Posted on 01/02/2002 12:23:09 PM PST by Helms
UNC Chairman: Blacks Have Known Terrorism for Years
POSTED: 10:26 a.m. EST January 2, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Black Americans have known terrorism for hundreds of years, and few people have cared about their suffering, the chairman of the UNC Board of Governors said.
In a fiery speech at the annual Freedom Day celebration Tuesday at First Baptist Church, Ben Ruffin pointed out that blacks have long been the victims of bombings, lynchings and other acts of terror.
"But when that happened to us, we didn't have a national day of mourning," he pointed out in remarks that were frequently punctuated by shouts of "Amen". "We didn't have all America wanting to help us out."
Concern about what happened Sept. 11, Ruffin said, should not erase the memory of what has happened to blacks for centuries and continues to happen.
"I'm concerned about Sept. 11," Ruffin said. "I love America. I detest what happened in New York and Washington. But if you've been up on the wall with black folks, you've already seen terrorism."
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks formed a backdrop for Ruffin's speech as well as remarks by other speakers at the event sponsored by the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Vicinity Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. The alliance holds the celebration every New Year's Day at the church to remember the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Lincoln signed Jan. 1, 1863.
Even 140 years after the signing, Ruffin said, blacks in America still are not completely free.
"It is harder to stay free than it is sometimes to get free," Ruffin said. Blacks cannot be fully free, he said, "when we represent 12 percent of the population, but 50 percent of the prison inmates."
Even so, he said, "We still love America, despite the fact that America doesn't always love us. We still support this country, even when this country did not support us. We've loved this country, stayed with this country. Now is the time for this country to stay with us."
Ruffin acknowledged some progress has been made, pointing out that 40 members of Congress and 25 members of the state Legislature are black.
"They put us in jail, but they couldn't keep us in," Ruffin said to shouts from the congregation. "They couldn't kill the dream."
Blacks in the United States must take responsibility for their full freedom, he said.
"Nobody will save us but us," Ruffin said, as he implored his listeners to use their power of the pocketbook and the power of the ballot box. "People will never respect us until we respect ourselves."
Ruffin elicited perhaps the loudest reaction from his audience when he emphasized the importance of doing well in school.
"There's nothing wrong with getting As and Bs," he said. "But there is something wrong with (going to school) and dropping your britches down so far."
Ruffin leads the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, which oversees the UNC system's 16 campuses.
Too bad, it used to be a good school.
Seems to me he should be concerned about the relationship between the percentage of crimes committed and the percentage of the prison imates rather than the percentage of general population and percentage of prison inmates.
Well, what do you expect when you commit 60% of the crimes.
Me too. We must send money somewhere immediately!
FOR RELEASE AT WILL
LOCAL INTEREST: WINSTON-SALEM, ASHEVILLE, MANTEO
CHAPEL HILL -- Winston-Salem businessman Benjamin S. Ruffin was today (July 14) elected to a second two-year term as chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, the policy-making body of the 16-campus University of North Carolina. Also during the meeting, Biltmore Forest businessman John "Jack" F.A.V. Cecil was elected to a second term as vice chairman, and Manteo attorney G. Irvin Aldridge was elected secretary.
President of the Ruffin Group in Winston-Salem, Ruffin joined the Board of Governors in 1991. Before being tapped as board chairman in 1998, he completed a two-year term as vice chairman. A former two-term vice chairman of the board’s Committee on Business and Finance, Ruffin also has served on numerous ad hoc committees. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, Ruffin holds a master’s degree in social work from UNC-Chapel Hill and five honorary doctorates. A retired vice president for corporate affairs for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and a former special assistant to Gov. Jim Hunt, he chairs the corporate round table of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, serves as vice president of the board for Mechanics and Farmers Bank, and sits on the steering committee of the Winston-Salem United Way Campaign...
No.....just the vast majority....
And you keep disappointing them.
Hey, Ruffin, you rabble rousing jerk! Try this for a rewrite:
"People will never respect us until we act respectably ourselves."
And to think that was my first choice of colleges.
Then my father told me where I was going. If I were an alumnus, I would shred my diploma and send the pieces to Chapel Hill.
Isn't it amazing that the chairman of a nationally recognized university can make such claims and not one peep from anyone hardly.
The left from the 60s surely triumphed in academia.
Can you provide a source for this statistic? Just curious...
Anyone have connections there? I will be happy to do the mailings.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.