E. Ill (.MI S SHANKS
‘Sleepy’ town violently awake
Is there something about life in
Lincoln that makes a person
complacent, or is it just me?
Somehow, I had managed to
forget just how harsh life can be.
Somehow, over time, I had forgotten
about a frightening event that
happened to me, right in this town.
While in a small Missouri town
recently, I had my memory jostled.
Every September I spend two days
in Kirksville, Mo., home of the
Northeast Missouri College of
Osteopathic Medicine. On this trip,
I met a guy named Bill, who had
been to Lincoln only once ...
“Two years ago,” he explained,
“and that was enough for me.” I
asked what happened, and what he
said made my chin drop.
“I went there because a friend of
mine got shot,” he said.
“WHAT?” I screamed. This
floored me. I just could not believe
it. “What’s his name?” I asked. I
was sure I would recognize the
name, because shootings are so
“rare” here, but I didn’t. I pressed
on. “Who shot him — the cops?”
“Don’t really know,” he said.
“They arrested somebody, but she
got let off. But I think she knew
about who did it. At the funeral ...”
“WHAT?! He’s dead?” I
screamed again. How unlikely to
have met the friend of a Lincoln
murder victim in Kirksville, Mo.
Nobody gets killed in Lincoln. That
kind of violence seems so rare. But
is it?
I’m no dumb hick. I’ve been to
virtually every major city in the
country — and not as a tourist. I’ve
lived in Houston and New Orleans,
and I’ve worked for days at a time
in several other big cities. But as
Bill talked about his friend’s
murder, I began to feel like a hick.
Several days ago, a federal prison
escapee was apprehended in
downtown Lincoln after allegedly
trying to rob a convenience store
and overturning a mail carrier’s
truck. A few days later, a Husker
I went to a party and wasn’t let in.
Outside I was accosted and beaten.
As' I drove away, / was pulled over
and questioned by police about
“being drunk and causing a dis
turbance>>...
football player was wounded by a
bullet fired at a group of partygoers.
This week, police arrested a man
near campus after a gun fight and
high-speed chase that left one
officer wounded. Is this the picture
of a quiet Midwestern town?
Monday night I was driving
through University Place. I barely
noticed a passenger in the rear of a
two-door compact car. He reached
forward, extended his arm through
the driver’s window and “threw out
a Crip sign” to me. I thought I was
going to die.
I had the same feeling in
Jefferson Parish, La., in 1978 when
I made eye contact with a Ku Klux
Klansman standing five feet from
me. He wasn’t wearing his hood —
that’s how I knew he was looking at
me.
Bill explained that his “visit” to
Lincoln was to attend his friend’s
funeral and find out who had killed
him. Instead, he found out he didn’t
want to know.
“I asked around at the funeral
and was told right away that if I
wanted to live, I'd quit asking
questions. I didn't ask no more
about it,” he said. And as if the
pretty picture of my little town
hadn’t deteriorated enough, Bill
had more ugliness about my “quiet”
town.
“Later, we went to the bar with
some of the people from the funeral.
They seemed all right. We weren’t
leaving ‘til morning ‘cause of the
long drive.
“About 10 minutes after gettin’
there, the people we come with just
disappeared. We didn’t know where
the house was we was staying at or
nothing. We started walking, and
right then the cops come and tell us
we’d been drunk at the bar and
causin’ trouble.”
That was a trick played on me
before. (Suddenly, I was worldly
again.) But at first, I didn’t recall
this ever happening in Lincoln.
It did happen to me in Lincoln,
12 years ago. I went to a party and
wasn’t let in. Outside I was accosted
and beaten. As I drove away, I was
pulled over and questioned by police
about “being drunk and causing a
disturbance” while in the house. I
told the officer I never even got
inside, and I showed him my
swollen face.
This had happened to me in
Virginia Beach, Va., twice in New
Orleans and once in Midland,
Texas. I wasn’t beaten in any of
those places, but I didn't forget what
happened. Maybe I had gotten used
to it.
What happened to the worldli
ness I used to be so proud of?
Somehow I’ve been lulled to sleep.
Lincoln isn’t as “sleepy” as it looks.
I may be “sleepy,” but Lincoln has
the same violence we see on the
evening news.
Sometimes, I guess I just forget
where I come from.
Shanks is a graduate student and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
KIM STOCK
N. Korea is cause for worry
Between China and Japan lies a
tiny country divided into two parts.
We don’t know much about Korea.
We know that lately North Korea
has been appearing in various
newspaper headlines. South Korea
makes a decent imitation Honda,
and Samsung seems to produce
good televisions and stereos. The
1988 Summer Olympics took place
in Seoul. Didn’t we fight a war or
something in Korea? Oh yeah, and
don’t those people eat dogs?
So why does this country have
the world wringing its hands and
second-guessing what's going to
happen next? The United States has
enough to worry about with Presi
dent Clinton wanting to invade
Haiti. Why add another country to
our growing list of places the United
States needs to police?
