Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Student Voice of Howard University est. 1924

thehilltoponline.com

Vol. 98 No.11

The HilltopEndorses

HUSA Slate

‘Shift HU’ Photos by Rachel Cumberbatch, Photo Editor

Howard Players Present “Insurrection:

Holding History”The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Sen-ate debate marked the one time that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X met in Washington, DC. While the meeting lasted for only a minute, it symbolized the two major sides of Black politics coming together.

Before 1964, Black people were citizens under constitutional law, but were not able to do the most

The Meeting of Malcolm and Martin: Nearly 50 Years Later

Shannen Hill Staff Writer

basic act of citizenship, vote. Black voters would travel miles and miles to a polling office, just to be given an unequal application of voter registration and told that they must leave. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 enforced the constitutional right to vote and sought to end racial dis-crimination in public accommoda-tions, public education and federally assisted programs. It also marked a moment in time when Martin Lu-

Victoria Thompson Contributing Writer

PLAY continued on p. 2 MARTIN continued on p. 3

View From Howard U.

WEATHER

Retool Your SchoolVote for Howard in the Home

Depot Retool Your School competition at

www.retoolyourschool.com.The University is competing with other HBCUs for awards ranging $10,000 -$50,000. Awards go to the schools that receive the most online votes/social media activity.

Kid CudiThe Cleveland rapper abruptly released his 4th album Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother

Moon without an announcement Monday night. It was originally

scheduled to be an EP leading to his 2015 album.

Discrimination?A bill which passed the Arizona Legislature last week is now on Gov. Jan Brewer’s desk. It would allow businesses to refuse service to any person on the basis of the

business owners’ religious beliefs.

Alumni News“Right now, a group of us – Lance

Gross, Marlon Wayans, myself – are putting together a call to action for alumni. We’re trying to bring alumni together, doing PSAs, getting it out through our social media to get alumni, first of all, aware of what’s going on. We first have to educate the peo-ple that graduated from Howard

and, secondly, to give back.”-Comments by alumnus Laz Alonso on Roland Martin’s

News One Now.

In the News: Editor’s Picks“Will the NFL enforce •

penalties for the n-word?” (via The Grio)

“Colorblind Notion • Aside, Colleges Grapple

With Racial Tension” (via The New York Times)

INSIDECAMPUS..............................p.3

LIFE & STYLE.......................p.6

SPORTS..............................p.10

OPINIONS........................p.11

Tomorrow Sunny

High 31Low 22

The Howard Players, in collabo-ration with the Howard Univer-sity Department of Theatre Arts captured the attention of their audience with another heart-wrenching performance about the pre-civil rights America that is billed as “Roots” meets the “Wizard of Oz.” Insurrection is a time-traveling

comedic fantasia about a time when America, the ‘land of the free’ was enslaving its workers. It is almost unbearable to watch because throughout most of the play, you are either laughing or grasping your shocked breath.

Robert O’Hara, the famous Afri-

A ‘SHIFT’ for Howard: Leighton Watson and Ikenna IkeThe Hilltop Staff

After careful deliberation over who we believe would steer the Howard student body in the right direction, The Hilltop has chosen to endorse the ‘SHIFT HU’ platform. Before we discuss the reasoning behind our decision, we would like to eluci-date the factors that went into our decision making process: platform practicality, credentials, and ability to engage with the student body.

The word shift defined as a verb, means to bring about change in a systematic way. Leighton Watson and Ikenna Ike have emphasized bringing about a systematic change to the student body at Howard University.

In terms of the climate at Howard

and the complaints from students about disengagement, there needs to be a serious change in direction coming from the student govern-ing body. Throughout past years, we have seen more than our fair share of lofty promises, passionless speeches and grievances that were left unaddressed. We need student leaders that are accessible, relatable and approachable to the peers who elected them.

When going through the Peterman-Scott ‘Empower’ platform, we found a multitude of great ideas. Their focus on “awakening the consciousness of the Mecca” sounds good on paper; however, we feel that their goals are overreaching and unrealistic. Their plans to install key card entry systems across campus, coverings at all major cam-

pus shuttle stops and renovations to Greene Stadium are fantastic. How-ever, in recognizing that HUSA has a finite budget—roughly $52,000 a semester, the likelihood of funding all of these refurbishments seems unlikely.

Empower also had a number of green initiatives included in their platform, but we are unable to find reason to believe they will be able to follow through with these initiatives. We can appreciate the fact that Peterman and Scott have taken a look into our beloved campus and thought of innovative ways to tackle a failing infrastructure. However, we firmly believe the wholesale transition from an aging campus to a technologically advanced one will take longer than the year that they are in office. We recognize that this

slate seeks to aim high, but we are all too familiar with HUSA admin-istrations that haven’t been able to keep up with their own objectives once they come into office.

The ‘SHIFT’ platform was less extensive, but its overall goals were more appealing and more feasible. Promoting the student experience through academic renewal, techno-logical advancement, sustainability and campus safety are all prongs of this platform that we feel can be addressed and worked on diligently in the upcoming school year. The part of the platform that stuck with us the most though was the ‘Inter-nal Changes and Accountability’ aspect.

SHIFT continued on p. 11

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THE HILLTOP | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

The Hilltop Newspaper

Glynn Hill Editor-in-Chief

Dominique Diggs Chief Managing Editor

Indigo SilvaMultimedia Editor

Emmy VictorCampus Editor

Keneisha DeasMetro EditorMaya Cade

Life & Style Editor Khari ArnoldSports Editor

Daniel WhiteOpinions Editor

Quantrel HedrickCopy Chief

Lindsey Ferguson Copy Editor

Tasia Hawkins Staff Writer

Jourdan HenryStaff Writer

Siniyah SmithStaff Writer

Erin Van Dunk Staff Writer

Shannen HillStaff Writer

Precious Osagie-EreseStaff Writer

Nile KendallStaff WriterSteven Hall

ColumnistMarc Rivers

Columnist

Rachel CumberbatchPhoto Editor

Disa RobbEditorial AssistantJasmine NealyEditorial Assistant

Katie DownsCartoonist

The Hilltop encourages its read-ers to share their opinions with the newspaper through letters to the editor or perspectives. All letters should include a complete address and telephone number and should

be sent electronically to diggs@thehilltoponline.com.

