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■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and Black • Friday, November 9, 1990
OPINIONS
"It’s not Jesse Helms who's so frightening. It’s the 1 million
North Carolinians who voted for him."
— An Institutional editorial In The Atlanta Constitution on
Thursday.
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Muddy waters
This week a University investigation cleared senior
linebacker Bryant Gantt of any involvement in an
alleged money funneling scheme with former football
star K§jth Henderson and New York accountant Jerry
Schwaftz.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had reported
that Gantt’s bank account had been used by Schwartz
to transfer $2,000 to Henderson while Henderson was
still at tHfe University. Tuesday, Athens attorney Ed
Tolley released the results of his investigation, which
clearly showed that the money had never entered
Gantt’»account.
If *u know Gantt, then you are relieved though not
surprised by the findings. Gantt, an Athens native, is
well-liked by students, faculty and the Athens
community he grew up in — and it isn’t just because he
plays football.
However, the clouded issues of the University’s
“thorough” investigation do more harm than good.
Tolley’s investigation was conducted over the
weekend and, by his own admission, was very brief.
Once Gantt’s bank records put the Georgia Athletic
Association in the clear, Tolley’s “probe” came to an
abrupt halt. Tolley didn’t talk to Henderson, Schwartz
or Schwartz’s bank in New York.
We still don’t know what happened between
Henderson and Schwartz, whether any coaches or
other players knew what was going on or whether
something similar is going on right now.
Additionally, Tolley’s role as an unbiased
investigator is questionable. Tolley has investigated
several matters on behalf of the University and the
GAA. He looked into allegations that men’s basketball
coach Hugh Durham knew about loans made to former
University and now NBA star Dominique Wilkins
while Wilkins was here. He also conducted the
University’s independent investigation of the phone-
card mess last winter. But he’s also represented several
University athletes in court and is a close friend of
Gantt’s family. Where is the conflict of interest line
drawn?
A truly thorough and un-muddied investigation is
better for everyone. Gantt is just as innocent — if not
more so — and the University is cleared with no
questions asked. More importantly, the investigation
could lead to pro-active steps to prevent something like
this from happening again.
The University has taken long and often painful
steps to climb from the muck that has polluted college
athletics. This week we took a step backward.
Citizen failure
Arizona voters rejected the Martin Luther King Jr.
Holiday for the third time on Tuesday, 51 to 49 percent.
In doing so, they send a clear signal to the rest of the
country that Arizona doesn’t see a need for the
recognition of black achievement and culture.
The decision casts a bad light on the state’s
citizenry, and certainly damages the state’s image. The
National Football League is right to move the 1993
Super ^Bowl from Phoenix.
The NFL warned the city from the beginning that
acceptance of its Super Bowl bid was contingent upon
passage of the holiday referenda.
It would send the wrong message to NFL players
and fans, many of whom are black, to provide such an
economic boon to a state that refuses to recognize the
eontnMitions of African-Americans to our society.
It wiouldn’t be hard for anyone to understand the
meaning of the King holiday to black children. It
provides visible recognition of the fact that they can
make a difference in the world — they can achieve their
goals, no matter how impossible they might now seem.
On Tuesday, Arizonians lost a lot more than the Super
Bowl.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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Duke’s platform had legitimate points
David Duke campaigned in Louisiana for the
U.S. Senate with a solid platform criticizing big
government and its accompanying liberal poli
cies. But Duke’s sordid past as a leader in some
of the most hated hate-groups in America be
came the focal point of the race, thereby diver
ting public attention from other campaign
issues.
Arguably, Duke deserved the criticism he re
ceived concerning his shameful past, but his
platform has been hailed for its evident appeal.
After all, Duke garnered 45% of the popular
vote, enought to establish himself as a future
threat to incumbants in that state. In fact,
Duke came closer to being elected to the Senate
than any other Louisiana Republican since Re
construction.
