Today, it was reported that the Donald Trump is moving to close down the Voice of America, in yet another action to dismantle the institutions (and the ethos) that made America great and admired throughout the world in the post-WW II era. See also here.
Hopefully, it is too early for obituaries of what was once called The American Century.
Still, this most recent announcement brought to mind an October 3, 1967 episode of the VOA's The American Scene, in which I was interviewed, along with two fellow members of SERVE, a community volunteer organization at The George Washington University of which I was president. This morning I found the transcript VOA sent me, and paste it below. It was interesting for me to read what my 19-year old self and my colleagues were saying and thinking back then. I have learned a lot in the last 58 years. We all have. But the basic sentiments and hope that were expressed in the interview abide. And they are now under severe attack.
VOICE OF AMERICA
NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
THE AMERICAN SCENE #327
Valerie Gulick
October 3, 1967
PROJECT SERVE
(Tape insert available in Tape Library)
ANNCR: The Voice of America presents THE AMERICAN SCENE.
SERVE, the story of a private war on poverty.
MUSIC: ESTABLISH THEME, THEN FADE & HOLD UNDER
Today, PROJECT
ANNGR: THE AMERICAN SCENE, a picture in sound of people, places and elsewhere in the United States.
MUSIC: BRING UP THEME, THEN FADE OUT BEHIND
ANNCR: A major goal of President Johnson's administration is to eliminate
poverty in the United States . While many federal and state
supported programs are working towards this goal, there are many
private groups making their contributions to the war on poverty.
Here with the story of one of these groups is Voice of America
r e p o r t e r -°
NARR: Two students, aged nineteen, recently made these observations:
TAPE: MIKE CREMO & JOHN DEL NEGRO
"There seems to be in this country a growing distrust between races.
It is just total lack of communication. Anything which furthers
this communication we are trying to achieve."
"You can't always rely on the government to do everything for you.
There are certain areas the government can't reach, areas where
Page 2
volunteer help is what is needed. I hold this to be one of the
prime values of the society we appear to be developing in that many
people are becoming increasingly interested in volunteer help,
realizing they can't expect the government to do things for them.
They have to mold the society they want with their own hands."
Mike Cremo and John Del Negro are students at George Washington
University here in Washington, and members of a student organization
called SERVE. Washington, like many other large cities, has slums
and poverty. During the last twenty-five or thirty years, mass
migrations of families, many of them Negroes, have moved from farm
and rural areas seeking greater opportunity i n the big cities.
Many of these people, however, were and are ill-equipped culturally
and educationally to cope with the pressures of city life. The
cities, on the other hand, are not always prepared to deal with
their special problems. The result: poverty, crime and, in many
instances, racial unrest. The picture is slowly changing through
government programs, and on a smaller scale through the efforts
of a group like SERVE.
FISHBACK
"Our general philosophy is this : that there are a certain number
of people we can help in a limited way. We have no illusions about
destroying poverty in Washington or making great social changes.
We are only a small group and we can only do so much. We have only
so much ability and can only help to a degree."
That was David Fishback, president of SERVE.
FISHBACK.
"Another goal which is a secondary goal but perhaps in the long run
just as important - is to make students here at George Washington [more aware]
You read in the papers and how many textbooks you read and what you hear
from other people, you never really understand the problems of urban poverty
until you try to deal with it firsthand. This kind of
Page 3
experience is particularly important to a school like this one where
so many of the people come from middle class backgrounds and are
- - will go into government work. Even if they don't go into
the government, they will have political and economic power and
when changes come about they will help make them or at least accept them."
NARR:
TAPE:
One hundred and seventy-five students carry on the work of SERVE -
doing what they are perhaps best qualified to do: tutoring. Most
work with school children in the poor areas helping slow learners
to keep up with their classes, motivating others whose families
have no understanding of the value of education and helping others - -
emotionally disturbed children - - to be capable of learning. John
Del Negro was assigned to one in the latter category with whom he
worked every Saturday morning during the last school year:
DEL NEGRO
"He was reputed to be one of the hardest cases we had. When he first
came into the project he was severely withdrawn. It was very hard
to get him to say anything at all, even a mumble and this went on for a period
of weeks until I finally discovered that he didn't know how to read and write, so
I began to teach him how to write his name.
