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 SIf f otP ITS'$DACK - rolTlE FARMA FOR YOU, PAL! . ,---- .- r Field Dweebs ii .. - r. r o J 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 All Rights Rsewvad 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. (NoCV RWT T) ANp E'}Kd k 'UIIS Co(Lp HIKNlc)ttPMv" I WfhCh~s' >t R o ยข ETe NCG - - % NATu O V/1 NE 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.-