Oregon daily emerald., April 21, 1971, Page 12, Image 11

Editorial
Listen to the vets—they know
If any group knows (he realities of war, it
is the men who are sent to fight them They
kill people, are killed, and the survivors must
live with the chilling memories From every
war the haunted men return, seeking
justification for what has been done.
In this war the justification, either for the
individual or for the state, has not
withstood the tests of reason or conscience
The nagging questions go unanswered why
2,000,000 casualties, why massacres, why
total destruction of a once beautiful land?
Tomorrow, Vietnam veterans from
many cities and towns in Oregon will march
on the capitol in Salem, to make known their
disgust and disillusionment over the nature
of the tasks the nation demanded of them
They will conduct a mock “pacification
operation” on the capitol grounds l>cgmnmg
at noon, to show the people of Oregon exactly
what is being done to the people of Indochina.
When the operation is over at 1 p.m., the
veterans will talk to individual legislators,
and express their serious concern about a
nation that has used them so cruelly in an
unjustifiable war. At the same time, the
veterans will invite the legislators to attend
the official presentation of the People’s
Peace Treaty to Governor Tom McCall,
which will be delivered along with their
collected medals and ribbons
The visit will be an important event in
the lives of the people of Oregon. The men we
have sent to kill in Indochina will be return
ing to the seat of government to tell those
who hold power that the killing has been in
vain, that the people of this state and nation
are going to put an end to the war.
For those people in the University
community who recognize the obligation to
stand with the men who have come back
from the carnage and the horror, a march for
peace will begin at Willamette University at
2 p m., and will arrive at the capitol at the
time of the presentation of the peace treaty.
This community, along with the many others
in Oregon, should be well represented in the
march through the participation of a large
number of people. We did, after all, send
these men to fight and kill in the jungle. We
must stand with them now as they tell the
people of Oregon what a tragic mistake that
was, and that we can send men to kill there
no longer.
Footnotes
Peace is great. Peace is necessary.
Peace is the object of much search and
devotion. It is very difficult; extremely
difficult—but it is not impossible.
Pope John XXIII
Letters
HAU>
The Spring Action ('oordinution
< 'ommtttee lor Kugrnr (SA('CK) promises
tlx- university itnd community a program
lor Karlv May involving "mus*, non
violent civil diMibnlienrf" (hid
To |rrumn acquainted with former
springtime activities ol this newly lumiil
gang ol merry pranksters this promises a
wide lunge <>| las< mating possitnlities
Non violent occupation of university
Uudling* I’e.ieetul disruption ol taculty
meetings ' Nonviolent (and peaceful)
shouting down of speakers’
I'eat Will uiihI non violent) interruption of
classo* Non violent blocking of streets’
\Ae have had them all and more too
Shoplifting, burglary, and hank
rot>1 h i \ are also examples ol "non violent
civil disoliedicncc unless .iihI until (Ik*
victim resists ot tl»e (mine are called in
hrnneili I'oiin
I’mlessor ot History
Ini I edible stair mritls
Major James McDaniel's remarks
delivered this (mM week lo tin* Kugene
Ministerial Association. acre as the
I met aid editor ial rightly |>ut it on April 16.
otcrcdihir statements It is m>t w) much
the major s logo that disturbs me hg- tw is
apparently reporting *hal lie hears other
people sayutg is the tor thr un
pojtulanty of the «at in Vietnam It i*
t at tin tlw in.« Hu s perception. or jierhaps
la> k of it that onmni me when Ik* makes
a statement like "the basis of tin* un
l>o|>ulatits of (Ik* »ai strms frutn racism,
a lot of Aincrn ans can t see a \rllovi
man » skui a* worth fighting and dying
lot Who and wliere is this "lot of
Americans * The* H O T f IVpi on the l!
of O campus'* H*e taiget student body at
the university * |"he Oly of Kugenr, State
of Otrjjin tl*e nation* Where has the
major two sj>mdtng most of his time to
altl\r at sui'h a uith lummi Have lus
leveiiets or antennas t*ern wide open as
tie endeavors to guage the altitude* of
people a (mm it the »at ill S K Asia* Is the
major » statement typical of and
therefore what is meant h> a military
mentality'
M\ suspicion is that if ihe major or
sninthf else lur that matter were to
(sill ttie t of O student tiody (acuttv and
staff or a sutntantial number of any »ghrr
group of Jirupw* Who are opposed lo thr war
hi Vietnam he wouk! discover that the
primary reason tor the unpopularity of this
»at is a humanist k and doutsle edges!
lea arm <me that Is prrviselv ><j>j«osilr that
of his theory td racism Namely <|> the
\ ledumrsr L«ah Northern and Southerni
are pesiple real with their u»n,
unnjue jirotiiems and possibilities who do
tag deserve death and ties!i uction at thr
hands of any power, and <2) the war is also
an enormous drain on U S manpower (not
to account for our losses tn money and
material! which might be utilized more
constructively in other channels
Perhaps the major should not only lx*
permitted (by the military hierarchy?)
bill even encouraged to "show and tell”
the "other side of the picture" which he
claims is not tieing done If so, it is my
hope that his presentation will demon
sir ate clearer perception and more careful
documentation than his recent statement
on racism has shown
Man Stephenson
Ass t Prof Religious Studies
(imp
(>nce upon a time there was txiokstore
It was culled a "coop," and all the
students that went to school next dm>r were
|HTmitt«Hl to own a sluire in it In their
Ixmkstore they would lx* able to buy lx*>ks
ami other things they wanted for
reasonable prices
And so (or many years the students
purchased shares in the store, ami also
(■ought their books and trivia there Hut as
time passed things changed Somehow
most ol the students forgot (hat the store
was theirs And after they forgot that it
was theirs prices l»egan to rise ami the
refund rate went down It began to seem
more and more like a rip off joint that was
more interested in making a buck and
keeping a slick image than in helping the
students keep their costs down
Then some of the students got together
and talked about the bookstore They
discovered to their surprise that it had a
charter saving that it was a student place
So they decided to run for its Board of
Directors This Board had in past years
become little more than a rubber-stamp
crew for tbe whims of the manager, who
actually was supposed to be running the
store under its direction The new can
didates resolved to strive hard to be
elected, so that this humiliating situation
might perhaps change
Iliis is their first joint note on the Co
op If you feel as they do aftr*r you read
their letters, vote for them before April:«)
Their names are
Michael Doran
Grad. Geography
Hon Saylor
Grad, Political Science
James Harris
Soph, Geography
Student customers
Although many of the people who shop
at Bob s Superette and Little s Market, on
i;ith near Patterson, are students, the
proprietors of these stores frequently treat
students like sub-human beings They act
as though everyone below the age of thirty
is a known shoplifter; if a student shops in
one of their stores, they blatantly follow
him around, watching his every move in a
humiliating manner They often refuse to
accept checks for more than the amount of
purchase even from students who have
been paying them by check for several
months without having one bounce In
addition, they take advantage of their
position near campus to charge prices
much higher than those of other Eugene
stores, knowing that many students living
in the campus area have neither the time
nor the transportation to shop elsewhere
' Many other businessmen near campus,
such as the owners of Yankee Clipper and
the Id Bookstore, and many landlords, also
exploit students in this manner )
Although the owners of Bob's and
Little's often claim that their high
shoplifting and bad check losses
necessitate their attitudes toward
students, the survival of such businesses
as the Hilyard Street Market and Wayne’s
Meats (which is housed in a corner of
Little's Market), where students are
treated as human beings, shows that this is
not the case Merchants who do business
near campus do not have to discriminate
against students to make money
I>avid J. Justman
Kuth Williams