I
OPINION
Page 4 Friday, December 9, 1988
The Michigan Daily'
Eie ng uny Michigan
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Cut by a racist knife
Vol. IC, No.65
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.
Struggling for peace
ONE YEAR AGO today, an Israeli
army tank transporter killed four resi-
dents of Gaza sparking what is now
referred to as the Palestinian Intifadah
(uprising). This uprising is the culmi-
nation of over 21 years of Israeli occur
pation in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
For 21 years, Israel's occupation
took its toll on a defenseless civilian
population. Palestinians watched help-
lessly as Israeli bulldozers leveled their
homes, razed their olive trees, confis-
cated their land to build Israeli settle-
ments, and expelled, murdered and
imprisoned thousands. They denied
Palestinians the basic human right of
self-determination - statehood, citi-
zenship and representation.
Given these brutal conditions, it is
flot surprising that Palestinians coura-
geously mobilized in the streets; letting
Israel and the world know that the oc-
cupation is intolerable and it must end.
The Intifadah is the mass-based pop-
ular uprising of the Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza against the
twenty-one year old Israeli occupation.
Its achievements, premises, and objec-
tives must be understood and placed in
the context of the urgent demand for a
political solution based on the recogni-
tion of the Palestinian right to self-de-
termination and leading to the estab-
lishment of an independent Palestinian
state.
The Intifadah exposes the true nature
of the Israeli occupation - the imple-
mentation of a ruthless policy of state
terror - by rejecting Israel's presence
in the occupied territories. They are af-
firming their inalienable rights, their
historical right to the land, and their
international legitimacy in their call for
an independent state.
The Palestinian uprising adheres to a
political program of liberation, an-
chored in the Palestinian national con-
sensus. No peoples accept occupation.
The Intifadah, as a result of militant ac-
tivity in resisting Israeli occupation,
has contributed significantly to the cre-
ation of alternative social, economic,
and political structures. These struc-
tures have enormous moral authority
on the population, hindering the suc-
cess of the military occupation. Pales-
tinians, today, listen to the Intifadah,
they do not listen to the Israeli occupy-
ing forces.
The Intifadah has successfully
thwarted Israel's oppressive plans and
demonstrated a new commitment by
the Palestinians for their right to self-
determination. As a cultural
community, the Palestinians are entitled
to posses political identity on their own
national soil. The Palestinians will
persist in resisting a military occupation
which has systematically attempted to
crush their cultural identity and national
aspirations. This uprising will surely be
regarded as one of the many examples
of historic struggle against colonial
occupation.
More than 90 percent of Palestinians
acknowledge the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) as their sole legiti-
mate representative. As the uprising
has continued, the level of organization
behind it has been galvanized by PLO
activists in the West Bank and Gaza
who have issued statements in the
name of the National Committee for the
uprising.
The Palestinian National Council
(PNC) the Palestinian parliament-in-
exile, convened its 19th session in Al-
giers on November 15 and passed a
resolution echoing the demands of the
uprising. It calls for the convening of
an international conference based upon
Security Council Resolution 242 and
urges all parties involved in the conflict
to negotiate issues of contention.
The uprising, through the PLO and
the PNC, strives for mutual peace,
mutual recognition of people, and mu-
tual coexistence. There can be no peace
for Israel without peace for the Pales-
tinians and there can be no peace for
the Palestinians without peace for Is-
rael.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee is
sponsoring an anniversary rally today,
which will be held on the Diag at noon.
Later tonight, the PSC will sponsor a
lecture by Tamara Kohns and Sami Is-
mail on the uprising, which will be
held in Rackham at 7 p.m. The Daily
encourages all members of the Univer-
sity community and local residents to
attend.
By Michael Jackson
I .am a junior here at the University of
Michigan and recently I have had some
painful experiences 'I would like to share
with the entire campus.
Last year, a student whom I will call
Jack Knife, insulted me by referring to
UCAR - the United Coalition Against
Racism - as the United Coons Against
Reality. After my initial shock we then
had a tense discussion about it. He told me
that almost every .Black person he had
come into contact with had either shunned
him, beat him up, or had said something
negative to him. After our talk, he
promised me he would never say anything
like that again. He lied..
