Summer Daily Summer Edition of THE MICHIGAN DAILY Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Sattirday, July 28, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552 Gay tactics poor " AG!" "QUEER!" AND "FAIRY!"-all derogatory terms for gay people - have been joined by cries of "Intol- erant!" on this campus ..,.and with good reason. When 'ocal gay males unsuccessfully attempted to stop the An- gell Hall showing of The Boys in the Band Thursday night, they, in effect, proclaimed themselves as censors and alienated the audience whose consciousness needed rais- ing. The gay people rightly assert that the film portrays homosexuals as stereotypical neurotic, unhappy people. Doane Mrohs, the film co-op's business manager, and a number of movie viewers agreed with the gays' position b.it maintained that the public had a right to see the film, However, gay protesters felt justified in banning the *novie, citing past cases on campus of blacks having stop- ped screenings of Birth of a Nation. This censorship in the name of a political cause destroys the concept of free pub- lic media access. IN FACT, THE SCREENING of such a biased film could be used to actually further gays' attempts at con- vincing the public that homosexuality can be a healthy, loving way of life. As one of the gay demonstrators, Steph- en Miller noted, "There's nothing that exhibits gay people as healthy people in this society." In the future, we hope gay men or women will give a short, pre-arranged rap before an offending film-as they did before the second showing of The Boys in the Band- instead of inviting a police confrontation and losing all the audience's interest. A few well-chosen words can put the viewers on guard against any film's bias. Furthermore, an invitation to talk with gay people after the film, as extended Thursday night, could probably provoke some open discussion with the viewers, who would normally talk about the film among only themselves. ALTHOUGH one gay demonstrator condemned an audi- ence member for her "liberal tokenistic bullshit" sympathy, it is precisely the "sympathy" of heterosexuals, not censorship tactics, that gay people must start using to create an unoppressive atmosphere for themselves. Nixon's 'bag of tricks' exhausted T TP TO THAT moment when President Nixon formally issued his flat refusal to release the crucial White House tapes and documents, there was persistent expectation in many places that he would come up with an ingenious political formula to confound his critics and rejuvenate his fans. In part that is because so much of his Presidency has been characterized by his delight in staging the big surprise. Sometimes the pro- duction was tinged with fraud (as in the pre- mature Kissinger "peace is at hand" proclama- tion). But on the other occasions, such as the announcement of his mission to Peking and the wage-price freeze of August, 1970, the spectators at least temporarily disarmed and awed many of his adversaries. Thus, despite the earlier political setbacks he had suffered, and especially what seemed his fatal setback in California in 1962, a mythology of invincibility began to surround the man. His 1972 landslide triumph perpetuated the legend. AND SO, in recent days, when Mr. Nixon appeared entrapped by the unexpected Butterfield disclosure of the existence of the secret tapes, one heard - and to some degree shared - the pro- phecy that he would somehow engineer another coup. There were some who speculated that he. had deliberately stalled release of the tapes to achieve maximum dramatic impact; o n e thoughtful man I know wondered if the Butter- field tip-off had been elaborately contrived to provide a pretext for baring the tapes. Middle-aged baseball scholars will recall the fabled Charley Dressen, a manager possessed of vast self-esteem, who was reported to have told his players during a game in which they had fallen far behind: "You guys just hang in there and I'll think of something." But this time Richard Nixon could think of nothing. Of course, he may still be telling what re- mains of his team that the ball game isn't over yet; yesterday's grim pronouncement, however, had the unmistakable aspect of anticlimax. It conformed to all the advance leaks (except per- haps, that Mr. Nixon rendered his position even more vulnerable by simultaneously vowing to withhold his, archives from special prosecutor Cox as well as the Ervin Committee). The statement defied the hopes and pleas of those who retained large emotional investments in him. In was a heavy-handed admission that he had exhausted his bag of tricks. The tones of self-righteousness could hardly hide the barren- ness of ideas. IN HIS PRESENT POSTURE, Mr. Nixon can only be fighting for time, the law's delay or per- haps some unforeseeable miracle or accident of history that will divert public attention. Even victory in the legal tests now pending would be a dubious triumph; he would still stand con- victed by most Americans of smothering truth to protect himself. He may wistfully hope that mass boredom will set in if the court proceedings are protract- ed. But each time he has boasted that the worst was over, he has discovered - in what are sup- posed to be his own words - that "there seems to be no end to it." Mr. Nixon has suggested that continuation of the conflict will undermine his foreign-policy ini- tiatives. But few Americans are likely to believe that the concept of self-interest governing the policy of accommodation in Moscow and Pe- king would suddenly change if Richard Nixon were not in the Oval office. MR. NIXON'S latest words were those of a cornered man whose resources of political games- manship could no longer save him. And chat is the most ominous aspect of the spectacle. What manner of man will be in this endless night of isolation and frustration that comes less than nine months after the glory day of last Novem- ber? James Wechsler is editorial director of New York Post. Copyright New York Post Corpora- tion 1973. Black Africans seek own identity By LARRY HEINZERLING LAGOS, Nigeria - A move is sweeping fledgling African nations to purge themselves of the colonial past and forge a cultural and na- tional identity. In line with the growing move- A NEG!nO RENAISSANCE IN THE MAKING Many black Africans are determined to erase - the last vestiges of( their colonial past and forge a national image 1 Leopold Senghor Mobutu Sese Seko Sekou Toure ment, leaders in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, plan to stage the second World Slack Festival of the Arts and Culture in January 1975. And turn this former British colony into a cradle of a black re- naissance. President Mobutu Sese S e k o of Zaire, the former Belgian Congo, calls the movement a "return to authenticity." And Leopold Seng- hor, poet-president of Senegal, has espoused the philosophy of "negri- tude." SEKOU TOURE, Guinea's Marx- ist president, recently demanded in a radio broadcast that French be dropped as his country's official tongue. "It's ridiculous to call a country English-speaking or French-speak- ing when only 10 per cent or 20 per cent understand English or French," he said. It was ironic, however, that Toure had to voice his complaint in French because more people in and out of Guinea understand that language than any tribal tongue he might have used. FOR MOST black Africans, rais- ed in remote bush villages and brought up in traditional ways, life today is much as it has al- ways been. The invasion of the transistor radio, factory-made pots and electricity into mud-hut homes, appears to have had little impact on the ancient customs and rituals surrounding birth, marriage and death. Some African leaders are wag- ing war on foreign influences. In Zaire, it is illegal to use western names and leaders in a number of countries have clamped a ban on hot pants and miniskirts. In black countries where television is a growing phenomenom, some view- ers complain about the many pro- grams imported from the United States, Britain and France. Wigs, a popular item with fash- ian-conscious women, particularly in Ghana and Nigeria, have spark- ed many objections. Others are up- set over billboards and advertising in movie theaters and on radio and television for skin lighteners which are selling briskly in the Some African lead- ers are waging war on foreign influences. local markets. In Conakry, capital of Guinea, President Toure has turned a monument built to honor Guineans who died fighting for the Ffench in Indochina and Algeria in Indo- china and Algeria into a monument in honor of "the martyrs of colon- ialism." AND LITTLE GAMBIA h as changed the name of its capital from Bathurst to Banjul. Larry Heinzerling is an Asso- ciated Press feature writer. Atlantic 1 Ocean ..e ' o Movements represent a resurgence of the nationalism that brought down so many colonial flags-in the 1960s AP newsd Contact your reps- Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), Rm 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), Rm 353, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), Rm. 412, Cannon Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20115. Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933. Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem), House of Representatives, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933.