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Page 4-Wednesday, March 19, 1980-The Michigan Daily
I sure miss ole 2d baseman Ronnie LeFlore

Out of my mind on, Wednesday
Moanin'....
... I miss Ronnie LeFlore already, and I
sure don't know how we're gonna get another
2nd baseman like him.
... Ever wonder how those fast-food
soperations get the ketchup and mustard into
~those little foil packages?
... Nothing better than eating an ice cream
;cone from Emily's Across the Street on a hot
Isummer day.
. ... Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes" has got to
be the best book in the last decade, with the
possible exception of "Roots."
. ..I have lots of minority friends, in-
cluding Mayor Coleman Young, and former
VTiger great Tito Fuentes.
... I know this is silly, but I've always wan-
ted to get it on with Brenda Starr.
... Up and coming groups from the Detroit
"area ... The Romantics, Sing Out Dearborn,
Vand The Amaizin' Blues.
. . . Despite the jury's acquittal of Ford
rMotor Co. in the recent trial, how come I'm
still afraid to ride in a Pinto?
... If gas is so expensive now, can you
,'imagine how expensive it will be in the year
2000?
.. My inner-most fantasy: Rolling out to
k the left, evading Mean Joe Green, finding and
' hitting David Hill on a down-and-out for an 80-
yard touchdown to beat the Steelers by one in
the 1982 Superbowl at the Silverdome.
w
POST-OLYMPIC FUNK-I still get chills
o thinking about ourgreat American ice hockey
6 victory over the Soviet Union a couple of
* weeks ago. Makes me warm all over. They
ssay there shouldn't be any politics in the
Olympics, but as far as I'm concerned, we-
proved to the world that democracy has it

Ii

Dlab
Talbert

over Communist expansionism ... Linda
Frattiane, Tai Babilonia, and Randy Gar-
dner ... I really miss the bobsled and ski
jumping events. The anticipation of possible
disaster was tremendously exciting.
CELEBRITIES-Bo Derek is an "11" in my
book ... What ever happened to Jimmy
Durante? .. . I loved Barbara Billingsley in
"Leave it to Beaver". . . Ever notice how
many "Jacks" there are in show business?
Jack Benny, Jack Lord, Jack Jones ... I'm
proud as punch that Joe Glover is in Detroit.
Not many like him ... Seems like television's
Captain Kangaroo is going to outlive us all,
doesn't its?:
POLITICAL NOTES-Pres. Jimmy Carter
wants to balance the budget and maybe even
create a surplus, but it just seems to me that
he should be more concerned that inflation is
running at about 20 per cent ... As long as I
don't know what I'm talking about, I think
Americans should stand up and be coun-
ted ... John Anderson, Ronald Reagan, and
Teddy Kennedy are my choices, in that or-
der ... Quick, how many U.S. presidents
have there been?
LETTERS-Gloria Kleenex of Troy has
some- interesting observations for us all:
"People with wooden legs shouldn't collect

... They can make all the imitation brands
and designer jeans they want, but up to this
day I buy onlythe true Levi's.
... For those of you who forgot, my
beautiful wife admits I'm a slob but loves me
nonetheless. I love her, too, despite the fact
she's a slob. (I'm just kidding, honey. I love
you.)
...After it has happened to you, wouldn't
you love to have a police car towed away which
is parked in a "No Parking" zone?
... Nothing worse than turning on WJR to
find that J. P. McCarthy is on vacation.
... I think it's great that despite the wide
spread drug use and decadence among our
youth, college athletes are still strong, clean,
religious boys with a will to win.

