The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 91, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 31, 1987 Page: 2 of 6
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The North Texas Daily
Tuesday, March 31, 1987
Editorials
Lack of civil rights
awareness spurs racism
Is there anyone out there who is fed up with the
flippant attitudes people hold toward racism in this
country?
You remember racism. It was real big in the United
States for about 160 years until it all came to a head
in the 1960s. But through civil rights legislation and
affirmative action, among other variables in the last
20 years, it’s really non-existent in this nation now.
Right?
Try again. The disturbing news is that racism is
flourishing as well as ever, thank you. The deplorable
news is that it’s flourishing in places where it would
not have seemed feasible before.
Like college campuses. Here are some examples
of racism on college campuses catalogued last week
by The Chronicle of Higher Education in a survey:
• A fight between whites and blacks at the Uni-
versity of Massachusetts at Amherst after the final
game of the 1986 World Series.
• The hazing of a black cadet by white cadets at
The Citadel.
• The broadcast of anti-black remarks at the Uni-
versity of Michigan’s radio station.
• The harassment by white students on people trying
to listen to a speech given by Rev. Jesse Jackson at
Northern Illinois University.
The Chronicle’s report finds that the common theme
behind these deplorable episodes was white hostility
toward blacks. Furthermore, university administrators
attribute racism on campuses to factors “including
the conservative climate in the country, white frustration
with affirmative action and a lack of historical aware-
ness about the civil rights movement."
The results of The Chronicle's study, it says, show
that racist attitudes on campus are partly a result of
the Reagan Administration’s attitude, record and
leadership in this area.
Praise be to those who can identify and defend a
policy of President Reagan’s which has helped en-
courage the easing of racial tensions. Even if one
can be successfully identified and defended, however,
a second is probably impossible to find.
The fact is that President Reagan’s record of moral
leadership in this area would be laughable were it
not for the seriousness of the matter. And what is
happening in this country — in the streets, in businesses
and on campuses — is a direct reflection of President
Reagan’s six years of indifference. How can young
people not recognize this indifference toward racism,
and then act in a similar manner?
Of course, President Reagan is not solely to blame
for racism on campuses or anywhere else for that
matter. He cannot, though, escape sharing the respons-
ibilty for the climate he has created.
Much of the responsibility, at least on the campuses,
must go to the students. They must take the time to
learn more about the great leaders whose lives were
devoted to instilling the idea of equality into others
and helping us to live together in peace and in the
name of brotherhood.
Students must also learn more about the ones who
perpetuated racism. The ones who claimed superiority
by condemning a race because of the color of its
skin.
Because both can paint a vivid picture; the difference
is in the latter's portrayal of a heinous, racist face.
Thatcher expected to call
re-election while polls up
Although British elections are scheduled for the
summer of 1988, it is likely that Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher will take the option of calling an
election for June in the hopes that her recent popularity
at the polls will get her re-elected.
On March 17, Thatcher introduced a new budget
which cut basic income tax from 29 pence to 27 pence
in the pound, raised all other tax thresholds and
allowances in line with inflation, which is forecast to
go from 3.5 percent to 4 percent in 1987-88, and
showed no increase on indirect taxes on such things
as gasoline, wine, spirits or cigarettes.
A review of the state of the economy showed the
seventh year of successive growth, the fifth year of
low inflation and an increase of exports by 6 percent
the first quarter over last year, out-performing all other
major economies. It is also estimated that the govern-
ment borrowing target will be cut by $4.8 billion (3
billion pounds) from $11.2 to $6.4 billion—1 percent
of gross domestic product. This is predicted to en-
courage a 1 percent fall in interest rates, with a
mortgage rate cut likely to follow.
Thatcher has been slowly trying to achieve what
she calls an “enterprise culture” to wipe out its
image as “the sick man of Europe.” By “enterprise
culture,” Thatcher means an attempt to get govern-
ment out of business by denationalizing, or “priva-
tizing,” industries subsidized by the state. It also
includes incentives such as the major tax cuts an-
nounced in her new budget and establishment of
hundreds of small enterprises.
Apparently, Thatcher’s plan is working, as evidenced
by the growth which her country’s economy experi-
enced last year. Great Britain’s economy grew faster
than that of the United States and has managed to
stay ahead of its European partners. In fact, England’s
productivity has been second only to that of Japan.
This is due to an increase in output per capita in the
manufacturing industry.
Thanks to Thatcher, the government’s strike record
has shown a “dramatic” improvement. In the
automobile industry, which has been consistently
plagued by strikes, the state-subsidized Austin car
group had a 99 percent strike-free record last year,
and its economic position has greatly improved.
Although critics say that Thatcher is neglecting such
issues as education, further increase in productivity
should promote higher skills and education.
So, although many feel that it’s time for Thatcher
to go, her record shows otherwise. An England without
Thatcher will only face the consequences of a higher
inflation rate and a more pessimistic society. After
all, the woman at 10 Downing Street has been through
it all, and has always come out on top.
