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LETTERS p.o. box 1027. Athens. ca soeos
VENOMOUS. MALI
CIOUS, DISHONEST.
INEPT & STUDIO
Odd that your venomous appraisal of
Our Fathers' Fields should use the term
“context" repeatedly, considering the way it
studiously avoids placing the work and its
subject matter into contest. Contrary to
your spin, the book is not and doesn’t claim
to be a statement on the institution of slav
ery. Nor does Kibler trivialize slavery by
assigning good guy/bad guy roles as you’d
prefer, providing instead convincingly-
extrapolated portraits of very real black
and white people. He paints his portrait
within the sociological and ethical context
in which it historically occurred, not
anachronistical^ in our post-civil rights era.
Your sarcasm re: slave housing and wages is
misdirected — again, lacking context —
given that day’s prevailing economic milieu.
Today, every child that makes it to sec
ond grade (even in Clarke County) is aware
that compulsive servitude is undesirable.
Few would argue this. Nowhere (read:
nowhere) in Our Father's Fields does the
author imply otherwise. To state that this
saga of one house and one family anywhere
infers that “slavery juat wasn’t that bad” is
journalistically malicious, not to mention
dishonest. But if you’d prefer to envision a
slave owner’s day as comprising an unend
ing cycle of whippings, rapes, tortures,
buggery, domination, etc. and need this
image to reinforce your righteous indigna
tion. then go watch the movie of the week.
Since you write for Flagpole, you don’t
have to tolerate those who think differently
than you, anyway.
To presume that every slaveholder
abused his property makes as much sense
as the present-day farmer depriving his
tractor of fuel and driving it into oak trees
regularly. Though you- piece didn’t cite it,
Kibler’s account of the Hardy slaves attend
ing the same church as their masters is a
succinct indicator that their lives were not
the protracted terror you’d have them to
be. The book is, in fact, so filled with fasci
nating and challenging insights which you
neglect to mention, that anyone w’ho hasn't
read the book cannot appreciate the deep
stupidity of your review. The author’s
indictment of the U.S. Forestry Service’s
mismanagement of lands is, by itself, ample
justification for further monographs.
Even before your inept rant can get up a
good wind, however, you launch your petty
attack on the author’s person by inferring
some hidden agenda on behalf of the
Southern League. Kibler’s membership sta
tus, though, seems to have no logical rele
vance to the source material, the family
saga, or the fact that the University of South
Carolina Press found it to be worthy of pub
lication. Perhaps you’ll continut to so thor
oughly investigate and publish the ideologi
cal affiliations of future subjects in the same
spirit of vilification. In fact, why not do the
same for Flagpole staff and writers? Your
editorials, for example, might read more
effectively if we know’ that you’re in the
S.W.P., P.E.TA., or N.A.M.B.L.A.
I don’t know why I still expect any bet
ter from a publication that sought to make
the internet a racist issue. Maybe it’s the
same sort of optimism that keeps teachers
like Jim Kibler in the area, even though he
tactfully evades his affiliation with Athens-
Clarke-UGA in his author’s dustjacket
blurb. Given the kind of apnreciation
you’ve provided, this would be an embar
rassment that more properly belongs to
the intelligent reader.
Tony Arnold
Athens
The article in your June 24 edition, enti
tled “Cyberghetto,” was interesting, but
not nearly factually complete enough to
draw any intelligent conclusions from. I’m
not exactly sure why this lack of comput
ers in minority households is such a press
ing problem It certainly makes it more dif
ficult to access Dancing Baby websites and
build a healthy collection of cyberporn,
but really, with the number of computers
provided for public access, it seems to me
that the only thing missing is a desire to
actually get on the Net. 1 mean, if “Political
parties are holding major online events...
companies are using the web for making
job announcements and collecting
resumes... continuing education classes
are being offered more and more on the
Web”, as Mr. McKissack says, then it seems
to me that the thing to do is to let people
know these things so that they can go to
their favorite public library, school, or
cyber-cafe and get involved. Of course,
that solution requires a “can-do” type of
attitude from the minorities involved; I
personally think that we are all up to the
task. Mr. McKissack and the people he
quotes seem to be less sure of the inherent
human ability to take charge of our lives
and cause positive change; this is never
more evident in the article than when he
presents us with Jon Katz’s statement that
“the poor can't afford them. Thus they will
be shut out of the booming hi-tech job
market and forced to do the culture’s
menial jobs.”
Well, that says it all. If you can’t afford a
computer, you're screwed. Might as well
pick up that shovel and hop on in the
ditch. Hoss. Of course, I know a lot of peo
ple, my own grandmother included, who
didn’t have a damn thing as a child and
not only succeeded, but excelled in life.
But never mind that; my grandmother was
never a theorist. She didn’t sit around
thinking about what she didn’t have; she
worked and figured out how to get what
she wanted.
Then Mr. Katz’s tone become even more
frightening, taking on a disturbingly racist
slant: “In 25 years when the underclass
wakes up to discover it is doing all the
muscle jobs while everybody else is in
neat, clean offices with high-paying jobs,
they’ll go berserk." Funny that it didn’t
cross his mind that when the underclass
wakes up to discover it is doing all the
muscle jobs, it will provide an incentive for
parents in the underclass to want better
for their children, and love and teach them
to aspire to heights they nevei dreamed
possible. But he’s probably right. You
know how those people are. The only
thing they understand is violence.
1 can agree with Mr. McKissack on one
thing, though: Blacks and Hispanics are
largely unaware of the Web and its poten
tial. Computer literacy must become a part
of the standard education process. And
certainly, we must find a way to insure that
everyone not only realizes the web’s
potential, but has ready access to it. But it
is not and probably never will be the
deciding factor between empowerment
and oppression. That is and always has
been in the individual’s hands, and with
the individual's power of choice.
Maurice Cobbs
via the Internet
I would like to commend Flagpole on
“Cyberghetto” article and sub-article [June
24]. I was so moved by the former that I
shared it with several people at my job site
who were inspired and angered by the
information. They were angry with the
writer, but more with themselves and their
lack of educational stimuli in their lives —
not to mention the hopeless battle of try
ing to stimulate their k : ds to really want to
excel in school. There were many whites
on my job site who felt embarrassed
because they too saw themselves mirrored
as the lew-income or uninformed minority.
I lived in Athens five years ago and its
great to see that good institutions like this
magazine reflect the heart of the students
as well as the heart of its citizens.
Timothy Lewis Johnson
via the Internet
SPACE ANGER
Dear Ballard: After reading your review
of Widespread Panic’s new album Light
Fuse, Get Away fReviews, May 27], I think I
am speaking on behalf of Panic fans every
where and especially here in Athens when
I say “just shut the hell up." Thank you.
Thorarinn Bjornsson
via the Internet
ORROW
CONTACT FLAGPOLE
Write to FLAGPOLE at LETTERS, P. 0. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603; or via the Internet at
mail@flagpcte.com. Letters may be edited for style, darity and space considerations.
CITY BAR
We Care.
220 College Ave. Downtown 546-7612
DAILY'SRECIAIiS]
a good place
to drink.
PBR and
High Life
Always $1.25
W. Clayton St.
IS&884
□ FLAGPOLE JULY 8, 1998 _