Duke's strong showing impacted politics im
mediately. While many liberals and conserva
tives breathed a sigh of relief at his loss, clever
analysts and advisors began to dissect and
study the Duke campaign. Their findings are
not surprising: candidates who can successfully
present a similar conservative platform
(without Duke’s unsavory past) may have the
key to popular support in tne 1990s.
The most notable aspect in this neo-populist
E latform attacks affirmative action. Until
luke’s campaign was monitored by the na
tional media, many citizens had neglected this
issue in favor of other threats such as our un
manageable Federal government or our so-
called “drug war.” But Duke’s success told poli
ticians that Americans hadn’t forgotten the in
justices of affirmative action.
The message has always been straightfor
ward: affirmative action cannot succeed due to
its inherent flaws. Any program that aims to
end discrimination by discriminating is already
in trouble. But when it goes so far as to cite
“equality” as its goal while treating people un
equally to achieve that goal, the program is pre
posterous. Put simply, affirmative action is
racism.
The original theory behind affirmative action
was appealing yet chronically shortsighted. It
proposed that immediate intervention (by the
government, no doubt) would preclude inter
vention in the future. In other words, by forcing
businesses and schools to adopt lower stan
dards for certain people today, we will end all
racial disparity tomorrow.
But as soon as affirmative action was
erected, its structural weaknesses became evi
dent. Because it was only supposed to be a tem
porary support lasting just until you’re “on vour
own,” it was a perfect mate to the welfare
system. And we already know what has hap
pened with our welfare state. Do supporters of
affirmative action really want this kind of
Columnist receives ‘divine
Hear me. I have divinely inspired knowledge
which will rescue you from the throes of the
sloven and save you from the fate of the
damned. God has spoken to me.
I have become His devoted ambassador ap
pointed to lift the world from the cold clutches
of Satan and deliver all people from the tempta
tion of evil. I am second only to Jesus in the lin
eage of the righteous, for I am a born-again
Christian.
In emerging from God’s glorious birth canal,
I have acquired an unshakable and profound
faith in the validity of His best-selling book, the
Holy Bible. Having been so blessed, I now re
alize the utter folly of science and indeed all
things that contradict, the absolute truth of
God’s literature. Ridiculous fowsel evidence that
clearly demonstrates humans are animals
quite like chimpanzees or gorillas means
nothing to me, other than Satan is alive and
well bamboozling non-believers.
I revel in the fact that I am among the few
who will upon death be given eternal life in
heaven with a just and benevolent God. I find
comfqrt in knowing that those who do not be
lieve as I do will burn in hell, for being anything
but Christian is the ultimate sin. God gave
people the freedom of choice so they could
choose only Christianity.
Good Christians take arms We must impose
our religion on the wayward masses so they too
will be as we are. Rally around those like the di-
Steven
Sacco
vine Jessie Helms. Help him scour the scourges
of freedom of religion, thought or expression
with the righteous cleanser of God’s purifying
anointing.
We must prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that our morals are the only correct ones for hu
manity. We must become active in wiping out
dissention from Christianity in art, speech and
literature. Government agencies such as the
National Endowment for the Arts must be
forced to stop the funding of work we Holy
brethren find unbecoming to Christian funda
mentals. Vow to silence those who trespass
against us.
Our great nation was founded on our ethics.
Never was finer honor bestowed upon Chris
tians than when we helped eradicate the pagan
native Indians with the sanctified sword of our
benevolent God. Just as we conqured those In
dians who would not accept our ways, and
saved from death those we coerced to Chris
tianity, so we must again battle people who re-
“help” for its beneficiaries?
What affirmative action really does is inhibit
S ss instead of aiding it. Originally, affir-
‘ action was not intended to cause the
problems that it has. Quite the contrary, it was
supposed to open doors for those who might
otherwise miss opportunities that they de
served. But as time passed, the program began
to decay.
