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University Daily Kansan
By Calder M. Pickett Associate Professor of Journalism
KINGSBLOOD ROYAL, by Sinclair Lewis. Popular Library, 50 cents.
Sinclair Lewis wrote this sensational novel in 1947, and one can reflect that had he published it in the 1920's it would have been scorned by Lewis' great friend, H. L. Mencken. For the hero, Neil Kingsblood, is a do-gooder idealist, who reaches a critical climax in his life when he learns that he is part-Negro.
What does Kingsblood do? Does he try to "pass," like the characters in books and films of the past decade? No, he decides that if he has Negro blood he will live like a Negro, among Negroes. This he does. And he meets the kind of reception that one might expect him to meet—violence, loss of occupation, scornful looks.
"Kingsblood Royal" reveals that Lewis' heart—in 1947, at least was in the right place. But he is melodramatic, and his characters still talked, and thought, as though they were Babbitt's friends and neighbors of 1925. Here is an interesting book that can never occupy an important position in our literature.
--with their high school honey-26 Those who don't care to date 46
By Calder M. Pickett Associate Professor of Journalism
When a Pulitzer prize came in May 1948 to James Agee's "A Death in the Family" it was almost a shock. Almost all critics had forseen an award for "By Love Possessed," and here was an episodic, relatively unknown little novel winning the famed prize.
"A Death in the Family" deserved it. Here is one of the most perceptive writings of recent years. One learns much about life, and even about himself, in reading this posthumous work. Though it concerns the death of a beloved father, it also concerns the structure of the family itself, for we see a family, particularly a little boy, growing and maturing through the death.
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, by James Agee. Avon, 50 cents.
International Jayhawker
By Morad Ghodooshim Isfahan, Persia, junior
Many things disturb me as a foreign student in America—in Lawrence, Kansas.
All around me I see prejudice in the dealings of people. People defend and preach ideals of freedom but it is difficult for me to see any democratic action springing out of this talk. Talk is good—ideas can only develop from the friction of minds. But, this talk must be translated into deeds reflecting the ideas developed.
The Negro is discriminated against here in Lawrence in many places and in housing. Where has his freedom gone to? The land-owner says he is exercising his freedom by having the right to select his tenants. To me freedom means that one is able to choose the house where he wants to live, the restaurant where he prefers the food, or the job for which he is qualified regardless of his race or his religion. Of course in doing so, he must not violate or interfere with the rights of the others.
FREEDOM IS THE MULTIPLICITY OF OPPORTUNITIES.
Some African students are refused rooms at a downtown hotel. . . What kind of freedom is this? Really what is your definition of freedom in this country? Do you merely practice freedom by lip service to the idea? On closer analysis of freedom in this country I realize that, yes, freedom is indeed part of the American body of law. All official agencies proclaim it. Yet those people who discriminated against the Negro, who refused the African a room, are on the university housing lists and in so being are recognized by this university. The Kansas state government claims to be an opponent against discrimination. By allowing the names of the prejudiced to remain on their lists, Kansas University (a state supported organization) is helping those who discriminate. I cannot resolve the statements of freedom with the action taken! The two seem to be opposites.
IN THE NEAR-EAST, in my country, we have not had the long stable history of political freedom as you do in America. Our ideas of freedom are taught to us from the western tradition. Perhaps it is that your ideas of freedom are different from the ones I learned because you have worked on the problem longer than we have and ideas of freedom originally put forth by your political and spiritual forefathers have undergone subtle changes and so now it is permitted to pay homage to the idea of freedom without practicing it. I am afraid that the subtlety of it escapes me. Or perhaps it is that the times are different from what they were when the ideas were formulated and that truly, in the words of an Eastern wiseman, "Men resemble their times more than their forefathers." Are these times of intolerance? The world looks at you and your prestige is falling very rapidly.
Letters
In view of your recent article, concerning the eligibility of "cute KU males," you erroneously overlooked the sharp guys residing in the men's independent dorms.
Dorm Men Cute, too Editor:
WE REALIZE WE have no pins to give or lavaliers to hand out, but we judge the eligibility of our men by different criteria — JRP for example.
Our eligibility is defined in these terms:
Tnose who are going steady with their high school honey-28
Those who want to date, but don't have any guts=-63
Those with social failings (acne, halitosis, etc.)-72
Those who are inexperienced 184
Those who study—7
Those married-4
Dorm total—416
Total ineligible—402
Total "cute KU males"—14
THIS LETTER is to inform any girl who might think that only sharp gugs live in houses with Greek letters that there are a few "eligibles" who are independents—not many, but a few.
