4 OPINION Page 4 Friday, April 11, 1986 The Michigan Daily 01 e MtiCbt'gzan BatIly Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVI, No.:131 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Us, Steinem, and equality 4 Piercing rhetoric C ONGRESSMAN Jack Kemp displayed tremendous oratorical skills and leadership potential when he captivated several hundred University studen- ts with a speech last Saturday. Hidden beneath the charm and football stories, however, was Kemp's right wing appeal, which threatens to exploit the in- creasingly Republican sentiment of today's youth. The former N.F.L. quarterback, now a presidential contender, clung to President Reagan's popular image, but injected a fier- ce vitality unseen in the 75-year-old president. Capitalizing on the same patriotic appeal and rhetoric that propelled Reagan to the White House, Kemp roused his audience to four long standing ovations. The loudest applause came during his passionate defense of Reagan's plan to send $100 million to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua - money that should be spent on Ann Arbor roads, or financial aid for University students. Even stronger support greeted his strident plea for America to resist "Soviet colonialism" by sup- plying arms to "freedom fighters" around the globe. Perhaps most popular with his young admirers was Kemp's ap- peal to their economic self-interest. Preaching Reaganomics and economic growth, he vowed to con- tinue cutting social programs and managed to turn a question about deficits accumulated under the administration into "no issue." "The answer to poverty is more investment and economic growth," he asserted, failing to explain how lower-class Americans crippled by Reagan's economic policies that favor the rich can participate in "The American Dream." Kemp's dream remains an ex- clusive one, available only to those with enough money to invest. While his call for national optimism should be needed, citizens locally and nationwide should not allow his martial fervor to overcome the pressing social needs of those un- touched by the "Reagan Revolution." Kemp's potential appeal to young voters here and at other veiled campaign stops is frightening. Recent Gallup polls show that the Republicans have emerged as the majority party among young American voters. Experts at the University Institute of Social Research confirm this trend, pointing out that Democratic Party affiliation among 18 to 25 year-olds enjoyed a two to one supremacy only a decade ago. Much of this dramatic shift can be attributed to Reagan's personal popularity. A new Republican leader with similar magnetism like Kemp, can thus consolidate the Republican gains and perhaps even solidify the GOP as America 's majority party. Although University students were Kemp's primary targets last weekend, all Ann Arbor voters have a stake in preventing him and other right wing candidates from reaching the White House. A national government that supports military adventurism means less federal support for the city. And University students who value their financial aid clearly would not benefit from a Kemp presiden- cy. It's early in the campaign, but Ann Arbor voters must start pier- cing through the Kemp facade to probe for substance. By Rebecca Chung On Sunday, March 9, I was on the Mall in Washington, D.C., clutching my orange press pass and feeling very excited as I began to cover my first national event - the March for Womens' Lives. The purpose of the three-mile walk to the Capitol steps, organized by the National Organization for Women, was twofold: to demonstrate that most Americans favor choice, and to support lobby efforts for the removal of the anti-abortion rider attached to the Civil Rights Restoration Act - which prohibits discrimination by sex, race, physical disability, and age in federally funded programs. At present, if Congress renews this legislation, abortion becomes illegal. If it doesn't, the government can gives funds to institutions that discriminate against minorities, women, disabled per- sons, and senior citizens. (Statistically speaking, a 1985 Harris poll found that less than 10 percent of all Americans were in favor of a Constitutional ban on abortion.) Between 80,000 and 125,000 people ap- parently felt that the cause was worthwhile enough to offset transportation and lodging problems. As for me, I wall always remember that day as the time I blew one of the greatest opportunities I could have hoped for as a college reporter. I was standing in the press tent before the march, not knowing quite what to do. I joined with a fellow Dailyite to interview Bill Baird, who was jailed in 1965 for giving contraceptive foam to and discussing abor- tion with an unmarried female. (Because of that case - Baird