On any given Friday, standing around on the Set, one can feel swept up, as if instantly transported to a runway in Milan or a Cash Money Millionaires video.
Undeniably, there are black students here with money, some of whom don’t know what to do with it. Undeniably, there are black people that know how to take care of the things that they care about.
So is it safe to assume that a large portion of the black people on this campus and the people in charge of running it don’t care about our campus?
Is it just me, or does the financial aid office look pretty much the same way it did in 1967? Is it absolutely necessary to continue to paint the walls of Tucker Hall purple and green? If no one lives in the dilapidated buildings that surround our campus, why can’t we tear them down?
I’m in complete agreement with SGA president Andre Hammel. During his inauguration speech he expressed his discontent with a student population that felt as though it was okay to walk through the greenest grass on our campus because there was “already a trail there.”
Who does that?
FAMU students are notorious for feeling unhappy about our treatment, about the beauty of other campuses and the simple things that go unfixed and look in ill repair on ours.
And I know that more often than not, the sentiment of most is that these things should be taken care of by those in positions of power, but why? It is the students that have to attend classes in 1950’s flashback classrooms, and step over glass bottles on their way into the library. It is the students that bring their friends to a campus that many are ashamed to say isn’t as clean or as beautiful as it should be, or even could be. It is the students that often wonder why there are so many abandoned buildings and tattered houses surrounding the campus.
There are several organizations on this campus that, for any number of reasons, partake in community service. What about the community right here?
What about the community we spend more hours at than we do at home? Is it too much to ask that someone start a trash service on campus that goes around on Saturday mornings and picks up some of the garbage that’s everywhere?
Is it too much to ask that we get together and ask for white paint in Tucker Hall, and maybe handle painting it ourselves?
Why can’t we start a sort of Habitat for Humanity service on campus that fixes up the houses around campus, or turns them into lucrative rental spaces that could benefit FAMU and the student population?
Aren’t we the only people that have to live in the mess we create? On your way to class, just walk on the sidewalk instead of deepening the “trail” through the grass. Instead of throwing your garbage on the ground, just walk the extra 40 paces to a trash can to throw your crap away.
If you belong to an organization, or know of anyone who does, stand up and do something. The only responses you can get to your questions are yes or no.
Instead of being someone who doesn’t like what they see, be someone who did something about it.
-Bridget Nance for the Editorial Board.