an excerpt from Nikki Giovanni ‘s

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We’re Going to Mars) -read at Convocation on Friday, January 28th

When we go to Mars. . . . . . . . .it’s the same thing. . . .it’s Middle

Passage

When the rocket red glares the astronauts will be able to see

themselves pull away from Earth . . .as the ship goes deeper

they will see a sparkle of blue . . .and then one day not only will

they not see Earth . . .they won’t know which way to look . . .

and that is why NASA needs to call Black America

They Need to ask us: How did you calm your fears . . . .How

were you able to decide you were human even when everything

said you were not . . .How did you find the comfort in the face

of the improbable to make the world you came to your world . . .

How was your soul able to look back and wonder

And we will tell them what to do: To successfully go to Mars

and back you will need a song . . .take some Billie Holiday for

the sad days and some Charlie Parker for the happy ones but

always keep at least one good Spiritual for comfort . . .You

will need a slice or two of meatloaf and if you can manage it

some fried chicken in a shoebox with a nice moist lemon pound

cake . . .a bottle of beer because no one should go that far with-

out a beer and maybe a six-pack so that if there is life on mars

you can share . . . Popcorn for the celebration when you land

while you wait on your land legs to kick in . . . and as you climb

down the ladder from your spaceship to the Martian surface . . .

look to your left . . .and there you’ll see a smiling community

quilting a black-eyed pea . . . watching you descend

The Multicultural Newsletter of Carleton College

February 2005

Volume XXVI, Issue 3

Carleton College

SPECTRUM

Page 2 SPECTRUM

A King for the 21st Century By Andrew Williams, Director On Friday, January 24, Dr. Vincent Harding gave a power-ful and inspirational convocation address as part of Carle-ton’s commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday. His address, entitled, “A King for the 21st Century”, grappled with the significance of King’s life and activism for our contemporary historical moment. One of the central themes of Harding’s address was that Americans tend to “freeze” King in time and lock him away from where we are today. Most often, according to Harding, we work with a snap shot of Dr. King’s ideology and activism from the 1963 March on Washington. He encouraged the audience to take another path and keep moving with King past this glorious moment in 1963. Harding reminded listeners that after King received his 1964 Noble Peace Prize in Oslo that he stopped in London to challenge U.S. and British government officials on their support for the apartheid regime in South Africa. Not over-come by his importance, King then returned to epicenters of racial terrorism such as Selma, Alabama and Philadelphia, Mississippi in order to push for the expansion of voting rights for African Americans. After spending extended time in the Deep South, King then made his way to Chicago where he put the spotlight on urban poverty, hunger, homelessness, and racism in the supposedly more liberal North. While in Chicago, King began to conceptualize the Vietnam War in a very different way than the President, Congress, and most Americans. King declared the war to be undemocratic, un-godly, and wrong. Not long before his assassination, King delivered a speech at the Riverside Church in New York City where he insightfully and dangerously linked militarism, ra-

cism, and materialism as the three greatest dangers to Ameri-can life. Vincent Harding, it should be noted, was one of the primary architects of this historic address entitled, “A Time to Break the Silence.” When we begin to interrogate the writings, speeches, and activism of Dr. King after 1963; there is a possibility that more than ever before he will be a King of the 21st century. This is the King who after the passage of the Voting Rights Bill told his followers we must keep going and not rest on our laurels. This is the King who refused to give into the cheap patriotism that is always sold to us when it is time to go to war. This is the King that built cross-generational, in-ter-faith, and multiracial alliances. This is the King who was assassinated while standing in solidarity with garbage workers in Memphis. This is the King who refused to give into the despair of death, terror, racism, and poverty; and who re-fused to respond with more death, terror, and destruction. This is a King whose magnificent craziness allowed him to dream about the possibilities of our nation, when the nation didn’t recognize its possibilities. This is the King who refused to remain silent. And this is a King, according to Harding, that makes us uncomfortable as we bring him closer to us. What will we do with this King for the 21st century? Will we work to break out of our selective amnesia? Will we run away from him and his challenges that are so relevant to us today? Or, will we “enter his spirit” by doing what he did, taking the risks he took through the action of our lives? The choice is ours. As you reflect, please remember that King was convinced, like his close associate and historian Vincent Harding, that democracy is not organic and that Americans must work to expand democracy or else it will dry up.

Page 3 Volume XXVI, Issue 3

In the Spirit of Martin

By Nikki Giovanni

This is a sacred poem . . . blood has been shed to consecrate it . . . wash your hands. . . remove your shoes . . . bow your head . . .