vs. Velloti - birth control became legal for unmarried minors.) Baird told us many stories about his involvement in the pro-choice battle. For instance, when his abortion clinic in New York was firebombed in 1973, the arsonist later claimed that God had sent him "by Morse code to cleanse by fire Baird's clinic." Found guilty,shebreceived 7 months in a mental clinic for his crime. After that, I spoke with several other VIPs. My notebook beginning to fill up, I milled around a little longer, then turned and watched as television cameras and throngs of reporters gathered around the tall, very thin woman in glasses im- media tely to my left. I looked. Looked again. No, couldn't be...I nudged the Washington Times repor- ter and asked "Excuse me, but who is that?" She smiled and whispered "Gloria Steinem.> Rookie high set in. My big story! We're going to scoop the nation! Columbia Award, here I come! Why didn't I have a tape recorder? I must have stood there for a full five minutes, scrawling away before I could find the courage or intelligence to ask anything. Why didn't I read up on the Schneider bill mandating parental leave that she was so steadfastly arguing? Why couldn't I bring up specific examples of Reagan's human Chung, an Honors English/RC Creative Writing Major, is Book Review Editor of the Daily. rights abuses or comment on the current political climate? What did I know about comparable worth, except that it would probably increase my paycheck someday? Thankfully, someone was asking her about abortion. At least I could break into the con- versation. She was in the midst of respon- ding. "Abortion was a major cause of injury and death. One out of three women have had abortions...if this administration has its way, this country will see something it has never seen - the prosecution of abortion as murder. A woman and her physician can be prosecuted at the whim of some official." Simple enough. I introduced myself and asked Ms. Steinem about the diffuculty of making something a nationwide issue. She replied, "Each issue takes its own path. First you give it a name, then en- courage people to speak out. It's atnatural process." When asked if she was getting discouraged in the fight for pro-choice, she answered "I would be discouraged if the majority of Americans didn't support choice. They do support choice. 70 percent of Americans support abortion rights." She continued, "We have a president that stands way outside the mainstream. That makes me angry."~ The tactics of anti-abortion activists came up. I described the commonplace sight of fetus pictures in the Fishbowl. One could hear anger in Ms. Steinem's voice as she responded with with "We (Ms. Magazine) published a coroner's photograph of a dead woman in a motel room. The media has been very unfair, publishing pictures of dead fetuses but not of women who have died from abortions," although she did not concede that "media coverage has im- proved in the last ten years." (That photograph can be found in Our Bodies, Ourselves, which has just been revised and is widely available.) So far, so good. The liberals would love it; the conservative Catholics and fundamen- talists hate it; Brother Jed would have more sinners to denounce, and the abortion fight that had taken over the Opinion Page at the beginning of the term would begin all over again. But there had to be more I could bring back to Ann Arbor than that. I began to search my mind for questions. What bothered me? What bothered my friends? All that hit me was something I constantly debated with my friends in the apartment downstairsas wellas with my boyfriend. What can we, as young women and college students, really do to help maintain and ex- tend the equality that people before us fought for? How do we cope with the choices we have? What now? One of the as-of-yet unrecognized achievements of the women's movement is its reiteration of the fact that people need each other. The idea that one can only make worthwhile contributions in monetary or in- tellectual terms becomes mythical as men and women begin to share spheres and, consequently, enrich their lives in ways they never thought possible. It isn't just women wanting it all; it's men too, who are starting to see that there is much more to life than work and wages. Although society is slowly but surely ac- cepting the personhood of women, society's machine for perpetuating itself is changing much more slowly. Many women too eagerly sought to fill the emptiness they or their mothers felt as "only housewives" by plunging into full-time employment and motherhood. Now they often find them- selves trapped in jobs still geared to in- dividuals who cannot be concerned with details (!) like maintaing a household or raising children. People who want relation- ships and/or