In September of this year, while visit-
ing a friend of mine who happens to be
roommates with Jack, I was again made a
victim of his racism. He gave me a mock
"Application for Employment to Jesse
Jackson's Staff." The content of the flyer
was filled with cruel, and demeaning
stereotypes of Blacks. It made me angry
enough to hit him. Instead of physical vi-
olence however, I merely asked him where
Michael Jackson is a junior in LSA.
he had gotten the flyer. He said that a
friend had given it to him and that he
didn't want it anymore. I left hurt and in-
sulted.
I could not stop thinking about the
incident. It stayed with me as I walked
back and forth across campus. I wondered
how many people had he shown the flyer
to. What about the UCAR acronym, or
Jack's co-conspiratorial friend? How many
people out there actually think like they
do. Unfortunately I again neglected to re-
port the incident. I, quite frankly, did not
want to be the cause of a new wave of
racist incidents across campus. I was si-
lenced by my fear.
But several weeks ago Jack struck again.
Upon arriving at his apartment and finding
that the door was open I walked in as I
usually did. When I entered the room I
found Jack and his friend hitting a black
rag doll and saying things like, "This is
for stealing from my house," and "this is
for bringing drugs in my neighborhood."
The friend I had gone to visit sat there
watching them. I stood in the doorway,
shocked and hurt. Jack's friend threw the
doll out of sight. Jack said, "Come in
Jackson." I asked what in the hell was go-
ing on. Neither of them said anything. I
told my friend, who accompanied me out
into the hallway, that he would never see
me in his building again. My friend came
over the next day and apologized for not:
saying anything to Jack and his friend. Hei
also said that immediately after I left the'
room the two picked up the doll again and
continued hitting it.
I haven't spoken with Jack Knife since
his last attack. I have thought seriously as
to whether or not I should go public with
his insults. But I have now found the
voice to speak to you and anyone else who
cares to read this, Jack. What you did was
not funny. You have hurt and stabbed me.
And even as the knife has been taken out,
the scar remains. I might even forgive you
one day, but I will never be able to forget
what you have done. I thought that if I let
your UCAR statement and the flyer inci-
dent go, the problem might disappear. I
was wrong. You see, your actions not-
only hurt me but affect everyone, white
and Black.
I
r,
When these things happen people
should take action and try to help elimi-
nate this serious problem from the Uni-
versity and this country. For it is not only
the Black community which is damaged
by the type of hurt Jack and his friend,
have perpetuated, but all of us who must.
live, work and learn together here at
Michigan.
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4
Fleetwood
Diner
'flatulated'
To the Daily:
I am not ordinarily one to
criticize another's culinary
tastes. Hey! If you want to eat
a tuna and brownie mix sand-
wich then that's your, uh,
problem. Just don't get sick on
me.
But that's exactly what Mark
Mosher did, made a gargantuan
tuna and browniekmix sand-
wich, and got sick, vomiting
his vile opinions on page three
of the Daily ("Fleetwood: the
Diner that Time Forgot,"
Daily, 12/7/88). I am still try-
ing to clean the damn puke
from my jeans. The stench is
abominable. In his article, Mr.
Mosher in less time than it
takes to grill hashbrowns, at-
tempted to slice, toss, salt, fat,
fry, gobble down, and flatulate
(sic) with unwarranted critical
abandon the mysticism of the
Fleetwood Diner. I-found his
critique inaccurate, highbrow,.
and egregiously offensive to all
of my senses leaving me with
a loss of appetite.
With the sensitivity of a
wild boar, Mr. Mosher tried to
depict the Fleetwood as an
archetypical greasy spoon
whose better years were some
time ago. The cuisine was and
still is cheeseburgers (and chili,
chowder, soups, and daily din-
ner specials), but the nostalgia
remains. The Fleetwood Diner
is America: an America twenty
years younger. A time capsule
embodied in a restaurant; an
America when the tides of so-
cial consciousness were high
and people questioned authority
to assert their rights and equal-
ity; when Americans took a
stand for themselves, their
brothers and sisters and their
country. An America when a
cheeseburger was a cheese-
burger and not a "leathery
looking object."
Today, we are a far cry from
.r% .:-ti m Th arss o
years. One does not have to
dream about lost times for Ann
Arbor has the Fleetwood. From
the novella cuisine to the
American decor, one can dine
in America's past. Who knows
Tom Hayden may have eaten a
cheeseburger in that very same
stool?