40

Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Carter

Jack Lordi

termites ... I wish "Doonesbury" appeared
twice a day... I don't care what they say,
but disco is dead" ... Donna Sleazeback
from Redford writes of her "Unfavorite
Things" ... "Cold Sores, decayed teeth, ac-
cident scenes, in-grown-toe nails" ... Jeff
Bladdarian of Farmington Hills:' "Your
column is just like the comic strip "Nancy": If
I hate is so much, how come I always read
it?" ... Mrs. Carol Anne Gorgolo of Wyan-
dotte writes: "Blab, you are the biggest jerk
in the world. And to allow your wife to write a
column about how great you are just testifies
to your vanity." Well, Mrs. Gorgolo, let 'me
say this about that: You can't write worth a
darn, and don't pick on my wife, because I
wrote that column. So there.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS-When I was a
wee one, seems as though a kid could be en-
tertained all day with a bag full of marbles or
a top. Now you give these kids all sorts of
electrical gizmos and they're bored in an in-
stant. I don't mean to sound corny, but hey
parents, how about bringing back some of
those old-time values? A little less television,
a good spanking, and favors in moderation

will probably build strong character in
today's youth.
... Now that the snow is melting and the
temperatures are rising, I feel like getting the
ole kite out and doing some of that kid stuff
again.
... You know, every time I think of John
"Duke" Wayne, a tear forms in the corner of
my eye. We love you, Duke.
... Anyone else have trouble pronouncing
the name of National Security Adviser
Zbigniew Brzezinski?
... Seems like every time you walk into the
store, something else has gone up in price.
I can't think of two places I'd rather be
less than at the dentist office and at a Tiger
game when the concession stand has run out
of beer.
... Am I the only person who carves out
weird shapes into my carrot while eating it?,
... If there's one thing that bums me out
about spring, it's trying on all my warm
weather clothing. The winter season sure
takes a toll on the waistline.
... Sure do miss John Belushi and Dan
Aykroyd on "Saturday Night Live." Sure
hope they return.


I can just smell spring: An afternoon
rain, the flowers blooming, fresh grass cut-
tings ...Unfortunately, my wife can just
smell it, too: the lawn mower, painting the
house, fixing the picnic table ...
I don't know about you, But I'm ready 4
to organize the Tom Snyder Fan Club (I
wonder if Tom Snyder will start a Blab
Talbert Fan Club?)
Blab Talbert graciously consented to
fill in for Nick Katsarelas this week. Kat-
sarelas, whose popular "Kat's Play"
column appears on this page every Wed-
nesday, says his goal in life is never to
write like Bob Talbert of the Detroit Free
Press.

U

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

Vol. XC, No. 132

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

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A11n'irrl T cilxPnetPin PIP

LLARD LOWENSTEIN, a former
congressman and an early critic
f U.S. intervention in Vietnam, died
Last week after being shot by a former'
.olleague.
Lowenstein's death comes as a
'addening shock, especially in view of
is contributions to many important
rauses that most Americans today
take for granted.
* As a college student in the 1940s,
Lowenstein worked for civil rights for
lacks and other minority
roups-years before most whites had
ven begun to think about racial
njustice.
As a lawyer, the New York native
poke in favor of independence for
ThirdWorld countries including
southwest Africa (now Namibia), and
. put his beliefs in the legitimacy of that
country's demands into practice when
e smuggled a dissident out of the
. African country in the trunk of his car.
Most important of the many
righteous goals that Lowenstein
worked for was an end to the U.S.
involvement in Vietnam. He spoke out
loud and early against the growing

.AA ~171 /1 A 11 1AA
military presence in Southeast Asia
and was one of the leaders of the
movement within the Democratic
party to unseat then-President Lyndon
Johnson in favor of an anti-war
candidate. Though ultimately the
effort failed, it was Johnson's decision
not to run that first called attention to
the fact that a growing share of the
"respectable" establishment was
opposed to the war. Lowenstein's work
was largely responsible for Johnson's
decision.
Violence abroad was not
Lowenstein's only concern. The
growing bloodshed on our own shores
was a pressing matter for him, and he
spoke eloquently in favor of gun
control. How sad, and how ironic, that
his words were not heeded long ago. It
was an easily-acquired handgun that
killed him. _
There seems to be no active political
figure whose conscience and principles
can match Lowenstein's. We can best
honor his memory, then, by pushing
ever more fiercely for the ideas he
embraced.

