Coleman
continued from page 1
ing complexes consisted of tiny
square rooms with one bathroom
and thin walls.
“They were like cracker boxes
with holes in them,” Coleman said.
“They were supposed to be tempo
rary housing until the war ended.”
But even after World War II, the
buildings remained full of families.
From about 1940 to 1948, Cole
man lived in Oakland, Calif., where
he learned how to navigate the
streets without showing fear.In the
1960s, Coleman found his place in
the civil rights movement in San
Francisco and Berkeley, where
members of the Congress of Racial
Equality perfected civil disobedi
ence tactics.
“You learned how to protect
yourself and the back of your
head,” Coleman said, describing
the tucked non-violent position sit
in activists would use to guard
themselves from arrest and police
assault.
He also learned how different the
racial climate was on the West
Coast compared to the East and the
South. Coleman said Berkeley and
San Francisco were both liberal
towns, but Berkeley had an advan
tage for black people.
“If you were out late at night and
didn’t want to be hassled, you
made sure you stayed in Berkeley,”
Coleman said.
Despite Berkeley’s progressive
environment, Coleman and many
other black people were denied ac
ceptance to University of Califor
nia, Berkeley. But Coleman still
managed to beat the odds. He com
pleted his college education at San
Francisco City College, went into
the Air Force and later earned his
doctorate in theater arts at the Uni
versity of Oregon.
For three years, Coleman played
the bass violin and traveled with
folk groups such as Peter, Paul and
Mary.
“Music has been a way of con
necting with good mental health in
a real unstabilized world,” Cole
man said.
According to Coleman, America
is still unstable in terms of equality.
“America is supposed to be what
our Constitution talks about,” Cole
man said. “Life, liberty and the pur
suit of happiness — that’s all black
people want.”
Coleman said the birthday of
Martin Luther King Jr. is an impor
tant reminder of what this country
has been through to achieve civil
rights. Coleman said King has be
come a symbol of the struggle of
black people.
King “was not a saint,” Coleman
said. “His message and his preach
ings were representative of the lives
of African-Americans and touched
{ { They were like cracker
boxes with holes in them.
They were supposed to be
temporary housing until
the war ended.
Edwin Coleman
professor, English
the lives of white people.”
Coleman has applied King’s
teachings to his own life.
“I have been fortunate enough to
have made some roads out of the
trenches,” Coleman said. “But I am
not free until everyone is free.
That’s what King is saying.”
Coleman’s insights are respected
by students and faculty alike. In
Coleman’s name, the Multicultural
Center created the Dr. Coleman
Speaker Series to ensure Coleman’s
legacy would not fade on campus.
Guest speakers, educational insti
tutes and facilitated workshops
will be featured at this year’s con
• MLK
continued from page 1
part of Dr. King’s message,”
Malveaux said. “But King was a crit
ic of capitalism as we know it.”
Malveaux said King’s economic
messages back in the 1960s are
something people need to apply to
today’s economy.
“We can have the illusion that
everyone is OK and economically
stable, but they’re not,” Malveaux
said. “Diversity is important, but it
won’t change the way wealth is dis
tributed.”
Malveaux said that in order to fur
ther the message that King stood for,
people need to stand together
against corporations and govern
ment factions that continue to dis
criminate and turn the civil rights
movement backwards.
“Our expanded economy has al
lowed us to adjust ourselves to in
‘ equality,” Malveaux said. “Corpora
tions are able to use demographic
change against minorities. They just
want your money, so they will focus
on minorities because of this, in
stead of trying to increase diversi
ty-”
Audience member Roy Samuels
said Malveaux’s speech was a real
{ C I never realized how
white corporate America
uses discrimination in
reverse.
Roy Samuels
audience member
“eye opener” for him.
“I never realized how white, cor
porate America uses discrimination
in reverse,” Samuels said. “They act
as if they are trying to eliminate dis
crimination when they are just us
ing a different form of it.”
Malveaux argued that discrimi
nation still largely exists in the
workplace, with 96 percent of up
per managers being white males.
She also touched on issues such
as the upcoming Bush administra
tion’s effect on economic justice, the
conditions of prisoners in America
and the need of Americans to ad
Inventions
continued from page 3
when it happens, not just in eco
nomic good times,” he said.
Gerhart said entrepreneurial ac
tivity can sometimes pick up during
slow economic periods or reces
sions, because people are more
open to new ventures when existing
business opportunities aren’t stable.
“You often see startup activity in
crease if people begin to lose their
jobs, because they want to start
over,” he said.
Gordon Melby, maintenance su
pervisor for University Housing, in
vented a mobile loft bed designed to
work primarily in University resi
dence hall rooms. He said he
worked with the Office of Technolo
gy Transfer to establish-a patent, and
because they found a manufacturer
for the product, the bed was on the
market for a few years.
Melby said the first manufacturer
went out of business, and he is cur
rently looking for another company
C ( You often see startup
activity increase if people
begin to lose their jobs, be
cause they want to start
over
Don Gerhart
director, Office of Technology
Transfer ▲ ▲
to develop and market his invention.
He said he is not working on any ad
ditional designs right now, but it is
good to know the office is there.
“I think it’s true of everyone here.
We rely on the office to take care of a
lot of our up-front costs,” he said.
dress the rising number of poor peo
ple.
“I’m a political junkie, and I be
lieve we all have to lift our voices
against injustices,” Malveaux said.
Audience response to Malveaux’s
speech, and the evening’s festivi
ties, was positive overall.
“It made me realize that diversity
is just the starting point towards
greater justice,” audience member
Scott Franzen said.
Malveaux said it’s not just the
holiday celebrating King that is im
portant, it’s what people take from
it for the rest of the year.
r
ference, set for April 18-22.
Coleman ‘‘has a tremendous
wealth of information and lived ex
perience that, as we get further and
further away from the civil rights
movement of the 1960s, we tend to
lose sight of,” said John Shuford,
Martin Luther King Jr. planning co
ordinator.
Shuford and Mark Tracy, assis
tant dean of students, said the cam
pus community can learn from
Coleman’s wisdom.
“He brings to campus a historical
perspective of events that this gen
eration only knows about in
books,” Tracy said. Coleman “gives
a personal account of the steps that
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we [took] to get where we are to
day.”
From the Emancipation Procla
mation of 1863 to MTV special re
ports on hate crimes in 2001, Tracy
said black people have waited pa
tiently for change.
“White, male society needs to
step up and start taking responsibil
ity for situations,” Tracy said.
Coleman also said change in so
ciety must be prompted by white
people.
“Minorities don’t have that pow
er. It’s the privilege that makes the
power,” Coleman said. “The power
structure in this country is still in
the hands of white men.”
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