I understand that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion and everyone has a right to free speech. Yet, there is a difference between stating your informed opinion that is based on factual data and deliberately misleading people to believe an untruth. The Cavalier Daily is not the Washington Post, but I don't expect it to operate like the National Inquirer either. Cavalier Daily writers need to uphold their ethical responsibility as journalist, even when writing their opinions.
In Anthony Dick's column "The Griot Society's mixed signals," his fallacious claims about the Web site and his hypothetical analogy implies that I founded a hate group that supports the creation of a separate Black nation and bloody revolution. This is not an opinion. This is a lie!
If the Griot Society's Web site (www.people.virginia.edu/~jeo2s/griot1.html) raised so much concern, why didn't Dick ask me about the site, Black Nationalism or Mumia Abu-Jamal? If the Web site propagates hate and racism, why didn't Dick cite the Web address so that students could check out the alleged racist propaganda for themselves? Dick cleverly makes reference to our phone conversation as if he did research to back up his erroneous arguments. However, his column did not reflect our conversation in any way.
I specifically told Dick that the Griot Society fosters an intellectual community of students who are interested in studying African and African-American history, sharing their knowledge with each other, and transforming knowledge into action. I told Dick that the Griot Society in the past year, had been focusing more on programs and activism, but I would like to see them shift that focus back to study groups because students need to have a strong sense of history as a foundation when addressing any issue. I also noted at least twice during our conversation that the Griot Society is in fact rededicating itself to history and education, and I gave him examples. I founded the Griot Society when I was an undergraduate student at the University, not as an assistant dean. I'm not sure how Dick misinterpreted our entire conversation.
Dick's column exemplifies the desperate need for all people, regardless of race, to study African and African-American history. His comments illustrate a gross distortion and sheer ignorance of central themes in African-American history. Dick talks about a "mantra" that calls for bloodshed. The supposed mantra that Dick refers to is actually an explanation of the colors in the Bendera Ya Taifa (red/black/green flag). The site states that the color red is representative of the blood that was shed in the black struggle for freedom and equality. Dick neglected to publish the quote in its entirety, which also states, "However, the bloodshed and sorrow will not last always. The red significantly stands in our flag as a reminder of the truth of history, and that [men] must gain and keep their liberty, even at the risk of bloodshed." It is crucial for students to understand that no one has given African Americans anything.
The freedom and equality that black people have now is due to the shedding of blood. That is a fact. Black men, women and children have had to literally shed blood in order to be respected as human beings, eat in the same restaurants, use the same toilets, run for political office, vote and even attend the same schools, including the University of Virginia. The flag serves as a reminder of this struggle and it calls for the struggle to continue even if blood is to be shed. This is not a call for violent revolution. Let us not forget that there were rivers of blood during the Civil Rights movement; a movement largely characterized by non-violent protests.
Dick fails to see the "violent Black Panther Party" as an organization that rose out of the desperation of a people who were being terrorized by "violent" police officers and decided to take up arms in self-defense. Dick refers to Malcolm X as a "black political separatist." Would Dick also regard Malcolm X as simply a pimp and drug dealer without looking at the developmental stages in the life of this great man? Read the "Autobiography of Malcolm X." He is the supreme example of human and spiritual transformation. Whatever Dick's opinion is about Mumia Abu-Jamal, his picture is not on the Griot Society's Web site because the members condone the murder of a "defenseless cop," but because of the politics surrounding this case, which leads many to believe that Mumia is an innocent man on death row.
I find that the students who are most vocal about reverse discrimination, self-segregation, black separatism or anti-affirmative action are students who do not take courses in the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African and African-American Studies and do not attend forums and programs that educate the community about these issues. Please take advantage of the AAS program. It's an unnerving feeling to know that students at the University, considered to be the cream of the crop, may leave this exceptional institution of higher learning and go out into the world harboring such a huge misperception of African and African-American history. Obviously, knowledge is the prime need of the hour.
(La TaSha Levy is the Interim Assistant Dean for the Office of African-American Affairs. She is a 2000 College graduate.)
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