l4e mic4igan Dai t
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
one too many mornings
E ncounter at an oasis
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420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
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.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT SCHREINER
The Attica Revolt
TWENTY-EIGHT PRISONERS and nine
hostages perished before the on-
slaught of well over a thousand "law en-
forcement" officials at Attica state prison
in New York Monday.
Since the smoke has cleared, questions
have been raised about the attack. Was
there no way such an action could have
been averted?
To this question, New York S t a t e
Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald
answers, "To have delayed action a n y
longer would not only have jeopardized
innocent lives but would have threaten-
ed the security system in this state.
"Armed rebellion of this type we have
faced threatens the destruction of our
free society. We cannot permit that de-
struction to happen."
OSWALD'S CONCERN for the "innocent
lives" seems highly 'incongruous after
40 men died following his order to attack
prisoner-held sections of the prison.
That the hostages were killed as a re-
sult of Oswald's order is now obvious.
The latest evidence indicates that all of
the hostages died from gunshot wounds,
while earlier, officials had claimed the
hostages had had their throats slit. Now,
when it comes out that none of them had
so much as a scratch from a knife, the
New York deputy corrections commis-
sioner is reporting that the inmates had
zipguns in their cache of weapons.
However, he has been contradicted by
prison officials, who say that the prison-
ers had no guns in their possession.
REGARDLESS of who is correct, it is
clear that an elaborate deception has
been prepetrated on the public. Yester-
day, newspapers reported to the smallest
detail how the hostages had been killed
and several of the remaining living host-
ages told of how the other had b e e n
"slaughtered."
Oswald's decision could only be ration-
alized to the public if he were serving a
good cause, that is, protecting the host-
ages. Now, it appears quite possible that
it was his own troops who killed t h e
hostages.
Oswald and his defenders, who include
New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller
and President Nixon, knew quite well be-
forehand what the consequences of the
decision to attack would be and yet they
went ahead.
Even when it was clear that the host-
ages inside the prison were not being
maltreated, Oswald decided to attack. He
did not have the patience to wait, and
see if some settlement could be reached.
SUPPORTERS bof .this police action at-
tempt to legitimize the violence by
claiming negotiations between the pri-
soners and correctional officers were
proving fruitless because of prisoner "ob-
stjinacy."
Editorial Staff
ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
Editor
JIM BEATTIE DAVE CHUDWIN
Executive Editor Managing Editor
STEVE KOPPMAN Editorial Page Editor
RICK PERLOFF .. ,. Associate Editorial Page Editor
PAT MAHONEY Assistant Editorial Page Editor
LYNN WEINER Associate Managing Editor
LARRY LEMPERT.A......Associate Managing Editor
ANITA CRONE ..... .. Arts Edito;
JIM IRWINE...................Associate Arts Editor
JANET FREY Personnel Director
ROBERT CONROW ... . Books Editor
JIM JUDKIS ..... Photography Editor
Prison officials would not accede to
demands for complete amnesty for ac-
tions taken during the rebellion, the re-
moval of the superintendent of the pri-
son and safe passage for any prisoner
who wanted to go to a "non-imperialistic"
country.
The second demand was refused out-
right, while the last was apparently never
considered by prison officials.
Rockefeller said Sunday that the first
demand -- criminal amnesty - was be-
yond his constitutional authority, a n d
added, "I would not (grant amnesty),
even if I had the authority, because to
do so would undermine the very essence
of our free society - the fair and impar-
tial application of the law."
THIS STATEMENT is a mockery of the
true state of affairs in our society.
where hundreds of blacks, Chicanos and
poor people are locked in jail because
they don't have the money to pay bail -
this is our "free society."
When Soledad Brother George Jackson
was locked in jail for life for stealing
$70 - and only agreed to plead guilty to
avoid the county's having to pay court
costs - this is "the fair and impartial
application of the law."
One might be tempted to add that only
for those who can pay - like the Rocke-
fellers - is this a 'free' society.
The statements of Oswald and Rocke-
feller are grim indeed. They show to what
lengths our leaders will go in order to
prevent "the destruction of our free so-
ciety."
