Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 24, 1990
e ~ tlgan Bil
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
The color of m
NOAH FINKEL
Editor in Chief
DAVID SCHWARTZ
Opinion Editor
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.
Posting
Selective enforcement is an act based on fear
On Wednesday, in yet another
demonstration of the University admin-
istration's fear of student power, the
grounds' crew was specifically ordered
to remove all illegally posted flyers an-
nouncing the protest against an armed
University police force.
It is policy of grounds crew to re-
move all illegally posted flyers (those
riot on kiosks or bulletin boards). This
is apparently a policy that is easily ma-
nipulated to suit the needs of the
administration.
All over the campus on Thursday
morning, grounds people were seen
with bags full of flyers - suspiciously
predominant were those announcing
the demonstration. By 9 a.m., all of the
kiosks had been cleared. Yet, in spite
of these clean up efforts, many frater-
nity flyers remained in "illegal" spots,
though nary a protest flyer could be
found.
By selectively removing flyers that
announce a protest, the administration
is furthering its policy of restricting
students rights.
Tearing down these posters is one
of many methods employed by the
administration to silence its opposition.
This is not an isolated incident. The
administration has silenced demonstra-
tions by creating guidelines that control
when and how people can protest.
Administration officials have si-
lenced the student representation by
refusing to let Michigan Student
Assembly President Jennifer Van Valey
speak at the first-year student convoca-
tion. And President James Duderstadt
blatantly silenced a voice of opposition
at the public comments session of last
Thursday's meeting of the Board of
Regents, cutting off Chris Kopka two
minutes into his five minute speaking
time.
The administration is afraid of the
power behind the words of opposition,
and therefore employs the repressive
tactics of a police state in order to con-
trol the student body.
Given the administration's attempt
to create a code of student non-aca-
demic conduct, and the creation of a
police force to carry out their policies,
the silencing of student protest must be
viewed in the context of the adminis-
tration's agenda. Apparently the belief
is that any opposition to the Univer-
sity's attempts to control students' lives
must be silenced.
Clearly the administration is running
scared, afraid of the power of a unified
voice of opposition from the students;.
Selective enforcement of rules are an
affront to free speech and are indicative
of the University's desire to stifle criti-
cism of the administration.
By Glynn Washington
Raymond Jenkins devoted 23 years of
his life to a cause. For 23 years he worked
asking the U.S. Government to give repa-
ration payments to the descendants of
Black slaves ("U.S. owes slave descen-
dants 'reparations,"' Daily 9/13/90). Using
the Government's payments to Japanese-
American World War II prisoners as prece-
dent, he has petitioned various leaders,
members of Congress, and Presidents. He
has worked diligently promoting his idea
of justice.
Raymond Jenkins is a well-intentioned
idiot.
Placing a price tag on the lives of
elders 200 years removed demonstrates a
profound lack of respect for a people. If we
as a people don't respect ourselves, how
can we enjoy the respect of others?
We need to come to grips with the ac-
tual causes of the "Black problem." Is the
root of our problem something the White
man did to us? No! Belief in this lie con-
tinues to thwart Black progress. We can
no longer afford to look to the federal gov-
ernment to save us. We must save our-
selves.
Before repairing a problem, the prob-
lem must be recognized. We of the Black
community have a tendency to point the
finger elsewhere when addressing the cause
of our troubles. Granted, the Black com-
munity has been horribly discriminated
against since the conception of the coun-
try. Our history of slavery and it's legacy
shall forever stain the country's name. But
dwelling on injustices of the past does
nothing to solve problems of the future.
Black sub-culture is reeling. There are
more Black males in prison than are seek-
ing higher education. One-fourth of all
Black men in America finds himself in
some aspect of the prison system. More
Washington is an LSA junior.
than 40 percent of the Black population
receives some type of general assistance.
Why? Are Blacks the only ones ever to re-
ceive discrimination?
