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■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and Black • Tuesday, May 15, 1990
OPINIONS
"The last role model gay people need Is a scared, lying,
dragged-out-of-the-closet homosexual.”
— Lawson Sullivan, codirector of Athens Gay & Lesbian Asso
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Charlene Smith/Editor-in-Chief
Amy Bellew/Managing Editor
Hogai Nassery/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Racism
Thursday night racism came in the form of a bomb
threat. Probably intended as a joke, it wasn’t funny to
the hundreds of people who stood outside the Coliseum
waiting for the threat to be proven false before Spike
Lee could take the stage. Nor was the University Union
laughing, the people who worked so hard to bring Lee
to campus. As for what Spike Lee thought of the whole
thing, he’s probably used to it.
A couple of weeks ago racism was expressed
through a Confederate flag, thoughtfully hung outside
the Myers Hall room of an Asian student. Racial slurs
were scrawled on it. This student is welcomed to
Georgia with eggs thrown through his window at night.
In Atlanta, racial tension has come to a head with
the plight of Sabrina Collins, an Emory University
student who has been the object of racial harassment.
All investigators can say is that she sent death threats
to herself and ransacked her own room.
Columnist Bill Shipp, a University graduate,
continually takes cheap shots at University journalism
professor, Clarissa Myrick-Harris. He has said in a
column and again in an Atlanta magazine article that
Harris was hired only so her husband, Norman Harris,
would accept a faculty position here.
She was hired as part of a minority program that
gives minority faculty to various departments while the
administration pays their salaries. It doesn’t cost the
department anything, no one is beat out of a job
because of race and the department gets another set of
hands. No one can say the journalism college doesn’t
need all the help it can get. Still people mumble.
While the people who are open about their racism
are thankfully few, their actions get the most attention.
Their public slurs and threats enforce the stereotype
that the South is ignorant, narrow-minded and hateful
toward minorities.The University is trying to become
culturally diverse, a desirable trait for an institution of
higher education. It’s too bad that a few bad apples try
to take the whole campus back to the dark ages.
Flag burning
During the protest last year in Tiananmen Square,
a few Chinese students got their point across with some
unusual symbolism. Instead of waving banners and
yelling slogans, they grabbed a few buckets of paint
and took aim at an irritating Orwellian portrait of Mao
Tse-Tung, the founder of Chinese communism. “Here’s
what we think of your communism, Mao!”
Splat!
The Chinese government didn’t like that, of course,
and the pesky little radicals were thrown in jail or
worse. Americans were outraged at the injustice of it:
“Damn those Reds! You can’t even speak your mind
over there!”
And change in the U.S.S.R. made the whole thing
seem even more ridiculous. Even the Soviet Union, the
Supreme Evil Empire, had opened its eyes to the
realities of freedom, capitalism and THE AMERICAN
WAY. Television news showed angry Muscovites
tromping around Red Square swinging mutilated
Commie flags — holes where the hammers and sickles
used to be.
Over here in Free America, a guy named Gregory
Lee Johnson tried something like that back in 1984.
Only instead of cutting out all 50 stars — a tedious
thing to do — he just set the flag on fire. Bum, baby,
bum! Americans were shocked. Johnson ended up
behind bars, and Congress passed a law against flag-
burning, which the Supreme Court overturned. Now,
these great statesmen are at it again with an altered
bill designed to do the same thing.
Hell, if you don’t like it you can go to Moscow,
guzzle vodka and bum all the flags you want.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
N(M Mtr J#nrvf#r Da'-©ay
•porta Efftar Travo* P«j|tn
Ewtortatown ant Erttor Margarpt wtston
Aasodat* Nawa Efftora: Chris Onmaa. Jsnwfsr
Wilkin
Want Papa Copy Efftor OavHl Jonnaton
InaMa Copy Ertrtors: Wan at Con. joai OcoOYSr, Mary
Ratcliff#, Johanna van do* Wai
UQA Today/WIra Editor ftobart Ajuia
Or a ph lea Editor: 0**s O’Kssff*
CMof Ptioto^aphar Pftar Eray
mate Editor Marta Clay
ttaft Wrttara: Lynn BarAskS, Mana Edaard*. Anna-
Mara Eanjuy. lanca Malma, Chnstochsf H.fhtoaar,
Oara McLaod, Miha McLaod. Stophania Smith,
Sandra Stephana. J. 0. Sqmilante, Robert Todd
Sparta Writ or: Orta lancetta
•pedal Sectlona, r rondo Edit or: Cara May
Aaoiatant Special Sectiona/Tronda Editor:
Qlorta Aowbotham
Editorial Aaoiatant: Pamela Warren
Cartoon lot: Mika Moreu
ADVERTISING: 543-1791
Stedent Advortfrtnc Manapara:
Knot) Burnham, Beverly Taylor
Advortldrw Aedotanta:
Jennifer Oevie. Scott OonaWaon. Katherine Femdet
Senior Advortidr^ Ropraaentatlvaa: Sean Fagan.
