opinion
TkV 1
a quorum of one
The American revolutionary demand
of "no taxation without representation"
could well be raised today by the
promoters of voting rights for residents
of Washington. D C. The 800.000
residents of the nation s capital paid
$15 billion in federal taxes last year —
more than the citizens of 11 states
But a more compelling motto might be.
"No death without representation ** Two
hundred thirty-seven young men from
D C. perished in the Vietnam War. a
higher per capita contribution to the
Southeast Asian mistake than 46 states,
and higher in absolute numbers than 10
states The fact that those 237 didn t
help elect the Congress that sentenced
them to die reflects the inequity of the
present situation
Against that backdrop, the Oregon
House s failure to join the Senate in
OK ing an amendment to grant
representation to Washington is a glar
ing error Rather than aDprove the
resolution, the lower body voted to send
the issue to the people
On an abstract level, the idea of
granting voting rights is impossible to
oppose The fundamentals of
democracy dictate that each person
help decide his or her fate
Those working against the concept do
so out of pragmatic, political considera
tions
Many Republicans oppose the plan
out of fear that the two representatives
and one senator chosen by the District
will be Democrats Some Westerners
reject the idea because it means giving
additional strength to the Eastern-urban
block
But both arguments skirt the basic
question: Should people be forced to
sacrifice dollars, time, even life, without
some voice in setting the policies that
extract those tolls?
The Oregon Senate should refuse to
accept the House s version of the
resolution, which would force the for
mation of a conference committee com
posed of members from both chambers
And the conference committee should
route the Senate-approved version of
the legislation back to the House and
give legislators there a chance to correct
themselves
Last week, a Portland newspaper ran a
long piece on women in the Legislature,
pointing to the tact that there are 14
female legislators with a woman on every
House committee but one. the article
concluded that feminine influence in
state government is waxing
The story also noted that the Senate
has no women members and, lacking the
refinements and culture females
inherently possess, it is a crusty and
vulgar body
As an example, the arlicies's author
mentioned that a major piece of gay
rights legislation, SB 844. is informally
known by senators as "the cock sucker
bill "
If a woman sat in the Senate, con
tinued the story, such vulgarity would
not be permitted
This concept conflicts with one
expressed earlier in the article That
women have been unfairly stereotyped,
making advancement difficult It's just as
presumptuous to suggest that all women
are "nice" and wouldn't lower them
selves to such improprieties
The idea that language acceptable
among men has no place in mixed
company represents the kind of thinking
that kept women out of politics for so
long
VCXfS
History ‘need’
There appears to be
disagreement as to the value or
necessity of offering courses in
Afro-American history at the
University of Oregon Prof
Kenneth Porter, in his recent
contribution to this debate
(Emerald, last Thursday),
claims that those who demand
black history evidence "a good
deal of ignorance as to what is
currently taught in general
American history courses.” He
supports this charge with the
fact that Nat Turner. Booker T
Washington, WEB DuBois,
and other black figures are in
deed mentioned in Morison and
Commager s The Growth of
American Republic — the stan
dard American history text
through most of the fifties and
sixties, and the one used in
Prof Porter s own classes
I was inspired by this appeal
to the enlightened nature of
American historiography to
look again at Morison and
Commager s text, which l
acquired as a student in the late
sixties I looked not only at the
names in the index, but at the
substantive discussions of the
problems of blacks Here is
what I found in the section on
slavery:
The Negro, as Dr Albert
Schweitzer has observed in
Africa, is not lazy but casual,
not sullen but merry; yet always
expedient "
Owing to his capacity for
hard work, in addition to his
adaptive qualities and irrepres
sible high spirits, the Negro was
a great success as a slave."