Less than three years ago,
three teenage boys attacked a 16-
year-old girl under a stairwell in
a Madison, Wisconsin high
school. The young victim was
wearing tennis shoes, blue jeans,
and a blouse over a turtleneck
sweater when she was assaulted.
Her screams for assistance were
drowned out by the high school
band which was practicing in a
nearby classroom.
The case went to Dane County
Judge Archie Simonson. The
judge reviewed the statement of
one of the rapists, a 15-year-old
boy, and declared that there
would not be a need for extraor-
dinary punishment. The rapist
was ordered to stay at home un-
der court supervision for a time,
rather than serving time in jail or
in a rehabilitation center. Simon-
son declared that the girl's
provocative clothing and obvious
behavior- were the real reasons
for the crime.
WHEN feminists and others
protested the unfairness of the
decision, Judge Simonson lashed
back. "There should be a
restoration of modesty in dress
and the elimination from the
commun$y of the sexual
gratification business," he
declared firmly. On his decision
not to punish the admitted
juvenile rapist, the judge
declared, "I'm trying to say to
women, 'stop teasing.' '.'
As a campaign to oust Simon-
son from his position was moun-
ted, the judge continued to justify
his decision in the most
provocative terms. Even in
court, he explained, "women
_ (appear) without bras and with
nipples fully exposed, and they
think it is smart and they sit here
on the witness stand with their
dresses up over the cheeks of
their butts, and we have this type
of thing in the schools." On the
theory that women are the cause
of rape, Simonson asserted that
"it sure raises a lot of interest in
my mind from time to time."
In September 1977, Simonson
lost the judgeship in a special
recall election to lawyer Moria
Krueger. But the election was no
anticlimax for Simonson.-
Throughout 1978 and 1979 he was
on the lecture circuit and talk
shows, getting paid as a
celebrity.
THE PATTERN of violence
against women grows
eometrically with the political

surge of feminism. FBI statistics
note that reported rapes doubled
in less than a decade, from 27,620
in 1967 to 56,730 in 1976. Cases of
battered women have reached an
all-time high. And according to
all observers, the;number of
unreported rapes and beatings of.
black and white women dwarf the
number of reported incidents.
Throughout the 1970s, black
and white women fought back.
Against the blatant sexism of
Simonson, against the weight of
American law enforcement of-
ficials, the court system, and the
sexist fabric of American civil
society-they shouted a resoun-
ding "No" to violence.
This is especially true for black
women. When Dessie Woods, a
22-year-old black Georgia
woman, shot Ronnie Horne, an
attempted white rapist, with his
own unlicensed handgun, she
became the criminal in the
opinion of the law. She was
drugged, beaten, and forced into
solitary confinement by the
Georgia police. On February 2,
1976, she was, sentenced to serve
22 years in a women's peniten-
tiary.
IN NORTH Carolina several
years before, Joan Little killed
her attacker, a white jailer, and
was forced to flee to New York to
obtain her freedom. In both in-
stances black women asserted
their rights as black people, as
human beings, and as women in
their rejection of physical
assault.
The patterns of violence again-
st women have international and
political dimensions. Turning to
Simone de Beauvoir in "The
Second Sex," we find:
- "Women as a ;rule are un-
familiar with violence, they have
not been through the tussles of
childhood and youth as have

