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■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and 8lack • Friday. May 4, 1990
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
EatabUthed 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent atudent newtpaper not affiliated u/ith the Univertity of Georgia
Charlene Smith/Editor-in-Chief
Amy Bellew/Managing Editor
Hogai Nassery/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Pell Grant blues
The federal government’s ludicrous drug war has
sunk to new depths. Students who qualify for and wish
to receive Pell Grants must now sign a statement
which serves as an “anti-drug abuse act certification.”
This requirement acts not only to violate student civil
liberties, but targets students who are in need of
financial aid.
Both the Bush and Reagan administrations made
substantial cuts in student loans, so it is difficult
enough to qualify for assistance. Now, Congress has
decided to insert a meaningless requirement that is not
verified in any way. Thank goodness for small
blessings.
The most serious implication of this issue is the
assumption that a student must sign a statement to
prove his innocence. This is a violation of the 14th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which
guarantees due process. An individual should not be
asked to establish his or her innocence unless there is
probable cause to suspect guilt. This is one of the most
fundamental principles of our nation.
For example, police officers should not administer
breathalizer tests on automobile drivers unless they
have reason to believe the driver is drunk. Ray Tripp,
the University’s financial aid director, expects the
government to eventually expand such restrictions to
all federal programs involving students.
If this sad end looms on the horizon, then students
should take notice and act to stop the infringement on
their civil rights now, before it’s too late. One day,
signing such a statement and perhaps taking a urine
drug test may become part of the application process
for all University students, not just the ones who need
money to get an education.
This is when groups like the American Civil
Liberties Union come in handy. There is a well-
established local chapter in Athens, and a campus
group is just getting off the ground. Students should
use these organizations to sue for their rights.
The impact of this issue will be felt by the students,
so it is up to them to act now.
Sign of the times
In the town square of Tbilisi, the capital city of
Soviet Georgia, the statue of Communist icon Vladimir
Lenin is coming down. In its place will be erected a
statue of Rustaveli, the national poet of Georgia. No
longer will the center of the city be known as Lenin
Square, but rather as Rustaveli square.
This is a small event, and one which would
doublessly attract little notice if it were happening
elsewhere, considering all the things that have
happened in the world in the last two years.
Nevertheless, it is important because it shows how
much the world has changed, and how much human
values and human rights have begun to supersede the
values of rigid ideology.
So this weekend, give some thought to the changing
world as you stroll among the booths and displays at
the Athens Human Rights Festival, and also give some
thought to what needs to be done to make life on the
planet even better.
And most importantly, get involved with the
human rights cause — write letters for Amnesty
International, sign petitions for the issues you believe
in. Take a stand.
Lenin’s statue is coming down because the people
stood up for change.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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“The current goal Is to end the one-party system dictatorship In
China. After that, It's to establish a new system of government
— Guan Welhe, graduate ecology student and member of the
Federation for Democracy In China
Blsi
This is a sleazy drug pusher.
He doesfft ATUMIY sell drugs-
he fecruits small children
to do it Ibr him, so he won’t
busted...
This is anAmerican president.
He doesn't ACTuMlV make deals
with terrorists for hostages-
he recruits small nations tod?it
■for him ,Soh« Won't get busted..*
Recognize the ultimate human group
In this world we have many groups. Groups
are a result of some shared ethic or desire.
Those who do not share these precepts are ex
cluded both by their choice, as well as by the
group. One may wish to join and not be allowed
to do so because members find him unworthy.
Due to these factors, separatism is practiced by
one party or the other, or perhaps by both. This
then is a clear division of people.
Since one may be of many groups, he may
also be rejected by or choose to be rejected by
many. One can only be a member of a finite
number of groups (in their present form) and is
therefore separate from many more than he can
possibly be a member of. These many divisions
multiply, along with the human population,
creating an infinite number of groups one
cannot be a member of.
