The Nigger Factory (14 page)

20

Self-help Programs

‘Mrs Stoneman sez she'll do what she can,’ Earl spat out mockingly. He pushed the telephone to the far corner of the scarred desk.

‘How hip!’ Odds offered. ‘I could tell from yo’ expression an’ the things you were sayin’ that you wudn’ gettin’ too far.’

‘Jus’ what did she say?’ Lawman asked.

‘Shit! Yo’ guess is as good as mine,’ Earl admitted, lighting a cigarette. ‘She wuz a pure politician. “We'll have ta investigate this thoroughly,” an “Why wudn’ it be wize fo’ me to call
Brother
Calhoun if I'm to get to the heart of the matter?” . . .
Brother
Calhoun! Can you dig that shit? I'd sooner call Lester Maddox a damn brother.’

‘Jus’ shows that it don’ take much to qualify in some circles,’ Odds sighed.

‘Well,
Sister
Stoneman got a long way to go,’ Earl confided.

The wheels were turning inside Lawman's head. He had not thought it to be a good idea to call the present Head Trustee, but he hadn't been able to suggest anything better. Now, with time slipping through their fingers and one trump card already nullified, it was apparent that another course of action had to be taken.

‘You gonna have ta see Calhoun one a these days,’ Earl was reminded.

‘I think I'm gonna have ta do mo’ ‘bout seein’ that it ain't today,’ the SGA leader laughed.

‘What can he do to you?’ Odds asked. ‘Crucify you?’

‘It's not a matter of that,’ Earl said. ‘I just would rather have him make a move now. The lines are drawn.’

‘But you ain’ entirely satisfied wit’ the lines that have been
drawn,’ Odds supplied. ‘You think that by lettin’ that phone ring and ring you turnin’ the fire up under Calhoun?’

‘Not necessarily. But if I go to see him an’ try to bail out, all I can do iz cause further division among the student body. The question wuz put to them in the auditorium an’ they made their decisions.’

‘An’ you got up there an’ agreed,’ Lawman said wearily.

‘That wuz the right move!’ Earl exclaimed. ‘It's time to do
something
!
Shit! You know that as well as I do. Sutton people have sat an’ waited an’ sat an’ waited until every drop of blood in their bodies has gathered in the asses. Jus’ like Black people everywhere. We waited long enough.’

‘But whenever you decide to move agains’ the man you gotta be prepared.’

‘I can't say how prepared MJUMBE wuz. All I've been doin’ for the past month is gettin’ ready to try an’ organize somethin’ along the same lines. Che said nobody would be ready when the revolution came. I wasn't ready, but I wasn't gonna try an’ stop people from standin’ on their feet jus’ because Earl Thomas wasn't at the head a the damn thing . . . thass the problem! Too many chiefs an’ no fuckin’ Indians!’

‘So now Calhoun's on the spot?’ Odds asked.

‘I din’ say that. I said it was his move.’

‘An’ what if he moves on you an’ MJUMBE an’ goes through his “My way or the highway” routine?’

‘Then we'll find out jus’ how committed people were to all that shoutin’ they were doin’ over in the auditorium. If people are committed there won’ be no leavin’ campus for one group without the others. What I don’ need to do is show any signs of weakness. That's what I would be doin’ if I got into any extended dialogue with the man. He knows what we want. He knows how to stop the strike.’

‘He knows several ways to stop it,’ Lawman interjected.

‘I wonder how I can rationalize my sudden arrival at home,’ Odds said to no one in particular.

‘The eternal optimist,’ Lawman commented drily.

‘Look for the silver lining, my mama said.’

Earl wasn't particularly concerned about the reactions that his mother and grandmother would have. There was no question about how disappointed they would be. They had been disappointed when he decided not to go back to Southern University in Baton Rouge. They had known that he would lose credit and spend more money to attend the Virginia university, but they had said very little. They took pride in watching the man of the Thomas family making his own decisions and doing what he thought was best. And if he was sent home from school, after the inevitable questions, they would still be proud of him.

Earl was berating himself for being so thoroughly unprepared. To him the politics of the university were as complicated as national and international politics. In order to organize a campus one first had to organize the organizations: the fraternities, sororities, clubs, classes, and foreign students. One had to appeal to the best interests of all cliques and still apply himself to the whole picture of campus improvement. Money was a problem. Most of the things that were needed simply could not be handled by a small, predominantly black school's endowment. Funds were not available to attract the best professors. The rush was on for Black professors with the proper qualifications and the great cry for Black instructors was falling on deaf ears because Black teachers were being lured away from their communities by the smell of fresh greenbacks. As for equipment, it was the same story. Sutton was capable of doing but so much. You had to spend the money for the purposes it was donated. The money was being donated so that you would name a building after your great (white) benefactor. It was not there to purchase a 16 millimeter camera or film for photographic experimentation. It was not for badly needed instruments or uniforms for the marching band. It was not meant for buying a new bus for the teams to travel in. It was not for a new burner in the cafeteria. It was for a new gymnasium or dormitory which gave Sutton the capacity to
expand in one direction, but not the ability to facilitate the present enrollment in other areas.