What about the Jews? They have been
persecuted unlike any other group of peo-
ple this century. Yet American Jews have
effectively exploited this county's oppor-
tunity. How? By sticking together and uti-
lizing "block buying" power. This means
purchasing items exclusively from within
their group.
Eighty percent of people in America
work for small businesses. Small busi-
nesses are located in neighborhoods. If you
do not buy from businesses in your
neighborhood, you create no jobs for the
people in your neighborhood. Blacks have
not learned this simple economic princi-
ple. We have conducted the most success-
ful economic boycott in the history of the
world - against ourscives.
'oney
Instead of relying on short sighted char-
ity donations and mandatory tokenism, the
Black community needs to focus on a long
term rescue plan, with education as the
pillar. We have to target 4-, 3-, even 2
year-old children at a time when we ca
make a difference. Our commitment to
this plan cannot hinge on the political
whims of bureaucracy.
We must train ourselves to practice
new buying patterns. Every dollar spent
outside of businesses actively supporting
your community is a dollar taken away
from the future of your community. If you
see a member of your group trying to get
ahead, support him by supporting hil
business!
Other groups traditionally find Black
America easy prey. We allow them to take
our money and run. Every other group
turns their money over from five to 12
times within their group.
Instead of relying on short sighted charity
donations and mandatory tokenism, the Black
community needs to focus on a long term
rescue plan, with education as the pillar.
Though Blacks earned well in excess of
200 billion dollars last year, we spent 170
billion more with the rest of America than
they spent with us. This translates into
roughly 3 million jobs lost from our
community! There is no reason for such a
deficit situation and it must be stopped.
When a sign on a Miami beach read,
"No Jews or dogs allowed," the Jews
bought the beach! No begging, no plead-
ing -just cold hard cash. Instead of a war
of rhetoric, they fought a war of power.
Money is power. If we want power, we
better get some money.
Why does Black America not have
what White America has? Simple. Blacks
spend their money with Whites and
Whites spend their money with Whites.
This cycle must be arrested before eco-
nomic success can be achieved.
We simply have to stop letting otherp
people take our money from us. We must
create a progressive economic agenda.
From it we will reap the blessings of edu-
cation, a higher livings standard, and re-
spect.
There is a saying in the Black commu-
nity that would be good for us to recall,
"God helps those who help themselves...."
Mom
Hurray! The end of baseball is in sight!
By Dave Barry
October is almost here, sports
fans, and you know what that
means: It means two-thirds of the
National Football League has al-
ready been sidelined with knee in-
juries. But it also means that we're
entering the pulse-pounding final
weeks of the current baseball sea-
son, which began, according to my
calculations, in 1987.
And what a season it has been!
The big highlight, of course, was
George Steinbrenner receiving a
lifetime suspension from the game
for invading Kuwait. Also there
have been a number of "no-hitters,"
a very exciting brand of baseball ac-
tion wherein one of the teams never
even THREATENS to win. One of
'these was pitched by the phenome-
nal Nolan Ryan, who, at 67 years
old, continues to rack up victories,
because the umpires feel sorry for
him.
UMPIRE: Strike one!
BATTER: Wait a minute! He
didn't even PITCH it yet!
UMPIRE: Strike three!
Yes, these are the things that
make baseball a fundamental Amer-
0
ican institution, like call waiting
and NutraSweet. My own fond
baseball memories date back to
when I was a youngster in Little
League, and huge mutant opposi-
tion youngsters would pitch base-
balls into my left kidney at an es-
timated 425 miles per hour. Back
then I formed a feeling for the game
that persists today, especially when
I make sudden movements, and as a
father I've done my best to pass
"baseball fever" along to my son.
"Hey, Robby!" I'll say, just as
sports-loving American dads have
said to their youngsters for genera-
tions. "Let's play the 'Bases
Loaded' baseball game on the Nin-
tendo!" Robby enjoys this, because
it gives him an opportunity to pick
up some "pointers" from his old
man:
ME: What's the score?
ROBBY: I have 157 and you
have 3.
ME: Shut up.
