Minority Group Distributes Flyer Charging Injustices

The Harvard-Radcliffe Black Students Association (BSA) distributed a flyer to all undergraduates yesterday charging that Blacks are "treated like second-class citizens" on campus.

The poster, titled "On the Harvard Plantation," condemned the "hostile environment" on campus and blamed the University Police, the Law School, Peninsula magazine and The Crimson for "injustices perpetuated against people of color."

"Whether we are being forced to show our IDs like slaves showing our manumission papers or we are being victimized by media lynchings, Black people are continually faced with the possibility and reality of dealing with some form of racial harassment," BSA wrote.

The poster listed specific complaints about allfour organizations, and urged concerned studentsto call or write University officials and TheCrimson, as well as parents and Harvard alumni.

"We are tired of constantly being attacked anddehumanized as a community and as a people. Ascompetent, intelligent human beings, and Harvardstudents, we demand to be treated with respect,"the flyer said.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said hereceived 14 calls from students and one call froma parent yesterday regarding the flyer.

"I learned things today that I didn't know ,"he said. "Black students live today with a fearand anxiety that is unacceptable in my opinion."

Epps said he will meet with his colleagues todiscuss a "new approach" to dealing with raceissues on campus, but would not provide furtherdetails.

Officials at Peninsula, the PoliceDepartment and The Crimson denied charged thatthey mistreat Blacks.

A Law School spokesperson declined to commenton the flyer because he had not seen it.

In interviews and letters to the organizations,BSA charged that:

. The Harvard Police regularly harasses andmistreats Black students merely because they areBlack. The BSA cited four specific incidents thismonth to support the claim.

. The Peninsula posted raciallyoffensive flyers advertising a symposium on sexualliberation and Black families [see relatedstory]. BSA said the College permits themagazine to "mask racism under the guise andprotection of free speech."

. The Crimson's news coverage exacerbatestensions among ethnic student groups, especiallybetween Blacks and Jews. BSA said the newspaperrelies on "secondary sources, manipulation ofquotations, propaganda flyers, and hearsay, tosupport its assertions against the BSA, itsactions, and its leaders."

. The Law School administration "denigratesminority student concerns." BSA condemned theschool's minority hiring record and its decisionto consider disciplinary action against ninestudents who staged a sit-in.

Zaheer R. Ali '94, vice president of BSA saidthe door drop was meant to educate the Harvardcommunity about "an increasingly anti-Blackclimate nurtured at this school."

He said the group will distribute anotherpacket of information today or tomorrow.

In a letter sent to Police Chief Paul E.Johnson, BSA called for the "immediate dismissal"of a House security guard who allegedly ignoredthe cries of two Black women "who were beingaccosted by five naked, white boys yellingsexually explicit comments." One of the studentswas then falsely accused of possessing a knife andfrisked, the flyer said.

The BSA also cited two recent incidents inwhich Black men were stopped by Harvard Police.

"This suggests an attitude that police can'tbelieve that Black students go here," Ali said.

Johnson declined to comment on the specificcases, but said the Harvard Police is sensitive toBlack students.

"There is no anti-Black sentiment that I see,"he said. "Most things are perceptions and we needto sit down and talk about them."

Johnson plans to meet with members of BSA andAssistant Dean for Race Relations and MinorityAffairs Hilda Hernandez-Gravelle next Thursday .

BSA also condemned the Peninsula forflyers" which advertised a lecture entitled "SpadeKicks: A Symposium on Modernity and the Negro as aParadigm of Sexual Liberation."

The poster pictured a Black woman stripping infront of a white audience.

At the request of College officialsPeninsula removed the flyers and replacedthem with posters without the picture and theoriginal title.

Former BSA President Mecca J. Nelson '92 calledthe poster "not only intellectually irresponsiblebut blatantly racist... nothing less then hatespeech."

Because the College lacks a hate speech policy,Peninsula is able to mask its racism underFirst Amendment rights, she said. "We do notbelieve that racist hate speech directed againstBlack students has merited equal consideration inmatters of this kind."

Christopher G. Vergonis '92, senior councilmember of Peninsula, said the magazine doesnot discriminate against Blacks.

"Mr. Ali's comments are ridiculous," he said."Our attitude towards Blacks is no different thanour attitude to all other individuals."

Vergonis said BSA misunderstood the flyer,saying the speakers are condemning the "writeliberals of the 1960s who portrayed Black as amodel of sexual liberation in order to advancetheir own political agenda."

"I wish they would approach things with a moreopen mind," he added.

Ali criticized The Crimson's news coverage aswell as full page staff editorial attackingHarvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter lastweek.

The flyer described Counter as "a long-standingfaculty member who has endlessly labored toimprove race relations," and said The Crimsonattacked him "after misconstruing his critique ofthe paper to be 'anti-Semitic' in a successfulcharacter assassination and a deflection of thefocus from real issue, The Crimson's irresponsiblereporting."

In letters to the Crimson, BSA questioned thepaper's journalistic ethics, characterized itscoverage of race relations as irresponsible, andsaid Crimson reporters selectively covercontroversial events and ask inflammatoryquestions.

Crimson President Julian E. Barnes '93 deniedthat the newspaper's coverage of BSA is biased.

Barnes said there "may have been some flaws" incoverage of minority affairs, but overall thenewspaper does a good job reporting on racerelations.

"The Crimson is not biased against any group,"he said. "We will continue our efforts to covermore minority affairs."

Barnes also emphasized the difference betweenthe editorial page and the news pages.

"The news is not slanted," he said. "And ourone editorial concerning the BSA criticized themfor inviting Jeffries--not because he is a racist,but because he is a racist, but because hethreatened one of our reporters."

