4 OPINION Page 4 Friday, November 14, 1986 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan ., . Vol. XCVII, -No. 52 420 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. Bering -~ DIY A4&b($ARC sW fowvv OUT i't MONLY A4ND A CTRP4A I,>t P l~j~r ' PV Y a7xki $ / f F E Wr A I fEEz ~ ~ c The Mchiga Doih ~IJI)JJGJ 0 z4~T~zf I 31 Police harassment ON OCTOBER 28TH, citizen spectatorF in Ann Arbor's 15th Judicial District Court saw a good example of their tax dollars going to waste. Ann Arbor police with the aid of city attorney Ron Plunkett attempted to prosecute Frank Aponte for "resisting the order of a police officer," who had asked Aponte to show his driver's license. It turns out that instead of immediately producing his license Aponte ran from Ann Arbor Police Officer Phil Lavigne into a restaurant where Aponte had worked and where several police officers including Lavigne fre- quently ate. The officers testified that Aponte reemerged from the restaurant with the manager to confront the police, all within 30 seconds of Lavigne's request that Aponte show his driver's license. Aponte, who is a 22-year-old black, had good reason to run from Lavigne, who is white, to find a witness. Lavigne was pursuing Aponte's license in relation to the charge of "obstructed vision." Aponte had tassles and a five inch bear hanging from his rearview mirror. In a previous case on Christmas Day, 1985, Lavigne arrested Aponte for having dice hanging from his rearview window. Aponte claimed that officer Lavigne had told him that "I can take you off the streets any time I want" and that given Aponte's many previous experi - ences with Lavigne this proved true. Aponte's trial, which took more than an hour in just the hearing of witnesses, the defense attorney, Aponte, two officers involved, supporting officers and the prosecutor Ron Plunkett proved the pettiness and probable racism of at least some officers of the Ann Arbor police force. In finding Aponte not guilty, Judge Alexander Thomassen noted that there would be too many arrests if police hassled all the University graduates who hung up tassles on their rear view mirrors. The city prosecutor is perhaps most culpable for the harassment of Aponte and the waste of tax dollars spent on the arraignment, pre-trial hearings and court time of police officers who seem to thrive on overtime pay. The prosecutor had hardly any argument to make against Aponte and never should have agreed to prosecute the case. The prosecutor's desperate position showed in his weak arguments. First, he argued that Aponte ran into the restaurant to escape the police. This, however, was highly unlikely given that Aponte had worked at the restaurant and knew that it was a place frequented by police officers. Secondly, and only in his concluding remarks, the prosecutor tried to imply that Aponte must have run into the restaurant to conceal drugs that he had with him at the time. Plunkett, who also prosecuted University students protesting CIA recruitment for trespassing on University property, implied this without once providing any evidence or even any mention of drugs throughout the trial. The city attorney must have the political courage-and mobilize public opinion if necessary-to stand up to police and not prosecute such ridiculous cases. Legitimizing these cases en- courages police to waste tax revenue on petty harassment of the citizenry. -*, r -, / _ ©/,6 4 LETTERS: .4 IMPAC left out of the mainstream Thanksgiving missed WHERE DID THANKSGIVING GO? It is November and leaves on the ground are still fall colored. Football season is going strong and the University has not recessed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ann Arbor, however, is already drumming up the Yuletide spirit, overshadowing an important national holiday. The turkey-Pilgrim-Mayflower motif seems to have been forgotten by nearly everyone (local elementary schools are notable exceptions). There are almost no reminders of American Indians, of the harvest, or of the long table overflowing with food and a bountiful, strategically placed "horn of plenty." Christmas decorations adorn State Street and many local shop windows. The Sears Christmas catalogue is already in the possession of greedy children-(an unidentified third-grader was quoted as saying "No, I want the baby-doll that wets her pants!"). Soon, Santa Claus will begin taking personal requests and making guest appearances. Toy commercials dominate advertisine time on television and Proclamation. The Proclamation expressed the thankfulness of the settlers toward their Indian neighbors. The Pilgrims invited the Indians to a three-day feast to celebrate and give thanks, and to share some of what they had grown. Throughout the past three hundred and sixty-five years the event has evolved into a national holiday, celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November. It is still an important, symbolic day (besides being the only Thursday of the year on which a pro football game is played). It is a time when families gather together to celebrate all they have reaped from the land. It is a time of unity, sharing, and love, as well as a convenient break for burned-out college students. At the same time, it is an appropriate opportunity to consider mistreatment of American Indians by generations of Pilgrim ancestors. American Indians have been regulated to a small, insignificant portion of this land that was once theirs and which they originally shared in good faith. What may be the most important message of Thanksgiving, is to be To the Daily: As a Zionist, I am concerned with the apparent liberal Democratic partisanship that has become inherent to IMPAC (Involved in Michigan Political Action Committee). In the Tuesday, November 4, issue of the Daily, in the article entitled "Group aids pro- Israel tickets," IMPAC claims to be a "single-issue PAC." IMPAC executive committee member Jeff Parness and IMPAC founder Jill Goldenberg state that IMPAC "knows no party boundaries." However, this is not the case at all. Since IMPAC was founded, it has never once actively supported a Republican, or even a conservative, candidate for public office. Indeed, the three political candidates that IMPAC has actively campaigned for-Senator Paul Simon (Illinois), and Congressmen