A OPINION Page 4 Thursday, September 24, 1987 The Michigan Daily ied mdbttigan an Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Jackson hurts rainbow Vol. XCVIII, No. 11 420 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. Gideon Spi IN SEPTEMBER 1986, GIDEON Spiro visited Ann Arbor from Israel, where he is head of the Committee Confronting the Iron Fist - an organization which protests Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Just recently, Israeli authorities indicted Spiro for "libelling the court", or in nonNewspeak terms, for writing a letter protesting the treatment of a Palestinian 14-year-old boy by a military court. The indictment of Spiro by Israel reflects intolerance of freedom of speech and the press. Spiro's arrest strikes close to home. He gave a lecture at Rackham just last September about Israel's harsh treatment o f Palestinians and other similar problems in the area (Daily, 9/22/86). Spiro was a paratrooper in the Israeli Army who refused to fight for Israel during its invasion of Lebanon in 1982. He has been against Israel's oppression of Palestinians in the occupied ter- fitories and wants a peace settlement negotiated directly with the Palestinians. In his own words, "You have to negotiate with the enemy; you don't have to like him. You don't have to love him, but you cannot appoint [their] leaders." This outlook on the Arab-Israeli conflict cost him his job in April 1986 because of an Israeli law 's travail prohibiting governmental employees from criticizing government policy. Spiro has now been indicted on charges that he libelled the court by writing a short letter which claimed the arrest and five year adult prison sentence of a Palestinian boy was "unjust" and "another stain on the Israeli occupation." This criticism of the military court's ruling was enough to prompt his arrest. As the Spiro incident indicates, the state of freedom of expression in Israel is questionable. Heavy fines or shutdown orders are given to newspapers if they publish articles without first submitting them to a censorship board. People can be arrested for displaying flags or singing songs deemed compromising to Israel's authority over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The United States' "special relationship" with Israel - one of economic and military aid - requires that U.S. citizens concern themselves with cases such as the indictment of Spiro in Israel or become complicit. Gideon Spiro deserves praise for saying what he believes while ignoring the imminent threat of arrest by Israel's military authorities. In the process, he has managed to bring more attention to Israel's uncivil behavior, and make people wonder what Israel is trying to hide. By Eduardo B. Torres The fact that I'm a minority (Hispanic) and a strong supporter and contributor to the betterment of minorities I feel compelled to write the following: being Hispanic in America and finding yourself playing second fiddle where minority politics are concerned has become a way of life. It's difficult understanding the politics of one's institution where minority issues are a concern, particularly when the politics of the institution are enforced for the advancement of one minority con- stituent. The term minority in its true definition includes the following minorities - Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. The definition of UCAR as defined by its supporters at the University of Michigan, is the coalition of all minorities, along with supporters who through collective efforts strive to abolish racism at their university. During the month of April 1987, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was asked to represent the United Coalition Against Racism and the Black Action Movement at a negotiating meeting between the Uni- versity's President Harold Shapiro and representatives of UCAR and BAM. When asking if I could present Hispanic concerns in the audience of Rev. Jackson and President Shapiro, access was denied. "Get your own agenda!" replied Jackson, get your own agenda! UCAR, RACISM was my agenda, our agenda! To many of us, the Rev. Je s s e Jackson's Rainbow Coalition represents the coalition of minorities. A Coalition that has seen him fight for the betterment of all minorities, sympathizers, liberals, and now today's farmers. Eduardo B. Torres is an alumni from the class of '82. He is also Executive Officer for the Coalition of Hispanics for Higher Education, founder of the University of Michigan Hispanic Alumni Society, and Vice-President of the College Recruitment Association for Hispanics. Does Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition give a false image? On the eve of Rev. Jackson's quest for the presidency of the United States, I wonder what his real political intentions are. The Rainbow Coalition he founded is supposed to be for all races, but it appears to be a camouflage for every politician's dream, to include all ethnic Americans. The camouflage is more evident because it brings together a large number of minority constituencies, most notably Blacks, Hispanics, women, and Native Americans together with sympathizers and liberals who have joined forces to elect the first Black president of the United States. Allow me, through first hand experi- ence, to give a clear picture of this man's politics. Rev. Jackson left a painful image in the hearts and minds of Hispanics at the University of Michigan. He declared the now infamous cry of "GET YOUR OWN AGENDA" in the face of one Hispanic leader, at a time when the University's Hispanics needed his support the most. He proceeded to denounce the importance of Hispanic leadership at the University, at a time in University history when the coalition of all minorities could have strengthened Black and Hispanic constituents at Michigan. Instead, the political posture of two organizations (BAM) Black Action Movement and (UCAR) United Coalition Against Racism was strengthened. If conditions for minorities are to change and if the fullest intention of the term "minorities" is to be employed by Politicians, in particular minority politicians, then the term must include all, not only Blacks. The time has come to address the needs of Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans. Rev. Jackson failed to unite Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities at a time when racism was rampant among our nation's uni- versities and colleges. Why would this political figure, a presidential candidate leave a group of Americans helpless at a time of need? Whom was this great leader representing? What was his agenda? Was it BAM or the United Coalition Against Racism? Certainly not the latter because Hispanic leaders at the University of Michigan made their support for UCAR/BAM well known. There was injustice committed here by a national Black leader at the,, expense of the Hispanic community at Michigan. The endless hours Rev. Jackson spent in closed-door negotiations with the University's President Harold Shapiro brought justice to only one constituent, the