RAINBOW COALITION |
Blacks need sense of pride j
By Kim Spurlock
"Lift every voice and sing, till earth
and heaven ring. Ring with the har
mony of liberty. Let our rejoicing
rise, high as the listening skies. Let it
resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing
a song, full of the faith that the dark
past has taught us. Sing a song, full of
the hope that the present hasbrought
us. Facing the rising sun of our new
day begun. Let us march on, till vic
tory is won."
This is the Black national an
them that has given Blacks the
faith and courage to continue
onward with strength, determination
and pride. When the “American”
natipnal anthem was written, it did
not include the Black race. Our na
tional anthem is what portrays the
Black race.
Blacks were forced to come to
America and assimilate into the White
culture. Although we are supposedly
“free at last,” we cannot take our
selves back to Africa and assume
Africa will be as it was more than 300
years ago.
When our forefathers were stolen
from their rich and harmonious land,
Mother Africa, and forced to live in
an uncivilized, destructive and racist
land called America, we lost our pride,
culture and history. Now that we arc
regaining our pride, and relearning
our culture ana history, we’re a vio
lent people? We did not voluntarily
assimilate into the White culture, for
we already had what we needed on
our own continent.
How can we, as African-Ameri
cans, go back to a continent where we
do not know which nation we arc
from? Our forefathers were stolen
from their people and their land and
forced to become servants of the white
man. Our forefathers were forced to
* take the while man’s names* such as
‘Toby,” instead of their African names
given to them by their parents.
Why can’t Blacks forget about the
East and move on? Because whai
appened to us in the past is the
reason why we are in the situatior
that we’re now in. We were not z
violent people. We learned that frorr
the White race. Before the white mar
snatched our forefathers from theii
land, there were rarely any single
mother homes. Before our forefathers
hands and feet were bound with the
chains of destruction, our brothers
were taught they were powerful.
Today, more than 300 years later
the Black sisters are left to single
handedly rear their children. Today
our Black brothers still are presumet
powerless to the White male race
those Black brothers who are as quali
Tied as their White male counterpart!
continue to receive lower salaries.
Why is it that African or African
American history is not required fo
all students of all ages in school? I;
European history the only history tha
is important? Now that Black peopl<
have taken the time to study tne his
tory of a great people, Africans, am
have taken the time to further thei
knowledge of these accomplishments
which have been hidden from then
for centuries, something is wrong'
Why is it when Black people speak o
the wonderful joys of being an Amcri
can, they’re special, and when the]
begin to speak about the truth of wha
the white people did to a people
they’re trouble*?
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coin Affirmative Action office ha
been receiving calls about the presen
tation that Sister Souljah of the raj
group, Public Enemy, made Wcdncs
day night in the Union Ballroom. It’
obvious that people were listening
and if people arc upset, they need t<
ask themselves why. Was it becausi
the Souljah sister was speaking o!Th<
truth, or was it because she was makini
Blacks think and understand why wi
arc the way we arc today?
It’s funny how many white peopf
think everything is fine and harmom
ous and then when some black persoi
stands up and says, “Hey, something’s .
wrong here, and I’m not gonna shut I
up until something is done, ’ he or she |
is deemed militant or radical. As Sis- i
ter Souljah said, Blacks are at war,
and if we don’t fight against our ene- |
mies today, it may be too late tomor- |
row. , ,
What Sister Souljah gave to Black
: people was positive reinforcement.
She gave us a sense of pride in our
selves. The Souljah lady let us know
, that we are somebody and we should
be proud to be Black.
As Angela Green, chair of UPC
1 African-American Special Events and
Entertainment, said, many Black stu
dents on this campus have been say
; ing the same thing Sister Souljah said,
and had people listened, maybe we
wouldn’t have had to bring someone
• from New York to tell us what’s wrong
; in Nebraska.
t SisterSouljah was brought to UNL
; as a part of UNL’s Black History
■ Montn celebration. The United States
l has “given” us one month out of twelve
r to celebrate centuries of our people’s
, accomplishments and one of the rea
i sons wny the United States is what it
> is today. When White people have
f 365 days a year to celebrate their
history and when they also have nine
t months a year to fill all students’
i heads with their history, what is wrong
, with Blacks receiving positive rein
forcement from a Sister who knows
- what time it is?
i The school system says it wants
- students to excel and be proud of who
) they arc. If Sister Souljah can instill
- Black pride in us, then so be it-At
< least sne admits how she feels about
. every thing and everyone and doesn’t
) hide behind fake smiles.
> As long as there arc positive Black
: sisters and brothers 1 ike S istcr Souljah,
; as a race, Black people will continue
; to march on and fight . . . ‘til our
victory “is won.”
Spurlock is a sophomore news-editorial
1 and broadcasting major.