When something functions in its entirety, it
can only then be said to function correctly. If
the pieces of a clock are taken apart, still it is a
clock, but it cannot be true that it functions
properly. The many divisions of mankind into
religious, political, economic, racial and other
groups break apart humanity much like the
complete yet separate clock. Since these groups
form the whole of humanity and are currently
separate, it does not follow that our world oper
ates correctly. World Wars I and II are fine ex
amples of the consequences of man dividing
himself.
Steven
Sacco
There is only one group that would allow our
world to function properly. It is the one that ex
cludes none. It is the complete human race. Ev
eryone is born into it and belongs to it by
nature. Unfortunately too many of us fail to
recognize this.
Many people are bom into groups where
their humanism is denied. These are the people
who become crack addicts, homeless, abused,
malnourished, slaves, oppressed and soon. Mil
lions of children fall into this dehumanized cat
egory; many die from disease, neglect,
infanticide, starvation or other maladies.
Somehow the rest of the world separates them
selves from these people as though they do not
meet the requirements of being human. The
KKK might call them “niggers”; religious fa
natics might believe they were bom in sin; poli
ticians might think they are ‘commies’; nations
may hold they are the enemy.
Gandhi remarked that he was “a Jew, a
Moslem, and a Hindu like everyone else.”
Martin Luther King saw his civil rights
movement as a catalyst for all humans, “ Not
just white men; not just black men, but all
men.” Both of these great leaders recognized
the importance of people functioning together
as a whole, rather than in fragments. Our
human race can accomplish great things if we
can operate as the unified group Gandhi and
King dreamed of. Imagine if every single person
on this earth were in the same army. Who then
could the enemy be? Nuclear bombs and all the
weapons of war would be useless against such a
force.
This force is humanism. We must harness its
power by formulating action to produce a uni
fied world where groups realize that they are
only a small fraction of the total picture, and
subordinate to the whole. This is not a process
of denying our world’s diversity; it is a formula
for assembling all our different parts, like the
pieces of the clock, and allowing them to func
tion together as one unified, complete and cor
rect organism.
Steven D. Sacco is a senior criminal justice
major.
Gubernatorial race belongs to Young
The south of old was marked by one-party
Democratic rule, dominated by rural interests,
and waged with race as a centerpiece issue.
Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of
1965, politics in the South has been marked by
increased urban influence on electoral out
comes, the rise of Republican competition, and
a redefinition of the role of race with the rise of
the black voter. The 1990 gubernatorial race in
Georgia exhibits how much change has oc
curred in Southern politics.
The Republican primary appears to be a
blase affair, with Rep. Johnny Isakson playing
the role of nominee designate; Greeley Ellis,
well-financed but little known, stands as Isak-
son’s principle “opponent" if, at this point, the
term is apropriate.
The Democratic gubernatorial primary tech
nically offers a variety of choices; practically,
however, there is no evidence to date that any
other campaign is well-enough equipped to
challenge the juggernauts of former Atlanta
mayor Andrew Young and Lt. Governor Zell
Miller. Young and Miller er\joy the strongest
name recognition factors, as well as the
strongest “favorability” ratings, among voters.
For any other candidate to make the run-off
primary would require that an overwhelming
number of undecided voters not vote for Miller
or Young, and traditionally, undecided voters
have broken down more or less along the lines
of those voters who have already expressed a
preference. Furthermore, both tradition and
statistics tend to favor the leading candidate
going into a party primary, which means Young
John Keith
Kuzenski Gaddie
(with 29% of the vote in a recent Journal-Con
stitution poll) should outpace Miller (with 23%)
and win the Democratic nomination, barring an
as-yet-unseen Miller trump card.
It thus appears that the election becomes a
Young vs. Isakson contest. This should lead to
an interesting showdown of traditional Georgia
political taboos - the election of a black vs. the
election of a Republican. The contemporary his
tory of Georgia politics seems to favor the
breaking of the former taboo even though the
latter has precedent.
