'I I AMW - n B a u 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 --4. .. Where Opinlohs Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Truth Will Prevail 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. - I TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: STEVE NISSEN More One-Man, One-Vote: A Boon for Black Power? THIS WEEKEND of racial strife under- scores the little noticed implications of last week's Supreme Court decision extending the one-man one-vote doctrine to cover city, town and county govern- ments. While the decision in no way forbids at-large elections of councilmen and school board officials, it seems likely that a district system in most urban areas would provide the most effective means of implementing this decision. A 1965 sociological study points up the relevance of this shift to the current American racial 'situation. According to the Christian Science Monitor, this study of riots in American cities between 1910 and 1961 discovered that there was a great likelihood of uprisings in cities which elect officials at-large rather than on a ward or district basis. The reasons for this are fairly obvious. One of the considerations which led to rioting, when such outbreaks were the exception rather than the norm, was a feeling of extreme helplessness in influ- encing local government. The gulf between minority citizens and local government was felt far more keen- ly in an at-large situation where minor- ity groups votes were often counterbal- anced by votes from other portions of, the city. This difference between at-large and district systems of voting is especially important in light of the rise of black power and the growing Negro self-aware- ness. For /under a district system, it would be much easier for minority groups to have their own representatives on councils, rather khan having to appeal to a politician who plays off their needs against the needs of his other consti- tuents.. RELATED TO THIS is the anomaly of American civic life that even in those communities where council members are elected on district basis, the school board is almost inevitably elected at-large. The best proposals in this direction are variations on the Bundy Plan in, New York for decentralized school boards. But the idea that this venture will overcome white resistance in many communities is utopian. Consequently, the adoption of a ward system in school board as well as council elections would, at least to some degree, alleviate the inequities of white dominated school boards running largely black school systems in our major cities. A further aspect of this extension of the one-man, one-vote doctrine is the implicit attack on traditional urban malapportionment practices. This takes on added importance since the most like- ly victims of this sort of civic gerryman- dering are minority groups whose voting power is consistently diluted by various artifices, YET ALL THESE changes are small palliatives when viewed against the backdrop of unresponsive, city govern- ment across the country. For it is diffi- cult to see city government as an organ of black advancement as long as Daley, of Chicago and Yorty of Los Angeles represent the norm. * Last week's Supreme Court decision merely removes one small obstacle in the way of blacks of the ghetto taking con- trol of their own lives. But it is a further indication of the responsiveness of American institutions that even this tiny lead had to come from the Supreme Court. -WALTER SHAPIRO p} . 4 ."x '4 4 3t 1 < _ 1 -K ' . - t "eyl r .ia~ yS F1' r tL j".. . d I-"I r 4e iff l. A e " .r y c: r y j' F ' r! '[y' R {i \ , ' N SKAf.trp d . r f' "F t a i i ... 4 "-4, . r.":.: , rt r iy 4 i / * [ i" ° .t% ;, f t -4" 1 [ 7 ,p L A'1 . 4 + . t... t r ) - S ; f t1 A t , . <; r ' .4' 4TNf o00THING AMOOT As51 JNs, OR. KNO)i5 1 ThTA1 Y TI NK 1N 'V EKILOfI +YOU." Letters to the E Echoes of Non-Choice jN A POLITICAL system where the established big-paper pundits have recently been dipping below. .300, Daily editorialists have been straining for .250. On a host of issues in the past few weeks alone, our predictions have borne an es- pecially marked lack of resemblance to the actual denouements. The, following editorial is reprinted as much to bolster our sagging self-confidence as to show our readers that ocassionally in the past at least we have hit a few nails squarely. Moreover, the way things are going, the views expressed in it could be as relevant for November 1968 as they were for November 1964: On the surface, what happens tonight in San Francisco will be the most sig- nificant event of the 1964 presidential campaign. That is only. on the surface, however, for no matter who the GOP nominates, the race for the White House will, be insipid, ultimately meaningless. if, by some unlikely miracle, William Scranton pulls the 655 delegate votes he needs, the campaigning in the coming months will do little more than repeat the issueless show of 1960. The voter will have no more real choice than he had between Kennedy and Nixon. Being the incumbent, Johnson would have little reason to be on the offensive; he can well afford, in current political thinking, to run on his record. Agreeing with him on virtually all ends and dis- agreeing only sporadically on means, Scranton would have little on which to base his campaign except the old, mean- ingless partisan platitudes. But Barry Goldwater will almost cer- tainly be handed the GOP presidential endorsement. He will wage a campaign that can do nothing but bring victory to Lyndon Johnson. But the victory will be by default, for in essence there will be only one candidate remotely capable of being President, and