I think because of this he gained some sort of affection for me and
from that day on we developed quite a good relationship. What made
me especially happy was that he also responded to the o t h e r volunteers
in the group that he wasn't well acquainted with. It was quite a striking difference
between the beginning and the end of the program."
Because poverty and lack of education often lead to crime, one of
SERVE's adult programs takes place in the city' jail. Mike Cremo
is in charge of this program:
CREMO
"We have about twenty volunteers that go out every week, one night a week for two hours
for two hours of individual tutoring. We meet in a large hall. The volunteers and inmates
sit together and they work mostly on basic literacy, basic mathematics. We tutor more exotic
subjects, too, because some of the inmates have had educational backgrounds including several years of college and they are interested in
TAPE:
(CONT)
Page 4
physics, foreign languages, higher mathematics, philosophy, sociology, literature."
In some instances the students help these people to discover an interest or talent that
could lead to a good job later on:
CREMO
" I worked with one man last year who at first requested tutoring in literature and
ancient history. Through talking to the man I learned that he was interested in drafting,
in becoming a draftsman when he got out. So we decided it would be a good idea for him
to brush up on mathematics, basic algebra and geometry and he was enthusiastic about it
and did his work."
Mike Cremo has found that SERVE volunteers often establish rapport with these people
more successfully than members of the jail's professional staff:
CREMO
"There is a little bit of difficulty at first in establishing communication. They wonder what a
white, middle class college student is doing here. But because we are not professionals, the
barriers generally break down. They trust us whereas they might not trust a professional
psychologist -- they'd be on their guard and watch what they say because it might have
some bearing on their status in prison. Since we are not professionals we can communicate
on the real problems."
SERVE has been in existence for three years. It was an outgrowth
of another student movement on campus in which Dave Fishback took
p a r t :
FISHBACK
"There was a big controversy because many students including members of
these fraternities and sororities were
Page 5
(CONT) v e r y much opposed to this. And they came over to the United [Campus] Christian
Fellowship Office which permitted us to use its facilities and work to remove these restrictive
clauses. [NOTE IN 2025 -- THIS WAS BEFORE MY TIME, BUT I SUSPECT THERE WERE
DISCRIMINATORY BARS ON MEMBERSHIP IN CERTAIN SOROROTIES AND FRATERNITIES]
NARR: Having succeeded, the group then found itself well organized but
without a program. Much philosophical discussion about the problems
of the world in time led to some concrete ideas about how to meet
them, and SERVE was soon launched. John Del Negro joined a year later for
a very personal reason.
TAPE: DEL, NEGRO
"I have a mentally retarded sister and one day I was wondering why there
wasn't more help for mentally retarded people and I was criticizing everyone else
when suddenly I realized that I was one of these people because I had time to spare
and could have devoted not only to mental retardation but to all the ills that go with
the complex society, decided to do something about it and I became involved with SERVE.
VARR:
David Fishback feels sure SERVE will continue as long as there is
a need for it . He judges its effectiveness by the continuing
demand for more volunteers. Although he will have graduated long
before this need ceases, he, like many other SERVE volunteers,
plan to continue the war on poverty:
APE: FISHBACK
"I definitely want to go into something that's related to this kind of work.
The biggest problem in my generation, the next generation -- for the rest
of the century - is going to be urban poverty. I would be extremely selfish
if I didn't go into some field where I could make a contribution trying to
change things in this country so things will be better. We are facing a challenge trying to keep what's good in America while changing what's wrong in America."
ESTABLISH THEME, THEN FADE BEHIND
THE AMERICAN SCENE #327
ANNCR: Page 6
You have just heard the story of SERVE, a group of students engaged
in private war on poverty. Join us again next week when the
Voice of America will present another picture in sound of people,
places and events on THE AMERICAN SCENE.
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