BEFORE THE ATTICA atrocities w e r e
committed, Oswald acceded to over
20 of the prisoners' demands. It almost
seemed that he would give what the pri-
soners wanted: more freedom to act poli-
tically, more "religious freedom," and les-
sening of censorship of convicts' reading
materials, the right of more liberal com-
munication with those outside the prison,
better diets and longer periods of re-
creation.
But almost all of these are subject to
interpretation - what is "more freedom,"
for instance? Oswald did not have to
make any absolute changes, something he
would have had to do had he granted the
other three demands,
By granting these "interpretational"
demands, Oswald succeeded in making
it seem that he was reasonable, intelli-
gent and willing to listen to the inmates.
While he was creating this public im-
age, Oswald was preparing for the as-
sault. The attack took three days to plan
-the same three days during which the
correction commissioner was granting
most of the prisoners' demands.
IJOWEVER ONE VIEWS the statements
of the New York State leaders, one
thing' is clear from the Attica violence:
the decadence of the American penal
system.
Only two weeks ago a New York legis-
lative committee found the penal system
in such disarray that even to apply the
term "correction" to it bordered on the
ludicrous.
But more than illustrating the archaic
conditions in the nation's prisons, the
events at Attica have shown the increas-
ing political consciousness of the prison
inmates. These men are beginning to see
themselves less as individual criminals
than as victims of a criminal society.
-ZACHARY SCHILLER
THE ROAD STRETCHED far into the
distance. The afternoon was hot, the
terrain sandy. I'd been walking for many
days - the heavy pack on my back
straining my muscles and embedding
deep scare in my skin. And now I was
getting ready to start over another hill.
I came to a grassy area with a small
pond. There were lots of trees, with
cherries and peaches. It was suddenly
cooler, with a pleasant breeze.
There was a young guy sitting next to
a tree. He seemed to look much like
myself. He smiled as I approached.
"Man, you look beat," he said.
"Yeah."
I put down my pack and he gave
me a glass of some cold concoction to
drink out of his pitcher.
"My name's Me," he said as we shook
hands.
"Hi," I responded, "my name's I."
We looked intently at each other for
a moment.
"Hey man, ve look a lot alike," he said.
"Yeah."
It was almost frightening. His hair was
a little longer than mine, his face a little
tanner, his demeanor more relaxed, his
body hung looser. But aside from that,
we looked almost identical.
HOW LONG you been on the road?"
"Oh, I don't know. What's today -
Wednesday -- oh, I guess - oh, that's
six days-God, I can't believe it, I'm so
exhausted."
"How much longer you got to go?"
"Oh, God, miles and miles. I don't know
if I'll ever get there."
"What are you carrying?"
"Rocks," I said.
"Rocks?"
"Yeah, rocks. Stones, you know."
"H1mm. Pretty valuable rocks?"
"Yeah, well, some of them are pretty
valuable."
"Where are you taking them?"
"I'm not exactly sure, actually, but it's
far away, and I think it's in that general
direction," I said, indicating the way up
the next hill.
"Oh," he said. "If you're tired, man,
you can stay here."
"Oh thanks, thanks an awful lot, I
really appreciate it, God, yeah, thanks.
Ill have to be going on soon, but thanks
a lot, I mean, I really appreciate it."
"Yeah, sure, man," he said.
"What sorts of things do you do here?"
I asked.
"Oh well, like, I mostly sit here and
enjoy things."
"Oh, yeah. How do you mean?
"Oh well, like, you know, I look at the
sky and lie on the grass and feel the
breeze and stuff and my girlfriend's here
and yeah, you know."
"Yeah."
"AND LIKE WE do productive work.
Like sometimes we make a bead, and
every so often we grow our own toma-
to, and things, and like a few years ago,
I wrote a poem, and we sort of dig things,
flow, like, you know."
"That's sounds pretty good," I said,
half-convinced.
"Yeah," he said, "like, it's OK."
"And how about you," he asked. "how
do you like carrying rocks?"
"Oh, it's OK sometimes, yeah, it's
pretty good sometimes, but, well, like,
Other times I don't like it that much,
cause my back gets tired, and I get-well,
I get tired,"
"Yeah," he said.
