VIEWPONT ftichigamua's racism never acknowledged by the University or Bollinger A re racist practices Klux Klan sponsored a acceptable at a public stretch of Missouri high- University? According to way in the Adopt-a- the University's President, Highway program, ,e C. Bollinger, "prac- Missouri Governor Mel ces that negatively stereo- Carnahan acted in protest type groups in our society by renaming the stretch of cause unjust pain and highway "The Rosa Parks humiliation... [They] are Highway;" whet Atlanta not acceptable behaviors Braves pitcher John Rocker on a [public] University." belittled "qucers," he got In fact, President Bollinger suspeded; when 60 stated that the University Minutes' Andy Rooney "values and fosters diversi- belittled Native Americans, iy' and that it "must never he got suspended; when take lightly the effects of g such perceptions and writer Jimmy Breslin deni- s.haviors." When it comes grated Asians, he got sus- to the racist practices of pended; and when football Mictigamua (the player Reggie White University's elite secret attacked gays, he got society), however, the dropped by CBS and University has done just Campbell's Soup. that taken it lightly. To Thus far, the University ihis day, the University's has been anything but administraiiot has never clear. litked the words racism Michigamua perpetu- sd "Michigamua" togeth- ates negative stereotypes of er. Native Americans. The University has Michigamua creates a hos- never made a public state- tile environment for ment indicating that minorities on campus. Michigamua has caused Michigamua causes unjust "unjust pain and humilia- pain and humiliation. tion." Rather, President Though Michigamua has Bollinger and other the First Amendment right University administrators to participate in speech have only made sterile that is racist in nature, the allusions to First racism ought not be institu- 0 mendment rights. tionalized by this public But what's required is a University. We don't need a clear indication that the sterile allusion from University denounces President Bollinger, we Michigamua s inherent need a clear assertion that racism, not a sterile allu- the University denounces Whatn a cla di the group's inherent Wi hat does a clear indi- asm cation look like? Well, racism. there are many examples to - This vie'point was loose from. For instance, witten by MSTV candidate -hen Knights of the Klu Cameron Schultz Masculinity versus the 'Powerpuff Girls' J have always thought of myself of expressive freedom before Girl" s as a man's man. plunging into the "1984"-esque der, an Not a man who belongs to conformity that dominates the This another man, mind you, but a working world. Are you a mascu- Just las man whose interests lie within the line, hetero- in The realm of what's considered mas- sexual man girl m culine. who can't Diana1 Sports, hard rock, a crappy out- resist the fall ograph dated wardrobe, you get the idea. line of Liz hits C People who do not know you Claiborne? they're instinctively come to their initial Go for it,Ross judgement based on what charac- man, it's all the gay teristics you present them with. A you! trated lot of guys seek their refuge in the And yet, broadc image of the chest-thumping it's easy to show o neanderthal, but if that means fall back into RYAN first th conjuring up Lou Ferrigno minus old tenden- MOLONEY queen the green skin, perhaps it needs a cies. The "Wh little scrutiny. other day, I CD?!? It all starts during the early for- was channel Don N mative years when you're dippin' surfing and came upon a main- Frantic cookies in your Kool-Aid while stay on the Cartoon Network, Is thi watchin' the tube. In my day, the "The Powerpuff Girls." It's a femini boys favored "The Transformers," howlingly funny animated series worse? "GI Joe" and other cartoons about three kindergarten girls No. I which pretty much gave you an who wreak havoc upon the crimi- realize idea about them strictly from their nal element in their town, the bet title. Likewise for the girls who Townsville, with superhuman Partt favored "Rainbow Brite" and powrers. Who can resist that'? exist b "My Little Pony" among others. A I became an instant fat, albeit a racial) division that remains insurmount- closeted one up until now. A quick inabilit able to this day was formed. jaunt to a local clothing store grip on In college, we stand atop a peak speaks volumes - "Powerpuff in our Monday, July 10, 2000 - The Michigan Daily - 5 hills only cots~e in one gen- ;hirts only come in one gen- d it ain't mine. wasn't an isolated interest. st year I became enthralled Supremes, the famous all- otown group headed by Ross. I read Ross' autobi- y and purchased a greatest D. Hey, it's a great story, great songs. is also a bit of an icon in y community, as was illus- to me during the VHII ast of The Supremes' first in their nostalgia tour. The ree rows looked like a drag fashion show. ere's my Metallica !?!'