Page 4-The Michigan Daily-- Tuesday, March 16,1993
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 JosH DUBow
Editor in Chief
Edited and managed
a ERIN LIZA EINHoRN
by students at the
University of Michigan OpinionEditor
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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THE MICHIGAN PARTY
Third party will bring change to MSA
PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE FOR the dates, Greenberg and Kight are not inexperi-
MichiganStudent Assembly Jason Hack- enced people running solely on the platform of
ner has excellent ideas that - combined change. They are knowledgeable student leaders
with his experience as president of the Univer- who understand the need for MSA to reach out to
sity Activities Center - would be a valuable the campus, and they have made concrete pro-
contribution to MSA. Unfortunately, his run- posals to improve communication between stu-
ning mate is so unimpressive that she was not dents and assembly members. Their ideas in-
even willing to clude holding one
speak at the North MSA meeting per
Campus debate last monthinaresidence
week. In addition, hall.
the Progressives Unfortunately,
represent every- five of the six ex-
thing that is wrong ecutive candidates
with MSA. There- - with the notable
fore, despite exception of Jason
Hackner's abilities, y. Hackner - are cur-
ourendorsement for rently members of
MSA president and MSA. Although ex-
vice president goes Giperienceis generally
to the Michigan gKa positive attribute
Party. Craig Greenberg and Brian Kight, the for a student leadership position, these five can-
MichiganPartyexecutive candidates, are quali- didates must realize that drastic reform in the
fled for the job, and while not as impressive as student government is needed immediately. If
Hackner, are still the best option. the University administration continues to view
The Progressives have controlled MSA fQr MSA as the weak organization that it is, it will
the past year and have been desperately ineffec- continue to take advantage of a voiceless student
tive. During the reign of current MSA President body and feel free to create more policies in the
andProgressive Ede Fox, the University admin- worst interest of students.
istrationhasinstituted questionablepolicies such Another new MSA third party worthy of
as the overly restrictive Diag Policy and the attention is the ridiculously named Keg Party.
Statement of Student "Rights" and Responsi- Despite the fact that the party has no executive
bilities. candidates and most likely entered the race as a
TheProgressives have launched protests and joke, the enthusiasm shown by Keg party candi-
whined a little, but have effectively done noth- dates has been noteworthy. Candidates have
ing to stop these measures. Furthermore, MSA made extensive efforts to gainrepute for MSA by
has continued to be completely out of touch with approaching students in residence hall cafeterias
students, drawing less than 10 percent of eli- and by making themselves accessible. All MSA
gible voters to last November's MSA election. members could learn a lesson about community
While the Progressives are not responsible for outreach from the Keg party's enthusiasm.
all of MSA's faults, the fact remains that they If it were possible to create the ideal MSA
have had a working majority for the past year ticket, it would be shaped as follows:
and have focused on silly resolutions rather than the experience and willingness to reform
empowering students. exhibited by the Michigan Party. These candi-
Although it has offered a good presidential dates understand that the two-party system has
candidate, the Progressive ticket is too weak, left MSA spinning its flat tires in the mud. A new
and the party has not accomplished enough to party, dedicated to reform, can make MSA an
deserve our endorsement. effective body.
The Michigan Party was formed this year as the intelligence and leadership abilities of
aresponseto the bickering betweentheProgres- Jason Hackner; and,
sives and theConservativeCoalition. Tradition- the enthusiasm of the Keg party.
ally, voters have been reluctant to support third Unfortunately, it is not possible to create the
parties, however, the extensive student govern- ideal ticket. Instead, voters are left with multiple
ment experience of Michigan Party executive and somewhat inadequate options. The logical
candidates Greenberg and Kight should allevi- choice of this election is to vote for Greenberg
ate these fears. Unlike many third party candi- and Kight of the Michigan Party.
0l
Human beings gone but not
"All they show (on t.v.) is foreigners
fightin',killin' each other. But the same shit
is happenin' over here.Idon't know what it
is, Man. Either they don't know, don't show
or don't care about what's goin' on in the
hood."
- Doughboy (Ice Cube)
"Boyz-N-The Hood"
For me, those words hung in the air long
after the film itself ended. A testament to
many, to the ignored, the belittled and the
forgotten. They shook me to the point of
tears. All of the frustration, the fear, the utter
desolation in those words were staring at
me, piercing through me, forcing me to
contend with what I had handily suppressed
for far too long inside my mind. The faces
of friends. Those faces bring to mind my
own sad, and alarming thoughts. I think of
my many friends who have died violent
deaths in the past few years. No one talked
about their lives either. They seemed to be
forgotten. Just more Black youth bleeding
in obscurity. When the media even bothers
to cover it, this is what you read:
"Black male, approximately 22 years of
age,found shot in front of club on east side
of Detroit. Homicide victim. Suffered mul-
tiple gunshot wounds to the stomach, neck
andface. The victim was dead upon arrival.
