I


L" PrMrgaen aily
Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Black History at the White'U'


Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will PrevailS

NEWS PHONE: 764-0552

Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1968

NIGHT EDITOR: STEPHEN WILDSTROM


Maharishi 1
HINDUISM, an ancient, complex re-
ligion of ritual, creed and polythe-
ism, maintains that man, entangled in
the material world and "blind to his
inner spiritual nature, can overcomeI
these worldly distractions by his ownI
discipline and achieve harmony witha
divine reality.
In the Hindu view, all great religions
have validity. It is believed that God,
at various times, reincarnates himself
in material form on earth in responsej
to human need, these incarnations in-
clude Jesus Christ, Buddha, Moham-
med, and recently, Ramakrishna, who
died near Calcutta in 1886. 1
"Truth is one," says the Hindu scrip-
ture, Rig Vedas. "Sages call it by var-
ious names."
The traveling swami who has cap-
tured the widest attention lately is
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 56, who has
influenced various celebrities, includ-
ing the Beatles, and whose highly or-3
ganized East Coast appearances this
month drew big turnouts.
A;diminutive man, not more than 5
feet 2, with white hair, gray beard, a
double strand of beads around his neck
and flowers in his arms, he has a
vague, relaxed way about him, and
laughs often and easily.
WHEN NEWSMEN needled him with
questions about using public rela-
tions methods to spread his teachings,
he said genially, "I would use any
means to take people out of their suf-
ferings to freedom."
A member of the Hindu monks' order
of Shankarachary, his biographicalF
sketch says he spent 13 years in study
and meditation in the Himalayan
Mountains to become a holy man, and
has spent the last eight years touring
to spread his message.
His worldwide organization, the In-
ternational Meditation Society, now
includes 50 centers around the world,
with headquarters at a plush center in
Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, India, where
"meditation rooms" have soundproof
walls and indirect lighting.
His approach calls for 30 minutes in
the morning and 30 minutes in the
evening. Disciples are asked to con-
tribute a week's salary to the move-
ment to learn the technique.
HE SITS, legs folded, on a white deer-
skin rug, a small, bearded man in
a white toga with a thin, reedy voice.
The rug, followers explain, is to in-
sulate him from vibrations that would
disturb his serenity.
People today, he says, need "to ex-
perience the source of thought. It is the

[ahesh Yogi
reservoir of energy, harmony, intelli-
gence, bliss."
And it is realized, says the Maha-
rishi, through "transcendental medi-
tation"-a kind of relaxed focusing of
the mind on its clear, uncluttered cen-
ter-a discipline he advocates to cure
the world's woes.
"The answer is to let life be free
from suffering," he says, adding that
this freedom comes once inward medi-
tation dispells the petty drives and
circumstances that torment human be-
ings and cause their strife.
"For world peace, we have to have
peace for the individual, says the vis-
iting Hindu teacher.
IT'S AN esoteric message for the prag-
matic West, but it is one which is
gaining a widening following in this
country, through numerous swamis
of sundry methods, and a spreading
network of meditation centers in many
cities.
I.'s also an increasingly popular at-
traction in lecture halls and on college
campuses, where various visiting swa-
mis pack in the audiences.
Among students, "there's an unus-
ual amount of interest in Oriental
philosophy and the value of contem--
plation, said Yale's Catholic chaplain,
the Rev. Richard R. Russell.
"It seems to come from a kind of
frustration with social activisma sense
of despair at trying to change the
ghettos or stop the war, and a turn-
ing to a more inner search."
Altogether there are more than 100
Hindu teaching centers in the United
States. many of them started in recent
years, led by swamis-Indian monks
ordained to their orders, or by yogis,
ascetics who have mastered the yoga
technique and exercises.
"They're frequently called "our gu-
ru"-which also means teacher - by
followers, who include business execu-
tives, plumbers, lawyers, doctors, pro-
fessors, housewives and miniskirted
secretaries.
"My students are searching for
truth," says Swami Nikhilananda, 73,
who heads a Hindu center on Manhat-
tan's East 94th Street, its "puja" wor-
ship table covered with flower petals,
jars of oil and bright pictures of Hindu
deities.
"They're not running away from
life," the swami adds. "They're intel-
ligent, sensitive often successful peo-
ple, dissatisfied with life and society.
They are looking for meaning beyond
themselves."
-GEORGE CORNELL
AP Religion Writer

