Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180100
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Melanie Hatter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IF BLACKS DON'T COME, WHO WILL?
The topic was "The African American: The Past and the Future in Global Perspective."Four professors had volunteered to participate in the speakers forum at New River Community College in Dublin for Black History Month.
Opal Moore, Clementine Hansley-Hurt and Marilyn Rigby of Radford University and Richard Shingles of Virginia Tech sat poised and ready to share their perspectives and challenge the audience to think about the topic.
They each had about 15 minutes to talk; then the floor was open to questions.
My husband and I were the first to arrive at 6:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the starting time. We sat waiting in the empty auditorium for the crowd to swarm in.
Once the show got on the road, the audience amounted to a dozen people - myself, my husband, an NRCC professor, Hansley-Hurt's husband, a woman with two youngsters and members of the Black Awareness Association.
I was deeply disappointed.
Here was an opportunity to support Black History Month, to discuss the past and analyze the future of the African American, to learn about black America. Maybe even motivate some people to act toward a positive future for black America, or at least black New River Valley.
That's not to say the few who were present didn't learn something. I think I did.
But where was everyone else?
Was the advertising for the event so little that no one knew about it?
Or did it sound so boring that no one was interested?
Surely more than a dozen people knew about it. At least the black students attending the college - about 4 percent of the school's enrollment - must have known.
I thought back to the African Awareness Weekend at Tech at the beginning of the month. There again, I was disappointed with the turnout.
Speakers had traveled from both East and West coasts, including Kwanzaa creator Maulana Karenga, who drew the largest audience of about 30 people, and Ali Karume, the deputy ambassador to Tanzania.
The problem was with the organization and advertising, I was told by student members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who put the event together.
But that didn't seem like a good excuse to me. Word of mouth on a college campus sometimes works better than fliers. Black students should have flocked to the event, simply to show support for Black History Month.
I don't mean to sound as if I'm preaching. I understand busy schedules, but it bothers me when blacks complain that they don't get any fair play in society. Especially students. I remember the complaints and grievances when I was a student that the African American has no voice in society.
What is that voice saying when black-oriented events are sparsely attended?
I might add that some events have been attended fairly well, and there's still a couple of weeks to go.
Idealistically, it would be wonderful to have all races attending all cultural events - everyone sharing and appreciating each culture's contributions. But if African Americans are not going to support their own events, no one else will.
At the New River Community Collge forum, Opal Moore said society has stopped conversing. It watches television and takes the information at face value without questioning or discussing it, she said.
Is it that young blacks have stopped participating in life?
Richard Shingles thinks the future of African Americans lies in their learning black history. If they know what happened in their past, they can move forward without making the same mistakes, he said.
So shouldn't we take advantage of events during Black History Month and support each other's endeavors to learn?
Maybe then our voice would be heard.
Melanie Hatter is a reporter in the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.