EBONY HERALD/VOL. Ili, NO. 8/MARCH 1977ancers Arouse AudienceBy JOYCE EVANSFeatures EditorYoung ... Talented ... Provocative ...and Black! A brief description of the RodRogers Dance Company!On March 9 and 10, the Rod RogersDance Company performed spectacularlyat the ECU McGinnis Auditorium.With supple beautiful bodies, thedancers twirled and swirled rhymaticallyand dramatically to music of severaldimensions.A special part of the show was a danceentitled ~~Box 71TT which is ... a study inconfinement, dedicated to Soledad BrotherGeorge Jackson and the men who weremassacred at Attica.The dramatic performance was byThomas Pinnock and Rod Rodgers.When the entire Company danced, theeffects were astounding and devastating.They performed in complete unity--thechoreography was magnificient.An emotional number entitled ~~LoveFlowerTT was soul-evoking. Tamara Guille-beaux, dressed in a lovely evening dress,danced to Aretha FranklinTs ~~AinTt NoWay.TT It was so amazing that one couldimagine the feel of energy flowing throughher body. Her mate sat in a chair with hisback turned, yet she effectively relates tohim sharing the love, the hurt, and theDeltasSponsorScholarshipProgramBy JOYCE EVANSFeatures EditorThe Greenville Chapter of the DeltaSigma Theta Sorority presents its 15thannual .o~Miss College BoundTT contest 8p.m. Saturday, April 2, at the WestGreenville Recreation Center.According to Mrs. Mary Murrell,vice-president of the sorority, the twelveparticipants compete by raising money.The young lady who raises the highestamount of money will be crowned ~~MissCollege Bound 1977.�TA member of the sorority sponsors eachcontestant, and both the contestant and hersponsor work diligently to raise funds,stated Mrs. Murrell.Each participant receives a scholarshipamounting to 60 percent of the money sheraises.This is a recent change in the programaccording to Mrs. Lillie H. Powell,president of the sorority.She said that Delta Sigma Theta is apublic service sorority and it sponsors thiscontest to aid young women to attendcollege.~~We felt the girls deserved the greaterportion of the funds they raise for thatpurpose,TT said Mrs. Powell.~fA girl might not know the type ofpeople or enough people who are willing tohelp her with the fund raising program.She may work as hard as the othercontestant who knows many people, yetshe won't raise as much money.�T_ [Continued on page 4.]RODGERS DANCERS perform Rhythm Ritualmixed feelings through her body move-ments.Then the two of them danced togetherby the incredible Roberta FlackTs piece ofsoft mood music. And it was love anddance at its best.The last act by the dance company wasthe o~Rhythm Ritual,TT a piece thatdistinguishes the Rod Rodgers DanceCompany from any other dance group.Instruments used during the dancewere congo drums, cowbells, wood sticks,jingle bells and other sound resemblance ofthe African heritage.The Rod Rodgers Dance Company wasfounded by Rod Rodgers. He directs andChoreographs the. dances.The company was one of the firstAmerican Dance) companies under thedirection of a Black artist to establish abase of recognition for something other thnthe exclusive ethnic or traditional Afro-American styles.The Rodgers company maintains a yearround studio-school in New York. Trainingis offered in Afro-Haitian, several styles ofjazz, and modern dance techniques.In addition to the direction of the dancecompany, Rodgers has a number credits inhis favor.He staged and directed the AfroAmerican Singing TheatreTs version osoThe Black Cowboys,TT which was per-formed at the City Center Center of Musicand Drama and at the Brooklyn Academyof Music.Rodgers choreographed and_ staged~~Journey Into Blackness,TT a WCBS-TVspecial which featured Voices, Inc.He choreographed ~~The ProdigalSister,TT a Black Off-Broadway musical.Rodgers was the recipient of a JohnHay Whitney Fellowship and the recipientof the 1975 AUDELCO award for audiencedevelopment programs. He has receivedchoreographic commissions frem the NewYork State Council for the Arts and theNational Endowment for the Arts inWashington, D.C.Black Press Speaks For BlacksEditorTs Note: Kenneth Campbell, ECU :graduate and former editor of EbonyHerald, recently won first place in aHoward University Journalism contest forthe following essay. It is reprinted herewith the permission of the author.Campbell, who currently reports from theNiagara Falls Gazette in New York hasbeen accepted for graduate work inJournalism for Fall, 1978 by UNC-ChapelHill, The University of Maryland, andColumbia University in New York City.