By RICHARD X
The author is a member of the
Afro-American Liberation movement
on campus and is a senior, major-
ing in mathematics, here at the
University.
THE VERY fact that so few
people, both black and white,
are aware of the great things that
black people have done, gives
credibility to the claim that black
people have been denied an inte-
gral part of their culture, that
black people have been denied
acknowledgement due to them by
their exclusion from the history of
the United States.
This has been and still is a
fundamental conspiracy of white
America to deny the black man's
contribution to the world--con-
tributions which black people had
to rise above the most stagger-
ing super-human odds to make.
This denial of the historical
achievements and contributions of
black people is directly related to
the educational system employed
by the United States.
For not only is this condition
characteristic of elementary and
secondary education, but it is also
present in our so-called higher
institutions of learning, such as
the University. Yes, the Universi-
ty, that great institution dedicat-
ed to the enlightenment and bet-
terment of the individualais defi-
nitely included. We feel that the
University's present courses in
American history have been de-
vised purposely to ignore the his-
torical achievements of black
people, and present a clear aware-
ness of their role in the past, what
it is today, and will continue to
be in building this so-called bas-
tion of democracy.
The true role of black people
in America must be preserved.
NOW, the fact that blacks are
not justly accounted for in the
history of the United States, ex-
cept at unavoidable points, is by
no means a freak accident. It was
and still is a fraction of a com-
plete, deliberate scheme to strip
black people of their past, and
sever them from any cultural heri-
tage save that fabricated by white
America.
For we must realize that many
of the problems which hinder the

black people's search for identity
and acknowledgement as a proud,
vibrant people in this country, is
a by-product of the brutal, exploi-
tive, dehumanizing nature of the
slave system that existed, and
still exists in this "freedom loving
country."
This program of, denying black
people a past was part of the
racist system that existed, exists
now, and will continue to exist in
this country so as to help create
a behavioral and mental deca-
dence in a previously proud hu-
man being -- to justify white
America's view, that blacks are
innately inferior.
This is part of the program that
America has forced on black peo-
ple, so that they would like and
think as if they were sub-human.
This program exists today and will
continue to exist-Unless ..
WE VIEW the establishment of
a Negro history course on this
campus, as one measure to help
alleviate one type of oppression
(denial) that is characteristic of
this society. (We realize that this
act does not really address itself
to the foundations of this racist
system, for it is only a measure
which seeks to reform a certain
limited aspect of this society.)
But we do feel that many of the
racist doctrines of this country
can be explained by the facts of
black history in the United States.
A black history course will make
duped blacks and "naive" racist
whites more aware of the pro-
grams instituted through the pro-
cess of enslavement that subjected
the African to a series of traumas
that severed black people from
their culture and institutions and
destroyed their sense of identity.
It will allow people to see the
harsh reality of what 400 years
of white oppression has done to
black peoples' personality and be-
havior. And for these reasons and
many more, we view it as abso-
lutely essential that black people
know their history, know their
roots, and develop ,an awareness
of their cultural heritage.
We must learn to know our-
selves in order to call a halt to the
established way of perpetuating
the idea that "we have no history
to speak of."

ALL THAT we ask of the his-
tory department is a revision of
the present curriculum in Ameri-
can History to give adequate ac-
knowledgement to the achieve-
ments of black people by the es-
tablishment of a Negro history
course.
The question has been asked, "If
we construct a course specifically
for Negroes, does this not mean
we will have to devise courses for
every minority group in these
United States?" We concede the
fact that we are not the only mi-
nority group in the United States,
but it must be conceded to us
black people hat we are the larg-
est minority group in this coun-
try.
Black people have been consis-
tently and systematically regulat-
ed to a very small role in publica-
tions which are used as standard
history texts in most educational
institutions. The only group of
people receiving adequate ac-
knowledgement in the history of
America are white.
We feel, and we know, that we
should have redress for these se-
rious wrongs on the part of white
America, in view of the fact that
we have contributed heavily to the
welfare of this country. One feas-
ible way to help correct this situ-
ation is to offer a course on the
history of black people in this
country.
NOW, if this suggestion does
not correlate with your type of
thinking, that is to say, you feel
that you are giving too much to
black people; then it should ease
your conscience that this is one
manner in which you as a mem-
ber of the so-called intellectual
community can help to alleviate
one great social ill of white Amer-
ica.
But still, even if you do not wish
to adopt this program, then let
the history department of this
University offer a course on the
minority groups of the United
States, therefore definitely elim-
inating the argument that blacks
are being offered a special course
on their own roots. Obviously this,
handles that democratic axiom-
if Negroes get a special course on
their ancestors in America, then
the Polish, the Germans, etc:,

