The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 17, 1995 - 3 Panel sees limited gams for minorities By JODi-OHEN Daily Staff Reporter While thecivil rights movement's actual achievements are limited, pub- lic opinion remains optimistic, panel- ists at an Institute for Social Research- sponsored MLK Day event reported yesterday. Thirty years after passage of some of the most far-reaching civil rights legislation, the public seems to be- lieve that there has been an improve- ment in race relations in the United States, the researchers said. The panel lecture titled "Race in America: 1965-1995, How far have we come?" discussed the lack of im- provements since the time of Martin Luther King. University research scientist James Jackson told the audience what he believed King would say if he could see today's society. "He would be pleased with the accomplishments of peoples of color and women, but he would be appalled at the continuing and increasing in- equality," Jackson said. University Population StudiesProf. Reynolds Farley said social and eco- nomic trends among the Black popula- tion over the last several decades mdi- cates that the white population has disproportionately favorable living conditions compared toBlackcitizens. "One of the overarching indica- tors of the social and economic status of Blacks shows there was a clear improvement f1or Blacks between 1940 and the mid-'70s, but since that time there have been few relative gains for Blacks," Farley said. "Relative earnings for Blacks have not gone up, and there is no evidence of a detrac- - tion in the gap that separates African Americans from whites." University of Chicago Political Science Prof. Lynn Sanders focused her lecture on the social aspects of inequality. "On the issue of whether racial attitudes are really improving among whites, there is some complexity es- pecially when you look at affirmative action policies because whites are opposing affirmative action policies in high numbers," Sanders said. "In terms of prejudicial attitudes, whites may be becoming more preju- diced. If you look at 1992 compared to 1972, more whites are saying that 'if Blacks would only try harder, that they could be just as well off as Wwhites,"' she added. Hank Heitowit, organizer of the event, was surprised by the panelists' pessimistic outlook on racial progress. "This shows that social science re- search gives amuch more pessimistic view of how far we have come during the past 30 years than the general population may perceive," he said. Chisholm mourns 'death' of activism EMU students protest MLK Day classes Members of Eastern Michigan University's Student Organization of African-American Unity protest at the Radisson Hotel in Ypsilanti where the colleges's MLK luncheon was held. Classes at EMU were originally cancelled but then reinstated, prompting the group to boycott classes and the luncheon. EMU will cancel MLK Day classes next year. By LISA DINES Daily Staff Reporter Former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm urged students to keep Martin Luther King Jr.'s message of activism alive on today's racially di- verse college campuses at a standing- room-only lecture in Hale Audito- rium yesterday. "The state of activism today is very, very dead," said Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in Con- gress. Chisholm, a Democrat from New York, said both students and the gov- ernment have a responsibility to aid what she called "the nation's growing underclass." Chisholm credited King for recognizing that a nation should be judged by how it cares for its least viable citizens. "The streets of our cities have be- come dumping grounds for the men- tally ill, homeless, jobless and gener- ally forgotten," she said. "If Black power refuses to acknowledge its debt to the poor it will have failed to live up to its promise." Chisholm said King's dream re- mains unfulfilled because of growing apathy in the nation. She lamented that racial violence has replaced the campus activism of the '60s. Chisholm said social segregation still occurs in universities today be- cause students choose their associa- tions based on race. She pressed stu- dents to learn from the diverse envi- ronment at the University. "The distances between Black and white are increasing while the civil rights laws seem to be crumbling in our hands," she said. "My greatest fear is that the will of progress has been halted because we no longer have our shoulders to the wheel." Chisholm said the nation is suffer- ing from "compassion fatigue." She said House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the "New Right" have pushed the civil rights movement backward Pollution, la By DANIEL JOHNSON Daily Staff Reporter Air pollution and waste disposal disproportionately plague people of color, a panel of speakers reported yesterday. Four scholars and activists ap- peared on a panel titled "The Struggle for Environmental Justice," as part of the University's MLK Day sympo- sium to address this problem. The concept of environmental rac- ism was explained by associate SNRE Prof. Bunyan Bryant as: "Those insti- tutional rules, regulations, policies or behaviors ... that target communities of color for the disposal of hazardous waste." Studies conducted by Bryant and fellow associate SNRE Prof. Paul Mohai have illustrated that income level and ethnicity are the two pri- ndfills plagu mary factors influencing the location 1 of hazardous waste sites.I The panelists discussed possible, paths to a state of "environmental justice." Kathy Milberg, director of South-+ west Detroit Environmental Vision Project said, "There are 76 munici- palities which daily flush their toilets on my community," which she noted was two-thirds comprised of minori- ties. She was apparently referring to a toxic incinerator located in her neigh-1 borhood that receives the waste of other municipalities.1 Milberg and other panelists stressed the need for a more compre- hensive environmentalism, one that1 focuses on more than the preservation ; of whales and wetlands. Baldemar Velazquez, director of the Farm Labor Organizing Commit- e the poor tee, denounced the narrow scope of traditional environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund. "They protect migrant