All inquiries for advertisements should be sent directly to

The Hilltop Business offi ce at:campusavertising@thehilltoponline.com

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can-American Obie Award winning playwright and original Director has always had a certain way of creating his characters in the play in a cartoonish fashion. The Howard University Fine Arts department supported over a dozen roles with a very small cast pulls from the talent of the actors, directors, stage hands, costume designers, set crew and lights and crew.

Stanley Jackson, a senior Theatre Arts major who plays the lead role, admits that the show required a lot of effort out of a young cast but taught him a lesson.

“In my eyes, it investigates our written history and forces us to understand that everything written in black and white isn’t always nec-essarily true,” said Jackson.

In this satire we follow the journey of Ron, a young homosexual gradu-ate student from Columbia Univer-sity. He is writing his dissertation about the Nat Turner Rebellion and his 189-year-old great great grand-father TJ who cannot hear, speak or move and is being interpreted by a ghost. In an effort to help Ron with his dissertation, TJ requests to go back to his home of South Hamp-ton, Virginia. While in the bloody year of 1831, Ron and TJ are thrown back into the rebellion.

In the midst of gathering informa-tion, Ron falls in love with one of the slave girls and is trying to fi ght in the rebellion without changing history. Back in the present time, the mother and daughter are fi ght-ing off the press who are trying to break the story of how it is possible that TJ is 189 years old.

This play with music takes the style of “choke theatre” as it forces the eager Ron to pause in the present and remember why he has been afforded the opportunities that he has had. His grandfather made his point clear in saying “You breathe because of Nat Turner. You are what you are because of these slaves. They might die but they’re going to WIN. You’re the proof.”

The crowd’s reaction to the confus-ing show was the same across the room. Almost everyone seemed to have had a moment of deciding whether or not they were laughing at the show because it was funny or because they needed to lift their spirits from the truthful piece. After the fi rst act there was a little chatter from the audience, but at the clos-ing of the show there was a deafen-ing silence amongst the people.

“The play really made me realize that I don’t rest on the strength of my own shoulders, but the strength of my ancestors,” said Fred Sands IV, a Television Production major.

PLAY continued from p. 1

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As of February 25, Graduate Trustee Candidate Jennifer Owens has been dismissed as a candidate from this Friday’s race, for violating election season codes of conducts. The former HUSA President mis-used the university’s email listserv and accepted endorsements from current Graduate Trustee Liliane Bedford, who are both members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

The listserv, titled “HUSL AKA”

Graduate Trustee Removed From Election BallotEmmy Victor

Campus Editoris where Owens commented on two opponents, who are members of a rival sorority, stating, “My opponents are both Deltas with less experience, but one is a graduate school assembly president and has the ear of some graduate students and access to them via email.”

Owens was fined 100 points by the General Elections Commissions due to the language and nature of her statement. A released document from the Commission’s staff stated “communication was intended to malign opponents who had not

Tuition Expected to Rise Six PercentPrecious Osagie-Erese

Staff Writer

Students attend Howard University to receive a premier education that is incomparable to other Historical-ly Black Colleges and Universities. In order to provide for this higher learning, there are students who rely on loans, part-time jobs, and grants. All the effort put towards allocating funds turns to be an unyielding task as it seems tuition and fees increase at the turn of every corner.

For the average senior, during their tenure at The Mecca, their tuition has increased by about 35 percent. A recent article in the New York Times goes as far as saying that in last four years, Howard University’s tuition has increased by a whopping 40 percent. With retention rates staggering downhill and tuition rates heading uphill, what can stu-dents expect from Howard Univer-sity in the next 4 years?

On Feb. 21, 2014, a letter from In-terim President’s Wayne Frederick was sent to all Howard University students announcing the increase of tuition by 6 percent for the 2014-2015 school year. This will equate to an extra $644 per semester, raising tuition from $21,450 to $22,737.

Uneasy with the previous mentions of misappropriation of funds and fi-nancial instability, Howard students are not so confident they know exactly where their money is going.

“I’m constantly being robbed, It’s hard to focus on building a career and Howard consistently raises tuition, it’s not helping African American families that work hard to put their children through school,” says Whitney Greene, a sophomore Film Production major.

Green currently pays to attend Howard completely through student loans and out of pocket handlings.

“I feel like I don’t know what I’m

paying for, I need an explanation as to specifically where my money is going.” As a student from the School of Communications, Greene has to add this tuition hike to the previously added $200 tech fee increase.

The raise of tuition has caused sev-eral students to feel unsure of their future as Bison. Take for example sophomore Accounting major Marcianna Judge. She holds a 3.85 grade point average and pays to at-tend Howard through student loans and family contributions. Finding out about the 6 percent tuition increase took a toll on her and her plans for her future at Howard.

“This is going to be a determinant factor on whether or not I come back next semester, I pray I soon get a scholarship or I will have to work over the summer to pay for both semesters,” says Judge. “How am I sure that tuition won’t increase next year and the year after.”

According to the United Negro Col-lege Fund, 46 percent of students at HBCU’s come from families with incomes lower than 34,000 dollars. This essentially means that almost half of students attending HBCU’s family annual income cannot af-ford to pay for a full year of higher education.

There are certain considerations that should be taken into account as to the reason Howard has to raise its tuition. One-third of the university budget stems from federal government distribution. Since the sequester that took place this past October, the federal government has cut the budget significantly for Howard by nearly 30 million dol-lars. Adding to the monetary pres-sures, Howard University alumni contributions are at a disappointing 16 percent.

HUSA financial advisor Janay Win-ston clarifies the justifications the

university has for increasing tuition.

“In order to continue to attract the best professors, improve current campus facilities, and build new facilities such as the new dorms, tuition increases are necessary. The increases can significantly improve the quality of student life and safeguard our legacy as a tier one university. The challenge is to ensure that the tuition increases are matched with adequate financial aid and scholarships,” said Winston.

Winston encourages students to research and use resources available to see where the money is going. Through the Howard University website, students can access the respected information needed.

However, HBCU’s all across the country have experienced increase in tuition in the last two years. Spelman, Claflin, Xavier, Tuskegee and Morehouse have raised their tuition by 7-10 percent. In compari-son to other HBCU’s, Howard has experienced the least increase in tuition the last two years consider-ing the fact that during the 2013-2014 school year tuition remained the same.

