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OPINION
Page 4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. IC, No.41 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.
Money talks too much
Thursday, November 3, 1988
The Michigan Daily
a
Protest Daily co
AS THE PRESIDENTIAL race enters
its final days, it is appalling to find that
both campaigns have spent almost
'-'$500 million. But it is not surprising
considering that since 1860, 75 percent
'of the presidential campaigns which
' spent the most money for the elections
won the White House. The strong
correlation between spending and win-
ning elections casts a dubious light on
the present electoral system.
Due to the high costs of winning an
election, the electoral system excludes
many from participating. Candidates
without the support of large corpora-
tions, political action committees or
wealthy individuals cannot hope to
raise the money to run a successful
campaign. This obstacle may prevent
the candidates from even considering
running for office.
This forms a bias in the electoral
system against progressive candidates.
Progressive candidates tend to have
popular bases among the underprivi-
leged and minorities - people who
cannot afford exorbitant campaign
contributions. Without this money,
progressive candidates find it difficult
to overcome the advertising blitz of
their wealthier opponents.
A case in point was Jesse Jackson's
campaign for the Democratic Party's
presidential nominee. His campaign
was outspent over 2-1 by all of his n-
vals. However it is to his credit that he
did so well regardless of the handicap
and Jackson's showing proves that the
economic wall is not unbreakable.
One solution to the problem of cam-
paign funding is the elimination of all
private contributions to the candidates.
Instead, a public pool should be estab-
lished which will fund all election
campaigns. Money for the fund can be
generated from taxes on the larger cor-
porations and wealthier classes. Since
these groups traditionally donate large
amounts of money to political cam-
paigns, a simultaneous prohibition of
private donations and implementation
of progressive taxes would not be an
extra burden.
The government can make the cam-
paign pool money available to candi-
dates who can demonstrate a defined
level of popular support. Such a sys-
tem of campaign funding would reduce
'the factor wealth plays in elections,
opening the door for more progressive
candidates. The current system of
offering "matching funds" to
candidates as a means of equalizing
campaign funding is inadequate.
Matching funds are often declined by
candidates, such as Reagan in 1984,
because more money can be raised
from private sources than is available
from the federal matching funds.
Creating a tax base for electoral cam-
paigns is not a new idea. Indeed,
Jackson supporters proposed the idea
in Congress, where it was predictably
rejected. Since 98 percent of
incumbents running for the House of
Representatives in 1986 won re-elec-
tion, it isn't surprising that they oppose
changes to an electoral system which
props up their power bases.
By UCAR, POWER, LASC,
FSA CC, HAC, CCU, David
Colbert, Charles Wynder,
Todd Shaw, Crystal M.
Banks, Dianne Ansari, Toni
M. McLaurin, Mark Reed,
Robin French, and Jocelyn
Rouse
Dear Daily editors and staff:
The Michigan Daily has continually
come under fire from anti-racist and anti-
sexist student groups for being insensitive
to people of color and women's issues.
We have made telephone complaints,
written lengthy letters of criticism, even
met with individual members of the Daily
staff. Yet the level of insensitivity and
outright racist and sexist practices con-
tinue. Thus, the level of seriousness in-
creases steadily. While many of the .edits,
letters and left sides on the Opinion Page
have been good, in recent months, they
cannot and do not compensate for the bi-
ased, insensitive and often incompetent
news coverage. This coverage has been
insulting, irresponsible and often degrad-
ing to women and people of color on this
campus, and the wider community. This
offensive and irresponsible Daily news
coverage must stop.
Specifically, the Daily's News staff and
editors have printed a whole series of arti-
cles, pictures and information which pro-
mote vicious racial stereotypes and myths.
On October 28, 1988, the Daily printed
two composites of supposedly one "rape
suspect." The two sketches had no com-
mon features other than they were both
From the student groups: United Coali-
tion Against Racism (UCAR), People
Organized for Women, Equality and
Rights (POWER), Latin American Soli-
darity Committee (LA SC), Free South
Africa Coordinating Committee
(FSA CC), Homeless Action Committee
(hA C), Committee for Campus Unity
(CCU). David Colbert is a senior in
LSA,Charles Wynder is a University law
student and Todd Shaw is a graduate stu-
dent in political science. Crystal M.
Banks, is President of Black Medical As-
sociation (BMA), Dianne Ansari is a vice-
president of BMA, Toni M. McLaurin is a
Vice-president of BMA, Mark Reed is a
member of BMA, and Robin French and
Jocelyn Rouse are members of BALSA.
Black men and the description (6 ft., 20-25
years old, 160 lbs.) describes hundreds of
innocent young Black men in Ann Arbor.
This type of perpetuation of the "myth of
the Black male rapist" that all men who
rape are Black and that all young Black
men are rapists and that they rape white
women, is not only dangerous, but is in-
accurate and does nothing to allay the real
fears of women in the community about
rape. Historically, the stereotyping of all
Black men as rapists and criminals has
been used to justify lynching and violence.
