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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1988)
1T FfllfnriP11 Nebraskan 4 * J %JL X X U X X CL X Friday, February 26, 1988 Nebraskan Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766 Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor Jen Deselms. Managing Editor Curt Wagner, Associate News Editor Scott Harrah, Night News Editor Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Ch ief Joel Carlson, Columnist He can’t take sides The pope has perspective others lack “Pope John Paul U (last) Fri day blamed the rivalry between East and West for social and economic ills in the Third World and delivered a sweeping indict ment of totalitarianism, materi alism and the 'all-consuming desire for profit.”’— Associ ated Press wire story, Feb. 20, 1988 It has been 400 years since a pope was recog nized as the supreme power of the Western world, but it’s important to realize he still has a great deal of influence across the globe. As a man with followers in all nations, Pope John Paul II has a world perspective that leaders of the superpowers simply lack. While U.S.- and Soviet-led blocs are busy increasing their power bases, security and inter national leverage, countless Third World nations arc trampled during the struggle. Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua and the Middle East have all become battlefields for the mili tary games superpowers play and mere incidents in the jockeying for world domination. Leaders of nations may give lip service to world peace, but want it only if their countries get the best deal. “An unacceptably exagger ated concern for security . . . deadens the impulse toward united cooperation by all,” John Paul II said. This obsession with power works to “the detriment espe cially of peaceful peoples who are impeded from their rightful access to the goods meant for all,” he said. The pope is a world figure with the unique responsibility of leading people of all nationali ties. He can be a tie, a link for all the world. To make sure all his people arc treated fairly, he cannot choose sides. He must work with all nations to win humanitarian goals. He is guided by Christian prin ciples, and while they haven’t saved the world during nearly 2,000 years of existence, they still have some good points. Do for others what you would like them to do for you. Letter’s ‘foolishness’ offends black reader 1 would like lo make a few com ments on Scott Wilhite’s letter (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 23) entitled “Don’t stop w ith gays, others should go loo.” Was the intention of the letter sar casm or was it a state of opinion? 1 really don’t think the misled young man knew himself. As a black fe male, 1 took extreme offense to this letter. Obviously, Wilhite is under delusions regarding black people. It is very unfortunate that we black people make whites uncomfortable. Black students for too long have sat by and allowed foolishness such as the aforementioned letter to go by without a word. Where is our pride? Our black unity? Have wc, the new generation of blacks, become too comfortable with the idea that wc have arrived? We have not arrived! When we fool ourselves into believ ing this, that is when wc, fellow black students, have created our downfall. Black is not a color, it’s a state of being. Black is a strength, an emo tion, a reaction to a reality — wher ever we are, whatever color, shade or hue. If you call us black, we’ll love it, because that’s who wc arc. Kimberly Randle sophomore special education Reader censures letter's ‘racist remarks' In response to Scott Wilhite’s let ter (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 23): I will not go for your racist remarks. My fellow blacks and feminist groups will not cope with your racist re marks, and if you have anything to say, be a man and say it in person. I can back my words up. I’m telling you to keep your racist remarks to yourself. Leonard Jones III freshman criminal law GLC shouldn t lobby just tor lacuity pay I realize that the faculty salary increase bill is the primary concern for the Government Liaison Com mittee. There arc, however, many other bills before the Legislature that effect University of Nebraska-Lin coln students thatGLC has left unno ticed. These bills include such issues as the lowering of the minimum wage, the current proposal to treat Nebraska football players as univer sity employees and a proposed con stitutional amendment that would establish a state lottery, the returns of which would be used for education. A truly representative student organi zation would try to address a variety of student issues rather than a single. This point is yctagain proof ofGLC’s ineffectiveness as a lobbying group. This ineffectiveness is a poor reflec tion of ASUN as a whole. This is a need for a change. All students’ voices must be heard. Kristi Hunt junior engineering The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Readers also are welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Submit material to the Daily Ne oraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. Racism alive and well in U.S. Black History Month chance to celebrate black achievements A recent letter to the editor ig nited fire among one of the University of Nebraska Lincoln minority groups. What has raised the ire of some students is a letter (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 23) that suggests blacks return to the plantations, that says the majority of white people do not tolerate black people and that describes Dr. Martin Luther King as “uppity.” The letter was apparently written as a satirical response to a previous letter (DN, Feb. 16) that told homosexuals to “go back to the closet.” Whether the letter was intended to be sarcastic or not, reality proves that the white supremacist view is still held by some today. In Fort Smith, Ark., this week, 14 white supremacists arc on trial for a variety of charges. Their violations range from transportation of stolen money across stale lines to conspir acy to kill federal officials to sedi tion. Racism reigns in the minds of these people as they prance in white robes and police push down the fiery crosses that scream of white suprem acy. Just as frightening arc the group’s supporters who marched outside of the courthouse carrying signs sug gesting that the 14 men be set free to create a new Aryan nation and to allow the minority members of the population to be tortured. It’s no secret to anyone who isn’t extremely deluded or drug-sedated that blatant racism is alive and well. The Emancipation Proclamation, though it loosened the shackles of slavery, did not set the nation free of prejudice. Nor, despite the efforts of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was racial intolerance de stroyed. During Black History Month, we can be reminded of the contributions blacks have made to society. But we can also