Interim President Wayne Fred-erick mentioned in the letter new initiatives Howard plans on implementing to provide students with financial support. Graduation & Retention Access for Continued Excellence (GRACE) is a system designed to give incentives to sophomores through seniors who graduate on time.

Students are in need of transpar-ency from the Office of the Bursar to feel completely at ease with Howard and the money they put towards their education. To be suc-cessful in this day and age, a degree is highly recommended, but some students are drifted from receiving a degree because of the rising costs of tuition.

MARTIN continued from p. 1

been given equal opportunity”.

Bedford’s email was also sent to other members of the Sorority, ask-ing them to spread the word about Owen’s candidacy and ended with “Let’s make sure this AKA takeover happens.”

Although Owens did not solicit the endorsement, nor condemn it, she failed to prove her involvement within it and was therefore, assessed 50 points. Through the campaign process, Owens has filed griev-ances against her opponents, all of

which she has been found guilty of committing. With her actions not exhibiting a fit representation of the graduate population, the General Elections Commission voted unani-mously to the offenses committed by Owens and penalized her 200 points in total.

“The commission and myself views these actions as extreme, divisive, polarizing, and certainly not reflective of someone deserving of the position of Undergraduate Trustee. Particularly at a time in our University’s history where that type

of division runs rampant within our organizational trustee in the Board of Trustees,” says Brandon Dean, current Chair of the General Elec-tions Commission.

Dean, who notes that grievances are apart of public records, further explains that the commission taking action was for the future of the university.

“There’s really too many decisions to be made moving forward about our sustainability, that would be im-pacted with this type of conflicting interest that is exhibited in the

ther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were together, as they watched the Senate debate the Act on March 26, 1964.

The debate of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 continues to be the longest continuous one in Sen-ate history. President John F. Ken-nedy had proposed the legisla-tion, but had been assassinated nearly a year before. The Senate debated the bill for 60 days and, for the first time in history, the Senate voted to end it. While peo-ple against the act tried everything in their power to not pass the legisla-tion, President Lyndon B. John-son wanted to honor Kennedy’s memory.

“We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights,” said Johnson in an address to Congress. “We have talked for one hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. is known for peaceful demonstrations and integration, while Malcolm X is known as a militant activist who demanded change by any means necessary. However, during the time of this senate debate, both were beginning to change their ideologies

and understand one another. This was the last, and only, time that the two would meet as Malcolm X was assassinated within the next year and King assassinated three years after. Many wonder what would’ve come of this meeting if both had

lived; others see it as a bless-ing that the two were able to meet in their lifetime.

“Well, Mal-colm, good to see you,” King said after taking Malcolm X’s hand. “Good to see you,” Malcolm X responded as photog-raphers snapped the famous black-and-white photos of their only meeting, as recounted

in the book, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came in a time of change. Civil rights groups were actually being heard and schools were even beginning to integrate. While the country was dealing with extreme racism and violence, the moment of this Act being passed symbolized a time of people putting aside their differenc-es and coming together for a greater cause, whether it be differences be-tween Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X or differences in views of people in government. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 remains one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history.

Campus . Emmy Victor, Campus Editor campus@thehilltoponline.com

Photo via tumblr.comMartin L. King, Malcolm X

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THE HILLTOP | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Metro Keneisha Deas, Metro Editor deas@thehilltoponline.com . How D.C. Was Made: Benjamin Banneker

Tiffani DuPree Contributing Writer

file:////sbs2008/Data/TrialWorks/CaseFiles/343/Memos/Fluoride ad final-7024.jpg[2/18/2014 3:49:42 PM]

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) delivered re-marks on campus Tuesday discuss-ing educational opportunities and HBCU’s. Mr. Scott, a prominent African-American conservative, is the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction—142 years ago.

Scott was appointed to the Sen-ate by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to complete the term of Jim DeMint who resigned in December 2012. The appointed senator has to win in this year’s midterm elections to serve the remaining two years of DeMint’s seat. Sen. Scott’s aligned conservative vote against many of the issues affecting African-Ameri-cans has led many leaders to deem him a token to increase Republican minority appeal.

“Most of the challenges we face in the Senate today are not only par-tisan politics; but a bigger problem we face in the Senate today is rec-ognizing that the world has changed drastically—we are now in a global competition. That’s one of the reasons why I have come up with the opportunity agenda to combat that,” Scott said.

The opportunity agenda is a two-piece legislation that would focus on giving inner-city students high-quality education.

Mr. Scott spoke to the crowd about his own upbringing in South Caro-lina, being raised in a single family home and failing high school. It was the help of a Chik-fil-A business owner that turned his life around. “I hope that people will judge me

on my agenda, what I say, and how I vote,” he said during his speech when asked about being a black republican. I think we’ll find that there are some issues that we have strong agreement on, and there will be some where we’ll have strong disagreement on. The question is whether we can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.”

In January, The State reported North Carolina NAACP President William Barber, gave a sermon in Columbia, S.C., calling out Sen. Tim Scott for his tea party stances. “A ventriloquist can always find a good dummy,” Rev. Barber said. “The extreme right wing down [in South Carolina] finds a black guy to be senator and claims he’s the first black senator since reconstruction and then he goes to Washington, D.C. and articulates the agenda of the tea party.”

Earlier this month the junior South Carolina senator co-sponsored a resolution along with fellow Sena-tors Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex) denouncing the Obama Administration’s ‘Common Core’ standards. The resolution claims the government is providing federal dollars to states that adopt the Common Core K-12 math and English standards developed by the governors association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to implement a “national curriculum.” But while Scott has firm views against federal spending, unionizing, and abortion laws, he has spoken candidly about his poor, single-family upbringing and has made several commitments to help-ing underserved communities.

Last month Scott introduced a long-shot bill providing $11 billion

in federal funding to military fami-lies for vouchers to attend private schools. The Creating Hope and Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through Education (CHOICE) Act also aims to expand D.C.’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, allowing underprivileged students access to higher quality education through a federal voucher system.

When asked about using his seat in Congress to help get funding for HBCU’s he replied, “You have kids who are highest achieving individu-als in the country on the campuses of HBCUs and the challenge is that making sure that the formula we use to fund them is a formula for the 21st century. We have to create more funding—more oppor-tunities going to those universities that are excelling.”