This type of misinformation continues
to bring even more police harassment and
vigilante violence against the Black com-
munity. Just last summer, two prominent
Black University professors were held by
the Ann Arbor police as suspects because
they happened to be Black males in the
vicinity of Ann Arbor after an alleged
crime had occurred. The Black community
on the University of Michigan campus is
outraged at the Daily's complicity with
such a blatantly racist practice.
In addition to insensitivity to people of
color, the Daily has violated its own pol-
icy about the reporting of sexual assault
cases. On October 19, 1988, the Daily
printed the address of a survivor of sexual
assault in its "Crime Beat," thus demon-
strating complete insensitivity to the is-
sues of violence against women. By
printing the survivors address, they not
only jeopardized her safety further, but
also violated her privacy. This type of re-
porting only serves to deter women from
reporting incidents of sexual assault.
Even though the Daily apologized for this
occurrence after it was brought to their at-
tention, they must be accountable to the
community for their mistakes.
There is a litany of other incidents of
racist and sexist reporting, editing, and
other practices by the Daily staff and edi-
tors including:
-The printing of pictures of homeless
persons in Ann Arbor not only without
verage
their permission, but against their specific
request.
-The printing of "missionary" type
photos of Black people from a government
subsidized housing community alongside
hand scrawled notes with spelling and
grammatical errors, suggesting that not
only are these people poor, but they are
ignorant and need white college students as
role models.
-The harassment of a woman of color on
the staff in order to prevent her from cov-
ering a story on "minority issues."
-Documented cases of racial and sexual
harassment of women staff members at the
Daily by a specific individual at the Daily
who has yet to apologize or atone for his
behavior.
-Incomplete reporting on the Univer-
sity's recent move to divest from South
Africa.
-Biased coverage of the recent so-called
"elections" in South Africa.
-Abysmally poor affirmative action
record and high attrition rate of people of
color on staff, in some cases due to ha-
rassment.
The Daily must have accountability to
its readership and the community it osten-
sibly serves. We will not tolerate racism
or sexism from the LSA Dean, the presi-
dent of the University or our student
newspaper.
On Thursday, November 3, at
12 noon, concerned students will
stage a picket of the Daily office.
The purpose of the picket and this letter
is to demonstrate that we take these issues
seriously, that the concern is widespread
and that weado not intend to be ignored.
We insist that the Daily staff immediately
engage in an open dialog regarding racism
and sexism and take immediate, aggressive
and effective measures to reverse its cur-
rent trend. Join us to express our collec-
tive outrage at the continued incompetent,
irresponsible and insensitive coverage by
the Daily News staff and editors.
6
Editor's Note: The Daily published the composite sketches on October 28 to provide as
much information as possible about the recent string of rapes on campus, and not to
perpetuate the myth of the Black male rapist. Although the Daily does not include the
color of an alleged victim or assailant when it is not pertinent, it was included in the
story to help identify the rapist. It has never been Daily policy to print the address or
identity of a victim, and the paritial address that appeared in a story on Oct. 19 was a
mistake that will not occur again. Because we cannot send reporters to South Africa, we
are forced to depend on the Associated Press for the coverage of elections. While minority
representation on our staff is admittedly low, our affirmative action policies have been
more succcessful this year than in any year in recent memory. Our accountability to the
students and the University community lies not only in the printing of letters such as
these, but in working together to improve the atmosphere at this University.
Abusing a culture
ON OCTOBER 24, the Michigan Civil
Rights Committee passed a long over-
due decision regarding the insensitive
use of American Indian names, sym-
bols, and rituals. The committee's de-
cision echoes the actions taken by oth-
ers across the country - recognizing
that the misuse of Native American
culture by schools, fraternities etc. is a
continuation of the historical oppres-
sion of American Indians by white
America.
The systematic genocide of the Na-
tive American population by the domi-
nant white powerstructure istmost
powerfully recounted in the history of
Native
American
Comparable atrocities in history are
the removal of over 15 million Africans
to be sold into slavery, over half of
them dying before reaching North
America, and the ordered deaths of
thousands in Southeast Asia by the
U.S. government.
The genocide continues today. Rea-
gan has reneged on Indian treaties par-
ticularly where mineral and oil explo-
ration or nuclear testing is concerned.
Reservations in America are desolate
places, which fall low on the govern-
ment's list of social priorities. Alco-
holism, low education, and poverty run
rampant among the reservations be-
cause of the U.S. government's false
promises.
Native Americans lived in Michigan
before the Trail of Tears and the many
other systematic events which nearly
erased an entire race of people from the
face of the earth.
By only taking into account the his-
torical oppression of American Indians,
one can see why the illicit appopriation
of American Indian culture by white
culture continues - in such irreverent
forms as team mascots and fraternity
rites.
The atmosphere of ignorance and
contempt for Native American culture
has a long history in deleted, Eurocen-
tric history texts, movies, slogans,
mascots, and here on campus fraternity
rituals such as those carried out by
Michigama. Even at the University, a
school built on what once was Native
American ground, with its lack of cur-
riculum and staff, greatly perpetuates
an anti-Native American and Eurocen-
tric philosophy of education.