I . . .I . . . I Have A Dream

That was a magical time . . . Hi Ho Silver Away . . . Oh Cisco/ Oh Pancho . . . Here I Come To Save The Day . . . I want the World

to see what they did to my boy. . . No No No I’m not going to move . . . If we are Wrong . . . then the Constitution of the United States is Wrong . . . Montgomery . . . Birmingham . . . Selma . . .

Four little Girls . . . Constant Threats . . . Constant Harassment . . . Constant Fear . . . SCLC . . . Ralph and Martin . . . Father Knows Best . . . Leave It To Beaver . . . ED SULLIVAN . . . How Long . . .

Not Long

But what . . . Mr. Thoreau said to Mr. Emerson . . . Are you going out?

This is a Letter from Birmingham City Jail . . . This is a eulogy for Albany . . . This is a water hose for Anniston . . . This is a Thank- You to Diane Nash . . . This is a flag for James Farmer . . . This is a HowCanIMakeItWithoutYou to Ella Baker . . . This is for the red clay of Georgia that yielded black men of courage . . . black men of vision . . . black men of hopes . . . bent over cotton . . . or

sweet potatoes . . . or pool tables and baseball diamonds . . . playing for a chance to live free and breathe easy and have

enough money to take care of folks they love . . . This is Why We Can’t Wait

That swirling Mississippi wind . . . the Alabama pine . . . that

Tennessee dust defiling the clothes the women washed . . . those hot winds . . . the lemonade couldn’t cool . . . that let the

women know . . . we too must overcome . . . this is Fannie Lou Hamer . . . Jo Ann Robinson . . . Septima Clark . . . Daisy Bates . . . All the women who said Baby Baby Baby I know you

didn’t mean to lose your job . . . I know you didn’t mean to gamble the rent money . . . I know you didn’t mean to hit me . . .

I know the Lord is going to make a way . . . I know I’m Leaning

On The Everlasting Arms

How much pressure . . . does the Earth exert on carbon . . . to make a diamond . . . How long does the soil push against the flesh . . . molding . . . molding . . . molding the moan that becomes a cry that bursts forth crystalline . . . Unbreakable . . . priceless . . .

incomparable Martin . . . I Made My Vow To The Lord That I Never Would Turn Back . . . How much pressure do the sins of the world press against the heart of a man who becomes the voice of

his people . . . He should have had a tattoo, you know . . . Freedom Now . . . or something like that . . . should have braided his

hair . . . carried his pool cue in a mahogany case . . . wafted that wonderful laugh over a plate of skillet fried chicken . . . drop

biscuits. . . dandelion greens on the side

This is a sacred poem . . . open your arms . . . turn your palms up . . . feel the Spirit of Greatness. . . and be redeemed

Page 4 SPECTRUM

that exist. And, I think that will be the case for a long time. However, people of color in the US are also far more privileged here than they would be in South Africa because there have been so many small, ethnic national move-ments that have allowed people of color to define and write about their own histories. The saddest part of being in South Africa was realizing that apartheid really attacked the intellectual develop-ment of people of color by legislating that their education be inferior. I re-member speaking with a black politician in South Africa who told me that the next three generations of black South Africans will be affected by what they call “Bantu Education”. Race in South Africa has real implications on the value of people’s lives. In the US, we are far more privileged to at least be afforded some opportunities.

Shifting gears a bit, I understand that Cape Town is somewhat of a gay Mecca? Did you have any ex-periences with the LGBT commu-nity in Cape Town? I had plenty of experiences in Cape Town. I remember being told by a stu-dent in my group that a doctor told her that every male in Cape Town is gay. And, if they say they aren’t, give them about 4 beers and 2 hours, and they’ll come around. Cape Town has plenty of LGBT support services, and the commu-nity put a lot of effort into publicizing the country as a Mecca. In addition to that, the constitution of South Africa actually affords gays and lesbians equal protection under the law. A member of my home stay family once told me that there was a trans person in their town-ship, and that even if they did not agree with the way s/he dressed, it was against the law to say or do anything that would degrade that person. So, Cape Town is not only tolerant of the LGBT commu-nity, the city is accepting and affirming.

By John Smith-Ricco ‘07

Elliot James, a senior History major at Carleton, spent the Fall term of 2004 studying in S.I.T.’s “Multiculturalism and Social Change” program in South Africa. He was gracious enough to sit down with Spectrum in order to briefly discuss some of his experiences and encounters abroad, as well as share with our readers what we can learn about our own culture and society when looking in from the outside.

