TECHNICIAN
thursday january
23 2014
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Professor lectures about SCLC, race Jake Moser News Editor
Despite the legal successes of the civil rights movement and the fact that there is now a national holiday named after Martin Luther King Jr., one of the movement’s most prominent organizers, we are still a long way from racial equality, said Associate Professor of English Dick Reavis in a lecture Wednesday night. In his speech, titled “200 Days in the Civil Rights Movement,” Reavis recounted his time as a 19-year-old, white southerner working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in southwest Alabama during the ‘60s. It was a dangerous time in the Deep South, Reavis said, discussing how his view of race was shaped by the perils he and other civil rights organizers commonly faced, which included murder, kidnapping, police brutality and a racist criminaljustice system.
“ If Dr. King were here today, he’d still be raising hell.” Dick Reavis, associate professor of English
Though Reavis said Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders are glorified by politicians and the media today, there is still a lot that they don’t tell us. “When we passed Civil Rights legislation, I thought white people would observe these laws and black people would get jobs,” Reavis said. However, after almost 50 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1965 passed, African Americans are still being discriminated against economically, Reavis said. “About one-third to one-half of black people still live in what we would call the ghetto in the ‘60s,” Reavis said. “When black people
came [to the U.S.], they did the lowest and the dirtiest jobs that many of them still do now. White people thought that black folk just wanted to be in the same restaurant as them and go to the same schools as them, but what they really wanted was to have the money to sit in these restaurants. They didn’t care who they were sitting with.” Reavis said part of this problem lies in how the Civil Rights Movement is viewed today, and how the activist agenda in the 1960’s has been misinterpreted. According to Reavis, the Civil Rights Movement is praised for its non-violent protests and message of peace, while King’s economic message is largely ignored. King was a socialist who believed economic parity was one of the major ways to eliminate racism and racial inequality, Reavis said. “People today don’t regard Dr.
RACE continued page 3
Former Gov. visits N.C. State to launch educational nonprofit Staff Report
Former N.C. governor Bev Perdue made a visit to N.C. State Wednesday to launch an education based nonprofit she co-founded with a fellow former governor Jim Geringer of Wyoming. Perdue and Geringer released details of their new initiative and partnership, The Digital Learning Institute, just hours before they met with supporters at N.C. State for a
insidetechnician
planning session. This is the former teacher’s first public stand on education since she left the governor’s office in 2012. The Digital Learning Center is an education initiative dedicated to spreading the benefits of electronic technology in education. Perdue told WRAL, “You know there’s some student on N.C. State’s campus right now who is on the computer figuring out the latest app.”
Social Work Department holds career, volunteer fair Brittany Bynum Staff Writer
Insect cyborgs could save your life Page 5
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“The digital world is bringing us profound and rapid changes and it is revolutionizing education and the way we live,” Perdue said in her statement just before The Digital Learning Center launched. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have already pledged almost $500,000 to Perdue, according to WRAL.
Helping the world can be an overwhelming task, but the Social Work Department placed opportunities in the hands of students by hosting its Social Work Volunteer/Career Fair. The Social Work Department holds the fair every semester. A total of 32 organizations participated in the event from N.C. State, Raleigh and the Triangle Area, most of them offering students volunteer opportunities, along with a few internships. The Volunteer Fair hosted groups representing Wake County, Farm Workers Justice Association, Small Miracle, which helps with Autism patients, the YMCA, Feed the Pack and Green Chair Project, which helps the homeless transition into new homes. Students from all majors were welcome to attend, including those from other schools. Kathy Osborne, baccalaureate student social work
“I was able to see what the job entailed on a daily basis. I also learned that I didn’t want to go into clinical counseling.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN ROBERTS
Talley construction workers gather at worksite near Cates Avenue after an accident injured three people. All three injured workers were taken to WakeMed. No students were injured in the accident.
Three workers injured in Talley contruction accident Staff Report
A construction accident at Talley Student Center caused three construction workers to suffer injuries Wednesday afternoon. A campus spokesman told WRAL that none of the men suffered life-threatening injuries. Mick Kulikowski, N.C. State’s Assistant Director for News and National Media Coordinator, told The News & Observer that one of the men reported a head injury, another reported a foot injury and one reported back and neck pain. All three men were taken to WakeMed in Raleigh for treatment, according to a
University spokesman. The men were working on the Cates Avenue side of Talley in a fenced-off area when the accident occurred at about 3:15 p.m. As the workers raised a steel beam, the platform they were standing on tilted, causing them to fall 8 feet, according to the WRAL report. As of press time, Ron Cohn, vice president of Rodgers Builders, the building contractor for Talley Student Center who had been taking all press inquiries about the accident, had not responded. No students were injured in the accident.
PAGE 8: MEN’S BASKETBALL COMMENTARY
Araca Wadsworth, sophomore in social work
field director, said students from North Carolina Central University and Meredith College showed interested in attending the fair. The volunteer fair is held to help students majoring in social work meet their required volunteer hours. According to Osborne, social work majors take three courses that require 40 hours of volunteer work.
CAREER continued page 2
JOHN JOYNER/TECHNICIAN
Redshirt junior guard Ralston Turner stops a ball from going out of bounds during the game against Maryland in PNC Arena Monday.
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