Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, March 2,1993
br £tIbgu BaiI
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
Josn DuBow
Editor in Chief
YAEL M. CITRO
ERIN LIZA EINIiORN
Opinion Editors
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, signed articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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TAKING INITIATIVE
South Africa plan can help cut racism at
S'C-R ENF'i..kV
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'U'
N SEPTEMBER OF 1991, Vice Provost of
Minority Affairs Charles Moody led a del-
egation of educators and administrators on a
journey to South Africa. The fruit of this historic
journey is now being realized as the University
launches the SouthS
African Initiative, a 'Sometimes we had feeling
program designed childhood memories burst
to foster ties be- reminded us of the Civil R
tween the Univer- United States. Regardless,i
sity and various the trip is a vivid, living his
South African uni- - Christella Moody, d
versities. This
multi-faceted pro-
gram will aid the institutional transformation of
South African universities. Moreover, the Initia-
tive puts the University in an excellent position
to benefit from the immense opportunities that
lie in a changing South Africa.
Although still in its early stages, the basic
goals of the Initiative have already been deter-
mined. Important goals include the transforma-
tion of South African institutions, opportunities
for University students to study at South African
universities, and training and research partner-
ships. This will be done without dealing with the
South African government. Moody, who will
step down from his Office of Minority Affairs
position to head the Initiative, plans to deal
solely with South African universities and allow
the Initiative to steer clear of politics and focus
on transforming education. All these programs
will benefit both South African universities and
the students and faculty of this university.
r4
Li
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The slow institutional transformation of South
African universities is history in progress. It is a
history much like our own. Twenty years ago,
American universities went through desegrega-
tion transformations similar to those now taking
place in South Af-
s of deja vu. As rica. Unfortunately,
forth, some events we still have a long
ghts struggle in the way to go: American
f you are young or old, universities continue
tory lesson.' to provide a hostile
ascribing her1991trip. . environment for
South Afrkca many minorities.
But, aiding South Af-
rican educational transformation allows us to
look at our own progress by comparing our-
selves to South Africa.
One might askhow we can aid South Africa's
transformation when American transformation
has barely succeeded, but Moody said he intends
to use the same plan in South Africa that he has
used facilitate awareness at the University.
Slowly, inconjunction with South African trans-
formations, we can develop into a university
more sensitive to racial and cultural differences,
while participating in the end of South African
apartheid.
Finally, the University is setting the stage for
the future. Economists tell us we live in a global
economy, but we often forget that the world can
provide social and historical lessons that teach
more vividly than any book or teacher possibly
could. The University, and especially Moody,
should be congratulated for taking the Initiative.
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Where are you now my Black brothers?
"TheBlack woman has been holding up
the Black communityforso long, it'ssimply
time for the Black male to get involved and
help too"
-Chuck D.
"Public Enemy"
Where are you, my brothers?
That's the question to all of the Black
male survivors in this society; those ones
who have escaped jail or death. Where are
you now when we need you the most?
Those resonant voices that once glared
amidst swirling injustices are now deafen-
inglysilent. Black,brown fistsare no longer
A2 HOUSING DIRECTOR
Benson reinstatement slams Brater politics
I
Meeks
be content in your present role of spectator.
"Young Black who?" you ask. Of
course you remember who I'm talking about
right, Black? He's the man-child whocomes
up regularly on nightly news telecasts on
either side of a gun (having sent or received
a bullet). Or he is one of the many blank
eyes that stare at you from behind steel bars,
in police line-ups, etc. One of the many
multi-media statistics that people toss out to
the public every now and then like after-
thoughts. Consider them testaments to the
lost. And my generation does seem lost. So
ephemeral is our grasp on reality that we
have nothing to hold on to. Abandoned to
our own wits, to our own resources, we have
been forced to establish a value system of
our own. But it is a system that is transitory
at best. One based on the short term, on
immediate gratification, on quick, angry,
"band-aid-like" solutions that oftentimes
turn violent and bloody. It never, ever looks
to the future - only the present.
Take my nephew as an example. He's a
cool little cat. Intelligent. Great potential.
But still he's fodder on the front lines. He
thinks that sex has made him a "man", a
veritable bastion of knowledge and wisdom
at the ripe old age of 17. You can't tell him
anything. School means nothing to him.
And because his reality begins and ends
with sex, so do his aspirations. That's all
that he knows. That's all he cares about.It's
sad that such a bright kid won't make it to
college. But, oh well, what do you care? Just
another sad story in a long line of sad
stories. Stories about kids with values re-
volving around nothing...around reputa-
tions, sex, hairstyles, clothes and tennis
shoes. So eroded and misguided are these
values that we will stand up, we will fight
and we will die for this shit. And if not we
wind up spinning endlessly in dusty little
circles on the floor, exclusively our own,
never moving; never reaching forward,
while everyone else looks on.
