friday, december 8, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 5
oped
Moderate approach might solve South Africa strife
Washington The nuestinn of II.S invest
ment in South Africa is, particularly among
black Americans, virtually past debating.
Not that there aren't good arguments to
be made on both sides of the question.
There are. But-again for blacks-it's get
ting tougher politically to make them.
One illustration: When the producers
of the PBS television show The Advocates
decided to take up the question a few
months back, they wound up with an all
white panel arguing for continued U.S.
investment in South Africa, although they
had verymuch wanted to avoid making it
a black-white issue.
Part of the reason they were unable to
find a suitable black advocate for the pro
investment side has to do with the show's
format, requiring that an advocate take a
hardline position on one side or the other.
But partly it has to do with the fact that it
has become politically unpopular for
blacks to acknowledge that there is a pro-investment-side.
One moderate black
This fact makes all the more impressive
the persistence of the Rev. Leon H. Sulli
van in pushing his more moderate view,
that the presence of American businesses in
South Africa could be a positive thing if
they can be persuaded to lead the way
toward more equal treatment for black
workers.
Sullivan, founder of the Philadelphia
based Opportunities Industrialization
Center, is author of the so-called Sullivan
Principles, six points he has urged on
American companies doing business in
South Africa.
The principles included desegregation of
work facilities, equal pay, equal hiring and
promotional opportunity, better training
opportunities and efforts to improve the
lives of black employees outside their work
environment.
Some companies help
Some 107 American companies have en
dorsed the principles, and the first report
of their anti-apartheid progress was
released last week.
William raspberry
The report, by the consulting firm of
Arthur D. Little, Inc., was based on
responses from 8 1 of the signatories to the
Sullivan Principles. Among the findings:
Three-fourths of the companies report
that their eating, toilet, work and locker
room facilities are desegregated or in the
process of being desegregated.
55 of the employers have common
medical, pension and insurance plans for
their black, white, colored (mixed race)
and Asian employees.
At least 42 percent of the workers of
each race are in integrated job categories
that is, jobs not restricted by race.
Of the companies that had no black
professionals in 1976, 13 percent now have
them.
5 1 percent of the companies provide
financial assistance for housing for their
black employees; 39 percent offer sub
sidized schooling.
First step
These are modest gains pitifully
modest in some cases. But as Sullivan
points out, the first-year report marks only
the first step. Two other steps will go a
long way toward showing whether the Sul
livan Principles can achieve what their au
thor hopes.
First, the next report-due early next
year-will list, the progress of the com
panies in an J individual basis, in specific
categories of improvement.
Second, a monitoring system will be es
tablished so that it will no longer be neces
sary to rely on the employers' own assess
ment of their progress.
The two changes should provide added
incentive for some of the companies that
have been slow to move. In addition, they
will provide the basis for American activists
to target their protest against the most re
calcitrant corporations.
No credit given
One of the major difficulties with the
recent calls for across-the-board disin
vestment is that such demands neither en
courage those corporations that are trying
to work for change nor isolate companies
that are comfortable with apartheid.
It seems useful to distinguish between
the 75 percent of the companies that have
undertaken to desegregate their employee
facilities, for instance, and the 25 percent
that have made no effort at all.
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Snakes, squid chosen over hamburger
By Pete Mason
The other day a friend and I were
talking about food and as so often happens
when you're talking about food, I had
this terrific urge for some. In this case I
had a terrific urge for a big fat tongue sand
wich on rye bread, with tons of mayonnaise.
ball-peen hammer."
"You mean to tell me you've never tried
tongue?"
Tried it ! I have a hard time looking at
it
!
"I've got this terrifice urge for a big fat
tongue sandwich on rye bread, with tons
of mayonnaise," I said.
"You can leave any time," my friend
said, "don't forget to close the door."
"What's the matter?" I innocently
asked.
"I don't appreciate people talking about
disgusting things in my presence," he
answered .
"What disgusting things? What are you
talking about?"
"That disgusting organ you just
mentioned!"
"What disgusting organ? You mean,
tongue'7 Tongue is terrifice stuff. Especi
ally beef tongue."
' Broke the habit'
"Sure it is. Like turkey droppings or
several sharp raps up side the head with a
"Aw, you ought to try it sometime. It's
really great."