Bob Carr (East Lansing, Michigan) and Ed Feighan (Cleveland, Ohio)-are all liberal Democrats. Furthermore, in the case of Carr, his opponent, Jim Dunn, had an equal, if not better, pro- Israel voting record in Congress. The only difference was that Dunn supported the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), upon which Israel's survival rests, according to Israeli Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Yitzchak Shamir and many Israeli members of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament). Incidentally, Israel recently signed a contract with the United States worth ten million dollars, a sum which would help the wavering Israeli economy significantly, to do SDI research. Carr opposes SDI. IMPAC claims to support candidates who support Israel, and who are engaged in close races in nearby areas. Given the equal pro-Israel records of both candidates in the Carr- Dunn race, why did IMPAC take sides? Cpuld this be due to the facts that Dunn is a conservative Republican and that all of the six members of IMPAC's executive committee are liberal Democrats? Perhaps the fact that Lisa Bardach, other than that it did not want to do so. IMPAC's active support would have been more than welcomed by pro-Israel Republican congressman Bill Schuette of Michigan's Tenth District. Schuette meets all of IMPAC's criteria for support, in that he possesses a strong pro-Israel voting record, was engaged in an extremely close race against former Democratic Congressman Don Albosta, who has a poor pro-Israel voting record, and his district is in close proximity to Ann Arbor. The one fact, however, that probably caused IMPAC to refrain from actively supporting Schuette is that of his political party affiliation-Republican. Consider t To the Daily: Language both reflects and reinforces societal norms and values. Inclusive language is words, examples, and images which encompass all segments of our society, including women and racial minorities. Although often unintentional, language excludes groups of people. This exclusion can reinforce a group's own sense of alienation from culture and economy, and thereby fail to challenge existing walls of prejudice. We are promoting language that would eliminate such alienation and asking that you consider the use of inclusive language. Imagine being a white man enrolled in a Women's Studies course. Throughout the se- mester, you feel yourself being classified as "one of them," a member of the traditionally privileged group-the male oppressor. If this message was reaffirmed in the language of the professor, your discomfort would be confirmed and your interest in the course squelched. Likewise, imagine being a woman enrolled in an engineering lecture. The class is filled with male students and taught by a male professor; you are one of three women in the lecture hall. While taking an exam you realize every question refers to engineers as men. Both situations are alienating; learning would be Axfrn: 11 nnf .-r mfnr.. 1S Ttn Inclusive language opens up the possibility for anybody to enter any field and fill any role. It facilitates change by countering the existing norms and realities, such as women still being a minority in the field of engineering. . To encourage use and discussion, we are sponsoring a contest in which students will be asked to choose a professor who is notable in her or his The Star Wars de To the Daily: I am writing this letter in response to the unbelievably ignorant perspective give by Mr. Patrick Eugene Palis (Daily 11/10/86). Palis presents an argument for SDI stating that SDI will be used only as a defensive weapons system and that to consider it as a first strike system "morally equates the United States with the Soviet Union." He explains his point by saying, "A machine gun in the hands of Mother Theresa is far less menacing than the identical weapon in the hands of Abu Nidal." It is exactly this type of mentality that is so frightening. It is not only the public community who continually assign the roles of good and evil to the United States and Soviet Union, respectively. Our top officials-men who are sunnosecrno nevotintinpr mith Luckily, Schuette won his re- election bid without IMPAC's help; although, his victory was only by a slight 51-49 percent margin, or 3,751 votes. Can, on the other hand, defeated Dunn by a much wider 57-43 margin. Thus, that race was not that close, and Can was a sure winner with or without IMPAC's help. Because of the fact that certain executive committee members of IMPAC, including its president, resented suggestions that they choose to also support Republicans, and chose to ignore the complaints and facts pointing to IMPAC's obvious partisan politics, these complaints must be aired he use of inclusi publicly in order to elicit any sort of positive change. Therefore, in the future, IMPAC would be better advised to actively support conservatives and Republicans, in addition to the liberal Democrats, which it has traditionally and exclusively supported. Otherwise, if IMPAC chooses to continue its flagrant liberal partisanship, it can expect to alienate many pro-Israel organizations and individuals both on and off campus. I would hope that the former would occur. -Debbie K. Schlussel -National Jewish Coalition Rep. November 9 ve language awareness of inclusive language. Voting will take place in the Fish Bowl on November 13 and 14. Thank you for your attention to this important issue. Your use of language does make a difference. -PIRGIM's Women's Issues Committee November 4 ense is shot down on the proposed arms limitation agreements by the Soviets. Though we all know that SDI could be used as a first strike system, the Soviets should relax because ot4 inherent Mother Theresa-like qualities (especially apparent in recent actions toward Tripoli, Central America, and Iran) insure their safety. In short, they must trust us while we mistrust them. Mr. Palis claims to be quite a historian, no I was surprised when he used the analogy comparing the U.S. to Mothe Theresa. I assume since he believes we are such a morally infallible nation, we need not abide by such treaties violated by the likes of SDI. We must be following some greater . cause, which allows us greater privileges, -William Pemberton November 11 f