Why South Africa? Why this par-ticular program? South Africa has a history that has many parallels with that of the US. I took a class at Carleton that surveyed their history, and many of the themes dealing with race relations really reso-nated with my understanding of the Af-rican-American experience here. I was curious to see whether much change had actually occurred after the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994, which marked the end of apartheid. The pro-gram that I chose was called “Multiculturalism and Social Change”, and I was certain that many of the issues that I was interested in would be cov-ered. Overall, I wanted to come away with an international understanding of institutionalized racism.

Elliot, you mention “problems with race.” In a post-apartheid nation, what are some of the pertinent issues that South Africans face in regard to race relations? South Africans hate being defined by their race because those classifications are a product of apartheid. So, needless to say, issues of identity are at the fore-front of the problems there. And, al-though South African cities are consid-ered first-world in many aspects, the country as a whole is plagued by HIV/AIDS and poverty. What I noticed that really troubled me there was the fact that these particular issues are for the

most part intertwined with issues of identity. For example, many colored people, who belong to a racial classifica-tion that does not exist in the US, have said to me that black people are more likely to be poorer or have AIDS. One colored man told a friend of mine on my program that she should say she is col-ored, and not black, because of the con-notations associated with being darker.

We just celebrated the 50th Anni-versary of Brown v. Board of Edu-cation in the USA. One would as-sume that we are head and shoul-ders ahead of a nation that just over ten years ago had a constitu-tion that permitted the marginali-zation of over 80% of their popula-tion. Does this assumption have any validity? In my opinion, the constitution of South Africa is far more progressive than ours. But, yes, it is true that their constitution was only put into place ten years ago. The most valuable insight I gained while being in South Africa was, however, that issues of race, class and gender differ from context to context. The US is far richer than South Africa could ever hope to be. And, their gov-ernment really has to negotiate with the fact that post-apartheid reform has to change every aspect of its citizens’ pub-lic and private lives. The problem is that the government doesn’t have the money to change everything so quickly. So, in that sense, the US is head and shoulders ahead.

What did you learn about Amer-ica’s struggle with race while abroad? From a South African perspective, race in America is extremely problem-atic. In the US we are all united under the American Dream, but divided by race, which is the primary identifier for many citizens. There are still connota-tions, stigmas and stereotypes associ-ated with the color of a person’s skin

Spectrum Profile: Elliot James ‘05

Elliot continued on page 3

Page 5 Volume XXVI, Issue 3

enough? BQA is important because people often forget that identities often inter-sect and create new—rather than sim-ply integrate—ways of looking at one-self. And, even more often than not, identities such as being black and lesbian are marginalized in their broader com-ponents like being black or a woman or not heterosexual. BSA and CIAO are important, but it does not mean that they are enough. I know plenty of black queer folk on campus that feel the need to choose between BSA and CIAO, and just decide to abstain from both groups. In my seminars in South Africa, I learned that there are several theories of multi-culturalism, in which the ones that were more sufficient considered an integra-tion of identities rather than a separa-tion. For this reason, I think that BQA will be a fine addition to the host of groups that deal with issues of multicul-turalism and gender/sexual orientation.

When we think of LGBT issues in regard to black communities in our own country, we tend to think of the so-called DL phenomenon, and rising rates of AIDS among Afri-can-American women. What are some of the issues facing black members of the LGBT Community in South Africa? I was so shocked when I went to my first gay club in Cape Town. I was actu-ally the only black patron among fifty or so people. Even though some black South Africans started filling the place a little while later, I began to question whether or not I was actually in Africa. In addition to that, I received a bit of criticism from a black gay male from South Africa who I’d befriended at my favorite gay nightspot, Bronx. He told me that most of the gay clubs in Cape Town were all white, and most black guys would almost never be approached because blacks are seen to be more likely to have contracted the HIV/AIDS virus than whites. Even the exotification of the black male was almost non-existent in the mentalities many of the gay white men I encountered. One actu-ally told me that it was “only natural for white men to date other white men.” Of course, I alerted him to the irony of his statement. So, I would say that the same issues that confront the country confront the LGBT community: racially based stereotypes.

Does Cape Town’s climate of tol-erance extend to black LGBT citi-zens? Black people on the whole in Cape Town are economically, politically and socially disadvantaged. Black LGBT folk are just as prone to poverty as black straight folk. And, since gay bars, clubs, restaurants and shops are located in the more financially exclusive areas of Cape Town, it is less likely to encounter black LGBT folk. So, on an ideological level, black LGBT folk are as accepted as white LGBT folk, but black people are just far less likely to access the same

queer cultural outlets as everyone else.

