The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 8, 1966 Page: 1 of 8
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Pride, power seen as keys to solving minority problems
By WILLIAM HANEY
Thresher Reporter
Negroes and Mexican-Amer-
icans in Houston, along with
their brothers all over the
country, are beginning to over-
come centuries-old patterns of
submissiveness, to take pride
in their ethnic identities, and to
assert their collective power
to compel solutions to the prob-
lems of discrimination.
This is the clear message that
emerged from Monday's mara-
thon teach-in on minority pi*ob-
lems in Houston, the first
teach-in ever held at Rice.
The teach-in, organized by
an informal group of Rice stu-
dents including Peter Hollings,
Pat Bryan, Le Anne Schreiber,
and Chris Gever, was a far-
ranging and sometimes free-
wheeling exploration of the at-
titude of minority groups in
Houston, the problems that face
them, and what is being done
locally to solve these problems.
Intended to stimulate interest
among the Rice community in
the problems of race and pov-
erty in this area, the teach-in
drew crowds ranging from
handfuls for parts of the af-
ternoon session to almost the
capacity of the Chemistry Lec-
ture Hall at the evening ses-
sions. About half the audience
was from Rice.
Self-Identity
A recurring theme, not only
of the speakers and panelists
but of audience members who
spoke and asked questions from
the floor, was the lack of self-
identity of members of minori-
ty groups.
. Tearing him away from his
native culture in Africa and
maintaining him in a position
of dependence and inferiority in
this country has deprived the
Negro of his manhood, accord-
ing to the Reverend Earl Allen,
Director of the Wesley Founda-
tion at Texas Southeren Uni-
versity.
Asserting that 99 per cent
of all whites really think that
Negroes ai'e inferior, Dean
Kenneth Toilet of the TSU Law
School said that too many Ne-
groes have brought the idea. Ac-
tor Oliver O'Connor, of the
Alley, spoke of the "ghetto
mentality" of minority groups
who are "welfare poor" from
not standing on their own feet.
Foster Pride
The black power movement
has some merit in fostering
pride in blackness and a sense.* |ie_
of purpose, said Dean Toilet,
adding that he considered the
movement a tactical mistake
because of American prejudices
against ostentatious power-
seeking.
Judge Alfred Hernandez, Na-
tional President of the League,
of United Latin American Cit-
izens (LULAC), said that a
major concern of Mexican-
Americans is to overcome the
damage to their self-respect
caused by the stigma of "Mes-
kin," by means of emphasizing
their Mexican cultural heritage
and becoming fluent in Spanish
(as distinguished from the Tex-
Mex argot spoken by most
Mexican-Americans), as well as
' English.
Spirited Exchange
Afternoon and evening pan-
els considered the problems of
education, housing, employ-
ment, and the power structure.
The most spirited moments of
the day occured when C .0.
Mann, a John Birch Society co-
ordinator for the four-state
area including Texas, spoke on
the education panel.
His assertion that there is
no such thing as a group prob-
lem, because only individuals
can have problems, and that the
government should not inter-
vene in civil rights matters
because "government is com-
pulsion and force, and I don't
believe in force," provoked
sharp reactions from members
of the audience.
'Generally, the other panel
members agreed with the mod-
erator, TSU Professor of Edu-
cation Earl Rand, that the ed-
ucation gap in Houston is not
being closed; that money alone
can accomplish little; and that
there must be a reorganization
of the way of matching teachers
with pupils, and pupils with
each other.
Housing
Members of the housing panel
split on the question of open
housing laws, but all seemed
to agree with Oliver O'Connor's
statement of the need for bet-
ter housing for minority
groups.
Slum housing is a lucrative
field for those who want to
make a lot of money without
regard to the method, because,
as VISTA volunteer Waring
Fincke, speaking from the au-
dience, pointed out, nothing is
reinvested in the property; the
rent is almost clear profit for
the landlord.
Panelist Gordon Nielson, of
the Houston Apartment Own-
ers' Association, suggested that
the problem of low cost housing
could be partially met if the
FHA would turn over to the
Houston Housing Authority all
the repossessed apartment units
in Houston, to be used for sub-
sidized housing. Until Negroes
rid themselves of their "slum
mentality," however, s a i d
O'Connor, any new housing will
merely become "instant slum."
Employment
In the field of employment,
the need is for programs to
prepare Negroes and other ®ii-.
norities to ftll jobs from which
their inferior educations and de-
prive backgrounds would other-
wise bar them, and an end to
discriminatory hiring practices.
According to Gus Taylor,
Personnel Director for the Of-
fice of Economic Opportunity,
the major barrier to the latter-
objective is the labor unions,
which often have the bargain-
ing rights for industries and
are reluctant to open their
ranks to Negroes.
All the panelists agreed that
the current tight, labor market
makes the job situation less
severe than it would otherwise
encouraged lawlessness because
"it is itself an example par
excellence of lawlessness."
Rep., Graves felt that if
trouble comes, it will be be-
cause" of the policies of the
police, which he said have no
Negi"o sergeants and have hi-
red no new Negro officers in
four years. Every day, he not- Millard Lowe attacked the
ed, incidents happen which
could set of another Watts. We
have only the present relative-
ly full employment to thank
that it has not happened yet,
he said.
