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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1985)
editorial King’s message one of action and love Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that one day humanity would rise up above the hatred of racism, the suf fering of poverty, and the mass violence of war. He had a dream that one day freedom would ring “for all of God’s children.” But King had more than just a dream. He also had a plan of action, and it was this plan of action that sent fear and anger into the hearts of many Americans, just as it also sent out love and inspiration to others. Many of America’s most prominent leaders liked King’s dream more than they liked his active pursuit to achieve it. “Get the weapon of nonviolence, the breastplate of righteousness, the armor of truth, and just keep marching,” King said, and that’s just what he and thousands of others did: the restaurant sit-in in Atlanta in I960; street demonstrations in Albany. Georgia in 1961; the explosive Birmingham protests of 1963; the Selma. Alabama march of 1965. The list goes on. King marched because,“When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim and when you’ve seen the vast majority of your black brothers and sisters smother in the air-tight cage of poverty. . . the human personality cries out and says ‘I can take it no more’.” The marches and protests led by King, coupled with the struggles of blacks thoughout the country for equal rights and freedom, led to the official signing of the 1964 Civil Ri^fit^/Sf and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But King didn't stop there. He continued to expand his struggle for justice until it embodied the needs of oppressed peoples everywhere. It was when King began to link the struggles of oppress ed peoples worldwide that he began to be attacked as anti American. a communist and a traitor to his nation. But that didn’t stop him. On April 4. 1967, King declared that the United States is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,” and accused it of “cruel manipulation of the poor.” King stated that U.S. troops “test our latest weapons on the peasants of South Vietnam, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe.” He urged Americans to become conscien tious objectors to the war in Vietnam. Just as King didn't hesitate to speak out for truth and justice, he also never hesitated to speak out for love and forgivenesss. As Americans around the country celebrate his birthday today, it is King’s message of an unending struggle for justice and his unending offering of love that must be remembered the most. King declared that “nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time,” and that “the foundation of such a method is love.” Perhaps more than anything else. King taught that even in a world where injustice thrives and seems to prosper, one must never give up the struggle for social change. What he said in Oslo in 1964 is even more important today: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down the militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruc tion. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. . . .1 still believe that we shall overcome.” As we think back on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. to day, let us remember him for what he was: a man of action, a man of love, and a man of hope. Furthermore, let us take his message and put it to action in our own lives. r VIHO'S on FIRST? - Then VWMt ON SECOND ? then wheiss Bakers—« WHO'S <5ETTin<S INAOGuRAJFD? $0 WHO'S eefrr So TlA WHERE ? WHO? NO 1VIKTS RKS/kN - NO Wte fl«D i Donno Wfr^ Jrl— NO, T^T'S KE6AN NO, HE WAS P|REt> HE'S ON TH/RP NO, THAT'S ME ’ I PUNNO no, You're MEESE - HE'S on First -THEN WMATCON SECbNb # THEN WWEWS BASfe 9 % t*w*m*n- w*s ->*,£»-t? letters Bad letters I strongly believe that this "letters” column should con tinue to serve as a free forum for students' ideas. But I am getting sick of reading the hateful, violent, bigoted crap that keeps appearing in the name of the "Christian" perspective on "homosexuals" (sic). I am go ing to stop reading this column if minimal editing and good judgment does not begin weeding out those bent letters supporting violence against gay people. Brad Hall's letter (Jan. 8) goes too far to print. In it. Hall ad vocates that gay people should “die out or shrink in numbers and be destroyed.” That letter is disgusting, repulsive, and — 1 might add — typical of the intolerant “Chris tian” hatred expressed by Hall and others whose letters have failed to understand or accept the nicely diverse body of humanity. By printing such demented diatribes, the Emerald becomes an accomplice. I seriously doubt you would print letters calling for violence against any racial or religious minority; why then are similar letters directed against gay people ac cepted? Your policy is “to print all letters containing fair com ment. . .” Do you deem Hall's call to violence ‘‘fair comment?” This practice on the part of the Emerald is particularly in sensitive. given the fact that a recent rash of threats against gay people have been received by gay rights organizations and emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403. The Emerald operates independently of the Universi ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press. General Staff Advertising Director Susan Thelen Advertising Sales: Laura Buckiey, Tim Clevenger, Jen nifer Fox, Marcia Leonard, Rick Martz, Nancy Nielsen, Laurie Nobel, Roberta Oliver, David Wood. Production: David Bryant, Kelly Comyn, John Dorsey, Stormi Dykes, Julie Freeman, Kathy Gallagher, Dean Guernsey, Susan Hawkins, Ross Martin, Karin McKer cher, Lauri Neely, Kelly Neff, Curt Penrod, Tamye Riggs, Michele Ross, Alyson Simmons, Peg Solonika, Tim Swillinger, Colleen Tremaine, Hank Trotter. Production Manager Classified Advertising Controller Russell Steele Vince Adams Jean Ownbey Editor Managing Editor News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Sidelines Editor Entertainment Editor Assistant Entertainment Editor Night Editor Michele Matassa Mike Sims Michael Kulaga Costas Christ Michael Clapp Brent De La Paz Sheila Landry Kim Carlson Mike Duncan Michele Matassa Associate Editors Administration Higher Education Politics ASUO Student Activities Community Features Jolayne Houtz Michael Hosmar Paul Ertelt Julie Shippen Stasia Scarborough Cynthia Whitfield Lori Steinhauer Reporters Sean Axmaker. Dave Berns. Robert Collias. Diana Elliott. Thomas Henderson. Allan Lazo, Capi Lynn, Scott McFetridge News and Editorial 686-5511 Display Advertising and Business 686-3712 Classified Advertising 686-4343 Production 686-4381 Circulation 686-5511 displayed in public places locally. Perhaps a more respon sible approach for the Kmerald when receiving letters of this type would be to notify the police and organizations in terested in investigating these threats. Douglas Pyle Editor. Mid-Vally Link Don’t criticize? Ron Munion demonstrated in his letter (ODE. Jan. 11) a deep misunderstanding of the pur pose of protest in America. In short, he said that since America is a good place to live, we shouldn't criticize or protest any of our country's wrongs. A letter to the opposite effect could easily be written, listing a few of America’s shortcomings (rampant racism. 30 million Americans in poverty, op pressive foreign policy, rapid depletion of natural resources) and concluding. “Not so good, is it. boasters?” A more realistic, more con structive view, however, is to acknowledge both the right and the wrong in America, and to try to change those things that are wrong. Protesters bring at tention to these shortcomings, in hopes that we can change them, and therefore should not he dismissed as “the dumbest people in the world.” Or would we call Martin Luther King. Jr. a “dumb complainer?” Dan Thoma German Censorship In Wednesday's Emerald (ODE. Jan. 9) Janice Sunseri criticized what she saw as my rationalization of Newspeak. Unfortunately, she has much to learn about satire: satire states the opposite of what it means. When I said that language con trols thought, 1 was merely rephrasing those who said that w'hen we say "men" it automatically excludes women, and therefore the sign in the EMU subliminally told women they had no value. 1 agree with her; such a stand is nonsense. I also agree with her that generic words such as “firefighter” are fine words. What bothers me is that we cen sure and censor people who use words like "man” to mean humanity. Mark Twain referred to Jim in Huckleberry Finn as a "nigger.” Does that make him a racist? No, because that was what blacks were called when he was writing. Intelligence, though, has not stopped his book from being banned (at Mark Twain Elementary School, among others) nor has it saved the EMU sign. What we will soon have, according to this trend, is a society that bums books that they don’t agree with. Is that right? Ms. Sunseri, by taking my sarcasm seriously, has merely echoed some of my thoughts, while saying I'm irrational. She has also missed my intent: who is to say what is sexist and what should be banned? Brian Moore English Unimaginative I read to the end of Don Bishoff’s column on the mayor's inaugural speech (Register Guard. Jan. 9) looking for the tongue-in-cheek. There was none. Not a hint of irony. Not a trace of satire. Obie rises from Bishoff’s verbiage as a near-charismatic figure who speaks with "ringing phrases in the style...of John F. Ken nedy.” a leader whose tenure will be hailed as the "Obie Era.” The person on TV at the hour of the inaugural speech was in troduced as Obie. sounded like Obie, and had Obie's blank ex pression. I naturally assumed it was Obie. But the TV Obie was no orator, delivered no resoun ding phrases. The TV Obie read his lines in a monotone, heap ing banality upon generality, interlarding the pile with cliches. I expected the Center’s stagehands to rush out with shovels to keep the audience from suffocating as the slither ing accumulation grew. If Obie had made more cam paign speeches, the voters might have seen him for the unimaginative creature that he is, and we would have been spared his mayoralty. Conceal ed bacon fat is more inspiring. It has possibilities. Why is Bishoff kissing Obie’s shoes? Perhaps the question is unfair. He may not be stooping that low. Guido Palandri Library
