The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, January 22, 1991 - Page 3 Classes, events mark MLK day *at other universities by Melissa Peerless Daily Higher Education Reporter While University students en- joyed a break from clases , and an event-filled day to commemorate Martin Luther King Day yesterday, students at other colleges experi- £nced a somewhat regular day. At Michigan State University, clases were conducted as usual yesterday. "There are several national hol- idays throughout the year and it has not been our policy to take classes off," said Moses Turner, vice-president for Student Affairs and Services at Michigan State. "It's been a long-standing tradition At Michigan State to have classes on Martin Luther King Day. "However, this holiday was not overlooked. There were special events around campus so there is awareness. We simply do not take the day off," he added. In Virginia, Martin Luther King, Jr. is commemorated along with Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee on a single holiday. At the University of Virginia in Qharlottesville, classes were also in session yesterday. However, the University organized a series of events to mark the holiday. "There were three events start- ing last Tuesday, Dr. King's actual birthday on the 15th," said Lincoln Lewis, director of Equal Opportu- nity and Affirmative Action at the *Vniversity of Virginia. "We had a worship service at the university chapel. It was well-attended, mostly by students. Yesterday, Reverend Otis Moss, director of PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in Cleveland, spoke to students. Last night, he addressed a group from a local church." Arizona voters' refusal to make Martin Luther King Day a state holiday left Arizona and Montana as the only two states in the nation without a day commemorating King. At the University of Montana in Missoula, anti-war activism over- shadowed yesterday's holiday. "We had classes yesterday," said Mark Jones of the Montana Kaiman, University of Montana's student newspaper. "There wasn't really anything that happened. No events were scheduled." Sharon Kha, director of Public Information at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said that while classes were conducted yesterday, there was a significant amount of commemorative activity on campus. "There was a march yesterday starting at 8:30 a.m. led by the mayor of Tucson and the Tucson MLK Day Committee," she said. "It began on campus and ended at a local park. About 1,500 people took part in the week-long celebra- tion which began last Tuesday with a kick-off rally. "The events were sponsored by a partnership of the University and other organizations." Kha said she was impressed with student support of and partici- pation in the events. "Students have been wearing ribbons, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. One rally last week had 400 peo- ple," Kha said. "At U of A, we do not have to celebrate MLK Day more than they do elsewhere be- cause in Tucson we have been celebrating this holiday for years. Tucson is very supportive of Mar- tin Luther King. The proposal to adopt a state holiday passed in Tucson." The remains of the anti-war monument remain jumbled on the Diag grass. Students who demolished the structure said it sent a bad message, to U.S. troops. Students destroy Diag monument by Melissa Peerless Daily Staff Reporter At 2 a.m. Monday morning, a group of students destroyed the anti-war monument that had stood on the Diag since last week. "We had the idea ever since we saw the wall," said one member of the group. "We were appalled by it and we wanted it down." The group members wished to remain anonymous because two of the six are varsity athletes at the University. They have no affiliation with any campus organization. Members of the student group Support Our Soldiers (SOS) have condemned the action. The group of students opposed the monument because they felt that some of the symbols on the wall were "too graphic and un- necessarily violent." They also thought that it wasn't built by stu- dents and therefore had no place on the University campus. "We asked the people guard- ing the monument who put it up and who paid for it," said the student. "They said they did and they were not students. They also failed to obtain a permit from the University to erect a shanty on the Diag." He also felt that anti-war ac- tivism gives the wrong kind of message to U.S. soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf. "This kind of dissention is bad for morale," he said. "We don't want the troops to see that the University of Michigan doesn't support them." "The students tried to take down the monument on several other occasions," the anonymous source said. "Every night, there were people guarding the wall, but (Sunday) night, it was cold so we didn't think they would be there. We didn't want a fight, so we wanted to go when it wasn't being guarded. Many passersby stopped to help us." Jeff Hinte thought of the idea for the monument and led the group that built it. "I'm a second-year grad stu- dent and a member of the Michi- gan Student Assembly from Rackham ... The monument was built by students. Although we are not a student group, we are a group of students," he said in re- sponse to the claim that the wall- was not student-supported. "I don't recall anyone asking me for a permit," he added. "The monument was an expression of our freedom of speech and the University has no right to restrict it. However, if it were a rule that I needed a permit, I would have re- quested one. "I believe that the people who tore down our monument ex- pressed an important American value that has been expressed during this war, the value of in- tolerance," Hinte said. ,I I Speaker by Ian Hoffman Daily Staff Reporter : King would protest Gulf war ante told the crowd of more than King would have advocated had he without a pair of shoes on . 