What did the teach-in ac-
complish ? SNCC cordinator
whole idea: the white attitude,
he said, "is to come and get
cursed out — it makes you
feel good. You think, now I've
done my part. But we aren't
getting anything done here."
Are we?
■ H
1
rhro'lK-r ph.tio 11v S;;
The Rice Thresher
AN ALL-STUDENT NEWSPAPER FOR 51 YEARS
Volume 54, Number 12 RICE UNIVERSITY, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77001
December 8, I9H6
Involvement or isolation?
NSA rep seeks Rice membership
Growing Power
The final panel, on the power
structure, gave evidence of the
growing consciousness among
members of minority groups of
their own power, and their
growing determination to use
it. The presence on the panel
of newly elected state Repre-
sentatives Curtis Graves, a
Negro, and Lauro Cruz, a Latin
American, were mute testimony
to this fact.
They cited the recent march
on Austin in demand of a state
minimum wage law. Cruz said
the white backlash is a sign of
the effectiveness of the minori-
ties' new exercise of power;
but "you can't have a social
revolution without stepping on
some toes.'"
Benighted School Board
The question that hung over
all the speakers and panels was
that of Watts—could it happen
here? Rep. Graves described
the situation as a "sleeping
hand grenade" that could go
off at any time.
Earlier, Dean Toilet had said
that if Houston became a
Watts it would.be because of
the obstructionist policies of
that benighted, outrageous
school board,'' which he said
By PHIL GARON
Thresher Editorial Staff
"The issue to keep constant-
ly in mind is how you define
your own role as students, and
whether you feel you should in-
volve or isolate yourselves."
Rick Stearns, the Internation-
al Affairs Vice-President of the
National Student Association,
stated the Rice Student Sen-
ate should take the above into
consideration as the chief fac-
tor in deciding whether Rice
should join NSA.
Stearns appeared before the
Senate in last night's meeting
to give the history of NSA and
to try to interest Rice in renew-
ing the membership that the
student body canceled in 1964.
Involved and Aggressive
He emphasized that NSA is
a group concerned primarily
with student government, and
not so much with the individu-
al students. It represents the
philosophy that student govern-
ment should be a relevant or-
ganization both on and off the
campus.
"A student has no right to
President's Party
The annual President's
Christmas Party will be
held next Tuesday in t h e
Grand Hall of the Rice Me-
morial Center.
The festivities will begin
with Christmas selections by
the Rice Chorale at 8:30 pm,
following the Chapel pro-
gram. The President will de-
liver greetings, the guests
will join with the chorale
in a medley of carols, and
the party will feature the
traditional eggnog and a
dance with Bob Smith's or-
chestra.
isolate himself from the affairs
of the world," commented
Stearns. "NSA wants student
governments to be both involved
and aggressive."
He cited some of the pro-
grams that NSA is currently
involved with, in addition to is-
sues concerning student gov-
ernment.
Among these were travel ser-
vices f o r students traveling
abroad; inexpensive life insur-
ance programs; development of
national student cultural pro-
grams; and special student tu-
torial programs, where students
coordinate their time and energ-
ies to work with unprivileged
and jineducated segments of the
population.
Nonpartisan Politics
When questioned about the
political involvement of the
organization, Stearns noted that
NSA allowed no "partisan poli-
tical involvement." It h a d
passed resolutions at its na-
tional congress on issues such
as Viet Nam, the draft, nuclear
testing, and civil rights, but
chiefly because it was felt that
these issues had implications
for all students and were not
defined along party lines.
The Senate voted to table the
matter of membership so that
members, could learn more
about the organization.
College Change
In other business before the
Senate, Jerry Hafter presented
a statement he had drawn up
concerning university policy on
changes in college membership.
x Th$ statement advocated that
students with sufficient reason
to desire a college change
might do so, pending the ap-
proval of four of the six college
masters (including the masters
of the two colleges involved),
and by a majority of the cabi-
nets of each of the colleges in-
volved.
The statement had the quali-
fications that no freshman or
first year student be allowed to
change until after the first year
of their enrollment, and that
no student be allowed to ehange
more than once.
The Senate endorsed the pro-
posal, which comes before the
Undergraduate A f fairs Com-
mittee next Monday.
Liquor Proposal
A joint proposal by the rain-
nets of Baker and Will Kice
Colleges on the feasibility of
allowing parties on campus
with liquor was presented for
consideration. Senate discussion
concerned responsibility in the
case of arrests for minors
drinking, and the possibility oi
damage to the commons and
to the RMC.
The Senate voted to endorse
the "spirit of the resolution,*"
which was defined as stating
that the rule prohibiting the
consumption of liquor in public-
rooms of the colleges could be
waived by the individual mas-
ters and cabinets. This resolu-
tion will also appear before the
Undergraduate Affairs Com-
mittee in the Monday meeting.
OWLS Directory
Danny Bruno reported that a
study has been made concerning
printing the OW LS Directory
by an outside firm, which would
collect the revenue from advert-
isements and make no charge
for printing.
Several other printing meth-
ods were discussed, and the
Senate moved to send a report
to the OWLS for consideration,
in the hope that the directory
might possibly be released soon-
er and that the cost per copy
would be reduced.
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Coyner, Sandy. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 8, 1966, newspaper, December 8, 1966; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth244987/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.