Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. IC, No. 34 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, October 25, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily
Arabs,
Jews
begin
campus
dialogue
BY TARA GRUZEN
A newly organized group, "Sa'lam
Shalom - The Arab Jewish Peace
Project" met for the first time last
night to openly discuss members'
differing viewpoints about the current
state of relations in the Middle East.
The meeting, which drew approx-
imately 30 Arab and Jewish students,
was organized by interested students
who feel that there is a need for an
open dialogue between Arabs and
Jews on campus.
"We are always working against
each other," said Suha Hamid, a
Pharmacy graduate student who
started the group. "We agree on a lot
- for instance, we all think that
there should be human rights for all
people." Lynn Schler, a LSA senior
who helped establish the group added,
"the point of the meeting is that we
don't agree on everything."
The group was started by four
students who joined together at
See Peace, Page 5
C.ity e
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
Noting local problems of waste
contamination, the Ann Arbor City
Council unanimously approved a
resolution last night endorsing two
Michigan ballot proposals, both of
which provide a means of funding
public land improvement.
The resolution, introduced by
Councilmember Liz Brater (D-Third
N Ward), urges all Ann Arbor citizens
to vote in favor of Proposals C and
D on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Proposal C calls for the state to
Blanchard
attacks
Proposal A
It's pumpkin time... DAVID LUBUNER/Daily
LSA sophomore Karen Meckstroth and Steve Rappaport LSA Junior sell pumpkins on the
Diag. yesterday to raise rIoney for the Institute for Children's Burns Medicine.
ndorses proposals
LANSING (AP) - A proposal to
end tax-funded abortions for poor
women is extreme because it doesn't
make exceptions for women who are
the victims of rape or incest, Gov.
James Blanchard and two of his pre-
decessors said yesterday.
The Democratic governor and
former Governors William Milliken,
a Republican, and John Swainson, a
Democrat, joined forces at news con-
ference to urge Michigan voters to
defeat the abortion ban, known as
Proposal A on the Nov. 8 ballot
"We're here today to indicate that
we think A is extreme. It goes too
far. It is unfair. The proof positive is
that it would deny poor women who
have been victims of rape or incest
any relief whatsoever. That is the
work of extremists pure and simple,"
Blanchard said.
"I don't think many reasonable,-
fair-minded people do or can disagree
about the right of an individual who
is a victim of rape or incest to have
access to abortion. It is totally unfair
to deny that right simply because she
happens to be poor and that's what.
this proposal would do," Milliken
said.
A spokesperson for the Commit-
tee to End Tax-Funded Abortions ac-
cused the governors of trying to con-
fuse voters.
"What they are simply trying to
do is play off everyone's fear of
rape," said David Szymanski.
States that have exceptions for
rape and incest have found the provi-
sion unenforceable, resulting in
many women falsely claiming they
were raped in order to qualify for
state-paid abortions, he said.
Pregnancies from rape are rare, he
said, noting that Wisconsin last year
issue $660 million in bonds to fi-
nance toxic waste clean-up and waste
management; Proposal D authorizes
the state to issue $140 million in
bonds to fund improvement of pub-
lic recreation facilities.
"It seems to me that Ann Arbor
has a special interest in Proposal C,
given our problems with contami-
nation," Brater said. "Proposal D
will help fund recreational areas."
"Neither of these bond issues will
result in raising anyone's taxes,"
Brater said.
'In other business, council ap-
proved a resolution codifying Ann
Arbor's application to the Michigan
Equity Grant Program, a state pro-
gram which allocates money for lo-
cal cultural projects.
In 1988, Ann Arbor received
$367,800 in grants from the equity
program. Last night, council ap-
proved a measure asking for over
$638,000 for the upcoming year.
Ronald Olson, superintendent of
the Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation
department, attributed the large re-
quest to attempts to garner funding
for as many groups as possible.
Discussion of the resolution cen-
tered upon the council's request for
$100,000 in funding for the McKin-
ley Foundation to provide facilities
for non-profit community groups.
The foundation received $150,000
from the equity program this year.
Councilmember Mark Ouimet
(R-Fourth Ward) commended the
McKinley Foundation for making a
See Council, Page 2
Panel calls for multi-
paid for four Medicaid abortions due
to rape and Iowa only one.
But Swainson said rape and incest
are much more common than crime
reports indicate.
"To deny a person the opportunity
to terminate the pregnancy caused by
these conditions I think is an extra
burden placed on people who don't
'We're here today to
indicate that we think A is
extreme. It goes too far. It
is unfair.'- Michigan Gov.
James Blanchard
have funds to obtain an abortion
otherwise," he said.
Blanchard and Milliken have ve-
toed legislation to ban tax-paid abor-
tions a total of 17 times. Such
legislation never came before Swain-
son while he was governor, but he
said if it had, he would have vetoed
it, too.
Blanchard didn't have a chance to
veto the law submitted to voters un-
der Proposal A because it had its
roots in the initiative process, which
shields it from gubernatorial
scrutiny.
Passage of the proposal would end
state expenditure of nearly $6 million
a year for some 18,000 abortions. It
wouldn't affect abortions performed
on state employees whose health care
coverage is paid for with state funds.
