The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 17, 1989 - Page 7
Role
of
women
BY NICOLE SHAW
Women of color have made
tremendous progress since the
formation of the Civil Rights and
Feminist Movements, but they still
have a long way to go, said four
panelists who spoke yesterday in the
Michigan League.
The topic, "Historical Perspec-
tives: Present and Future Agendas:
Racism, Sexism and Social
Change," drew a crowd of about 150
people.
Panelist Irene Natividad, Chair of
the National Women's Political
Caucus (NWPC), traced the path of
women in America's political his-
tory. She mentioned such noted fig-
ures as Susan B. Anthony and com-
pared her dream of equality to that of
Dr. Martin Luther King.
Natividad discussed how "fragile"
the legal basis of women's equality
Panel discusses wome
color and civil rights
is without the passage of the Equal
Rights Amendment.
"With ERA in place," Natividad
said, "women would need not worry
about the changes in the Supreme
Court, Congress, or the White
House."
Women constitute the majority of
voters in every state, Natividad said.
She added how politicians must start
paying more attention to womens'
needs to be elected to office.
"For too long women have suf-
fered whisker burns from the lip ser-
vice both parties have given them in
the past," she said.
Natividad also said the NWCP
has done much to encourage women
into the political arena.
"Metaphorically, v
woman's face into ti
Rushmore," she said.
When the orga
founded, there werec
men mayors. Now, w
the NWPC and m2
women, there are 1(
are mayors, along
Black woman mayor.
Another panelist
hardships of Native
men.
Executive Direct
tional Congress of A!
Susan Shown Harjo
"White Destruction"
atic path of destructic
featured
n of Reservations whites lead when they
first arrived. She also pointed out
how, "the first people to practice
medicine in this hemisphere were
Indian women."
ye will carve a
he side of Mt. Harjo asked the audience to do all
they can to fight hidden Native
nization was American racism. She asked for
only seven wo- people to write to the secretary of
vvith the help of the Smithsonian Institute and ask
any motivated him to release the sacred remains of
00 women that over 19,000 Native Americans.
with the first She also wanted the audience to
write to the owner of the Washing-
discussed the ton Redskins football team. She said
American wo- the team's name, the "Redskins", is
one of the most offensive names
for of the Na- Native Americans are called.
mierican Indians Author Paula Giddings and
rdiscussed the PUSH-Excel Executive Director
- the system- Sharon Robinson also participated
)n of the Indian on the panel.
Civil rights leader stresses values
BY KRISTIN HOFFMAN
Rev. Joseph Lowery is a man who worked
side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
through "the joys and sorrows" of their struggle
for civil rights.
King died for that struggle. Lowery survived
the violence that marked the years of the Civil
Rights Movement, and has continued fighting for
the dream that King so powerfully and eloquently
voiced for the millions who yearned for equality,
justice, and peace.
Lowery, who with King founded the South
Christian Leadership Conference, spoke to a
crowd of 60 yesterday at the East Quad.
Lowery spoke with an easy grace, and made
Alum: art
shows
creator's
beliefs
BY MARION DAVIS
Art is about needs that have not
been met.
Art is about more than the world
you see around you, but also about
what you, the creator, want to sur-
round yourself with.
These are some of the beliefs Al
Loving, a University architecture
alumnus, said yesterday at the lecture
program entitled "Race, Ethnicity,
and Professionalism: Perspectives
from Professionals."
"Art is about how you might
want to live and not necessarily
about how you are living," he told
students, stressing that art can repre-
sent the personal or the political be-
lief of the creator as well as reflect
society.
Loving was just one of the
speakers in the program, which in-
cluded faculty members, University
alumni and students. The program
addressed various problems minority
students encounter in the academic
setting and professional world.
Loving said he enjoyed his expe-
riences here, but there were times
when he felt he was treated unfairly.
He said sometimes he wasn't taken
seriously as a painter by fellow stu-
dents because they had preconceived
ideas about him as a minority.
"I wanted to be treated fairly, and
I wanted to be treated as a person,"
Loving said.
After talking with two architec-
ture majors after his speech, Loving
learned that his feelings of loneliness
as one of the few minorities on
campus during his college days con-
tinue to exist for some minority
students today.