For those of you who already
understand Korea’s history, you may
want to skip my column completely.
It would be better for you to read the
sports or “Calvin and Hobbes.”
However, for the rest of you who
have only a faint notion or not a
clue in the world as to what’s
happening, I’ll briefly summarize .
the bizarre sequence of events.
An important element of this
puzzle is that historically Korea has
yet to act as an independent nation.
Before World War II, Japan con
trolled Korea. After the war, Korea
was divided by the United States
and the former Soviet Union.
South Korea was molded into the
democratic and capitalist country it
is today. North Korea, under the
careful guidance of Stalin, became a
communist country that secretly
carried on with its affairs. Stalin
picked Kim II Sung to lead his little
country lying in the Sea of Japan.
Kim II Sung ruled North Korea
and privately named his son, Kim
Jong II, as his heir. It was rumored
that North Korea had access to
Kim Jong 11 is more dangerous
than people give him credit for
being. We don't know much
about him, but we know he's a
ruthless sponsor of terrorism.
nuclear bombs, and this is why the
United States started to sweat. Last
year, Kim II Sung kept inspectors
from visiting two suspected pluto
nium sites and threatened to
withdraw from the nuclear nonpro
liferation treaty. This raised U.S.
concerns and fears about what
North Korea would do next.
Earlier this year, Kim II Sung
agreed to set up “talks" with the
United States. During the summer
Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang
to negotiate with him. Despite
Carter’s reports that he was “strong
and ready to talk," Kim II Sung died
of a heart attack. His death ended
his 48-year reign over the North and
caused the world to question
whether his son really would
succeed htm.
The United States has good
reason to worry. We want to protect
and remain close allies with South
Korea. Geographically, South Korea
is a political safe haven between
Japan and China. The United States
has some 40,000 troops in the South
warning the North to keep its
distance.
In 1983, the North attempted to
assassinate the South Korean
president. We would be fooling
ourselves to think the North
wouldn’t harm its neighbor below.
Let us not forget that it was North
Korea, in an attempt to reunite, that
invaded South Korea in 1950.
If North Korea gains or has
nuclear weapons, we have no idea
what it would do next. North Korea
could sell nuclear weapons to
countries like Iraq or Libya. Some
think the North would use them
against the South. I’ve even heard
the North wouldn’t mind using the
bomb on Japan. (They’ve never
liked each other much.)
Kim Jong II is more dangerous
than people give him credit for
being. We don’t know much about
him, but we know he’s a ruthless
sponsor of terrorism. He’s been
blamed for masterminding the
attempt to kill the South Korean
president in 1983. In 1987, he
ordered a South Korean airliner to
be blown away. The new Kim is
rumored to be mentally unstable.
The worst fact is that North
Korea is desperate. Since the ’60s,
the North Korean economy has been
going downhill. North Korea has no
real allies anymore, and commu
nism is a dying trend. North
Korea’s country is poor, and its
people need something good to
happen.
How they choose to make this
happen is cause for the United
States to worry.
Stock la a Junior secondary education
major and a Daily Nebraskan colnmnht.
The 1994 Involvement Fair
Nebraska Union Plaza
Tuesday September 20
10:30-2:30
Be involved,
make a difference!
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Student
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Free Computer
Classes!
The Computing Resource Center is offering free
microcomputer classes to UNL students. The classes will
feature an introduction to Microsoft Word for the
Macintosh. No reservations are required.
Introduction to Microsoft Word for Macintosh
Tuesday, September 20 2:30 - 3:20 Andrews Hall lab
Thursday, September 22 2:30 - 3:20 Andrews Hall lab
Intermediate Microsoft Word for Macintosh
Thursday, September 22 7:00 - 8:30 Andrews Hall lab
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The Racial Pluralism Action Team (RPAT) is now
accepting applications. RPAT was established to foster
understanding and harmony between the many races and
cultures represented in the student body at the UNL. The
team also serves In an advisory capacity to the Vice
Chancellor for student Affairs on matters of diversity.
The goals of RPAT are as follows:
a.) To plan educational programs on diversity, which
may include a fall semester cultural diversity retreat
and a spring semester diversity mini-conference;
b.) To serves as contact persons for students and
others with concerns about cultural diversity issues;
c. ) To work with student government (ASUN) to
provide advice and consultation to the university
administration on issues confronting racial minority
students at UNL;
d. ) To provide additional support and resources for
diversity programming on the campus.
The members of RPAT include UNL students, faculty, and
staff who are committed to the task of creating a campus
environment that is multicultural, progressive, supportive,
educational and challenging for all members of the
campus community.
Applications for a two year term (1994-96) beginning this
fall are available until Monday, October 3rd, in the Office
of the Vice Chancellor for Students Affairs (124
Administration Building). Those individuals who are
selected for membership will be notified during the week
of October 3rd.
PLURALISM
jfyuU* ACTION TEAM