Police could find no suspects. May have
been drug related. Investigation pending."
Standard police report. So dry. So
callous. So very unreal. I'm sure you've all
read something like this before. Another
Black male found dead of violence. Your
response to it is probably quite typical. You
probably take it as a matter of course, utter-
ing something like, "it's a shame or that's
too bad" while you subconsciously revel in
the, "I'm glad it's not me" mind trap. And
it does happen all the time. So you con-
tinue, turning the page on some faceless
entity with a name you never knew, a life
you never wanted to know. I had done the
same thing before. But on this occasion I
could not. This time the face that stared
back at me from the page was a familiar
one. It belonged to a friend.
I was utterly outraged with the manner
in which they talked about Eric. The report
never touched upon his humanity. And the
stats didn'tgive the entire story. He was not
justa demographic arranged on somepage.
forgotten
paramedics finally arrived he, though obvi-
ously weakened, adamantly refused to let
them touch him. He wasn't delirious; hejust
felt getting into the ambulance signified
that he was giving up, that he was relin-
quishing his life. Now those were not the
actions of some non-entity, some faceless
dead person without a past. That was some-
one who loved, hated, laughed and cried as
we all do. That was a human being.
But you never get that from a police
report or television. You never get that from
any mass-media service. All you see is
another addition to someone's fact sheet.
Oh well, another Black childslain. Somean-
ingless. So typical.
At least that's the way most others see it.
I can't believe that people are so desensi-
tized, so accustomed to the deaths of others
that they consume, ignore and bury it like
any other piece of information amidst hair
appointments, bills and the like. It doesn't
seem to have any effect on some people.
Me, I am reminded of Eric with every news
clip, every telecast. So I can never ignore
those faces. Nor can I ignore the humanity
that is lost with their deaths. I've heard too
many eulogies, seen too many eyes staring
up at me from some coffin.
Writing this has nothing to do with
railing against an inane system, as I suspect
I do sometimes. This is something that is
very personal to me. I can no longer stand
idly by and watch others fade away into
mindless obscurity. I simply don't feel that
I would be true to myself if I didn't put this
on paper. Iwouldn't be true to myself ormy
"forgotten" friends. I owe them that much.
Brian Meeks' column appears every
other Tuesday
[T Brian Meeksl
This brother did not consistof ink on paper,
to be read, disregarded and left to yellow in
some forgotten place. He was a human
being, with thoughts and emotions.
The newspaper never talked about the
strength and courage that he exhibited that
night either. As he lay there, his body
riddled with bullets, he still talked, making
jokes about Detroit's Emergency Medical
Services and their "slow-as-molasses-
asses." We laughed nervous laughs, scared
for him, for everything that had just hap-
pened to us. We knew that he recognized
the fear in our eyes, and that this was his
way of trying to assuage them. When the
Understand MLK day, don't compare
B.ALLOT QUESTIONS
Vote 'yes' on question one for SLSfunding
TUDENTS SHOULD SUPPORT ballot ques-
tion number one in tomorrow's Michi-
gan Student Assembly election. Ifpassed,
the required MSA student fee will be raised to
$7, an increase of73 cents. While MSA has not
established itself as a particularly effective stu-
dent government, the 73-cent increase is war-
ranted because one-third of it will go to Student
Legal Services (SLS), one-third will be allo-
cated directly to student groups, and the least-
deserved third will help cover MSA's operating
expenses.
SLS, which provides the invaluable service
offreelegal counsel to students involved in civil
or criminal disputes, relies heavily on MSA
funds. Students, who might understandably be
reluctant to give even more money to an organi-
zation they perceive as doing absolutely nothing,
must realize that increased funds to MSA may
help them in the long run. Without the financial
support of MSA, SLS would be rendered help-
less.
In addition, MSA does a reasonably good job
of allocating funds to student groups. If ballot
question one passes, more money will be avail-
able to student groups on campus. If students
choose to vote down this question they will only
be shooting themselves in the foot. Hopefully
students will be able to put aside their contempt
for MSA in order to vote yes on this ballot
question.
