Wednesday, February 24, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Wednesday, February 24, 197'i THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Black Hurt Acting out the revolution William Walter Scott III, HURT BABY HURT, New Ghet- to Press,.$2.00 paper. By JUANITA ANDERSON Many books have been written about the development of the black man in his American-made "environment", but few have dared to get right down to the basic soul-curdling elements in the manner of Hurt Baby Hurt. A This book, published by the au- thor's own Ann Arbor printing company (New Ghetto Press) is often more unpleasant than its gross cover picture of a baby with blood-drenched eyes. William Walter Scott III, who was awarded a Hopwood last 4year for the manuscript copy, does not attempt intellectual stylistics. Instead, he uses the pragmatic tone of his own every- day speech to tell the story of himself and the events which have shaped his life. By describing his search for identity from a "disturbed child- hood" in a reform institution Today's toriters... John Carlisle, a graduate stu- dent in American Culture, is doing independent study on American cinema. Juanita Anderson is an un- dergraduate and a D a ijI y re- portei. Ken Frohlich, a Ph.D. can- didate at Kent State was in Kent at the time of the con- frontation. MarkDillen covered the Kent State tragedy for the Daily. through his participation in the Detroit riot of July, 1967, Scott not only presents the events, but attempts his own self-analysis while adding an interesting, sometimes amusing, philosophy. While sometimes appealing to his own sympathies in his ac- count of his childhood, Scott makes one reevaluate his own ideas as he poses the question: "But what do you really say to people, man, when they ask you who you are, besides your name? Like can anybody real- ly answer that question?" Scott's rationalization of his self-hatred as a black child is something that must be reckon- ed with. He puts it off on the notion that all poor black chil- dren learn that black is bad and the only way they can be differ- ent is to live around "pure white people" to form a self-image. . Though probably meaning to be sardonic, his rationale can easily be misinterpreted. While his case has often been true in the past, very few black people are still hung up on the purity myth. In this time of black self- awareness and pride, poor black children are much more likely to see themselves in a better posi- tion than their white counter- parts. The section of the book dealing with the Detroit riot provides an inside view into the lives of the people directly involved through Scott's own feelings of their sen- sitivities, needs and values. He is blunt in expressing his attitudes toward white society and its po- lice force. The idea that white so- ciety goes out of its way to find Robert Brustein, REVOLU- TION AS THEATRE: NOTES ON THE NEW RADICAL STYLE, Liveright, $5.95, paper $1.95' By JOHN C. CARLISLE It is fitting to think of Shakespeare's oft - quoted 1i n e about "all the world" being a stage when considering Robert Brustein's new collection of es- says. Professor Brustein, who is Dean of the Yale Drama School, sees today's world as very much involved in revolution, and ac- cordingly, revolution is for him the theatre or the stage. This basic concern is followed by a worry about revolution and the legitimate theatre. From there. a short step allows the revolu- tion to upstage all other con- siderations in this collection of essays, which were originally published in 1969 and 1970 in New York Review of Books, New York Times, New Republic, and Modern Occasions. These essays have been joined with letters to the editors, Prof. Brustem's replies to those letters, plus other unpublished letters and speeches to the Yale Drama School for 1969-70. One has the slight suspicion that these let- ters, addresses, and comments were added to "pad" the book in the best tradition of collegiate theme writing! That the revolution has be- come basically a threatical ex- pression is Brustein's most valid and potentially m o s t valuable statement for today's society. The revolution (under which he lumps anti-military, pro-peace, pro - Black Panther, anti - com- mercialism, pro - people's power something wrong with the way black people live, rather than dealing with its own problems, is quite prevalent. Though he often exhibits ego- inflationary tendencies, Scott's account of his arrest and impri- sonment are so vivid that the reader actually feels himself holding his own bladder and rec- tum so as not to create addi- tional stench within the crowded garages where prisoners were held like animals. Scott crumbles the soul like dis- carded paper as the reader sits imprisoned in the air-tight ouses ready to puke his insides out, while armed guards, refusing to provide food and water to the prisoners, stand outside as if "m anticipation of orgasm." As the book ends, Scott boards another bus (Greyhound, this time) headed for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. But, for those readers willing to pay the return fare. he gives a straight foreward glimpse of 12th Street Detroit in a language which is more gut-honest than any who have made the trip be- fore-notwithstanding such can- did accounts as those provided by Richard Wright, Malcolm X, or Eldridge Cleaver. movements among others) has been forced to become little more than "theatre" because all "meaningful political action is being replaced by radical verbal display." (He admits in a foot- note that this was written be- fore the Madison, Wisconsin, and Greenwich Village explo- sions, but certainly the Chicago Cinspiracy Trial was theatre, if nothing else.) It is, then, be- cause of the impotency of the revolution to m a k e radical changes in society that the rev- olution