Griffin Speaks

A TRAGEDY AT MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

I received a telephone call on November 3rd, 2002 from a friend informing me that there had been a tragedy at Morehouse College. I immediately asked him what happened. He told me that Gregory Love, a junior at Morehouse, was beaten with a baseball bat approximately six to seven times, about the face, head, shoulders, back and arms in the bathroom shower in Brazeal Hall dormitory. He was beaten because allegedly he looked at another male student in the shower.

The victim, according to my source gave a very believable explanation for looking at the male in the other shower. The victim supposedly lost his contact lenses and was searching for them in the other male student’s shower stall. This incident has prompted charges of homophobia at Morehouse College, the black Harvard of the south.

Gregory Love was transported to the Atlanta Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull, which required twenty stitches. The victim was released from the hospital on November 6, but continues to recover in the Morehouse College Infirmary. He is predicted to make a full recovery.

Aaron Price, the son of Chicago minister, Rev. Jerome Price, pastor of the St. Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago was the student that mistakenly thought the victim was gay. According to my source, Mr. Price asked Mr. Love what he was looking at? Mr. Love responded “I thought you were my roommate.” Mr. Love left Mr. Price’s shower stall and began to shower in another stall. A few minutes later Mr. Price returned with a baseball bat and began attacking Mr. Love. Fortunately the victim did not die.

Mr. Love has vehemently denied that he is gay. He is a music major and member of the Morehouse College Glee Club. Mr. Love says that his parents can attest to the fact that he is not gay. Mr. Price was arrested on November 4th, on charges of aggravated assault. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 20th.

When I was a student at Morehouse College in 1976 an incident such as this would have never happened. In fact I can not recall any homophobia during that time period. 

Homosexuality is something that is very uncommon at Morehouse College, the only all black male college in America. However, occasionally some gay people do enroll. The Morehouse that I remember would not tolerate intolerance of any type. What happened on November 3rd was a horrible mistake. However even if the victim had in fact been gay, Mr. Price would have been wrong to react as he did. During my era the student would have simply tried to help Mr. Love find his contact lenses without ever thinking that Mr. Love was making a pass at him.

I guess what I am really trying to convey in this article is that most Morehouse men simply have the attitude: “TO EACH HIS OWN, AS THE OLD LADY SAID WHILE SHE KISSED THE GORILLA.” Greg Griffin is a free-lance writer. You can read his previous articles by logging on to www.greggriffin.com