Editorial
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
Univarsity of Nsbraska-Lincoin
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor
Ryan Sleeves, Managing Editor
Eric Planner, Associate News Editor
Lisa Donovan, Associate News Editor
Brandon Loomis, Wire Editor
Jana Pedersen, Night News Editor
Scary statistics
UNL must commit to black recruitment
The Sentencing Project, a non-profit organization
that promotes alternative punishments and sentenc
ing reform, released a report Monday that showed
some scary statistics.
According to an Associated Press article, the study
found that nearly one of every four young black men is
behind bars or on probation or parole.
The report, based on data from the Justice Department,
says that 609,690 blacks aged 20 through 29 were under
control of the criminal justice system in mid-1989.
The same report showed that only 436,000 black men
of all ages are enrolled in college.
There’s something terribly wrong with that.
Especially when compared to the number of white men
in the same age category who are incarcerated or on
parole or probation.
For blacks, tho.se numbers represent 15 percent or tne
population. That compares to 6.2 percent, or 1,054,508, of
white men aged 20 through 29, the study showed.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House
Government Operations Committee, told the AP that he
would ask the General Accounting Office, a Congres
sional investigatory agency, for a study to corroborate the
report.
Conyers also said Congressional hearings are needed on
the subject
Yes, but more is needed than Congressional hearings. If
23 percent of black men in that age group were behind
bars or on parole or probation in 1989, what will that
percentage look like two years from now, the time it may
take for a substantial Congressional report?
What will it look like three or five years from now, and
if it increases, will the number of black men enrolled in
college decrease?
It’s a very real possibility, one that must be taken up by
colleges.
The University of tfebraska-Lincoin community may
not be able to do much to provoke Congressional action,
but it can increase the number of black males enrolled at
the university.
Recruitment efforts targeted at minority students —
especially black males — must be stepped up. Retention of
those students must be a commitment.
Even if that commitment includes higher cost for the
state and the NU Board of Regents.
- Amy Edwards
for the Daily Nebraskan
Turing’s story has a lesson
1 will not even waste time with
Kelvin Kreitman’s4 4 America -- Love
it or leave it” attitude (DN, Feb. 28).
The irony behind suggesting that dis
contents leave a country founded by
discontents is self-evident.
In contrast let me discuss a his
torical figure with a boundless mind,
Alan Turing.
Alan Turing might be best known
as the father of artificial intelligence.
He was a brilliant and iconoclastic
individual whose contribution to
computer science is far-reaching. He
had an intense interest in morpho
genesis - the study of how organisms
take their shapes. If he were alive
today, he probably would be a con
tributor to the nonlinear sciences that
arc casing light on that puzzle.
' He invented a machine that aided
in the decoding of enemy transmis
sions in World War II. He was not
secretive about his homosexuality,
and even after the war this was thought
to be a security risk. The British
government forced him to take
hormone injections in an effort to
“cure” his homosexuality. He was
eventually driven to suicide. This was
how that nation thanked the man who
was most responsible for the safely of
its shtps during the war.
He was a brilliant and gentle man.
His death is the result of people using
“national security” to justify human
injustices. This, Kelvin Krcitman, is
the central flaw in your modcof think
ing.
Nobody has to be a member of the
human race. If you don’t like human
life, you might consider leaving.
Pohl Longsinc
junior
math and computer science
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Mario tune haunts columnist
Government could use music’s power to control human actions
he past few days, an annoying
tune has been playing in my
head. It surfaces at the most
inopportune times. It has prevented
me from getting to sleep, looking
both ways before I cross the street and
tying my laces without knots.
Ashamedly, it is the Super Mario
Bros, theme. I climb into bed and the
music starts playing in my head.
My thumbs are sore from that game.
It seems like the quality of a song
is inversely proportional to the time it
spends in my head. I know I am not
alone. A co-worker hummed a Tif
fany tunc all day yesterday.
Music must be the most powerful
force in the universe. It can get in
your head and make you do the strang
est things. There was that serial killer
in California forced to kill by Oz/.y
Osbourne’s inspiring mayhem. And
this year, four teens in Caledonia,
Wis., killed a 1 1/2-ycar-old German
shepherd. They said they were driven
to kill something after hours of listen
ing to heavy metal music.
A few hours of heavy metal sends
me running for Tylenol, but then the
Mario theme starts my pulse to jump
ing. Tastes arc inexplicable.
The messages in music scare a lot
of people. The governor of Florida is
miffed that rappers arc filling Florid
ian youths’ minds with smut. And
don’t forget Tipper Gore’s failed
campaign to purge sex from music
Purity, apparently, turns some people
on.
Now the U.S. government has s
hand in the music game. The U.S.
Agency for International Develop
ment has commissioned pop songs to
discourage sex or at least promote
contraception among teenagers in
Third World countries. This agency
Henry
Battistoni
has distributed 6.9 billion condoms
over the past 20 years. It is enough to
make a good Catholic cry.
A sample given by the Associated
Press from the song “Choices" goes:
“ Yes we shouldn ’t make chiIdren/
We cannot take care of/Thcrc are
ways of making lovc/Without mak
ing children."
It’s not very catchy a cappclla, but
add a drum and a couple tambourines
and this baby hops. Two agency-spon
sored songs have topped the charts in
Peru and Mexico.
The beautiful simplicity of this
program makes me wonder why it is
not implemented on a large scale here
in America.
The way I hear it, rock music pro
motes sex. Sex is neck and neck with
drugs in the race to destroy our coun
try. With the power of positive pop
music we could end these scourges.
Proposal One: End homosexuality
in the military.
All services shall develop a right
minded song to be sung by personnel.
Example: “I wanna be an airborne
rangcr/1 wanna live a life of danger/
But keep those other boys away/I
don’t like the way they play.”
Proposal Two: Begin indoctrina
tion at the earliest date. School boards
shall dcvclopaltiludc-dirccling songs
to be sung by all students.
Example: “Daisy, Daisy give me
your answer truc/Wc can’t be friends/
If I have to go to the bushes with
you.”
Proposal Three: Influence immoral
college students to lead the nation
into a squeaky clean, sex-free future.
Example: “When you bum that
midnight oil/Pay no mind to your
foil/You know the real gold mine/
Waits for a future time.”
Proposal Four: All establishments
selling alcohol shall utilize a play list
of songs to be dcvclopctfby the U.S.
Agency for International Develop
ment.
Example: “Sometimes we’re busy
drinkin’/lt affects our clear headed
thinkin’/My single bed sleeps one/
There’s no room to get it on. ’
This program should be imple
mented rightaway. Why should Third
Worldcrs be the only people purified
by an omniscient propaganda ma
chine?
Battlstoni is a senior Knglish major and a
Dally Nebraskan columnist.
editorial --
Signed staff editorials represent
** the official policy of the spring 1990
Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members arc Amy Edwards, editor;
Bob Nelson, editorial page editor;
Ryan Steeves, managing editor; Eric
Planner, associate news cdilor;Lisa
Donovan, associate news editor;
Brandon Loomis, wire editor; Jana
Pedersen, night news editor.
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, iu
employees, the students or the Nl
Board of Regents.
kttejWYi_
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