1,.i i~
ROM) LT ~ ~AS~-4ToGTIA /

*

should also get a special course.
If the history department re-
fuses to recognize and consider
our petition despite its concrete
and irrefutable arguments, which
we very well know are wholly,
thoroughly, and completely cor-
rect, then it will only reinforce
and give added testimony to the
fact that the history department
of the University is indeed biased
in scope.
We are not demanding nor ac-
cepting any old type of black his-
tory course which we very well
know this University can dredge
up. We want a history course with
a thorough treatment of the slave
trade (1619-1807), the economic
development of the youth and the
North by black slave labor, the
Civil War and Reconstruction, and
up to (and including) the present
day dehumanizing forces to which
black people are still subjected.
FURTHERMORE, there appear
to be people in the history depart-

ment who can offer such a course.
It has been reported that Profes-
sors Freehling and S. Warner Jr.,
will offer six lectures on Negro
history to Ann Arbor High School
teachers beginning February 6.
Now, either they are authorities
on Negro History hiding under Mr.
Willcox's nose, in his own depart-
ment or they are imposters who
propose to teach what they do not
know! ! ! Perhaps Freehling whose
field is the Civil War will give
three lectures on slavery and
Varner whose, field is urban his-
tory will give three lectures on
"Why Negroes Make the Cities
Unsafe." Or perhaps they will
combine their knowledge and pre-
sent "Negro History in Six Easy
Lessons."
Our voice must be heard, re-
spected and followed in the plan-
ning and actual establishment of
such a course. This is the only
possible way for a black history
course to be formulated correctly!

'A

I
awwwwwonummoo

The

Det


The Pueblo Realization

LAST TUESDAY'S CAPTURE of the
U.S.S. Pueblo and its crew of 83 could
prove to be a blessing in disguise if the
inciacent doesn't blow up into a renewal
of,the 1950 Korean conflict.
Since the official U.S. reaction which
has -avoided incendiary statements and
moved in the direction of diplomatic
channels' renewed fighting doesn't seem
very likely. Clearly the Navy has been
caught with its pants down. One report
indicates the co-ordinates of the Pueb-
lo's position when it first acknowledged
contact with the Koreans were approxi-
mately six miles from shore-well within
North Korea's claimed 12 mile limit
which the United States recognizes when
It is conducting legitimate maritime op-
erations. Secondly, if the ship's equip-
ment wasn't destroyed by Captain Bu-
zher, the North Koreans have gathered
all the information they desire regard-
ing its electronic spy devices, so there
is little tangible value in the denuded
ship, other than the Navy's pride.
IN ONE SENSE the North Korean ac-
tion was directed to influence the
Soviet Union as much as the United
States. While the government of Pyon-
gyang considers itself to be independ-
ent in the Sino-Soviet schism, it has
disparaged at what it considers to be a
lax Soviet policy regarding Vietnam.

around the world. The Russians, simul-
taneously, have been seeking greater
accord with the United States and West-
ern powers. In fact, the week before the
Pueblo incident the Soviet Union finally
came to terms with the United States
on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Trea-
ty, a treaty considered essential in
strengthening East-West relations. The
Soviets have been forced to rebuff two
U.S. requests that they act as a mediator
in negotiations to secure return of the
ship and its crew because in such ne-
gotiations they would lose face with the
Asian communist world.
Consequently, there is little else that
the United States can do to facilitate
the North Koreans' return of the ship
or its men except exert military pres-
sures. But if military action is taken, it
is probable that both the ship and the
iives of its crew will be jeopardized.
Such a situation could lead to a large
scale conflict, committing the U.S. to a
second major front in Asia, while allow-
ing the North Koreans to realize their
goal of diverting the American effort in
Vietnam.
IN THE coming months the precarious-
ness of our Asian power position will
become more apparent when the British
pull out of Malaysia and the Persian
Gulf.

