EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte ’
Our
VIEW
Graham
vs. Goliath
One person can be an
instrument of change
On March 28, a man died.
He wasn’t terribly famous. Millions did
n’t mourn his death, and flags didn’t fly at
half mast.
But he proved one person can effect sig
nificant change, and we think he ranks
among the greatest role models of the 20th
century.
The man was Henry V. Graham, the
National Guard general who told Alabama
Gov. George C. Wallace that he would have
to step aside from his “stand in the school
house door” on June 11,1963.
That “stand” was Wallace confronting
federal authorities at the University of
Alabama in Montgomery when they tried to
enroll two black students, James Hood and
Vivian Malone. Wallace stood with his arms
stiff at his sides and declared, “Segregation
now, segregation tomorrow, segregation for
ever.”
Graham informed the governor he would
have to enroll the students. He stood up to the
governor’s hatred in that doorway.
It wasn’t the first time Graham, one man,
had made a difference. In 1961, he and the
National Guard had helped calm a white
mob when Freedom Riders arrived at a
Montgomery bus station. In 1965, he and
some guardsmen escorted voting rights
marchers from Selma to Montgomery. A few
weeks before, the marchers had been gassed
and clubbed on Bloody Sunday.
Within a decade of Graham’s showdown
in the doorway, Wallace’s tune had changed.
Ten years later, he crowned Terry Points as
the university’s first black homecoming
queen. In 1991, he said in an interview he
regretted his stance against integration.
After that “stand in the schoolhouse
door,” Wallace remained a political legend,
mounting a significant bid for president in
1972. When he died Sept. 13,1998, his body
was laid in state in the Alabama Capitol.
Meanwhile, Graham left the limelight
and was a real estate dealer in Birmingham
before his death in a local nursing home.
Often, it doesn’t seem that one person out
of the limelight can make a difference.
It doesn’t seem as if one student’s work
towards diversity and cultural understanding
could accomplish much. And it doesn’t seem
that one teacher changing his or her course
material to better reflect the diversity of our
world and nation will leave a lasting mark.
Graham proved that David still can slay
Goliath. He showed that a person who does
the right thing, making small steps towards
recognizing humanity and human rights, will
eventually accomplish a great feat.
He was the first to make Wallace step
aside of his anti-segregation stance. Graham
won a significant battle in the war on racism. '
Graham should be celebrated as a politi
cal hero; he should be remembered by future
generations and historians.
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Babin’s
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DN
LETTERS
Show me love
Take a moment to think about the
definition of family Jessica
Flanagain (“Failing Families,”
DN, April 1) promotes as the
ideal. “An enduring commitment %
between a man and a woman.”
Isn’t it odd love doesn’t neces
sarily need to be a part of her
equation? A loveless commit
ment that endures, say, for the
sake of the children or
because a woman can’t
bring herself to leave
her abusive husband
still fits in Flanagain’s
otherwise narrow def
inition. But who
would say it is an
ideal situation?
I’m tired of peo
ple citing studies that
link fatherless fami
lies to an array of soci
etal ills and automatically
associating the results with
gay and lesbian parents.
Most likely, the condi
tions these studies report
are caused less by the
absence of a live-in father
and more by issues of aban
donment and the limited
resources (not only of money,
but time and attention, etc.) of
the remaining parent.
Stuart Kujath loves his gay
mom. Presumably, his gay mom
loves Stuart. If Stuart is raised in
an environment where he knows he
is loved and valued for who he is, his
future is not as dim as Flanagain sup
poses.
as Mr. Ferate’s blathering.
I am a deeply conservative
Republican. I believe the Great
Society programs of our parents and
grandparents are in desperate need of
overhaul. To look at me, you would
judge me to be a Caucasian. Based on
these statements, Mr. Ferate and Mr.
Rempe would presumably both con
clude I am part of the “extreme right
wing,” as Mr. Rempe puts it. They
would therefore be making the same
where
did vou come
error - one bom from the same
sort of close-minded intel
lectual superiority
shared by both men.
You see, gentlemen,
as is the case for
intellectual adults
who reside in the
real world, my
political beliefs
are the result
of careful con
sideration and
personal experi
ence. The Great
Society pro
grams, in my
opinion, require
renovation because
our country can no
longer afford the fis
cal abuses of these
systems I myself
have seen. I am well
aware of the danger
any such changes
would present for those
who rely on these pro
grams to get back on their
feet. However, I believe the
need to end their abuse is
ter than the risk to a few who
Dave Gilsdorf
alumnus
class of 1991
Wake up
I’d like to take a moment to offer
some advice to the enlightened socio
political policy fools that have graced
the opinion pages with their thoughts
in the last few days. To Mr. Rempe and
Mr. Ferate, and to all those who have
likewise expressed such bold senti
ments as have been shared by these
fellows, I offer a suggestion: Any time
you would like to join the real world,
please feel free.
Having hashed my way through
the oblique and semi-literate argu
ments the two of you have put forth, I
find myself unwilling to take either of
you too seriously. Mr. Ferate, exactly
up with such Neolithic, homophobic
tripe? It is an unfortunate fact that
your position in such a “powerful”
organization as the College
Republicans lends you the automatic
authority to spout stereotypical
hatreds, thereby eroding public confi
dence in the political party with which
you are unfortunately affiliated.
And Mr. Rempe, exactly why do
you debase your justified outrage at
such ludicrous suggestions by froth
ing at the mouth at the Evil
Conservative Caucasian Conspiracy?
Every rational person on the campus
knows Mr. Ferate was expressing
anachronistic hate propaganda.
Exactly how that translates into the
equally ridiculous assertion on your
part that it is conservatives who are
the Great Satan is as much a mystery
would otherwise benefit from the pro
grams in question.
It is the careful consideration of
both the pros and the cons of each
political opinion that separates
empowered citizens of this country
from the rote recitation of stereotypi
cal sound bytes, which you two have
been spewing in these pages over the
Jast few days. In the future, I would
ask that you consider your opinions
before you dispense them from on
high. If you cannot find the weakness
es in what you are about to say, then
perhaps you should seriously evaluate
whether those opinions are your own
- and, therefore, whether you wish to
espouse them.
Eric C. Odgaard
graduate student
psychology