OPINION

Page 4

Saturday, December 3, 1983

The Michigan Daily


Peace is the,

way, not just the goal

-4

By Coretta Scott King
seventh in a series
The winds of change are sweeping America
and the world. Our nation has begun the largest
military buildup in human history. As never
before, we are confronted with the unthinkable
specter of a nuclear Armageddon.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union
have-assembled an awesome range of nuclear
weapons. The two superpowers already have
15,000 hydrogen bombs and 10,000 tactical
nuclear weapons, enough to destroy the earth
many times over.
Euro missile
Debate
No one knows exactly how many nuclear
bombs there are today. But with 247 nuclear
power reactors in the world, it would be
possible to produce up to 8,000 bombs per year,
each one of which is many times more destruc-
tive than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan
during World War II.
ALTHOUGH MANY people think that the
nuclear arms race is between the United States
and the Soviet Union, in fact, four other nations
admit to possessing nuclear weapons as well.
The other nations include China, Britain,
France, and India. It's bad enough that six
nations have nuclear weapons, but this number
is expected to triple within just three years,
when a total of 18 nations will have nuclear
weapons. By 1987 it is expected that a total of 29
nations will have the bomb. Clearly, this is
madness.

There are those who say we have no choice
but to increase our stockpile of nuclear
weapons because the Soviets are doing the
same. Indeed, it's true that the Soviets have an
awesome nuclear force which could destroy
this nation. But that has been true for a long
time. The historical record shows that when we
escalate, they escalate, and vice-versa. That's
why it never seems to end.
ISN'T IT STRANGE how the leaders of
nations can talk so eloquently about peace
while they prepare for war? There is no way to
make peace while preparing for war.
The supporters of the nuclear arms race say
that peace can only be achieved through
strength. But what do they mean by
"strength"? Apparently, an ability to destroy
the world an infinite number of times.
But at a certain point we must ask: just
what is it that makes a nation safe and secure?
If we ruin our economy to engage in an ac-
celerating arms race, are we really any
stronger? When we demoralize and polarize
millions of jobless, homeless, and im-
poverished Americans, it seems to me that we
are dangerously weak at the very fabric of our
society. In this sense, the nuclear race breeds
insecurity, not strength.
OUR GREATEST defense against com-
munism or any other "ism" is economic
prosperity and opportunity for all of our
citizens, as well as for people of other nations.
This should be the corner stone of both our
domestic and foreign policies. If our nation can
set a higher standard of justice, opportunity,
and human rights, we will win the war of ideas
without resorting to fear. This is the only way
to achieve a truly lasting peace which is built
on a solid foundation of respect instead of fear.
The proliferation of nuclear weapons is not
only the major threat to the survival of
humanity. It's also the primary cause of pover-
ty and economic stagnation around the world.
With a serious arms control program, the

and are not clothed."
Martin Luther King, Jr. said it a little dif-
ferently. As he put it: "If we reversed invest-
ments and gave the armed forces the an-
tipoverty budget, the generals could be
forgiven if they walked off the battlefield in
disgust. Poverty, urban problems, and social
progress generally are ignored when the guns
of war become a national obsession... A nation
that continues year after year to spend more
money on military defense than on programs of
social uplifts is approaching spiritual death."
Martin's point about the debilitating effects
of the frms race is well taken. Black
Americans in particular, should also be aware
that nuclear war is not an "equal opportunity"
destroyer. Black Americans would be
disproportionately victimized in the event of a
nuclear war because we are more concentrated
in the central cities. In this sense, nuclear war
is kind of genocide as well as homocide.
EVEN BEFORE we get to a war, however,
black Americans are also disproportionately
victimized by the nuclear arms race. The
social programs which have been cut to finance
the nuclear arms race have provided needed
opportunities and services for millions of black
Americans. I
A recent study by Employment Research
Associates calculated that every increase of
one billion dollars in Pentagon spending causes
1,300 black workers to lose their jobs. In one
two-year period, 1977 and 1978, increases in the
defense budget cost black workers 480,000 jobs
in civilian industry. Consider that, when people
lost their jobs, they need more human services
from their government. More unemployment
compensation, more food stamps, more AFDC
assistance, and other government programs.
Yet, these are the kinds of benefits that are
being slashed to finance the arms race. The
bottom line is that black workers are being for-
ced to pay a heavy price at both ends. When you
look at the statistics, it's no exaggeration to say

that the nuclear arms race is a leading cause of
economic depression in the black community.
Black Americans can play a pivotal role in
the struggle to prevent nuclear war. We are a
cohesive community, and many of our leaders
have already been trained in the philosophy
and strategy of active nonviolence.
The biblical admonition to "beat your swords
into plowshares" is closely compatible with
black religious traditions as well as our self-
interest. The black community has extensive
experience with boycotts and selective
patronage campaigns which can advance the
movement for economic conversion. Blacks
tend to vote as a bloc, and this means we can
exercise a disproportionate impact on impor-
tant elections at every level. Black voters can
make the difference which can send peace-
makers to the halls of Congress as well as to the
White House.
So black Americans in particular have a
vested interest in preventing nuclear war and
promoting nuclear disarmament. However,
this concern is shared by all Americans who
seek a better society.
To prevent nuclear war, we must forge a new
coalition of conscience which can make human
needs and an improved quality of life the cen-
tral priorities in the federal budget. We must
create a new awareness that peace and justice
are indivisible, that a unity of means and ends
is the way to achieve world peace. In other
words, if we want to create a truly nonviolent
world society, then we must adhere to a non-
violent strategy. Peace is the way not just the
goal.
King is founding president and chief
executive officer of. the Martin Luther
King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social
Change headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. The
center was established in 1969 as a living
memorial to her late husband.

