4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 21, 2005 OPINION c11E £i*twu Pailg JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE They're still, in a number of instances, still active." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld commenting on "Fox News Sunday" on the Baathist insurgency in northern Iraq, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. SAM BUTLER THE >0APBO0X - - -- Zso 4ef -y ose 'Kd The monopoly on racism JASMINE CLAIR THE MEANING OF PROGRESS Only racists believe among unrecognized groups. But on the flip- e-mails told members of these communi- that race is not a side we get the "who's had it worse?" debate, ties that they should question a particular social construct. which often turns into accusations of stealing candidate because the candidate and MSA I believed this once, the racial spotlight. were racists. It was blatantly obvious that but now I understand And at the end of the day we stand these e-mails were sent as a part of a politi- that race is simply a label divided and weak, remaining at the will cal scheme to sabotage a political campaign used to justify discrimi- of the white majority, which will ultimate- - explaining why most of the e-mails were {'' nation and hate. How- ly decide which group will get the most deleted and trashed. ever, being black made it attention. However, people of color aren't With recent attacks on affirmative action, very difficult to finally the only ones affected. The relationship low minority retention rates and the con- embrace this idea. And only through an between blacks and Jews exemplifies such troversy surrounding divestment, students instance of racism on campus was I able to divisions as well. During the '60s, Jews and have much larger beasts to spear. However, completely understand why race has always blacks worked side by side to tackle racism I saw these e-mails as representative of the been a social construct. in America. "race" problem. Someone obviously placed Ignoring race was never an option for me. The movie "Mississippi Burning" depicts a political smear into a box, wrapped it in Skin color is not the only difference between a factual account of an investigation by the racial slurs and anti-Semitic tones and sent the races. Along with my black skin came a Federal Bureau of Investigation surround- it to be delivered by an anonymous source. history book filled with over 400 years worth ing the deaths of three civil rights activists However, because this is campaign sea- of differences. Reading about.white suprem- killed by Ku Klux Klansmen to discourage son, the political implications drew more acists murdering four little girls in a black people's involvement in the "freedom sum- attention, which caused many to disregard church bombing makes it very difficult to mer." Two of the activists were Jewish, and that Jews and blacks were being targeted for dismiss race. Knowing that the girls' white the third was black. Many believe that if this type of political intimidation. Though murderers went free for 40 years afterwards all three workers were black, the murders all students have the right to practice free makes it almost impossible. would not have received attention. speech, students should not be able to use In America, blackness means more than These events, often referred to as the bigotry and racial slurs to obstruct Univer- having kinky hair, fuller hips and a darker Mississippi Burnings, were woven into' sity elections. complexion. Blackness also absorbs a col- America's collective memory as a defining Student e-mail accounts should be the lective consciousness of the pain that my example of racism. Yet recognizing it as personal space of students to conduct their people endured simply because they had such ignores the crucial role of the two Jew- personal business. It's not acceptable for that kinky hair, those fuller hips and this ish men, and worse, creates friction between a person to bombard my personal space darker complexion. the black and Jewish communities. with intimidating e-mails, especially when Race has a painful connection to racism Jews classify themselves as an ethnic they're used to divide and exploit racial in black history, making it harder for people group, not as a race. Labeling the burnings sensitivity and divide the Jewish and black who have suffered through racism to think of as racism ignores the involvement and sac- communities. If University codes do not race as nothing more than a label. But it must rifice of the two Jewish civil rights workers protect us from such occurrences, it simply be thought of as such. If race continues to who fought alongside blacks for freedom means that these acts are acceptable. exist, people of color and ethnicity will for- and equality. Furthermore, it places Jews It took 40 years to bring justice in the ever be divided. into a position where they have to challenge deaths of the four little girls. Today the Unfortunately, racism in America seems the perception that the burnings were sim- murderer from the Mississippi Burnings to speak only to the relationship between ply a black/white issue. This causes more still roams free. It also appears that these blacks and whites, giving blacks a monop- conflict, because in drawing attention to "anonymous" agitators will also go free. oly on the term racism. Blacks are not the themselves, they create the false perception It's unfortunate. And though these e-mails only people of color. Nor are we the only that they are trying to steal the spotlight do not equate to death, all