THE HANDSTAND

MAY 2003

  "I want to be going around now, reminding people that in our quest to become totally free as we pursue our goals, we need to remember and put into place all of the traditional wisdom that will help us survive in the new millennium. We need to re-institute some ofour traditional values that seem to be evaporating in ways of life in the areas of culture, music, arts that has helped us define what we call the African
personality.

In my estimation, we are in an educational pursuit. In the Western world, we have neglected those traditional values. So it's what I call 'misplacement of values.' Unless we go back to restoring them into our lives, we're going to have trouble- a lot of misgivings among our own people in the very near future. A lot of young people are clamoring now to find out 'what is it that we can call our own? What is it about our heritage?'
They want to know. These times now make them very, very aware of that. "

Babatunde Olatunji

Babatunde Olatunji (A Gift Of Love)
by: Robin Asantewaa

Our souls will forever dance to the rhythm of Babatunde Olatunji "Hypnotic Drums Of Passion"

Musically Babatunde Olatunji mesmerized our mortality, sending our total entities on a spiritual journey that made our hearts sing conscious love songs from Mother Afrika's time and space where we all belong .

His rhythmic creativity embodied a century of yesterdays, traditionally and will always engulf his soul today, passionately as we will always be embraced by the magic of his magnetic music that rides the wonderful wings of ancient wisdom.

Always giving us total fulfillment with each melody Baba played so majestically, that soared beyond the reality of our own imaginations, caressing the epitome of his music upon the windsongs of our total actualities, giving us happiness that has comforted our consciousness.

His Beautiful Being he shared so gloriously thru his "Drums Of Passion", that cried a thousand tears and chanted a thousand cheers, singing sweet melodies of Black joy and elation we hold so dear inside our hearts.

As Babatunde Olatunji gave us a musical gift of love, touched by the hands of time and our Ancestors above, that will continuously fertilize the beauty of our souls allowing our spirits to forever cleanse and become whole; his music will always and forever be a sweet precious present that keeps our minds free.

Touched by the Ancestors and touched by the light of life, as we fight the madness of this world's strife, while his cherished existence travels so majestically blessing the world with his eternal legacy.

Babatunde Olatunji will always be a rare musical treasure full of bronze color blessings that will always bring us musical pleasure as his eternal creative legacy timelessly lights his eternal flame that will shimmer in our lives forever.

His spirit will always play Mother Afrika's drum passionately as we embrace his creativity infinitely enjoy the Ancestors gift from him forever.
**********************************************
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
And today?
Today is a gift.
That's why we call it the present.

~~~ Babatunde Olatunji

Babatunde Olatunji April 7, 1927-April 6, 2003

Babatunde, the Nigerian drummer has died aged 75.He affected a wide range of musicians, including John Coltrane who wrote "Tungi" in thanks.Born in a village near Lagos, in his own words..."I was very inquisitive and I would go to village festivals. I was always behind those master drummer watching them play." He won a four-year scholarship to the all-black Morris Brown College(now in danger of closing, see below).He discovered blues and gospel music and sought subsequently to counter the corrupted versions of the African-voice he found there. He founded the Olatunji Centre for African Culture in Harlem with financial support from John Coltrane.

 To view the entire article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
articles/A59382-2003Apr8.html

 Morris Brown College May Close Its Doors

 By Michael A. Fletcher

 Morris Brown College, one of the nation's oldest historically black colleges, is in danger of closing after a last-ditch effort to hold on to its accreditation failed.

 The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools on Monday refused to overturn its December decision revoking the accreditation of the Atlanta school, which is deep in debt and has been cited for poor record-keeping and misspending federal financial aid.

 The decision means that Morris Brown will immediately lose access to millions of dollars in federal financial assistance, which 90 percent of its students receive. The lack of accreditation also severs the school's affiliation with the United Negro College Fund, a major financial backer. Under that organization's bylaws, a school automatically loses its membership if it is unaccredited, a
spokesman said.

 The threat of loss of accreditation had prompted tumultuous changes at Morris Brown. As many as half of its 2,500 students did not return for spring semester, which was squeezed to a mere seven weeks to allow students to finish school before their financial aid was cut off.About 300 students graduated from the school in mid-March -- two months before the usual date -- and the school has no plans to resume classes until late August.

 Despite the problems, officials at Morris Brown said they were upset by the accreditation decision and vowed to keep the school alive. "We are clearly disappointed by the ruling," Bishop Frank C. Cummings, chairman of the school's board of trustees, said in a statement. "But Morris Brown will survive."

Over the past 25 years, about a dozen black colleges have closed, even as the number of blacks going to college has increased nearly 60 percent.

 Morris Brown, the only black-founded college in Georgia, opened its doors in 1885. Run by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the school is in the famed Atlanta University Center, home to the nation's largest concentration of historically black colleges. The school shares the center with Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Interdenominational Theological
Center, as well as Spelman and Morehouse colleges.

 Morris Brown has a long tradition of educating first-generation college students from low-income families alongside children of the black middle class. But the school ran into financial problems in recent years, misspending $5.4 million in financial aid money by giving it to students who were ineligible, had dropped out or had never enrolled.

 It also expanded enrollment without increasing dormitory capacity, leaving students living in expensive hotels. The school upgraded its athletic program to Division I, a costly venture that left the teams with few home games and many expensive road trips.

 Since taking the reins of the college last summer, Morris Brown President Charles E. Taylor has reshaped the school's board of trustees, established newfinancial controls and raised political support and money. Last month, the United Negro College Fund announced a $1.5 million gift to the school, and Atlanta business leaders and parishioners at African Methodist Episcopal churches around the country have contributed millions more. The school, meanwhile, received a mental lift when its marching band was featured in the movie "Drumline."

  During last month's graduation ceremonies, Taylor announced that Morris Brown had raised $4.5 million of the $10 million needed to retire its overdue bills. Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus and others have lobbied Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige to salvage the school's accreditation, and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young worked to persuade the private accreditation agency not to strip the school of the crucial rating.

   Those efforts failed. But Taylor said the school will re-apply for accreditation as soon as possible.

 "This decision will have a tremendous impact on Morris Brown, but the college has weathered very difficult times before," he said in a statement. "With the help of a lot of people, we have made great progress. We will continue to improve, we will continue to raise funds, we will continue to meet the needs of our students and all standards for accreditation as we engage the process for
re-accreditation."