The following article is a letter to The
Daily by Michael Gordon Dworkin, a grad-
uate student in economics at the Univer-
sity and editor of the Detroit Daily Press,
ono of the city's interim strike newspapers.
Mr. Dworkin's comments are in response
tV a two-part series by Daniel Okrent pub-
lished on The Daily Editorial Page Jan. 18
r'nd 19.
In tomorrow's Dily, Okrent will answer
Dworkin's charges concerning the original
a'rticles.
I RESENT having myself and the Detroit
Press impugned because of the inex-
perience and incompetence of Daniel
Okrent. I regret that his simple-minded
analysis of the Detroit newspaper situ-
atior. adds further to the confusion.
I take extreme exception to Okrent's
innuendoes and his attempt to attribute
"reprehensible" motives and actions to me
and the Daily Press without speaking to
me or to anyone else connected with the
management of the Daily Press.
His articles were so filled with inac-
curacies that one is almost willing to for-
give his errors of omission, his misleading
statements and his uninformed and naive
opinions.
OKRENT referred several times to an
article written by William Serrin and
Gene Goltz for the Reporter magazine.
That story was written at the instigation
of the Detroit Free Press in an attempt to
discredit the interim newspapers and the
Daily Press in particular. The entire staff
on the Free Press is aware of the con-
siderations to be given Serrin and Goltz
in return.
I have already received a personal apol-
ogy from one of the authors for some of
the misleading and inaccurate "facts"
cited in the Reporter article. Since he ap-
pears to have got much of his informa-
tion from that story, perhaps Okrent
ought to contact the authors to learn
to truth.
Okrent's naivete first shows when he
attributes the demise of a "clutch of New
York papers" to craft union problems.
While the unions certainly did play a role,
he totaly disregards the part played by
the publishers' stupidity and their re-
actionary attitudes toward labor.
He ignored completely the long list of
factors that have nothing whatever to do
with labor problems.
His attempt to equate the Detroit situ-
ation to New York's is ludicrous, as is his
assertion that a publishers' agreement was
responsible for killing the Detroit Times.
OKRENT'S knowledge of the Detroit
Free Press' financial status should sur-
prise John Knight. Mr. Knight would no
doubt like to know where Okrent got his
information, since it is a closely held
secret. It is inconceivable that Knight, an
astute businessman, should have carried
the Free Press at a loss for the many,
many years he has owned it.
My information has it that the Free
hPess is a nrofitablep newsuaner. Rumors

I roit Dullj1
Since Knight enjoys a monopoly in
every city he publishes, except Detroit
and Miami, where the Herald is probably
the most profitable paper in the country,
it is unlikely that the Herald "makes the
profits for his five-paper chain."
Okrent's assertion that advertisers who
later "decide to go back to only one of the
dailies necessarily opt for the higher-
circulating News' again shows his ig-
norance.
Many advertisers are much smarter
than Okrent and they examine who is
buying the paper where, as well as how
many papers are sold.
THERE ARE many more factors in-
volved, including the News' dominance in
classified advertising and the reasons for
it. Okrent displays little understanding of
them
Moreover, he shows little knowledge of
Detroit's circulation patterns and the
demographic and economic factors that
contribute to them, as well as the differ-
ences in the circulation systems of the two
papers.
He blithely asserts that Detroiters who
decide to buy only one paper after the
strike will necessarily buy the News.
Okrent's most patently false statement
is "after each strike there automatically
comes a price increase."
Okrent has obviously never tried to run
a newspaper, since he asserts that the
Free Press has "started to break even (via
a vigorous circulation campaign . . .)."
Surely even he must know that it cost
more to print a paper than it can be sold
for.
I challenge Okrent to prove that the
Free Press' increased circulation is re-
sponsible for its increased advertising
linage and its "improved" financial posi-=
tion.gMany economists would be inter-
ested in the techniques he will have to
invent.
OKRENT'S speculation about the pos-
sibility of-the News killing the Free Press .
makes no mention of the actions of the
Free Press following the death of the
Detroit Times.
When the News bought Hearst's Times
it paid for two things basically: the
Times' new presses and its circulation
lists
The Free Press outsmarted the News,
however, and hired a number of key Times
circulation personnel who brought their
circulation with them. The paper's cir-
culation soared and Free Press officials
congratulated themselves for the great
"coup" they had pulled off.
But their happiness did not last long.
The Free Press attempted to put out an
evening edition in competition with the
News and lost its corporate shirt. The
poor, poor Free Press.
Newspaper publishers are as venal a
group to be found anywhere. They are
only more hypocritical, in general, than

