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. I 'S4 ouraQ.LATEST AJyoUT AIDSTiRE IT EPESE' H TU ENU DTHO A W:HADE L IREHe mLOVEE5 AMPt EFICIENC~Y oFf H MwrOF CPITALSTENERSG Is DBTW11,4 Ok %LL OFF ' I .q , L etters.... tot". . th...:ed itor::"::"E:" ":::. . ....'" "....." J:.t". J'.L..:::..Y. }:.. .i"}' ......*...*...*..,... . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*:LL' :::" .+ .. ".. ""........................:: :LL..":^J:: .. : ..W . "*. J.: '.. 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