of these incidents victims of racism. Hispanics, Asians and away from blacks. reveal that racial intimidation is something Arabs are all people of color who've expe- Our university recently had a similar that America is willing to tolerate - espe- rienced large-scale racism in America. Yet, problem on campus. Attempting to sabo- cially because minority communities are their stories are rarely told in dialogues tage Michigan Student Assembly elections, divided. concerning racism, which creates a double- fellow University students hid behind the edged sword that slices and divides minori- anonymity of e-mails to intimidate Jew- ties' groups. ish and black students into not voting for tliehd On one hand we have animosity brewing a particular candidate. Essentially, these LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 01 Divestment opponents wrong to prefer ideology TO THE DAILY: During last week's Michigan Student Assembly meeting, MSA President Jason Mironov gave a PowerPoint presentation that criticized the language of a resolution that would have called upon the University Board of Regents to create a committee to investigate investments the University has in military companies that do business in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza strip. After the resolution's sponsors removed every single clause that Mironov alleged was an unfair vilification of the state of Israel and Mironov still went on to vote against the resolution, it became clear that the problem did not lie in the language, but rather stubborn ideological dogma. Last week's resolution would have been a condemnation of Israel only if the investiga- tional committee would have found that the investments in those military companies were against the University's moral and ethical protocol. Therefore, to claim that this revised resolution was an attack on Israel is to make an admission that the committee would have found the investments to be against the Uni- versity's moral and ethical standards. With last Tuesday's events now in hindsight, it becomes clear that this moderate resolution was rejected by such a skewed tally because of ideological dogma and one side's uncompromising refusal to take any kind of rational and possibly criti- cal look at Israeli policy. The "Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel" T-shirts clearly exemplify this refusal. As an activist on campus who has taken part in both formal and informal dialogues nA rnth'r activiteswith Israe~l ativists. I do symbolic acts of self-congratulation that we all like, but we must realize that the only ben- efits to such actions would be personal and immaterial. We could stand on the steps of the Michigan Union shaking hands and sign- ing symbolic pieces of paper to our hearts' content, but where will that take us? Last week's resolution was a very moderate and reasonable resolution by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. It was a large com- promise from previous calls for divestment. If both sides on campus seem to agree that the occupation of Palestine is wrong, why is it that we cannot call for an investigation on investments our University has that promote the occupation? Had our University invested in Palestinian terrorist groups, it would make sense to include them in similar resolutions. Because our University only invests in one side of the conflict, investigating into the other side would merely be a symbolic act without purpose. This is not meant to be an attack on anyone's character. It is simply a call for a re-evalua- tion of our actions. As activists on this campus, we need to be openminded and move beyond nationalist dogma and our emotional inhibi- tions. We must be prepared to do what is just and what is practical on this campus in order to pursue our common cause. Mohammed Elghoul The letter writer is an LSA senior and vice chair of SAFE. Camps kclimate troublingly accepts ignorance, prejudice TO THE DAILY: Last week was one of the most difficult weeks- for me at the U niversity. I chose to studcv the University is not only untrue and offen- sive, but it is also a cheap and cynical pro- paganda tactic against a country that was commended this week for its efforts toward peace by Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations. Moreover, as a former Israeli medic, not only did I not kill Palestin- ians, I helped save their lives. Unfortunately, Naber is not the only person spreading hatred and animosity on this campus. Carl Pogoncheff, the campaign manager of the Maize Rage student political party, raised con- cerns that another party has Jewish presidential candidates for both the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Student Government and MSA (Ethnic remarks stir MSA elections, 03/17/2005). These remarks are layered in anti- Semitism, the roots of which formed the basis of the Holocaust and other pogroms performed against Jews throughout history. When I decided to join this university, I wanted to enrich my intellect with enlighten- ing views from faculty and students. Last week taught me that even in one of the most liberal places, ignorance, prejudice and anti-Semi- tism are perfectly acceptable. Both Naber and Pogoncheff represent everything this univer- sity should not stand for. Following last week, I am not sure this University should continue to be the place to cultivate my education and knowledge. Or Shotan The letter writer is an LSA freshman and chair of the Israeli Students Organization. F ExPRE~sSYOUROPN NS1 0 0 0 nI-aons. eore Cii!> esuuiiiuiv u inuit YES >: I