Finally, I must object to the
artless and insulting characteri-
zation of two of my dear
friends and co-workers, Gloria
and George. Mr. Mosher, who
seemingly has a knack for in-
sult and offense, once again
misses the point. Both Gloria
and George are beautiful,
peaceful, hardworking people.
They care tremendously about
what they do and for the Fleet-
wood Diner. And I consider
myself extremely fortunate to
have the opportunity to work
with them.
Please Mr. Mosher, stay
where you are in the 80s. We
wish you no harm. We will sit
here, chew on our cheeseburg-
ers, and tap our feet to the ry-
thin of the grill. "You blew it,
man. You blew it."
-Sholom H. Gold
December 8
A shanty
for a
shanty
To the Daily:
The situation is moving
form ridiculous to absurd. The
Arab/Israeli struggle has be-
come nothing more than an eye
for an eye, a shanty for a
shanty, an editorial for an edi-
torial, in short, a meaningless
exchange of insults and
accusations of racism and anti-
Semitism. Each morning we
get the play by play from the
Daily, always the front page
headline - What happened on
the Diag. What is going on in
the Middle East is no longer
important unless it can be used
to intensify each sides' roman-
tic position.
Is this the kind of political
"action" that helps anyone, that
nr .nn nc n r n - sit -i _r
Check the'
facts
To the Daily:
Your recent editorial "In
praise of witches" (Daily,
10/31/88) can only evoke a
sense of dismay. One can sup-
port a worthy cause without
resorting to mutilation of the
facts.
To give your writer credit,
one fact was true: healers and
midwives were often singled
out for persecution as witches.
If we ignore the large number
of men who were healers, or
"wise-folk," it is indeed possi-
ble to see an anti-feminine ide-
ology behind this act. How-
ever:
-The number of people killed
in the 16th and 17th centuries
amounted to no more than
400,000;
-Men constituted twenty
percent of that total; VA
-The Church,; contrary to
popular opinion, was relatively
moderate: town councils must
bear the greatest responsibility;
-Witch persecutions are dis-
cussed in the textbook I am
teaching out of this fall, if not
in the detail they deserve;
"'Witchcraft" never existed.
Period. Think about the impli-
cations of that. This is the.
whole point of feminist inter-
pretation of witchcraft, a point
you seem to have missed.
Hyperbole only serves to
weaken credibility.
-Daniel L. Smail
November 1
Share your
sources
To the Daily:
What a comfort to know that
the Daily will not print letters
or columns that are "factually
inaccurate." Perhaps you could
extend this criterion to your
editorials.
You confidently state that
the Christian Church killed
"millions" of witches in the
Editor's note:
Due to the poor records kept,
it is impossible to determine
the number of people executed.
Sources vary in their estimates
from 30,000 to nine million
Similarly, it is difficult to de-
termine what fraction of those
executed were men; estimates,
range from one percent to
twenty percent. See, for exam-
ple, Leo Bonfanti, The,
Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692,
G. R. Quaife, Godly Zeal and
Furious Rage, Starhawk
Dreaming the Dark (Appendix
A), E. Jong, Witches.
:4
Helpfight
A.J.D.S.
4,
To the Daily:
I just came from the diag
where there was a demonstra-
tion today to protest the uni-
versity's and the U.S. govern-
ment's lack of involvement .in 4
the A.I.D.S. crisis and I am
feeling pretty disgusted; the
turn-out was atrocious.
First of all, it seems to be a
real pattern at this university
that issues linked with gay
men's and lesbians' rights are
granted the least attention by
the activist community. Of all
of the demonstrations I have
attended or witnessed on the U-
M campus, LaGROC-spon-
sored events are consistently
the smallest. I would like the
self-proclaimed human rights
activists to ponder the impli-
cations of this.
Secondly, I was struck by
the make-up of the group that.,
was in attendance: largely visi-
ble and known members;of the b
gay make and lesbian commu-
nities, and largely white..
A.I.D.S. affects us all, folks.
And to the members of the
Black and Hispanic communi-h
ties at U-M: Are you aware of,.
how fiercely this crisis has,
slammed your communities?4
Do you- refuse to own this is-
sue? Wake up to the fact that:;
A.I.D.S. is ignored precisely;-,
Associated Press
Israeli soldiers on patrol in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank,
during a general strike marking the first anniversary of the Palestinian