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M Diaz’s Ga. Netters begin run for NCAA title — 8
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia Community
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 97, ISSUE 109
INSIDE
A tribute to Muppete
creator Jim Henson, who
died on Wednesday, by
editorial cartoonist Mike
Moreu.
4
Weather: Today, sunny high mid
80s, tonight fair low upper 50s.
Saturday. Have some fun tanning
your buns.
Young Democrats meeting turns into fiery Ga. flag debate
By MIRA SHAH
Contributing Writer
The Georgia state flag, to many who
live under it, is a slap in the face. Others
consider the flag a strong symbol of
Southern pride.
The issue of whether the flag’s design
Bhould be changed evolved into a fiery de
bate Wednesday night at the Young
Democrats’ weekly meeting at the Tate
Student Center.
Instead of the usual agenda, Jonathon
Langley, a member of Students Against
the Confederate Symbol, spoke to a
standing-room-only crowd in the Tate
Student Center about changing the
Georgia state flag.
Langley said the current state flag
isn’t part of Southern heritage. “My
great, great grandfather fought in the
Civil War. I love the South and have
lived here all my life,” Langley said. “I
think I qualify as a Southerner.”
He said the flag which presently flies
over Georgia isn’t the original Confed
erate flag, it’s the Confederate battle
flag. “This flag flew for four years during
battle. Is our heritage one of battle?”
Langley said. "It is not my heritage.”
Langley said the Georgia Legislature’s
1956 decision to switch to the battle flag
wasn't an act of rebellion againBt federal
desegregation laws but was intended to
remind blacks of the past.
“If you tell me racism isn’t part of our
heritage you are either trying to fool me
or yourself," he said. “For one-third of the
population, this flag stands for racism."
Langley tried to relate the situation to
native Southerners. He asked the audi
ence to consider its reaction if the North
made a Union flag which every state
would be required to display. He said, “It
would be a constant reminder that we
lost the war. Just as the state flag re
minds some people of racism."
After countering some of the argu
ments defending the flag, Langley of
fered no alternative.”! don’t know what
to change it to,” Langley admitted. “I
wouldn’t take it off every house or truck.
That is a freedom of expression, but
when it is institutionalized by the gov
ernment, it is totally different."
Opinions offered at the debate were of
strong conviction. While some stuck with
the racism argument, others said the flag
is misused. Some agreed that a decision
couldn’t be reached unless history is to
tally disregarded.
Curt Collier, a member of Sons of Con
federate Veterans, said, “I don’t believe it
is racist at all. I understand that propa
ganda can lead people to believe that. “I
am as furious about racism as anyone,
and I am ashamed that groups like the
Ku Klux Klan abuse the flag/
A different view of the current flag saw
no way to disregard racism. 'The action
taken in 1956 by the Georgia legislature
was a blatant racist act, said Young
Democrat Ava Boyd. “I have pride for the
South, but I feel it (the flag) represents
too much hatred to represent a state.”
Francis Boney, a University history
professor, said Georgia's intentions were
obvious when they changed the flag in
1956. ‘I think it was part of the resis
tance against integration. It's not really
of that much importance, but it offends
some people and it shouldn't,” he said. “I
don't understand why the state felt they
had to change. This is a flag, not a license
plats.”
African American Power member Eric
Wise said feelings in the South run much
deeper than a flag. He said, “Changing
the flag won’t change opinions. It doesn’t
bother me personally.”
What’s cookin’
Good lookin’?
Janice Hunter, a freshman member of the Racial Harmony committee
puts the finishing touch of whipped cream on some delicious looking
banana pudding with vanilla wafer garnish. Hunter was participating in
a mouth-watering, lip-smacking cook-off between several campus cul
tural and ethnic organizations in the Tate Student Center Plaza on
Thursday afternoon. Aren’t you glad you didn't have to clean up that
mess?
Interracial relationships changing
More open, still is difficult
By MICHAEL W. McLEOD
Staff Writer
Cristina Feindt, a white junior English
mqjor, dates Brian Harris, 21-year-old black
member of the band PEZ. Like many other in
terracial couples, they don’t dwell on the fact
that the color of their skin is different.