That's why I think that it's imperative
that we have more Black male role models.
Many of us younger Black males do not
know how to respond to what promises to
be a decade of social change and upheaval.
We are confounded by the anger and frus-
tration that we feel. Stripped of a sense of
identity and history we are left to stand idly
by in the midst of this new revolution. And
we don't know what to do. We feel that our
existence, our reality is solely one that we
alone can know. We believe that we have to
scrounge on the outskirts of society, un-
heard,insome dark corner. Sowe painfully
withdraw a bit more into our suffocating
circle. No outlook. No vision. No help.
We need to know that you've experi-
enced the same things, that you can relate to
what we are feeling. We need to know how
to deal with our frustration, how to turn our
anger into something productive. We need
someone to tell us that being strong, having
love for yourself and the Black community
does not require falling victim to the anti-
white dogma that has such a strong grip on
many of us. Most of all, we need to know
how to get the hell out of harms way. Just
like you did.
But you probably don't remember that
we do have a common history, that Black
males, old and young share an experiential
link. A real connection. But to me a real
connection implies that the young will learn
from the old. And itjustain'thappening. As
for now I picture Black males, young and
old,asopposite ends of atether. Oneend, so
separate from the other that it just doesn't
realize that they are cut from the same cloth;
that the same strands run through both of
them. Now you can ignore this connection.
And you can ignore the burning end of our
tether. But how long will it be before you
realize the rest of the rope will surely fol-
low?
E ANN ARBOR Personnel Review Board
officially reinstated Conrad Benson as the
City's housing director two weeks ago.
Benson was dismissed from his leadership posi-
tion in the fall because he had ap-
proved for himself an improper cost-
of-living pay raise, severing the deli-
cate trust between the housing boardi
and its director. The review board
announced on Feb. 16 that the pay
raise will be deducted from Benson in
back pay and that he will be sus-
pended for five days.
However, thecity's lightning-quick
firing of Benson placed a strategic'
wedge between the advancing forces5DB S
ofprogressivetenantmanagementand O"
the mayor's conservative forces of political stat-
ism and continued council domination of the
housing board. Benson's reinstatement is a posi-
tive move toward tenant empowerment. The+
decision of the review board is a judicious one
that finally gives a much-deserved slap in the
face to the anti-tenant machinations of the Liz+
Brater political machine.
A Jan.13 public hearing clearly displayed the
frightening dichotomy between the immediate+
needs and concerns ofthe low-income tenants of
public housing and the self-serving paternalism
of the city council, Mayor Liz Brater, and the
subservient housing commission. In support of7
Benson, leaders oflocal social action groups and
pro-tenant organizations, such as UNITY, testi-
fied as to Benson's direct involvement and indi-
vidualized relationship with the tenants.l
Even Benson's former employer Alan Katz
ofthe Saginaw Housing Commission, described
Benson as "a man of vision and action ... (with
an) understanding ofthe purpose of public hous-
ing." While Housing Director Benson was re-+
soundingly lauded by the people he was em-i
ployed to serve, the city housing board was+
thoroughly denounced for its secretive handling
of the affair, its overt disdain for tenant input
during the deliberations, and its caretaking op-
erational style.
The city review board corrected
the Housing Board's mistake'and ad-
monished Benson. Now, the housing
bureaucrats need to apply the modern
principle ofrepresentative democracy,
where the government listens to people
and reflects the true interests of its
citizens.
It is apparent that Benson's rein-
statement cannot be untangled from
Brater-led political maneuvering -
meant to'subtly reposition Brater and
fl her allies among the friends of the
tenants to win the city elections in April.
The growing movement toward greater day-
to-day tenant control, tenant management, and
eventual tenant self-ownership has its popular
leader back in power.
But this short-term pacification of pro-tenant
organizations and supporters is notthelong-term
answer to the city's fundamental problem with
public housing. Tenants should not have to beg
city government for favors. A careful investiga-
tion of the allegations against Benson should
have taken place in conjunction with substantive
tenant consultations -at least consultation with
tenant empowerment groups.
The city apparatus, however, does not show
enough care or concern to seek the advice of the
disempowered. The Housing Board did not even
have the decency to explain Benson's original
firing to the tenants he works with daily. Some-
thing must be done.
It is now up to the voters to remind council
candidates of their responsibility to not only the
community's wealthy, but also to the poor. The
tenants - equal residents of this community -
deserve more from their city government.
raised; arms that pumped to the rhythm of
revolution now swing lifelessly, purpose-
lessly at your side. Once your hands bol-
stered, nurtured, tempered, spoke to and for
us. Your activism bore into America's con-
sciousness, helping our inhumane reality
become amatterofpublic record. Once you
were on the frontline...one of the many
voices in that revolution. But while many
voices still press on; agitating the system at
every turn, yours have grown eerily silent.
