"Black Cultural Center Should be Built"

"Black Cultural Center Should be Built"

This one and only letter to the editor written by Tony Williamson and published in the Technician lays out Williamson's denounciation of Steven Crisp and support for the Black Awareness Council of UNC-Chapel Hill. Williamson calls out Steven Crisp and Jeffrey Rom as harboring their own subconscious racist feelings against African Americans and point-by-point, refutes Crisp's claims of the Black Awareness Council's beliefs. He vehemently rejects Crisp's comparisons of civil rights groups with white hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan by pointing out that no African American civil rights group has the same record of racial violence and hate as the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis. Williamson then passionately defends African American cultural centers as a space of inclusion and cross cultural dialogue. Finally, he ends by expressing concern that the somewhat fringe beliefs of Crisp and Rom were actually representative of a rather large contingent of NCSU students, thereby reiterating the need of cultural centers to create safe spaces for interracial and intercultural dialogue on campus.

Tony WIlliamson

Tony Williamson, "Black Cultural Center Should be Built," The Technician vol. LXXIV no. 20 (September 28, 1992), 6.

1992-09-28

Cheryl Dong

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After recovering from the initial shock of reading Steve Crisp’s column and Jeff Rom’s letter, which both describe UNC-Chapel Hill’s Black Awareness Council as “racist” and “terrorist,” I feel obliged to counter such ignorance with the truth that has evidently eluded these gentlemen.

First of all, it is obvious that both Crisp and Rom don’t understand the purpose of a cultural center. The purpose is not, as Crisp puts it, to gain “black superiority over whites.” An African-American cultural center is a place where blacks can showcase the achievements of their ancestors. It is a place where both blacks and non-blacks can learn things about African heritage other than the negative images constantly portrayed by the media. Such a place ultimately helps to build the pride and self-esteem of African-Americans. It is a shame that racial pride and an attempt to project a positive image of oneself has to be confused with racism. Perhaps Rom is the racist. After all, he is the one who admits to harboring “more negative feelings” towards blacks for displaying “militant ways of trying to gain equality.”

Crisp sarcastically denounces the belief that black males have become the target of a destructive conspiracy. If there has been no conspiracy, then why are there more black males in jail than in college? Why do black children have to tolerate communities filled with liquor stores and gun shops, while their white peers enjoy neighborhoods schools and day care centers? Think about it.

Crisp calls the claim that blacks are not given sufficient credit for their contributions to history “blatant vomiting of revisionist history.” Does Crisp own a Bible? If so, I would like him to read the scriptures that describe Christ’s physical characteristics. After learning that the description of his appearance is nothing like the European image that is often portrayed, Crisp may want to replace the picture that hangs in his church, or maybe even in his home, with a more truthful, Afro-centric version.

Furthermore, comparing members of the Black Awareness Council to the Ku Klux Klan by calling them Ku Klux Blacks is not only an insult to the BAC but to African-Americans as a whole. At no point in history has the BAC, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black Panthers Party or any other black activist organization practiced the unjust, terrorist acts that have been synonymous with the KKK. Neither have any of these groups ever proposed to take such actions. Also, Malcolm X, contrary to Rom’s belief, was not a “man who wanted to achieve change through violence.” Malcolm X taught that violence should be used as a means of self-defense and as a last resort. Those who claim that he taught otherwise are simply wrong.

Finally, the thing that upsets me most is the fact that Crisp and Rom are not articulating isolated opinions. They are voicing the beliefs of many people, not only on this campus but in this country as well. I can only hope that these people educate themselves so that they can realize that cultural centers are not racist havens of segregation. In truth, they are places that provide a sense of identity to the minorities who need them as well as opportunities for cross cultural learning. Therefore, since they have the potential to benefit everyone, the building and usage of cultural centers should be sought after by people of all cultures.

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