The GOP managed to successfully exploit the
state’s Lester Maddox-brand “race baiting”
back in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s; since then,
however, it has generally fumbled its way
through political strategy while personalities
like Jimmy Carter and George Busbee were as
sembling what Alexander Lamis calls the
“night and day coalition." This coalition is made
up of the rural, agrarian-minded interests of
south and central Georgia and the large, newly
efficacious black population of metropolitan At
lanta and the so-called “black belt”counties.
The elements of this coalition, certainly as de-
mographically different as “night and day,”
have nonetheless combined in recent elections
for impressive Democratic victories. In light of
this trend, the nod for the governor’s race
seems at this point to go to Andrew Young-- but
he will have to tread carefully between now and
election day so as to maintain the coalition that
progressive elements such as Carter have laid
for him.
The “new” Georgia is no longer monopolized
by Democrats, at least in presidential elections.
Whatever the reason for this movement, how
ever, the trend remains that Republicans-es-
pecially in deep south states such as Georgia-
have precious little to show for their efforts at
the state level. This trend, combined with the
fact that Young is black, personable, intelli
gent, nationally known and politically battle-
tested, stacks the cards in his favor. This is not
to say that Isakson lacks the aforementioned
qualities in some varying degrees (except race
and national image); in fact, if he is able to suc
cessfully create and exploit an ideology issue,
this may be the Republicans’ best chance to
capture the governor’s mansion in a very long
time. Given the “big picture,” however, this is
Young’s race to lose. Johnny Isakson is running
uphill-against the political winds.
John Kuzenski and Keith Gaddie are graduate
political science students. This is the second in a
series of columns from the political science de
partment.
Pageants promote sexism
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them In the Forum
column as space permits. All letters are subject to editing for length, style and li
belous material. Letters should be typed, doubiespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please include student classifl
cation, major, and other appropriate identification. Names can be omitted with a valid
reason upon request. Letters can be sent by U.S. mail or brought in person to The Red
and Black s offices at 123 N. Jackon St.. Athens. Ga.
There was an editorial and
front-page story in Tuesday’s edi
tion of The Red and Black con
cerning the beauty pageant that
took place earlier in the week at
the Tate Center. While both arti
cles were informative and inter
esting, they failed to address the
right issue. Th^ real issue is not
whether we should be having a
Miss Black UGA and/or a Miss
White UGA and/or a Miss UGA,
but whether or not we should be
having beauty pageants in the first
place.
Regardless of the good causes
that beauty pageants generally
promote (Tuesday evening in
cluded), the sexist nature of the
pageants do more harm than any
contributions made from the pag
eants do good. Why not replace the
two pageants we have at UGA with
talent contests- open to all, regard
less of gender? All proceeds could
go to charity; thus, the schol
arships could continue and no one
would have to be offended.
Beauty pageants represent an
antiquated tradition, so they are
no longer worthy of recognition.
Casey Curran
senior, political science
All male clubs all wet
In castigating Senator Sam
Nunn for withdrawing from the all
male Burning Tree Club, Su
sannah McClellan utterly misses
the point. She refers to the “indi
vidual’s right to free association’ in
a social context.
Indeed, were the Burning Tree
Club purely social, there would be
no problem. What the Maryland
Supreme Court realized in
deeming it sexist is that purpor
tedly ‘social’ clubs serve other func-
tions, notably as business
networks.
The issue is not men being
“forced to socialize with women;” it
is women being given an equal op
portunity to form the contacts
which have heretofore been the
province of appropriately named
Old Boy networks. If the guys want
to get together and male-bond on
their own, no one is stopping them.
Lest McClellan forget, little
more than forty years ago the
Southern Democratic primary was
also a private club, although its
aim was the exclusion of blacks
rather than women.
McClellan declares that groups
of sexist individuals getting to
gether to deny opportunity based
on their sexism is freedom of asso
ciation.
Luckily, the Maryland Supreme
Court saw it for what it really is:
injustice.
Lawson M. Sullivan
senior, hlstory/polltlcal science