I had
written a 170-page typescript, BLACK ERUPTION, SOUTHERN STYLE, of SUNO events
in summer 1969 as I was not teaching that season as originally planned. Moving to Europe and then back and never
having a teaching post in the US, struggling to pay bills, I sent most of my
material to Tulane Special Collections, now Louisiana Research Center. At least 2 scholars used my SUNO typescript
and acknowledged credit in their published works, Adam Fairclough and Jeffrey
Turner. I think it was in summer of 2014
when I received a call from Mr. Leon Miller, the director of the LRC. He asked if I had a copy of the typescript. No.
The reason he inquired, Tulane had received a call (I think from California)
from another scholar requesting to use the material, but the 170-page
typescript was missing, or lost, or stolen.
Tulane searched, and I asked friends who might have had a copy. No luck.
The typescript was controversial.
Some might find it offensive.
After a year, it is still missing.
Because it is still missing, I decided to use my memory to try to recall
some of the important points not covered by others. Hugh Murray
(short version June 2015) by Hugh Murray
The SUNO
strike of 1969 began a few days before Easter, on 2 April, 8am, when a number
of students gathered round the flag pole in front of the Administration
Building at SUNO. They proceeded to take
down the already flying American flag, and replace it with a Black Liberation
Flag – black, red, and green. The green
represented nature in Africa, the red the blood of the people, and the black,
the color of their skin. Some of the
leaders of the student protest then distributed a mimeographed page with the
pledge of allegiance to the new flag, and most assembled there took the
pledge. The pledge, which I get now from
Adam Fairclough’s Race & Democracy,
p. 429: “I pledge allegiance to the Black Liberation Flag and to the cause for
which it stands – Black people together, indivisible for liberation,
self-defense, self-determination. I am
prepared to give my life in its defense.”
(Strangely, Fairclough describes the flag as black, green, and gold, rather
than black, red, and green. Perhaps he
was confusing it with the flag of Abyssinia, which was green, red, and yellow
and was used by Black Nationalists in the early 20th century. But the SUNO flag was black, red, and
green.) I was there as a sympathizer,
but when I read the pledge, did not take it.
I don’t recall all the details but two leaders of the Africa America
Student Assn were Val Ferdinand and Lynn French. They also read a list of “non-negotiable” demands
that they were issuing to the SUNO Administration, the objective of which was
to re-from the university into a Black-centered institution, such as the
creation of a Black Studies Department, and hiring a draft councilor (and the
person suggested was a young man who opposed the draft). Some of the demands were of a more physical
nature, for the contrast between the physical plant of “white” LSUNO with “Black”
SUNO was stark, with the facilities at the former far nicer than those at the
latter institution.
Of the 2.200 students at SUNO, only
one was white. The first non-Black
faculty had been hired only a few years prior when a Korea was employed. This year, there were about 10 of us
non-Blacks, including me teaching history, Vera Krieger, who taught English,
and George Haggar, an Arab-Canadian who taught political science. The university was a branch of Southern
University in Baton Rouge, then the world’s largest Black university, and the
segregated counterpart to Louisiana State University. When LSU opened a branch in New Orleans near
the Lake Pontchartrain, soon after SU opened its branch also near the
lake. LSUNO (later, the U. of NO) and
SUNO were new institutions of the 1950s and 60s. Then the AAS presented its demands to change
the ideal of SUNO, these demands were rejected by Dean Bashful and the
university’s administration.
Consequently, a student boycott of classes began.
As the
strike gained momentum, the Administration fought back. And not just the SUNO Administration. NO Chief of Police Joseph Giarrusso and NO
Mayor Victor Schiro announced that the American flag would be protected. When students removed it one morning, NO
police marched in, lowered the students’ banner, and rehoisted the American
flag. There were some scuffles and
arrests. Photos showed the flag pole
with the American flag guarded by police amid hostility from the students. (This is not from my memory but from Fairclough,
p. 430) The SUNO Administration now
claimed that the students were not the leaders of the movement, but were being
manipulated by an Arab professor on campus, a white man. Prof. George Haggar had been born to a
Christian Arab family in French Syria/Lebanon during WWII. He had studied at Columbia U. in New York
City where he earned a doctorate in political science. He had also published book reviews in some of
the leading academic journals in his field.
He had taught at Waterloo Univ. in Canada, where he also held
citizenship. While the SUNO anti-boycott
portrayed him as the real leader of the protest, that Black students were being
misled by this white, Haggar asserted that he was not white, but brown. He also denied leading any protest movement
on campus. The AAS vehemently denied
that they were mere pawns of the Arab or whites or anyone else. They declared that they were promoting Black
Nationalism and wanted a university to reflect that viewpoint, and to achieve
it they continued the boycott into the spring of 1969. At one point the national leader of SNCC,
once the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, by 1969 the Student
National Coordinating Committee, James Foreman, came to SUNO campus and spoke
to Haggar and various students.