What students can do is to support
rallies, legislative action, progressive
workshops, and challenges to an insti-
tution which sanctions ignorance of the
very foundations upon which it rests.
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the Trail of Tears. In 1838 President
Andrew Jackson signed the Indian
Removal Act - ordering the forced
removal of the indigenous population
from their homelands in the Southeast
- in order to give more of Native
Americans' lands to white settlers.
Fifteen thousand men, women and
children of the Cherokee Nation were
rounded up as if they were cattle,
chained to wagons and forcefully
marched for over a thousand miles to a
reservation in what is now Oklahoma.
Four thousand died from frost expo-
sure, malnutrition, beatings, and dis-
ease during the march.
Abortion
is murder
To the Daily:
I would like to respond to
the letter written by Ms. Danos
entitled "Vote for the Right to
Choose." (Daily, 10/26)
First of all, those of us who
are morally opposed to abor-
tion are, for the most part,
neither sexist nor racist. It is
absurd to call us sexist, since
only women can have abor-
tions. Therefore, those of us
opposed to this act must direct
our efforts toward stopping this
particular gender from being
able to commit this act. Also,
many that are opposed to abor-
tion are women. It's hard to
imagine a woman being a
MCP, isn't it? I am sure that if
it were possible for men to
abort their babies, then we
would all be equally opposed to
that atrocity as well.
Secondly, we simply see
abortion as murder. This is not
a question of rights, as we see
it. The rights of each of these
murdered children have been
clearly spelled out in their
country's Constitution for
many, many years. We realize,
of course that our country's
present laws allow abortion on
demand, and we therefore are
,acting to change these laws.
All abortion is a violation of
an individual's right to life and
therefore any law that would
save even a few lives is a very
positive step., It's not a matter
burden is a truly barbarous no-
tion. So the parents of the first
born daughter would leave her
out in the cold so that the heir
would be a male (that is sex-
ist). This way of thinking leads
quite logically to the belief that
we should kill the old and
"useless" person or the men-
tally retarded child simply be-
cause they are a burden on so-
ciety. And to do this in the
name of mercy, to claim the
right to decide that death is
better than one's life in its
present condition is very dia-
bolical. We then find ourselves
not too far from the twisted
thinking of Adolph Hitler and
other such murderers who used
similar reasoning in deciding
that the "weaker" or "lesser" are
best off dead. I'm sure that Ms.
Danos would not support this
logical end to her suppositions.
Give all children a chance at
life. Let's begin to end the
Holocaust of Abortion. Vote
"Yes" on Proposal A.
-Neil K. Ackerman
November 2
'Lighten
up, Steve'
To the Daily:
In his article titled
"Throwing candy no fluffy
business" (Daily 10/26/88),
Steven Cohen has clearly mis-
interpreted and overdramatized
the idea of "marshmallow
hurling." Cohen argues that the
games hegin when "thse neon-
In addition, the game was
vitally important in terms of
our chances of making the
Rose Bowl. Facing the 14th-
ranked team in the nation and
the nation's second-leading
rusher brought an electric at-
mosphere to Michigan Sta-
dium. With this electricity
comes excitement, which often
entails rowdiness, a perfectly
understandable behavior at a
football game.
Furthermore, marshmallow
hurling? Come on, Steve. In
England, police arrest bruised
brawlers for starting riots at
soccer games.. In New York,
people are mugged and looted
at Yankee games. In Washing-
ton, D.C., fans spit and pour
beer on those. dreaded Dallas
Cowboys. For someone like
yourself to be complaining
about being hit by a little piece
of white fluffy candy is like a
baby crying over spilled milk.
Consider yourself lucky that
pocket knives weren't being
thrown at this type of event.
Even students at the University
of Michigan show some con-
trol.
Moreover, some of the best
times of my childhood were
spent throwing snowballs at
my buddies. Like you said,
Steve: "a lot of the events
which serve to amuse the fans
are designed to impart a sense
-of camaraderie." Throwing
marshmallows at my buddies
does bring that sense of cama-
raderie to the football games
every two weeks. Lighten up,
all we're doing is letting loose
our aggression and having one
hell of a good time. See you
next Saturday, there's a
marshmallow with your name
on it.
I
-Dave Satlin
October 29
Daily Opinion Page letter policy
Due to the volume-of mail, the Daily cannot print all the letters an
columns it receives, although an effort is made to print the majority of ih
material on a wide range of views. The Daily cuts letters and columns fort
space in both the editorial process and in production.
The Daily does not print blatantly sexist, racist or homophobic letters o
columns. The Daily also does not print material which is factually incor-
rect. The Daily also modifies letters to fits its grammar and type styles.
The Daily writes the headlines for letters and columns.!
If you have questions about submitting material or the policy please con-
tact the Opinion page editors or staff at 747-2814.
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