Page 4-Tuesday, May 20,1980-The Michigan Daily Few answers to Miami tragedy FAR MORE dangerous volcano than Mount St. Helens exploded last weekend in Miami Florida, where three days of racial violence left a toll of death and destruction that far surpassed that of the natural disaster in Vancouver, Washington. Geologists will be able to learn why Mount St. Helen erupted, but we may never have a complete understanding of the riot in Miami. The seemingly senseless killing and destruction by Miami's Feiffer A Ku - A11Jto L Hi 10 TE ? Copeaec l V PW U5" U~AtO) I (Oow Steady yourself *for' four years of Reagan I I I a outraged sacks were long-nidden symptoms of a As the presidential candidates very malignant disease. The symptoms may be take their campaigns through the scary, but the unknown cause is terrifying, countryside and votes from the Black leaders in Miami have noted a host of in- state primaries and caucuses are justices that precipitated the riot this weekend. The counted, one specter looms most immediate concern was Saturday's acquittal Rmaganiusly closer he t 4on of four white policemen who were accused of president of the United States. fatally beating a black insurance executive and And as I type his name, I shake then covering up the incident by making it appear my head in disbelief. Here's a to be a traffic accident. man who wants to throw the An all-white jury deliberated only two-and-a-half Nations; who sent teNational hours before delivering the acquittal verdict that Guard in to quell the campus smacked of racism and sent shock waves through unrest at Berkeley; who the entire Miami community. Shortly after the promises never to appoint a verdict was announced, blacks took to the streets" homosexual to his Ad- and began the rampage that left 15 dead and at o ratito t the e Reagn least 216 injured. Presidency (God forbid) for the The Saturday verdict was the last of a recent next four yea's. In order to see string of court trials and unpunished instances of how Reagan has his November police brutality that have left blacks bitter toward victory all locked up, let's look at polic brutlityhis challengers. the legal system. And many additional factors as PRESIDENT CARTER: In his well led Miami blacks to the despairing feeling that three and one-half years in office, climaxed in violence last weekend. he has demonstrated extreme The unemployment rate for Miami blacks is ineptitude, poor judgment, and myopic decision-making. His list twice that of whites, and the average income of a of bungling include: Iran, Dr. black resident is little more than half the average Peter Bourne, Bert Iance, Andy income for a white. Blacks have a desperate feeling Young, his cabinet resignations, of political helplessness as well. They have wat- 18 per cent inflation, Cyrus van- ched their power disintegrate even further with the ce, a botched U.N. vote on large influx of Cubans who have been successful in nauseum. landing jobs and establishing businesses. Carter's policies on foreign and How helpless those who did the killing and looting domestic affairs have pitched must have felt. How deep the feeling of outrage and swayed like a tiny Cuban must have been to prompt previously sane men and refugee boat which doesn't know whether it's legal or illegal to women to savagely murder innocent human dock in Miami. His vacillating beings. positions include his proposed The rioting, which has finally begun to slow, was budget, the presence of Russian tragic. But it is hard to comprehend the even worse troops in Cuba, and the neutron tragedy of a society that ignorantly drives a group bomb which he persuaded our tragedyreluctant allies to accept, then of its own people to commit senseless murder. suddenly decided to scrap. It has been noted that in times' of foreign crisis, people rally 'round the president. But there toril policies*are too many foreign crises (Afghanistan, Iran, Cuba) and too many unanswered questions: Letters and columns represent the opinions how long will the hostages be held? .e i.ha.twhy was the rescue mission at- of the individual author(s) and do not tempted? why didn't we take necessarily reflect the attitudes or beliefs precautions against an embassy of the Daily. takeover? *tD lCARTER RAN as an outsider, By Nick Katsarelas and he has demonstrated with great amusement, em- barrassment, and dismay why outsiders cannot be effeetive leaders. John Anderson: The most significant consequence of An- derson's efforts will be to draw votes away from Carter. And in the close presidential race that it promises to be, moderates joining the Anderson bandwagon will give Reagan the difference he needs. TED KENNEDY and George Bush: Both stand little chance of gaining their party's nomination. Ted has undertaken the Sisypheantask of trying to unseat a President of his own party, and Bush is just like Reagan but in- telligent, respected, and a bit more moderate. Nevertheless, the Republican sentiment is, why vote for George Bush when there's Ronald Reagan? This brings us, -finally, to Reagan. He has won most of the primaries, and within two weeks will wrap up the Republican nomination, Voters who are outraged at OPEC and the energy crisis see Reagan as their saviour. We don't need toY conserve, Reagan cries. We've plenty of oil reserves, and infinite resources of energy in coal and nuclear power. To hell with importing oil. Laid-off auto workers, middle- class people hit hard by spiraling costs and stagnating wages, and Americans worried about U.S. military strength, all see Reagan as the man who can help get them back on the payrolls, cut in- flation, and reassert America's Number One positiorr-throughout the globe. REAGAN'S ANSWERS to complex problems are consisten- tly simple-minded, and yet he may be the most popular can- didate. Then again, "Three's Company" may be the most popular television show. Reagan the campaigner speaks less vigorously as the right-wing extremist that he is, and appears ostensibly as a moderate to those who don't know better. His con- servatism is popular in the South, which even Carter has some trouble with four years ago. WILL REAGAN be good for the country? No. Domestically, he will attempt to systematically undue all that women, liberals, and those seeking social justice have been doing for the last two decades. He is against ERA and abortion. He calls marijuana the "most dangerous drug." He proposes to make welfare a state burden, thus leaving welfare recipients floundering while the states figure out where to get the money. Although he is against a peacetime draft, his rationale is, "We don't need Minutemen. We need Minuteman missiles. He supports an enormous increase in defense spending to build every conventional and nuclear weapon American technology can turn out. Reagan is-an outsider, and we have already seen the mess an outsider can make. Carter has failed to resolve his com- munication and relationship problems withnCongress, and Reagan will not only face the same dilemma, but his problems will be exacerbated because of what will most likely be a predominantly Democratic Congress. Despite the divisiveness among Republicans about who their presidential candidate will be, the Grand Old Party is quite adept at healing its wounds, and welcoming with open arms whatever choice is made in July. It will be a strong, supportive,. cohesive party that pushes Reagan toward his inevitable electoral victory in November. Nick Katsarelas is the Daily's special projects report- er.