‘These are the 90s,” Harris said, “I don’t
think it’s a big deal. We have a great
relationship; it lies deeper than skin color.”
Feindt said, “We were friends for so long it
never even popped into my head. It was some
thing that just happened.”
They don’t dwell on the racial issue but
others do, said Feindt, Harris and other inter
racial couples. Even in this college town, or in
Atlanta, which seeks an international-city
label, interracial couples say not everyone is
ready to accept the idea of their relationships.
Harris said, “Maybe I'm paranoid, but I know
there are people out there who aren’t ready for
it yet.
“It’s a shame you have to keep it hidden —it’s
a feeling between two people — there’s no
reason to focus on skin color. Who cares what I
prefer to do, it’s my life,” he said,
• Couples noticed more now
Daphne Scott, a graduate student in the De
partment of Counseling and Human Devel
opment Services, has been working for the last
year on a graduate thesis about interracial cou
ples.
‘There are so many different people coming
together here that some are going to join in an
intimate relationship," she said. “Interracial
couples have been around for years covertly,
they’re just more talked about now because
that’s the trend."
Scott said little research has been done on in
terracial couples and most of what does exist fo
cuses on what kind of people get involved in an
interracial relationship.
“In America, generally the people who date
interracially tend to come from higher-edu
cated and middle-income backgrounds," she
said.
Other interracial couples agreed with Feindt
and Harris, saying race isn’t an issue, it’s the
individual that attracts them.
Scott said, “People always see race as such a
barrier; it’s not something that’s 'vith the
couple always."
Tina Drake, a white junior English education
major, is dating a black junior economics nuyor,
who asked that his name be withheld. She said,
“I’m not trying to be a revolutionary; this is just
the way things worked out."
Even if differences in race aren’t a concern to
the couples, they said it’s a concern to others.
The economics m^jor Drake dates works at
the University and didn’t want his name
printed because he thought his co-workers
wouldn’t like the fact that he was dating a
white woman.
“It’s not like they’re flaming racists, but they
have barriers they’ve built up,” he said, “ft
would make a difference to them."
Drake said she didn’t feel much pressure
being involved in an interracial relationship,
but that a recent incident in an education class
opened her eyes.
‘The teacher asked us to raise our hands if
we could have dinner with someone of another
race and everyone raised their hand. Then he
asked how many of us could be close friends
with the person and some hands went down.
Then he asked how many of us would date the
person, then marry them," Drake said.
“Out of about 108 people there were only
three or four hands lefl at the end. Two of them
were mine and my best friend’s. It kind of
shocked me; they really felt justified placing so
ciety’s values above their own."
• Family Attitudes
Scott said the families of interracial couples
more often object to the couple than not. Par
ents often say that they aren’t prejudiced, but
are often concerned how others will react to the
relationship.
“Oh, my God, if my father ever found out,"
said Terri Hutcherson, a white sophomore at
Truett-McConnell College in Watkinsville, who
occasionally dates Brian Cleveland, a black ju
nior pre-law major and starting fullback for the
University.
“It’s a shame because if I ever did marry a
black man, my father would never be able to
walk me down the aisle," Hutcherson said.
Feindt said, “I never thought of it at all and
my mom and dad were trying to impress upon
me it was something I had to consider.”
Harris said, “While we were friends it was
fine, but when we decided to start going out
(her parents) were stand-offish about it."
‘Tney used every excuse in the book without
coming right out and saying that that’s what
really withered them," Feindt said.
Studies show black families tend to accept in
terracial dating more easily than white famlies,
Scott said.
• Athens Attitudes
The couples and even individual partners
varied in their responses when asked how
Athens reacts to interracial dating.
It’s to be expected, said Vanessa Williams,
assistant director of Minority Services and Pro
grams at the University.
‘This is a very diverse community. It all de
pends on how you grew up and your dating
norms. There is such a wide range of people
here who have been socialized so differently,”
she said.
