To the Daily:
On Monday, Sept. 29, Rep. David Jaye (R-Macomb) and three other right-wing politicians held the first public event of their effort to destroy affirmative action at the University of Michigan and throughout the state.
The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary protested this effort. After just a few minutes of peaceful, loud protest by anti-racists, the police began to make arrests without giving any warning and without ordering people to sit down or leave the hall. The police grabbed a young black woman by the throat and punched a young white woman in the jaw. The police sprayed so much pepper spray that the whole hall had to be cleared - causing a much more substantial disruption than anything BAMN had done. The resulting four arrests - ostensibly for "disorderly conduct" - included a lawyer who was attempting to show her legal identification to the police.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s also saw police deal blows to peaceful demonstrations. In 1960, peaceful "disruptions" of segregated lunch counters were met with fists.
The opponents of affirmative action are organizing. They are attacking the whole concept that our society can and should aspire to be based on equality. They accept and take for granted the pervasive inequality and discrimination that exist in education, employment and other spheres of life. They desire an end to any and every real effort to address and change that inequality. They are the proponents of resegregation.
The struggles that swept the nation in the '50s and '60s forced the American government at every level to adopt the set of policies known as affirmative action. As a result, for the first time in American history, significant numbers of black and Latino people, along with increasing numbers of other minorities, working class people and women, gained access to historically segregated, elitist schools, universities, jobs and other institutions. Incomplete progress was made.
Inequality still pervades American society. Despite its supposed illegality, separate, unequal education is everywhere. Inequality of resources in primary education is stark and vast. Racist segregation and inequality are the rule in housing. Recent Census Bureau reports indicate that median income for full-time working women was 74 percent that of men. The median white household income was $39,000 in 1996, while for black households it was $24,000.
Through the struggle that will develop around affirmative action, the forces fighting for equality will have the opportunity to launch a counter offensive that can change all this.
The elimination of affirmative action under the pressure of a political and legal campaign by wealthy, powerful, right-wing politicians and corporations would be a historic setback to the struggle for a society based on equality. We need a strong movement to defeat an enemy as influential and wealthy as the forces of resegregation who are campaigning to end affirmative action. BAMN is fighting to build that movement.
Luke Massie
BAMN
To the Daily:
Yet another Columbus Day, and yet another group of angry students informing the world that they are enraged at the colonial wars of evil imperialism waged against the innocent native peoples of the Americas. Right off the bat let me state that I totally agree with what they are saying, and the way they portray what happened. I disagree on only one minor point - I am glad that events occurred the way they did.
Now I know that this will instantly brand me as evil in the eyes of the student body, but on the counter token, at least I am being honest. I enjoy living in the United States, and enjoy the economic wealth this nation has to offer its citizens, from its cars to its personal stereos. I like being able to eat good, cheap, plentiful food, anytime I please, from any corner of the United States.
I am glad that I do not have to live in a mud hut and work from dawn to dusk to raise the bare necessities of life; I like my bare necessities wrapped in plastic and in the grocery store for my convenience. Without the resources that were taken from the indigenous Native Americans, none of this would be possible and who knows what my standard of living would be instead. So quite frankly, I am selfish and admit it openly, but I love being able to live off the fat of the land that was stolen through the evil crime of aggressive war.
If you really want to move away from the awful crime of taking advantage of stolen native land, its very simple. Give up all manufactured goods and foodstuffs produced in the United States or any territory controlled by that nation, and any imports made with raw materials from the United States. It's a simple, effective means of avoiding those little guilt feelings about the evil expansionistic wars. Just don't come to me asking for survival tips; I'll be in a nice hot tub relaxing, which does wonders for curing any of those little guilt feelings.
Edward Chusid
LSA junior
To the Daily:
I learned about the adoption editorial ("Home sweet home," 9/30/97) through my colleagues back in Ann Arbor, and brought it up here in Washington where the adoption and foster care work is well underway.
Congratulations on a fine piece. I certainly share the views expressed there. It will be quite a challenge to bring some meaningful proposals out of all this - but President Clinton is providing some important leadership and I think it can be done.
Nice job.
Don Duquette
Clinical Law Professor Director, Child Advocacy Law Clinic
To the Daily:
In his review of the film "Seven Years in Tibet," Joshua Pederson refers several times to the spiritual and political leader of Tibet as the "Dalai Llama."
A llama is a large, hairy, camel-like animal. The Dalai Lama is not. (Unless the movie really is about the "Dalai Llama," in which case I no longer want to see it, and I would question Pederson's rating of 3 1/2 stars.)
The very least the Daily and Pederson could do is to verify the spelling of the name of a Nobel laureate and one of the most respected figures in the world, out of respect for both Tibet's struggle for independence and the many Buddhists at the University.
Isra Wongsarnpigoon
School of Art and Design
To the Daily:
I think the University has been looking for an excuse to fire Fisher, because the past few seasons have not been as successful as the earlier Fisher years. When this report gave them half a reason to call his integrity into question, they took the opportunity.
Goss said that it was not about winning, but I think that is exactly what it is about. If the Athletic Department felt we needed a new basketball coach, they should have found another way to make the change instead of making a lame excuse and hurting one of the nicest coaches we have ever had.
Cindy Apotheker
Business School junior
10-16-97
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