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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1990)
Editorial -Daily e&raskai Jana Pwfcncn, Edito*. 472 1766 Matt Hcrek, NewsKduor Btartdon LoOftm, Coiumm' John Payne, Entertainment Edir.or Damn* Fowlei, Sports Editor Brian Shdlito, Art Director MidieUs Paul man. Photo Chief Quibbles ‘n’ bits High percentage ranking is deceptive Figures don’t lie. Or do they? A report published by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges shows Nebraska near I the top of the list for increases in state aid to higher education dver the past three years. But the figures are based on percent ages, which means in Nebraska, ranked 32nd of the 50 states in actual dollars given to higher education, even a small increase yields a big percentage. Tlic more important rankings are the ones that sliow Nebraska at or near the bottom of UNL’s eight peer institutions in state funding for items such as operating finances and faculty salaries. Granted, improvements have been made over the across-the board cuts of tne past decade, but until state financing for higher education brings Nebraska out of the basement, the percentages don’t mean much. for the Daily Nebraska* 1.-—_-_iI_____I,.....I KKK column disturbs reader Brandon Loomis, a senior news editorial major and Summer Daily Nebraskan editorial columnist, has written an article (DN, June 14) that disturbs me and should disturb any University of Nebraska student, fac ulty or employer regardless of ethnic ity. To suggest that the Ku Klux Klan should be able toconunuc to “gener ate fear" and “cut its own throat” with bad publicity is absurd. About as absurd as the origin of such an organi zation as the Ku Klux Klan in Amer ica. The idea was one of Cameron, an officer in the military, from a late 19th Century play where several little black youngsters were frightened by two white youngsters who held a white sheet over their heads. Later, one of America’s most embarrassing organi zations, the Ku Klux Klan, was bom. Inc Ku Klux Klan has never made any positive contributions to the de cency of American society. The fear is in the individuals who belong to the group, and they generate fear. The members of the group want to remain behind their masks and don’t want anyone to know their true identities. When the group, which historically consisted of prominent businessmen, was exposed, they had to leave the group and only support the Ku Klux Klan "under the table” or ‘‘behind closed doors.” As early as 100 years ago, a black Baptist church in central Illinois was threatened, and fear must have gone through every nerve and through every bone of the little prayer group that met on a Wednesday night in about 1898. That is, until one black woman discovered the familiar-looking shoes of one of the white men and cleverly asked, ‘‘Joe, is that you? What arc you doing here?’’ The group of Klans mcn who had tried to upset an A frican American group in a prayer meeting fled the premises in fear and never returned. The “bottom line:” expo sure and the unveiling of any mystery is the beginning of fear which is the beginning of knowledge. As for Spike Lee’s successful movie “Do the Right Thing,’’ let’s get it straight, Mr. Loomis. More of us saw the movie than just you alone. It was not the movie that brought the riots. It was the truth that America yet faces and faced in the movie that brought the riots. Just as some truths in Amer ica have led angry United States citi zens to desecrate the flag through flag burning. When we continue to allow violence and hatred and evil and all of the things that separate men and w'omcn and boys and girls from each other to exist, we will have a once passive people behave as a “cat in a corner, ’ ’ fight back, and sometimes the fight mg is not as passive in nature. The First Amendment to the Constitution is just what is says, the First Amendment. There arc other amendments. This amendment docs not stand alone but in harmony with the others, including the 13lh, 14th and 15th, which were necessary be cause this country had forgotten a major resource of persons--African Americans. It seems some views of yours arc similar to those of many, who when it is convenient scream, “The First Amendment!” I hear so plainly what the Rev. Dr. Matin Luther King, Jr. so loudly proclaims, yet from his grave he says, “Violence and evil w ill eventually self-destruct” (paraphrased). But before it docs, it takes educated people like you and myself and the constituents of this major university to stand tall and not tolerate and never accept the evil of such a group as the Ku Klux