The job of distributing the student activities and organization funds fell to the Student Government. Organizations submitted a budget for the following year in May. It was the first order of business for the new SGA president. Earl arrived in office just in time to discover that a congressional filibuster was holding up appropriations of institutional funds and that at best he would have to make appropriations in September. Enter September and less funds for student activities than in the previous eight years when the institution was three-quarters its present size. There was a great deal of grumbling: ‘How do you expect us to present a program on this much money?’ The noises came from everywhere. The Homecoming Committee was up in arms. The Greek organizations were furious. The object of their anger was not the U.S. Congress, however, but Earl Thomas. The women were outraged. Proportionately the women on Sutton's campus outnumbered the men almost two-to-one, but the Women's Association budget only allowed them half the money they requested after Earl's budget cut. The president of the Women's Association had vowed even after Earl's explanation that though he was eligible for another year as SGA leader, he would not receive the support of her organization as he had during his first campaign.

Earl was recalling the campaign and all of the preparation he had gone through to get elected. He wondered now why winning the election had been so important to him. All he had gained from his victory was a series of migraine headaches. He didn't know now if he had been unprepared for the true responsibility his position required, or if he had never really stopped to consider how many moves it would be necessary for him to make once he had gotten background and prepared his statement for Calhoun.

The paper that he had given the university president was a list of essentially the same things he himself had listed
as priorities, plus a few points that he had not deemed as important. Thus, he was politically clear on the issues. The issues were vital. Somehow at that moment he was feeling naïve because he had no plan. Had he expected Ogden Calhoun to drop dead at the sight of the demands? Of course not. Had he expected the president to agree with him if he also submitted a supplementary document to prove that he had done his political homework? Another no. Then why was he totally unprepared to do anything at this moment while his political followers sat around their dorms waiting for words of wisdom?

He decided that the answer lay in his political idealism. He had long ago silently decided that when the people in charge of the system were given proof positive of the negative effects that the system was having, they would move for change. The U.S. Government had wrecked his national ideal, but he had never thought of Ogden Calhoun in terms of analogies with the U.S.A. Maybe that was another oversight. What did they always say in political science? ‘It doesn't boil down to a question of race. It boils down to
haves
and
have nots.
’ Earl was a have not and Calhoun was a have. All of the recommendations meant extra work and extra effort on Calhoun's part. Therefore the students weren't getting anything for the asking. They were placed in a position where they had to take what they wanted. But how long could they enforce any position like that? There would definitely be a confrontation in Calhoun's back yard, so to speak. Using the proper channels was just another way of trying to beat a man at his own game.

T blew this one,’ Earl muttered aloud.

‘Not yet,’ Lawman hedged. He took a quick glance out of the side window. ‘We were not truly prepared, I admit. I don’ know how many times we'd have to say that before I'd figure I realized it. But we're still in a better position than we could be.’

‘Howzat?’ Odds asked.

‘We could be by ourselves,’ Lawman pointed out. ‘If we had
waited until Earl got alla them surveys together an’ all that other information, we could've gone to Calhoun an’ been flat on our asses. Doubtlessly, since the students knew what we were workin’ on, there would have been no need to approach them before we made our first appeal. Then when we received a flat no and went back to get the students, Calhoun would've been over-ready for us.’

‘An’ we would've gotten another no,’ Odds said solemnly.

‘But at least this is not an indefensible position,’ Lawman went on. ‘We've made an offensive move so we can afford to retreat. There could be no retreat if our backs were up against the wall.’

‘Exploratory surgery,’ Odds said.

‘What?’

‘Takin’ a look to see how sick somebody is. You cut into the patient and peep aroun’. If there's anything wrong you try to isolate it.’

‘Isolate it?’ Earl asked. ‘Isolate it!’ The second time he repeated the phrase it was as though he had come across a new meaning for the two words. ‘Odds, my man. I think yo’ pointless conversation might've had a point anyway.’

Odds put his index finger to his temple and pulled the trigger, indicating to Lawman that he thought Earl was insane.

