4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 12, 2004 OP/ED aUle AtkhtmT an tg 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com opinion.michigandaily. com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LouIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ Editorial Page Editors 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. NOTABLE QUOTABLE I and a number of my colleagues will be happy to hold them down and shave their heads for them." - U.S. Rep. Doug Ose (D-Calif), on Thursday, who is sponsoring a bill in Congress to ban certain words from TV, on the Federal Communications Commission's decision to "split hairs" or resist bleeping out certain words on TV, as quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle. on a 1i s+oc is oa+eoPA- 1 1o Pt ory7o+ . n5ov at eC-eic '- 'o ±Urvpoj., Aichoianis \VOA °1cS Soon~ 0 allowiri5 vol-es o be. casl- ' islM AO oadOQrn -Neese ©oIc epS~es onlinein fhe bemocNIP-)' C1,1 -9s SAM BUTLER Iw SOAPBOX 0 Hello, Mr. Connerly; goodbye civil rights. STEVE COTNER My BACK PAGES oday something strange is hap- pening in the state of Michigan. An out-of-state black man named Ward Connerly is sending out can- vassers, press releases, dinner-party invitations and belated Christmas cards, all in order to ingratiate himself with our fellow residents. He is telling our state that he has something we want: the Michi- gan Civil Rights Initiative, which will amend the state constitution to end race-con- scious programs once and for all. And, in a way, he's right. According to the Detroit Free Press, roughly two-thirds of Michigan- ders say they support the initiative. To be sure, the University opposes it; the Daily's editorial page opposes it; I will even go so far as to say most people of a well-cultivat- ed conscience will oppose it. But the rest just need a little spooking: Tell them that "equality" is at stake, say buzzwords like "preferential treatment." That's Connerly's plan, and he's going to succeed. The rest of the state just won't know what they're sign- ing, and they'll ruin higher education. I say it's strange, not only because it is a complete upheaval of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but because it represents a remedial version of popular democracy, something like kindergarten's "heads down, thumbs up" referendums where every child has equal say, whether they can write their let- ters or not. In a sense, you might say that it is a movement of the people that seeks to bring everyone into the process. But when I think of a popular movement for civil rights, I don't think of a state ballot initia- tive for reinstating segregation. I don't think of anything inside mainstream poli- tics, really. What I think of is BAMN and other radical groups - the people who get derided all the time for being too extreme. Real change on civil rights will not be wel- comed by the majority, because it will put all kinds of privileges at risk. What Connerly offers with the MCRI is the opposite: a comfort to all the baby- boomers who still reminisce about removing their bras in the '60s, but who would now rather watch an "American Dreams" episode than stop to consider what was really asked of them 40 years ago. These people are tired of wondering whether their underachieving son will get into college, and they are con- vinced that a minority student will take the spot, not another white student who happens to be smarter than their kid. But enough of that. The important ques- tion is how to oppose a ballot like this. It's such a sneaky process, but the end result will be an amendment, and those things. don't go away. Alright then, BAMN is always on the cutting edge of opposing things; what would they do? "Defeat Ward Connerly - Protest on Jan. 19." Well what good is that going to do? Oh, but they're doing something today, too: "URGENT! Picket at Anti-Affirmative Action Ballot Initiative Press Conference." That sounds more promising; maybe they'll get on camera on a few news stations. But this is a statewide thing, and we have to consider how things might be perceived by a snowmobile repairman and his arts-and-crafts- dabbling wife in Alpena. Remember, everyone can put their thumb up this time. A mob of angry minority students won't convince these people; that's what they're scared of in the first place. The Daily has recommended that the Uni- versity advocate against the ballot. But that won't convince these people either. They won't listen to Mary Sue because they don't like the University. It's full of liberal sodomites. Poor us! Is there room for reasoned debate on a knee-jerk ballot initiative? Can a strug- gling state institution gather enough funds to counter Connerly's millions invested in the campaign? Will the Channel 2 Problem Solvers come to the rescue? My guess is no, maybe, and no. That two-thirds statistic seems rock solid. With other kinds of issues - the environment, for instance - activists can make change by ignoring popular opinion and simply solving problems themselves through smarter design. Science beats social norms every time. But with the issue of race, it is all socially constructed; the people cannot be ignored, because the people are the problem. If there is any opportunity for smarter design, it is in the admissions process, and maybe the University can come up with a miracle in that regard. But otherwise, it will just be about the money and the repetition of the message. Maybe General Motors and other companies will make their advocacy of affirmative action better known in the coming months. Maybe BAMN and other activists will sound elegant and reasonable. Or maybe we're all screwed. Cotner can be reached at cotners@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A Adams misguided in attacking Shaman Drum TO THE DAILY: I'm not sure which bullet Daniel Adams (Why I am a capitalist: Shaman Drum Bookshop, 01109/04) thinks we're trying to dodge and (per- haps more importantly) who is pointing the gun, but he makes it clear that he doesn't like us. He doesn't like our service, he