Minorities and the law
addressed at program
By Michael Fisher
Of th« Emerald
Dedicating the day’s events to the
memory of Martin Luther King Sr.
and Martin Luther King Jr., the
University chapter of the Minority
Law Students Association presented
its Minorities and the Law sym
posium Saturday, at the University
law school.
The program, centered upon the
theme “Their Struggle is Now
Ours,” featured a keynote address
by law school dean Derrick Bell and
a number of discussions on the ma
jor legal issues concerning
minorities of this decade.
Peggy Nagae, assistant law school
dean, opened the symposium with a
critique of the current state of civil
rights in this area. “In places like
Oregon, and in particular Eugene,
(non-whites) are in a distinct
minority here, but not (made to feel)
at home," she said. “The forms of
racism may Jiave changed, but much
of the substance remains.”
Martin Luther King Jr., said
Nagae, “looked beyond the way
things were. He had a vision of what
could be," She urged the audience
of about 50 lawyers, law students
and other interested people to “not
limit ourselves to what others have
chosen, but go deeper and higher”
in the pursuit of racial equality.
The first of four seminars dealt
with the immigration laws of the
United States and current legislative
proposals that are "aimed at persons
of color," according to Rocky
Barilla, Oregon legislative counsel
and associate professor at the
University law school.
"When we (in the United States)
want cheap labor, we let in aliens.”
said Barilla. "But when we think the
economy’s suffering, we suddenly
don’t need them anymore.”
In an analysis of the history of the
death penalty, Clifford Freeman and
Roosevelt Robinson of the
Multnomah County public
defender’s and district attorney’s of
fices, respectively, argued that the
death sentence has had a bias
toward minorities.
Those who are executed, said
Freeman, “are, in the words of Don
Clark (recent candidate for Oregon
secretary of state), ‘never the rich,
seldom the white, and sometimes
the innocent.' ”
Robinson is also an opponent of
the death penalty. "We have a trend
in this country that is moving away
from rehabilitation and toward vin
dictive justice,” he said.
Native American Issues Commit
tee activist Norman Riddle discuss
ed the problems currently facing
Northwest Indians, such as treaty
and fishing rights, restoration of
tribal status and religious freedom.
"We’re fighting for things that
should be taken for granted, that
should already be ours,” Riddle '
said.
He added that lobbying for Indian
rights laws such as the Indian Child
Welfare Act “has taught us how to
organize — that we can enact
legislation if we get together.”
The final session examined the
Ethnic Heritage Protection Act,
which seeks to ensure that children
of Asian refugees are kept within
their familial and cultural surround
ings in the event that their parents
can no longer care for them.
"The state is currently saying that
they are more able to decide what is
best for our children than we are,”
said Ronalt Catalani of the Southeast
Asian Legal Defense Project in
Salem. "They are imposing their
cultural norms upon Asian
societies.”
Weisha Mize of the Oregon State
Bar’s Affirmative Action Program
spoke at lunch about the need for
greater minority participation in the
legal fields.
“The legal profession is stale,”
Mize said. “It needs to be challeng
ed with alternate perspectives. Very
little in the law reflects the values of
minority communities.”
In his keynote address, Bell
related the story of a conversation he
had with a cab driver named Jesse
Semple on the way to New York’s
Kennedy Airport.
According to Bell, the cabbie,
named after a famous literary
character of black author Langston
Hughes’ books, believed the
achievements of Martin Luther King
Jr. and the holiday honoring him
were nothing but "a bunch of bogus
freedom checks that (the white
establishment) never intends to
honor.”
Bell related his response. “Sym
bols have been the mainstay of the
faith that someday blacks might tru
ly be free in this land of freedom,”
he said.
“If people of color retain their
belief in the symbols of freedom,
and at least some whites come to see
beyond the destructive symbol of
racism,” concluded Bell, “then
anything could happen. On that
point, 1 think even Jesse B. Semple
would agree.”