families will be scrambling in order to fulfill the equally pressing needs of economic security, personal achievement, and intimacy and support from a caring in- dividual. As a nation, this dilemma has not been resolved. Moreover, even as this country searches for ways to deal. with this never- before-seen situation, there is a vocal minority who has convinced itself that the only solution is to turn the clock back. Never mind that 56tpercent of all women work because they must (Newsweek, 3/31/86), or that, according to 1980 U.S. cen- sus figures, only 11 percent of all families fit the "traditional" father-who-works, mother-who-doesn't mold. This minority is also composed of people (really), who feel the same tugs, have the same fears. But they don't under- stand that their solutionwill not work for everybody, or even almost everybody. But because they are more organized than the more diverse majority, they have the means to impose their ideas upon everyone. These people have attacked abortion, ERA, gay parenting, and even rock music in the name of saving the family. They don't see that, if they do things their way, they will pay the too-high price of sacrificing the individuals who make up families. This is self-defeating: after all, aren't families where people go when they need to be accep- ted as themselves? Isn't finding ways to simultaneously develop the concept of the family and share the responsiblity to care for each other as complete individuals worth fighting for? This was what I was looking for from Gloria Steinem that sunny Sunday morning in Washington. I found it after reading coun- tless articles and books after the march, in- dluding Betty Friedan's The Second Stage, Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex,and Carl N. Degler's At, Odds. It couldn't have been properly addressed during an outdoor interview held between TV crews. I was demanding sweeping generalizations and easy solutions. I got what I deserved. * Rookie Reporter: What would you ask of young women? " Gloria Steinem: I would ask of them only that they dream the biggest dreams... " RR: And what about the role of college campuses? m GS: The campus is a microcosm of the world, so there's much we can do. We can make Afro-American and women's studies a part of the curriculum so that we study all of our culture, not just part of.it. We can make the campuses safe for men and women by providing lighting and security. " RR: And college men? What about them? " GS: I would ask them to think about the ways in which it helps them - they are also denied some humanity - and think about what it would be like to be exactly the same person, but born female: how they would react to a dirty joke, discrimination in the workplace..." Nice, inspirational stuff, huh? Oh well... No comment O N MARCH 17th, this column published "Wire Service Politics." The editorial criticized an Associated Press (AP) article, which was both inaccurate and misleading. (Daily, "6,500 political prisoners languish in Nicaragua," 2/21/86). At the time of the editorial, the Associated Press could not respond to the Daily's queries. Having received a copy of the Daily editorial, the AP Foreign Desk in New York promised to call the Daily with a response on March 31st. AP did not respond. On April 7th, Nate Polowetsky said that the AP had not had time to question its sources in Nicaragua. Still, Polowetsky said there would be a response in two or three days. On April 10th, Polowetzky still had no response except "What's the rush?" While AP did not publish any Sandinista comments on the con- ditions and existence of political prisoners in Nicaragua, the Daily spoke to Maria Hooker, a press of- ficer at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington, DC. Hooker said that the Red Cross is allowed to visit prisons and Americas Watch has visited the pre-trial detention center described in the AP article. She denied the existence of severe conditions such as rape and forced drug administration in Nicaraguan prisons and pre-trial detention cen- ters. In contrast, AP quotes its source, saying that, under Somoza, "it was possible to visit the prisons, but now that is imposssible by or- der of Borge." The AP article does not quote anyone from the Sandinistas, the Red Cross or Americas Watch. In- formation from these sources flatly contradicts the AP article. Worse, the April 15th vote on Con- tra aid will come and go without AP readers' knowing there is a dispute over the facts they read in February concerning Nicaraguan political prisoners. -. - - ... - - . . I ' SAY . VII Yoh R $EtN( ,. ' INVAD T .' 11 _ -- I HDUR s l4vp'teD 4 -G i i _i / SAY YOU \Ne-NED NE, N UPy l / ?tL TA~/ Pxq) L/ #MV ID~N'TT1 you g TjoShy _ -.. 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