Michael C. Gafney
Wichita senior
John E. Geiger
Hermitage, Mo., senior
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AKA Wants All Expressed Editor.
We would like for the campus to know that the members of Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha were certainly surprised at the statement that you printed Thursday, in the article "Who Do Sororities Pledge" by Miss Kelly Smith. This statement was given supposedly by someone representing the general attitude of our sorority on the subject of integrated membership.
ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA is an integrated sorority. One of the reasons that Delta Chapter has no white members is that under the present rush system, we receive only the Panhellenic registration cards of the Negro applicants. We choose girls for membership not on the basis of race, creed, color, or wealth, but on the basis of personality, moral standards, scholarship, and desire to become a willing worker who will represent our sorority in a favorable manner at all times.
FUTHERMORE, none of us would feel "out of place" in any other sorority. Our concept of genuine friendship is not biased by surface appearance like color of skin, grade of hair, or slant of eye. People are people.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
We suggest that, in the future, any person desiring the general attitude of the chapter on any issue consult the group as a body.
Delta Chapter of
(Editor's Note: We would be glad to follow your suggestion, however, the AKA member contacted volunteered to speak for the entire sorority.)
Sound and Fury
Africa
By Rab N. Malik Pakistan Graduate Student
To carry the family quarrel to its logical conclusion, namely reconciliation, I wish to make a few observations about some of the points raised by Francis and Augustine (I revere these saintly names!!), in their article published in the UDK.
First of all, the "erstwhile" issue, "what is wrong with America" is not "simple," although it was simplified by the panelists, reducing it to bobby socks, blue jeans, "dating" sorority girls, cars, TV, and the wastage of foreign human material by the Americans. Secondly the assumption that the panelists expressed their personal opinions was falsified by their pedantic tones and demagogic sermons from the mount. Indeed, a gentleman in the audience, a foreign student, thought it necessary to point out that the panelists ought not to have given the impression of voicing the opinions of all foreign students.
Augustine and Francis asked what I would have done had I been one of the speakers. I submit the following answer:
1. I would not have equated the University of Kansas, a great institution in itself, with the whole of the United States.
2. I would have admitted that a degree of misunderstanding exists among the international students and the American students. To alleviate this misunderstanding I would have proposed the formulation of a committee composed of the American and foreign students. I would have suggested that this committee be charged with the responsibility of working out a comprehensive program aimed at promoting close contacts and cordial relationships among various groups in the student body. Such a program could be made effective through existing campus organizations.
3. The foreign students, by the very nature of their sojourn in this country are naturally shy and reluctant, and try to live with their problems in silence. I would like to urge them to take the initiative, whenever possible, to discuss their personal and academic problems with the American students. I am sure that they will find sympathetic and listening ears.
Now I urge Augustine and Francis to make their contribution in regard to this.
I do not understand why I was misquoted by my friends from the vast continent of Africa. Here I give my original comments and the rephrasing of them by Augustine and Francis for purposes of comparison.
I said: "Let it be admitted that we in Africa and Asia, when the tables were turned against us, ignominiously failed to rise to the occasion and became the easy prey of what we like to call European colonialism."
Augustine and Francis modified it as follows: "Let it be admitted that the Africans, when the tables were turned against them, ignominiously failed to rise to the occasion.
Then I am asked if I referred to the Congo problem! Thus the picture of the past was confused with the happenings of the present, or was it an example of creativity and imagination run riot!?
The inquiries of Augustine and Francis into my motives for my criticism of the panelists would seem ridiculous were it not laughable. How can one win friends through criticism, particularly if it is "emotion-drenched" and sentimental?
Human motivation is a complex phenomenon. Even the professional psychologists and sociologists, if I may say so, have yet to unfold completely the intricacies of human behavior and the motives behind it. I implore you to instruct me about the motivation behind objecting to what I think was unjustified criticism.
There is one thing I wish to thank Augustine and Francis for. I was glad to know that some of the Europeans treated my article as a "big joke." Previously I had heard that some of them went home and wept!
Finally I am not adamant to sparing my services to instruct the present Afro-Asian leadership on formulating what you term "wise" policies. I am persuaded that the need for something of this sort undoubtedly exists!
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