The Civil Rights bill of 1990 marked the
lowest point for affirmative action legislation in
history. In fact, the bill was not even a civil
rights measure at all. If it had passed, de
fendant-employers would have been forced to
prove their innocence (rather than the plaintiff
proving the defendant’s guilt) when challenged
in court by disgruntled minority job applicants
or employees. This effect runs contrary to every
notion of justice in America. I suppose sup
porters of affirmative action choose to disregard
innocent until proven guilty" in any case un
less, of course, it suits their ends.
The time has come for people to be judged
based on their abilities, character, and ambi
tion. Liberal gestures to gain minority votes
should be viewed for their artificial intention
and effect. Let’s learn from the past rather than
re-live it. Although Duke’s campaign reminded
us of wrongful discrimination against minori
ties, it also reminded us of equally ur\just dis
crimination against the majority. And
discrimination is intolerable, no matter how
you color it.
Scott Kelly is a first-year law student.
’ inspiration
fuse to see the true light of God.
Be fruitful and multiply. Heed not the impact
on the environment. God gave us dominion over
the world and all its creatures to use as we see
fit. We must populate without regard for birth
control, for we need billions more Christians to
achieve our goal of a world united in the love of
dismantling every belief system but our own.
Our missionaries must overwhelm all comers
of the globe.
At home our most pressing duty is to reverse
the frightening trend of adherence to the Con
stitution calling for separation of church and
state. Governmental aevils have taken the
Lord’s Prayer out of public schools, and they
have even stopped the practice of saying it be
fore football games. We must not accept people
being able to think or say anything they want
before class or sports; blasphemy cannot be tol
erated. We must take back the reins of our so
ciety and turn the clock of democracy backward
to tne days of the Puritans.
Pagans take heed and fear our God. His di
vine benevolence is for bomragain Christians
only. With Armageddon just around the comer,
all Christians must make haste in converting
people of every nationality into religious clones
unable to make any decision that is not bibli
cally based. Join us or bum in hell.
Steven D. Sacco is a senior criminal justice
major.
Finger column insensitive
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcome* letters to the editor and pdnta 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, doublespaced and mutt Include the name,
address and daytime telephone number at the writer. Please Include student class!fi
cation, major, and other appropriate Identification. Names can be omitted with a valid
reason upon request. Letters can be tent by U.S. mall or brought In person to The Red
and Black's offices at 123 N. Jackon St., Athens. Ga.
This letter ia in response to Jeff
Finger’s article on date rape. I am
apalled at the insensitivity of the
article and hia not ao subtle
sneering at the possibiltiy of date
rape existing. Instead of satisfying
himself with some clever legal con
tradiction he thinks he may have
found, he should have spoken to ac
tual rape victims or contacted the
Athens Rape Crisis Line.
The coercion that the ACHA is
concerned with is not the same as
the “Oh please baby, please baby”
moaning of men, but of the serious
threat of violence and abuse. I
think he is seriously misinformed.
Rape is not the same as a sexual
game — it is a violent crime.
The moet damaging point about
his article is the fact that it justi
fies the perpetuation of the idea
that date rape does not exist. There
is a very important distinction be
tween being raped by a stranger
and date rape. His trivializing of
the difficulty for a woman to report
rape, and more specifically dealing
with the violence caused by
someone you know, is nothing less
than sick.
Kristin Zimmerman
freshman, humanities
Disputes Berta
Once again, the debate over the
connotations of the Confederate
flag is upon us. Valerie Berta
(11/1/90) has so kindly portrayed
the symbol of Southern heritage
as, “racism more than anything
else.” I must strongly disagree. The
flag should not be changed because
it is not the problem.
The attitudes of people should
change. The flag is nothing more
than a section of canvas which
people portray as “an evil” or a
“symbol of good.” The flag rep
resents what one wants it to.
The Confederate flag stands as a
symbl of our southern pride. Yes,
southerners did have slaves, and
their exploited labor was a “black
mark” upon our history, but de
stroying the symbols of that period
will not erase it; even though some
think that way.
So, let’s fly our state flag high
and with pride during the Olym
pics. We can show the entire world
we don’t deny our past and that we
are proud of the opportunities that
the future holds.
Linton West
Junior, history