~~The Roles of the Black PressTTThe progressive social-political atmos-phere prevalent in America today is greatlyindebted to the American black press.FreedomTs Journal, the first black news-paper in America, was started*to allowblack people to speak out on issues forthemselves. As a result, the power of thepen was realized by many blacks and usedto champion the cause of black people.In the past, the role of the black pressconsisted of instilling racial and culturalpride in black people by informing them ofaccomplishments made by blacks. Also inthe same vein, the black press served as an,outlet for black talent, particularly poetryand other literature.A second role of the black pressincluded showing black people that notonly the white press but the entire whitenews media discriminates. Here, intent-ional discrimination is not always involved,but nevertheless, it is discrimination. Onthe other hand, much of the discriminationwas intentional. Although most newsreporters were practicing objective report-ing in the 1950s and 1960s, many blackscharged with a criminal offense were oftenconvicted (and sentenced) by a newspaperbefore trial. The black press has been veryeffective in helping to eliminate suchethical problems. Indeed, some blackpapers will devote considerable attentionto fair trail/fair sentence cases.Thirdly, the black gress has acceptedthe responsibility for interpreting local,state, national, and international newsevents in a black perspective so thatblacks, especially the undereducated,would know how the event had its ensuingramifications affect blacks. Such has beenand continues to be accomplished viaeditorial pages of black publications.The black press has been commendablein fulfilling three roles just discussed. Themajor problem with members of the blackpress is the editor who wants to make bigprofits. To make his profits, this editorsacrifices the quality and quantity of newsand other informative copy in his paper. Heis also prone to tell his readers what theywant to hear rather than what is right orwhat they need to hear.Because of the progressive nature ofthe present social and political atmos-phere, two new roles must be added tothose of the black press. Also, thedefinition of the black press needs to beexpanded. In addition to just blackpublications, the black press must nowinclude the contributions of journalists whowork for traditionally white papers.The first new role of the black pressmust assume is to keep a check on thewhite press. By recalling the sixties, theriots and other violence, the reasons forthis new role should be obvious. It is adocumented fact that oftentimes stagedevents of violence were filmed andrecorded as actual occurences duringdisturbances. Oftentimes, during a dis-turbance, the white press talked to blackpersons and identified them as communityleaders when actually they were notcommunity leaders. Also, the white pressoftentimes limited its coverage of adisturbance to only the disturbance.itself when the real story was the causes ofthe disturbance. However, unintentionalbiased reporting is, it is still biased. Theblack press must guard against it. At thevery least, the black press must attempt tobalance such reporting.Finally, the second new role of theblack press consists of keeping a closecheck on the black political leaders. Thisrole, as well as the preceding one, is adirect result of the black press fulfilling itsresponsibilities in the first three rolesmentioned here. Today, the social-politicalatmosphere in America is characterized bya different attitude than that whichprevailed as few as ten years ago. Blacksare now able to progress up the socialladder. Black politicians are now beingelected and appointed to numerous local,state, and national offices. Although thechance for advancement is not equal to thatwhites, it is closer to being equal todaythan it was ten years ago.Realizing that all men are createdequal, the black press must assume thatblack political leaders can become corruptjust as whites have. Therefore, blackpolitical leaders must be closely covered bythe black press.It is not a purpose of this essay to implythat the black press is without fault.Surely, the black press could not claim itsdue recognition without also admitting toits faults and mistakes. One alreadymentioned fault of the black press is themoney mongrel type editor who feels littleor no responsibility to the black com-munity. Another fault of the black press isits tendency to emphasize crime news andviolence in its newspapers.Crime news should only be emphasizedwhen it acts as a deterent or when it pointsout discrepencies in the administration ofjustice. Violence should only be empha-sized in a newspaper when the newsstorywarns the readers of the reoccurence ofsuch violence. The story should also offersuggestions tc pilavent such violence.Nevertheless, the black press has donea good job in accepting its roles andfulfilling its responsibilities. Yet, it still hasa good job to do. It is a job which can onlybe finished when there are no more blackpeople to speak for themselves.