Broward Community College - Silver Sands Yearbook (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

Page 15 text:

cultural heritage, recognizing that my ancestors did make contributions to the world and society, and that my black heroes were brave and daring. I feel integrity in knowing that the Egyptians of Black Africa were the first people to produce a working irrigation system, invent mathematics and record history by inventing hieroglyphics. I feel a surge of courage and masculinity when I remember that Hannibal was a black warrior and a brilliant general who conquered most of Roman Italy by moving an entire army and elephants across the Alps, and most of all I am thankful of the fact that my race gave birth to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who loved all men and died making his dream come true. This is the essence of my blackness and a part of every black man's blackness. Black Power is the united effort ofa black people to better themselves economically, politically, educa- tionally, and socially, by operating in this sensate society and fighting either inside the system or outside the system. The black man has the obligation of providing for the women of his race, and seeing to it that they live the most comfortable life they can. He must also remind his women that black is beautiful and that they are beautiful women. The black man has the burden of proof. I-Ie must prove to himself and to the world that the opportunities which he has fought so hard for were not gained in vain, and that the martyrs ofjustice and civil liberty did not die in vain, immortals such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Malcolm X, Goodman, Chainey, and Shriver, Medgar Evers, five little girls in Birmingham's Bethlehem Baptist Church and Robert Francis Kennedy. The Black man's role in this society is to make a place for himself and his people in this society. The Black man must prove to the world and to himself that he is a man. To do this he must strive to excel in every endeavor, not to be the best when compared to others, but to be the best man he can be. The educated Black man has the responsibility of leadership. It is he who must inspire the masses of black in this country toward the goals of education. and employment. It is his duty to reveal to his people that education is the tool that breaks the tools of ignorance and economic servitude. It is the obligation of each Black man to help himself, and to help his brothers as best he can, before seeking help from any other source. The Black man must be able to transform hate into love, and to see bigotry and yet continue to strive toward the goals of liberty and justice for all regardless of race, color, creed, or national origin including the Indian in his quest. The Black man must recognize his culture, while at the same time respecting the culture of fellow Americans, for as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, The Negro needs the White man to free him of his fears, and the white man needs the Negro to free him of his guilt. A doctrine of Black supremacy is just as evil as that of white supremacy. We, as 'Americans - both Black and White. must prove to ourselves and to the world that a better day is coming because if we do not the collision course that we started 350 years ago will destroy us all. .KX l up 'WITZE' . 1 White IVIale's Role in Society by Roger Wilcox Any day now, I shall be released. I stand between preparation and application. I am a marginal man. I am a college student. I was born into the world a bawling mass of sensory perception. I see, I feel, I taste, smell, and hear the world about me. I was gifted with vocal chords, and have managed to become even more vocal than most. I have depth perception which keeps me from reaching for my coffee cup and putting my hand through the window behind it. I have a brain that usually functions well enough after 9:00 a.m. These and other assets I have with which to deal with the world. It seems, however, to deal with me. From the time I left the womb I was bombarded with stimuli from which I could only be expected to learn, and learn I did. I spent a year or two learning how to walk, experimenting with sounds. developing a limited cognizance of symbolic communication, and performing in the disgusting manner that most babies do. Then, they put the screws to me.

Page 14 text:

I . MIA A-'-t k ll' 'Teix- Tlzv l'IIur'lf man must recognize 11 is Culture. while at the NIIII 14' Iinzv rf-spevlirig the t'llIllll't' ofjellozv xII7l6'I'Il'f1l1S.U 6 Black ale's Role in Society by Curtis Palmore Black is beautiful , It's your thingng 'Tm black and I'm proudf' These are just a'few of the black cliches of our day, but these are not merely cliches, these phrases are part of a dialogue which not only aids in binding a subculture, but also serves to identify a philosophy, namely 'SBlack Powerf' To be Black and Militant means to be black and active, and that activity may be constructive, or destructive. I am an active black man. I am trying to destroy the ills of this society, asl see them, and as I come in conflict with them, not by hating other men, but by learning to understand all men through my dream of Peace, Love, and Brotherhood for all men. I am a black militant, I am part of a Black Revolution which is part of a world revolution. My fight is not only for the black poor, but for all the poor in this country and in the world. Before I can describe for you the role of the black man in this society, whom I have named Mr. Soul, I must define two terms. These terms will reveal the true identity of Mr. Soul. These two terms are Black and Black Power. Black for me is the awareness of my

Page 16 text:

