Dr. Stevenson Speaks On
Revolution In Black Community
"Any black man or
woman is ipso facto a
revolutionary." So stated Dr.
John Marshal Stevenson,
former English professor and
presently chairman of
Speech and Theatre Arts at
A&T University, during his
disculussion Tuesday night
on "The Status of
Revolution in the Black
Community."
Speaking before an
assembly of Mr. Gene
Sarver's political science
students,and other interested
listeners, Dr. Stevenson
described the black man's
attempt to shed the term
"Negro" and to establish for
himself an identity in
American society. He quoted
a poster by Stokely
Carmichal which read:
"Every Negro is a potential
revolutionary." The poster
depicts a black man ridding
himself of his "Negro-ness"
and emerging as a muscular,
serious, angry black person.
"I'm talking about a
revolution in thinking. I'm
referingto the difference in
"Black" and "Negro." Any
black man who accepts the
term Negro is willing to
compromise his rights, stated
Dr. Stevenson.
A great deal of emphasis
was put on identity and the
name one gives himself.
Referring to the American
Indians as "the only
Americans who are more
pitiful than we (the blacks)
are," Dr. Stevenson said,
"They just haven't gotten
their program together."
Look at the term Indian. It's
an inaccurate name given to
the American aborigines by
some joker who didn't know
his geography!"
Speaking again of identity
Dr. Stevenson referred to the
biblical characters of Nero
and Paul. "Nero," he said,
"was at the top; the ruler of
the known world. Paul was a
Christian martyr. So what do
we see today? People call
their dogs Nero and their
sons Paul. Saul saw the
divine light and changed his
name to Paul. The Negros
saw a similar sign and
changed theirs to "Black."
After comparing the
system of British slavery to
the Spanish and Portuguese
slave practices, Dr. Stevenson
labeled the middle class
white American Dream as a
"nightmare for the black
man." He called the white
American concept of this
ideal truth, based on the
notion that anyone can
make it in America: an
obvious falsehood.
"The black community
has been fighting drugs for
twenty years. It's not a new
thing. But when attention to
the problem is focused on
whites you notice. The black
situation goes unnoticed.
Everyone will remember the
Kent State massacre. Who
remembers the Orangeburg
massacre when South
Carolina state police shot
down black students?"
challenged the A&T
professor.
"I've had whites say to
me: 'This thing is going to
take time. You won't see it;-
your children won't see it.
But your grandchildren will.'
That statement condems
every living black man to die
a slave, unable to experience
the freedom which is
rightfully his," stated Dr.
Stevenson. "That's why
every few years they have to
introduce a new civil rights
bill. They want to hand us
our rights piecemeal. Dr.
Martin Luther King once
said, 'America suffers from a
high blood pressure of creeds
and an anemia of deeds.'
After the lecture, the
floor was opened
questions. He remarked on
the role of religion in the
black community by stating
that most of the really active
members of the black
revolutionary movement are
Baptists (Martin Luther
King, Ralph Abernathy, etc.)
due to the flexible
independence of the Baptist
Church.
When asked to parallel
the Zionists with the
Pan-African movement which
states that every black man
is an African, Dr. Stevenson,
himself a Jew, made this
remark: "I was black from
the time of conception,
American from the time of
birth, and Jewish from the
time of maturity."
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