Yes, baseball brings out power-
ful emotions, as you know if you
saw the deeply moving picture
"Field of Dreams," which tells the
heartwarming story of a man,
played by Kevin Costner, who re-
ceives instructions from corn. One
day the corn tells him to build a
baseball field next to his house, so
naturally he does. (It could have
been worse: A really malevolent
vegetable, such as zucchini, would
have told him to build a nuclear re-
actor.)
Watching this movie, especially
the emotion-packed ending, I had
tears in my eyes as I thought to
myself: "How come my wife never
looks at me the way she looks at
Kevin Costner?" I'm not saying she
doesn't love me: I'm just saying
that her eyes have more of a laser
quality when they're zeroing in on
Kevin Costner, and I say it's unfair.
I mean, when she gets a close look
at him, it's always from a very flat-
tering camera angle, plus he has
just had his hair done and his
makeup applied and his teeth capped
and his jeans shrunk; whereas when
she gets a close look at me, it's in
a less impressive situation, such as
I'm checking to see whether I can
still make comical noises with my
armpit. I think we need a federal
law requiring that whenever a
known hunk appears in a movie,
there has to be some detail designed
to make him, in some subtle way,
less attractive.
MOVIE ACTRESS: Let's take
off most of our clothes and enact a
passionate love scene.
KEVIN COSTNER: OK, but
first take a look at this nostril zit.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
Our starting columnist has gotten
himself mired in a severe digression
here, so in an effort to finish this
column on the original topic, we're
going to bring in a relief colum-
nist.
Baseball. It's often called "a
game of inches," and for good rea-
son: Sports fans would get angry if
you came right out and called it "a
game where guys getting paid mil-
lions of dollars stand around doing
absolutely nothing for minutes on
end except spit." The reason for
this, of course, is: Strategy. As you
know if you listen to expert dron-
ing baseball analysts on TV, more
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strategic thought goes into ONE
SINGLE PITCH than into the en-
tire U.S. foreign policy:
BROADCAST ANALYST: In
this situation, Garcia might throw
the curve, although Edwards could
be LOOKING for the curve, so
Garcia might come with the slider,
unless of course he thinks that Ed-
wards THINKS he's going with the
slider, in which case he might go
0~1990 Tritbunes Media Sw~AIc.tw
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with the FASTBALL, although for
that VERY REASON he might de-
cide to go with the original curve,
although as I said earlier Edwards
might be LOOKING for the curve,
so Garcia might come with the...
PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN: Bob,
the game ended 45 minutes ago.
BROADCAST ANALYST:
Hey, there's drool on my micro-
phone.
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Cohen needs to learn
history of U.S. policy
To the Daily:
Where does Philip Cohen get his news
anyway? In his article in the Weekend sec-
tion on Friday (9/21/90) where he ex-
plained the difference between illusion and
reality with the U.S. in the Persian Gulf,
Cohen made clear his ignorance of foreign
policy and history. His explanations of the
"realities" of the situation are really really
out of touch with the true situation.
In the present situation, Cohen seems
to indicate that given the choice of U.S.
intervention or not, the majority of Middle
East nations would let the U.S. stay
home. This is just wrong. We were asked
to come over and help Saudi Arabia defend
its territory when Iraqi troops began to
mass on the border.
Cohen spends so much time bashing
niently never read that part of the newspa-@
per.
Historically, Cohen needs a little les-
son. His contention that U.S. domination
means "torture, death, and war" is also
without base. Since World War II, the
United States has been put in the role of
world police officer. We have been respon-
sible for putting a stop to aggression
globally. In some cases we have used mil-
itary means.
But perhaps Cohen has forgotten what
happened in the areas where we did not in-
tervene in time. In Cambodia, after the
beloved Pol Pot regime came to power,
they summarily executed millions of their
own people. And what happened in Viet-
nam after the U.S. finally ended their pro-
tection of South Vietnam? The friendly
North Vietnamese rolled in and executed
hundreds of thousands of their own people.
All of the sudden, the U.S. doesn't
look sn had fon ttemntino to ctnn the a.-