Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedom Vol. IC, No. 103 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Thursday, February 23, 1989 Copyright 1989, The Michigan Daily Verses BY JONATHAN SCOTT The book whose author currently has a $5.2 million bounty placed on his life was officially released in American book stores yesterday. In solidarity with a demonstra- tion held in New York City to de- fend Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses,aUniversity professors and Ann Arbor booksellers spoke out yesterday in support of artistic free- dom and in defense of Rushdie. Before reading excerpts from the book, a series of professors, book- sellers, and members of Ann Arbor's literary community explained to nearly 200 people in Rackham Auditorium why the recent threats on Rushdie's life - and refusal of bookstores around the country and in Ann Arbor to shelve Satanic Verses - were serious acts that threaten both academic and intellectual free- dom. Ann Arbor's Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton's, and Walden's Books have all complied with orders from their respective national offices and re- moved the book from their shelves. The stores are the United States' three largest bookstore chains. Karl Pohrt, who owns Ann Ar- bor's Shaman Drum Bookshop, said the decision to remove the book by each of the three largest national bookstore chains involves dangerous ramifications. "It's very serious. It's a terrifying thought that these people have suc- cumbed this easily to this type of intimidation." He said that an alarming precedent has now been es- tablished in the United States in sparks campus debate 'U' profs. and A2 booksellers artistic freedom is threatened say terms of publishing and book sales. Pohrt, who spoke at the confer- ence, said his store is shelving Sa- tanic Verses, although no copies are presently in stock. Novelist and University English Prof. William Holinger characterized the hysteria over Salman's novel as "a rape of the imagination." He said that American scholars, intellectuals, and booksellers have been too quiet about the attack on Rushdie. The conference today, he said, is a "stand against cowardice." Butmembers of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) said the book should be taken off of Ameri- can bookstore shelves because it "slanders Muslims." "To be critical of Islam is one thing, but to ridicule, to mock, and to attack the very basis of the reli- gion is another," said Avis Kamal, an MSA member. "The secular intellect doesn't recognize Islam, and Rushdie's book is part of a larger Western tradition of attacking the Muslim religion." MSA member Haitem Younes, who addressed the audience in Rack- ham, said the Muslim reaction to Rushdie's novel should be viewed in the context of an increasingly volatile Middle East. The book is not helping to decrease tensions in the region, he said. University Psychology Prof. Raphael Ezekiel told the audience that the book is particularly disturb- ing to Muslims because it is coming from the West. He said that many people in the Third World "feel a terrific threat posed by the technol- ogy and values of the West." Ezekiel, however, condemned the threats against Rushdie and his book's displacement from bookstore shelves, and encouraged the audience to speak out for academic and intel- lectual freedom. Kamal said there would not have been death threats had the world in- tellectual community called Satanic Verses "shameful andirresponsibie" upon its release. He added that had the book not been "patronized' it would not have been perceived as an attack against Muslims. But Ezekiel said Kamal's claim is a "fantasy." He said Rushdie was sentenced to death without his book ever being read. Six different speakers read from the book to give listeners a feel for Rushdie's tone. And as one speaker noted, his tone has sparked some of the controversy. Writers protest decision to take Satanic Verses off the shelves BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ayatollah Khomeini said Wednesday the mounting Western condemnation of his order to kill novelist Salman Rushdie has proven the futility of normalizing relations with the rest of the world. In New York, hundreds of writers demonstrated Wednesday against the order outside the Iranian Mission to the United Nations and two book stores that pulled "The Satanic Verses" from its shelves. Rallies were scheduled in Boston, Washington, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco to coincide with the book's official publication date. Authors in Finland and the Netherlands also condemned Khomeini's order Wednesday. Pub- lishers in France, West Germany, Greece and Turkey have canceled plans to publish the book, which has been banned as blasphemous to Islam by at least seven countries, including India, Pakistan and Egypt. West Germany, Iran's biggest trading partner, already has decided to remove its ambassador from Tehran as part of an action by the 12 Euro- pean Economic Community coun- tries. President Bush said Tuesday that he supports the action. Khomeini said economic sanc- tions will not change his stance. . LIZ STEKETEE/Daily 'U' Prof. Rafael Ezekiel was one of six speakers who harshly criticized U.S. bookstores that have taken Satanic Verses off their shelves. Speaker BY AMANDA NEUMAN Lesbians and gay males must overcome the rejec- tion of established churches by redefining their rela- tionship to God, Richard Cleaver told listeners at the Canterbury House last night. Cleaver is a member of the Peace Education Staff of the American Friends Service Committee, a service group that works for peace and justice. Cleaver said established churches reflect society and its oppression of lesbians and gay men through dis- crimination and often by silence. "It's a kind of discretion that results in making those of us who are lesbians and gay men feel invisi- ble in society, " Cleaver said. addresses church Cleaver expressed dissatisfaction with the way les- bians and gay issues are being discussed in churches. "The debate has become stagnant," he said. Most central to the rejection is the church's insis- tence on the problem of "homosexuality and not as the problem of homophobia, the structural ways in which lesbians and gay men are oppressed," he continued. Another part of the problem is that the oppression is conceived as being an issue of sexual practice. But it is really a question involved with gender and the "expectations involved with being a real man or woman," he said. This causes a debate in differentiat- ing "people's acts from people's emotions." Cleaver says that every human relationship is a practice on some level. The common pr oppressors is to say "Your love is illegit results in the painful "sense in which my tures toward other human beings are rejec too threatening or too frightening." This feeling is contradictory to the u love referred to in the scriptures, he said. C society together consider lesbians and g "betrayal to Christianity." However, Cleaver urged, the poor and most clearly what the scriptures say. "We Church back to the truth of God's uncondi Cleaver tried to explain the origins of gay male discrimination within the church oppression He stated that the church saw itself as "the society ,icte Ti of the of the clean, the redeemed, the good," but that its imate." This "dichotomy of clean and unclean is fundamentally out loving ges- of whack with the message of Jesus." ;ted as being Lesbian and gay men can take actions to move be- yond the situation of oppression and become "hearers nconditional and doers of the word." hurches and Cleaver said "we need to: ay men as a -face our own conditions by ourselves .struggle before we can come to understand who we outcast hear are in relation to God can call the -reclaim our own history to find those places where tional love." God has worked towards our liberation f lesbian and ,share the insights of other people who are engaged . in working for their own liberation." Allen Park mayor denies civil rights, BY KRISTINE LALONDE SPECIAL TO THE DAILY The mayor of Allen Park yesterday denied tha two members of his city's police force committed civil rights violation in an incident involving tw University students. Mayor Gerald Richards, speaking at a pres conference, said an internal investigation conducte by Allen Park city officials determined the inciden to be a misunderstanding. The Rackham graduate students involved, Bobb Clark and William Neal, were taking part in University-sponsored study of the Detroit area whe the incident occured. The students said they wer listing the addresses of households in the area whe the officers approached them and asked them t leave the area. "The officers to our knowlege did not ask then to leave," said Mayor Gerald Richards. "The officer suggested they continue their work in a differen area." Clark last night denied Richards' account, an said "even if the story they said -was true they ar violations still violating our civil rights...We're not breaking the law, so why can't we stay in that area?" it Richards said the officers were responding to the a complaints of residents who were disturbed that the o students were writing down addresses. He added that the officers were unaware of the study and that not ;s investigating the students' activities would have d been irresponsible. it "In the city of Allen Park anyone who is doing that (recording addresses) is going to generate a y complaint." a But Clark said he and Neal will continue to seek n legal counsel. e University study officials maintain that a letter n had been sent to the Allen Park Police Department o regarding the canvassing before it occured. Neal and Clark said when they were approached by the offi- m cers they showed their University identification rs cards and referred to the letter. nt However, after calling the police station the officers were told no such letter existed on file. d The mayor said yesterday that no such letter is re on file. FBI opposes ban on recruiting BY SCOTT LAHDE WITH WIRE REPORTS The FBI yesterday denounced the University Law School's decision to ban FBI recruiting for a year in re- sponse to judicial findings that the agency discriminated against His- panic agents. "We do not agree with the idea that the FBI should be punished (by the Law School)," said Milt Ahlerich, assistant FBI director for congressional and public affairs. "The Director has taken a num- ber of measures towards Affirmative Action," said Ahlerich. Law School Dean Lee Bollinger imposed the ban in December - to last until May 1989 - after students brought the Texas FBI discrimina- tion suit to Bollinger's attention. "The students said it was viola- tion of our placement antidiscrimi- nation policy" for such an organiza- tion to be allowed to recruit at the school, Bollinger said. The successful discrimination law suit was filed by Bernardo Perez on behalf of 311 Hispanic agents. U.S. District Judge Bunton, who ruled in the suit, is now holding a hearino de tetrmine how much the LIZ STEKETEE/Daily Allen Park Mayor Gerald Richards denies any civil rights violations in an incident where two University students were reportedly harassed. . .. ___ ___ -i Chapman, McFerrin take Grammys LOS ANGELES (AP) - Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, a shy newcomer to the recording industry, won three Grammy awards last night for her debut LP, and song stylist Bobby McFerrin won best pop male vocal performance for his hit single, "Don't Worry, Be Happy." "I want to thank my family, my mother, who bought me my first guitar, my sister, who's al- ways been my best audience, best critic, and best friend," Chapman said tearfully as she accepted Jazz singer Anita claimed two rhy blues trophies, as t annual Grammy. pre-broadcast cer got underway Shrine Auditorium a Baker contemporary folk recording, for her album, 'thm & "Tracy Chapman." McFerrin, whose voice is a thinm& one-man orchestra, had five nominations. the 31st Baker took best rhythm & blues song and best Awards female vocal performance in that category for Aw ards "Giving You the Best That I Got," she shared emonies best song, a song-writing award, with Skip at the Scarbourough and Randy Holland. In the rap category, which was hit by a boy- . , cott by some of the major nominees, the best T I ~ (7~h~t~ ~t~tt~ ~tn~A uAii*~h