"But, well, I learn a lot about rocks-
all different kinds of rocks, and my
back's a lot stronger than it used dto be
-it used to really be pretty weak, and
I get to make a lot of trips.
"And when I bring the rocks to where-
ever I'm going, I unload them on these
enormous piles, and I know my rocks are
part of the whole pile, and that's good."
"Yeah," he said.
"How long are you planning to stay
here?" I asked him.
"Oh, like, it's nice here, I guess I'll be
here a, good while."
"A month, a year, five years, ten
years?"
"Well, yeah, like, I guess so. You don't
really figure time that way so much here.
You sort of, you know, like, flow."
"Yeah.':
"YOU CAN STAY here as long as you
like. I mean, it's good to have company."
"Thanks," I said, "but I think I'll have
to be going really soon.'
"That's too bad," he said, "how come?"
"Well,t I've got to deliver my rocks."
"Rocks'll keep, man."
"Well, yeah," I smiled, "but I have to
get them there."
"Why?"
"Well, I mean, there are a lot of people
carrying these rocks, and there are a
lot of rocks, and I have to get them there
pretty soon or they won't get there, and
people will wonder where I've gone, and
I'll fall behind, and other people will be
!koppr na1I
piling the rocks. or the rocks won't get
piled."
"Yeah," he said.
"WELL, I MEAN, the rocks eventually
get used for things, and I'll be part of
that. And I'm pretty good at that, I mean,
I'm known as one of the better rock-
haulers, and .
"Look, man," he said, "you look pret-
ty exhausted. I mean, why don't you just
forget your rocks for a while and stay
here."
I stopped. He obviously didn't under-
stand.
"Look, the rocks need to be piled, and
I'm good at it, and people know it, and
I'm getting better. Don't you want to par-
ticipate in making something productive?
Or do you really want to be dead, a
vegetable?"
"Man, look-who wants to carry rocks
when you can just sit here and inhale
deeply and try to feel good all over?"
"Godammit, man, so what's that worth?
You're nothing, you just think of yourself
and the present. What about others?
What about the past, the future? Don't
you want to take a constructive part in
the world?"
I started toward my pile of rocks.
He was tired of arguing. "Look, man,"
he said in a conciliatory tone, "you do
your thing, I'll do mine. You're not in this
world to satisfy my expectations, and I'm
not here in this world to live up to yours."
"AH, FUCK YOU," I said, picking up
my pile of rocks and kicking sand in the
bastard's face before continuing up the
road.
4
*
s uperscript
lon
54
Taylor: Which witch hunt?
by ly ni
weinerI
RED-BAITING Senator Joe Mc-
Carthy has been resurrected
here in the form of S t u d e n t
Government Council member Brad
Taylor, some students claim.'
But Taylor, who testified be-
fore the House Internal Securi-
ties Committee (HISC) against
the Student and Youth Confer-
ence for a People's Peace, c a n -
tends he is the victim of a witch
hunt conducted by "selfish oppor-
tunists" who want to steal h i s
SGC seat.
The accusations involve t h e
HISC hearings this summer, which
tried to prove "the radical nature
and subversive involvement of
some of the individuals and or-
ganizations . . . which organized
and participated in the April-May
demonstrations in Washington,
D.C."
Taylor had attended the con-
ference here last February - -
which dealt primarily with the
People's Peace Treaty - as a re-
porter for Young Americans for
Freedom, a conservative group
which recently endorsed a 1972
Agnew-Buckley presidential tick-
et.
Subpoenaed after the conference
ended. Taylor was flown to the
capital twice, once for a briefing
and then again for the hearings
in July.
THE AGENDA for the hearing
tagged Taylor as a YAF member,
but did not identify him with SGC.
The agenda promised that Tay-
lor would "cover the individuals
and organizations at the (Ann
Arbor) conference and their ac-
tivities which helped to later make
the People's Peace Treaty an im-
portant part of the . . . pro-
gram" during the spring anti-war
demonstrations.
The promise was kept. Taylor
submitted photographs, leaflets,
and names to the committee,
whose members punctuated the,
testimony with remarks about the
"Trotskyist" or "Leninist" n a -
tures of the anti-war groups.