CHRIS HALLIGAN
Half-truths form white identity
Probably one of the most diffi
cult tasks in the human ordeal
of life is the act of finding
one’s true identity. We all
look for it in various places.
Some of us lode few it in our friends,
others look for it in our various in
volvements, such as the greek system
or student government. I realized early
on that one’s identity can be found in
only one place — the past.
My family knew exactly what sort
of identity they wanted for me. My
grandfather would set me down on
nis lap and tell me glorious stories
about my family. He told me about
our direct involvement in the Revolu
tionary War. He told me about the
Navy ship that was named after my
great-great-great grandfather. World
War It seemed a source of unlimited
adventure stories of heroism on the
part of my relatives.
My parents sent me to beautiful
suburban schools, where history was
friendly and clean. Everything taught
to me had an air of nobility and re
spect. By the lime I was in high school,
I was convinced that there couldn’t
possibly be a country in the world that
practiced equality and democracy with
as much vigor as the good ol’ United
Slates.
By the lime 1 graduated from high
school, my identity, fully molded and
perfected by my clean-cut environ
ment, was complete. I came to col
lege expecting to meet many other
people with tne same identity as I
What I found at college, however,
was a very different scene. 1 found a
situation that I was not used to; a sort
of tension loomed over the campus
like a dark cloud. That tension, I was
to eventually find, was the result of
the tension created when white people
realize that maybe they have been
lied to—lied to about their identities.
This semester is the first time in
my entire life that I have been taught
by a black person. This person has
taken the opportunity to give me a
different sort of education, an educa
tion that is, instead of clean and happy,
soiled and ugly. This person has taught
me about a part of my identity that I
never heard of in school or on
Grandpa’s lap— the part of my iden
tity that is inherently racist.
This professor has introduced me
to terms such as “racist institution”
/ realized early an
that one’s identity
can be found tn only
one place — the past.
and has provided me proof of th
white legacy of slavery that, like
cancer out of control, engulfs any
thing good this country has done an<
turns it into ugly hypocrisy.
Suddenly \ founa myself dealin
with a sort of “identity crisis.”
At first I was very angry. I couldn ’
believe that this professor had the gal
to stand in front of the class — m
class — and tell me that I was racisi
that 1 have benefited from a racis
institution and that virtually every
thing I do is a blatant act of racism.
However, after great thought,
realized that she was right. She wa
not telling me that 1 was a consciou
racist, but that my identity had bee
manifested in racism. I found mysel
to be a very lost individual.
All of the pieces began to fall inti
place. I began to remember the sto
ries. I began to remember the cduca
tion. I began to see how my famil
was telling me only half-truths aboti
my noble nistory. I began to realiz
that my education was actually pro
American propaganda that didn'
reveal the entire truth.
My grandfather never mentione
the hundreds of people my ancestor
enslaved when he told me of the glc
rious plantations wc owned in Vii
ginia. He never told me about th
separation of blacks and whiles in th
Navy when he spoke of the glory day
at sea during “the war.” He never tol
me that black people weren’t eve
allowed at Annapolis when he ai
tended in the ’30s.
Inside the white schools I attended
while growing up, I was never taught
about our sickening legacy of slav
ery’. It was mentioned, but never actu
ally studied. I was never taught about
the Ku Klux Klan and the atrocities
committed against black people in
the early halfof this century. I had to
learn that from a movie.
When we learned about Martin
Luther King Jr. and his peaceful ac
tivities in those radical 60s, some
how Malcolm X’s more aggressive
approach was skipped over.
So, indeed, I am a man with a new
identity, and it hasn’t been given to
me by my family or my expensive
education. It has 6een given to me by
a black professor, wno seemingly
carries a great deal of anger toward
white people in general.
I guess what angers me the most is
5 that I had a right to this information,
i that possibly decisions I have made in
- the past would have been different if
i this large part of my identity were
different.
j I wonder how many generations of
Halligans have been railroaded by the
t glory stories. I wonder how many
I Americans have been manipulated
f by the lack of information given in
, our education system,
t It is up to us, the new generation,
- toensurcthatourchildrcn s identities
are factual and complete, so they do
I not have to deal with the probfems
s facing our nation today — problems
s manifested not through racism, but
1 through an anger created by neglect,
f It was America’s mistake — ne
glecting to provide identities to all of
3 its citizens, neglecting to provide a
- sense of pride for an entire slew of
- contributions made by people who
f haven’t had the benefit ofhappy chats
t on a grandfather’s lap or squeaky
2 clean educations at nice suourban
- schools.
t A mind is a terrible thing to waste
and when false programming begins
1 at an early age, we are indeed faced
s with a wasted mind. A mind is useless
- when it is not open, and I had to learn
- the hard way that my identity is only
2 half true. Through the anger of one
t person, my mind nas been pried open,
s Unfortunately, I now find myself
i part of a small minority.
a
Httlligun is a Junior political science ma
jor and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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