OPINION Page 4 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Thursday, April 9, 1981____ The Michigan Daily Racism and the White Punks Vol. XCI, No. 154 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board ; Rehabilitating the prisons M ICHIGAN'S prisons are dilapidated, dangerous, and worst of all, overcrowded. Violence i4'ns rampant throughout the in- Stitutions, unabated by frustrated prison officials who cannot adequately :supervise many of the state's ancient, :bsolete facilities. : Efforts to ease the problem have run :p against constant stumbling blocks. ;In. November, voters were presented .with a proposal that would have curbed t4s overcrowding. The proposal called for an increase of one-tenth of one per- ent in the state income tax which Auld be used to build four new egional correctional facilities. Voters "4efeated the proposal. 2 As a result of the defeat and in an at- teInpt to ease the overcrowding, the ttate legislature passed a law last hecember requiring the governor to Sdeclare a "state of emergency" and educe all prisoners' sentences by 90 tdys if the system remains over of-, fkial capacity for 30 days in a row. .,In March, figures showed that the state's prisons were, indeed, filled Protectig' THE EARLY 1960s, before the -L enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights t many bla 'i the South were, etied the m * basic right of ae nocracy. Although blacks over the age of 21 were guaranteed the right to vote by the Constitution, state and :ocal officials around the coun- :.'-especially in the South-effec- :$iyely denied them that right through a ::kk mber of maneuvers ranging from " ll taxes to rigged literacy tests to M"" tright force. he Voting Rights Act of 1965 has nade possible a great deal of progress :ober the past decade and a half toward "*eroding racial barriers to the polls. t Congressional leaders are now erried that efforts to extend the Act's ovisions, and to complete the pxogress begun in the 60s, will be blocked by the new conservative mood in Washington. Liberal leaders in Congress have wisely realized they will undoubtedly face stiff Republican opposition in the Congressional offices and subcommit- ees on Capitol Hill. Sen. Strom Thur-- #mond (R-S.C.), a longtime opponent of Mivil rights legislation, now chairs the ,Senate Judiciary Committee. In that TAE RWAAN a.:NL N I * ~ ' .----- C y- - above capacity and Gov. William Milliken prepared to release 1,000 prisoners. Now, a state judge has blocked the law and the release of the inmates following a challenge by Oakland County Prosecuter L. Brooks Patterson. It seems as if Michigan's prison, system is damned to eternal Hell no matter which way officials turn. Clearly, the state cannot afford to build additional facilities; at this time the most logical solution seems to be the release of prisoners for parole three months early. But Patterson intends to block this proposal. If Michigan's prisons are going to at- tempt any type of rehabilitation, in- mates cannot be subjected to over- crowded, inhumane conditions. Carefully supervised early parole programs and community projects' such as halfway houses must now be given an opportunity to work. Milliken's release of the prisoners should not be blocked; it is essential both for criminal rehabilitation and financial interests of the state. * t voting rights position, Thurmond will be able to block any proposed extension of the Act, allowing it to die in committee.. Democratic members of the House and Senate, however, have begun to rally their forces against the conser- vative leaders. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has already announced that he will find other channels through which to introduce thebextension legislation if Thurmond. blocks it in committee. The extension of the legislation proposed by Democrats is essential if the original goals of the 1965 Act are to be realized. Since the enactment of the landmark law, the number of minority voters has more than doubled. But, a number of states in the South still have disproportionately low voting records among black and Spanish-speaking residents, making an extension of the Act an absolute necessity. Republican leaders in Congress should realize that the Act is not another government infringement on the rights of the individual-a reason often cited as justification for striking down social legislation. But, is rather an attempt to protect one of the most basic rights of the individual in a democratic society. This is the first article of a two-part series which examines a loose federation of urban white high school students called White Punks on Drugs. Tomorrow's ar- ticle will focus on the self-image of the students who are members of WPOD, and for whom racism is a way of life. * * * * SAN FRANCISCO - George Washington High School in San Francisco's Richmond District looks like it has been hit by a series of bombs and nobody ever bothered to clean up the mess. Almost as if out of the rubble, groups of teenage kids have emerged, spiritually segregated from each other, calling. themselves White Punks on Dope, Radical Punks, Muns, Wannabees, Members Only, Cholos, Bloods, and Wah Ching. Each group has its own style of dressing, its music, drugs, cars, pilitant rhetoric - and weapons. Broken bottles, orange rinds, bread crusts, banana peels, and candy