About the
same time, the national media were focused on the Black power strike at Cornell
U. in upstate New York, in which some Black students took rifles to the
campus. Those students were featured on
the cover of Newsweek or Time magazines. So, about this same time, Val Ferdinand and
Lynn French brought their weapons to SUNO, and this was featured in the New
Orleans media.
At one
point, a long line of police with loaded weapons was formed to enter SUNO
campus. Quickly assembled to face it was
an equally long line of students (and one or 2 faculty, myself and Vera). We hoped to stop the intrusion of the police
onto the campus. For a time, neither
side moved. No one shouted. I suspect, had a stone been thrown, shots
would have been fired. No stone was
hurled. I think both sides
withdrew. Violence was averted; no one
was shot, no one was hurt.
Gov. John
McKiethen, Democrat, mobilized units of the National Guard, and helicopters
began to buzz round the campus. On 21
April 1969 McKiethen came to campus and entered a building to discover what was
causing daily headlines. In one building
a huge crowd of students came in to see him.
He would address them. But as he
was escorted to the dais, pictures were taken as he stood beneath the Black
Liberation Flag. McKiethen began his
remarks: “Would you kindly tell me what flag is that above me?” Many shouted, the BLF with others shouting
what the symbolism was. “Would you
kindly remove that flag as I speak?” I
do not recall his words, though I suspect he praised the American flag. This was the first time a governor of
Louisiana had ever visited the campus and he promised to inquire about the
problems facing the university and make improvements.
Again, I do
not recall the sequence of events, but while McKiethen was in NO, he drove
downtown where some of the protestors had gathered, in particular George Haggar
and Val Ferdinand. The governor’s limo
drove to where the other two were and perhaps a hand gesture and words invited
them into the vehicle – or so they thought.
Haggar climbed in, but when Ferdinand attempted to enter, the governor’s
party said no. McKiethen would speak to
Haggar in private. According to Haggar,
McKeithen then offered the Arab anything he wanted if he would break the strike
at SUNO. Of course, Haggar maintained he
had no such power, but I don’t know if he ever said that in the limo. Bottom line, Haggar rejected McKiethen’s
offer.
Shortly
after this, SUNO fired Prof. Haggar.
Because he was not a citizen and in the US on an employment visa, loss
of the teaching post meant Haggar was then liable to be deported.
Although
fired, Haggar returned to his office on SUNO campus, and when word came that
the Administration was sending security to remove him, a barricade of desks was
erected. When, however, NO Police were
called to remove him, Haggar fled. Moreover,
he did not return to the room he had rented through the university, suspecting
the landlady was too close to Dean Bashful.
Instead, he would remain that night at the home of another white faculty
member, Vera Krieger, who was Jewish. I
too was at her home that night. After
supper, the three of us sat on her sofa to watch the local news. One of the first items was a report by NO
Police Chief Joseph Giarrusso, whose demeanor reminded me of 1930s crime films:
Pointing his finger, Giarrusso announced to the camera “I hope you are watching
this Dr. Haggar, because you are not so brave.
When my men went to arrest you this afternoon, you ran away. You are not brave. And I am telling you now, you are to be
arrested on sight!” On the couch, Vera
and I were frozen in fear upon hearing these remarks. But Haggar burst out laughing. An incredible, memorable scene.
Next day, class
(or boycotted class) as usual. Vera
drove to the campus as usual, but this morning Haggar was hidden from sight on
the floor of her auto. Once he appeared
on campus, hundreds of students surrounded him to protect him from the
threatened arrest. Haggar made a short
speech. Dean Bashful, the chief
administrator of SUNO, came to me, pleading, “Get him out of here. If the police come to get him, there is sure
to be violence.”
Haggar had
made his appearance and his speech. I
then urged him to leave with me to avoid violence. As I drove him away from the campus, I heard
a helicopter above that seemed to follow.
It was a police helicopter. When
I dropped him off at his own apartment, the police swooped in and arrested him.
All this
was p. 1 in the various editions of the NO States-Item,
the afternoon newspaper of the morning Times-Picayune. I think Haggar was released on bail without
staying overnight in jail. He was fired
from SUNO and then arrested for going on campus, and the government wanted him
deported. Haggar sent feelers to a Black
scholar then at San Francisco State U (or college), about being hired quickly
to fend off immigration problems, but felt he was being stalled and strung
along. Nothing came of this. About this time from my apartment he was
interviewed on a Canadian Broadcasting nationwide call in program about events
at SUNO. But he also brought in other
topics and I was chagrined when he blared at a caller that “Your rabbi told you
wrong,” and Haggar went on to denounce Israeli policies in the Middle
East. Haggar was a radical, but he was a
man of great courage and intelligence.
Haggar could fight the deportation case,
but without a job or job offer, his stay in the US would be untenable. So he decided to depart for Canada on his
own.