This would be the second memorable time a republican senator has come to Howard University to speak to students. Last year Sen. Rand Paul (R. Key) spoke to an unwelcom-ing crowd. Campus police escorted students ready to stage a protest from the event.

Senator Tim Scott Talks Politics, HBCU’s

Taryn FinleyContributing Writer

Sen. Tim Scott addresses crowd in School of Business Auditorium Photo by Taryn Finley

Benjamin Banneker, the first African-American presidential appointee in U. S. history, is one of the most influential and well-known historical figures in the D.C. com-munity. The District of Columbia has honored his legacy with an academic high school, a community center, a park and other establish-ments. However, his work surveying the land that later became Wash-ington, D.C. is only a fraction of the contribution that Banneker has made to society.

Banneker, born in 1791, lived life as a free man. Although he did not have much formal education, this did not stop Banneker from increas-ing his knowledge about various subjects. A combination of natural ability and the determination to ed-ucate himself led Banneker to make history in various subject areas.

According to African-American writers: a Dictionary, Banneker made history by building a clock in America with American-made parts. The clock continued to keep accurate time for over 40 years until it was destroyed days after his death. Besides inventing and academia, he was also involved in politics. Ban-neker sent his almanac and wrote a twelve-page letter to then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, after Jef-ferson said “blacks” were mentally

inferior, according to the Hutchin-son Unabridged Encyclopedia. Ban-neker wrote the letter to appeal to Jefferson to improve the conditions of African-Americans, according to the Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia. “One universal Father hath given being to us all; and he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but he hath also, without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties; and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all in the same family and stand in the same relation to Him..,” Banneker wrote in the let-ter, according to African-American Writers: a Dictionary.

Banneker successfully published over 10 farmer’s almanacs, pre-dicted a solar eclipse that occurred on April 14, 1789, and calculated the 17-year locust cycle, according to Slavery in the United States. He has contributed greatly to the world of knowledge ranging from the areas of mathematics to astronomy. Banneker was not only concerned with increasing his knowledge, but also the improvement of African-Americans. He was a self-educated scholar, activist and surveyor whose influence is still prevalent in society today.

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THE HILLTOP | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

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THE HILLTOP | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Life&Style Maya Cade, L&S Editor cade@thehilltoponline.com

Not simply sniffles but outright sob-bing could be heard at the screen-ing of Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” from last year. The tears were propelled by the power of the storytelling, and of the per-formances, but the film gathered greater heft through the reality it unfortunately depicted. The film chronicles the last hours of 22-year-old Oscar Grant before his death at the hands of police on an Oakland transit station. In a discomforting, yet potently fitting coincidence, the film’s theatrical run coincided with the acquittal of George Zim-merman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Racial tensions, the kind that are as Ameri-can as apple pie, seeped into the media and into the social psyche, and names like Renisha Mcbride in Detroit, Jonathan Ferrell in North Carolina, and Jordan Davis in Florida have given those tensions little reason to abate. How funny that, a little over a year later, that small, scrappy drama from a first time director seems that much more important, and a coincidence turns into something timeless.

Today, as it has been for so long, being black can still equal a death sentence in America, and here is a film that chooses to tackle that notion right as the news headlines are being made, and for America’s movie industry, that is a rare thing. To a major studio, a film dealing in the controversial here and now is a scary thought.

To be sure, it wasn’t only the Civil Rights Movement that tripped up Hollywood. In the past, many major events have made America shift uncomfortably in its seat, and you’ll notice a Hollywood that was similarly timid about projecting that discomfort on screen. The mid ‘60s saw the most intense opposition to the Vietnam War, but it would only be towards the end of the ‘70s that we would get “The Deer Hunter” and “Apocalypse Now,” for many critics the defining films on the conflict.

The classic, 1962 conspiracy thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” was withdrawn from theaters in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassi-nation and was not re-released until the late ‘80s. And many studios (and moviegoers) felt five years was still too soon when, in 2006, British filmmaker Paul Greengrass released “United 93,” about the doomed United Airlines flight on Septem-ber 11. But this reluctance to deal with the most tumultuous of events

Marc RiversColumnist

Things Not Seen: Civil Rights in Film

reached a sort of apex with the explosion of the Civil Rights era.

Where once Hollywood could engage in the times with glossy patriotism or light-footed escapism, the kind best exemplified during World War II, the social upheaval and rage of the Civil Rights era rendered Hollywood rather feeble and impotent. The bombing of freedom rider buses, beatings and jailing of protestors, and the overall boot of brutality that sought to lie on the neck of an entire race was not the stuff fit for Hollywood gloss. Worse still, Hollywood studios largely sought to sidestep subjects or scenes that would incense moviego-

ers in the South, where hostility towards African-Americans was highest. Their rationale was that exhibitors would pull the movies out of theaters outright. At best, studios could afford only a few baby steps towards directly engaging the times.

Those baby steps came in many forms. One not so subtle evoca-tion of social change at the time was Sidney Lumet’s simmering, 1957 debut “12 Angry Men.” The film presents a jury that must pass judgment on a minority teenager charged with murdering his father. The film is an engaging look at the justice system, and a call for justice and understanding Further,

it put a human face on the preju-dices and biases that defined many Americans. Its jury room location pointed to the real life battles that would be fought for the rights of African-Americans, like the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas case three years earlier or the Cooper v. Aaron decision of 1958. As hundreds of protesting black citizens marched in the streets to their jobs during the Montgom-ery Bus Boycott, actors like Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belefonte, and Sidney Poitier marched across the movie screens of our nation, chal-lenging stereotypes and that have defined their race for a century.

Throughout the ‘50s, attempts were made to portray more human, dignified portraits of African-Amer-icans, often in racially themed dra-mas meant to uplift the spirit and warm the heart. Films like “Edge of the City (1957)” and “The Defi-ant Ones (1958)” showed whites teaming up with noble, heroic black characters. 1951’s “Cry, The Beloved Country” and 1955’s “The Emperor Jones” sought to counter past images of black savages in film.

