Subscribe To This Site
Georgia Military College Alumni
(Black Boys and Girls)
Georgia Military College (GMC) Alumni
Alma Mater: “GMC Black Boys and Girls, Now, outstanding Men and Women”
This all began with the GMC JC graduating class of 1976. Welcome! This website is not about revenge, but back then, you made us different. Today, 2010, where did that difference go?
The graduation class of “76” was and still is all about change. We were the first large (about 15 member) group of black youth, cadets and civilians, young men and women, who embarked upon an educational opportunity at GMC and got well more than what we bargained.
I also want to say THANK YOU to those classmates of ours who also helped blaze the path to the racial equality GMC so eloquently enjoys today. We had a lot of fun and above all, we learned to respect and love one another. The problems were not so much with the students, as much as with the staff and faculty of GMC. Above all, those challenges are what made us so resilient and unique.
Due to the military structure and dormitory environment, it was even more difficult to make moral and ethical decisions, during the heat of the battle. Things happened so fast and furious, there was “very little time to phone home and graduate on time”. You are talking 1969 - 1976, so with every scoop of dirt thrown, we learned to step up on it.
This website is a platform created to reach out to that particular group of students, which during those times, Georgia Military College cared less about their future. GMC wanted the money, but they did not want the black students. Where could we go for help? . From 1879 to present, the embarrassing and inhumane treatment was "swept in a closet under the carpet", for who’s protection? What happened to that closet? It has and still is being passed on from one generation to the next, a little piece of that closet is carried away by each student. So the closet cannot dissappear, it can only be cleaned. Not just average but better was the only way we could survive.
I am sure other schools have had these same experiences, but why did we sweep them under the carpet? Racism, reckon GMC has made significant progress in that area? Any signs of remorse or amends? It was always our fault? How are we suppose to get along today? How can we openly and honestly move forward if we never admit and openly face "our greatest fears", just as we face ours, so boldly as the day we committed them? The honor code? The penal system? Students whose lives were forever damaged by the closet of hate, fear, and racism? Where is your reaching back and connecting? How can we have a better country and esprit de corps? How can we help to change our bleak looking future together?
Where was the turning point, lessons learned, new codes and new conduct? How can we trust you with our children? Will it be the same as our parents trusting you with us? We are “not lost, Blest thought, But gone before, Where we shall meet To Part no more.”—Author Unknown. Which is much of the life story of these young men today.
Our invitation is extended to include all minorities attending school at Georgia Military College, today and yesterday, high school and college.
If you are or were a minority student at GMC, we would be honored if you were so courageous, as to identify yourself and include your contact information. We will keep you posted about our progress.
The Bulldog Spirit,
your inner voice.com
***Personal Informaton submitted will be openly displayed at the bottom of this page***
Arthur Ross Thomas, Milledgeville, GA, 478-452-2597 HS 74, JC 76, aart1@windstream.net, www.your-inner-voice.com