birds better than they do migrant workers in this country," he said. Velazquez has been organizing farm workers for 25 years to free them from their "position of power- lessness," he said. "The same people who get poison dumped in their communities and on their bodies are the same ones who are without economic and political power," Velazquez said. "From a middle-class point of view, people don't see that people are being forced to choose between waste and jobs," said Cedric Ricks, aUniver- sity graduate student injournalism who attended the discussion. "This was re- ally an enlightening experience." through spending cuts in educationl and social services. She said citizens should challenge the government if necessary. "We must, if necessary, resort to, the march again," she said. "We can- not afford to sit back and just com- plain and just whine." LSA junior Iran Naqvi said she: was motivated by Chisholm's speech. "She not only inspired me to become more active, but hopefully inspired, the entire community to become ac-* tive as a whole," she said. Author says Blacks still treated unfairly .. By RACHEL LASKY For the Daily In a lecture yesterday, bellhooks, award- winning author, said society treats Blacks differently than it does people of other races. Hooks said she only uses lowercase let- ters in her name because she believes that what is said is more important than who says it. "Black people are stigmatized in ways that are unique to our reality," hooks said during her lecture titled "Conflict and Com- munity." She discussed what she termed the over- whelming rage Blacks feel in the face of racism. She recalled that Martin Luther King spoke longingly of a community that did not place value on skin color. However, hooks said she believes that instead of ac- cepting King's message, "most white folks are absorbing the theory of white su- premacy." She said she fears as long as these feelings persist, there will never be a multicultural community. She added that while many Blacks fear there is no end to white supremacy in sight, they must re- member the hope and love of King. "Love is the antithesis of the will to dominate," she said. "It is not a sentimental love, but a love of justice." Hooks said she believes that rather than ignoring cultural differences in the quest for cultural equality, society must accept and honor these differences. "Whites live in fearof people of color. It borders on cultural hysteria," hooks said. She said whites believe that Blacks are mentally and genetically inferior and asked from where this unfounded fear stems. She said this fear blocks the struggle to form a unified community. Hooks said she believes that society conditions white people to think Blacks will try to take what they want by any means possible. She stressed this is not the time to en- dorse racial separatism because white people, are capable of changing their supremacist values. She said society cannot lose its senses of patience, hope and love. Hooks said that although racism may be a difficult subject to discuss, "we need to raise students that can interrogate them- selves without blame. "We are all able to assert anti-racist habits of being," hooks said. In answer to King's questions, "Where do we go from here?" hooks said she be- lieves society needs to pursue King's vision of racial justice and community. Hooks is the author of several award- winning books such as, "Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics" and "Ain't I a Woman." Author hooks signs a book yesterday at the Union Ballroom. *Students, faculty spend day honoring King by performing community service By SPENCER DICKINSON Daily Staff Reporter Martin Luther King often spoke of involvement in the community. This year, students, faculty and staff had a chance to spend MLK Day per- forming community service in Ann Arbor with the Acting on a Dream Program. The Office of Community Service Learning and Project Serve coordinated with the MLK Day Symposium Com- mittee to present aone-day community service program for people interested in spending the afternoon working on an aspect of King's dream. 0 The program - which takes its name from King's "I Have a Dream" speech - sent approximately 180 people to 14 sites around Washtenaw County to participate in activities from construction work for Habitat for Hu- manity to child care at the Ann Arbor Jewish Community Center. LSA senior Anyika Turnershowed up to lend a hand at the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind. "I thought it would be a good way to spend MLK Day," she said. Cathy Slowey, a staffmember in the Financial Aid Office, also participated in the day's service events. Shesaid she was there "just to give it a try." OCSL Director Jeff Howard said, "If we can get people to act on King's dream today, hopefully they'll keep coming back and help out on a regular basis." Frank Cianciola, associate dean of students, led a team of volunteers to the Ecumenical Campus Centeron Church Street. He saw the program as "one way to commemorate the dream of Martin Luther King, and a way to actualize." First-year LSA student Karen Cunningham went to Dawn Farm, an Ann Arbor substance abuse rehabili- tation center. "I think the event went well," she said. On her decision to give up a chance to hear speakers and attend discus- sions, Cunningham said, "I'd much rather go out and do something than sit around and listen and talk." * WTErLfISTo I * *' * * W HA1T The Second Annual Winter Student Organization Fair WE H Wednesday, January 18, 1995 11:00AM- 4:00 PM WHEk Michigan Union Ballroom and Pendleton room Come in from the cold and see all that is offered to you. A variety of student organizations will be available * Group Meetings Q Alianza, 764-2677, Trotter House, Mail lobby, 7 p.m. U CollegeRepublicans,668-4664, Michigan League, Menderson Room, 6:30 p.m. Q Folk Dance Club, North Cam- p.m. 3 Thai Students Association, weekly planning meeting, 663- 7299, Michigan Union, Michi- gan Room, 6 p.m. 0 Undergraduate Anthropology Club, 913-5363, Michigan Union, Tap Room, 7 p.m. Character," sponsored by Dept. of Near Eastern Stud- ies, Frieze Building, Room 3050, 4 p.m. O "Single-Pulse & Multiple- Pulse Femtosecond Spec- troscopy: Observation Of& Control Over Collective i I