1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” based on the popular novel by Harper Lee, was critically ac-claimed for the strong performance by Gregory Peck and applauded for its indictment of bigotry; yet its noble intentions-- to show humanity in a South that, in reality, seemed empty of it-- are more gag inducing than righteous. Peck’s Atticus Finch plays nothing more than the great white savior who must defend and uphold the humanity of the black suspect, and by proxy, the black race, a device that points the way to films like “Mississippi Burning” “Amistad,” and “The Help.” The arrival of actor Sidney Poitier made as large a cultural crater as “Mock-ingbird,” even if the results were only slightly less mawkish. Here was a performer who commanded the screen by standing there, and whose every gesture complemented the rhythm of a scene. Poitier embodied an almost spotless idea of moral decency and upright, manly conviction.

This is of course apparent in the aforementioned “The Defi-ant Ones,” in which he plays an escaped black convict who sacri-fices his freedom and his safety to help his white ally (played by Tony Curtis). It can also be seen in his Oscar winning role in “Lilies of the Field” in 1963, and most particu-larly in the one-two punch of “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” in 1967, released just two years after the

Selma to Montgomery Marches and passing of the Voting Rights Act. “In the Heat of the Night” has Poitier play a Philadelphia detec-tive who must work with a bigoted, white detective to solve a murder.

In “Guess Who’s Coming to Din-ner,” he plays a successful doctor engaged to a white woman who must contend with the prejudices of her parents and the fear of his. Both films deal in racial reconciliation as brought on by the moral superior-ity of a black man, superiority too much for the hostile white charac-ters to handle. It is telling that, in both films, he wears nothing but a suit and tie. He was more idea than man in these films, although “In the Heat of the Night” and its director Norman Jewison had to be com-mended for instilling a sense of fury and unsentimental emotion in this Southern thriller. When Poitier’s detective Virgil Tibbs responds to the slap of a racist suspect by slap-ping him right back, that fed up, no nonsense retaliation spoke to a gen-eration fighting for its humanity as well as to racial tensions that were no longer simmering, but bubbling over the surface into the streets.

That slap in the face of white op-pression can be linked to the trash can thrown through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria in Spike Lee’s landmark, 1989 masterpiece, “Do the Right Thing,” which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. It is important to make note of the kinship of these movie moments, and the 20 years that separate them. Over twenty years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the latter action is even grander, more dramatic, and, in the film, an impetus for a riot. “Do the Right Thing” would come just a year after ‘Mississippi Burning,” which won the Best Picture Oscar. Based on the true account of the investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, the film, directed by Alan Parker, played fast and loose with history and is yet another drama guilty of putting the moral and narrative weight on the shoulders of its white charac-ters. It put a suitably ugly face on racism, yet sidestepped much of the complexity and nuance found in Lee’s impassioned work of operatic feeling, docu-drama intensity, and social wisdom.

Lee’s achievement saw through the moralizing and made a provocative, somber case that America was no closer to solving issues of race in America than it was when Sidney

CIVIL continued on p. 8

“That slap in the face of white oppression can be linked to the trash can thrown through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria in Spike Lee’s landmark, 1989

masterpiece, ‘Do the Right Thing’.”

Photo via tumblr.com, xpayne

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Howard University Architecture:

Dominique DiggsManaging Editor

Maya CadeLife & Style Editor

Bridging the Past, Present and Future

It is an extremely laborious task to have a full-length conversation pertaining to Black History Month without mentioning either Howard University as an institution or an individual Howard University graduate. The hallowed halls of the Mecca have led movements that still march and echo on today. Though the buildings do not make the institution, it is an easily distinguishable feature that bridges the struggles and triumphs of the past to the hopes and ambition of today

and beyond.

Howard is often recognized for its distinct beauty and captivating history and these two separate aspects are forever forcibly intertwined.

All photos are courtesy of the courtesy of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University

PHOTO UNDER HEADLINE : Main University Building (Replaced by Founder’s Library in 1936), TOP LEFT: Miner Hall (Women’s dormitory, Razed to build Locke Hall), BOTTOM LEFT: Howard House/Howard Hall (Oldest build-ing on campus, available for tours), BOTTOM RIGHT: President’s House (Built in 1890), TOP RIGHT: Clark Hall (demolished Men’s dormitory)

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Life&Style Maya Cade, L&S Editor cade@thehilltoponline.com

threw that slap. And why wouldn’t Spike make that argument? Just four years earlier, three black men were beaten by a group of white teens in a largely Italian neighbor-hood in Queens, just one of several racially charged crimes that oc-curred in the Big Apple at the time. Lee’s fi lm, though immediately hailed as a vital work of art, was too much for many moviegoers, with some predicting the fi lm’s violent climax would incite real life riots. Ultimately, the fi lm would get the shaft at the 62 Academy Awards, not even managing a nomination for Best Picture, which would go to the spineless “Driving Miss Daisy,” a feel good, innocuous comedy that solved the race problem in America with the wry charms of Jessica Tandy and the voice of Morgan Freeman. Rather than facing Civil Rights head on, Hollywood took to the confl ict like “the magic bullet” in Kennedy’s assassination: back and to the left.

In lieu of “Miss Daisy” and all the fi lms like it, and an African-Amer-ican president forced to engage in talks about race like a circus per-former riding a unicycle on a tight-rope, the achievement of “Fruitvale Station,” cannot be understated, even under the shadow of stronger, similarly themed work offered by Lee Daniels and Steve McQueen the same year. “The Butler,” which depicted the Civil Rights through the eyes of its black heroes, and “12 Years a Slave,” an uncompromising look at the horrors of slavery, were long, long overdue.

But “Fruitvale Station” is right on schedule. It is a punch in the gut Hollywood should not shrink from. The moving image has power that no art form can match, and the power tapped by Ryan Coogler spoke to a vital aspect of the human condition: empathy. It is empathy that moviegoers felt in the theaters, empathy with a young man who lived, loved, laughed, and cried like any one of us, who wasn’t a label or a statistic, but fl esh and blood. Sometimes fi lms need not be perfect, or even great. In grasping something pure about the human condition, they need only show us the light. When it comes to the rights of African-Americans, Hol-lywood has shied away from the light, too often wandering aimlessly in a tunnel of white saviors, good intentions, and pitiful evasion. But “Fruitvale” found the light, and if the movies are to remain an integral component of the social climate, whether that also encompasses gay rights, gun laws, or war in the Middle East, then Hollywood is going to have to grow a pair already.

