Culture/Clash : T-Fox’s 1-Man Show Spotlights Black Students’ 1968 Protest at CSUN

A student actor who goes by the name of T-Fox and most of the audience watching him Monday--with one notable exception--hadn’t been born when members of the Black Student Union at San Fernando Valley State College clashed with police in the era of 1960s civil rights protests, leading to the establishment of minority studies departments.

But T-Fox used the 28th anniversary of the event to deliver a message to today’s ethnic minority students at Cal State Northridge, as the school is called today.

“You did not get here by yourself,” T-Fox told the audience.

He performed “The Times of the Furnaces,” a play by New York writer-activist Earl Anthony, commemorating the events of Nov. 4, 1968, when the black students’ group occupied and closed down the administration building.

T-Fox portrayed Archie Chatman, a student leader of the revolt, delivering a monologue on the injustices black students felt on what was then a mostly white campus.

T-Fox, 23, a Pan-African studies senior, said he became interested in the incident after meeting many of the original participants three years ago during a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the African studies department.

“I was sure I had made it here by myself, based on my grades,” T-Fox said after his performance.

“But in hearing those brothers speak and talk about what they went through, it made me want to learn what went on.”

This is what went on: A group of black students seized the college president’s office, holding him for three hours while making 12 demands--including the establishment of an Afro-American studies department, an increased effort to recruit minority students and amnesty for the students’ actions that day.

The protest began after students complained that administrators ignored their requests to punish an assistant football coach whom they accused of berating and kicking a black player at a game.

“All we wanted was justice,” T-Fox cried out on stage. “Was that too much to ask?”

The play held special significance to one student in attendance. Vaya Crockett, 46, was among the “San Fernando Valley State 19” who were convicted of kidnapping and false imprisonment for their roles in the unrest. He was 18 at the time.

Crockett served six months in County Jail and was ordered to stay away from the campus for five years. It was only in the spring of 1995 that Crockett finally returned to CSUN to “finish what I began, where I began,” he said after the performance.

Now a senior studying history, Crockett said he was too angry to continue his education after his jail term but that he does not regret what happened.

“Each year I have to relive what we did because what we did was lay down our lives,” he told the gathered audience. “But I see the diversity on this campus, and I ask myself, ‘Would I do it again?’ Yes, I’d do it again.”

The performance of Anthony’s play was sponsored by CSUN’s DuBois-Hammer Institute for African American Achievement, to educate students about the incident.

It is important now to look back at that day and the impact of the students’ actions, said Barbara Rhodes, a Pan-African studies professor and director of the institute.

“We need to let our young people know of the struggle that resulted in the gains we have and the reality that we can’t afford to lose ground, we can’t become complacent,” Rhodes said.

The one-man show will be presented free again today for the public and CSUN students at 12:30 p.m. in the Campus Theater, 18111 Nordhoff St.