pago4
tuesday, September 11, 1979
daily nebraskan
Problems of refugees indicative.of other social ills
Relatively hard times have hit the
United States recently, and our peo
ple face difficult problems. The
energy crisis is real-dollar-a-gallon
gasoline is no longer feared, it's here.
Inflation is making the weekly gro
cery bill climb higher and higher.
Crime stories seem to fill the papers.
The outlook is bleak for many.
And people are looking for ans
wers to complex questions: Why is
this happening? Why is this happen
ing to me? Why is this happening
now? And, what can I do about it?
Answers are hard to come by. No
one really, knows what is happening
or why, and this leads to feelings of
frustration and hopelessness. In this
light, it is not surprising, it is even
human, when people start blaming
those around them for their pro
blems. After all, if someone or some
thing can be blamed, if there actually
is a reason for those problems, there
is hope of solving them.
Perhaps those desires to blame
someone, that need to find a solu
tion is the basis for the recent
animosity and hostility demonstrat
ed towards the Indochinese refugees
in several metropolitan cities.
Two weeks ago, refugee families in
Denver left their housing project
apartments after fights, bottle and
rock throwing incidents with neigh
boring chicanos. Last month in
Seadrift, Texas, an American was
killed and boats owned by refugees
barred after an argument. Tensions
had been high as Vietnamese fisher
man were accused of undercutting
the prices of their American counter
parts. Most of the problems are occuring
in low-income neighborhoods where
blacks and chicanos seem to resent
the help the refugees are getting
from charitiable organizations and
the government. Other incidents
concern fear for people's jobs. In
Indian ia, some refugees were laid off
construction jobs because they
worked too hard.
All of this may seem far removed
from Lincoln, Neb. After all, all of
this is happening elsewhere. But we
should be concerned. The violence is
a sign of problems, confusion and
animosity that run deep in Ameri
cans and that cannot be easily erased.
Blacks must rally
like ancestors did
My mother has always been fond of talking about her
late father and his interest in baseball. I listened intently
to her, as sometimes I think that I inherited my grand
father's interest in sport. That is, of course, until got the
details.
She told me about my grandfather religiously listening
to baseball back in the 1940s and early 1950s. She also
told me of the first television set in their rural east Texas
area. That set attracted men for miles around on Saturday
afternoons when teams took to the diamond. The men,
however, didn't just watch any baseball game. Nor had
they always been interested in baseball. These black men,
my grandfather among them, became instant baseball fans
when Jackie Robinson stepped into the major leagues and
broke the so-called "color-line." Once Robinson did that,
all one would have to do around Tyler, Tex. (or any
where) would be to mention "Jackie Robinson" to a
black man. That was a ticket to an instant conversation.
When my mother told me of the interest in Jackie Rob
inson, or, for that matter, any black person who managed
to master a large undertaking, an important, perhaps
frightening thing occurred to me.
We, as black people, have changed over the years. We
used to be a people who celebrated the triumph of any
one of us. A couple of generations ago, we knew that the
victory of any individual was a victory for all of our
people. We all used to share victories like Jackie Robin
son's. This, in turn, strengthened all of us for more victor
ies. We realized then that whether the achiever acknow
ledged it or not, his accomplishment was our accomplish
ment, and we all rejoiced in it.
We as a people have had many victories since 1947, but
we don't celebrate them any longer. We no longer find
achievement inspiring. Feelings of inspiration are replaced
with beliefs that the successful among us will forget us.
Instead of uniting behind the achievement, we often label
the achiever as a "sell-out" and sell the achievement short.
The pride that glorified Jackie Robinson had quietly ex
pired by the time Thomas Bradley became mayor of Los
Angeles. It was not to be found when Maynard Jackson
became mayor of Atlanta, or when Patricia Roberts Harris
became Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Are
we out of touch with our pride? I hope not.
Yean ago, there was no question about "selling-out"
because we rallied behind our accomplishments. We need
to rally again. We have come far, but we have so very far
to go. We must accent the positive and raise each other
higher. There are still lessons from our parents and grand
parents that we can learn as we struggle.
Hubert Brown
Editor's note: Hubert Brown is First Vice-President of
ASUN and former president of the Afro-American Col
legiate Society.
) l( ) EYEBALL TO )
President's job more bother than fun
Last week the media thundered with the news that
Sen. Edward Kennedy's family no longer objected to his
running for the Presidency. This drove the Washington
press corps to display their political acumen by predicting
he could beat President Carter by issuing mimeographed
handouts.
jerry fairbanks
I've never liked political predictions. You spread the
newspaper on the kitchen floor to housebreak your puppy
or switch off the TV after Walter Cronkite says "is" and
forget them until they come true, at which time you're
reminded the predictor got it right. If they don't, no one
knows except the recycler.
Kennedy makes me wonder. He really could be St.
Anthony tormented by a horde of demonic reporters,
supporters and self-appointed election committees, or
he could be Houdini biding his time to let the audience's
tension build to a suitable fever pitch. But either way, he's
not what I'm thinking about.
MA. r,rtiui OUT POI5 THE
FOOTBALL TEAM IS CRAZY?
CORNHVftKECS PLAY FOR keeps!
mm
THINK OF THw
ftOlTaE l THOSE
GlTfS MAJOR
IN VIOLENCE !!
THAT'S TRUE,
JUNIOR. ...
...STILL, THEfcE ARE
CERTAIN FSIN6E
BENEFITS WHICH
JUST CANT BC
OVERLOOKEbf
It's the Presidency itself. What man (woman, or child)
with the sanity to stay out of a straitjacket and the intel
ligence to put the right shoe on the right foot would want
it?
True, a president gets to live in a big house, travel at
someone else's expense, and can look forward to a pen
sion for life when his term ends-but so can a soldier who
never rises above private first class.
The president gets a lot of attention-a few minutes
every night on the national news, lots of space in the
newspapers so he can fill a lot of scrapbooks-but so does
Cheryl Tiegs, and all she has to do is wear something that
doesn't completely cover her breasts.
When you consider all the grief a president has to put
up with, it's obviously more bother than fun. A president
is expected to mediate and judge between competing
groups, like anti-abortionists vs. feminists, Israelis vs.
the rest of the Middle East, the Northeast v.. the Southeast
vs. the Midwest, ad nauseum. And he's expected to make
everyone happy every time.
The president draws more flak than a B-17 over Ger
many UT1942. From the cheapest tavern in the smallest
town right on up to the highest levels of power, wealth
and fame, Americans perform their daily duty and dump
on the president. It has an honored place in conversation,
just after whatever sport is in season and right before
dirty jokes.
So why? Idealism often leads men to seek high office.
The vanity of believing youre the last best hope of a
world gone wrong appeals to the most ardent realist.
There's the status of the job. One must admit being presi
dent commands more respect than paving streets.
And there's always the raw lust for power. A million
civil servants, three million men in the army, enough
nuclear warheads to make half the earth unlivable and
even a bed wetter can feel like he has control over his life.
But it's itni a mystery to me. I wouldn't take the job
unless, say, the ante was raised to t cool million a year,
no fewer than 10 public buildings are named after roe and
I get to write the history of my term In the Encyclopedia
Britannka. (This offer is negotiable.)