friday, february 16, 1979
daily nebraskan
page 5
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The Daily Ncbraskan recent editorial concerning the
actions of the American Agriculture led farmers in
Washington, has, like most of the area papers and national
coverage, simply missed the point.
The actions taken by the farmers, while most certainly
are out of character, are not at all out of proportion to
the desperate plight they face back home on the farm.
These men and women are literally fighting to save their
farms, their homes and their livelihoods. To them, at this
point in time, a stern lecture on civil disobedience and
maintaining public composure is a waste of their time.
It is not necessary to reiterate the statistical story
behind that long tractor drive to Washington. Suffice it
to say, that except for a few bright spots, such as the
cattle market which is finally coming out of a five-year de
pression and the dairy market which is already supported
by government programs, the farm economic picture does
not look bright. Grain fanners are especially hard hit and
it is this section of the economy that is most visible in
Washington.
What matters to these citizens is not that their actions
have caused them to lose face, but instead that no action
at all would have been even worse. Too dismiss the move
ment as one founded on rhetoric is to deceive oneself
and his paper's readers. This movement, like the Populist
movement of the 1890"s and the Farmer's Holiday Move
ment of the 1930's before it, is founded on simple
economic desperation. The American farmer, penalized on
simple productivity, is struggling to maintain his assets
against a wave of inflationary costs and low on-farm
prices.
The problem, of course, runs deeper than that. The
increasing control of corporate power in the food indus
try, and the incessant upward spiral of prices in the super
market are but indications that something is seriously
wrong with the system. The recent comments of Secretary
Bergland only serve to indicate that the Department of
Agriculture, as comptroller of that system, is so far off
target in emphasis and outlook that major revamping may
be necessary.
So if the tractorcade in fact turns out to be a public
relations disaster, the blame ought not rest with those
farmers in Washington. Their job, after all, is feeding the
world, not public relations, and their anger at the poli
ticians' ineffectiveness in dealing with inflation in this
time of depressed farm prices ought to be a concern we
can all sympathize with. But action, not sympathy is what
these farmers deserve from Congress. We who sit at home
can only hope that their sacrifice and message will not be
loot in a front page barrage of burning tractors and sw ing
ing nightsticks.
Kurt Hohenstein
Dakota City, Nebraska
Junior at Law School
Television women
I feel I must speak out regarding the guest opinion in
Monday's paper. I too, have been disgusted with the por
trayal of black people on television, but Stearns' lengthy
prose failed to reiterate the fact that television programs
do not depict reality at all (even about white America),
and programmers, in addition to being racists, are sexists
as well.
Black women have been severely discriminated against
and misunderstood long enough to be silent on this issue,
and I'm disappointed that Stearns' only published concern
about black women on television is that they be portrayed
as beautiful ladies, and not as heavyset or as strong "Aunt
Jemima" types.
I take offense with Stearns' demand that we need
strong, assertive males in every family situation and need
beautiful black women as our leading ladies. Is it just an
oversight that he does not ask that television portray
strong, assertive black women in real life and family situa
tions? Real life for a vast majority of black women is
raising children alone in poverty and not playing beautiful
leading lady to a male-head-of-household family.
If Stearns' is so concerned with reality why does he
want to have ficticious television shows about male
headed households? The nuclear family is a recent
development for blacks; in the past most black families
were matriarchal units, with women (strong, sometimes
heavyset, not always beautiful, real women) struggling to
raise theirchildren in a male-less environment.
I agree that we need to develop positive self-images for
black people to identify with and that we need to raise
the level of respect for all minorities in America. But we
must remember that the word "people" includes women;
whose damaged and negative self-images must also be
dealt with when developing ideal role models for tele
vision. We will never accomplish expressing reality if our
goal is to flood the television situation comedies and "real
life" dramas with beautiful ladies and strong, assertive
males. There must be a better balance of portraying old
people (men and women) with young people, plain people
with beautiful people, and poor people with the not-so-poor.
And we must not be afraid to portray women as
strong and assertive and as thinkers and doers.
Only when we remember (and act upon) the fact that
women an. people too. will we have something real to be
proud of.
Sue Tyrrcl
All people are alike
If Clyde Stearns wasn't so blatantly prejudiced, his
guest opinion might have more value than it does now.
People always complain about something or other in tele
vision, but leave it to Clyde to complain how it unrealis
tically portrays black people.
As for oppressing whites because blacks (and others)
have been oppressed in the past just doesn't. . . I think the
courts have said enough (Bakke).
Mr. Stearns states: "We need strong assertive males in
every family situation. We need black people charac
terized as complete families on each and every program.
. . .but most of all, we need it to be real!"
It would be great if that was real, Mr. Stearns, unfor
tunately for a lot of people it isn't.
You have good intentions, I'm sure, Mr. Stearns, but
you are too radical to convert many people. This and pre
vious articles of yours have only too clearly shown this.
David M. Spier
Sophomore
Animal Science
RHA opposes expansion
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved
a 9,000 scat addition to the east stands of Memorial
Stadium in Lincoln at their January meeting. We, the
members of the Residence Hall Association (RHA), as
concerned students, are opposed to this action for three
reasons:
(1) The regents, by and large, devote too much atten
tion to football and the football program. The football
program at Nebraska provides excellent publicity for the
university and the state, but education should be the uni
versity's primary concern; too often it seems that educa
tional interests take a back seat to the interest in football.
(2) The proposed method of funding for construction
is unsound, based on sell out crowds (including the new
seats) for over seven seasons of home games. The
Nebraska football program has been successful in recent
seasons, but there can be no guarantee of success in the
future. Decreased attendance, due to one or more bad
seasons, would make the present revenue predictions
invalid.
(3) Approval for the expansion was given at the
January meeting of the regents at a time when classes
were not in session. This allowed for inadequate student
input into a decision which closely affects students.
For these reasons, RHA considers the following
provisions regarding the addition important to the
interests of students and the citizens of Nebraska:
The proposed ticket surcharge to help pay for
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construction should not be placed on student tickets.
In addition to high tuition and other college expenses,
students should not be asked to pay for an expansion
which they generally oppose.
I'urthcr, students should not be required to buy tickets
in the new section unless they wish to. Student participa
tion is important during the game; its effect would be
diminished by a major change in the traditional seating
arrangement.
As concerned students we feel that the student voice
should have more influence in future decisions concern
ing students and the university. We would also urge the
regents to devote more of their efforts toward continual
improvement of educational quality at the University of
Nebraska. If such efforts are not made, this stadium ad
dition will stand as a monument to the neglect of basic
educational needs.
We suggest that all Nebraskans express their opinions
on this issue to the regent of their district.
University of Nebraska
Residence Hall Association
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