wednesday September 20, 1972
I HE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
Wednesday, September 20, 1972 WE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven
CITE RACISM, ISOLATION
Held Over! Special additional engagement of
A rthur
Penn s LITTLE
"A HIP EPIC!"
BIG
MAN
Paulne Kael, NEW YORKER Magazine
"A RAMBUNCTIOUS TRIUMPH! THE '70s FIRST GREAT EPIC! 'Little Big Man'
is the new western to begin all westerns!"
-Stefan Kanfer, TIME Magazine r
"Dustin Hoffman is the 121-year-old sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand. Director Arthur Penn tells
his tallest of tall tales beautifully. A raucous, sprawling, extraordinarily rich work that is the -best I
American movie of the year . . . Dedicated to the theory that 'a two-legged creature will believe any-
thing'." --INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL
TONIGHT!-Sept. 20th-7& 9:30 p.m-35mm Panavision-Technicolor
COMING THURSDAY-Francois Truffaut's brilliant THE 400 BLOWS
TUESDAY, Sept. 26th-Michelangelo Antonioni's stunning BLOW-UP'
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27th-SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE . . . (First Run!)
all showings in AUDITORIUM "A" ANGELL HALL-$1
tickets On saie for all of each evenings performances at 6 p.m. outside the auditorium
WE HAVE RAISED OUR ADMISSION PRICE TO $1
The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative is established to promOte and support filmmaking in the community.
Any profits earn-ed a our film showings are invested in the cooperative's editing and production equip-
ment. our film school. Dran's to community filmmakers, our 8 mm festival and other projects. It is to
increase the effectiveness of the cooperative that- prifces have been raised. Anyone interested in the co-
operative or its activities is always encouraged to seek membership and to patronize our showings.
Black airmen
LAREDO, Tex. 03) - Black air- Their complaints, as expressed
men held control of a mess hall on by telephone, centered on the
Laredo Air Force Base for eight length of time they were required
hours yesterday but surrendered to serve in Laredo which they said
it after the base commander agreed they consider "a remote post," and
to discuss their grievances. the lack of social opportunities for
The men, said officially to num- blacks in the area.
ber about 30, seized the airmen's "There's nothing down here for
dining hall when first breakfasts the black airman's social life," said
were served about 4 a.m. They one spokesman, who would identify
locked the doors and said t he y himself only as Steve. He added:
would stay there until their de- "We feel racism among Mexican-
mands were met. Americans in the Air Force and in
After the wing commander, Col. the town." Blacks are outnumber-
L. W. Svendsen Jr., failed to per-.ed 99 to 1 on the base, he claim-
suade the men to return to duty, ed.
two black negotiators were sum- Other complaints were that civil-
moned from Air Training Command ian clothes sold on the base were
headquarters at Randolph AFB "unsuitable for bl cks," and that
near San Antonio. black airmen were demoted in rank
seize I
of the Congressional Black Caucus
to discuss their complaints.
Chisholm said she did not 'nn
to come to Laredo; but she promi-
sed there would be some move on
the situation immediately. She al-
so said: "We don't want to do any-
thing to make the situation wors2 .'
An aide to Rep. Louis Stokes (D-
Ohio), chairman of Congress' Black
Caucus, later said the Defense De-
partment had been contacted on
the airmen's complaints and the
caucus planned to make a state-
ment today.
While the men held their sit in
at the gray barracks-like budiid;,
it was business as usual on the
rest of the base, which has axioat
3,000 military and civilian persot-
nel, including some foreign s t ii-
dents training #s pilots.
Trafic was kept out of the mass
hall area and a few Air Forc~ po-
lice stood around. Svendsen paed
up and down while the talks went
on inside. Occasionally one of te
men peeped out from a windo;
When the men finally left the
dining hall at 12:30 p.m. sorie
eight hours after taking it over, a
base spokesman said they did so
on the promise that Svendsen wood
dis.us their grievances with repre-
sentatives in his office.
The spokesman said no daniage
had been done to the building. R1e
also said an investigation was in-
der way "to determine the facts
and circumstances surrounding the
incident."
Airman 1.C. Billy Williams of
Abilene, Tex., said: "The b I a ;k s'
aren't getting along-'here in Laredo
with the people in the town or
on' thebase. It's an all-around
thing."
Another of the men said t ni e y
wanted shorter assignments to duty
there. Some men might be as long
as four year in Laredo, he said.