has become "theatre-a product of histrionic personali- ties and staged events -which may explain why a drama critic has the temerity to scrutinize it," According to Brustein: The only revolution barely possible under present circum- stances is a revolution of character, and this can be in- ititated only through an act of moral transcendence, hu- mane intelligence, and delib- erate will. It is a small enough hope, but without it, I am afraid we will remain . . . blocked off from the reality of meaningful change. But, from this hopeful, philo- sophical level, Brustein begins to limit the methods by which this desired "revolution of char- acter" can occur. For him, the legitimate theatre has a role, but it must be a carefully con- trolled role. That is, the theatre can present problems, but it must not be used to attempt P solution to those problems, for to present possible solutions re- moves some of the objectivity from the stage. If artists do not control the stage and do not limit its involvement, the stage might come under the control of those amateurs who reject the traditional limitations. For Bru- stein, to lack control is bad, for if there are no rules of accepted ideas and themes, then why have a professional stage, "why use actors at all? This is an extension of America's love of amateurism, and looks forward to a time when there will be no more spectators, only perform- ers - arrogant, liberated ama- teurs, each tied up in his own tight bag." If amateurs begin to control and to call for solutions, Brustein feels all standards will vanish and only mediocrity will remain. Thus, to have no stand- ards is to be mediocre, is to be "relevant," and is not to be )b- jective and academic and intel- ligent. From "objectivity" to te Ivory Tower is not a very fqr nor a very difficult step. Brustein makes this step with- out seeming to realize that his cries for objectivity and aloof- ness as the role for the arts and for the university as a whole fall on nonreceptive ears. It is perhaps because of the univer- sity's aloofness and demand for objectivity that society finds it- self in its current position. "Standards" must be upheld in the university as well as the theatre, so Brustein says that any attempt at relevance by the university is submission to those who would destroy the 'stand- ards." Unfortunately, if me de- sires relevance, he is requesting anti-intellectualism. s i n c e the intellectual is not required---in Brustein's s y s t e m - to be concerned about contemporary problems. Brustein patron es his readers when he suggets that those who want relevance should go into the community to establish "community colleges where such things as urban war. and problems be solved. In other words, go make a revolution but don't come near the professor in his Ivory Tower and do not up- set his preconceived ideas of what is important. intellectual and appropriate for the univer- sity to involve itself in. Thus, in a few pages, the author moves away from what seems to be an honest, heartfelt concern about society and about how to make it into a oetter that urban ghetto i books books books planning, "radical theatre," and mental health centers can be provided. "In this way, moral indignation could be joined to positive action, self - righteous- ness could be earned by real sacrifice, and 'relevance' could develop a firmer meaning than its current use as a shield for the destruction of a c a d e m i c values and institutions." Yet, this same man calls for students and faculty to demand that the military-industrial ties of the university be severed, that the government end tre The SPRW r r j. - place by helping the non-violent revolution. From this positive position he moves to a thinly veiled demand that the revolu- tion be conducted in abstract, intellectual and artistic ways- the ways of non-relevant, Ivory- Towerism-with no commitment on the part of the university, except the commitment to keep its head in the sand. Does Dean Brustein ever won- der why the universities are be- ing taken over by the students? Probably not. After all, the revo- lution is only a play. Ecology Center NG PROGRAM SERIES- g w the Earth" resents 2nd Program- Reviewing the Kent State crisis LIV"I Pi Joe Esterhas and Michael D. Roberts, 13 SECONDS: CON- "FRONTATION A T K E N T STATE, Dodd, Mead, $7.50. By KEN FROHLICH On May 4, 1970, twenty-six Ohio National Guardsmen fired fifty-nine shots in thirteen se- conds killing four students and wounding nine others. 13 see- onds: Confrontation at K e n t State is a journalistic account of the tragedy and the preced- ing events. This chronology (which includes individual chapters on the guard com- mander, the Governor of Ohio, and each of the four de a d. students) brings out the hor- rifying, improbable, and often absurd chain of events t h a t surrounded the shootings. The book was written by Joe Esterhas and Michael D. Ro- berts, two reporters for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In pre- paration for writing the book the a u t h o r s interviewed both participants and eyewitnesses, and did background research on Kent State University and many #of the officials involved. T h e results provide an interesting and illuminating account of the tragedy at Kent State. In reading the book one is aware of the authors' impar- tiality. Accounts of the events are presented but not analyzed. In short, the book is good jour- rnalism but poor history. Miss- ing from the book is an histor- ical perspective on the events of last May. Somewhere in the maze of events that climaxed with the May 4 confrontation, the authors lost track of the fact that there were other tragic events that occurred at Kent besides the shootings. During that terrifying week in May, the Bill of Rights ceased to exist for members of the Kent State