Clarion Defender_1967-08-10

In The CLARION DEFENDER GenerationNegro Youth ~Now' Donald R. Hopkins, 30, is assistant dean of students at the University of California at Berkeley where he received his LL. B. degree. Born in Tulsa, Okla., he also holds a B. A. from the U . of Kansas and an M. A. from Yale. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and chairm:m of the Bay Area Independent Democrats. youngsters shun ranks of white rebels without cause BY DONALD R. HOPKINS Problem-ridden black T HE present generation of America's youth has been variously described as the "now" or the "studied" generation. Countless books, films, magazine articles and documentaries have chronicled its trek into the forefront of American consciousness. Unlike the "silent" generation whose relative quiescence nurtured a slumbering concern for the failure of its so– cial consdence and its dedicated pursuit of a comfortable niche in status-quo American so– ciety, the present generation under 25 has en– gaged the anxious awareness of even those whose bent is most liberal and permissive among the elders . Most observers of the youth– ful scene are frankly bewildered by the kaleidoscopic array of mind-blowing activities which, they suspect, conceal only too well the deep-seated problems of a society which has been unable or unwilling to construct a pas– tiche of moral and economic values which could command the respect and loyalty of their youth. As with their white counterparts, Negro youths are going through a period of profound ferment, though it is a ferment perhaps some– what less studied. There exists still the tend– ency to see Negro youths as essentially identi– cal to white youths, if somewhat less privileged due to segregation and discrimination in hous– ing. employment, education and the lot. T~ fe el this is to ignore a great truth about race relations "in this country; it is to ignore that those i\'egro youths who participated in sit-ins, freedom rides and similar demonstrations t'hat spawned today's young activists did so for rea– sons essentially diffe1·ent in psycho-social dynamics than those of white youths in that those Negro youths who today manifest the extreme forms of alienation from this society, are alit>nated for reasons essentially different from those of white youths. Before pursuing this thesis further, how– e\'er, we should look quickly to the statistics and underlying observable phenomena which put our problem in perspective. According to the FBI, young people under 2.j account for 7:3.4 per cent of arrests for rapes. murders, larcenies and other major crimes, and cause 31.5 per cent of all traffic fatalities. Young people on college campuses spearheaded the movement for ci\"il rights in the South and in the process dramatically eon– fronted the white American conscience with its all too impure attitudes concerning race. Lately. they were not content to question , with all the drama and freneticism of which youth is capable, the morality of a war against a tiny brown nation in the Far East; they even staged demonstrations in favor of the enemy. The personal beha,·ior of the young took on shock– ing aspects as they took to dramatizing the cathartic effect of obscene words, the psychic- liberating effect of marijuana and \'arious mys– terious drugs, and the culturally liberating effects of identifying psychologically with In– dian, ~lexican and other exotic cultures. \lajor sections of major U. S. cities like Los :\ngeles. San Francisco. Chicago and New York haYe been literally occupied by a new breed of humanity characterized by boys who dress like girls and girls who dress like boys. Not onlv do the young people hail the four– letter wo;d and threaten to rtnnul the gains made by the liquor industry by the repeal of prohibition . they have come to listen to a com– plicated staccato of amplified sounds played lw artl es~ adolescents who go by names that r~relv belie their appearance: The Grateful Dea(i. The Animals, The ~lonkees. The Second Coming. etc. \Vhen they sing, their highly romanticized. often propagandistic lyrics rarely fail to hurl barbs at the morally decadent generation over :)0, or to speak in hig'hly stylized self-pity of how awful is the society which annually sup– plies them with some $14 billion worth of clothes. cars and sundry paraphernalia es– sential to maintaining the generational distinc– tion which encapsules their most significant idcntitv. \Vitl;in the curious melange of youthful hap– penings. it is difficult to see the young N('gro, and the reason is that this is not where he is ·'at." On the streets of the Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. onlv a few black faces are to be seen in the crowd.s, even though the commu– nitv is the most integrated in the city and ~ta;1ds on the border of the black ghetto. Very few who are there can generally be seen ob– serving the inelegance and inexcellcnce of the dancers with a curious disdain. The argot of the hippie seems square to the Negro youth who invented it and who is simply mo,·ed to invent a subterranean language somewhat more obscure. Negro youths who know inti– mately the world of Claude Brown's Mnncliild In Tlw Promised Land find somewhat less ro– mance in psychedelic: and other heavy drugs, and though indicatiQns are ·that a good per– centage will smoke marijuana. they are less likely to make a big public thing of it, as it is not an essential part of tlwir rebellion. White youths are essentially in rebellion against the inanities of middle classness. They At recent meeting of Assn. of Bl.t('k Colh·gians at Printeton (ahove and right ) partidp:mts dcm.mded "a n>ice in ptmning their pr<"paration for life in a 1n>rkl