If the questionpasses, everybody will win-
students requiring legal services, student groups,
and MSA.
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to
the letter written by Wayne
Adam, "President's Day
holiday goes unnoticed at
'U"' (3/8/93).
I will attempt to explain
to you why the University
pulls out the stops for Martin
Luther King's birthday. A
major reason is because the
King holiday is still new. It
became a legal public holiday
in 1986. Lincoln's Birthday
was first formally observed in
Washington D.C. in 1866.
George Washington's
Birthday was first formally
observed in 1796. It is
possible that the University
pulled out the stops for
Lincoln's Birthday when it
was a new holiday.
I find it interesting that a
Canadian is so concerned with
comparing American holi-
days. I could ask you why
doesn't Canada have a Prime
Minister Day, or why isn't
Sainte Jean Baptiste Day a
national holiday?
It is pointless to compare
one holiday to another. I am
pleased that the University is
taking part in celebrating
Martin Luther King's
birthday. It is a holiday which
commemorates a major
turning point in American
history. It represents unity and
justice for all Americans, an
important concept of the
American constitution.
Without Martin Luther King
and the Civil Rights Move-
ment, the ideas of George
Washington during the
American Revolution and Abe-
Lincoln during the Civil War
period would not have been
fulfilled.
Phydariel Jones
Pharmacy student
UMET represents 'U'in sporting event
Maize-n-mi
fans' spirit
impresses
reader, fan'
To the Daily:
I must say, I felt immense
pride watching the UM-MSU
basketball game Sunday
afternoon (3/7/93). While I
did enjoy seeing our beloved
Wolverines defeat the lowly
Spartans, the feeling of pride
stemmed the performance of
the folks in the stands. The
students and other Maize-n-
Blue faithful exhibited
fantastic enthusiasm and
support for Michigan in a
manner that remained tasteful
from this perspective. As we
all have heard, the element of
tact on the part of student
bodies has been a hot topic in
the UM-MSU rivalry,
especially since the disgrace-
ful exhibition by State
students at the season's first
match-up in East Lansing on
February 2.
I have used this forum to
complain about poor student
support at football and
basketball games in the past,
but I'm happy to say that I feel
proud to be a Wolverine even
more now than before.
Not only has the enthusi-
asm grown, but class and tact
reigned from the television
S
S
6
'Yes
'on question two will benefit
MCC
STUDENTS NEED TO resoundingly approve
ballotquestiontwo ontomorrow's Michi-
gan Student Assembly ballot.'The ques-
tion calls for a fee increase of 35 cents to pay for
MSA's membership in the Michigan Collegiate
Coalition (MCC), a Lansing-based student lob-
bying organization. Ballot question three, the
Conservative Coalition's call for the severance
of all financial ties between MSA and MCC,
must be rejected.
In lobbying on behalf of student interests,
MCC provides a valuable service for the stu-
tively unnoticed on campus because MSA has
been unable to effectively inform students of
MCC's work. However, MSA's liabilities should
not be confused with MCC's. While MSA has
been desperately unsuccessfully inits attempts to
represent students on campus, MCC has consis-
tently done good work on behalf of students.
Proponents of ballot question three claim that
students should not have to pay 35 cents to an
organization that they claim is ineffective. They
claim fiscal responsibility starts with indepen-
dence from MCC. However, linking MCC with
MeAC a 'o in'nraftarivrn nnn a i ~r antri naor ii rnta
To the Daily:
As president of the
University Equestrian Team
I would like to comment on
James Cho's article,
"Equestrian team breaks in
horses" (2/12/93). There
seemed to be a slight
confusion of facts and I
would like the opportunity
to clarify for the student
body the goals and inten-
tions of our team, as well as
outlining the new UMET
Riding Program that began
this January.
The primary purpose of
with horse-riding instruction
and greater access to horses"
as was stated in Cho's article.
This was a misquote and a
confusion of the equestrian
team and the new UMET
Riding Program.
I believe the real story is
the organization of the
UMET Riding Program
which started on January 16.
It was initiated with the
intention of providing
affordable riding to all
members and improving the
overall quality of horseman-
e-p through cooperative
Team Executive Board
decided to improve the team
by starting the UMET Riding
Program, which is maintained
by the team but remains a
separate entity. Four horses
were donated to the team in
November, and we spent two
months organizing the
logistics of the program In
January the animals were
installed at Paragon Farm and
we are now working toward a
summer program, as well as
expanding the number of
horses in the fall.
In closing, I would like to
I