‘Suppose we call a faculty meeting without Calhoun,’ Earl suggested, barely concealing his excitement. ‘And try an’ put a wedge between our Head Nigger and his hirelings?’

‘What can we base the meeting on?’ Lawman asked. He too thought that Earl might have a point.

‘We can say that we're ready to publicize our position nationally an’ wouldn’ want to say that we were striking against the faculty an’ administration if we were only striking against the administration. We can say that all we want to know is where they stand.’

‘I know right away we can pull a few faculty members,’ Odds said. ‘We can get McNeil an’ Coach Mallory an’ . . .’

‘It's not important how many we get,’ Earl said. ‘All we want
the faculty members to say is that they don't share Calhoun's viewpoint. Once they say that we ask them to strike with us or hand us an alternative position.’

‘Naturally they'll give us an alternative that has something to do wit’ formin’ committees an’ shit like that.’

‘Fine!’ Earl said. ‘That then will become our safety valve. We wait until Calhoun goes through his thing about acting to keep from being intimidated or threatened an’ we call this meetin’ to his attention.’

‘An’ then what?’ Odds asked, still not fully understanding.

‘An’ then
we
decide who'll be on the committees. Don't you see? The faculty pulls away from Calhoun. Calhoun can't dictate who goes on our committees. The committees are split evenly between the students an’ faculty an’ all we need is one faculty member who agrees with us to throw every decision our way . . . Then if this committee finds the student view to be correct, Calhoun has no alternative but to abide by it.’

‘When do we start?’ Lawman asked, catching Earl's enthusiasm.

‘Right now,’ Earl said. ‘We put notices in the faculty boxes and wait.’

21

Reactor

While the three men in the Student Government office prepared notification of the
Faculty Only
meeting for the next morning, Ogden Calhoun was not inactive. He had eaten a sandwich for lunch in his office, assured his bumbling second-in-command that no sudden moves would be made without him, talked briefly over the phone to a seemingly inebriated Gaines Harper, and now faced a neurotic Victor Johnson, editor-in-chief of
The Sutton Statesman.

‘You got my message, sir?’ Johnson asked without looking up.

‘I got it,’ Calhoun agreed noncommittally. ‘I don't necessarily swallow it, but I got it.’

‘You were unavailable for . . .’

‘I know what you said,’ Calhoun said, trying to light his pipe. ‘But you place yourself in a very dangerous position when you do things like this issue.’ Calhoun raised a copy of the day's
Statesman.
’All right. You have the position, and I gave you the authority to print specials, but you have to do this sort of thing with a discriminating eye. Especially when you're playing politics . . . from the role of pure objectivism you become a participant by reporting a slanted story.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Johnson swallowed.

‘What can be done is this,’ Calhoun suggested. ‘Take a copy of the demands, a copy of my reply, which you can get from Miss Felch, and a copy of this interview. Go to press again tonight. I want the usual number available for the student body and copies sent to the alumni an’ trustees. Plus all the major newspapers. Is that clear?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘I assume that as in the past you did not send a copy
of today's special to alumni and trustees.’ Johnson nodded. ‘Right. Now along with the issue you send to the newspapers send the public relations photograph. Not that picture you took today. The one upstairs.’

‘Right. Well, when I asked for this interview I had no idea ‘bout a studen’ strike. I guess that this will change the whole slant of the story.’ Johnson had known full well about the strike.

‘Not necessarily. You can print the story and say that there had been rumors of a coming demonstration to protest my decision.’

‘But once again, sir,’ Johnson said, ‘I would be leaving my role as objective reporter and giving a slanted account.’

Calhoun turned away from the chore of lighting his pipe and faced Victor Johnson squarely. The small reporter nervously took his glasses off and wiped them with a handkerchief that dangled from the breast pocket of his suit.

‘I think that you should know I hold you partially responsible for the things that happened today,’ Calhoun said acidly.

‘Me?’ the editor squeaked.

‘From my reports this paper of yours was an ingredient in the emotional concoction that served to bring a strike here.’

‘I'm sorry, but I still have my job to do.’

‘Print what you want to about the strike,’ Calhoun warned, ‘but choose your
objective
terms carefully. There are certain things about government I suppose I should tell you. The first is that any government is subject to criticism. You can see every day in the papers and on television examples of this sort of criticism. But a government does not pay to support this criticism. . . . Now hear me out. I'm not saying that because I allocated money for the newspaper that it should be slanted in my direction, but I do say that I would be foolish to allocate money to an organization that is directly responsible for a certain amount of my administrative trouble. Are you clear?’