The governors also said that vot-
ers will not save money with Pro-
posal A because welfare spending
would increase to cover the cost of
births and support payments for the
children who would be born rather
than aborted.
Storm
smashes
Central
America
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -
Guatemala and El Salvador were
under states of alert yesterday as
Tropical Storm Miriam whirled off-
shore, and other Latin American
countries tried to recover from the
devastation left by the high winds
and heavy rains.
At 4 p.m. yesterday, Miriam's
center was about 150 miles west-
southwest of Guatemala City, accor-
ding to the National Hurricane Center
in Coral Gables, Fla. It said the
storm had maximum sustained winds
of 55 mph and was moving west-
northwest at about 10 mph.
A tropical storm warning was in
effect in El Salvador and Guatemala
and forecasters said there was a pos-
sibility of heavy rains, tides three to
four feet above normal, flash floods
and mudslides.
Hurricane Joan left at least 111
people dead in five countries over the
past week and ripped across Nicar-
agua from the Atlantic coast to the
Pacific before it was downgraded to a
tropical storm and renamed Miriam.
Forecasters had feared the storm
would regain strength and become a
hurricane again as it reached the
warm waters of the Pacific, but they
said yesterday that it was sticking too
close to the coast to gather force.
The known death toll from the
weeklong storm was 50 people in
Nicaragua over the weekend, 21 in
feta An f r :-nn-m 7 .
racial wome
BY NICOLE SHAW
The women's movement should focus on race and
class as well as gender, said speakers last night in a panel
discussion on "Connections between Sexism and
Racism."
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week, the panel
focused on racism in the Feminist Movement, sexism in
the legal system, and the connection between racism and
sexism in our "rape culture."
Racism in the feminist movement began shortly after
the Civil War, when Black men were given the right to
vote while white women were not.
This caused a split between the two movements, and
"gave rise to an autonomous white women's
movement," explained panelist and United Coalition
Against Racism member Barbara Ransby. The women's
movement further became alienating to women of color
with feminist role modles like Elizabeth Stanton, who
Ransby said were blatantly racist.
"A multi-issued movement doesn't lessen our strength
but augments it," Ransby said.
There is a close connection between racism and
sexism in sexual assault, explained graduate student and
panel member Cathy Cohen. The definition of rape by
contemporary society has to be broadened, because now
it only emphasises a woman's vunerability . ,
"I will no longer buy into that," Cohen said. "It's not
enough to suggest that we're all weak and that we all
experience the same rape-we don't."
Women of color also experience class and economic
n's coalition
problems which have to be taken into account when
defining women's struggles, she said.w
"White women coming out of the 1970s saw the
women's movement as a nice comfortable place," Cohen
said. But when women of color move into the women's
movement, it removes that comfort. Thus Black women '
feel alienated and are hesitant to join. This further
promotes racism, she said..
"Experiences of women of color are central to all
women," she said.u
One thing Cohen cited was that there are not enough
women of color helping other women of color through
rape. Black women can't volunteer as much as white X
women because they don't have the time, Cohen .A
explained.
Assistant Wane County prosecutor and panel member
Betty Jo Walker cited examples of sexism and racism in
the the legal profession. In 1957 New York's 30 largest
law firms had a total of three Black lawyers, and that
figure isn't much better today, she said.
"One of the reasons Blacks are not given thej
opportunities as white lawyers are is that corporate
clients are not willing to accept counseling from black
lawyers," Walker said. DAVID LUBLINER/Daily
Also discussed at the end of the panel were the Twana Rackham Graduate student Cathy Cohen, a member of People
Organized to Wipe Out Rape, speaks in a Sexual Assault
Brawley case, racism in the Bush presidential campaign, Awareness Week forum on "Connectives between Sexism and
prison issues, and recent problems at the Nectarine Racism." There is not enough support for Black women who
Ballroom. are raped, Cohen said.
Dems. renew charges of GOP racism
FROM THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vice presidential candidate Lloyd
Bentsen assailed the Republicans be-
fore a business group yesterday, re-
newing his weekend claim that Re-
publicans were guilty of racist adver-
tising.
Mi;haelnk nic acne Virme.
certainly came through in the ad," he
said of the case of Willie Horton, the
Massachusetts prisoner who escaped
while on furlough and brutalized a
Maryland couple.
Dan Quayle rebutted that charge as
"totally absurd" as he campaigned in
Missouri: "I think it shows just how
desperate they really are to start fan-
ning the fires of racism."
Campaigning through New Eng-
land, Bush made an unusual departure
from his prepared speech to reject
Dukakis' charges of campaign
distortions and deceptions. He said he
could document every one of the
allegations made on television
advertisements criticizing a
Massachusetts prison furlough
program and his rival's record on
your side?"
Bush defended his tax proposal as
good for creating new jobs. He said
Dukakis is likely to raise taxes if
elected and the nation could face an
"economic disaster if the liberals take
over the White House."
The day's campaigning generally
reflected Dukakis' hope that the vot-
ers were "reapd to take aennd lank