Kncheiie Haiualam. June Reynold*
Atfvordaing Raprooantadvoa: Shannon Greene.
Karan Haynes. Walter Hander son, Alan Holcomb,
Rick Hipgine, Chris Munffuis. Toby Myers, Lae
Nettle*. Leigh Riff*. Lon Thurman
AaeJetant EdRortd Prod Manager: Cristina F*m<X
Aaoiatant Advertlalng Prod. Manager: Mariena
Martin
Production Staff: Andy Ard. Laura Ertedrtch. Andrea
Manaour, Lonn Marsh, Elizabeth MauU. Laura Miliar,
Stacy Stenbarg. Michelle Wagart
Oar are I Manager Harry Montevideo
Advertising D tract or: Robin Stoner
Office Mana par Mary Straub
Production Manager: Judy Jordan
ClaaeMeda/Raoeptlonlrt: Bevariy Vaughn
CredH Manager Susan Devi*
Clerical: Joanna Horton
The Rad and Stack is published Tuesday through
Friday during the regular school year and aach
Thursday dunng summer quarter, with the aaceptions
of holidays and sum periods, by The Rad and Black
Publishing Company Inc. a norvproflt campus
newspaper not affiliated with the university of
Georgia. 123 N. Jackson St.. Athena. Ga. 30601
Third class postage paid at Athens. Ga. Subscription
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unsigned editorial* are the opmons of the writers of
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and Black Publishing Company Inc. All nghts
reserved Repnnta by permission of the editors
Register now for student power later
“America is a land where a citizen will cross
the ocean to fight for democracy and won’t cross
the street to vote in a national election,” Bill
Vaughn (American columnist 1915-1977).
This week at the University, the state-wide
Vote '90 is being kicked-off, so all week long we
will have the opportunity to register to vote at
the Tate Student Center. Take advantage of
this opportunity and use it because it won’t be
this easy and pleasant to register for quite a
while. In fact, registration has been made truly
painless (God forbid we should have to suffer
even ten minutes while we register to vote), as
live entertainment is being provided for practi
cally every minute of the voting drive.
This week make sure you register to vote in
Clarke County. Because you will be spending
the next four years here (at least), you should
be voting here. For years now, the Athens City
Council has been ruling against issues that
would benefit students and the University at
large. Now is the time to act and reverse this
pattern.
Control of the city council is in our hands.
When the ward lines were drawn, the people
drawing them, like our mayor, made sure that
student voting strength was diluted by dividing
the campus into four different wards (there are
a total of five wards in the city). As the lines are
drawn now, Creswell Hall and Reed Commu
nity are in the fourth ward; Russell and
Brumby Hall are in the third ward; and Lips
comb, Mell, Hill, Church, Boggs and Ogelthorpe
House are in the second ward. The rest of the
campus has been thrown into the first ward,
along with many of the apartments that house
a large number of students (e.g. River Mill
Casey
Curran
Apartments).
How they got away with this is hard to un
derstand since one of the main provisions in
drawing up wards is to try to keep communities
together. How could anybody argue that the
University campus does not represent a com
munity? All one has to do is pick up a news
paper or listen to the radio and see that the
words “community” and “university” are used
synonymously. Nevertheless, because of stu
dent apathy, the strategy of diluting student
voting strength has worked. However, regis
tering locally could put an end to this.
For example, last summer a University pro
fessor, Ken Morris, ran for city council in the
fourth ward and lost by 65 votes. While he had
the University community in mind and was
progressive, his opponent, Mac Coile, was re
gressive and had only incumbency and his fa
ther’s last name to garnish votes from. So, if
less than 10 percent of Creswell Hall would
have given Dr. Morris support, then there
would be someone on city council that would
have certainly had the University community
and the student body on his mind while
serving.
Why should University interests be rep
resented on city council? While we are taught
all about the federal government and inun
dated with news about the presidency on a
daily basis, it’s local and state government that
affects us the most on a day to day basis. Tired
of open container ordinances, historic preserva
tion getting the shaft, or the lack of bike paths?
Vote the right people into city council, and this
will no longer be a worry.
Since 1989, there have been 20 different
votes at city council that could have possibly
been altered if there was one different council
member. Seven votes were 6 to 4, seven votes
were 5 to 4, and six votes were 5 to 5 with the
mayor breaking the ties. Close voting was car
ried to its extreme during the city council
meeting in March 1989 where six issues were
decided by a 5 to 4 vote, and three were re
solved at 6 to 3. It should be noted that one of
these decisions raised the price of parking fines
downtown, while another during that same
meeting increased the mayor’s salary for one
year from $15,000 to $18,000 for a 20 hour work
week.
Historical preservation and alcohol related
issues are almost always defeated by the
smallest of margins, and as you can see one
vote on the city council would make an enour-
mous difference. Put in definitive terms: Mac
Coile voted against saving the Hull-Snelling
house from the wrecking ball, Dr. Morris would
have prevented this from happening.
Casey Curran is a senior political science major.