Getting back to this side of the pond Elliot, you and some other students of color are starting a new organization, could you tell us something about the Black Queer Alliance? BQA (Bee-Kwuh) is a response to the rising number of black and queer identified students who have expressed an interest in creating a space to social-ize. The minimum CSA requirement of 10 members for a charter could not have been achieved even two years ago. BQA also affords the entire Carleton community the opportunity to consider the issues of multiple identities, and how they complicate simple understandings of people based on the color of their skin or whom they prefer to date.

Why is this necessary at Carleton? Why aren’t BSA and CIAO

Elliot continued from page 2

Elliot with his host sister in South Africa!

When Terminology Does Not Say It All: An African Perspective on the Commonest Misconceptions of the Words “Poor” and “Poverty”

By Eunice Ajambo ‘06

A fairly long break out of school usually encourages us to create new ideas and to evaluate old ones about a multitude of issues. For me, this past winter break enabled me to think harder about one of the commonest mistakes we make in our daily lives, when it comes to observing/studying the “other.” More specifically, I have had the opportunity to think about the fate of economically disadvantaged populations of this world, as is dictated by a highly self-interested global order.

As the world increasingly globalizes, the words poor

and poverty also become commonly associated with Third World Countries, Developing Countries, and more specifically applied to Sub-Saharan African Countries. Annual reports by international organizations, including the World Bank, besides academic professionals never hesitate to use the term “below the poverty line” to describe living economic conditions of some non-western populations. To me, thinking about Africa has become equated to thinking about a poor continent. But in the midst of all this branding, I wonder about the contexts in which the terms poor and poverty have been used to por-tray the people being described. There are numerous in-stances when these terminologies have been recklessly used, and it is to some of these usually overlooked moments that I intend to draw attention.

The first instance is observed during the analysis of the way of life of Africans. Most Africans, especially in rural areas, depend on the land for their sustenance. From groups including the San of the Kalahari Desert, to the Bakka of the Congo Rainforest, and the Fulani of the Sahel desert, agricul-ture, hunting and/or pastoralism are amongst the main modes through which life is maintained. While some of these cul-tures have meager interaction with the modern outside world, their continued dependency on the land has clearly been matched by their relentless existence and survival. But to people alien to the cultures of most “closed in” or “less modernized” African groups, the lack of material commodi-ties e.g. cookers etc., deem them as poor. But then, I wonder whether leading an “alien” or different way of life necessarily translates into it being a poor way of livelihood.

Another common misconception of Africans’ state of poverty arises when a percentage of some African coun-tries’ populations are classified as living “below one dollar or below the poverty line.” To cite an example, 38% of Ugan-dans were considered as living below the poverty line in

2002. But before I carefully examined the meaning of this term, I always mourned for this dire situation of Ugandans. But, learning to contextualize the meaning of the statistical data has helped me to better understand its implications, both as an academic and an African.

My high school economics teacher taught me that poverty means an economic condition of someone in relation to other people living in close proximity. Therefore, the saying that a Ugandan is poor is only in relation to another Ugandan--who lives in the same area--and not to citizens of other coun-tries. In the same vein, living below the poverty line is only in relation to the standard of living in that particular country. To understand the implications of living below one dollar is only in relation to the standard of living in that same country.

One in three Ugandans (37% of the 24 million na-tional population) live below the poverty line i.e. on one dollar per day, but 9 in every 10 Ugandans (85% of the population) live in rural areas. Hence, the implications of this finding, may be far exaggerated than they ought to be. Moreover, the offi-cial definition of “the proportion of a population living under a dollar per day”-- the percentage of the population living on less than $1.08 a day at 1993 international prices -- is also laden with flaws, and hence problematic to comparative analy-sis. While one dollar in the U.S. is hardly worth any substan-tial basic need, in rural Uganda it is more than is imaginable. With food being covered from agricultural produce, one dollar can well be used to purchase most necessities of daily life. From my experience, the one dollar can cover expenses in-cluding paraffin for light, soap for washing and cleaning up, sugar and salt, a book for school etc., even leaving some sav-ings for another day. In this situation, the need for larger amounts, for example $50, by a rural Ugandan, is for the pur-pose of increasing their disposable income, than for actually covering pressing basic needs. Only when western standards of living are being used to determine the fate of Africans does it seem as though living below $1 is a near to death situation.