Community. Freedom of speech and assembly were curtailed. Thousands of rooms were searched without warrants. People were arrested in their own apartments under false pretenses. While churches all over the country held me- morial services, local churches were prohibited from doing so. Besides violations of Constitu- tional Rights, other appalling incidents occurred. Troops were sent onto a campus without the knowledge or consent of Uni- versity officials. A local prose- cutor was able to secure from a local judge an injunction closing a state university to its 21,000 students, its faculty and even its president and board of trustees. Apparent also in the aftermath were absurd reac- tions by officials who believed every wild rumor (e.g. LSD in the water, thousands of armed Weathermen converging on Kent, etc.) The book 13 Seconds, while mentioning the above and many other similar occcurrences, sees them only as events surround- ing the shootings and not as having import in themselves. Yet, in spite of its short- comings, I would recommend 13 Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State. Its balanced report does not excuse or minimize il- legal acts by students. It does not try to assign blame for the tragedy, and it doesn't presume the innocence or guilt of the stu- dents and officials. It does pre- sent all the events in an accur- ate chronology and as such pro-' vides informative and provoca- tive reading. I. F. Stone, THE KILLINGS AT KENT STATE: HOW MUR- DER WENT UNPUNISHED, New York Review Book, $1.9i paper. By MARK DILLEN Like most political commenta- tors, I. F. Stone has developed his own following who, anxious to read views that confirm their own, rush out to devour any reading matter their spokesman produces. These people will doubtless add Stone's latest ef- fort about the Kent State trag- edy to their collection. In a way, it will be unfortunate that these people will find themselves alone. Stone has some pretty good things to say. The people who could bene- fit most from Stone's short ser- ies of essays won't get beyond the cover. Those already famil- Jar with Stone will attest they were treated to anything but ob- jecivity. The work's subtitled "How Murder went Unpunish- ed" sets the tone for the ac- count. I'd like to argue that Stone's indignation takes away from his work's effectiveness. He belabors points to raise emotions where the gruesome details are enough to make the most despassionate observer a bit angry. Perhaps it is expecting too much for Stone, who spent a good deal of time in Kent's apathetic environs, to separate his emotions from the facts, but it hurts the narrative. Another thing which hurts (perhaps most of all) is the haste in which the book w a s obviously constructed. Stone's contribution consists solely of three essays reprintedf from his journal "I. F. Stone's Bi-Week- ly," and takes up only half the book. The other half contains four apendices': The Knight newspapers' extensive report on the incident, a transcript of Vice-President A g n e w 's con- versation with David Frost (where Agnew admits the Na- tional Guard was guilty of "murder"), correspondence be- tween publisher John Knight and J. Edgar Hoover and t h e Portage County Grand Jury's re- port of last fall. Most of the appendices could be omitted as Stone quotes most of the significant material in his essays. One need only read a few paragraphs of the Jury's report to grasp the attitudes of those who wrote it (the Jury in- dicted 25 Kent students and fa- culty on riot charges while find- ing the Ohio Guardsmen devoid of guilt.) Hoover's and Angnew's comments add very little. Those who are unacquainted with these personages' beliefs would be ill prepared to handle any reading on the Kent State matter. It must be emphasized though that Stone's work is good for the what it does produce. Cor- rectly analyzing the bits of the story which most of the news media failed to cover, he cor- rectly focuses on the fact that the guardsmen involved in the shooting did fabricate their ac- count given to the FBI. Also In- cluded is a telling account of how conservative political ele- ments in Portage County have been able to control the entire legal system there at the ex- pense of any semblance of jus- tice. In passing, whi1e praising Stone for what he does accom- plish, it is dismaying to realize how much more is lacking. Like. most recent upheavals, Kent State has received a lot of pub- licity with a modicum of insight. Most youth, I am inclined to think, will be little surprised when they read Stone's account. They can interpolate what Stone misses. However, what still is needed is a complete account written to open the'eyes of those still unfamiliar with what nap- pened. And for those people, the facts must still be explained. ~ - ~~ - - ~t e $ I art *1 ., tl std O "Aqua Culture-Food of the Future" with: DR. JOHN BARDACH THURS., FEB. 25 UGLI Multipurpose Room 7:30 P.M. U-M Campus t8 Sharing Our Ultimate Concerns An informal seminar designed to help participants discover, express, and share their attitude., feelings, and doubts about God, themselves, religion, and life. Open to all interested persons. Led by Lloyd Putnam, Office of Religious Affairs. THURSDAYS-7:30 P.M. February 25, March f 1 and 18 GUILD HOUSEr 802 Monroe S1. Sponsored by the Office of Religious Affairs 2282 SAB 764-7442 #( 3! 7i +tk tjp' . . t 4 !d T 4F* ev m4. f :s{+ay F# I arNG jS Td MQVE ABaUT HAR*15 S 1 4 "h 1'' For the student body: " Genuine Authentic Navy PEA COATS Right On in the Residence Halls REPPLY FOR RESIDENCE HA LL ACCOMMODA TIONS BETWEEN MARCH 9 AND MARCH 18, 1971 All students presently residing in the residence halls must participate in the reapplication process. Materials on the procedures relating to priorities and methods to be util- - ~ - - r:r- OROS ,I Ii G I 1 _ I