600. not been assassinated 23 years feet and without any land,"A "He would say, 'You now have ago. said. SMART missiles that can be sent "He would have decried the He added that recent su to targets hundreds of miles away murder and violence in South have shown the average and yet have dumb men who in Africa, against Blacks and whites family's wealth to be eight building those systems believe alike," Asante said. "He would times as large as that of the Martin Luther King, Jr. would have opposed war in the Persian Gulf if he was alive today, said Dr. Molefi Kete Asante yesterday. Asante, founder of the Afrocen- tric philosophical movement and chair of the department of African American Studies at Temple Uni- versity, delivered the closing ad- dress for the University's Martin Luther King Day activities at Rackham auditorium. Asante used the civil rights leader's legacy to reflect on the war in the gulf. "Today King would have spo- ken out against the forces of strug- gle in the Arabian Peninsula," As- their Asante, urveys white to 10 aver 1 they can solve problems," Asante added. Later he quoted figures on the racial make-up of the U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf. Asante said 30 percent of all troops and 48 percent of all women participating in Operation Desert Storm are African Americans compared to only thirteen percent of the country's general population. The Philadelphia-based profes- sor listed other stances he believed have championed the cause of the homeless." Asante began the speech with a brief synopsis of African-American history in North America. He said that Blacks played a major role in creating the wealth in the U.S. "It was our blood, sweat, tears and lives that made it possible for whites to have their advantage," he said. Blacks were declared free at the end of the Civil War, but they were free "Without a penny, free age Black family. Asante concluded that all peoj- ple must rededicate themselves tq making King's dream of racial equality a reality. People must ask themselves, "How long will prejudice blind the vision of humanity," and they must answer, "Not long," he said. Rackham student Barbara Ramsey was awarded a plaque for, her "untiring fight in a struggle fors social justice," Moody said. , I KENNETIH SMOLLER/D~aily Pressing the message Jamal Young, a graduate student in the School of Education, speaks at the Unity Rally. Corrections The Daily misreported the date of the Iraqi bombing of Israel. It occurred Jan. 17. Elise Bryant is not the founder of the Black Action Movement. The Daily misreported the progress in the GEO negotiations. Several items will be discussed in subsequent talks. Psychiatrist addresses issues of racial identity as source of tension THE What's happening i Meetings Kaffeestunde, weekly German conversations. MLB third floor con- ference room, 4:30-6. German Club, weekly meeting. MLB, Rm. 2004, 7-8:00. Anthropology Club, weekly meeting. This week featuring Prof. Crisca Brierwert speaking about her research on North American Indians. Dom- inick's, 7:30. Time & Relative Dimensions in Ann Arbor, weekly meeting. Call 971-2072. 2439 Mason Hall, 8:00. Latin American Solidarity Com- mittee, weekly meeting. Union 4th floor, 8:00. Transfer Student Network, spon- sored by SODC. South Quad West Lounge, 7-8:30. Undergraduate Law Club is hosting a student law panel for members only. LIST n Ann Arbor today Speakers Bharati Mukherjee, Hopwood Fiction Reading. Rackham Aud., 3:30. "The Barbarism of Istoria," Gregory Stone of LSU, speaker. MLB, 4th floor Commons, 4:30. "Social and Anti-social Forces in the Human Being," Michael Holdredge, speaker. Rudolf Steiner Inst., 1923 Geddes, 8:00. "The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s," weeklong lecture series by Dr. James Forman. RC-East Quad Aud., 3-4:30. Furthermore Safewalk functions 8-11:30 Sun.-Thurs. Call 936-1000 or stop by 102 UGU. Northwalk functions 8-11:30 Sun.- Thurs. Call 763-WALK or stop by 2333 Bursley. ECB Peer Writing Tutors avalible tol he1n with vouir ravers ~Sundav- by Michelle Clayton Daily Staff Reporter Amid cheers from the audi- ence, Frances Cress-Wellsing wrote on the chalkboard "Black- Stay Back, Brown-Stick Around, Yellow-Mellow, White-All right." Cress-Wellsing, a psychiatrist, gave a speech entitled: "Resisting Assimilation: The Psychology of Self Identity" at the Power Center yesterday. People who are not comfortable with their identity are the root of racism, she said. Because racial identity is key to racism, she called on Blacks to embrace their own identity. At the same time, Cress- Wellsing stressed the need to not be hateful: "I'm not talking for the purpose of hating people who clas- sify themselves as white." Racism is a global system to keep the power of the world in white hands in such areas as eco- nomics, education, entertainment, labor, politics, sex, and war, Cress-Wellsing said. She added that whites make up only one-tenth of the global population. their neighborss(Jews in Nazi Germany)." She said they "all just hung their heads and said 'nothing."' Cress-Wellsing said this form of racism was incongruous since "the Semites of the Jewish religion have been in Europe for almost 2,000 years." Martin Luther King, Jr. was a genius, a prophet, a great political- scientist, and a humanitarian, she added. "He said love and he was killed April 4, 1968 by a person who classified himself as white," she said. 0E Burnham Associates 543 Church Street (313) 761-1523 1001 S. FOREST 05CHURCH ST 848 TAPPAN 156 GEDDS 543 CHURCH ST 515 WALNUT 610 S. FOREST 7 i CLOSE TO CAMPUS WE PAY HEAT ! SECURITY BLDGS LAUNDRY FACILITIES ALSO: FURNISHED PARKING ON-SITE MANAGEMENT OPEN DAILY 8:30-5:30 SATURDAY 11:00-3:00 1, 2, 3, BEDROOM APARTMENTS CALL OR COME SEE US TODAY! i Considering THE MICHIGAN BBA? ATTEND AN INFORMATION SESSION a kinko's the copy center ,49e0 _ .,'~ Tuesday, January 22nd 1991 School of Business Administration Room 1270 4:00 - 5:00 PM M