any national voter will have to vote for him. TO THE POLITICAL pundits, Gold- water's certain candidacy will finally bring the voter a real choice of policies. Yet, for the majority of voters in Novem- ber-and it will be a far larger majority than elected Kennedy in 1960 or can be counted by party affiliations-there will be no real choice. How will one choose between continu- lives lost senselessly? How will one choose between a piecemeal, token war on pov- erty and no attempt at all, when the needs of the dispossessed in America are so great? How will one choose between our current halting disinterest in the United Nations and possibly not belong- ing at all, when the medieval concept of national sQvereignty holds suicide and impotence over all the world's states? How will one choose between a foreign aid program which, among other and bet- ter pursuits, supports dictatorships in Spain, Iran, Korea and other places, and no foreign aid at all? How will one choose between an administration reluctantly enforcing a civil rights bill that for all its uniqueness is still weak, an adminis- tration worried more about political coalition of the North and South than the needs of one-tenth of its population -versus an administration headed by a man who believes the bill unconstitu- tional and, would leave matters to the states?- Indeed one can make a choice, but it will be between a little and nothing. This is the saddest prospect of the com- ing campaign, that there is no candidate for those who believe something effective must be done in this country. It would be far better if Scranton ran against Johnson, so that there really was no choice at all. In that case, rea- sonable men could conscientiously do the only meaningful thing left -them. They could, without fear, simply not vote, re- fusing to choose the lesser of two evils merely because the necessity of choice had been imposed on them. Alas, Goldwater will run and the rea- sonable man will have to return Johnson to office.. Could he live with himself if he- struck at the polls and let the ex- tremists in the nation elect Goldwater? YET WHEN the conventions are over and the distasteful job of re-electing Johnson has been done, it will be time for citizens to ponder the meaning of the 1964 sham. It will be time for imagination and creativity about the possibilities for government, for the posing of reasonable policies. It will be time for indignation over the uneducation of voters on the facts of issues and alternatives. It will be time for the courage to say, "I will not choose between equally un- satisfactory alternatives simply because Fabrication To the Editor: THINK that Martin Luther King held a very special place in every white liberal's mind and heart. He was the last link of communication with the black militants, and he was the vora- cious leader of the ideal of non- violence. My contact with Dr. King oc- curred last summer in Atlanta at the SCLC Convention - a non- very-impressive gathering of the, delegates from the Conference states who attempt to co-ordinate and formulate policies. During the Conference Dr. King sponsored a "Black is Beautiful and It's So Beautiful to Be Black" evening at a local Baptist Church in res- ponse to the Negro militants cry for a black consciousness and a black identity. The usual gospel singers wailed their spirituals: the Reverend King read the achie- vements 'of Negro Americans; wo- men modeled the Afro-American fashions and exhibited the Afri- can hair styles. But the irony of the evening came when Mrs. King came out in a shimmering whited ress, page- boy hair-do, and, in a perfect Midwestern accent, recited a poem by Langston Hughes. I think that at that point Dr. King could no longer hide his embarrassment at the whole affair, for the Rever- end King has committed his entire life to one of equality, both black and white. King saw a fabricated culture as a means of appeasing the more militant rather than as a stool for creating racial identity. YET, AS FIRMLY adherent to non-violence as he was, his people were constantly abandoning his ideal; in 1963 23 per cent of all Negroes felt that some kind of violence was inevitable, and that figure must be much higher by now. But gallantly he remained steadfast in his convictions. One day he recalled Ghandi's remark which so tragically rings true today, perhaps the Blackest of all times: "There go my people. I must catch them, for I am their leader." -David Shapiro '70 Nihil Novi... To the Editor: BY THE TIME you get this let- ter, it will all be past history. But the implications of the mur- der of Martin Luther King won't die. Black on white, white on black - the struggle has intensi- fied, and furiously continues to its frenzied conclusion. Nonvio- lence is the theme of too few. The vast majority of Americans re- main, all too many, at the other extreme. Dr. King raised the ques- tion of whether white and black people could live , together in peace. On a balcony in Memphis, he got his answer in the back of the neck. Negroes arise ,- blame the whites ! Whites arise - blame the South! The wretched king is dead; his turmoil is not. He is praised, and eulogized - and his way and work are forgotten. There are' riots in Washington and De- troit which fittingly commemor- ate his passing. University stu- dents, typically American, march in solemn tribute, and then re- turn to the old ways, to the old biases, doing nothing. A Negro American has died, but nothing has changed. There is fresh blood, black and white, in the streets tonight. -Richard Bolan, '69 'Honorary?' To the Editor: CONTEMPLATING the tragedy of Dr. King's death, it was with a heavy heart