Author calls for activism to fight racially unjust society

To commemorate Black Presence Week, the Black Student League and Connaissance brought civil rights activist, comedian and author Dick Gregory to W.E.B. DuBois College House Tuesday night. Gregory used his biting wit and storyteller charm to underlie his more serious message. He told the audience -- which totaled more than 60 students -- to "wake up" and fight against the "wild, crazy, ignorant system that teaches you how to make a living you don't know how to live." After the show, Gregory explained that he opposes "the information overload" the government espouses. "Money and education are not power," Gregory told the standing-room only crowd during his three-hour speech. "Information is power -- and bad information equals bad power." Gregory -- who started his career as a comedian -- interspersed his talk with jokes and anecdotes. BSL President Obinna Adibe, a College senior, called Gregory's speech "excellent," saying, "He told the truth." The civil rights activist discussed topics ranging from the murder of Tupac Shakur to the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Oklahoma City bombing to the crash of TWA flight 800. He described these as examples of the "white racist system's" influence and ability to control the country's information channels. "It's all part of their game," said Gregory, who lambasted the nation as "the greediest, most animalistic country in the history of the world." Gregory also challenged how Americans can say they live in a Christian country when 1 percent of Americans have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined. "Do you think you know God?" Gregory asked the audience. "In a nasty, messed up system like this, with what they do to women and poor, folks and minorities?" He often compared today's "white racist power elite" to Germany's Adolf Hitler and repeatedly challenged the audience to stop settling for business as usual. Gregory told students to focus less on grades and more on creating stronger relationships within the community. He also discussed several myths in society. Objecting to the common notion of the "welfare queen," Gregory noted that "80 percent of the children on welfare don't have any babies" and that statistically women on welfare have less children than those off welfare. And he questioned corporate perks, wondering how people can allow the rich to write off expensive dinners and free vacations but "get mad at a welfare mother who wants to buy some apple juice." Gregory also noted the hypocrisy of individuals who say that all African Americans are on welfare but also claim that they are taking too many jobs through affirmative action. "You can't have it both ways," he said. "Affirmative action has benefited white women more than anybody." Despite the societal problems Gregory discussed, he told the audience that if "you think it is a bad time to be black in America today, try Biloxi, Mississippi, 1942." "It is a wonderful time to be black," he said. "You don't realize how much power we have."