Baha’i group targets
racism in discussion
By Lindsay Young
Staff Reporter
“Some Americans are racist - are
you?”
That was the slogan on signs inviting
people to address issues regarding racism
and multiculturalism at a discussion
sponsored by the University ofNebraska
Lincoln Baha’i Association.
Five panelists, answered questions in
the basement of the Culture Center
Thursday night
Chad Dumas, president of the Baha’i
Association, said the group wanted to
educate the campus on these issues.
“One way to break down those (cul
tural) barriers is to educate about those
barriers,” Dumas, a junior music educa
tion major, said.
The first question asked panelists to
address any misconceptions about their
race or culture.
Oscar Baeza, junior psychology
major and panelist, said immigrants are
not taking jobs from anyone in die United
States. He said immigrants are taking
jobs no one else is taking - and some
times not being paid minimum wage for
them.
“The United States has sold itself as a
land of opportunity and people are buy
ing into that,” Baeza said.
Panelists addressed offensive behav
ior or attitudes that should be avoided by
people trying to establish multicultural
relationships.
Eddie Brown, a junior business major
and panelist, urged audience members
not to label an entire culture based on one
person of that culture.
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“That one person does not represent
the whole culture by any means,” Brown
said
Baeza said people need to listen
before asking questions when trying to
establish a multicultural relationship.
He said sometimes people try to use
what they have already learned about that
culture prior to meeting that person to
establish a basis for the friendship.
VietHoang, senior finance major and
panelist, said getting involved was one
way to meet different people.
‘Don’t limit yourself to your own cul
tural group,” Brown said
Also, inside a group of people there
are different cultures, Baeza said.
“Each (Native American) tribal
nation has its own traditions they follow,”
D.C. McCauley, a pre-mortuary major
and panelist, said.
Misty Thomas, a freshman family
science major and audience member, said
stereotypes are made of all people, not
just different races.
“You have stereotypes of lunch
ladies,” Thomas said
Baeza encouraged students to open
themselves to people of other cultures
and races.
‘You have got to have an open mind
but I also feel you have to have an open
heart and open arms,” Baeza said.
“Stand up to any form of prejudice
you see,” Brown said to the audience.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP)
— Yasser Arafat’s Cabinet agreed
Thursday to attend peace talks with
Israel in Washington next week,
despite doubts about Israel’s inten
tion to hand over more West Bank
land, officials said.
Palestinian Cabinet ministers,
who spoke on condition of anonymi
ty, said they decided after a six-hour
debate to attend the talks, scheduled
to start Monday.
“We have agreed with the U.S.
administration on a specific agen
da,” chief negotiator Saeb Erekat
said. “We hope this will be the agen
da.”
He said it included a halt to
Jewish settlements, an Israeli troop
pullout, final status talks and securi
ty issues.
Israeli newspapers reported
Thursday that Israel will offer the
Palestinians a temporary cutback in
Jewish settlement construction if
they shelve demands to gain control
over more West Bank land.
Foreign Minister David Levy,
who will represent Israel, will make
the offer at the meeting with
Palestinian negotiator Mahmoud
Abbas, the daily Haaretz and Maariv
newspapers reported.
The Palestinians rejected such an
idea, saying they would insist that
Israel carry out its U.S.-backed
promise to pull back troops in the
West Bank in three stages by mid
1998.
“What is temporary?” Arafat
adviser Nabil Abourdeneh asked.
“For us the most important thing is
the (troop) redeployment.”
Arafat himself said he doubted
the meeting would yield results. “We
don’t want meetings for the sake of
meetings. No more, no less. It is a
waste of time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Arabic language
daily Fasel A1 Makal, published in
Israel, said Thursday that Israel and
the Palestinians have set up a secret
channel to discuss a permanent
peace agreement dealing with such
issues as final borders, Jewish settle
ments, Palestinian refugees and
Jerusalem.
It said Arafat and Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
agreed last month to authorize
Palestinian Parliament Speaker
Ahmed Qureia and Netanyahu’s
attorney, Yitzhak Molcho, to hold
informal meetings on the issues.
The newspaper said Qureia and
Molcho have met four times so far.
Netanyahu’s spokesman, Shai
Bazak, was not available for com
ment.
Israel radio said the prime minis
ter’s office confirmed Qureia and
Molcho were meeting, but not to dis
cuss permanent status issues.
In public, the Palestinians have
been reluctant to accept an Israeli
offer to go straight to final status
talks, fearing it is a ploy by Israel to
get out of its promise to hand over
West Bank land as part of the interim
peace agreement.
Israel’s Cabinet decided after
two suicide bombings by Islamic
militants in Jerusalem last summer
that it would not hand over any land
until Arafat cracked down on terror
groups.
An Israeli official who spoke on
condition of anonymity said Levy
would negotiate the extent of a
“timeout” in settlement construction
called for by Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright. However, he
said there were no plans to offer a
cutback in the overall program to
build more settlements.
The Palestinians have demanded
a complete halt in settlement con
struction.
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