4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 8, 2000 U E 9ll ir. 41 g n jDtfl The rise and fall of a gridiron hero 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Ml 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief EMILY ACHENBAUM Editorial Page Editor univrsty or mcmgan Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily s editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Make voting easier A day off could enfranchise many students rom the headlines of The New victory in 1960, many people who York Times to the private conversa- wanted to cast their ballot did not vote -tions in the Michigan Union, the close- due to inconvenience. Our elected offi- Jy contested Presidential election and cials and community leaders should politics at large have been the buzz of take every measure possible to encour- the country over the past weeks. In age people to vote. An easy way the pite of this renewed interested in poli- government could emphasize the tics, America has continued its importance of voting would be by abysmal trend of having one of the declaring a national holiday on Elec- worst voter turnouts _tion Day. This rela- maiong developedIA tively painless step nations. Withwork and When citizens of a wouid reaffirm a ilasses, perhaps diffi- dem a urn out belief that every poli- culty getting to the mocracy cy makertshould hold polls has something to in droves to vote dear: The opinion of do with it. the entire public is Although the issue , im ortant. has long been a concern Iheydontus Furthermore, it among members of the - would simply be easi- -nedia and the subject legIimIZe er for voters to get to of speeches from elect- - - the polls without wor- ed officials, little has themseves uthey rying about other been done to ameliorate - - time commitments. If the situation. Voter shOW that they a national holiday turnout needs to be were not possible, pri- increased not simply to carea bout the vate employers could increase the number of recognize the impor- opinions used in the futureotance of Election Day rocess of governance ited Statesby giving their but also to catalyze an un S. employees time off. atmosphere of public The government participation which is essential to a has other venues to increase turnout as democracy. well. For instance, providing same-day Many people who don't vote com- registration services at polling sites plain that their vote doesn't really would eliminate some of the inconve- count: Nothing could be farther from nience that causes people to refrain the truth. When citizens of a democra- from voting. Absentee ballots could be cy turn out in droves to vote they don't made more accessible until shortly just legitimize themselves as the basis before Election Day as well. of self-government; they show that The media and political establish- they care about the future of the Unit- ment should continue to try and ed States. increase turnout. During this election Yet even in this presidential elec- fervor, it behooves everyone to realize tion, which has been characterized as that voting is not just a right - it is a the closest since John F. Kennedy's responsibility. Keeping in touch Others should follow Rivers' example WIJith only one day until the elec- overlooked demographic of 18-24 Y'tions, most local candidates year olds. Examples of major candi- :were out trying to court as many last dates coming to Ann Arbor are minute voters as possible. One person Ralph Nader's speech at the Michigan who deviated from this practice was Theatre, as well as Al Gore's appear- U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann ance on MTV's "Choose or Lose" Arbor). special, which was Although students . , taped on North do not make up the Rivers appearance Campus. Politicians majority of her con- are realizing that the stituency, Rivers spent on the Diag set a future of the United this crucial day on the States rests on this Diag making herself new standard for demographic and accessible to students, that students' opin- answering questions how elected ions, beliefs and and alleviating anxi- . concerns are valid eties about the Democ- officials ought to and should be rats' plans for the addressed. country should they be interacting with It is time for win the presidency or a other local officials majority in the U.S. students. and representatives House of Representa- to follow Rivers' tives or U.S. Senate. Regardless of lead. This is especially true for the one's political beliefs, Rivers and those who sit on the University Board other local candidates who have been of Regents, who always should have accessible around campus deserve to been out on the Diag interacting with be commended for their interest in the students they represent. students. Students need to feel as if their Rivers spent nearly two hours on concerns are being addressed by the the Diag defending Al Gore and the people who make decisions about the Democratic Party against concerned University. It is a common perception students, many of whom were Green that politicians are not interested in Party supporters. Rivers was also the people they represent and instead willing to debate with Green Party have their own agendas. members who were unhap wit By paying attention to students' Democratic attacks on Ralph Nader. concerns, Rivers set herself apart In the past few years, more atten- from this majority. Other elected offi- tion has been paid to the previously cials should follow her lead. JASON POLAN IM* .. . 0?LEASE(.EWAt. G R OS.S-.-.