University of Massachusetts Boston - Beacon Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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E! -U c.,,:. . X, - 'T' Photos by lon Dalsv and Mark larrel Chau X

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L - - crcs R . Photos by Mark Iarret Chavous and Inn Daisx One of the biggest issues to hit UMass!Boston this year was the shut down of the elevators at the Down- town Campus. While an elevator breaking down is no news to any UMass student, a deliberate barring of ele- vator use is. Iudged to be unsafe, the administration had them shut down after numerous reports of elevators flying past selected floors. Maintainence at the 13-floor Downtown Campus building has never exactly been what one might call breath-taking. The shutdown was viewed by many CPCS students as the first major step in what would ultimately be complete abandonment of the Downtown Campus building. Not about to take this lying down, CPCS stu- dents organized a passionate protest and marched to the State House. Once there, state officials and legislators greeted the crowd of CPCS students and sympathetic Harbor Campus students and later promised to repair two of the ailing elevators. CPCS does not plan to let this issue fade and is prepared to march once more if 250 Stu- art Street is threatened again. I ee Mark Inrret Clzazrous ,SAVE OUR C Hflfl X F1

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His Name Wa Martin. . . if 2 Li' '16 ... rw - 7 3 E' F . 0 ' Z fi is ,.,,,+ .ff 'QQ N ww- --wmwswm... iwwv- .w..,4ve.X4.m.tL-A.+bQslQ'ta2im4y.ivf.tiN,i.is.,, April fourth, 1986, was the eighteenth anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. On this night, the Black Student Center, the office of the Vice Chancellor for the Division of Student Affairs, sponsored a production that celebrated the spirit and impact of Rev- erend King. In a one-man performance, Al Eaton of City Stage Company portrayed the life and times of Martin Luther King. His energy captivated the audience as he reenacted the impact of the civil rights movement. The opening scene begins with Al Eaton as a tenant farmer named Willie Smith who is confronted with this new movement called civil rights . He describes the be- ginning of the movement as he tells of Rosa Park's bold incident on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Then Al Eaton with a quick costume change, begins delivering a powerful section of Martin Luther King Irfs speech enti- tled We shall overcome. Next, he assumes his role as a tenant farmer and expresses his reluctance to become in- volved with the movement. He depicts with powerful Photographs by Ioe Marchese passion the terror that the Klu Klux Klan imposes on him and how they force him to mind his own business like he was supposed to be doing. The next character that Eaton portrays is Nathaniel B. Wright, a young black, brought up in an all white afflu- ent community. As he states, My parents were polite enough to not mention that I was a Negro. Nathaniel expresses his frustration with this identity crisis. His ex- posure to an all white society has left him confused as to what a black man should be and how to act. He then decides to go to the NAACP to join the cause and to discover how to be truely black. The fourth transition has much intensity and realism. A sharp contrast is made as Al Eaton changes character from Nathanal B. Wright to a black militant involved with the black panthers. This scene portrays the disillu- sionment that many blacks were feeling toward King's non-violent practices. This movement states, I got no more cheeks to turn, in response to putting christian morals into practice in his fight against racism. His dia- logue is intense and filled with the conviction as he de- scribes in detail the horror that his family experienced from the KKK as a result of their non-violent protests. He has lost hope and feels his only solution is to retali- ate. His hatred towards the whites who despise him an the injustice he is forced to live with is evident. 24 I