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Family ties make good memoires
It has been since Christmas since I last
saw anything of my family, and just this
last weekend I made arrangements to drop
in on the ol’ family homestead. It was
refreshing, to say the least.
You see, I come from a long line of
hot-blooded Latinos, on my mother’s side
that is, and this cultural trait makes it very
hard to say “I’m sorry,” or “I accept
your apology.” If you can read between
the lines this explains the long spell
between family visits. Anyway, it was
great to get back to the place where I
used to live.
MY PARENTS LIVE out in the
country not too far from Denton. They
live five miles from the closest town and
for the most part they have a lot of privacy.
I guess that’s the main reason why they
moved out there in the first place. I mean
they’re even lucky enough to have had
never been exposed to a salesman. But
not Jehovah's Witnesses, then again, who
is?
Seeing my family again was like a stroll
down memory lane, or rather l should
say a fast jog.
While going to church in a brand new
Surburban my dad was playing with the
locks. You know, the kind that automa-
tically locks or unlocks when you flip the
little switch up and down. Everybody's
played the game at least once or twice,
but to see a full-grown man playing with
what is usually a toddler’s game is quite
amusing, especially when they don’t know
you're looking. Mom spoiled the fun
though when she said, “Honey, quit
playing with the locks, you’ll break
them." Dad tried to justify himself by
saying he was just seeing if they worked.
Everyone else just died laughing.
Anyhow, the incident sparked off a
Eddie
Hastings
string of irrelevant events that only a
family could share and laugh about.
Dad had announced that had he not
made sure all the doors had been locked,
someone may have fallen out of the
vehicle. My mother responded. "That’s
true, remember all the times Eddie fell
out of the car!"
The statement was immediately followed
by a few words of thought I had. "Oh
no, here it comes.... The Laugh at Your
Brother Comedy Hour! "
SAD, BUT TRUE. I had been victim
several times and could vividly picture
all the times I had fallen out of a vehicle.
1 wasn’t picky how or where I fell out,
though. 1 used the front door, side door
and even the hatchback. Sometimes I
would just pop out or if I really felt in a
bad mood, I would just drag along the
ground holding on to the door.
From that golden moment we went on
to the time when my brother Frank and I
used to set up ramps and make daredevil
jumps from one ramp to the other on our
rugged dirt bikes (bicycles). More often
than not we missed the other ramp, and
on one ocassion I gained the respect of
my younger brother as a true ‘Evil
KnievaT when 1 made the jump, but fell
head over bike into the dirt. He laughed
while I laid on the ground gasping for
air. True respect is hard to come by.
Then there was the time we always used
to climb the big old plum tree in the
backyard. The tree was like monkeybars
to my brothers and I. We climbed it every
chance we got, and in the late spring we
ate all the plums in sight.
WELL, THE PLUM TREE’S limbs
overlapped into our next-door neighbor’s
yard, who just so happened to own a dog.
It was about the ugliest dog on the block
and so we felt obliged to treat it as such.
So we threw plums at it while he growled
and barked at us, a pretty even trade-off,
so we figured.....It just so happens
that the limbs on the tree weren't that
strong, and it just so happened I was on
one of the weaker limbs when we hap-
pened to be ridiculing the ugliest dog in
the neighborhood. Needless to say, 1 was
extremely terrified of dogs for a long while
after that.
Maybe you never had things such as
these happen to you, but we all have our
own little stories to tell.
While I sat in Surburban talking, joking
and laughing with my family I suddenly
realized something. My family is too
important to let slip away because of some
mistake. A family is the closest group of
people you can ever come into contact
with. Why? Because they are a part of
you. They arc the same blood, the same
roots and traditions. They make you what
you are today, at least my family did.
Mistakes are often hard to overcome,
but the experience we gain from our
mistakes can be valuable indeed, if we
just team to use the knowledge construc-
tively. I've made a lot of mistakes, and I
will probably make a lot more. But one
mistake I’ll never make twice is to let
my family slip away. I’ve only got one
and I plan to keep it.
I love you Mom, Dad, Donna, Laurie,
Frank, Max and Paul.
Traveling evangelist just wants to get students riled
Attention mongers. They are everywhere.
They visit our campus and send pseudo-esoterical
letters to the editor.
When Brother Jed Smock came to rant and
rave outside the University Union last week,
do you think he was honestly trying to save
anyone from Satan's grip? Nope.
He just wanted to create a ruckus, get some
college students all riled up and then go home.
He didn’t want you to think about what he said,
he just wanted to piss you off. And it worked.
Brother Jed knew that the anger would bring
him an “unbiased” story in the newspaper
the very next day or critical letters to the editor.
Yet how much farther can you get away from
Christianity than getting publicity for your
ruthless efforts (excluding Jim Bakker and his
young secretary)?
Brother Jed succeeded in his search for
attention. If we would have shown him that
we knew what was up his sacred sleeve, he’d
probably do something like lock himself in a
prayer tower. The man has no creative energy.
He, like others, knew that if he generated enough
steam from everyone, he’d get what he wanted;
our precious time and undivided attention with
some publicity thrown in on the side.