Spike Lee attacks issues, stereotypes
Last Thursday, filmmaker Spike Lee ad
dressed the student body at the coliseum. Sadly
enough, some sick and demented individual at
tempted to disrupt the event by calling in a
phony bomb threat. Actions like this clearly
display the need for more people like Lee to
speak on campus.
Lee gave a frank and informal discussion
about the messages that he tried to get across
in his films and some of his opinions on dif
ferent issues. He began by saying that he was
born in Atlanta, and his mother couldn’t go to
the University of Georgia : “Some things have
changed and some things haven’t.” Spike dis
cussed his attendance at predominantly white,
New York University, where the few blacks in
his department were viewed by white students
as “quotas”. He said that he quickly learned
that being just as good as your fellow white stu
dent is not good enough: “You must be ten
times better."
Spike spoke out on several points of interest:
• THE GREEKS: Lee felt that fraternities
have lost their direction, which was supposed to
be geared toward community service; instead
he said their primary focus consists of parties,
step-shows, and getting women. The main
reason the pledges go through that grueling
pledge process is because they know that as
soon as they get their letters, they will get
women. He said that he couldn’t understand
why anyone would subject themselves to an
“ass” beating with a paddle. The movie “School
Daze” focused on fraternities, sororities and the
petty characteristics that blacks consider im
portant, like hair texture, skin color, and eco
nomic background. The film created an uproar
in the black community, because it was viewed
by some as “airing dirty laundry.” Lee feels that
blacks are “...too caught up in what white
America will think. " He said that instead
blacks,“...must focus on getting our own pro
gram together."
• SEXUAL MYTHS/ STEREOTYPES: Lee
said the black female has been taught that the
epitome of beauty is the blonde, blue-eyed
white female. This has resulted in an attempt
to duplicate the appearence of the white female
- coemetic surgery to reduce the size of her nose,
getting colored contacts, hair weaves, etc. He
also pointed out that black men have not gone
unaffected by this philosophy. In their case, Lee
said it has caused them to pay more attention
to light-skined, long haired, black women; and
only the “bold" ones want a white woman. Lee
has a new movie coming out called “Jungle
Fever”, which focuses on interracial
relationships and explores sexual myths. He
mentioned the myth that casts black men as
sexual supermen, and compared it to the fact
that before the Ku Klux Man lynched a man
they castrated him first- the white man’s way of
supposedly protecting the virtue of white
women. Here Lee demonstrates how myths and
stereotypes cost thousands of men their lives.
• SELF HELP: Lee stressed that as a race,
blacks must help one another to get ahead. He
gave the example of Micheal Jordan allowing
him to direct and star in his commercials for
Nike athletic shoes. He critized the fact that so
ciety tends to “have a problem" anytime black
people come together to help or to protect them
selves.
Spike Lee is a man who can be admired for
using his talents to enlighten our society and
perhaps more importantly, he has recognized
the fact that he nas achieved fame and gra
ciously accepts the obligation that comes with it
.... to give something back to his community,
never forgeting where he came from in the
dazzle ana glitter of his success.
Richard Martin i* a freshman pre dentistry
major.
Stay home for a good time
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them in the Forum
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reason upon request. Letters can be sent by U.S. mall or brought In person to The Red
and Black’s offices at 123 N. Jackon St„ Athens, Ga.
As one of the speakers at the
Human Rights Festival, I would
like to point out what an attentive
audience I looked out into Sunday.
I had worried that a party atmo
sphere might invalidate the se
rious issues that were being
discussed, as had happened last
year.
Too bad for Cary DiCristina ,
whose "preconceived notions” did
not include the reality of the many
human and animal rights viola
tions that exist today. There is a lot
of injustice in the world, Cary, and
the reason for having a festival is
to allow groups to point them out.
Information about violence, ha
tred and unjust conditions can
often be offensive, especially to
people who lead protected lives and
choose to ignore the things they
don’t like to hear about. Maybe the
crowds were not as huge as those
at the bike races or the football
games, but that is becuase too
many people feel the same as Cary
• they are just looking for a good
time.
Susan C. Hinckley
AIDS Athena
A bull testicle a day...
Martin G. Hulsey is guilty of
perpetuating a lie. It’s sad that 40
years after his death, Joseph Goe-
bells’ propaganda should remain
persuasive. He first spread the lie
that Adolf Hitler, the most noto
rious carnivore of all time, was a
vegetarian.
Hitler’s self-described favorite
foods were sausage, meat patties
and liver. Nazi reports show that
he received injections of pulverized
bull testicles for strength. He also
outlawed all German vegetarian
societies.
Anti-vegetarians love to point
out examples of Hitler’s decision to
give up meat. One instance was
after his niece’s death, and another
was in an attempt to halt sweating
and flatulence. In both very brief
flirtations with vegetarianism,
however, he continued to eat liver.
Repeating this ugly lie distorts
the issue of the ethical treatment
of animals and gives propaganda
chief Goebbles a kind of post
mortem victory he clearly doesn’t
deserve.
Hal Qreenwald
senior/ political sc lanes