"While the average white
European or North American
disliked the Negro as such, the
Southern slave-owner under
stood and loved him as a slave:
Southern gentlefold still love
him in his place.' ”
After telling us that the
majority of white masters were
"kind and humane" (527),
Morison and Commager
proceed to describe life on a
Southern plantation, whose
main feature in their eyes was
the aggravation caused to
slaveholders by the Negro s
casual" ways Such a life
was a continuous exercise of
tact, self-control, and firmness,
yet the condition of unlimited
power over a race with such
exasperating habits was a con
stant temptation to passion
"The Southern gentleman,"
they write, would tolerate any
amount of shirking and evasion
that would drive any Northern
employer frantic.” (533)
(The quotes are all from Vol I
of the fifth edition, the one
employed by Prof Porter A
casual glance through the sixth
edition shows that some but no
means all of this objectionable
material was deleted )
I suspect that if Morison and
Commager had had the oppor
tunity to take a good Afro
American history course when
they were in college, the image
of slavery that they imparted to
generations of college students
might have more resembled
reality and less resembled "The
Song of the South " Judging at
least from the authority that
Prof Porter himself cites, there
is good reason to conclude
from what has been taught in
past history courses that the
need for black history is a real
one
Cheyney Ryan
professor, philosophy
Death Wish?’
In the past few years I have
heard new things being said
about college students It has
been said they no longer have
any idealism, they would rather
work for the system than fight it,
they only care about their own
self-interests, etc If this is true
then it seems the student body
is guilty of negligence. It's ex
tremely difficult, if not outright
impossible, to concentrate on
your own goals, when you’ve
suddenly received an induction
notice telling you to report next
week for two years of active
duty
Is it possible that the lessons
of the 60s and the Vietnam War
have been so soon forgotten
and the only things to come out
of the whole anguished era are
‘ The Deerhunter" and “Com
ing Home?"
The House Armed Services
Committee is considering a bill
which would revive the draft I
'i *nch® v*«£ cu> vw*5bwme ws vtm> our''
believe enacting a draft or draft
registration during peacetime is
tantamount to involuntary ser
vitude which is contrary to the
13th amendment
Unless you have a death wish
I strongly urge you to get in
volved now in opposing the
draft legislation in Congress
Write your legislators on the
state and federal level and get
involved with CORD (Coalition
Opposing Registration and
Draft). Make yourselves heard!
Dave leenberg
205V* E. 23rd St.
‘Why not Idi?’
President Boyd's recommen
dation for Victor Atiyeh to speak
at the June commencement
seems so common-place in
comparison with other
speakers we could have I am
sure that the decision to ask
Governor Atiyeh to speak at the
commencement did not come
easily since other enlightening
speakers range anywhere from
Richard Nixon to Rev Moon.
As President Boyd says, "We
can be proud that Victor Atiyeh,
and many others of disparate
views, use this campus for the
expression of their positions."
After all, if Boyd is right that
we should take pride in a
speaker, regardless of his
views, i.e , look up to him
merely because of his pres
tigious position, then my only
complaint is that we couldn't
get Idi Amin to speak
Aaron Johan son
Junior, English
RCYB debate
The recent spontaneous
debate between visiting high
school students and members
of the Revolutionary Com
munist Youth Brigade may have
been quite educational for the
high school students Perhaps
we should keep the RCYB
around precisely for its educa
tional value
Two of the best things I
learned in college were that
there are an infinite number of
possible opinions in this world
and none of us has to believe
blindly in what someone else
says That second part is true
even if that •‘someone" seems
important, intelligent or fright
ening
To say my dad hates com
munists,” doesn't take any
reasoning power. To run
around with a raised fist shout
ing “Death to so-and-so” is
equally senseless Last Friday's
confrontation probably helped
to show our visitors how very
little relationship there is
between a shout-down (or by
extension a war) and real
thinking
Nola Shurtleff
Secretary,
Comparitive Literature
Correction
A typographical error
and omission of material
partly garbled a letter in
Tuesday's Emerald writ
ten by Prof Joseph Fisz
man on Holocaust com
memorations The affect
ed portions of the letter
should have read
"For well over 30 years
now Jews the world over,
including former ghetto
fighters, veterans of par
tisan warfare and con
centration camps have
marked the day of April 19
with a lighting of six
candles."
The final paragraph
should read: "Finally, one
wonders why the Pioneer
Mother was chosen as the
campus site for the
candlelighting ceremony
of that evening. If the
choice was made for
reasons of symbolism,
one wonders as to the
kind of symbols involved
Of grieving universal
motherhood? Redemp
tion? Victory? Victory
over whom and for what?
Perhaps some deeper
probing into one's con
sciousness and soul and
the implications of our
acts are in order before
we act."