Barnes said the problem lies in a lack ofcommunication between The Crimson and BSA ,and hehas taken steps to open discussion. Barnes metwith Ali for an hour on Wednesday.

"I hope the discourse ends up to be productive.It will be a positive step if all this leads toincreased communication."

The Crimson president also said the newspaperis making an effort to improve the diversity ofits staff

The poster listed specific complaints about allfour organizations, and urged concerned studentsto call or write University officials and TheCrimson, as well as parents and Harvard alumni.

"We are tired of constantly being attacked anddehumanized as a community and as a people. Ascompetent, intelligent human beings, and Harvardstudents, we demand to be treated with respect,"the flyer said.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said hereceived 14 calls from students and one call froma parent yesterday regarding the flyer.

"I learned things today that I didn't know ,"he said. "Black students live today with a fearand anxiety that is unacceptable in my opinion."

Epps said he will meet with his colleagues todiscuss a "new approach" to dealing with raceissues on campus, but would not provide furtherdetails.

Officials at Peninsula, the PoliceDepartment and The Crimson denied charged thatthey mistreat Blacks.

A Law School spokesperson declined to commenton the flyer because he had not seen it.

In interviews and letters to the organizations,BSA charged that:

. The Harvard Police regularly harasses andmistreats Black students merely because they areBlack. The BSA cited four specific incidents thismonth to support the claim.

. The Peninsula posted raciallyoffensive flyers advertising a symposium on sexualliberation and Black families [see relatedstory]. BSA said the College permits themagazine to "mask racism under the guise andprotection of free speech."

. The Crimson's news coverage exacerbatestensions among ethnic student groups, especiallybetween Blacks and Jews. BSA said the newspaperrelies on "secondary sources, manipulation ofquotations, propaganda flyers, and hearsay, tosupport its assertions against the BSA, itsactions, and its leaders."

. The Law School administration "denigratesminority student concerns." BSA condemned theschool's minority hiring record and its decisionto consider disciplinary action against ninestudents who staged a sit-in.

Zaheer R. Ali '94, vice president of BSA saidthe door drop was meant to educate the Harvardcommunity about "an increasingly anti-Blackclimate nurtured at this school."

He said the group will distribute anotherpacket of information today or tomorrow.

In a letter sent to Police Chief Paul E.Johnson, BSA called for the "immediate dismissal"of a House security guard who allegedly ignoredthe cries of two Black women "who were beingaccosted by five naked, white boys yellingsexually explicit comments." One of the studentswas then falsely accused of possessing a knife andfrisked, the flyer said.

The BSA also cited two recent incidents inwhich Black men were stopped by Harvard Police.

"This suggests an attitude that police can'tbelieve that Black students go here," Ali said.

Johnson declined to comment on the specificcases, but said the Harvard Police is sensitive toBlack students.

"There is no anti-Black sentiment that I see,"he said. "Most things are perceptions and we needto sit down and talk about them."

Johnson plans to meet with members of BSA andAssistant Dean for Race Relations and MinorityAffairs Hilda Hernandez-Gravelle next Thursday .

BSA also condemned the Peninsula forflyers" which advertised a lecture entitled "SpadeKicks: A Symposium on Modernity and the Negro as aParadigm of Sexual Liberation."

The poster pictured a Black woman stripping infront of a white audience.

At the request of College officialsPeninsula removed the flyers and replacedthem with posters without the picture and theoriginal title.

Former BSA President Mecca J. Nelson '92 calledthe poster "not only intellectually irresponsiblebut blatantly racist... nothing less then hatespeech."

Because the College lacks a hate speech policy,Peninsula is able to mask its racism underFirst Amendment rights, she said. "We do notbelieve that racist hate speech directed againstBlack students has merited equal consideration inmatters of this kind."

Christopher G. Vergonis '92, senior councilmember of Peninsula, said the magazine doesnot discriminate against Blacks.

"Mr. Ali's comments are ridiculous," he said."Our attitude towards Blacks is no different thanour attitude to all other individuals."

Vergonis said BSA misunderstood the flyer,saying the speakers are condemning the "writeliberals of the 1960s who portrayed Black as amodel of sexual liberation in order to advancetheir own political agenda."

"I wish they would approach things with a moreopen mind," he added.

Ali criticized The Crimson's news coverage aswell as full page staff editorial attackingHarvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter lastweek.

The flyer described Counter as "a long-standingfaculty member who has endlessly labored toimprove race relations," and said The Crimsonattacked him "after misconstruing his critique ofthe paper to be 'anti-Semitic' in a successfulcharacter assassination and a deflection of thefocus from real issue, The Crimson's irresponsiblereporting."

In letters to the Crimson, BSA questioned thepaper's journalistic ethics, characterized itscoverage of race relations as irresponsible, andsaid Crimson reporters selectively covercontroversial events and ask inflammatoryquestions.

Crimson President Julian E. Barnes '93 deniedthat the newspaper's coverage of BSA is biased.

Barnes said there "may have been some flaws" incoverage of minority affairs, but overall thenewspaper does a good job reporting on racerelations.

"The Crimson is not biased against any group,"he said. "We will continue our efforts to covermore minority affairs."

Barnes also emphasized the difference betweenthe editorial page and the news pages.

"The news is not slanted," he said. "And ourone editorial concerning the BSA criticized themfor inviting Jeffries--not because he is a racist,but because he is a racist, but because hethreatened one of our reporters."

Barnes said the problem lies in a lack ofcommunication between The Crimson and BSA ,and hehas taken steps to open discussion. Barnes metwith Ali for an hour on Wednesday.

"I hope the discourse ends up to be productive.It will be a positive step if all this leads toincreased communication."

The Crimson president also said the newspaperis making an effort to improve the diversity ofits staff