-.; ... I*, I * L0 .W- 4OF l* . * M N UMm Of J 11- t 1 CH(A-- *r ** 114 4 R 1 . ReR3r ds r Probably my most prized possession on earth is my photo album collection. I have eight albums, all which hold 300 pictures, that are dated chronologically and go back years. True to my sappy nature, I enjoy whipping out these albums from time to time and reliving old memories. But last week I was different. I came across some very disturbing pictures of my ninth birthday party which occurred when I was living in Sacramen- to, California (or "Sac- town." as the natives refer to it.) You see, one of the kids in those pictures - one of my oldest friends Branden - is on trial for murder. This, in and of itself, is Sanz not particularly amaz- mp th ing, as a lot of the kids I grew up with in Sac- town are either in jail or dead at this point, but the circumstances of this case are what make it so remarkable. It all started when I first moved there, back in third grade. I made friends pretty quickly and soon developed a crew of about five guys from which I was inseparable. One of these guys was a tall, lanky, black kid named Raelamar who was a year older than myself. Raelamar lived half a block away from me in the quiet, subur- ban neighborhood I had moved to and he was Yin to my Yang. Then, as now, I tended to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but Raelamar was always very quiet and reserved. I can honestly say that in over six years of constant contact I can only remember him laughing once - at my ninth birthday party. But for whatever reason, however those childhood relationships work out, we became good friends. But as we grew. Sacramento grew up even faster. When I first moved there it was a lazy, sprawling town of about 800,000. By the time I moved away Sacramento had become a bustling metropolis of over 2 million people. And as people moved in, the inner-city moved out- wards. South Sacramento became awash with gangs and drugs. Drive-by's and school shoot- ings started to occur. Rapes and murders became commonplace, an everyday part of life. Schools started installing metal detectors because the gun problem was so bad, and when we started high school at nearby Valley High, we were told that we could not wear hats or Starter jackets because they could be construed as "gang-affiliated." Through all this, Raelamar and I held on to our dreams. We were going to get out of this ghetto-hellhole and athletics would be our tick- et. He was going tobe a star shooting guard and - go to the NBA - the next Jordan. I was going to be an All-American defensive end and a first- round NFL draft pick, the next Charles Mann (another Valley High alumnus). Real life didn't quite work out that way. After freshman year, I moved to Reno, where I realized I was never going to grow into the 6'5," 270 pound frame I wanted, and decided to give up football for wrestling and rodeo, sports more suited to my less-than-gargantuan size. Raela- mar traded in basketball for football, where he became a star running back at Valley, gaining over 1,800 yards his senior year and was given a full-ride scholarship to Colorado, where he went on to become an All-American wide receiver and a first-round NFL draft pick. Talk about irony! I kept in touch with Raelamar those last few years of high school, visiting whenever I stopped into town, but I haven't talked to him much since he left for Colorado. And now he is in jail for murder, one of my oldest friends. You might be thinking, "Hey wait! I've never heard of an NFL wide receiver named Raelamar!" Well, you are correct. You see, when Raelamar started high school, he shortened his name to "Rae." And his last name? Carruth. In case you've been on a desert island, jury selection began last week for the trial of Rae Carruth, former wide receiver of the Carolina Panthers. Rae is accused of murder, specifically for masterminding the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams last November. Friends and family have called to ask me how I'm doing and what I think about it. What do I E think? Well, I think he's guilty. I hope to God I'm wrong, but I would be a hypocrite in the extreme if I thought O.J. was guilty because he ran (which I did) and thought Rae, who also ran, was innocent just because he was a friend of mine. Am I sad? Very. But even more than that, I'm angry. I'm angry because I remember two little boys talking together long ago about how they were going to get out of the 'hood, how they were going to beat the system of drugs and violence that had already ambushed so many people they knew. I'm angry because those two boys actually accomplished what they set out to do; they did get out, they did beat the system. I'm angry because one of those boys forgot the promise he had made to himself and to his friend, long ago. There's a saying in Sactown: "You can take the boy out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the boy." (And yes, we were saying this long before the movie came out). I always thought that was a cop-out, just another excuse for people to justify breaking the law. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm angry because I'm scared the 'hood is still there within me, just waiting for the right time to come out. If the 'hood got Rae, maybe it will still get me too. I guess I'll just have to wait and see ... - Branden Sant can be reached via e-mail at hamrhead@umich.edu 'I had a good campaign ... for running a campaign for $500, that's the best we can do.' - Republican Todd Hagopian, commenting on his loss in his race in City Ward Sfor a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council: 4 Daily disentranonisecd many students TO THE DAILY: I am writing the Daily today because of my abhorrence to its coverage of this year's general election. I fear the Daily has lost sight of its duty to be an objective reporter of local, state and national news as well as the opinions of the students it represents. The Daily's Editorial page has, throughout the last two months. been so overwhelmingly liberal, that any open-mind- ed American must ask themselves if the Daily is accurately representing the students and the University whose names it bears. The Editorial page urged all its readers to vote for what is an essentially straight Democratic ticket ("Ready, set. vote!s' 11/700). 1 have always had a firm belief that a newspaper has te duty to present both sides of an issue. But when this funda- mental attribute is neglected, the publication loses it credibility and becomes nothing more than propaganda. Every morning when I pick up the Daily, I see the proud statement: "One hundred ten years of editorial freedom," but today I realized, that editorial freedom in the Daily only applies to the liberal writers and readers. The narrow-minded editors of the Daily have disenfranchised a great number of readers from their University newspaper because of a liberal political agenda. JOHN SIMPSON KINESIOLOGY SOPHOMORE Racial discrimination still exists on campus TO THE DAILY: Emily Achenbaum is a tad misguided with her apples to oranges comparison of smoking and racial self segregation ("Segregation: Where there's smoke, there's fire," 10/30100). "Smoker segregation" exists not only because smokers share a common ground, but because many of us "nonies" would like to avoid risk- ing our health by simply being in their pres- ence (not to mention avoiding that repulsive stench). However, Achenbaum was quite cor- rect in stating that she isn't "allowed" to chas- tise minorities for self-segregating. How dare she even suggest that because we have left the days of Jim Crow, that we (minorities) are to blame for the absence of total integration! Truth be told, affirmative action was not intended to be a formula for social utopia. The efforts are more directed at counteracting past and present injustices than at having black and white students join hands across America. And viI ind rr in inctfP Ac mrh n people would like so think so, racism is not a thing of the past. Discrimination isalive and well, and it can be found right on this campus. Affirmative action is an attempt at unseat- ing institutionalized discrimination - it is not to blame for the failure of individuals of vary- ing ethnic backgrounds to socialize at the same lunch table. The real culprit? Making unfound- ed assumptions about an entire group's unwill- ingness to let go of prejudices (subconscious or otherwise) and "observing" their self-segre- gation, while remaining blissfully unaware that by doing so, one is guilty of the same behavior. The solution? Open your mouth and speak the next time you see that person you haven't both- ered to get to know. RACHEL MCDUFFIE ,CHnni on F PUiBIC H EATH yes, isaa present Injustics Smc ssm ~uLy uL~ c~ CHIP CULLEN GR1.ND' NGxTHENIB .... R 6 S 14 Would you wear the big skirt? We'd all like to think highly of ourselves. that we're good people - that we do good things. But when it comes down to it - would you wear the big skirt'? Let me tell you as story. One day, in a town} not unlike Ann Arbor, there was a high school team - it doesn't mat- ter if it was football or ' pom-pon, it was the fact. that there was a group of people who trusted each other - that called each other friends. They Erin practiced together, they partied together, they McQulnn had all been together in p r school since fifth grade. They had the kind of inexplicable bond you can only get by sharing blood, sweat and tears. That is until the time came to pick uniforms. One by one they went in to the girls locker room, trying on smelly wool sweaters from the '70s and polyester skirts of varying shades of green. One by one they grabbed the smallest uniforms, carefully avoiding the size 16 skirt looming in the corner, because everyone knows the biggest insult is to be called fat - especially if you're a girl. Guys just didn't suffer this same injustice. It continued until the last girl had to pick up her uniform - of course it was the smallest girl on the team. The size 16 skirt wouldn't even sit on her hips. So all her friends pleaded the injus- tice of having tiny little Tina wear the biggest skirt. Immediately all eyes shot to Alice and Lisa - not fat, but on the scale of anorexic cheerleaders, the biggest of the bunch. The coach had Tina take off the skirt and held it up for all eyes to see. To the cliquey high school cheerleader the green waistband looked like if unraveled it could connect both sides of the Grand Canyon. Of course in real life, it was just a size 16 polyester skirt, but in this context, it became a badge of obesity. This not-quite-for- est-green skirt was the indicator for the largest female on the squad, a title no one should ever have to bear. Everyone could see the pain in Alice and Lisa's eyes, yet no one did anything out of their own insecurities of being singled out. So it went between the two girls, back and forth, insisting that the other girl was bigger than she. This painful uniform selection lasted several prac- tices, each girl rallying for support among the other members of the team - "C'mon, she's so much bigger than me, isn't she?" This lasted until the first game came, it was a standoff - there were 30 girls, and 30 skirts - someone had to wear the now entitled, "fat skirt" So the coach picked Lisa - who sponta- neously burst into tears and eventually quit the team. No one cared enough to help out their "friend." No one wanted to call out the injustice of the coach because that would mean going against the protection of the majority. So no one bothered to inconvenience themselves, even to save a fellow team member from an embarrass- ment that would deeply hurt her feelings. How many times have we ourselves been caught in a similar situation? It's so easy to stand on the other side of the fence and do noth- ing - but what will you do when it's you that's alone? It's the little things that count. So often, we seem to measure our own personal charity by the major things that we do - not the every day stuff like holding open the door for someone or even smiling at the kid who looks like they've had a tough day. As we mind our own business, it's so easy to think that the next time will be the time that you make a change. So yeah, maybe you've even never inten- tionally hurt anyone's feelings, but really what does it matter if you've never taken the time to* salvage someone's feelings? Isn't that just as much contributing to the problem? Of course no one's perfect. I myself was a bystander to this skirt ordeal, not wanting to accept the "fat skirt" - not making the effort to help out a so-called friend. Not willing to accept the stigma that comes associated with anything but the toothpick image that we were all trying so hard to portray. Guys can have team dinners where they eat like animals - but with us not eating was acceptable, it was almost expected,* Stuffing your face full of pizza and fries would really tarnish that imagined stereotype -just as in the back of your mind knowing you were wearing the biggest skirt would. And every person, no matter how high and mighty they think they are, can relate to feeling like they have to wear the big skirt. Sports superstars mess up plays, and models wake up with blemishes. (Sometimes writers even write sarcastic columns which no one gets and then receive 2,500 pieces of hate mail - but that's different story.) The point here is that we-are ai just people and everyone deserves a break every once in a while. No one deserves to be made out a fool - no one should ever have to wear the big skirt. We've all had a time in our life when we feel like we're standing alone. - Erin McQuinn can be reached via e-mail at erinmciunsich.edu.