David Cason, also an alumnus
and panel member, told students that
although they may be the only mi-
nority in a class, they can be su-
cessful.
"It's a game, and you have to
think how you're going to win," he Uni
said.Abu
Gerard Gibbs, a senior in the About
School of Architecture, said that to- comme
day's minority students are more
prepared to deal with such hardships. Drs
"We have taken the initiative to D s
find out from other sources what it
was like previously," he said. He BY KAT
noted that the communication be- Though
tween alumni and present students profession
helps lessen the feeling of uncom- hind an
fortableness. hypertensi
Gibbs said that although he wants called fo
to see minority students treated more med:
fairly, he doesn't want to be treated patients w
"special." poverty-st
"I want faculty to get rid of pre-
. . .. .. , .Hypert
many of his points with humor that brought
laughter and smiles to those who listened. Low-
ery spoke of the loneliness of humanity, the im-
portance of redirecting national resources that are
"killing the dream" and resulting in a less equi-
table society.
Lowery emphasized the necessity of all who
are fighting for a better society to unite, as "we
need to bring the human family together, we
cannot avoid the interdependence of the human
family."
"If you tear away this veneer of skin...we'd all
be equally ugly," he said.
Lowery criticized the policies of President
Ronald Reagan, saying he hopes Reagan lives
long enough to see Americans reject Reaganism
and the civil rights losses and inequalities that-
Lowery said marked the Reagan era.
He said that individuals who want to work for
change must free themselves from "confused pri-
orities; We must assume more responsibility for
setting the agenda for the movement...we are too
content to let someone else do it."
Lowery said it is necessary for the family of
humanity to stand strong, and "wrap our values
around each other" in order to fight together for
the dream that King died for in 19681.
He closed his moving speech with Langston
Hughes' words: "If dreams die, life is a broken
bird who cannot fly. Without dreams, life is like
a barren field."
Yesterday's rally on the Diag, part of the annual Unity
March which takes place every year on Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day, brings out a variety of emotions. In the top
photo, law student Charles Wynder clasps the hand of
another person at the rally. Left, Yvonne Perry, LSA
senior, joins in cheers. Above, Kim Smith, a member of
UCAR, speaks to the Diag crowd.
t,
Speakers call for saving
Black settlements
BY JESSICA STRICK
Although Black communities and
settlements are not widely viewed as
important components of American
* history and culture, they are and de-
serve such preservation and recogni-
tion, said two speakers yesterday at
"Black Built America - A Storm of
Reflection."
Everett Fly, president of Fly As-
sociates, and LaBarbara Wigfall Fly,
assistant professor of Landscape Ar-
chitecture at Kansas State University
and principal/vice president of Fly
Associates, addressed over 100 peo-
*,ple at the School of Natural Re-
There are more than 800 Black
settlements in America dating back
to 1865 which remain unrecognized
because "a tremendous amount of
Black history is oral history," said
Everett Fly.
Fly said the topic is widely re-
searched because "there aren't that
many of us" who "try to understand
the relationship of the environment
to be able to characterize the kinds of
settlement practices."
Freedman's Village, a long dis-
banded settlement in Arlington, Vir-
ginia, was among those "colonies"
discussed. This area has now become
a nrtof heArling.n i- ti:na
ROBIN LU4NAK/oiy
ty March
2,000 people march down S. University Ave. yesterday in the annual Unity March
morating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
. debate health problems of Blacks
HY GRIEM
a panel of seven medical
als debated the causes be-
notoriously high Black
.on rate yesterday, they all
r the implementation of
ical programs to treat those
who are unemployed and
ricken.
ension - the elevation of
events yesterday to comemorate the
birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr..
Ernest Johnson, assistant profes-
sor of internal medicine, said that
Blacks suffer from hypertension at a
disproportionately higher rate than
whites due to stressful factors in
their environment.
He said stress, strain, and anger
nfarin inn frnm. ic
He cited a 1987 study conducted
in Mississippi that showed Blacks
consume more sodium and less
potassium and calcium in their diets
than whites. Glazewski said a lack of
nutrients may lead to hypertension.
Studies conducted by the Michi-
gan Department of Public Heath in
1984 showed that Blacks are one-
and-a-half times more likely than
I