‘I believe so,’ Johnson replied. He was bristling from the threat implied in Calhoun's speech.

‘About the demands I have this to say. They called for a total realigning of a great deal of the Sutton financial system. At this time it is inconceivable that the students maturely handle the sort of responsibility
demanded
in this document. Many of the matters brought up in the paper had never come to our attention in this manner before. I have referred certain issues to the Student-Faculty Alliance and I will look into others myself. Under no circumstances do I intend to crawl on my belly before the students, however. I think that my record indicates an intense concern for Sutton University and a proficiency in my position as president. I will do my best in the future as I have in the past. I am willing to work with students, but I will not be dictated to by them.’ Calhoun finally succeeded in lighting his pipe.

Victor Johnson, head down, made a few final notations on his crowded note pad and then looked up.

‘Is that all?’ he asked.

‘That's all unless you have questions,’ Calhoun said, looking out of the window. The president's concern about the activities outside his window kept him from seeing the middle finger on Victor Johnson's right hand being raised in his direction, indicating the editor's heartfelt opinion of the whole thing.

The intercom came on.

‘Yes?’ Calhoun waved unconvincingly at the editor's retreating back.

‘Coach Mallory is on the line,’ Miss Felch reported.

‘Good.’ Calhoun switched lines. ‘Lo, Coach . . . right . . .’

‘They didn’ come in,’ Coach Mallory reported. He had read the note from the president's office instructing him to send in the four members of MJUMBE who played football.

‘None of them?’

‘Baker, Jones, Cotton, and King. Those right?’

‘Those are the four. I wanted to talk to them because they seem to have as much to do with this whole mess as Thomas does. I can't locate Thomas either.’

‘Oh.’ The coach wasn't paying a great deal of attention.
Thirty of his men were on the field doing calisthenics. He thought he would be able to deal with the missing four when he found them.

‘Tell me, coach,’ Calhoun was saying, ‘are those four boys on some sort of athletic scholarship?’

‘Yes,’ Mallory said guardedly. ‘They are.’

‘I see,’ was Calhoun's comment. The way the two words were said raised the hair on the back of the young Black coach's neck. ‘Well, have a nice practice. I'll be at the game on Saturday looking for a victory.’

The phone was returned to its cradle. Mallory stood behind his desk for minutes staring down at the instrument. He was dressed in a sweat suit and baseball cap. He had yet to trot out onto the baked Virginia soil and take the three laps with which he generally started his practices, but there was a line of perspiration reaching his thick eyebrows and sweat stains stood out against his armpits and crotch. In the dead silence of the empty locker room, Mallory decided to break his long-standing rule about practice. He stepped quickly into the corridor and trotted out to the door that led to the practice field. He immediately caught the eye of his assistant coach and beckoned him.

‘Run them through everything, Bob,’ Mallory said hurriedly. ‘Double on the running an’ the calisthenics. I've got an emergency.’

The Sutton senior physical education major who served as assistant coach frowned and was tempted to ask what was happening, but he knew better. He nodded, walked toward the players, and the last thing Mallory heard before the wooden door slammed shut was the shrill whistle splitting the early autumn calm.

Edmund C. Mallory was a Sutton graduate. He was a short, stocky man with a fierce, driving determination that he instilled in his athletes. It was not uncommon for Sutton to walk onto a football field as heavy underdogs and walk away as winners. For even though the university did not give out
as many scholarships as they needed to compete athletically, Mallory teams were well trained physically, psychologically, and strategically. Mallory loved to tell his team: ‘There are no underdogs as far as we're concerned. When you go on the field the score is zero-zero. Your action from that point on decides who the underdog is.’

The sort of relationship that Mallory sought with his athletes went beyond the coach-player relationship. Most of the time Mallory got to know the men who played under him rather well. Mallory thought he knew Ralph Baker, Ben King, Speedy Cotton, and Fred Jones very well. The four seniors had all advanced from the freshman team together. Cotton, King, and Baker were at starting positions for their third consecutive year, and though they had never gone into any great amount of detail about their campus-political involvement, the coach was reasonably sure that their college careers were now on the line because of their political commitments.

The thought of Ogden Calhoun's sly but pointed inquiry into the financial situation of the four men made Mallory positive that the political move dictated by MJUMBE was pushing Ogden Calhoun in the direction of repression.

As he showered it occurred to Mallory that he had not yet decided exactly where he was going and what he was going to do. Then he thought of Arnold McNeil and vowed that some preventative moves would be made. Standing there under the steaming water, he could not resolve completely what direction he would take, but he knew something had to be done to stop Calhoun.