CIVIL continued from p. 62014 Oscar Predictions Marc Rivers

Columnist

More than any other year in recent memory, it feels like real blood has been shed in this year’s Oscar race, and come this Sunday, we fi nally shall see just what all the bloodshed has wrought when the winners of the 86th Academy Awards are an-nounced. The tealeaves have been read, ladies and gentlemen, and even they are sending mixed signals. This has been the messiest, tightest awards race in many a moon, with Oscar campaigners and actors mak-ing the rounds on the awards and talk show circuits like never before.

Only a nose seems to separate the two heavyweight contenders, Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” and Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity,” for Best Picture honors. The powerful slave drama has reaped most of the critics awards, including taking Best Picture at both the Golden Globes, British fi lm awards (Baftas), and Critics’ Choice Awards; and yet Cuarón’s space thriller has the industry on its side, including an all important win with the Directors Guild (DGA). In an unprecedented result, the two fi lms tied at the Producers Guild Awards, which uses the same voting system as the Academy. Some stats to chew on: the DGA winner has won Best Director on all but seven occasions in the last sixty-fi ve years, and all but thirteen of those directors’ fi lms

won Best Picture.

Since 2000, the only fi lm to lose Best Picture after winning the equivalent prize at the Baftas, Golden Globes, and Critics’ Choice was “Brokeback Mountain” in 2005.” Like “Brokeback,” “12 Years a Slave” has the historical impor-tance that one would think can’t be ignored. But Academy voters have been squeamish towards the fi lm’s unapologetic brutality. “Gravity’s” blockbuster thrills have proven more accessible, but no fi lm set in space has ever won Best Picture. Both Cuaron and McQueen have never been nominated for Best Director before, though Cuaron has gotten screenplay nods for his previous two fi lms, and many critics feel he is overdue for a win. Would show runners really tap Sidney Poitier as a presenter if they didn’t feel McQueen and or his fi lm’s name would be called out, particularly in the 50th anniversary of Poitier’s landmark Best Actor win? Will they really pass up awarding the fi rst black director for the Oscar? It seems a shame that two efforts of such distinct, contrasting riches should be forced to face off against one another. But, alas, there can only be one victor here.

Tantalizing uncertainties lay else-where. With voters torn between

the two front runners, can David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” which won the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Ensemble Award, sneak up through the middle? Or will it go 0 for 10? Will the stunning Kenyan Lupita Nyong’o pull out a win for Supporting Actress, or will Holly-wood’s crush Jennifer Lawrence get another Oscar before she’s 25? With Lawrence winning the Bafta and Globe and Lupita taking home the SAG and Critics’ Choice, the race is neck and neck. Will the scandal facing Woody Allen affect the path to victory of his “Blue Jasmine” star Cate Blanchett? Is Jared Leto the absolute lock that he appears to be, or can newcomer Barkhad Abdi pull off a deserving upset? Is McConaughey assured his fi rst Os-car after a remarkable resurgence in his career? Perhaps Leonardo Dicaprio’s colossal turn in “Wolf of Wall Street” will surprise, putting to rest all those funny memes and gifs. Or maybe Chewetel Ejiofer and that heartbreaking, soulful face will triumph instead. There are simply too many possibilities to consider, and nobody really knows what the results will be until after the enve-lopes are open. It’s quite likely that a few of the predictions below will be wrong. It’s just been that type of year, and it’ll be interesting to see how it ends.

Best Picture

Will win: 12 Years a Slave

Could win: Gravity

Should win: Gravity

Best Director

Will win: Alfonso Cuarón

Could win: Steve McQueen

Should win: Alfonso Cuarón

Best Actor

Will win: Matthew McConaughey

Could win: Chiwetel Ejiofer

Should win: Chiwetel Ejiofer

Best Actress

Will and should win: Cate Blanchett

Could Win: Amy Adams

Best Supporting Actor

Will win: Jared Leto

Could win: Bakhad Abdi

Should win: Michael Fasssbender

Best Supporting Actress

Will and should win: Lupita Nyong’o

Could win: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will win: “12 Years a Slave” (John Ridley)

Could win: “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Terence Winter)

Should win: “Before Midnight” (Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater)

Best Original Screenplay

Will and should win: “Her” (Spike Jonze)

Could win: “American Hustle” (Da-vid O. Russell and Eric Singer)

Top photo via tumblr.com, danceofl illiesBottom photo via tumblr.com, felcieinfangirlland

“12 Years A Slave” has been nominated for Best Picture at the 86th annual Academy Awards.

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by Katie Downs, cartoonist

Black History Month

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Sports Khari Arnold, Sports Editor sports@thehilltoponline.com .

On the second day of Black History Month, Russell Wilson became the second black quarterback to win a Super Bowl title. Many Americans, however, overlooked this milestone.

On Sunday, Feb. 2, in East Ruther-ford, N.J., the Seattle Seahawks won their franchise’s fi rst Super Bowl, upsetting the Denver Broncos 43-8. With the Seahawks’ dominant performance, the media barely acknowledged Wilson’s history-making achievement.

Doug Williams became the fi rst black quarterback to win a Super Bowl when he led the Washington Redskins to a lopsided 42-10 victory over the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII.

In that matchup, Williams out-played John Elway, who is now the Broncos’ vice president of football operations. Williams earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award after throwing for 340 yards and four touchdowns.

Khari ArnoldSports Editor

Jourdan HenryStaff Writer

Bison Become a Force in the Community

Located blocks away from How-ard University’s campus resides the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center. Since the end of the 2013 football season, Howard Bison Greg McGhee and John Smith have been at the 14th street community center faithfully, volunteering as coaches of a 10-and-Under boys’ basketball team.

McGhee, the starting quarterback for the Howard University football program, is the head coach and is partnered with his left tackle John Smith, who serves as the assistant coach.

“When I heard about the oppor-tunity, without thinking twice, I knew it was the right thing to do,” said McGhee. “I’m helping other people, and I think that’s the most important thing in life.”

The community center, which is in association with D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation and Latin American Youth Center, serves between 150-200 kids a day and provides eight different basketball teams for fi ve age groups.

“For the last few years, it’s been a hassle getting somebody reliable to coach the amount of teams we

have,” said Abdul Hill, the center’s athletic director. “When I brought in Greg and John, the kids were re-ally excited. They’ve been very reli-able and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Hill, who is the son of Howard’s sports information director Edward Hill, expressed that the center con-sists of 96 percent African-Amer-ican children and teens that come from different backgrounds, and witnessing student-athletes from the collegiate level volunteer enhances the atmosphere signifi cantly.