doesn't like the aesthetics of the second floor, and appar- ently we don't conform to his notion of free- market capitalism. For three days during rush, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., we are extremely busy, as are the other textbook stores. Students can avoid the long lines by shopping here between 6 and 10 p.m. on those days. The second floor certainly is crowded dur- ing rush, and we position two staff people in each room to assist customers. We are currently working on expanding the space. Four years ago we developed a textbook website to help reduce the crush. There is no reason why Adams need damage his aesthetic sensibilities by walking upstairs. He can order books online and pick them up on our first floor, which is beautifully designed. Prior to our gradual entry into the business, there was a monopoly on textbooks in Ann Arbor. We were declined entry into the consor- tium. I believe professors order books through us because we serve them well and because the alternative to us is structurally flawed. Adams might consider for a moment how it is that a small bookshop with minimal finances could compete against corporations with infi- nitely more resources. I think the answer is that we are passionate about what we're doing and that what we're doing is a better idea. Isn't this what's supposed to happen in a free market? We will continue to upgrade our services to students, faculty and citizens in Ann Arbor. We intend on being here for a long time; our roots are deep in this wonderful community. Adams is welcome to work with us. JULIA COWLISHAW Store manager, Shaman Drum Bookshop Writers overlooked great album in top 10 list TO THE DAILY: Though I was impressed with the expansive and eclectic quality of your top-10 albums lists (The Top Ten Albums of2003, 01/09/04), espe- cially by Alex Wolsky's great call on Guided By Voices' "Earthquake Glue," I feel that each of your critics unfairly ignored (or underesti- mated) one of the best rock albums in recent history, by likely the best rock band on earth. "Room On Fire," by The Strokes, electrified the music scene by incorporating Nick Valen- sie's quirky, extended guitar brilliance over Albert Hammond Jr.'s consistent and steady hand, almost revolutionizing a sound that you - unfairly, I believe - have categorically oversimplified as '80's retro trend." Besides that, Nikolai Fraiture's bass and Fab Morreti's drums define some of the most original, yet brilliantly derivative, beats in modern music, all the while Julian Casablancas once again proves one of the strongest vocalists in rock, pumping out powerful punk dynamo and intense, soulful ballads. Your critics seem to very clearly be able to distinguish distinct rock sub-genres, so I was very disappointed that you were unable to clearly pick up on a sound that embodies all the better qualities of major punk/pop/fuzz rock subgenres and classic rock and roll at its absolute best. ILYA RUSINOV LSA sophomore 0 VIEWPOINT Now is the time to defend Grutter BY CYRIL CORDOR AND KATE STENVIG In 2003, the critical civil rights issue facing the nation was the defense of affirmative action at the Supreme Court in our affirmative action cases. On April 1, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in our cases, our organi- zation, BAMN, organized and led a 50,000-per- son march of students, youth and labor, church and community activists in Washington. The Supreme Court ruled on June 23 to uphold affir- mative action in Grutter v. Bollinger, the Law School case. Without the mass mobilization to Washington on April 1, victory would not have been possible. We won this stunning victory for affirmative action and civil rights because we mobilized. Our victory derailed, but did not decisively defeat, the right-wing attacks on affir- mative action. Now, our victory in Grutter is under attack. Coming out of his recent defeat in California, where the electorate voted 2 to 1 against his Proposition 54, the so-called Racial Privacy Ini- tiative, Connerly is in a politically weak position to mount his campaign in Michigan, but he can still win if supporters of integration and equality fail to act now. Connerly's proposed Michigan initiative is an attempt to deal a blow to the New Civil Rights Movement in the state where we are strongest. Recent history proves that, given the opportunity, a majority white electorate will vote for white privilege and against minority rights like affirma- tive action. The best way to defeat Connerly's ini- tiative is to keep it off the ballot. Since his active political support is so small, he has to rely on money for his campaign to succeed. To certify an initiative for the 2004 ballot, Connerly has to get more than 317,000 signatures of registered voters from around the state. In order to do that, he has to pay a professional signature-gathering firm $1 to 2 per signature. To stop Connerly's money supply, outlets including local newspapers and radio stations to refuse to carry any Coors advertise- ments. Local stores, bars and restaurants should express their support for civil rights by refusing to stock Coors products. To win, we must mobilize mass actions along with the national boycott of Connerly's racist backers. On Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, BAMN will be holding a march and demonstra- tion on campus against Connerly's initiative. The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday must be a living and breathing expression of the New Civil Rights Movement and our determination to defend our Supreme Court victory. Without the perspective of defending our victory, any commemoration of King promises to be only a cynical tribute that offers no opposition to the attacks on the very civil rights that King gave his life fighting for. If Con- nerly succeeds in Michigan, he will be taking his anti-affirmative action initiative to every state that he can to nullify our Supreme Court victory nationally. The time to act is now. I La'~ - i y y% A >=y3. %1 tu%. *A..' ; I, . i . dIkvu tillik ital cuai L .JI. i v y IN