nP<'din g thl'ir leadership'· \vhile asserting the :\(•gro undc rgrd<hu tL·"s ··acceptance of h itn– sclf and hi, hlackne" a' a ,-.,luahle forct• in the struggle for a hcttcr America." Some 150 Ea,t Co.1st collegian~ attended. S A G N E R S E L L 0 U T g e neration are t:hi, ·f black power proponent Stokely Carmit:hael (above ) and til(' late \lalcolm X. Author credits assassinated lead– er with having bct'n "tlw one nationwid e sp okesman for black people who had reall y ca pturcd the imagina– tion of young p eopk in ;'\;orthern urban ghettos." Every car must be sold regardless of price. Pay as little as $10.00 down and small week– ly payments. I don't care how your credit is if you have have been bankrupt kicked out of the house, or in the dog h;use. Come and see me. I will try my level best to sell you a car. No high pressure selling here. 1965 Cad Sedan DeVille Full Power Air Condition 1965 Pontiac Grand Priaux 1964 Cadillac El Dorado Con. Cpe. 1963 Pon~iac Catalina 2 dr. H. T. 1962 Dodge vart. 2dr.H.T. 1961 Stude Hawk 2 dr. H. T. 1963 Olds Cutlass 2 dr. 1964 Olds 445 Beautiful 1965 Pontiac G. T. 0. 1963 Cad Cpe. DeVille Full Power Factory 'Air 1961 Lincoln 4 dr. Sedan Full Pwr. Fact. Air $1395. 1961 Thunderbird $995. 1964 Chev. Con. Ope. $1245. 1962 Chev. Con. Cpe. $995- 1955 Chev. H. T. Ope. stick 1958 Chev. 4 dr. Sedan $195. 1959 Olds. Needs work $95. 1959 Pontiac Station Wagon 1960 Chev. Carry All 1961 Ford Pickup $195. Remember every car must be sold now. us for a real buy. Come see SAGNER 1838 N.E. UNION AVE. 288· 85.34 have been invited by their elders into a life of such great material comfort and security that it is lacking in depth, meaning, spirit and in– tellectual or moral challenge. Norman \1ailer once noted that ''the cameos of security for the <Werage white: mother and the home, job and the family, are not even a mockery to millions of Negroes ; they are impossible." The rebel among Negro youth is then understandably more like that described by the French philoso- pher Camus in The Rebel, one who "has acted under the lash of his master's whip [and] sud– denly he turns and faces ruin." It should not be surprising then, that the rebellion of Negro youth has taken on a different form and C)Hality. Negro youths in the "now·' generation are doing essentially different things than their white counterparts. White youths " ·ho a few ye<lrs ago expressed their rebellion against the ideas of their elders by going off to fight the civil rights wars in the South. or by joining the Peace Corps, are now drowning their aliena– tion in the hippie culture and student adi,·ist mo\'ements. As one observer. Seymour L. Halleck of the University of "'isconsin. has described the hippie, he "seeks an existt'ncl' in which he is committed neither to past Yalues nor future causes. 'Vith his focus on the prl'sl'nt he is determined to experience t'\-erything he can: His sex life is often promiscuous: his de– ,·otion to marijuana and occasionalh- to more potent drugs sometimes takes on n·iigions in– tensity. Despauing of any hope for guidance from the past, pessimistic toward the possibil– ity of altering the world in which lw \\·ill li,·e, he turns to himself. He eschews political in– ,·olvement and finds solace in aesthetics." ·whereas the hippie has follmwd the <:>diet of its self-appointed high priest. Dr. Timothy Leary. to "tune in, turn on. drop out.'' the po– litical activists have been able to n 'cord some important accomplishments in being a gadfly !{!the institutions and societv around thrm. In the same tradition of their ci\'il rights acth·ities, they han· canied the ball of protest a!!ainst the nation's foreign policies in Latin .-\mnil'a and Asia, and lul\·e forced uniYersity administra– tors and faculty into a close examination of the role of the student in modern nni,·<:>rsities. Howe,·er. the activism of these students has they best b o~ ~=us to seem to be unable to sustain a mo' emcnt which could bring about permanent improw– ments in either their universities or the societv at large. Most importantly, hmwn•r. for th~ future of race relations in this countrv. they have lost contact with, and seem unabl e to understand, their Negro counterparts. Negro youths who are politically and so– cially active are not to be found. for the most part, in the traditional setting of :\'A.-\CP youth groups, and on college campuses. in fraternity and sorority groups. At the UniH•rsit,· of Cali– fornia, at Berkeley, a campus \Yhich .is knmn1 as the crucible of the hippie and student acti– vist culture, the most intellectuallv oriented and activist Negro students are to l;e found in the Afro-American Student Union rather than in fraternity or sorority groups. The only on!an– izatwn of Negro graduate students is call t'd the Black Graduate Students Forum <1J,d contains a significantly large percen of the "Tune In, turn on, drop out" philosophy of LSD high priest Dr. Timothy Leary has little appenl to :\egro youngstt•rs . u~egro youths ." 1nites Hopkins, ''1d10 know intimal<-1)· the world of Cl a ude Brown's Man child ln The Promised Land, find less romanc<· m psychedelic and other heavy drugs ••• and are less likely to make a big pnhlic thing of it, as it is not an essential part of their rebellion." gro graduate students on campus. ~1emlwrs of both groups insist upon being called "black." or "Afro-American," and recently lodg(•d a' ery stron!;! (and nearly violent) protest ''"ith the campus newspaper when it headlined an l '\ rnt under their sponsorship, "Negro Plays." Simi– lar "Afro-Amcrican"-oriented student societies exist now on almost eYery major college cam– pus which has a significant number of :'\q~ro students. OPEN SUNDAY