that I headed across the Diag Friday afternoon. As I noted a large crowd near the General Library, puzzlement quickly turned to disgust as I real- ized that it was in behalf of the initiation activities of one of our "Honorary" fraternities.'Couldn't' they forego these juvenile antics in the face of our national trage- dy? Is this the basis of their claim to honor? -Carolyn Duffy '68 Memorial To the Editor: HAVE JUST RETURNED from the memorial tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King and, as an embarrassed member of the Uni- versity community, feel that I must speak out. Those who attend the nservice found themselves seated in a seg- regated manner, "black" students in front,, "white" students else- where, and were regaled withthe_ old 'get out and act, you white bastards' line. The very fact that the death of this crusader is mourned nationally, that our President has postponed his plans, and that the television coverage of the event approached that of the assassination 'of President Kennedy, indicates that, for the past couple of decades, people have been acting. Of course, there is no denying that we as Americans have far to go, but let's all try to get there as Americans and not as "blacks" and "whites." --Elizabeth Scott Jannot, Grad. Prognosis To the Editor: MARTIN LUTHER KING is dead. Lyndon Johnson, Hu- bert Humhrey, even George Wal- lace mouth the appropriate com- ments. But, there are really no words. Since 1946 the English language has been emptied of meaning. Only silence expresses the feeling, and the feeling is numbness. No other response con- i tor veys the horror, the despair, the outrage over the man's death. Martin Luther King offered hope . to the Negro, but to the whiteman he offered salvation.' We can lay h blame for oppres- sion and injustice onthose who went before us; but It is we now who must right the wrongs. Those who intone the high-sounding eu- logies cannot lead us: their grote- sque version of America and the world keeps them too busy jus- tifying and spending $100 billion worth of death and destruction'. Those who pretend to ' repre- sent us are too busy coveting their Congressionalpowers, to- gether or alone : mean, "little men, concerned with violence only when it is aimed at the white, here or abroad, and concerned with order only when it is. threatened by Ne- groes or revolutionaries. The prognosis is not very hope- ful., -Judy Perloe Scholarship To the Editor: SHOULD like to suggest (per- haps I am not the first) that the best memorial this University could give the great and good mnan whom we lost this week, is to establish a Martin Luther King memorial scholarship. If everyone who was in, Hill Auditorium Friday noon would contribute $10, that would make a sum of $40,000, possibly enough for a scholarship for one im- poverished student right there. If everyone present contributed only $1, that would make $4,000, or a good start on a scholarship fund. I am sending a check to Presi- dent Fleming right now. Are you with me? -Virginia Von Schon Martin Luther King: By DEAN SCHENKER Daily Guest Writer First of Two Parts ON THE STREET before me walks a pack of young thugs. Rifles in hand, this weekend they may kill a few blacks, the blacks who refuse to cower and say "yes, Sir" to "Mistah Charlie." The murderers will have no sense of personal guilt: they will never be brought into a court of justice. For they are the National Guard, sanctioned op- pressors "above the law" and symbols of our' society's paranoia and sickness. ,This weekend's orgy of lachrymose self-flagellation, church-going and prayers, cannot expiate our guilt. The tears, real and crocodile, will accomplish nothing. The telegram (was Richard Nixon, painfully recalling 1960, the first politician to remember the black vote and send a telegram?) and condolences ring even more empty, for simul- taneously the senders mobilize the military. Grief will lead to neither understanding nor improvement. First we must acknowledge that America is a violent society. The most appropriate comment, the only one that rings true, remains Malcolm X's "chickens come home to roost.Martin Luther King's death was no accident; the bullet is a suitable American fashion. Press and TV constantly bombard us with pictures and reports of bombings and body counts. Perhaps we are supposed to revel in the idea of '4commie dead," as if someone we disagree with has no soul nor right to live. Perhaps we are supposed to treat it simply as enter- tainment, something unimportant and apart from our own lives. But we pay our taxes and tolerate our government's monopoly of 'legitimized' violence, always assumingno personal guilt. Why are Stokley and Rap Brown wrong? They characterize America as a violent land. Who, today, would dare refuting them? Vietnam is the great American extravaganza, an unending TV spectacular and testament to our capacity for killing. The popular- ity of gangster and western shows testifies to our distaste for peaceful civilization, our longing for violent actions as the most satisfying means of personal and national self-fulfillment. John Wayne, anti-intellectual with gun in hand, is the mass's ctilture hero; the literati have their Bonnie and Clyde. In all of us resides the violence of the American frontier spirit. Martin Luther King understood this. His pacifism was a tactical weapon, a technique of moral and politically non-violent warfare to defeat an enemy with superior arms. He hoped, by not hurting us, by not arousing our hatred, to accomplish his ends peacefully. He realized that if white America ever allowed its sometimes latent fears and hatred to surface the black men of America