Page 74 - TheGoldBug1968-69

PAGE 2 THE GOLD. BUG FEBRUARY 28, 1969 Dick Gregory Failure? Black Capitalism The Black Message by Barry Teach Many of those who today are demanding immediate action from Alumni Hall was packed on Wednesday, February 12, and the federal government in the area there was little doubt that the main attraction was black of civil rights are atthesametime a-dvocating the concept of "black power advocate Dick Gregory. Western Maryland students capitalism." This approach, they are noted for not attending lectures unless the speaker is say, wmtnsttu a sense of pride andachievementlnghettodweUers, famous, and the flamboyant comedian Dick Gregory certain- and will allow them to receive ly filled the bill in that respect. Gregory was opposed by more equitable prices than they organization Democrat Andrew Hatcher, but attention was now do. focused on Gregory and the expected black power debate Apartheid Approach? did not materialize. Gregory's reception at white middle-class WMC was decid- But, as the AFL-CIO executive edly favorable. Much of what the black militant said did not councn recently stated, ."black capitalism as a means to help Na- directly concern black power, and many of his allusions to groes enter the business world is the black power philosophy were disguised as humor or an illusion. Attempts to build sep- erate economic enclaves, with sub- presented in an emotional manner. The dynamic black power stantial federal tax subsidies, with- leader confronted the staid, middle-class civil rights leader, Letters to The Editor In geographically limited ghetto and black power came out on top (especially in terms of areas, is apartheid, anti-demo- To the Editor: of the Dean of Women, in com- cratic nonsense." In addition, the humor and emotional appeal). The programs advanced by a plete opposition to all real jus- concept is called unworkable, for demagogue are not always as off- ttce designed to meet individual the eounon sees the ghetto as, in "Black Rage" enstve or dangerous as the assu- needs and cirucmstances. One fact, a part of the nation, the in- mpUons he makes and the methods of the latest cases should prove habitants as Americans, and saw When the emotion and jokes are filtered out of Gregory's he uses. The article in the GOLD an adequate example. no way that small packets of urban or rural poverty could be made speech, there remains on important message to white Amer- ~~~w (~~~r~::erl:4N~.61~pern:~~:~. , A girl. and her date were into viable separate economic enti- iea. The message is stated succinctly and eloquently b~' by Mr. Teach admitted agreement ~!ew~~;~nawo~d~wi;::;~;:il:ght. ties. But not only is the plan un- William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs, two black psychiatrists with the former and demonstrat- When it was obvious that the workable economically, \ but the ghetto is not yet ready to bear the who "tell it like it is" in Black~, a study of the efforts of eo :u~a~~l~~;,~ttc ~;O:at~:~da cer- ~:~in:~lu:dth~:~tht~o~::rgit;la~a~:~ responslbl1!ty of owning and black people to adjust to life in a racist society ....The message tainly can have no effectiveness the housemother and asked if she operating its own businesses. to whit~ people, they say, is simply: :~ t~~ :~~~e~~~It~~~;~7t~ber~~ should return by curfew or U she Black Capitalism Failure "Get off our backs! The problem will be so education. I can only assume, ~o:~~e.s~a:~:~I~~~o:h::;dg::n!:~ This can be !Uustrated by the ~~i~!y m::fi~::'c~!~~:d i~l~l~u~:~~I~;e? f:~ ~t;;:~:trs\:::tbe~:' u:se:r~~~lo:S-- ~~dst%t~~~ll~~:. en~::u~~:e s~: failure of the first venture into black capitalism in Delaware. A blacks from the time they came to these ~~;;~~~:~=pre:::~e~~n;Pir:!;:!~ ;~:l ~~lS:t:gm:~:~r b~hrt:: n!~~~ little over a year ago, a group shores to this very day. What is the solution? Mr. Teach's right for the print- council. This is mature justice? of Negroes took over the mort- gage to-a ten-store shopping cen- Get off their backs. How? By simply doing it-- ~~~e~f t~hec:~!!~r~~~g!~:l n~~~~l~: ~a~r::a:s m~~:~rt;e ot~~ee:o~~~ in Wilmington. Last week, the ter impression that his arguments leader of the undertaklngannounc- Whether a society that is fundamentally racist will accept this were based merely on fractured Students at western Maryland ed his Intention to close due to a logic; Inadequate documentation, College are supposedly learning lack of law and order in the area. demand is questionable. White people generally react defens- simplistic analysis; rhetorical to develop mature patterns of life. Young hoodlums had pushed and ively when they are told something that might shatter their appeals to e'motion, such as "wel- Regardless of the in loco paren- shoved customers, broken into fare of the larger community is patrons' cars, and smashed $6000 illusions and, like most people, they are stalwart defenders threatened," or the use of such tis w~men conditions slapped upon the worth of windOWs, Insurance on the by the college, they can of what Galbraith calls the "conventional wisdom." There 1S ~lever nonsense terms like "poor still learn mature, realistic, and operation was cancelled after one a very serious discrepancy between the American ideal and risk" or "sure bet to commit humane judgement of their fellow- store was broken into for the stx- crime." tenth time. Let no person say the American reality. In that respect, Gregory and others The newspaper has an obltga- that violence and crime are a dir- have effectively destroyed a myth that had been accepted uon to allow Mr. Teach to re- Thus far, the maturity and re- ect result of the submersion of state, clarify and defend some sponsibility displayed by the wo- some areas and groups into a sit- for decades. of his basic assumptions. men of Western Maryland College uation in which there is no oppor- A speaker like Gregory defies convention, challenges the What are the major causal fac- disgusts me. It Is time for a re- tunity afforded for achievement intellect and emotionally affects his audience. But will his tors for the crime in urban areas? vamping of the Women's system or a betterment of conditions. What message be remembered? Only a very limited segment of the tropoUtan Is the nature of the me-"