“Some kids have single parents, some might come foster cares, and some are cared by their grandmoth-er,” said Hill. “Seeing somebody that’s in college, a student-athlete scholar and playing football has been a big inspiration to the kids.”

Before the basketball season started, the kids would attend the Howard football games on Saturdays in support of their soon-to-be coaches. The 10-year-olds practice in the evenings twice a week and now make their game day appearance on Saturdays at various recreational centers across Washington, D.C.

Each center is a gateway for the youth to remain productive in a fun and safe environment instead of

roaming the city’s streets. With the presence of McGhee and Smith, the African-American based youth center is continuing to help shape the lives of the children through a range of positive activities.

“We try to be somebody that’s there for them. We want to have fun but we want to help them build struc-ture at the same time,” Smith said.

Both McGhee and Smith played basketball in high school as their knowledge of the game is exten-sive enough to help develop the young—and perhaps, future col-legiate athletes—in the sport.

“I started playing basketball when

I was 10, so it means something to me seeing them play and helping them develop,” said Smith.

In McGhee’s basketball days, he helped lead his team to a deep play-off run in the 2011 Pennsylvania Boys State Basketball Playoffs, but he was never fortunate enough to receive the experience his 10-and-Under team is currently witnessing.

“As a kid, I never had anyone to look up to athletic wise and say to myself ‘I want to be like him’,” said McGhee. “You get excited seeing someone that’s doing what you’re doing on a higher level.”

The two three-year Bison have

plans of continuing their volunteer efforts until they graduate, while also encouraging other student-athletes to contribute. Whether it’s on or off the court, McGhee and Smith are leaving an impact that is unmatched.

“Some people depend on you to make their day, and you have to come with the same energy every day to keep them happy,” said McGhee. “It’s a great thing, and [John and I] are blessed to be in this position we’re in now.”

Howard football players Greg McGhee and John Smith coach the 10-and-Under boys’ youth basketball team at the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center.

Photo courtesy of Rita Bright Family and Youth Center.

In a Feb. 1, 1988 article in the Wash-ington Post, former owner Jack Kent Cooke praised Wil-liams after the game saying, “not just to be a black quarterback, but to be a great quar-terback.”

On Monday, Williams spoke with Roland Martin on “News-One Now” regarding Wilson’s performance. “It’s truly amazing for a young guy like that to come in and lead his team to a victory,” Williams said. “This kid played with so much poise and confi dence; it’s unbelievable.”

Analysts usually describe black quarterbacks as being successful merely because of their athletic prowess rather than mastering the conceptual part of the game. Wil-son defi es all the negative stereo-

types of black quarterbacks, such as having poor leadership qualities and lacking the ability to read defenses.

The second-year player out of the University of Wisconsin not only showed exemplary leadership in guiding his team to a Super Bowl victory, but he also outplayed Pey-ton Manning, who is arguably the most cerebral quarterback to ever

play.

Wilson op-erated like a veteran during the Super Bowl as he completed 72 percent of his passes and threw for two touch-downs. Manning, however, appeared to be the novice as

he seemed unsettled throughout the game and fi nished with one touch-down and two interceptions.

“It’s something I think about, to be the second African-American to win the Super Bowl,” Wilson told the New York Daily News after Super Bowl XLVIII. “It’s something special, and it’s real. There are so

many guys before [me] who have tried to change the game and have done a great job of it.”

With Wilson’s win, he capped off a season that set a record for the most black quarterbacks starting in Week 1 of the NFL season. The season opened with nine black quarter-backs, including the likes of Robert Griffi n III, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, E.J. Manuel and Michael Vick. Still, only 28 percent of the starting quarterbacks were African-American, a somewhat surprising statistic considering African-Amer-icans make up the vast majority of players in the National Football League.

With more impressive young black quarterbacks entering the NFL soon, such as college stars Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston, it appears that we may be entering the golden age of black quarter-backs. One day, African-Americans may dominate the quarterback position, much like they dominate nearly every other position on an NFL depth chart.

Russell Wilson celebrates the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory on Seattle’s home turf.

The Year of the Black Quarterback

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Carr’s Corner

Dr. Gregory CarrHoward University Professor

Opinions Daniel White , Opinions Editor danielblackwhite@gmail.com .

On Tuesday, Chokwe Lumumba, a long-distance runner in human rights and Black Power lore and the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, died suddenly. Like another beloved

Chokwe Lumumba (1947-2014): Long Distance Runnerand transformational mayor of a generation ago, Chicago’s Harold Washington, Lumumba’s sorely-taxed heart failed. As was also the case with Washington, Chokwe’s death leaves us numb, hopes for progressive Black municipal politics robbed of another focusing cham-pion. Some of our dampened eyes will no doubt turn with renewed vigor to Newark, where Amiri and Amina Baraka’s son Ras continues to gain momentum in his quest for a post-Corey Booker/post-“post ra-cial” mayoralty. We will look to the movement he represents, perhaps, with a less wary sense of impending mortality, hoping that his relative youth will stay the bitter scythe that lay these more senior symbols of popular will low before their, and our, time. Some who will not publicly cel-ebrate Lumumba’s passing will, in the ugly corners where they give voice to their deepest fears and hatreds, gratefully expect a return to more familiar power arrange-ment in Jackson. Let them be wary. When giants pass, sometimes ap-prentices, robbed of the luxury of time to be noncommittal or opaque, find purpose and emerge strength-ened. Chokwe Lumumba was

representative of one such recent moment in African-American his-tory, when courage and youth met determination, talent and indignant defiant self-determination. That moment saw its own martyrs: The Mississippi-slain Emmett Till and Medgar Evers,; Martin King, Mal-colm X and others whose deaths catalyzed the emergence of a new generation of leaders with now iconic names: Stokely. Angela. Rap. Kathleen. Huey. Lumumba, a contemporary and eventual comrade of the aforemen-tioned generation of “Black Power” leaders, was born Edwin Taliafero in Detroit, his family immigrants from what James Brown famously referred to as “LA—Lower Alabama.” He began “movement work” as a teenager and, like the others, saw his idealism sorely tested by the killings of Malcolm X and Martin King. Lumumba said that he had only come to the movement and stayed in it because of these two figures. When they were killed, he said, “then I became a leader.” Like Carmichael, and LeRoi Jones, young Taliafero took a new name with connections to African culture and political struggle. His first name, Chokwe, came from a

As Howard navigates a time of great transition, it is of the utmost importance for all institutional governing bodies to be cohesive and

transparent. The ‘SHIFT’ candi-dates look to be held accountable by allowing students to complete a HUSA report card each semester, producing a monthly video address and a “State of the Mecca” address.