The words poor and poverty are modernizing con-cepts. Not that I am against modernization. It’s merely that in this era of global integration, some terminology is being used to carelessly and destructively portray the worthy, and close to extinct traditional lifestyle of other people. It is therefore imperative that we understand in-depth, the socio-economic and political contexts of different groups of people as we ex-plore innovative means of interacting with them. 1 http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35690 2 http://allafrica.com/stories/200411081058.html

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Page 7 Volume XXVI, Issue 3

AFRICA

Page 8 SPECTRUM

quantity of field and carpentry tools, which indicated that he must have hired men for field work and building assign-ments. In addition, he owned an appre-ciable quantity of livestock, poultry, and hogs. In 1784, DuSable brought his wife and children to Chicago. And, as Du-Sable was a devout Catholic, he and Catherine were properly married by a Catholic priest. In 1796, their grand-daughter became the first child born in the city of Chicago. As the history of DuSable unfolds, it leaves all history scholars puzzled by his sudden depar-ture from such a prosperous environ-ment. On May 7, 1800, the "father" of Chicago sold his entire wealth for a mere $1,200 and left the area. In 1818, he died almost penniless, and was buried in a Catholic cemetery in St. Charles, Missouri. From: http://www.toptags.com/aama/bio/men/dusable.htm

Ida Lewis: Famous Black Fe-male Lighthouse Keeper Idawalley Zorada Lewis was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1842. Her father, Captain Hosea Lewis, became the first time keeper of nearby Lime Rock beacon on a tiny island a third of a mile from the shore of Newport. After being stricken by a disabling stroke, Ida had to take over for her father and run the lighthouse.

By Cindy Lys ‘07

Audre Lorde Famous Quotes: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

"Your Silence Will Not Protect You..." "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house."

"Without community, there is no liberation." The African American poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992) wrote poetry ex-ploring the relationships between lovers, children and parents, and friends in both a very personal and a socially relevant manner. She was a feminist poet who challenged racial and sexual stereotypes. Audre Lorde was born in Harlem on February 18, 1934, to West Indian im-migrants Frederick Byron and Linda Belmar Lorde. She was an introverted child who did not speak until she was five years old. When she began to com-municate, she answered questions with poetry that she had memorized. The limitations of her poetic store forced her at 12 or 13 to compose her own verse. From: http://www.bookrags.com/biography/audre-lorde/

Jean-Baptiste Point DuSable DuSable was a famous frontier trader, fur trapper, farmer, businessman and the "authenticated father of the nation’s second largest city - Chicago" Historical records do not agree as to the origin of this great man. However, tradition insists that DuSable was born a free Black, about 1745, in St. Marc, Saint Dominque (Haiti). He was the son of a French mariner and an African-born slave mother. His father took him to France to be educated, and afterwards, he worked as a seaman on his father’s ships. He was a powerfully built man, well educated and cultured. He had a love for European art and at one time owned twenty-three old world art

treasures. He spoke French, English, Spanish, and several Indian dialects. At the age of 20, DuSable was injured on a voyage to New Orleans. Upon reaching the shores of New Orleans, he learned that the Spanish government had taken over. The French Jesuits, a Catholic or-der, protected DuSable from being en-slaved until he was well enough to make his way up the Mississippi River. He later settled in Peoria, Illinois. In the early 1770s, DuSable built a cabin and eventually owned more than 800 acres of land in Peoria. He enjoyed a special relationship with Illinois terri-torial Indians. He took a Potawatomi Indian, Catherine, as his common-law wife and fathered a daughter, Susanne, and a son, Jean. Some years later, he left Peoria and made his way north until he reached the Great Lakes area. The promise of greatness of the "Chigago" area, an which DuSable decided to set-tle, had been passed over by others be-fore him. None had the foresight to look beyond its barren, damp, marshy condition, no did they have the fortitude to make "nothing" into one of the great-est locations in the western hemisphere. In 1779, starting from scratch, Du-Sable built the first permanent home on the north bank of the Chicago River, where the present-day Tribune Tower stands. It was a well-constructed house consisting of five rooms and equipped with all the modern conveniences of the times. Later, despite the disadvantages, DuSable established a thriving trading post and in short time, became well-known as far away as Wisconsin and Detroit. The trading post consisted of a mill, bake house, dairy, smokehouse, workshop, poultry house, horse stable, barn and several other smaller buildings. His post was the main supply station for White trappers, traders, woodsmen, and the Indians. The Chicago portage boomed. It became the key route for merchant trading, and DuSable sent wheat, breads, meats and furs to trading posts in Detroit and Canada. DuSable became a man of considerable wealth and means. He also owned a substantial