During the 1962-63 strike in New York
the following papers were published: the
Daily Report, the Metropolitan Daily, the
Standard, the Chronicle and the Inde-
pendent.
Okrent leaves to the reader's imagina-
tion just what is questionable about our
history. If he has evidence that we have
broken the law let him produce it.
For the record, I categorically deny that
the conduct of the Daily Press is in any
way "questionable." We have dealt with
others as we expected to be treated,
though we were disappointed at times.
HE CALLS the Daily Press a "journal-
istic atrocity." He is entitled to his opin-
ions; they are inconsequential. Time
magazine called the 1964, Daily Press a.
"polished product." Writing in the Co-
lumbia Journalism Review (Winter, 1965),
Richard Rustin of the New York Times
said "A visitor to Detroit picking up a
copy of the Daily Press could have been
excused for doubting (a strike) had ever
begun." The 1967-68 version of the Daily
Press was much better.
The Daily Press, alone of the interim
papers, was caught unaware by the strike.
It took more than three days to put out
the first issue-six to be exact.
There are seven individuals involved in
the Daily Press, 1967, Inc., not three. We
did not have to find a printer; the print-
ers were looking for us.
The men who put out the Daily Dis-
patch were nearly all laid-off employes of
Okrent's beloved Free Press and were
thus hardly "far removed from profes-
sional journalism" for whatever that is
worth. The "stillborn" Daily Times had
no connection whatever with the Fifth
Estate, as the boss of a large Detroit
printing plant will sadly attest.
OKRENT seems to imply that there is
something illicit in rewriting the news
from radio reports and other newspapers.
Is this any more illicit than the behavior
of the wire services that refused to sell
their news to us? Rewriting news from
other papers dates back to the publication
of the second newspaper in the United
States and is widespread today.
The Daily Press is even now considering
a suit against the Associated Press and
its subscribers for transmitting verbatim
stories written and developed by Daily
Press reporters.
The Daily Press would have liked very
much to have secured wire service. It of-
fered to buy these services at inflated
prices and was turned down cold.
Perhaps Okrent is unaware that the
Daily Press Inc. is currently suing the
United Press International in a -civil
antitrust action in the federal district
court in Detroit.
The Daily Press was not without whim-
sical touches. We never took ourselves
as seriously as Okrent takes himself. But
I c~hallenge him to produce one cony of

THE DAILY PRESS did not resort to
"Hearst-ish" sensationalizing of crime. It
did not put its top reporters on the police
beat and never once used "archaisms"
like "Gun Moll" and "Ax Man" in its
headlines. To be sure, crime was reported.
It affects people's lives,-real people.
Yes, the Daily Press referred to a man
who had just been convicted of man-
slaughter as a "grinning killer." The man
was convicted of murder, was grinning
and laughing, kissing his lawyer and
shouting "thank you, thank you."
Most Detroiters were following the case
for months before the strike. The article
in the Daily Press was short and was not
prominently displayed.
It 4may interest Okrent to know that
the Daily Press was in the process of
doing a background story on the man to
demonstrate that he was in need of psy-
chiatric treatment, , not imprisonment,
when publication was suspended.
How Okrent can call the Daily Press
"almost identical" to the Free Press is
beyond my comprehension. Even a lay-
man could challenge that assertion.
I categorically deny the truth of
Okrent's references to me and a "strike
paper in Baltimore."
FURTHERMORE, his assertion that,
laid-off Free Press employes at the Daily
Press "pick up relatively small paychecks"
is a viscious canard. Daily Press editorial
employes were paid more than what they
had been receiving at the Free Press. The
implication that they were being exploited
is utterly unwarranted and false.
The implication of Okrent's references
to the Daily Press is that it is a somewhat
shady operation trading on the tisery of
the Ajax White Knight Free Press and
its hapless employes, as well as the cit-
izens of Detroit. No one forced the Free
Press to close its doors and lay off its em-
ployes before Christmas. No one forced
several hundred thousand people to buy
the Daily Press every day.
The Daily Press did not solicit the hun-
dreds of letters it received offering to sub-
scribe should publication continue after
the strike. It was laid-off Free Press em-
ployes who inserted an editorial in the
paper behind my back replying to the lies
of Serrin and Goltz.
FINALLY, I must admit that' I am
rather pleased that whatever profits were
made came while we tweaked the nose of'
the Detroit Establishment. Unfortunately,
I must disclaim full responsibility, as I
chose to continue my studies here, rather
than run the Daily Press.
The Daily Press had the temerity to at-
tack what is currently the city's most
sacred cow, the New Detroit Committee,
and tell its erstwhile leader that he should
be better off returning to his emporium
and peddling curtains. I am glad we had

Press Responds

VI