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PAGE FOUR
WEST GEORGIAN
©Editorial
Page
Strike May 5!
It’s hard to believe that one long, quiet year has
elapsed since the slaying of students at Kent State and
Jackson State Universities.
It’s been a year in which most of us have searched our
consciences about the war, draft, and our own in
volvement
The Student Mobilization Committee has planned a
national moratorium to be held Wednesday, May 5, in
memory of those dead students.
We urge all faculty members to either cancel their
classes, or if they must hold them, to center discussion
around the issues that are currently causing the people
of this country, particularly the young, to be caught up
in bitterness and turmoil.
We feel that students should take advantage of that
day to meet with fellow students and talk to college
personnel and townspeople. Discuss the problems and
let people know your feelings. Work on solutions, write
elected officials.
If we are so apathetic that we forget the events of last
spring and allow others to forget, then we deserve the
problems we’re trying to get rid of. If we can wipe out
the memory of the girl who kneeled beside her dead
friend in an attitude of pure anguish, then it will be our
fault if there is another incident like Kent State.
Activism has declined on the whole from last year.
However, where we once thought we saw an end to the
war in sight, we now feel almost totally engulfed in
despair because of our country’s reluctance to set a
withdrawal date in order not to lose face -as if we
haven’t already.
There seems to be no end in sight. Unfortunately, if
our involvement continues the deaths of those students
will be for nothing.
We don’t expect a national moratorium to end the war,
but hopefully it will keep the public eye on the problem.
Until the people are forced to re-evaluate our “com
mitment” in southeast Asia, there will be no lasting
peace for our men or the people of those countries. We
must show our concern and continued dedication to a
world of nonviolence and human love.
'Heroic 1 Mclntosh
The Carrollton Chamber of Commerce recently an
nounced that the West Georgia campus is being con
sidered as a possible site for an ampitheater which will
be built to house the proposed Mclntosh pageant.
According to Dr. Steve McCutcheon, director of public
affairs, the pageant will be a historical account of the
life of Chief William Mclntosh, a Creek Indian who
made large tracts of land available to the state.
What the would-be producers of the pageant seem to
be forgetting is that the heroic Chief Mclntosh was in
actuality a cold-blooded thief and a traitor who has been
turned into a protangonist by white men. This man, who
incidentally was only half Indian, sold the land of his
people to white men who promised him gold.
And so, Georgia gained land and the Creeks went into
exile, but the villain of the whole episode, Mclntosh, is to
be the hero of the Carrollton pageant.
Frankly we don’t think that state land should be used
to house an ampitheater which will be used to praise
such a scoundrel. In addition, the very idea of
dramatizing his life is a bit much- perhaps a saga about
the plight of the Creeks after their exile would be ap
propriate.
Today we see much attention focused on the poverty
and misery of the American Indian. Instead of
dramatizing an old chief’s cop-out, why not establish a
fund to help present-day Indians?
We suggest that college officials take into con
sideration the real facts about the “heroic” Mclntosh
before we allow the ampitheater to be built here
honoring his memory -one which should remind us of
the shame and sorrow of his people.
THE WEST GEORGIAN
Ray Tilley, Guest Columnist
Revolution Nears
Editor’s not* - The following column is s reprint of n column wUch appeared in the April 20 edition of
the Red and Black, the student newspaper of the University of Georgia
How far is the United States
from revolution?
In this year of our Lord 1971 we
are seeing tremendous forces of
revulsion with the American
system. Many are seriously
suggesting that the government
be overturned, the Constitution
destroyed. From both the Right
and the Left come doctrines for
the destruction of the old
America, based on their
respective visions of utopia.
Others are merely suggesting
modifications, changes which
will maintain their comfort,
security and wealth.
These last, in the pursuit and
worship of the Almighty Buck,
would like to stabilize things in
this rapid-changing world They
would do this, for instance, by
giving the FBI the power to rout
dangerous militants, or by
assuring big business a carte
blanche to perform its functions
without nasty government in
terference.
RIGHT & LEFT
These, to paraphrase the
Scriptures, we have with us
always: the Far Right, the Far
Left and Maxi-business. And
their demands haven’t ripped the
country apart so far, right? So
everything will be fine bye and
bye.
That is perhaps hazardous
thinking in itself, but to proceed a
step further, there is yet another
strain upon the American system
in 1971, and that is the
dissatisfaction of the Average
Man.
That mythical figure, Mr.