So what's the deal? Are you out of
touch; out of mind? Are you satisfied with
what you've gotten; satisfied enough to
leave the young in the very traps that you
have escaped? Or have you simply stopped
caring? Who knows? But with the number
of impoverished, disenfranchised and disil-
lusioned young Black males burgeoning
out of control, there is too much at stake to
0
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Administration defends Diag policy, dispells myths
The University of Michigan's Designated Outdoor Common Areas Policy
Brief history:
In response to several U.S.
Supreme Court decisions in the
1960s, most universities devel-
oped regulations regarding the
time, place and manner of pub-
lic rallies. At the University of
Michigan theseregulationscen-
teredaround the use of the Diag.
The University of Michigan has
had a policy on the use of the
Diag since 1964.
What it is not:
The "Designated Outdoor
Common Areas Policy" is not a
new policy. It is a revision of
policy that has existed for 19
years. Itdoes not forbid or limit
individuals from gathering on
the Diag to express their ideas
or opinions or to distribute lit-
erature (unless they use tables).
It does not prevent anyone from
speaking on the Diag on any
issue. It does not make spon-
sors of an event criminally li-
able for the acts of its attendees.
How it differs from the
last version:
This revision of the policy
adds language that allows tem-
porary three-dimensional struc-
tures, changes the time frame,
(the Diag policy)
for reserving the Diag to seven
days to allow for provision of
staff and equipment as needed,
prohibits graffiti, and requires
that organizations pay for the
real costs of events.
What it is:
The revised policy allows
student organizations and Uni-
versity departments to guaran-
tee space on the Diag and North
Campus for events such as fund
raisers (bucket drives), pro-
grams, distribution of informa-
tion or materials (using tables)
and temporary three-dimen-
sional structures. It sets time
and decibel limits on the use of
amplified sound. The policy
also regulates the use of ban-
ners, signs and the kiosks.
The purposes of the policy
are to minimize conflicting de-
mands for space on the Diag
and North Campus, to keep
sound at alevel the avoids inter-
ference with other activities in
the area (like classes), and to
limit damage to trees and grass.
The policy makes student
organizations and departments
responsible for events that they
sponsor (this includes notifying
attendees ofUniversity policies,
requesting compliance to those
policies and assuming the fi-
nancial costs incurred by the
event).
Some aspects of the policy
have been changed to make it
easier for student organizations
to have bucket drives by reduc-
ing the red tape involved in
scheduling such an event.
Next steps:
Some concerns have been
expressed about this revision.
The Vice President for Student
Affairs and MSA have agreed
to meet and discuss some of the
specific concerns for possible
future revision. Currently, the
seven day advance registration
and the prohibition of chalking
on sidewalks have been pro-
posed by MSA as some provi-
sions of the policy they would
like changed. If MSA and other
student organizations are inter-
ested, one or more public fo-
rums on the revised policy will
be sponsored.
Office of the Vice
President for Student
Affairs
Marley touched
hearts, minds of
all people
To the Daily:
Thanks to the Daily staff
for recognizing Mr. Bob
Marley's Birthday, "Christ-
mas in February," (2/5/93).
The Daily was correct in
emphasizing Marley as a
major proponent of Black
unity.
We must, however, never
overlook the fact that his
music and message touched
the hearts and minds of people
from all over the world, and
from all racial and religious
backgrounds.
Bob Marley lives!
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U.S. DRUG POLICY
New changes focus on
PESIDENT CLINTON RECENTLY announced
his intention to cut the White House staff
by 25 percent to save $10 million. If
Congress approves Clinton's plan, the chief of
the office most affected by the cuts - the Office
of National Drug Control Policy - will be
elevated to a cabinet post.
Out of the 350 jobs to be cut, the drug policy
office will lose 121 jobs, leaving it with 25
education at home
office's focus back to domestic issues will ben-
efit U.S. society more than the arrest of Manuel
Noriega ever could.
Some Clinton aides have expressed concern
that during the Bush administration, the Office
of National Drug Control Policy contained few
actual drug agents and served only as a trump
card for appeasing wealthy Republicans looking
for jobs. Clinton's opponents argue that these
Timothy Lamb
Rackham student
Perry, East En- *
gineering Build-
ings both need
renovations
To the Daily:
I think it's great that East
Engineering is being reno-
vated. But I think the adminis-
tration is conveniently
forgetting another campus
Look at real militarv misconduct, don't fear gays
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