Day the National Guard Swept A&T's Scott Hall

              |The Day The National Guard
Swept A&T's Scott Hall
BY DAVID NEWTON
Daily News Staff writer
The physical scars are as visible as if
the violence that wracked A&T State
University 10 years ago had subsided
yesterday. The emotional scars run
deeper.
The red brick of Scott Hall is pocked
and gouged by over 60 bullet holes, mute
testimony to the still haunting specter of
tanks and National Guardsmen on a university campus peopled by rifle-toting
students.
Behind Dudley Administration Building a simple granite marker bordered by
blue and white brick tells those who
know or care: "In Loving Memory/ William Ernest Grimes/ May 22,1969. "The
Cause."
Time passes. Students pass.
Freshman Twanda Jennings is walking
across campus. No, the name Willie
Grimes doesn't mean anything to her.
She was 9 years old when the Winterville
sophomore died from a bullet in the
back of his head as he ran across the
A&T campus.
Did she know that the police and National Guard were on campus that
spring?    i
"The police on campus?"
Some say the police shot Grimes.
"Why?"
* * *
NOBODY CAN prove who pulled the
trigger that led to Willie Grimes' death.
Some blacks will swear the police were
responsible. They say a police car pulled
up along Sullivan Street sometime after
midnight May 22. Grimes was among the'
group of students who sprinted toward
Reid Greenhouse for cover. When shots
rang out, the students fell to the ground
for cover. Willie Grimes never rose.
Police deny a police car was the so-
called mystery vehicle. The campus rang
with intermittent gunfire that night and
tracing the shot that killed Willie Grimes
would be impossible, say police. Besides, add police, the calibre bullet taken
from the base of Grimes' skull was a
smaller calibre than weapons issued police and National Guardsmen.
The facts remain clear: one student
dead, one student wounded and five police officers wounded; tanks, tear gas
and gunfire exchanged between law officers and students; and finally at dawn
on May 23 a sweep of Cooper and Scott
halls by National Guardsmen which left
over $50,000 in damages.
Richard Moore, director of A&T's
News Bureau, had media inquiries from
every major news organization in the
country after the first day of shooting.
There was even a telephone call from
the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"Have there been renewed clashes,"
a very British voice asked Moore.
"No. But they are fighting like hell,"
replied Moore.
* * *
WHAT ENDED on the A&T campus
had begun at Dudley High School in ear-
ly May. Claude Barnes, an active popu-
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SUNDAY, MAY 20   1979
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City Manager John Turner Behind
lar honors student, was elected
president of the student body on a write-
in ballot. His election was disallowed because there were no provisions for write-
ins and, a committee said, his grade average was too low.
"The main issue wasn't so much about
me being elected," says the 27-year-old
Barnes, who begins graduate study in
political science at Atlanta University
this fall.
"The main issue was the type of education we were being raised under. We
were concerned about distortions and
the left-out parts of history. They didn't
talk about the contributions of black
people."
Whatever the cause, walkouts, picket
ing and confrontation led to the dimissal I
of school early May 19. On May 211
school officials tried to get students to I
leave campus. Rock throwing broke out. [
Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. I
A restraining order was issued and May-1
or Jack Elam requested assistance from |
the National Guard,
In the late afternoon the disturbances |
moved to the A&T campus. Rock throwing incidents were reported in the vicinity of the Paradise Drive-In. By 8 p.m.
police had barricaded streets in the area
to prevent white motorists from traveling through the area.
By 9 p.m. the National Guard was
alerted and at 10:35 p.m. the first sniper
fire was reported from the campus.
Sometime after 1:30 a.m., May 22, Willie