Rape and
capitalistic
values
By Manning Marable

men; and now the girl is laid hold
of, swept away in a bodily
struggle in which man is the
stronger. She is no longer free to
dream, to delay, to maneuver:
She is in his power, at his
disposal ... It is not uncommon
for the young girl's .first ex-
perience to be a real rape and for
the man to act in an odiously
brutal manner. In the country
and wherever manners are
rough, it often happens that-
half consenting, half
revolted-the young peasant girl
loses her virginity in some ditch,
in shame and fear."
PATTERNS of violence against
women begin at childhood, and
end at the grave. The over-
whelming majority of sexually
abused children are female, and
the great preponderance of
sexual offenders are men. The
patterns are immune to race and
class distinction; white and black
men beat and multilate their
wives and lovers, sisters and
daughters, while the state and
civil society perpetuate reasons
for the violence.
And what of race, and its
relationship to violence against
women? Racial difference or
distinctions reinforce and in
many instances initiate the act of
violence against women, accen-
tuating the traditional rights of
men above women into an overtly
political statement. When a white
man rapes a black women, he is
often motivated by his racist con-
tempt for her blackness as much
as by his sexist hatred of her
womanhood. Racism reinforces
the normal pattern of relations
between all men and women by
preconditioning the rapist to
assert both his whiteness and his
masculine right to own any
women he desires. Thus, the

slaying' of Horne by Dessie
Woods was a three-fold rejection
of the dialectic of violen-
ce-against women, against
'blacks, and against the capitalist
concept of private ownership:
Horne's attempted rape can be
viewed as a statement in favor
the old plantation-style master
slave relationship; Wood's act
was both revolt against that
slavery and simultaneously an
act of personal and collective
self-assertion.
THE DESTRUCTION of
capitalism will not, contrary to
the opinions of many white and
black leftists, obliterate, sexism
and the traditional pattern a
physical violence against women.
Rape is only one important chap-
ter of this violence-forced
sterilization; the political attack
against lesbians, the inability to
receive abortfojs on demand,
and the lack ofI birth control in-
formationtare other aspects of
this anti-feminist assault.
Socialist countries on the whole
have made some significant,
qualitative steps toward th4
abolition of this kind of violence,
but the battle cannot be won sim-
ply by transferring the ownership
of the basic means of production
from the capitalists to the
working class.
The struggle against violence
must be waged within all
progressive social and cultural
movements if there is any.
possibility that any fundament4
changes are to take place. Male
theoreticians, black or white,
who do not place the struggle for
democratic and human rights for
women at the center of their
postulates for social transfor-
mation are simply replicating the
hegemonic practices and the
thoughts of the older, racist and
capitalist civil society.
Through a process of self-
criticism and extensive re
education, men must take a
break from the logic of "what it
has meant to be male," in order
to redefine themselves and their
relationship with women.
Manning Marable teaches
history at Cornell University's
Africana Studies and Researc
Center and is a leader of t
National Black Political
Assembly.

-
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Prosterman shoves facts under the rug

To the Daily:
Again H: Scott Prosterman
writes an article (Daily, March
15) on a topic while managing to
shove under the rug the most
relevant facts. The topic of the
article is Carter's disavowal of a
U.S. vote on the U.N. Security
Council resolution. Prosterman
tells us that the U.N. resolution
was "to condemn new Israeli set-
tlements on Arab land." Had that
been it, there would not have

disavowal.
Does Prosterman support such
a demand to make homeless tens
of thousands of Israelis, who live
within a couple of miles of the
Israeli Knesset (Parliament)?
Why is he indeed so devious as to
not even mention the core reason
for the Carter U.N. disavowal? Is
it simply because all he really
wanted was another opportunity

for a one-sided diatribe against
Israel? And what is all this non-
sense about "the world has seen
how Israel has failed to answer
the overtures of Sadat.. .."? Has
not Israel given back to Egypt oil
fields that would have Israel self-
sufficient in energy? What other
country has done that for peace?
Has not Israel given up all of the
Sinai-an area three times the

size of Israel? Has not Israel
given up formidable military in'
stallations (including air-bases)
and now is spending billions to
replace them with strategically
inferior bases in the Negev?
Why is it that what has satisfied
President Sadat of Egypt has
failed to satisfy a Michigan
student who claims to be Jewish?
-Raoul Kopelman
March 17