OPINION Page 4 be augesdesaenai Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Tuesday, November 1, 1988 The Michigan Daily I Rape regardless of race 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Vol. IC, No.39. 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. Make course required TODAY THE LSA curriculum committee will discuss a much needed mandatory course on racism. Proposed by Concerned Faculty and Faculty Against Institutional Racism in con- junction with students from the United Coalition Against Racism (UCAR), the course would provide an analysis of race and racism, as well as cultural achievements of people of color. Racism is a significant phenomena in society and at the University, and the course will increase student under- standing of this issue. The course is essential to any liberal arts education. To its credit, the curriculum commit- tee has already recommended that the proposal be instituted as an optional course. However, unless it approves the course as a requirement for all un- dergraduates, the class will be nothing but another ineffective token gesture. The course must be mandatory. If the course is optional, it is unlikely that students who most need to be educated about racism will choose to take it. Students should not have the luxury of choosing whether or not to be edu- cated about racism and other cultures. The University does not give students the choice about whether or not to learn a foreign language, or to achieve a cer- tain level of writing skill. To enforce these requirements and to make the course on racism optional would reflect the skewed priorities under which the University administration operates. One alternative to the mandatory course is to create a new distribution requirement focusing on the experi- ences or contributions of minorities in different fields. Students would fulfill the requirement by taking courses al- ready offered in different departments. While electing courses which deal with other cultures is useful, this is not a substitute for the mandatory course. The problems of racism cannot be fully explored or understood within the con- fines of one discipline. The proposed course is specifically designed to take an interdisciplinary perspective - an approach which would be impossible to achieve through distribution re- quirements. The proposed course is also designed to encourage students to examine their own actions and attitudes. This would be lost if education on racism was rele- gated to a distribution requirement. Creating a mandatory course on "diversity" is another option. Diversity is a completely different concept from racism, and is often used to deny or trivialize issues specific to race and racism. In order to combat racism at the Uni- versity, structural changes in the cur- riculum and in course requirements need to be made. The University has consistently made excuses for low mi- nority enrollment and the dismal per- centages of minority faculty. In the proposed mandatory class, the faculty and administration have an opportunity to make a meaningful change. UCAR has been demanding that such a course be created since the spring of 1987. There are no acceptable excuses. By SAPA C Several rapes that have recently been committed in the off-campus area have many people very frightened about their safety as well as concerned over what to do. The Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) is concerned about this situation, we care about the women who were assaulted and want to see these rapes stopped. We are also con- cerned because we want to assist those who are fearful, while providing the com- munity with accurate information to put these rapes into context. We particularly feel it is essential that this situation not create an atmosphere which fosters racism and a false perception that all Black men are rapists, or that all rapists are Black men. First, the facts: three sexual assaults have taken place in the same general area in the last six weeks: two on S. Forest and one on Vaughn St. The suspect in all three instances is a Black man. He carried a small, silver handgun and did not know the women he raped. The Ann Arbor Po- lice believe that all three rapes may have been perpetrated by the same man and are actively working on trying to find this man. Second, the context: we have heard more about these three recent rapes because they SAPAC is the University's Sexual As- sault Prevention and Awareness Center. SAPAC's 24-hour phone line is 936-3333 and business phone is 763-5865. have been widely publicized by both the print and television media. Although it is important and useful to publicize information about rapes, it is essential that the press be responsible. Recent pub- licity around these cases has sensational- ized an already difficult and frightening situation; by so doing it has portrayed an inaccurate picture of rape, why it happens, when it happens and who rapes. It's doubtful that the media would have paid as much attention to this situation if the as- sailant weren't Black and if most of his victims weren't white, if the rapist had known his victims, or if there weren't a gun involved. The Daily and other media have left out important information, information none of us can afford to ignore. Information such as Black men are no more likely to rape than white men and 80% of the time rapists know the women they assault. In fact, over 90% of all rapes are perpetrated by men of the same race and social class as the women they assault. By leaving out this fact, the press perpetuates the cen- turies old myth of the Black rapist. This historical lie about Black men was created in order to justify lynching. These lynchings were used as weapons of politi- cal terror against Black men as well as against the Black community. They were overt manifestations of racism designed to maintain white supremacy and power. Al- though lynchings are rare today, this racist myth lives on; failing to address it during situations such as this perpetuates the myth and reinforces racist stereotypes. Be- cause of the myth of the Black rapist, rapes by Black men are 5 times more likely to be reported than rapes by white men. Because of this misconception, Black men are more likely than white men to be accused, charged and convicted of rape. A further consequence of this myth is that white women have been socialized to fear Black men. The composite pictures and article printed in last Friday's Daily did nothing to confront these stereotypes. Printing two such dissimilar pictures, along with such a vague description, only feeds into racist beliefs about the prevalence of rapists who are Black. By not addressing racism and the myth of the Black rapist when report- ing on the current situation, the Daily creates a circumstance where all Black men in that area - and in general - are sus- pect. It is important to report on the rapes which have taken place in this area: peo- ple's fears are justified. But it is also im- portant to know that just because one Black man may have raped several women, that doesn't mean that all Black men are rapists. This lie about Black men must be re- placed with the truth. Black men are not more likely to rape than white men. We must all acknowledge the realities of sex- ual assault: men of all races rape, strangers are not more likely to rape than acquain- tances, women never invite or deserve rape. As a community and as individuals we must commit to eradicating the ,myth of the Black rapist and stopping this par- ticular rapist - as well as all rape. .xX. ...... . . .. . :,;{:'{ti{;'r:"::isi:{,::"isLri?>::i":"irYiri?::<;:<;::%i:Siii$iii:":ir$i$:$i$::?'$i''r{}:is:.7$;::;:":{;:i {j:?}$,}i$$ii1{J.'"iii}r''vi}Y{:;,i};:;:<:5:::