Harris Baid, “We really haven’t run into prob
lems with it. I wouldn’t walk into Papa Joe’s or
anything holding Cristina’s hand; I think we
have some small-minded people here.
“But for the most part this is a college town
and we have all these students from different
parts of the country, and I’m sure the students
are aware that there are a lot of interracial cou
ples out there.”
Drake said she felt no tension dating interra-
cially in Athens.
“It’s really good here. It would be a big strain
if we felt all this racism everywhere. If there is
any it went over my head.”
The junior she dates disagrees. He laughed
at the idea that Athens was ready to accept in
terracial couples.
“That’s a joke. Maybe I notice it more be
cause Tm more militant about it. I sort of look
for it. Even if I’m just walking down the street
with a white friend of mine you get this ‘what’s
going on’ look,” he said.
“If you’re looking at the younger people in
town, the people who go to school, yeah, I think
they have a problem with it,” he said.
Scott said that couples should be careful not
to blame personality problems in the
relationship on racial differences.
“I don’t believe pressure can make a couple
break up. Pressure is a symptom," she said.
“It's easier for the couple to blame that than to
acknowledge personality conflicts.”
Scott said she is trying to form an interracial
dating support group as part of her thesis work.
It is still in its beginning stages and anyone in
terested can call her at 543-4841.
1,700 still
need shot
Approximately 1,700 University
students and employees still must
report to one of two measles vacci
nation sites before today’s 6 p.m.
deadline, Health Services Director
Jacquelyn Kinder said.
More than 1,200 people received
inoculations Thursday, and about
400 provided evidence of prior im
munization, Kinder said.
Health Services Thursday re
moved about 2,700 names from the
list of people who need to report for
vaccination. Most of these are stu
dents who take classes at off-
campus locations and law and vet
erinary school students who have
finished the semester.
Inoculation of the more than 22,-
000 students, faculty and staff now
on the list is the largest single
community immunization effort in
the state of Georgia in 10 years,
said Mike Cheney, immunization
program manager with the State
Division of Public Health.
Many of the people who haven’t
reported to an inoculation booth
are waiting for medical records to
arrive or are temporarily working
off-campus, said Florence Winship,
assistant administrative director
of Health Services.
Others are women who are
trying to conceive or who think
they might be pregnant, Winship
said. Most of these women have
taken a blood test to determine if
they are immune to the virus.
— Peggy McGoff
By MAURA CORRIGAN
Entertainment Writer
Money from the sky
‘Crazy game show’
comes to University
Meet the Pat Sqjak and Vanna White of the road Monday night
when you try out your reflexes and sense of humor at “Blizzard of
Bucks," the “crazy game show” to be held at the Tate Center Theater.
“Blizzard of Bucks,” being brought to the University by the Kramer
Agency, Inc. and the Variety division of the University Union, will offer
up to $500 in cash for the winner. Crazy, wild, and zany games will
highlight the show, which is supposed to last for 90 minutes.
Three groups of four contestants will be selected through a random
drawing at the show. Ultimately, the competition will be narrowed
down to three finalists who will receive $25 cosh when they are se
lected.
The final test for these lucky three will be in The Incredible Money
Machine, the main feature of the show. One at a time, the contestants
will have a chance to catch money blowing around in the machine, stuf
fing as much as they can into bags. The catch is that the money has to
be airborn — no picking it off the ground or the body. The object is to
spend as much time in the machine as possible.
Rob Nelson, president of University Union, said “Variety Enter
tainment brings in off-beat shows and stuff that doesn’t fall into
normal categories.”
The show will begin at 8 p.m., and there will also be a preliminary
teaser at 1 p.m. at the Tate Center Plaza. Contestants at the 8 p.m.
show will receive a free T-Bhirt.
Anyone may participate in “Blizzard of Bucks," although only 12
will be chosen as contestants. The cost is $2 for students and $3 for
non-students. Tickets will be available at the Tate Student Center
Cashier’s Window, and applications are available at the Information
Desk and can be turned in up to showtime.
Blizzard of Bucks: University Union will bring the traveling game show to the Tate
Student Center on Monday night