, 'Ifl please to go naked in the streets I would be stopped because it would offend the morals of the society, not because it would be against the law which is a secondary causal reaction to the dictation of the morals. U The first difficult differentiation a young child learns is the difference between his own and the opposite sex, in an attitudinal aspect. fThe physiological differences will become more obvious some years later, when they will matterj Why is it that the young boy is encouraged towards active participation in sports and general rough housing, and the girl is aimed towards nladylike conduct and learning how to be a wife and mother by playing house',? Why is it that boys are asked what they want to be in life, whereas girls are told how pretty they look or asked where they got their golden locks? In this aspect, I feel sorry for the girl who is being trained to present herself as the big prize for the big winner. It follows in school that girls are either categorized in home economics or college preparatory, and boys are directed towards a vocation or college prep. The college prep girls are getting a stay of sentence. During this discipline of the young man towards his doom as a wage slave and security hound, he is also taught his proper subservient position in regard to the traditions, morals, laws, and preferences of his own society. Whether or not he cares to admit it, he is grossly a product of his environment, and strictly subject to its regulations. If I please to go naked in the streets, I would be stopped because it would offend the morals of the society, not because it would be against the law, which is a secondary and causal reaction to the - dictation of the morals. He is nurtured in a society that bends and shapes him to conform to a vast majority of its values, goals, attitudes, habits, and traditions. Within his own family he is subject to even more disciplines that his own folks lay down. A family of bankers is not likely to be enthusiastic aboutjunior's decision to be an avant-garde artist. But back to me. As an eighth-grade graduate, at the mature and responsible age of I3, I was directed to decide how I would spend the rest of my life, as a skilled laborer or a college educated career man. Through the years of high school I expanded upon and at the same time narrowed this field of interest, through participation in various school clubs and outside interests, in the hope that this would prepare me for college, where I would of course know whither I was bound. Whither I was bound was limbo. With the draft hot at my heels. awaiting my failure or submission, I try to prepare myself for a life of who-knows-what with an education in the same. Why is it that so many of my compatriots echo the cry whither am I bound? Weren't the grade schools supposed to help us towards an intelligent answer? Or were they herding us? I was told I was college material. l was also told that I ought to do this and ought not to do that. I was told that woodshop was not for me, that college was THE ONLY ANSWER, that education was the glittering dream of a lifetime of planning by everybody else but nie. It is not that I don't think college is or has been worth it. Il's just that I didn't have the mtomiation to decide. I honestly question whether I would have gone to college immediately after high school if I hadn't been acutely aware of Uncle Sam's beady eyes and sweaty palms, and the scorn of my family and friends. Might it not have been better to have had some vocational courses in high school, to have lived a little longer before being thrust into the world ill equipped? Might it not be better even now to receive a more general education, and specialize later? Perhaps it is the bane of modern society. But here I stand, knee-deep in it. I must now consider my place in the sun. I am to be a responsible citizen. I shall obey all laws, conform to the morals, vote no matter how poor the choices be, and not make waves. The law is the law, so it is and ever more shall be. Law and Order. Yet sometimes that seems to be more law and more orders than is fair and just. I must not offend the sacred standards of my society. My government tells me I must wear a safety helmet when I drive a motorcycle because I don't know what is good for me. I cannot smoke marijuana because I don't know what is good for me. I had better not protest in God and country, Mississippi, if I know what is good for me. I must do as the Romans do when in Rome, they say. In other words, don't make waves. I am subject to severe punishment if I voice my disappointment with or alienation from my country. As confounded as I am with my own lot, I am constantly called on to enlarge upon this preparation for nothing. So I decide to escape, to drop out, to take off for a while and think things out. Yes? No. Not unless I like carrying an MI4, I don't. While I was young, I was indoctrinated with Americanism, with the ideals of free speech, the right to dissent, the right to assert my beliefs. Yet ifl attend a demonstration against any government action, I am liable to get my head beat in and be labeled a Communist. Ifl wear my hair long, advocate free love, or push peace in the world, I might be called a hippie degenerate peace creep. Somehow these conditions don't parallel my supposed rights. I am an individual human being, with particular assets land a number of liabilities, I might addj, but a perfect stranger is likely to think he can pinpoint me, prejudge me, analyze me like some fish he is dissecting. That is, to say the least, somewhat ego defeating. It is not surprising, when seen from a bird's-eye view, that life on the whole looks rather hypocritical, unjust, and shallow at times. But then there are those days when the wind blows around my head, the earth is warm, and children and animals run around and play, and it is then that I realize that lifels pleasures far outweigh its miseries. I still see the need for a hell of a lot of change in the government, in people, and in policies. But as long as life is still as groovy as it is, it's worth the effort.