February 11, 1975
Black Children Can
By Pat Thompson
BASIB, the black students'
organization of Guilford College will sponsor a program of
expressive achievement for
black children for the second
year since its initiation in 1972
by a former Guilford student.
The program, called "Black
Children can" began officially
on February 8, highlighted
with a trip to the Ringling
Bros, and Barnum & Bailey
Circus on Thursday, February
6.
Spearheading the "Black
Children Can" program are
two very serious and hardworking young ladies: Anita
Jones, chairman, is a junior
and Kim Chinn, co-chairman,
is a sophomore.
Anita told me that the BCC
enrollment includes 24 children ranging in ages from 9 to
13 years. She said that these
ages were chosen because
"We did not want to run a
babysitting serivce) personality and identity begins to
set-in here."
The program, which extends over a nine-week period
includes what Anita referred
to as "creative outlets" such
as arts and crafts, drama,
sewing, creative/dance, and
physical fittness as Ways of
stimulating creative expression both mentally and
physically.
"We want to get these kids
to use their minds because
schools do not teach them to
use their minds to its fullest
capacity" she said. "We want
to instill in these young people
the importance of decisionmaking on all levels, therefore
we will not do their thinking;
our purpose will be to reveal
the options."
The children participating
in BCC will be picked-up at
Reynolds Chapel Baptist
Church at 10 a.m. every
Saturday and returned to the
same at 3 p.m. in the
afternoon. The Reynolds
Chapel family has been the
focal point of BASIB's many
community projects, and it has
been instrumental in helping
to get BCC off to a good start.
"Black Children Can" is
purely a non-profit outgrowth
of BASIB. The black students
of Guilford College have seen
a need for black expression
among young black children
and the need for them to
express their worth to the
world; therefore the program
is designed with these basic
principles in mind. Primarily,
it is to provide the children
with outlets for their expressions; whatever they may be.
Secondly, it is to sustain
various ways to explore
consciousness and release
inner feelings constructively.
It is an outlet for creative
energy, self-expression, self-
search, and self-discovery for
both the members of BASIC
and the participants.
As to her expectations of
"Black Children Can", Anita
said, "I would like to see BCC
develop into a vivid rhythm
that will sound the concern tht
we have not only for the black
children in this community,
but in the world as well. BCC
is our small but significant
way of manifesting our
concern. We know that black
children can and through our
program we hope that black
children will."