bar wrappers litter the courtyard, steps and the football stadium in front of Washington High. The windows that aren't smashed and boarded are covered with grime. Sunlight struggles through the remaining window panes, illuminating dingy floors covered with litter. Lockers are trashed, the metal doors twisted, the locks busted, rendering them permanently open. The groups of students separate themselves racially - the Chinese hang out on the school steps; the blacks have taken over the basket- ball court and the football field bleachers; the whites mingle together at the "Box," the dugout at the fifty yard line; and the Mexicans have, they say, been pushed by the Chinese Wah Chings to the back of the school where they sit on the track bleachers. Russians, Iranians, Puerto Ricans, and "boat people" emigres are alloted the remainder of the bleachers. One group, the White Punks on Dope, blatantly declare their racial prejudice and the means they use in an attempt to establish themselves over the students of other races. "What we want is power," says Larry, a senior at Washington High. "WPOD is 'White Punks on Dope,' but it also means 'White Power or Die.' We want power over the schools, over other races, over our territory . "Sure, we're racist," says Larry. "We don't want to be shoved around in our own territory by another race. The Cholos' place -is the Mission. The niggers' territory is Hunters' Point, the Fillmore, Oceanview and Ingleside." "You have to stay loyal to your race. We're white," Sharon Lassiter, a junior, says suc- By Pauline Craig cinctly through her braces. "Many of our parents aren't prejudiced against other races. Some were hippies in the 60s, rebelling from the racism that their parents tried to teach them when they were children. My mom thinks that all races are one big family and that we should all take care of and help each other. "My mother should come to our school," continues Sharon. "Then she would see what's going on. Out of 3,000 students here at Washington, maybe 150 are white. A lot of us are the only white kids in our classes. The rest are Chinks who speak only Chinese or else niggers who ignore us and won't talk to us at all." "Or else they push us around," adds Sonja Nilssen, a pretty blonde friend of Sharon's. "That's why WPOD go everywhere together-on the bus to school, walk together between classes and wait for each other to go home. "But we think there are differences within the races. There are blacks and there are y niggers," Sonja elaborates. "Blacks are friendly, say 'hi' to. you in the halls. Niggers think they're too cool to acknowledge you, always struttin' their stuff, bein' high on the ass. They bump into you on purpose in the hall, then expect you to apologize." "Then there are the Yangs, the Chinks, Fugis, slanteyes," adds Larry. "You can't tell the difference between.-Japanese and Chinese anyway-they're all the same. The worst are the Wah Chings. They used to cut school and ride around in their cars. But ever since that trouble up on the (Twin) Peaks, (where the Wah Ching fought it out with a rival Chinese gang, the Joe Boys) they've been hangin' around school tryin' to recruit new members. The Wah Chings pack pieces, man. Nobody will have anything to do with the Wah Chings, even Chinese girls. They just fight for the hell of it." "We're not too crazy about surfers, either," says Sharon. "They're mellow. They like reggae, country and western music. We hate it. They go to Ocean Beach like we do but they're in the water at six in the morning in their slimy wet suits, riding their surfboards or their boogie board." "And we hate Muns," adds Larry. "That's Mexican United Nations, the same as Cholos. They're low riders. They drive stupid low rider cars with velvet interiors, shag rugs, glitter all over their shiny paint jobs, and chrome spoke mags (hub caps)." "But the're tough in fights," says Luke. "They use chains, blades." "The rads - that's radical punks - suck," says Maureen, a WPOD girl. "They're negative - we don't dig their negativity. They're always tryin' to get attention by dressin' in shockin' colors, torn clothes, black tennis shoes, with their shirt tails hangin' out, green hair, black filthy eye shadow, disgusting stuff like that. They're an em- barrassment to our race." "And the faggots, forget it, we hate them" says another WPOD. "San Francisco has too many faggots." "Some white kids, like those who go to Mission (High), we call Wannabees," Sharon goes on. "They're whites who wanna be Cholos, Flips, whatever. They dress like the race they want to hang out with. Wannabees even join Mun gangs like the Sir Lords and white girls join girl Mun gangs, too." WPOD rhetoric is virulent in its racism but it's occasionally contradicted by the choice a WPOD will make for a good friend. Sonja sometimes has dinner with her friend Seena's Filipino family. She often babysits with Seana's little sister. After school Danielle, a sophomore at Washington, stands around with other WPODs badmouthing other races, then walks behind the school to the track and sits on the bleachers with the Muns. Baby-faced Gena, nicknamed "La Muneca Loca" or Crazy Doll, is Danielle's best friend. "I hang out with all the people," Danielle says. "Most WPOD's don't. I go with friends who are Cholos, Flips, blacks, I don't care, I like them all." Rudy Hernandez and