More so, Watson has already car-ried out a number of initiatives on campus as Policy Director for the 53rd HUSA administration. Although there has been specula-tion that Watson was not the only one who worked on these tasks and should not be taking singulair credit, we don’t doubt that the rest of the initiatives on the ‘SHIFT’ platform can be executed next year.

Watson and Ike are two candidates that can be considered opposites; but their relationship works because they understand each other. They seemed to be different in their

Undergraduate Trustee Endorsement expressions but their thoughts complemented each other in a way that would make them a good team. Watson, an English major, and Ike, a Chemical Engineering major, are well-versed in what issues plague our student body. We could imagine

them being great leaders of whom students can really relate.

With apparent strengths and weak-nesses with both platforms, there is only so much that two student officials can do within the course of one year – especially within this existing structure. Accomplishing your goals takes cooperation from an entire staff—and the administra-tion—on a number of levels, so it is impossible to predict exactly what will get done. However, based on their track record, The Hilltop staff is confident in endorsing Leighton Watson and Ikenna Ike for the 54th HUSA President and Vice-President.

SHIFT continued from p. 1

“On the basis of what he have seen, the Hilltop Staff has chosen to endorse Leighton Watson and Ikenna Ike for the positions of HUSA President &

Vice-President.”

When the time came to cast a vote for endorsing an Undergraduate Trustee candidate, the Hilltop office erupted. Our staff was at odds over whom to choose. No candidate was perfect and the role of Undergradu-ate Trustee was unclear. The ques-tion still lingers among us: What exactly does the Undergraduate Trustee do?

If recent Undergrad Trustees are an example, then the role requires little else than playing golf and talking shop with the Board. But in reality, The Undergraduate Trustee is a full member of the board of trustees, possessing one vote as the others do. They vote, attend meet-ings and join committees, just as their more distinguished counter-parts do. Sitting in a boardroom of older professionals while you have yet to receive your bachelor’s degree could intimidate any undergrad. How each of these three would respond to the challenge would determine their ability to advocate for the student body.

There was no clear consensus on what powers these candidates would actually have. Each of them had unique ideas for programs to improve student life at Howard University. However, as recently

stated at previous speak outs -- the Board of Trustees is not a program-ming body, but a governing body. There were promises of Smart-boards, Trustee Clubs and 24-hour visitation. But, it remains to be seen if any of them would make tangible change.

After briefly meeting with the three candidates, it became apparent to us that no running party particular-ly outshined the other nor were the candidates particularly confident in the role of the undergraduate trustee and what they would actu-ally be able to do. Though they all had passion and strengths through-out their presentations, each candi-date had weaknesses that could not be ignored. The Hilltop staff was unable to designate a clear winner and we are stating our endorsement as inconclusive.

Tuedy Wilson’s platform showed significant strength, but we also felt she was overreaching with some of her promises such as her “Smart Board Initiative” and many members of the staff were skeptical about the overall effectiveness of the proposed “Trustee Club.”Otherwise, we felt that Wilson was extremely innovative and would serve best in another position of student government.

ODell Patterson’s platform covered new ground with his “HU-DC Co-alition” program that highlighted the need for student housing in the area but many members of the Hilltop staff felt he fell short with experience in comparison to his opposition. We do feel it is impor-tant to note that ODell’s experience outside of the arena of student government does show Patterson is capable of advocating for change without having a position.

Finally, Kali Stewart’s “VISION: Turning on the Lights to a new Howard University” showed signifi-cant promise. Stewart is qualified for the Undergraduate Trustee position, however we felt certain aspects of her platform such as her rebranding initiative are undoubt-edly problematic.

Wednesday’s Hilltop speak out was no help in our decision. Although each candidate had great insight about the role of the Undergradu-ate Trustee and how they would go into the boardroom with the best interests of the students, we still did not sense that undying confidence from any of the candidates.

The indecision from our staff is truly telling of how tough of a race this Undergraduate Trustee election truly is.

The Hilltop Staff

central African cultural group who resisted Portuguese colonialism well into the 20th century; his last name came from one of the world’s most celebrated and mourned political figures, the first Prime Minister of independent Congo, the martyred Patrice Lumumba. The day after King’s death (a man Lumumba said his mother thought was the “Black Moses”), Lumumba joined the movement to establish Black Studies programs, first at Western Michigan University and then at Kalamazoo College. Seven years later, he graduated, summa cum laude, from Wayne State Uni-versity School of Law and began work that would make him one of the most well-known Black Power/Civil Rights lawyers in recent memory. His work as a crusading lawyer in Detroit and his efforts to create African-Centered schools and community organizations reached a historic watershed when he joined the celebrated Republic of New Afrika.In his new book, “America’s Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions of Power and Community,” American University Law Professor Robert Tsai chronicles the political and legal philosophy of the RNA,

including its vision of a declara-tion of independence for the Black nation in the United States; a pro-visional government and people’s parliament for those living in the borders of “free national territo-ries” in the U.S. south; the call and legal rationale for reparations for descendants of American enslave-ment; and the argument, using the U.S. Constitution’s so-called “Civil War Amendments,” for holding a plebiscite on the question of citizenship among Africans in the United States. Tsai argues that the RNA vision, far from impracticable, expanded and complicated the meaning of governance and law as set forth in the U.S. Constitution. It was primarily his work with the RNA that led Lumumba to relocate to Jackson, Mississippi. He had been in Detroit in August, 1971 when Mississippi police attacked RNA members on a farm they had attempted to purchase in Jackson. Thanks to assistance from another Alabama to Detroit transplant, Rosa Parks, Lumumba worked with Michigan Congressman John Cony-ers to ensure that Imari Obadele

by Katie Downs, cartoonist

Read the full story online at thehilltoponline.com.

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