Police reports do not reflect any
abnormal number of incidents m-
volving blacks in Laredo. One re -
dent suggested that the trouble
might. partly stem from the fact
that 85 per cent of the people liv-
ing in Laredo are Mexican-Ameri-
cans and Spanish-speaking. Blacks
in the local population numbier
about one-fourth of one per cent.
"Whether or not, real or imag-
ied, they (the black airmen) feeJ1
they have a problem in that Laredo
is isolated as far as blacks a r e
tall
in
protest
concerned," Svendsen told news-
men. "They are almost base-bound
when it comes to being among
their own people."
Asked if he thought the fact that
President Nixon was due at the
Laredo base on a Texas tour Fri-
day might have something to do
with the demonstration, Svendsen
said: "It's tied in with the Presi-
dent's visit, I suppose, and t n a t
sparked their activity."
The colonel said he had prom-
ised themen therewould be no
punitive actionsagainst them if the.
nmess hall" was undamaged. No.
effort had been made to take their
names, he said, although "we
know them."
He added that he though a court-
martial might be "counterproduc-
tive to what we are trying to a-
chieve."
Svendsen said he had not known
until they took public action that
the blacks objected to the length (if
their tour of duty in Laredo, which
he said might be up to four years.
They are seeking 12 to 18 months
instead.
The men appointed four dele-
gates to meet with the colonel, who
said there would be a series of
talks, perhaps lasting several days,
"until we have a handle on the
whole thing."
. . I I '.
One was Sgt. Thomas Barnes, or punished over regulations su:h
described as an advisor to t h e as haircuts while white were only
commanding general and key en- reprimanded.
listed man in the command. The Demands were made that word of
other was Sgt. Duke Ali Shariff- the airmen's situation be passed to
Bey, a member of the command's Sen. Barbara Jordan, a b 1 a i k
social actions office. Texas legislator, 'and to U.S. Rep.
While negotiations dragged on, Shirley Chisholm, (D-N.Y.).
the men in the dinnig hall g o t In Washington Chisholm said she
some telephone calls through to the had talked with representatives of
outside world. the men and asked for a meegtig
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
.The Daily Official Bulletin is an
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sity of Michigan. Notices should be
sent in TYFWRITTEN FORM to
409 E. Jefferson, before 2 p.m. of
the day preceding publication and
by 2 p.m. Friday for Saturday and
Sunday. Items appear once only.
Student organization notices are
not accepteI for publication. For
more information, phone 764-9270.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
DAY CALENDAR
Botany Seminar: R. J. Pankhurst,
Univ. of Cambridge, England, "Auto-
matic Identification of Biological
Specimens," 1139 Nat. Sci. Bldg., 4 pm.
Physics Colloquium: D. I. Meyer,
"Symmetries and Other Regularities in
Strong Interactions," P&A Colloq. Rm.,
4 pm.
Psychology 171 Film: "J o h n 17
Months: Nine Days in a Residential
Nursery," UGLI Multipurpose Rm, 4
pm.
Computing Center: "Use of the Tele-
'type in MTS," Seminar.Rm, Comp.
Ctr., 4, 4:45, 7. 7:45, 8:30 pm.
CAREER PLANNING & PLACEMENT
3200 SAB
Mademoiselle Competitions: 1) Fic-
tion & Poetry Competition: for under-
grad men & women; winners receive
cash prizes & publication of, their
work. 2) Mademoiselle College Board/
Guest Editor Competition-: 1972-73 bro-
chure now available; check this office
for complete details.
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETINGS
United Farm Workers Boycott Com-
mittee meeting, Sept. 22, 8:00 PM,
Friends Meeting House, 1416 Hill St.
Seek volunteers and assign worm' pro-
jects.
U of M volleyball Club organization-
al meeting, Sept. 21, 7:30 PM, Faculty
Lounge, Michigan Union. All old mem-
bers and new interested' ones welcome.
Undergraduate Political Set. Assoc..
General Meeting Sept. 25 7:30 PM, 429
Mason Hall.
..
Michigan Union Bowling
LEAGUES NOW FORMING
LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP
OPEN 11
a.m. Mon.-Sat.;
1 p.m. Sun.
i
I
nte rested
0
I
in
GRAD SCHOOL
LAW SCHOOL
DENT SCHOOL
2
Join
UNION-LEAGUE
I
It'11look GREAT
on your Application
Mass Meeting
TONIGHT
7:00 n.m.
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