been formed to keep their the affluence and recognition of a Miles Davis, lems. Influenced land who has not been?) music away from the people, whv try insist a Duke Ellington or a Theolonius Monk. by the c iv il rights movement of the 1 t50's and 60 s. the left-wing avant-gardists believe that have not had a chance to appreciate it. Unfor In the 50 years since 1910. jazz has become tunately, neither they nor Free Ja z rfa n s have respectable. Some of its artists, firs t the whites done anything to establish a haven where their and fin ally the blacks, have received signifi music can always be heard. For avant-gardists cant financial remuneration from their chosen N e g r o crisis all over the country, and of whatever political persuasion, the past years have not been easy. field of endeavor. Since he has now arrived, the role of the Negro as jazz progenitor and (continued from page 10) Only a handful of liquor dispensaries in New pioneer is no longer a m ajor issue. If one may York, Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit employ the past to reflect the future, we can ex tural radicalism " is to “ connect up cultural provide any kind of Free Jazz exposure, and pect that each new jazz revolution w ill produce w ith p olitical criticism , and both ^vith de the album sales of its performers have not been musical m ilitants intent upon change and eco mands and program m es." C ultural r* licalism outstanding. To date. Free Jazz has been even nomic recognition of the success they hope to is concerned w ith “ what methods f . social less of a financial success than Be-Bop, and achieve. As a result, each new revolution w ill change are necessary to achieve ftVedom 0f the future does not appear promising. demand more of the listener. In addition, the expression w ithin a national culture whose After thoughtful consideration of the supposi prevailing racial tensions in the nation w ill aesthetic has been cultivated by 1 single, tions of left-wing avant-gardists, it is the sus continue to make themselves fe lt in jazz, dominant, ethnic group "--the w hit Anglo- picion of this w rite r that much of their polemi- producing sporadic manifestations of senti Saxons. cizing has an even more distinctive economic ments of prejudice on the part of both white Cruse notes that C. W right M ills fai -d to see overtone than they are prepared to admit. and black people. the role of the Negro intellectual in strug gle to "connect up cultural w ith p o lif/ra l c r iti cism. and both w ith demands and pr.tgrams." However, that this is needed is evident. “ But the Anglo-Saxons and their Protestant ethic have failed in their creative and intellectual responsibil Paperbounds on your ¡ M ities to the internal American com monweal. Interested purely in nate- ria lis tic pursuits-exploiting resources, reading list? the politics of profits and los\. ru l ing the world, waging war, amT’ pro tecting a rather threadbare cultural OFAY heritage. . . ” by E a r l S h o r r ls And into this intellectual Vacuim have stepped the Jews, to dominate scholar P a p e r b a c k .................... 60ç ship. history, and social research, etc. But this is not enough--not fo r America and cer White man in a black man's world; tainly not fo r the Negro. the odyssey of a white youth's ex- The book points out w ith c la rit > the im perlence in the St. Louis Negro portant dilemma facing many Ne,~o intel ghetto . . . a harsh, vivid docu lectuals today. W. E. B. DuBois ¡riequatelv ment of junk, jazz, hipsters, and die phrased this dilemma as a sens^8j|f two- “ ofay” among them. It is engross ness," a dual identification w ith oAe s race ing . . . it is explosive. and w ith one's nation. DuBois state. There faces the American Negro . . . an intricate and subtle problem of combining intd tne object Report Of The National two d iffic u lt sets of fa cts." According to Cruse, Advisory Commission the failure to realize this point has prevented both integrationists and nationalists from On Civil Disorders "synthesizing composite trends." ■by U.S. Riot Commission Although it is perhaps premature fc r us black Paperback . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.25 students to form ulate " comprehensive pro grams fo r social change." we must'overcome This is the complete text; the facts behind the shame of our cities, the our present im m o bility and prepare U offer in crisis of our nation I Here are telligent contributions in the future-*We must the causes of and remedies for the listen and be cognizant of the Solutions" smoldering violence in America to that are now beginning to be offered (torn other quarters. Mayor Cavanagh of Detro t has sug day. gested that we be sent back to the So* th. A U.S. Congressman has offered to abandc*; the cen tra l cities to us. leaving in effect b la ^ i reserva tions. Black author. John A. W illiams, in his te rrifying new novel. T h e M a n 11 h o ( r i e t l I Im. OOKVOR« presents the "K in g Alfred Plan"~a pl^n that rivals H itle r’s “ fin al solution" ih its gruesome completeness. More te rrifying than t! le novel it self is the fact that a ll of its monstr h i s details somehow seem plausible. Consider tl ese “ solu tions." Perhaps by ridding oursel es of the delusion that what happened to oth :rs cannot O v e r 100 P u b lish e rs happen to us. we can see the urge icv of the Stocked in ou r W are h ou se “ C risis." For this delusion is base upon the presupposition that the white A m e r e n m ajori ty is not capable of the evil which c hers have committed. Yet as we a ll know, there are witnesses above and below ground y ,iose testi mony w ill denv this falsity. 1 2 Michigan State News, E ast Lansing, Michigan Thursday, April 4, 1968 Racism in search of ideology (continued from page 4) the fires of wrath w ill undoubtedly caress us icans on the installment plan, there w ill be no mism. Dr. Kennedth Clark said in the conclu all. peace and order in this country. And such a sion of the R eport: down in communications." Because these realization w ill not come about u ntil Black I read that rep o rt. . . of the 1919 riot in leaders refused to consider a ll options «in Americans stop asking for such legislation Chicago, and it is as if 1 were reading cluding the more palatable ones like a separ and begin to force Americans to ask them the i t pert of the investigating com ate state for Black Americans' on the basis selves what it is about their society which m ittee oa the Harlem riot of '35, the re- of the true nature of American society. Black causes such legislation to be necessary for % port of the investigating committee Americans are now subjected to the hum iliat some but not for others. The fact that two- oa the Harlem riot of ’43, the report ing experience of having their basic freedoms thirds of white America does not feel that the of the McCone Commission on the granted to them piecemeal, on the basis of Negro has been mistreated is commentary on such irrelevancies as the political party in W atts riot. the bankruptcy of American educational and I m ast again in candor say to you power, the seniority of senators, the results of public opinion polls. m l m t n t e u m . The civil- mass media institutions. This bankruptcy, to members of this Commission-it is the extent that it is intellectual and not moral, a kind of Alice in Wonderland-with rights act m entality has so polluted the atmos can be remedied by an insistence on the c la rifi the sam e moving picture re-shown phere that the President of the United States is able to go on national television and claim cation of issues. One such issue is American over and over again, the same analy racism ; and if a Presidential Commission can sis, the same recommendations, and that he is going to give the original Americans reach such a clarification, in an election year, the snme inaction. their " c iv il rig h ts" at the next session of Congress. A graver insult to the American and w ith only m inim al contributions from the The Report makes it clear that we are living academic community, one must seriously in a sick society. The tim e fo r action is running Indian would be d iffic u lt to imagine. U ntil white Americans realize that they have question the value of the latter in this Age of out. If the apathy which greeted the presenta Revolution. tion of the Report continues to prevail, then no rig ht to grant the freedom of other Amer NEW T PAPERBACKS • T h e v e ry la rg e s t se lection In town! e|f we don’t have It ” w e ’ll o r d e r It. fo r you - no ch arge . e 5,000 title s on e ve ry c on ce ivab le subject - new title s weekly. e B e s t s e lle r s • A ll b ooks a rran ge d a l p h ab e tica lly by author MAGAZINES e P la y b o y e R a m p a r ts « E v e rg re e n R eview » P s y c h o lo g y Today eSeventeen « A l l m a jo r (m ost m in o r) m a ga z in e s. NEWSPAPERS « N e w Y o r k T im e s Sam e D a y - D a ily and Sunday « C h ic a g o T rib u ne F R E E P A R K im • Local P ap e rs IN FRANDOR • M a n y ou t-of-tow n C O M M U N IT Y C O M IC B O O K S • F o r fa st read in g o r c o lle c to rs item s. N E W S C E N T E R OPEN MON.-SAT. 9 A .M .-9 P*M. 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