If we knew he was going to be performing
on our campus with his farce on Christianity,
and we purposefully avoided that whole area
until his permit expired, he’d wet his pants.
No one would be there to listen to him. argue
with him or heckle him. Maybe that way we
could go see a more intellectually stimulating
speaker on campus (like Harrison Salisbury who
visited last semester and spoke to a smaller
crowd than Brother Jed’s).
Anyway, if no one showed. Brother Jed
would be out of a job. “Wanted: A job. I’m
a fire-and-brimstone preacher. Believe in
i Kloetrimttion rather than education Am a self-
If
Paula A.
McKay
saved man thanks to Burger King. Am modeled
after Jesus Christ."
If Brother Jed didn't get the attention and
publicity he needed, he’d probably not come
here after that, and then we could all praise
the Lord.
But Brother Jed’s occupation is the kind that
can only stay alive by creating controversy and
getting attention. And controversy is the best
way to gain any sort of hostile response that
will attract the attention of the press, Isn’t that
how terrorists work?
So off we reporters go, paying homage to
Brother Jed with our pens and notepads, fol-
lowing him around like the dutiful press; at-
tacking every side of him, stepping on his feet,
asking questions real fast to keep his attention.
If I were any type of public speaker or
figurehead (what an odd word, figurehead), I
would eat that stuff up too. But what got me
was only once did Brother Jed tell us his purpose
for getting students irate, and that was when
we asked him. Seems to me he got off on the
knowledge that he might get some publicity
rather than saving someone's soul.
Saving's tough nowadays. Answering ques-
tions fi;om people on deadline who need the
story is easier. Brother Jed got to sip hot tea
while we scratched down those pearls of wisdom
he threw at us.
But think about it. Why do the terrorists
terrorize, other than to make a valid threat?
Remember the TWA hijacking about two years
ago (already?). There was a big stink about
the amount of publicity the terrorists got, which
really was more than they deserved.
You start to wonder about that when the
terrorists won’t make a move unless the press
is there or they notify the press before they
make a move. Just like the guy running around
calling himself the Antichrist. What a joke. We
now know every thought that blows through
his head because he uses the press to tell
everyone.
I met him last week (wow) and had the chance
to be enlightened by the profundities of his
wisdom. In other words, I got to listen to
samples of his supreme b.s. (I can envision
another letter to the editor from the Antichrist
telling the world how he was soothed by my
knowledge as a journalist. He hates the press
but turns around and uses it).
Anyway, he told me he wrote those letters
to get people mad. I’d say people have gotten
more irritated than anything else by those letters,
like little rocks in ones shoe that are eventually
located and pounded out. No problem. It was
just a little harmless rock that got lost in the
wrong place (just like Brother Jed).
What kills me is the Antichrist’s first letter
to the Daily read “This will be my last letter
to the NT Daily ...”. So why’s he continuing
to write? For attention, publicity. To get into
people’s shoes and pinch them.
He’s got the reaction he wants. He doesn’t
want you to think about what he writes. He
doesn’t hope to sway anyone to think like he
does. He just wants to piss you off. Wouldn't
you rather have more fun at a party than looking
for a fight? This guy would’ve been great in
Vietnam.
He calls himself the Antichrist and Brother
Jed calls himself a messenger from God. You
put those two together and the only difference
you’ll see is their haircuts. Neither speak plain
English and neither would get anywhere without
any attention and publicity.
What if no one wrote a letter to the editor
about the Antichrist’s fourth, fifth or sixth letter
(after his last one)? He’d go home, graduate
and we’d never hear from him again. Come to
think of it, Brother Jed’s already gone and the
Antichrist graduates this May.
Keep writing letters to the editor (about stuff
other than that the Antichrist is wrong and full
of it. We know that already), but I bet if no
one wrote any about the Antichrist he’d either
(a) stop writing letters or (b) furiously turn out
a letter a day hoping for some kind of response,
calling us apathetic indoctrinees. Sounds like
something Brother Jed would do.
So when do people like this quit getting
attention? When they get boring? When no one
pays attention to them anymore.’ When they
start repeating themselves over and over again?
I’d say yes to all those questions. I think Brother
Jed and the anti-christ could easily fit into those
monogrammed spaces.
But next time you see a fuss being made
over something you’ll forget about after you
leave it (out of sight, out of mind), whether it
be a preacher, a student, a terrorist, a president
or maybe even a mother who’s making all the
fuss, remember that those people can’t work
without attention or some sort of publicity.
70th Year
Member of the
assooaieo
coiieciaie
PRessM
The North Texas Daily
North Texas State University
Southwestern Journalism Congress
PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
ALL-AMERICAN 77 TIMES
JOEY D. RICHARDS, editor
LISA THOMPSON, advertising manager
Denton, Texas
The North Texas Daily, student newspaper of North Texas State University, is published
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Richards, Joey D. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 91, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 31, 1987, newspaper, March 31, 1987; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth560995/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.