Pago 4
Daily Mc bras Ran
Tuesday, May 1, 1934
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In this last editorial, I would like to extend thanks
and kudos to some of the people who have contrib
uted in a positive way to our lives.
The man who has stood out most prominently
during the last few months is Omaha Sen. Ernie
Chambers. His work in the Nebraska Legislature
stands high above any other senator in this past
session.
Chambers successfully pushed for the impeach
ment of Attorney General Paul Douglas. Most be
lieved that the Legislature would not pass the
impeachment resolution, that the Legislature was
incapable of making that kind of crucial decision.
Chambers, in great part, pushed the resolution
through the unicameral.
Chambers authored a bill that was passed to pro
hibit investment of state funds in apartheid South
Africa. Why should we support a nation that is
openly discriminatory?
A bill to pevent colleges from pulling scholarships
from athletes injured on the playing field was
passed. Athletes no longer need fear losing their
educations because of injury in service to their
schools. Another Chambers gem.
Sarpy County District Judge Ronald Reagan im
posed a stern sentence on the Rev. Everett Sileven.
His sentence of eight months in jail for Silcven's
tinucd contempt of the Nebraska courts and law
was very appropriate.
My only complaint is that the sentence will be
commuted if the children are sent to an approved
school. Sileven's unrepentant attitude and disregard
for the law warrant no softening of the sentence.
Kudos to Omaha Sen. Vard Johnson. His clear,
logical thinking was instrumental in several key pie
ces of legislation.
Johnson chaired the Special Commonwealth Com
mittee and helped to pass the impeachment resolu
tion against Douglas.
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Apathetic people won't end racism
At the command of a large black man with a large
black voice, I put a paper cup on my head, knelt on
the floor, and sang the Star Spangled Banner in
front of some 35 people. I was intimidated, humil
iated, ashamed.
"Every black in a white institution walks around
with a cup on their head," the man said.
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While I knelt there, red-faced and stumbling for
the words to the song, no one tried to help. No one
directly aided my oppressor, but no one tried to stop
him either. I considered them abettors.
"Whenever whites are silent, blacks assume they
are agreeing with other whites."
The next time the man asked for volunteers, I
raised my hand, joiner that I am. But I was leery. I
expected more of the cup treatment.
"Blacks are not always right about what whites
are doing to them, but blacks have been hurt so
often that they perceive what whites are doing."
One person said that, although she was ashamed
of the feeling, she felt good about seeing a white man
humiliated by a black man.
"Oppression is wrong, no matter what the source.
Retaliation is not the answer."
The man asked us white males what our identity
was. I thought of my jobs, my ancestors, my nation
ality, my religion, my age, but I couldn't come up with
an answer.
Tou a white male."
"But what about ..."
"You a white male! Whites, especially white males,
have no concept of the reality of their identity . . .
White males assume that no one else has an identity."
The man asked if I was prejudiced. My answer, like
everyone else's, was yes. The next quesiton was why.
I didn't know ignorance, maybe, socialization I
couldn't say. The black people in the room knew why
they were prejudiced: because whites are preju
diced against blacks.
"Black prejudice Is a reaction to white prejudice.
White prejudice is a result of nothing."
For a four hour workshop Friday afternoon, the
man was Charles King. He held all authority within
, the confines of the Regency Suite in the Nebraska
' Union. Whites in the room, for a change, were made
conscious, even ashamed, of our color. I was intimi
dated, powerless, disenfranchised a fool I was
told. I was in a system created by another, main
tained by another, condoned at least tacitly by all
others. King said that was similar to the situation
"out there" in American society, only with the race
roles reversed. "Whites created a system, they've
maintained the system, and they're condoning it.
And they don't know it."
I was forced to feel in some part what minorities
in America feel. I couldn't rationalize racism; I
couldn't think myself into believing it doesn't really
exist, or that I'm not a part of it. King made me feel
racism. And I didn't like it. .
I'm not contending that all my prejudice is gone,
that I am now enlightened or that I can understand
what blacks and other minorities go through. I real
ize that what I felt at King's w orkshop was a weak
comparison, being temporary, with the continual
oppression black people live with. But I've felt at
least that there is a potential to understand
which is something I couldn't have said before the
workshop.
The most important thing I learned from King
was this: whites who do not work against racism are
working for it, simply by allowing it to operate.
Racism exists, it is wrong, it is not going away, and
we who do nothing about it are just as guilty as those
who actively promote it. -
Johnson championed a bill or two that would
have been great laws, but didn't get passed.
A bill to place a checkoff on state income tax
forms to help fund senate elections' would have
eased pressure to go to political action committees
and special interest groups for funding, hence mak
ing our senators more independent.
Lastly, congratulations to the 1934 graduates.
The teachers, administrators and friends who
helped them through the maze of classes, ill-fated
romances, parties, soap operas and studying also
deserve thanks.
Most will be glad to leave. As time goes on funding
for the university seems to be dwindling. Classes are
growing in size, and many professors may leave if
salaries are not increased to at least average levels.
Ah, well, that's another editorial. Have a peaceful
and satisfying summer.
Chris Welsch
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Torsos not degrading
I have a lot of studying to do this week, but an
issue has drawn my attention w hich I can no longer
ignore.
I was entering Woods Hall recently when I noticed
a poster advertising a photographic seminar for
students of art. The poster included a nice photo
graph of two female torsos on a beach. The torsos
were fully clothed in decent swimsuits. However,
someone had placed a flourescent pink sticker over
one of the torsoes which denounced the photograph
as being offensive and degrading to women.
Aren't we carrying this whole thing a lot too far?
For centuries now, the female human body has been
respected as a symbol of beauty representing
forgive me' mankind. . - !
I think it's time we grow up now and worry about
more important things like inter-personal relation
ships or finals.
David K. Lenser
senior
life sciences
Others need money
Concerning the article "Prison studies delayed,"
(Daily Nebraskan, April 24):
I am not at all upset that Gov. Bob Kerrey has
decided to sever the funds allocated for inmates to
obtain further education. As is agreed, I believe that
all such institutions should hinge on rehabilitation.
Yet when university professors find themselves
underpaid, the students find government grants
harder and harder to obtain, plus the recent sur
charge initiated in 1S33 by the university, who needs
the money more? - - .
I'm glad there are people who, despite being put in
these institutions, want to gain further knowledge.
But if I can't afford buying books or paying tuition
can people still expect inmates to have access to
college?
Andrew Jacobsen
junior
" English
What does it tales?
I'm glad there are people around like Krishna
Madan who give us (in his columns) their percep
tions of socialism and Nicaragua. He has given me
insights about the workings of socialism. For exam
ple, "...in Nicaragua the individual participates in
group activities with others in order to represent
both hisher own concerns and to pursue the inter
ests of the group." This implies that there is a large
amount of community interactivity.
From all that I've read about Nicaragua, I believe
they truly are trying to construct a humanitarian
society. Yet, what is the United States trying to do
but to destroy their government? What does it take
to get Congress to completely stop CIA murder and
infiltration in Nicaragua? It's like in the movie Under
Fire when an American photojournalist is killed a
Nicaraguan responds by saying that 50,000 died in
our civil war, yet it takes only one American dead to
make the American people angry. Will it take even
one American soldier dead to evoke protest from
us?
Terry Asher
senior
computer science