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm "Uh-uh, I make it a habit never to put
" disgusting things in my mouth. It's a habit
hi broke as a child. 1 make it a point never
I imOf t0 eat Ss ant otner appendages an ani-
U I I I J maj uses fQJ digestjve purposes. Call me old
fashion. Call me irrational. Now, can we
drop the subject?"
"Well, how about brains? Brains aren't
used for digestive purposes."
"Okay, that's enough. Let's talk about
something else."
I admit to a certain sadistic streak and I
figured I could have some fun and educate
him to the joys of exotic foods.
Unnatural aversion
"Look, I think this aversion to perfectly
good food is rather unnatural. You're
always telling about how you want to travel
to far away places. You know, the chances
of getting a quarter pounder with cheese
in Hong Kong are far and few between. In
Hong Kong they eat snakes and puppies.
Some day you may find yourself in an eat
or -starve situation, buddy."
"And what about Japan?" I went on.
"What will you do if your choices are squid
or raw fish?"
"Hey, man, that's enough, really," my
friend pleaded. "Give me a break, will
you?"
"And what about the Philippines?"
I asked with relish. "In the Philippines they
have this thing called balut. It's a duck
egg that's ready to hatch. They hard-boil it
and then you skin off the shell and eat the
thin layer of whites and yolk and then you
hold the little duck embryo by the head
and ... "
"Enough! Enough! I thought you were
my friend!"
"And deep-fried beetles. They're terri
fic! Great big brown beetles fried in oil and
served hot and when you pop them in your
mouth they crunch just like. . . "
"Out! Out of my house! Never darken
my door again!"
"Or monkey. Now there's a treat.
Barbecued monkey fresh off the spit.
They cook it without skinning it and once
you've picked all the burnt hair off. . ."
"GET OUT OF HERE!!!"
I had to leave pretty quickly. I didn't
like tbe look in his eyes. I'm sure hell
calm down after a while and IH .be wel
come there again. I've been considering
bringing him a peace offering. I think 111
buy a few dozen moutain oysters and
take them to him. That ought to cheer him
up.
None of this matters to those who see
South Africa as beyond redemption and
who see the economic chaos and evel all
out race war as the holy hope for change.
But for those who still hope for some
resolution short of major violence and de
struction, the Sullivan Principles may make
some sense.
Copyright 1978, The Washington Post Company
letters
Continued from Page 4
Third, we need to Negate the Actual
And Pursue the Possible. What I mean is
that we must accept reality, but along with
this acceptance of these conditions must
also be a categorical refusal to accept these
conditions as unchangeable.
As I see it, BlackSpeak could help ele
vate the consciousness of many Afrikans
on the UN-L campus; but here we must
deal with the augmentative and instructive
aspects of what the struggle is all about; as
students, we are confronted with the
change and challenge of working mutually
to become our own liberators-and we
won't find it chasing and marrying the op
pressors' women; we won't find it slam
dunking, dancing in the end-zone or some
other example of the gladiator syndrome;
and we sure won't find it by slipping off
into "our own bags" and acting as if a "do
your own thing" philosophy is the key to
our freedom. It ain't.
Fourth, BlackSpeak is necessary and
sufficient in that ifrmay be viewed as an
ideological formulation that is not only
critical but also spontaneous, reactive and
proactive. In this light, we see that Afrikan
students in Nebraska are serious about
struggle-on one level or another.
What we must do now we must do together-there
are no spearate solutions. We
either support one another or the institu
tional lies of the oppressor. This speaks to
the issue of inter-campus communication,
not just among students, but black faculty
as well.
Fifth, it is so true that racism is
something that people of color should learn
to deal with. But it is also true and tragic
that the oppressor-people must assume
another role in this process. They must
learn that the problem, as far as race rela
tions goes, is THEM, and that is the white
community that is in need of "civilizing."
Once we understand this general truism,
we can move on to self-awareness, because
"if you don't know who you are, then
you can't know who your opposition is."
I am being short purposely so that per
haps the thoughts that have been stimu
lated will blossom forth. Whatever
happens, let us always remember the words
of Karenga when he cogently contends
that, "progress in struggle is dependent
upon progress in thought." BlackSpeak is
a step in the right direction. I hope that
bloods in Lincoln continue to do meaning
ful work.
Matthew C. Stelly
Student, UNO
PITCH
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Birth Defects
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MARCH OF DIMES
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