would be slaughtered, He appealed to our conscience and sense of guilt, for he knew the black man lacked-and still does-the physical force to take his due. Strictly speaking, as a black man and voice for the disenfranchised, King was a threat and mortal enemy to the satisfied middle-classes and the government. But since in every crisis (as in Birmingham after the church bombing and murder of the 4 young girls) he exerted him- self to prevent violence, he could be regarded as:"our man," i.e. useful to the government and middle-classes frightened for their status, property, and bodies. Non-violence was also helpful, from the govern- ment's point of view, in ,that it could mean preventing any effective action whatever. King called on white America to repent; he didn't demand our money and pore outright. The respect and' gentleness with which he was treated was no doubt partly due to this feeling that he was useful. The syrupy eulogies tinged with sadness on King's death, are more than a little motivated by fear, fear that now no one can control -the black resentment and fury. King himself probably could not have done it. The black middle classes respected him; the ghetto youths alternately laughed and sneered: "What has he accomplished?" He appealed to the best in- stincts of white and black, but long years of frustration and token achievements made non-violence seem worthless. Far more than King ever was, Carmichael and 'Brown are the democrats of the ghetto, speaking the language of the street and bluntly expressing the dis- enchantment and anger. Respectable society and the government refuse to listen to their voices. The government has no more program for our streets. Today it relies on the tank and machine gun. The government has no one left it can use to control the ghetto's passions. In an ironic sort of way King was important as the last possible lin between govern- ment and ghetto. No one listens to the Toms, the Whitney Youngs and Roy Wilkenses. The government and press deify them as "responsible Negroes," but they have no following. They rush in these non-leaders to ghetto trouble spots, or put them on TV, tA. no effect. (Recall how last July the black man even hooted Rep- resentative Conyers off the Detroit street;s.) Malcolm X, who the government also tried using, died like King. Brown and the black militants refuse to accept the flattery, promises, or petty legislation which in practice changes nothing. Now will we do anything to eliminate the causes of street anger? It seems unlikely. But a tired government ,and Vietnam are not the only reasons. The civil rights bills of the early 60's were given by the government because the U.S. must conduct a foreign policy in Africa and a world %'s of which is non-white. This is why Senator Drksen, with his State Department ties, supported them. In private this was sometimes cynically admitted. But the ghettoes remain and the current civil rights bill and other so-called ameliorative legislation are as meaningless as their predecessors. Perhaps, toward the end, King himself saw this, for he was trying to shift tactics and objectives. Belatedly he had come to realize that the legal rights secured by the 1964 Bill achieved next to nothing. In the North they were unimportant, in the South evaded or unenforced. They only had publicity value for Africa and the moderate leadership. But how would the white leadership have reacted to King's planned "March of the Poor?" Would his reception by government leaders have been so gentle as in the past? Unlikely, and the ghetto's black children will continue attending overcrowded schools, schools receiving in- adequate funds and staffed by underpaid and often incompetent teachers. King's demand for real equality, for real opportunity for the black man to get out of the ghetto, would have been curtly refused. Oh, the government will grant open housing. But, put bluntly, what good is open housing legislation' if the black man has little chance to get an education or job? Without these the legal right to move out of the ghetto is a meaningless right. (Although it may be some satis- faction to the small black elite.) But in general the white man keeps running to the distant homogeneous suburbs, while the ghetto just expands-remaining the home for the excluded. 4 I 4 Investigation To the Editor: SINCE THERE is some question as to who killed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, why doesn't President Johnson reconvene the Warren Commission to find out. --John Koza, Grad. Spock Case To the Editor: IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME since I took a high school civic course, but I seem to remember a system of checks and balances provided for by the Constitution. That is why I was particularly alarmed by the government's statement in the Spock trial. "The exercise of executive and legisla- tive power . . . is not subject to judicial examination." If the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in the legality of our government's actions, then who does? After a president is elected, are we subject to his every whim for four years, with no legal re- course short of an amendment to the Constitution? Once again the bureaucracy as- sumes more power than that ac- corded to it by both its citizens and the Constitution. If I had any doubts before, concerning the creditability of our present admin- istration, they are gone now. Our democracy has become a farce. * * By ROBERT HAY KING WALKED on montainous will, Pointing to the white fences Across the valley, walking down With dark-footed shadows, In search of closed doors, rooms Filled with empty people, filled I 1 1 alf F I ",z;