Black American. For whom and for what does the Rainbow Coalition stand? Let's deal with the real issues and intentions of the Rainbow Coalition. Are RC constituents a representation of America's minority population or is it a politician's political ploy to generate votes at the expense of the helpless, needy Americans e.g., Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, women and farmers. Political genocide of this type is far too dangerous. Americans cannot afford the same political inequities rendered by previous administrations. If Rev. Jackson is the presidential candidate of the people, then he should speak like a candidate for all the people, not the candidate for Black Americans ONLY. Why would a leader of this magnitude, who has spent his entire life uniting the impoverished working class of America turn his back on those same constituents that marched in support of his Rainbow Coalition? A public apology should be extended to the Hispanic population of the University of Michigan for this injustice: While racism continues to plague Hispanics across America, Rev. Jackson's insensitive attitude can only make it a bitter and long-lasting battle to identify racial issues in the 80's and 90's. The Rev. Jackson must stress unity among Blacks and Hispanics across America: There is no room for separate agendas when both groups are fighting RACISM: With joined forces and the same agenda we can jointly fight racism, but not by separate agendas, Rev. Jackson. I i I LETTERS: Daily ignores Hispanic heritage Dearborn loses free speech IN THIS, THE 200th anniversary year of our nation's Constitution, the faculty of the University of Michigan-Dearborn has somehow. forgotten the first amendment to the document that established the rights and liberties of the people of this country. The First Amendment grants Americans freedoms: the freedom of religious belief, the freedom to assemble, and .the right to a free press. In Dearborn recently, the staff of The Michigan Journal have had this right stripped from their student newspaper. Last year, The Michigan Journ- al's editor, Kevin Evans, included some articles in the paper which were in poor taste and unpro- fessional, such as an article written by a fictitious author, Ben Dover, and a contest that awarded ten free gallons of gasoline to the person who could guess the number of fires that wouldbe set on Devil's Night in Detroit. The contest angered many people in Detroit and the City Council responded with a letter of disapproval to T h e Journal.The whole affair caused the Dearborn campus much embarrass- ment, according to Joseph Wright, Dean of Student Affairs a t Dearborn. Last April, the administration of the Dearborn campus blatantly stration disagreed with some of the articles that appeared in the news- paper during Kevin Evans' tenure as editor. That is no reason to abandon the by-laws of the paper and remove editorial freedom for future generations of student journ- alists. In 1970, The Daily Californian, the newspaper of the University of California at Berkeley, came to a mutual agreement with the uni- versity to move off-campus after some editorials were run that attacked the administration. The feeling was that since the views of the editorial board disagreed so severely with the those of the administration, the only option was to remove the University's in- fluence on the paper. The definition of a student news- paper is a newspaper run by students. The Dearborn administra- tion is way out of line by their actions and could start a trend that would have other student news- papers taken over by their re- spective universities. A dangerous precedent could be forming in this case. If The Michigan Journal does not regain its free status then the obliteration of by-laws could be- come acceptable University prac- tice. It is up to the University regents To the Daily: I would like to begin by informing the Daily thatl September 14-26, is Hispanic Heritage Week, which is a nationally recognized event that is being celebrated on this campus presently. I have picked up The Daily each day' for the past week and in not a single issue was there mention made about the event, nor were any of the activities that have occurred been covered o r mentioned. Daily lacks To the Daily: Although at this point there is much to say about the content of many Daily articles, the September 21 and 22 editions clearly lacked dis- cretion in the layout. On Sept. 21, an article celebrating the Women's Crisis Center bucket drive was placed adjacent to an article on the objectification of women: "Miss Michigan Receives Miss America Crown in pageant." The following day, on the front page, an article on the alleged sexual assault of a woman from our community was placed next to an article titled: "U Bachelor Scores on Dating Game." The 'score' mentality of women Daily maligns band To the Daily: Mr. Miller, you obviously spent a lot less time preparing your columns than t h e hard-working students who volunteer their time so that Michigan will have a top- quality marching band. The irresponsible insinuation of As an Hispanic student, and Chair of The Council of His- panics for Higher Education, I find The Daily's failure to recongize the Hispanic event, and moreover the Hispanic populous at this University highly offensive. It is m y opinion that this is just another blatant example of how Hispanics at the University of Michigan and nationally are being overlooked and passed over by the larger populous. Perhaps what is most dis- discretion just being numbers and not individuals is what leads some men to rape in the first place! Although the Daily espouses to be non-judgmental, in this case, the Daily has used sensationalistic, "National Enquirer type" sexist articles to negate the impact of serious women's issues. The Daily cannot be neutral on the objectification and victimiza- tion of women in our society. However, if you insist on publishing articles that con- tinue the subjugation o f women, please relegate them to the back page, away from the real news. turbing about this lack o f recognition, is the fact that the majority of activities which are occurring were planned with the intent of sensitizing and culturally enriching the entire University community about the Hispanic populous and culture. If in fact this lack of recognition by The Daily is as a result of an oversight, then I must say that it is an un- acceptable one. In addition, I am publicly inviting the Daily, and the entire University com- munity to be present at any of the remaining activities. I am also encouraging The Daily to learn more about hte event by speaking with Rosa Lopez, Hispanic Representative in The Office of Minority Student' Services. -Cynthia M. Hernandez September 23. a I F B E A PAT E. G t-A4 swomw .W CWj C.A~vWVS: 4 WAN MA 3OM? I ]AM NAH.. .STUDENTS F , Y*AVAT14( r YUW0 T m y KG! -Robyn Watts Lisa Wozniak Hannah Gilberg September 23 IN NW Comm - w .k ci Ies, F(W sr TH-ING TO4I SPAMfl D OF "CNDLoNWrrrcnON , 0 ( ,- x,~ ~ VI x.~ i~~ ~u U ~T~kI . 4 A