nations of the world could apply countless
billions of dollars saved to advancing social
and economic progress.
The arms race is a shameful theft of funds
from programs that would enrich our planet.
Here in America the cost of one heavy bomber
could pay for 30 modern brick schools, or two
fully equipped hospitals. The cost of a single
destroyer would provide new homes for 8,000
people, and that of a single fighter plane would
pay for a half million bushels of wheat.
AS PRESIDENT Eisenhower once said,
"Every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those
who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold

I



Edie ttigan t
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

LaBan

Vol. XCIV-No. 72

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Big money; big problems

T IHE STAKES in maj
letics were raised a
And they threaten to co
leaving the Nationa
Athletic Association wi
solving some difficult p
the primary cause of th
continues to grow unchec
CBS recently agreed
than $96 million to telec
basketball tournament
and 1987. The figure isc
million CBS is now pay
1982-84 championships.
In football, a pending
give every college t
negotiate television c
dividually, instead of
NCAA as is done now. B
dependently, major fo
could blow the roof
television contracts. Ath
Don Canham has estima
this arrangement the Un
reap close to 19 million
-a figure almost equal
tment's current budget.
In these profits lies the
problems plaguing big
athletics. Without this
unlikely that college at
have faced such a wide]
dIes involving gambling,
illegal recruiting, trans
and poor academic stc
pursuit of vast profit-
amateur athletes into pr

or college ath-
gain this year.
)ntinue rising,
1 Collegiate
th the job of
roblems while
iose problems
ked.
to pay more
ast the NCAA
in 1985, 1986,
double the $48
ing to air the

tertainment. And the first rule, of
professional entertainment if filling
the seats. The key to doing that is to
win, win, win - by whatever means
possible.
There is little, however, which the
NCAA can do about these profits.
Practically speaking, it would be silly
to turn them down.
What the NCAA can do is set rules to
protect the performers, who many
seem to forget are also college studen-
ts.

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Last year's adoption of rule 48 was a
lawsuit could good start. The regulation set up
;he right to specific high school course
contracts in- requirements and college board test
through the scores for athletes who want to com-
3argaining in- pete as freshpersons.
otball powers This January, NCAA delegates can
off existing take another step by creating a power-j
iletic Director ful board of University presidents!
ted that under which would have the power to set up
iversity could 'further NCAA legislation. The NCAA
extra dollars has long been overly influenced by
to the depar- coaches and athletic directors; if there
are going to be any major reforms,
e root of many they are most likely to come from the
time college academic heads of the nation's
money, it is colleges.
hletics would Money and big profits, for better or
range of scan- worse, have become part of college
game fixing, athletics. The NCAA and the nation'
cript forgery, universities are going to have to
andards. The scramble to counteract the strains this
s has turned money has, and will continue to, put on
ofessional en- college athletics.
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STO THE DAILY:
Sit-ins better than military research

4

To the Daily:
Inhan open letter to the Univer-
sity community three top ad-
ministrators wrote, "(A) protest
becomes unacceptable, poten-
tially intolerable, when it inter-
feres significantly with academic
freedom" which they define as
"the right of faculty and students
to pursue their legitimate
teaching and research activities
without interference." Inmthis
-context "unacceptable" means
that the PSN blockade was not
accepted by the administration
as an appropriate action. Those
of us involved in the blockade
realized this before we began. We
chose to work outside of the
system. This means using
methods that the system will call
unacceptable.
I would like to raise the issue of
acceptability in a larger context.
We took our action to say
weapons research is unaccep-
table. The motives of researchers
may ha anod (such a trving to

proposed guidelines for non-
classified research?rThese
guidelines had the support of
students, faculty, and the ad-
ministration. Harold Shapiro said
of our action, "The unilateral ac-
tion of a few people to attempt to
impose their will on the Univer-
sity of Michigan community is
not tolerable." This statement
seems to apply better to the
regents action than to ours. Our
action was not forcing our will on
the University community, it was
giving the administration a
choice, stop the research or
arrest us, they chose the former.
Our action was a denial of
academic freedom only if (by the
administration's definition) we
interfered with legitimate
research activities. Our position
is that the research we tried to
BLOOM COUNTY

stop is not legitimate. If has.
legitimacy comes only from the s -David Miklethun
regents then our action was a November 18
denial of academic freedom as
the administration defines it, but Miklethun is a member of
if, as I would contend, legitimacy the Progressive Student Net-
comes from the people, from the work and was..a participant in
University community then there the group's early November
is some question as to what sit-in.
legitimacy weapons research
Community high commended

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To The Daily:
Thank you for the recent article
on Community High School.
("Community: Education with a
choice," Weekend, October 28).
The enthusiasm and high morale
of students and teachers at
Community was evident in their
remarks. For students who are
alienated' by the traditional

programs, Community provides
an alternative that can make a
tremendous difference. We are 4
fortunate to have this alternative
available in Ann Arbor.
-Miriam Meisler
November 14
Meisler is a professor of
genetics.

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