Taylor submitted so much ma-
terial by the second day that the
committee chairman Richard Ic-
hord (D-Mo.) cautioned h im
about the "la'ge volume" of testi-
mony he was offering.
Ichord 's concern was practical.
The testimony to RISC is bound
into government volumes - - pic-
tures, leaflets, and the rest - and
names of organizations and in-
dividuals are indexed and identi-
fied.
In the past, individuals whc
have signed petitions or partici-
pated in demonstrations have
been surprised to find t h e i r
names in government ink.
GROUPS RANGING from the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference to the People's Coali-
tion for Peace and Justice h a v e
been investigated by the commit-
tee.
It seems clear that a major pur-
pose of HISC is to intimidate dis-
senters. It is most ironic that, in a
country touting freedom of speech
,.- _ .
z_;
f.,, vs
0
-Daily-Denny Gainer
Food for HISC
and aembly as an 'ideal, t h o s e
exercising these freedoms are not-
ed and cross-indexed in b o o k s
which imply their treasonous and
dangerous intent, without a n y
mechanism for defense or responso
other than an occasional sub-
'Taylor defends his testimony,
claiming he related information
under oath which was already
public. But that does not placate
those who could not respond who'
are now listed in government
books, and it does not placate a
group of students here who have
begun a recall campaign.
The recall committee argues
that Taylor was elected to SGC
last spring on the same ballot
with which 75 per cent of the
voters endorsed the Peoples' Peace
Treaty,.
The group also claims t h a t
Taylor indiscriminately smeared
both individuals and organiza-
tions involved in the conference,
including other students connect-
ed with SGC.
Since the text of Taylor's hear-
ing has not yet been published,
the validity of his testimony can
not yet be established. Butt t h e
bulk of his testimony - by its
very nature - was riddled w i t h
innuendo and implication.
It is most ironic that, at one
juncture in the hearings, a com-
mittee member insinuated that
the leftist anti-war groups were
pawns for sinister manipulators,
"just like modern Charlie McCar-
thies."
HE WAS REFERRING to the
television puppet, it seems. But
the audience, which was photo-
graphed the first day of the hear-
ing, was startled, as it was the
ghost of another McCarthy which
hovered over the proceedings.
*
P
-Daily-Denny Gainer
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Congratulations
To The Daily:
CONGRATULATIONS TO Rick
Perloff for another aimless and
inane article on "student culture."
It was hard to tell whether Mr.
Perloff was making fun of stu-
dent prejudices or lauding them.
In any case we can thank him
for exposing on of the most subtle
vicious and dehumanizing forms
of male chauvinism existing
among the supposedly enlightened
students of this university. To
quote Mr. Perloff's friend, "if
someone doesn't want to fuck,
it's okay with me. But shit, she's
no friend of mine." Long live the
double standard! It is unlikely
that "she" is missing anything
since Mr. Perloff's friend is prob-
ably as capable of being friends
Sept. 11'. It is clearly his inten-
tion to create an inference among
students that Republicans are
against the now established con-
stitutional right of students to
vote in their college towns. In
fairness to the electorate, I feel
compelled to fill in some gaping
holes in Mr. Scheider's data which
lead to that conclusion.
In 1969, Republican state sena-
tor Anthony Stamm introduced
legislation to help open registra-
tion to transient college students.
I and several other Republican
students at this university tra-
veled to Lansing in a bi-partisan
student effort to lobby for that
bill. In looking back, I don't re-
call Mr. Scheider's help in that
effort.
Though that bill was defeated,
Republican Stamm again intro-
words of other Republicans which
Mr. Scheider neglected to print,
Republican Congressman Mar-
vin Esch whose Second Congres-
sional District contains seven col-
leges and universities including
the University said, "The recent
Michigan Supreme Court ruling
reemphasizes that our younger
citizens should have the same
rights and repsonsibilities as all of
us. For the past seven years, as an
elected representative, I have en-
couraged young people to be in-
volved in politics; not just with
rhetoric but with action. I know
they will actively assume their
new responsibility."
Mrs. C. Bordon Chase, chair-
man of the Washtenaw County
Republican Committee, added
this, "I'm glad the Supreme Court
clarified the student vote issue
-~'
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