?! What happened to my Mattingly poster?!?!?!?!?!" ally, I searched the house. s new-found interest it the ne changing me for the I'm gradually beginning to it's helping me evolve for ter. of the reason wby barriers etween so many social and groups lies in our collective ty to lighten our steadfast what feels safe and secure identities. Gays must look a certain way to promote their beliefs while straights do the opposite to protect their straight- ness. Blacks and whites must each dress and act a certain way to maintain acceptability within their cultural ranks. Instead of keeping our charac- teristics sharply divided, we need to muddle the best aspects of every identity until it becomes impossible to pigeon-hole a per- son's appearance or beliefs as indicative of one set, cast-iron type of person. In all of this, it's the content of character and not the often mis- leading outward impression that we need to look at before making our unavoidable judgements. Chris Spielman, one of the toughest men ever to play profes- sional football was once asked: "if your son came to you one day and said he wanted to be a florist when he grew up, what would you say?" Said Spielman: "I'd tell him to be the best florist he could be." Yes. - Rs'an Moloney can be reached via e-mail at rsiolonev ayiumich.edu. I spent my summer stalkingfor Uncle Sam & I didn 't even get a lousy T-shirt T he federal government pays me to hunt people down. I may have come to your door and you didn't even know it. No prob- lem, though; if you weren't there, I probably talked to your room- nate, your neighbor or the squir- rels in the yard. I wear a badge, had to swear an oath and am armed with a black bag fool of goodies. What for, you ask? I want to know where you were living on April first. For you see, I work for the Department of Commerce, in the Bureau of the Census. April first was Census Day. April fools! I hope you weren't expecting something more excit- ing. No, seriously, I'm not making this up. "Everybody counts" (according to the posters in the Census office) and they're count- ed on April Fools, er... Census Day. Uncle Sam pays me to stalk. But only those of N you who refused to send back the forms you received ear- JOSH tier in the WICKERHAM year. I know you all got x one. It doesn't help to lie to- me. "Oh, I sent mine back already" is not an acceptable excuse. It just means you'll con- tinue to get a barrage of Census enumerators banging on your door until the data is collected. I don't understand the concern and contempt some people have for the Census. Somse people evade enumerators like me, but some outright refuse to be enu- merated. The Census one of the oldest and most benign institutions in the country, set up and guaranteed by the Constitution. While the ques- tions may seem strange - "What S Oir re?" raises a few eve- brows - the statistical data col- lected by the Census Bureau is necessary to keep the democratic process working. The data collect- ed helps Congress allocate money to schools, roads and aid pro- grams. It also ensures proper rep- resentation on the local, state and national levels. What is more fun- damental to our freedom than that? If you refuse to fill out the Census, you're doing yourself more harm than good. I always tell people who refuse, "you know we're going to keep coming back don't you?" And the next time I'll bring a friend. I'll call your house at all hours. I'll be persistent because I'm getting paid to be persistent. I'm being paid to stalk you. Oh, but "I'm not giving my information to the government," you say. I say to you that the Census is the most stable, harm- less institution our government has ever created. Every ten years since 1790, enumerators have been banging on American's doors. Besides, your privacy is highly regulated under layers and layers of bureaucracy. We may not be as quick as the people at the post office, but we get things done right. When I told my Crew Leader I work for The Michigan Daily, he said I should do an analysis of the imortance of independent thought in government or organi- zations, not address the impor- tance of the Census' place in the big scheme of all things govern- mental. What are the leadership attributes necessary to forge progress in a sea of bureaucracy? he wondered. Does anyone realize it's up to each individual person to take charge or nothing will get done at all'? These are certainly valid concerns in any large orga- nization, especially in highly fluid, temporarily maintained, highly hierarchical entities like the Census. Unfortunately, most bureaucra- cies aren't as short-lived as the Census. They're established pyra- mid schemes with set protocol for advancement. The Census is made possible with people just like you and me. So don't think Big Brother is knocking on your door the next time an enumerator shows you his badge and hands you a priva- cy act notice. Know that he's just doing his part to maintain our democracy. When every branch of the government is in shambles, you can count on the Census' demographic analysis to come through strong and make American count. -- Josh likes his liiverr rithfava beass and a nice chianti. He can he reached via e-mail at jIwickerh( @xunich eru. "i s f AL R~N VL Q*0V't COs5lRA cY 11t ZAAS d Oa }t = 'FOPC-IN C- IjtstE:5 hMERs '~lES r~ j4i-f -T LoS= WF-lft-r..", ,, " r Interested in sharing your views with the world? Write a column this fall. Contact Emily Achenbaum at emilylsa@umich.edu for details. Think we write about drugs a lot? There's a reason for that. Come write for editorial at 420 Maynard Street. Contact the editors at peunniff@umich.edu or wickerh cumrich.edu.