Meanwhile,
the SUNO strike fizzed out. Although I
had been offered a teaching post for the summer of 1969, that offer was
rescinded. Furthermore, I was told
henceforth I would be on a blacklist. I
have no idea if that were true; I only know that I have never held a university
teaching position in America since 1969.
Haggar was
in Canada and he was radical. Earlier,
in the 1968 fall term of that school year, I was driving him in my car as we
discussed various topics. On one
occasion he explained to me what had been Stalin’s greatest mistake. Stalin had failed to incorporate the various
nations of Eastern Europe into the USSR.
I was amazed for I doubt if many people would agree that that was
Stalin’s greatest mistake. On another
occasion, he informed me that Stalin’s greatest mistake was that he did not
break up the family. I could not roll my
eyes because I was driving. George was
radical. And after he had left the US,
the last I heard was that he was planning to write a biography of a woman
hi-jacker who had taken over a plane for the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine. Radical though he was, it
is hard for me to believe that hundreds of Black students at SUNO were simply
“dupes” of the Arab at the height of Black Nationalism in the US in general and
at SUNO in particular.
Gov.
McKiethen had offered Haggar anything he wanted if he would only break the SUNO
student strike. Haggar rejected the
offer and was fired and effectively deported.
Val Ferdinand, perhaps the most prominent student leader of the boycott
and protests, had sought to enter the governor’s limo when Haggar entered. At that time, Ferdinand was told, no. Clearly, the governor wanted to make his
offer to Haggar in private. After Haggar
rejected, did the governor make a similar offer to Ferdinand?
Ferdinand was talented. The first time I encountered him was before the uprising, probably during the first semester 1968-69. A poetry contest at SUNO had been arranged, and I was selected to be among the judges. There were only 4 contestants, and 3 read rather conventional poems (I think they were all original poems). Val’s was different. His “reading” was really a performance, similar to those in a poetry slam. His title, “Niggers in the Streets,” and in ghetto language it was a description of the activity that one might see in a Black urban neighborhood. Though he was not my student, I thought he deserved 1st prize, as did most of the judges. Ferdinand won the contest.
Ferdinand was talented. The first time I encountered him was before the uprising, probably during the first semester 1968-69. A poetry contest at SUNO had been arranged, and I was selected to be among the judges. There were only 4 contestants, and 3 read rather conventional poems (I think they were all original poems). Val’s was different. His “reading” was really a performance, similar to those in a poetry slam. His title, “Niggers in the Streets,” and in ghetto language it was a description of the activity that one might see in a Black urban neighborhood. Though he was not my student, I thought he deserved 1st prize, as did most of the judges. Ferdinand won the contest.
Marcus S.
Cox in “Keep Our Black Warriors Out of the Draft,” in Educational Foundations, Winter-Spring 2006, writes: “On May 14,
1969 student leaders at Southern University met with Louisianan Governor John
McKeithen to discuss their grievances.
Both parties characterized the meeting as productive. The Governor agreed to several demands of
which included a major legislative bill for $100,000 for campus security….better
cafeteria facilities to more library books and better street lighting.” It was unclear as to how much of this was for
SUNO and how much for the larger Southern U. in Baton Rouge.
The SUNO
boycott/strike collapsed by May 1969. In
the summer of 1969 Ferdinand became editor of a new Black newspaper in NO. He was also active in the Free Southern
Theater (a theater group that began in the early 1960s when they performed
integrated plays in Black churches in Mississippi). Under Ferdinand, the FST moved from
integration to Black Nationalism. I
attended one of the FST performances in the summer 1969. I was the only white in the audience. There were drums on stage. At one point, Val, center stage, began to
shout “Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger…” and the audience joined in the
shout. Ferdinand was talented.
Soon
thereafter Ferdinand changed his name to Kalamu Ya Salaam and became editor of Black Collegian. Despite the numerous typos and errors in the
articles of Black Collegian, the
magazine quickly grew in advertising and prestige, for this was one place where
major corporations could recruit Blacks to their companies, fulfilling
affirmative action quotas now required by the EEOC and the Nixon
Administration. The want-ad section expanded
with affirmative action, and in a decade, the magazine had become so slick and
thick, about 500 pages, that it was a major periodical.
In June
2015, when I googled Ferdinand and Kalamu Ya Salaam and checked various
websites like afropoets.net and thehistorymakers.com and the blurb about him in
Historical Dictionary of African American Theater, they all report that he had
served in the US Army in Korea, attended Carleton College, and returned to his
native NO to receive an AA degree in business administration from Delgado
Junior College. I find this astonishing,
for there is not a word about his activities at SUNO! I have no proof, but I wonder if Gov.
McKiethen offered Val Ferdinand anything he might want if he would break the
SUNO boycott/strike?! And in 1969, I was
not the only person with such suspicions.
HUGH MURRAY