The Spirit of Our African American Ancestors

FEBRUARY IS

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

American historian “dude” is disrespect-ful and devalues the significance of his life and work. Moreover, intentional or not, it trivializes the MLK holiday and the Black Freedom Movement. Obvi-ously, “dude” is not an inherently de-rogatory term, but neither is “boy” unless a white person directs it at an adult African American man. The his-tory and contemporary contours of race relations in the U.S. infuses our vocabu-lary with all sorts of conscious and un-conscious meanings and minefields. Having spoken with Nora, I believe this was an honest mistake and that she is sincerely apologetic. If we are to “turn poison into medicine” it will require that we push ourselves to be empathetic and forgiving. This will, in turn, require that all of us resist defensiveness, prejudice, and dismissal as we work to understand how and why race, ethnicity, and lan-guage have the power divide and disfig-ure us.

transform American racism into a vehi-cle for the expansion of democracy in the United States. “Poison”, like “racism” and “racist” are powerful words that often lead us to recoil. Al-though not necessarily a “racist” head-line, the title might be conceptualized as a toxin in terms of its negative and hurt-ful impact on members of our commu-nity and race relations on campus. Read through the lens of an African American, calling our office’s MLK speaker —“dude”—fits in with a histori-cal pattern of the deployment of lan-guage to dehumanize and denigrate Afri-can Americans. We have been called far worse than “dude”. “Coon”, “jezebel”, “nigger”, and even “boy” were part of the lexicon of a racist ideology designed to rationalize slavery, super-exploitation, second-class citizenship, and violence against African Americans. Nonetheless, calling a very prominent

By Andrew Williams, Director

“It is when we are in dialogue that we are most human” -Hannah Arendt

Last week the Carletonian ran a front page headline that read: “Convo fea-tures MLK speaker dude.” Since that time, Editor-in-Chief Nora Martin has issued an apology, received over 100 emails, and held a discussion with me. We had a very beneficial conversation which left us with a better understand-ing of the confusion, pain, and anger that was triggered by this headline. Perhaps our conversation and the larger campus discussion can be an example of what Professor Vincent Harding called in his convocation address, “turning poison into medicine.” Dr. Harding used this phrase to describe Dr. King’s capacity to

Page 9 Volume XXVI, Issue 3

Turning Poison Into Medicine

News Commentaries: Africa fected). While I hesitate to comment on the nature of people’s reactions and motivations I can’t help but to question the source of the new fervor. It seems that a possible source of the sudden mobilization of the masses (who usually could care less) is the Media. More spe-cifically the way in which the public was bombarded with pictures, newspaper headlines, special updates, statistics, and the like about the tsunami and its devas-tation constantly day and night. As for the millions affected in Sudan, Carleton College has decided to apply the bubble effect. Students have not mobilized to truly discuss the crisis in Sudan. Nor have we sponsored a panel discussion. We have not had a fund-raiser; and we have not devoted a week of the term to raise awareness of the Darfur situation, and its victims in Sub-Saharan Africa.

drinking water, or immunization hun-dreds of thousands of children fall victim to cholera, malaria, starvation, and dehy-dration. Many have identified the conflict for what it is: ethnic cleansing. On the basis of International Law, crimes against humanity such as those occurring in the Sudan should be prosecuted. Unfortunately, other than a few blips on the television screen; the crisis in Sudan has received little media atten-tion. In fact, Africa as a continent re-ceives very limited coverage in the main-stream media. Because of the relation-ship between media coverage of a situa-tion and the mobilization of humanitar-ian assistance, I am concerned that the ethnic cleansing and related suffering in Sudan will continue. The tsunami hit. Activism, sympathy, and empathy sky -rocketed. Churches, schools and governments around the world mobilized to aid those affected, (there has been little to no mention of the eastern coast of Africa being af-

By Khullani Abdullahi ‘06 ‘We cannot have peace of mind if we do

not know what happened to our husbands and brothers’, exclaimed the wife of a man who “disappeared” in Sudan to Amnesty

International.

Sudan: Conservative estimates suggest that at least 150,000 men, women, and chil-dren have died in the most recent wave of ethnic repression in the Darfur re-gion of Sudan. As well, more than a million people have been internally dis-placed peoples in and another 250,000 refugees who have gone over the east-ern border into Chad. The most recent crisis has lasted for 17 months. After 20 years civil war there have been more than 2,000,000 deaths. In addition within the last two decades there have also been 6,000,000 who have lost their homes. Countless numbers of women and children have also experienced hor-rific atrocities such as enslavement, mu-tilation, and rape. Without shelter, safe

JUST

Thisdistantconnectedness I’m wide open and its you the one to gain all access To every sacred entrance

Caress all my hidden secrets and progress in all destined directions

Listen dude, I’m saying Won’t you embrace this loyalty and affection?