Middle Class of Averagetown,
U.S.A., has already begun to
manifest himself, and he is
becoming disenchanted. His food
bills are rising. His new car falls
apart three months after pur
chase. His Congressman (or
other public servant) is indicted
for bribery. And his son or close
relative is about to be shipped to
Saigon.
CALLEY
This Average Joe is in a
quandary - about his financial
security, his ideals, his faith in
the substance of the American
system. Today’s issue is Lt.
Calley; Average Joe is certain
that Rusty got a bad deal and
begins to question Executive and
Pentagon policy. Tomorrow’s
beef may be a case of massive,
vigorous concern over the
shoddiness of consumer goods.
After that, maybe a great
awakening to the waste and rake
off in Federal spending.
How many Calley trials, how
many SST's, how many polluted
rivers will Silent America stand?
There may come a time when the
“great middle class” is so
revulsed that it will call for a
real, total change in the
American system. It w ill support
a revolution to “set things right,’
to insure security and income
w ithout a lot of nonsense.
Of course the result of most
revolutions is anew tyranny.
With few exceptions this is true
(the American Revolution of 1776
produced NO change in form of
government in this sense, nor did
it overthrow the wealthy class).
We can take our pick of France in
1789, Germany before Hitler or
Russia at the twilight of the czars
to draw historical parallels. An
unsupported war abroad is but
one element of the irrational
equation of a revolution.
The diversity of the items of
dissatisfaction with America
today is the main point. The main
point here is NOT the relative
merits of the aims of Left, Right,
or even the Middle - the trend to
the absolute evils of revolution is
the salient fact.
Against this trend stands a
weak voice of reason that calls
for the “greening” of America.
Sensible persons ask that we stop
the American juggernaut of
greed and question our greed
oriented priorities in order to
avert economic and en
vironment disasters. Concerned
persons call for the righting of
social and economic imbalance
against racial minorities and the
poor. Hopeful persons want the
dismantling of the war machine
before it swamps us in its mind
less wake.
\VKhT GEORGIAN
JEANNE MATHEWS LISA HUGHES
Editor-in-Chief News Editor
Feature Editor Audrey Bledsoe
Assistant News Editor Alice Payne
Circulation Manager Neal Smith
Sports Editor , .Dan Minish
Copy Editor Linda Russell
Typists Margenia Dorsey, Jose Rodriguez
Photographer Randy Pavlu
KENT WALTON
Business Manager
Reporters: David Brown, Penny Calhoun, Patricia Coker, Martha
Gamble, Martha Gillham, Perry Johnson, Julian McCuller. Michael
Nellans. , Maik Perry. J. Ross Willis, Sarah Shields, BUI Groover,
Tyrone Copeland.
The VVEST GEORGIAN welcomes letters from students,
faculty, administrators, alumni, and other interested readers
on topics of general and campus interest.
We usually receive a large number of letters. We would like
to print all letters, but we simply cannot do so because of
space limitations.
Therefore, letters which exceed 14 column inches in length
(500 words of regular type or 700 words of small type) may
not be printed due to lack of space or may need to be edited.
All letters should be typed and double-spaced. The editor
reserves the right to edit to meet space and taste requirements
and to guard against libel.
Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on
request. Lnder no circumstances will the identity of the
writer-student, faculty', or administrator be revealed without
the expresses consent of the writer.
APRIL 30, 1971
DRIFTING
But these and similar voices
are but a peep compared to the
stentorian shouts of the rabid
Right, the disenchanted Left and
the military-economic Establish
ment. Asa nation we are drifting
from unity. The intensity of
feelings against the democratic
system are such that pleas for its
reform are unheard, quick
solutions are sought and only a
catalyst is needed to spark the
critical mass. Revolution, civil
war or anarchy are radical
conditions in themselves, but
their outcome will likely be a loss
of the civil rights and strained
freedoms we now enjoy.
What will the spark of massive
civil violence be? Another war
trial? Yet another assassination?
Farther inflation, as in pre-war
Germany? If we could foresee it,
we would answer “How far is
revolution?
DISASTER
And still the flare-up - the death
of Old America - may not be
preventable. The trends are sure,
the historical links are there. For
disaster to be averted it will take
a change in us, a change in
human nature, beyond
“greening” to a change in the
soul.
Our material greed, our war
lust, our intoxication with
comfort, our own inhumanity to
man- the measurement of these,
if it could be taken, would stand
in an inverse proportion to the
length of the road to revolution.