recall that some people actu ally do believe that blacks should be sent back to Southern plantations to pick cotton while some burly white overseer cracks a whip over their heads. Black History Month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the accom plishments of blacks in more recent times . . . blacks whose passages reserved in history books have been lost, stolen, altered or overlooked. What history books don 't tell us is that one of the world’s greatest poets was a black Russian named Alexan der Pushkin, who rubs shoulders with the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoevski. Nor do they suggest as we read ‘‘The Count of Monte Cristo’’ or “The Three Musketeers” that both were written by a black Frenchman named Alexandre Dumas. Nor do they suggest as Nancy Reagan trips on her high heels through the White House that it was a black architect, Benjamin Ban nckcr, who designed the building’s blueprints. Bannckcr also invented the clocks that tell Ronnie what time Air Force One is scheduled to leave for the California ranch. And then there are the forceful waves of peacemaking instrumented by King and W.E.B. DuBois. In 1950, DuBois helped found and lead the Peace Information Center as an answer to the Cold War. He was instrumental in circulating the Stock holm Peace Plan to “ban the bomb.” That same year, he ran for U.S. Sen ate on the American Labor Party ticket with the slogan “Peace and Civil Rights.” At 82, as a towering figure in the black community and one of the great intellectuals of his time, DuBois fought against the arms race and for African liberation. King’s accomplishments and Gandhian philosophies have been perhaps the greatest and most visible attempt at making peace among ra cial groups in society. It is fortunate that Black History Month arrives once a year to give honor to those people and to give encouragement to the descendants of that heritage. But the day that we no longer use the term “black Ameri cans” and the day that we no longer need Black History Month to serve as a reminder will perhaps be the day that King’s dream is realized. But before that day can come, we must look within ourselves to end racial prejudice. As Cassius said to Brutus: “The fault,dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves that we arc under lings.” Johnson Ls a junior news-editorial major and Daily Nebraskan editorial page editor. Sexual morality not choice of orientation, but behavior A few observations concerning, the letters from Gene Wiggins and Rich Roberts in the Feb. 23 Daily Nebraskan: The cunning thing about people who think like Wiggins is that they are impossible to argue against on any terms they will accept. Faith and reason are mutually exclusive con cepts. All arguments that 1 can offer arc based on evidence, logic and reason. Wiggins says that morality must be based on faith, that a moral ity based on reason is impossible because perceptions and logic may be faulty. Since he obviously includes his own perceptions and logic in this assessment, why then should anyone listen to a damned thing he has to say? Oh, but it’s not what he thinks, it’s what God says. If his perceptions and logic arc faulty, how can he pretend to know the word or mind of God, or judge the wordol anyone else who pretends to? What is his faith based on? Fear of reality? That in attempting to com prehend it he might make a mistake, and must put his mind on hold and do as he’s told? In any case, he may be ready to declare intellectual bankruptcy and abdicate the responsibility of think ing for himself. I am not, and will speak to those of you who aren’t cither. In the realm of reason, sexual ori entation is not a moral issue. To hold an individual as immoral in a matter where he had no choice is a mockery of justice and a contradiction in terms: That which is outside the op portunity of choice is outside the domain of morality. Nooncchooscshisscxual orienta tion. An individual who makes a conscious choice to be heterosexual is not as straight as he thinks. The fact that such a choice is necessary for him is the proof. A true heterosexual doesn’t have to choose. Likewise, 1 did not choose to be homosexual, 1 chose only to be moral: to speak the truth. For sexual morality is not a choice of orientation, but of behavior — what you do with your orientation. Homosexual behavior based on friendship or love, where both part ners are concerned for each others’ health and emotional well-being, is moral. Any sexual behavior involv ing force, coercion or lack of concern about pregnancy or disease is im moral. (This is why child molestation is irrelevant to homosexuality. No matter what the orientation of the pedophile, he is a child-abuser and should be treated as such.) Regarding Roberts’ letter, the only way one can impose one’s be liefs about sex on someone else is rape. Coming out to your family, friends and co-workers is exercising freedom of expression. So is a taste ful public display of affection. Nowhere in the Constitution do I see a right to be offended or to be pro tected against the opinions of those who disagree with you. If someone objects to lesbians and gay men having civil and human rights, he has the right to say so. But he had better notcxpccl me to listen— my citizen ship and my humanity are not open to debate. Indeed, that is what makes me the angriest: that a letter such as this is necessary at all, that there arc people like Wiggins who actually equate tw o men loving each other with murder and child abuse, and that I have to live on the same planet with them. Oh well. A wise man once said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of cv il i s for good men to keep silent Which only reminds me of another remark: “The love that dared not speak its name now won’t shut up.” James Holloway Lincoln 1 hank ureeks tor giving valuable time to ASUN The Daily Nebraskan editorial (Feb. 22) implied that fewer Greeks and more non-Greeks should be in volved in the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska. Terri Dondlinger’s letter (Feb. 24) implied that the few non-Greeks who arc involved in ASUN are the only ones who care about it. She continues to slate the non-Greeks who care in volved in ASUN arc able leaders. What’s wrong with that? If most people don’t care about AS UN, why would you want them to get involved? The Greeks think ASUN is worth their time. Either v/e should thank them for their time, or it says something about what their time is worth. Eric Salem advertising junior Don’t hit your brakes, hit cycles, reader says 1 agree with Curt Snodgrass (DN, Feb. 24) on the Nebraska helmet law. After Jan. 1, 1989, it will be more economical than ever to hit a motor cyclist with an automobile. Now wc can take those unsightly “Look Twice” bumper slickers off our cars and make room for the new genera tion o! appliques like “I don’t brake for freedom-loving cyclists.’ Michael Heaton graduate student automobile driver