Klan. Maurice Talc, Sr. instructor Teachers College MOW LISTEN NELSON. ¥00 MUST END THIS TALK OF AN ARMED STRUGGLE AGAINST THE WHITES ...HUH,OH,ILL BE RIGHT WITH ¥00... NOW, MR. MANDELA,., Colorado student inspires ballad New legal pressure makes life tough on rugged Americans Americans just ain’t willing to make room for the rugged in dividual no more. It seems like there’s a new wave of legal pressure on those who would forsake suburbia and live off the land, shooting things and drinking home made com whiskey. Subsistence hunting and fishing is increasingly under the gun these days, and I’m just glad James Fcnnimorc Cooper isn’t around to see il The Alaska Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional that state’s law giving rural residents preferential subsistence hunting and fishing righLs, because recreational hunters from the cities think they’re being discrimi nated against. Now the federal government wants to step in and manage the fish and game on the two-thirds of the state that it owns, which could severely restrict the caloric intake of natives who still respect and survive on the balance of nature. This is not a debate restricted to Alaska. Anti-huntersand recreational hunters alike warn to push subsis tence hunters out the door throughout the country, especially in the upper Midwest. I just can't believe it Yes, some animals which we hunted are shrinking in population. But it’s development, not hunting, which brings about this problem. Besides, recrea tional hunters as a whole take many more animals than do subsistence hunters, so it makes sense that if there are to be bag limits, theirs should be smaller. You can pretend hunters arc raping the land, but in reality, that job is left to cities and industries. Outlawing or cutting back on sub sistence hunting and fishing won’t save animal populations, but it will kill a way of life. This country’ was founded on at least the myth of the rugged individ ual. When things got a bit congested in the East, we moved west. We cre ated a lot of hell along the way that we’re paying for now, but that spirit has always been what every Ameri can identified with in one way or another. To outlaw what we’ve re vered for ceniurics makes no sense. To outlaw the practice Native Ameri cans have employed for centuries longer makes even less. Brandon Loomis Americans used to read and watch westerns. That may seem like just a trivial trend in entertainment, but it really was the result of conquering the frontier. When there was nowhere left to go, Americans sat in their cities reading about the gcxxl old days and wishing they could get off the free way and back to nature. Most have given up by now, thinking there’s no nature to get back 10. If there is a parcel of land out there somewhere, they think, certainly no one should be able to enjoy it. What they don’t realize is that the people enjoying it aren’t abusing it. Hopefully I’ve learned a lot of things in college, one of which is that for every smart person 1 know, there’s a dumb one. Some of the dumb ones periodically make me long for Griz zly Adams reruns, or to go oui and be Grizzly Adams myself. When I was a freshman, I read about a University of Colorado stu dent who was missing for about a month. When he finally showed up, it turned out that he had just packed up his all-terrain vehicle and roughed it out in the wild of Wyoming. He was sick of society, so he made his own. I support his right to do that. I’m not sure why he came back, but I assume he got lonely or had some debts. Anyway, I’ve always had this image of a guy foraging around for grubs, maybe shooting a few jack rabbits, and sleeping in a lean-to. The summer after that episode, I wrote a little ballad for the mountain guy and decided that some day I’d head into the woods or the desert and just shoot things until I died. Here’s my story: Living in a iean-10 nui. m Sauteed larvae in my gut, i / am the mountain man and I eat good food. f: L*t me tell you what I eat. I eat beans from a can, kill critters whenever I can, I generally wind up eating Spam I'm a mountain man Stubby Raccoon and myself do fine, living betwixt the willows and the pine, makin' headcheese and dandelion wine. We’re a mountain clan. Let me tell you what we eat (etc., etc.) I jusi want to say that when 1 ’m 65, and finally out of debt, I want to be able to kill critters and make head cheese while tobacco spittle clings to my beard. I’m an American, and by God, if I can’t pretend I’m a rugged individual, I don t know what this country’s coming to. t/oomis is a senior news-editorial major and the Summer Daily Nebraskan editorial columnist.