See, I will be your balance that conquers all cruelty in this stress filled life

and I will never lose focus on my passion So for every wrong committed

I will write/right The lyrics to a life lived in unity As a compliment long awaited

Won’t you come build with me?

Survival is just a way to cope and I want you to come solve with me

Rotate and revolve with me Similar to our galaxy

The places you and I could go as “we”

This unconditional Trust unequivocal

Truth Peace

amazing vibe at a higher spiritual

I just want to be your Breathe deeper

you come home to Anything that you ask of me

please believe I got you All I ask is that you don’t hold back

the path I walked was the only way I’d find you It created the woman I am now

standing here before you

Asking you To embrace

Thisdistantconnectedness

I’m wide open I’m just

Hoping that you say yes

~ Liza Lakes

By Khullani Abdullahi ‘06 Last Saturday, members of the Live Poets Society performed at the Cave for a large and diverse audience. The group of spoken word artists is based in Atlanta, and was created in the summer of 2000 by Derrick “Abyss” Graham. It consists of an assortment of artists who have performed at venues across the nation, including HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Laffalapooza. Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with the Live Poets Society: Abyss, Liza Lakes, Spinxx, Sugar Johnson, and Ed Garnes. This eclectic group of funny, spiritual, intelligent, socially aware, con-templative, loud and quiet artists are among the most intriguing people I have ever met. I came to see them not just as poets but also as social critics and catalysts for social change. The open mic kicked off with Carleton College students at 7:30. The highlight of the session was a flow from street lyricist Corey Stewart. I was es-pecially struck by a line in Stewart’s Armageddon , “…The three stooges are black now, talking about Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell…” Though I had spent a part of the day with the mem-bers of the Live Poets Society, the power of these spo-ken word artists was truly revealed when they stepped into their domain; the performance arena. Here they created an underground-like space filled with humor, poetry, song, and political satire. The night ended with poets and audience swaying , freestyling, and singing a piece entitled, “If These Blocks Could Talk.” I think it is fair to say that on this Saturday evening Carleton Col-lege’s Cave was a space of freedom where all partici-pants got a taste of libratory art and culture.

Live Poets Society Hits Carleton

Page 10 SPECTRUM

Get a J.O.B. ?

Multicultural Program Assistants (10 hours a week): Multicultural Program Assistants (MPAs) help to advance the philosophy and mission of the Office of Multicultural Af-fairs. MPAs serve as office assistants, as resources to the multicultural student community and liaisons to student or-ganizations. MPAs also live and work in Stimson House, the Multicultural Center, promoting its use through programs and events while also creating and maintaining an open and accessible environment. More specifically, MPAs help:

• Research diversity-related topics for all programs and events

• Coordinate and facilitate chili night discussions • Assist the office staff and student groups in promotion

and execution of events and programs

• Write articles for the monthly newsletter, Spectrum

• And much, much MORE!

Applications are available in the Multicultural Affairs Office or online at: http://webapps.acs.carleton.edu/campus/multicultural/mpas/

Multicultural Peer Leaders (10 hours a week): The mission of the Multicultural Peer Leaders (MPL) pro-gram is to enhance the retention of minority students by serving as a mentor and acting as a liaison with the academic, social, and cultural support mechanisms available at Carleton College and within the Northfield Community. MPLs focus on three major areas of student life: Academic Achievement, Health and Wellness, and Student Develop-ment. The goal of the program is to connect first-year stu-dents to every aspect of the Carleton experience. Students applying should express a desire to help first-year students with the transition to life at Carleton. This requires students to demonstrate a personal interest in each one of their advisees, while also consulting with students frequently and introducing them to departments and re-sources that may be valuable and necessary.

Applications are available in the Multicultural Affairs Office or online at: http://webapps.acs.carleton.edu/campus/multicultural/connections/mpl_info/

WANTED: 2005-06 MPAs and MPLs

Summer Internships

Breakthrough St. Paul

(June 13-August 12)

BSP is looking for a diverse group of tal-ented students to teach in an innovative academic summer program for high-potential low-income middle school stu-dents in St. Paul. Participants receive training and classroom teaching experi-ence and a stipend of $1,000-$2,000 for two months of full time work. The pro-gram has been rated by “The Princeton Review” as one of the top ten college internships in the nation. Application deadline: Feb. 21, 2005.