his friends typify the confusion and occasional open-endedness in WPOD racial loyalty. I'm "Mexican, Canadian, German, Rumanian, and American," he laughs. He spews racial slursU right in front of his friends, Pablo Vuskovitch, who's Chilean, Venezuelan, and Yugoslavian, and Richard Harrison, a black boy. Their other friend Styx is Irish and Indian. They don't even wince when Rudy demeans other races - they nod in agreement with him. They know he's not referring to them. "We're all WPODs; we all like rock music," Rudy states flatly. "A lot of kids haven't decided what race they want to belong to yet," says Sonja. "Like if you're Spanish, you don't have to b~e a Cholo. You can be a WPOD if you're into rock." Tomorrow: PART II. Pauline Craig is an associate editor of the Pacific News"'Service, for which she wrote this article. CRL T director explains cutbacks I To the Daily: We who are targeted for major budget cuts are more than usually sensitive to misunder- standings about our units. Thus I am writing with respect to the Daily editorial of April 1 and the news story of March 31 about the impact of the budget cuts upon the University's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. The editorial states, "In proposing reductions in the Cen- ter for Research on Learning and Teaching and Michigan Media, the BPC (Budget Priorities Committee) has, very importan- tly, kept in mind the importance of instruction. CRLT's budget will be cut by 25 percent. The cut will result in elimination of much of the facility's research on lear- ning. But CRLT will continue much of its work on improving teaching techniques through the University - a service that can- not be neglected at any time." I heartily applaud the last sen- tence, but regret that there is some misunderstanding about the funding of research at CRLT. Over 90 percent of CRLT resear- ch is funded by the federal gover- nment and foundations. Rather than drawing funds from the University, we bring in grants that support our basic organizational costs and support undergraduate and graduate students who benefit, not only financially but also educationally, from their partici- pation. Any cuts in our research ac- tivities will result from the with- drawal of the federal government from educational research, not from our local cuts. Cessation of our research would, we believe, be harmful to achievement of our primary mission, improving teaching and learning at the University. Just as the overall quality of education at the University is enhanced by faculty members who remain at the forefront of learning in their disciplines, so too is CRLT's ability to help faculty members enhanced by having staff members who are nationally and internationally known scholars in our field. If it is not the elimination of research on learning, what, then, will the impact $100,000 cut? " Continued development of the Instructor-Designed Question- naire for Student ratings of teaching will be halted. The proposal that faculty members be forced to pay to obtain student ratings seems likely to reduce the use of ratings. " The program of workshops on effective teaching methods will be restricted. eThe Evalpation and Examinations Office, which provides test-scoring services and consultation on testing will be closed. * The individual jointly appoin- ted by CRLT and Michigan Media to assist faculty members in developing videotaped materials for their classes will be ter- minated. CRLT staff will be less available for consultation with faculty members desiring help in improving their courses. " Small grants to faculty mem- bers for course improvements will be drastically reduced. The news story stated that the $100,000 cutback will have no ad- verse affects. To us, and to mang faculty members who wrote or testified at the budget hearings, this cutback does seem adverse. There was a possible im- plication in the news story that we submitted these proposals for cuts voluntarily. Obviously, we did not. We tried to indicate how a 28 percent cut could be made with the least effect upon the quality of education in the University. We believe we have minimized these adverse effects, but they are stil substantial. Although the injuries are real and deep, our wounds are not mortal. CRLT will continue to be an active, vital organization. We look forward to the challenge of participating in making the "bet- ter but smaller University" become reality. -Wilbert J. McKeachie Director, CRLT April 2 AT RENIE1N I LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Many thanks to MSA To the Daily: Project Community's Income Tax Assistance Program would like to thank the Michigan Student Assembly president and staff for the outstanding support we have received during the 1980/81 Winter Term. MSA donated office space, telephone lines, secretarial assistance, and funding, which allowed the project to operate more produc- tively and better serve the com- organization displayed. Their dedication and willingness in serving the students and com- munity is very rewarding: It is with deep sincerity that we say thank you once again to the MSA for their contribution to human service learning. -The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Staff Mark Canvasser; Charles "Kip" Clarke; Larry Halperin; Ib MrIMnwR./IM"/%, I-MM!"m NC///- I I NII'rll 111uffW. ,1% ]IEillf IAA.LMV'M ' w