Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
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not . (The National Association of African-American Educators should<br />
facilitate an easy start in this direction . All we have to do is relate to it . )<br />
Other than this, I urge you all to persist in your loyalty to the 125,000<br />
black students who study with you in the South, even in the face of<br />
tempting salary offers and the handful of us who have been farmed-out<br />
as window dressing for the "prestigious" institutions of the North . You<br />
have the ball (essence) and "they" are simply waiting to steal it after<br />
"we" have tackled you .<br />
In answer to question no . 2 : it is my opinion that you should refuse<br />
any offers from either us or "them" until some arrangement regarding<br />
the above has been formalized .<br />
4 . There is presently nothing in white institutions that is worth "imitating<br />
." Anything that we could create in them to imitate might just as<br />
well be created in the right place to begin with .<br />
6 . It would make a great deal of sense, in my opinion, for us to attempt<br />
to provide as many serious Northern black students as possible with<br />
exposure to the black-oriented brothers in the South and the Southern<br />
Black Experience in general . Indeed, many of us have already developed<br />
a vision of our circumstances that is tunneled because we lack such exposure<br />
.<br />
As is evidenced by the tone of this letter, I found your suggestions<br />
for action wholly appropriate and in keeping with our needs . Of these,<br />
I do not believe that enough can be said for the usefulness of a scheme<br />
such as the Consortium that you suggested . Unless some such arrangement<br />
is effected, we may reasonably expect not only a continuation of<br />
the present rape and deprivation of southern black institutions, but it<br />
appears that we can expect an escalation of this situation . Whether or<br />
not we are able to create such consortiums may be largely determined<br />
by our ability, or willingness, to communicate the sordidness of these<br />
circumstances and to move constructively to prevent them . Still, there<br />
is the need to be more specific about what to do and where to do it .<br />
And it is here that I wish to offer some further suggestions .<br />
It is a fact that we are still in the midst of a general stampede in the<br />
direction of Black or Afro-American Studies . It is equally a fact that<br />
this approach (Black Studies everywhere/anywhere) is not conducive<br />
to the construction of ONE really good program anywhere . Therefore,<br />
we ought to decide where such programs are really needed/can function/<br />
and devote our time and energies to these alone . The 30 to 50<br />
million people that we are concerned about are spread across the country<br />
; West Coast, East Coast, Midwest and South . The task, as it appears<br />
to me, is to construct some programs) that will bring as many of us<br />
together as is possible to insure that at least FOUL major programsdirectly<br />
related to the Black University-are developed in the country .<br />
NEGRO DIGEST March 1970 65