Application and more information are available at:

www.breakthroughcollaborative.org

Page 11 Volume XXVI, Issue 3

National Urban Fellowship

National Urban Fellows, Inc. is accepting ap-plications for the National Urban Fellows-Class of 2006, fellowship award. NUF is a premier graduate degree fellowship that provides a unique learning experience over 14 months. NUF encompasses 2 semesters of academic course work, a 9-month mentorship with a senior administrator in a govt. agency or non-profit organization, and a 1-week academic mid-year conference. The fellowship is con-ducted in partnership with Baruch College School of Public Affairs/CUNY. The first summer semester begins June 2005. Fellows receive a $25,000 stipend, tuition waiver, book allowance, and moving allowance. Deadline, February 28, 2005

http://www.nuf.org

Admission Possible AmeriCorps & VISTA Positions Available!

Admission Possible is now hiring for more than 20 full-time positions next fall. Admis-sion Possible is a nonprofit dedicated to helping low-income young people in the Twin Cities gain admission to college. These positions such as: School Program Associate, Alumni Associate, and Commu-nications Associate are ideal for recent college graduates who are filled with energy and idealism. Admission Possible provides such people with an opportunity to change the world one student at a time. Complete job descriptions and application instructions are available at:

http://AdmissionPossible.org

Shout out to Trieuberry, the best co-chair ever, I'm gonna miss you in the spring! -Jenny D

Shout out to the MCA Office! Thank you for getting me through with the wonderful coffee! -Eunice

Shout out to Laura Chihara who gener-ously helped me network and make connections for my research. Many, many thanks! -Amy

Shout out to my Orgo. buddies (ya’ll know who ya’ll are) lets stick together and never get caught up in the hype. We can do anything together. –Love

Shout out to the snack bar staff! You are MAHvelous! Thanks for the smiles, words of encouragement, and general positive warm fuzzy energy! -A Fre-quent Customer

Shout out to Cory for ripping it up at the Cave open Mic! -Andrew

Spectrum and new community photos avail-able on our website. http://webapps.acs.carleton.edu/campus/multicultural/news

Shout out to MY papi chulo, ("err err! err err!") Thank you for teaching me how to open up my heart. You're beautiful. I'm so lucky to have some-one who makes me feel like a queen.

-Heidi

Shout out to everyone working on Tsu-nami relief efforts!

Shout out to my sista Ketsia, and my homegirls Konadu, Caroline, and Ebun, and Katie J.! and Billy B. Thanks for being awesome friends, and for making college life sooo great! Love you guys!!! Remember... WBJs, What? What? What? I think I'm in the den! Lydie :)

Shout out to Eunice and Cindy for great introductions to Convocation speakers! -Andrew

Shout out to good Scrabble players everywhere!

SHOUT OUTS!!

Send us your Shout Outs! Interested in sending a shout out to someone?

Send shout outs to khakia@carleton.edu

Shout out and “Grito Fuera” to Jessica for being accepted as an Amigos leader this summer. ¡Felicitaciones! -Molly

Shout out to the class of '08 for trying and failing to topple the crunkest class on campus!!! 0'07 for life and remember don't take it personal. We can't help being fly. :) -0’07

Shout out to IM, you tore it up at the MLK Service! -Andrew

Shout out to all the people who are feel-ing self-doubt and feeling as if things are too hard...classes or whatever. STOP SECOND GUESSING YOURSELF!!!!YOU CAN DO IT!! -Nakina

Office of Multicultural Affairs Ground Scoville Phone: ext. 4014

Volume XXVI: Edition 3

Multicultural Affairs Staff:

Andrew Williams

Paul Gaines

Kristen Askeland

Khullani Abdullahi

Eunice Ajambo

Ali Khaki

Cindy Lys

John Smith-Ricco

Carleton College Winter Term Events • Pre-Mid-Winter Ball Bash at Stimson House. Come hang out with MOC

and COWOC. Stimson will be decorated and will some light snacks and drinks to get the night off to a start.

• Black House Super Bowl Party - Super Bowl Sunday • “Audre Lorde: A Litany for Survival” film showing in LDC 104: Friday, Feb-

ruary 11 at 6:30 p.m. • Behind the Swoosh-Sweatshops & Social Justice in Olin 149: Tuesday, Feb-

ruary 15 at 8:00 p.m. • Chili Night: Wednesday, February 16 in Nourse Lounge at 5:00 p.m. • We Speak: Come and enjoy spoken word and other creative performances

related to the African American experience Saturday, February 19th at 7:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall.

• “Slippery When Wet” Play at the Penumbra Theatre on Friday, February 25. Vans leave Sayles at 6:30 p.m. Performance starts at 8 p.m. Reserve your ticket in the MCA Office-Scoville 9, x4014.

• Comic Relief Study Break at Stimson House: Come out and take a break from finals studying with good food and fun! Thursday, March 10 at 9:00 p.m.