Isreali plan denounced
Recent proposal to
withdraw forces
tagged ‘propoganda’
By Paul Ertelt
Of the Emerald
Isreal’s recently announced plan
to withdraw its forces from southern
Lebanon is only “propoganda” to
disguise its intention to annex the
area, a Lebanese native said Friday.
Ali El-Haj spoke to about a dozen
people at a “teach in” in Room 101
EMU, an event sponsored by the
Organization of Arab Students and
the Foreign Students Organization.
El-Haj, who is teaching and working
on a doctorate in psychology at the
University of Michigan, is from the
Nabatyah area of southern Lebanon.
“I am opposed to the whole
negotiations between (Isreal) and
the Lebanese government, because
negotiations are only to gain time
and legitimize the occupation,” he
said in an interview Friday. The
Isreali government last week an
nounced plans for a phased
withdrawal from the area it has oc
cupied since a 1982 invasion.
"What is going on in south
Lebanon is the same thing that’s
happening on the West Bank. They
don’t even have an intention of mov
ing,” he said.
El-Haj said Isreal’s building of ex
tensive defense and water projects
on the Awali River is evidence of
their true intentions.
“They’re not building a $750
million project to give it as a gift to
the Lebanese people, ” he said.
Also, all street signs in south
Lebanon are now in Hebrew. This
not only allows the Isreali army ease
in moving about the region, but con
ditions the local people to Isreali
rule, he said.
El-Haj characterizes the Isreali oc
cupation as brutal and repressive,
and calls the Isreali government
“facist.” Those in southern
Lebanon who speak out against the
occupation are arrested and taken to
Insar Prison, he said.
“These prisons are built exactly
like Nazis built prisons when they
were executing Jews,” he said.
“Torture is going on every day to
the people who are put in this
prison.”
Recently, the bodies of 44 people
who had been held at Insar were
found in Isreal, he said. The United
Nations is investigating the
incident.
Censorship by the Isreali govern
1
Ali EI-Haj
ment and lack of access by reporters
to the prison area, have prevented
the American media from reporting
the situation there. But El-Haj
believes the American media are
heavily biased toward Isreal.
“The media is really projecting
only Isreali ideology. It only pro
motes the plans and ideology of
Isreal,” he said. “This media always
portrays the people resisting oc
cupation as terrorists and always
portrays the occupiers as keepers of
peace in the area.”
El-Haj sees the key to peace in the
area in creating a secular state of
Isreal. Though he believes Isreal has
a right to exist, the ideas of
democracy are incompatible with a
religious state, he said.
“The whole starting point is
wrong. You can’t call it the Jewish
state of Isreal and be democratic.”
For the current situation, El-Haj
believes only a military solution will
work. The Isrealis will only
withdraw if they realize they are
unable to control the area, he said.
El-Haj is a firm supporter of the
Lebanese National Resistance Front,
a guerilla force composed of
members of various factions of
southern Lebanon.
“Isreal must withdraw its forces
from Lebanon without any condi
tions," he said.
OPEN 7 DAYS TIL 3 AM
Late Nile
4 Egg CO OC
Omelettes
• Lunch Daily • Beer & Wine
669 E 13lh
' f(v,-:'‘udL
DIM SUM
Every Sunday
JVmmX $195
Lunch Special
Sushi
Now Available:
Ja Jang Mein OJ
And Try Us For Dinner
CHINA
BLUE
Ki'sluurunl
879 K. 13th 343-2832
r
i
i
■
o
TJ
O
o
C
“0
O
I
I
SY S PIZZA
FREE DELIVERY COUPON
and In Store Pick-Up
Order any size Pizza, Regular or
Extra Thick Crust or Deep Dish
Sicilian and Receive
Lg. SOFT
Drinks!
COUPON GOOD MONDAY thru SUNDAY
1
2 FREE toppings &
2
686-9598
1211 Alder on Campus
STORE HOURS:
11:30 - Midnight Monday - Friday
L3:30 pm - Midnight Saturday &
Sunday _
I
I
O
CL
o
o
CL
o
■
I
DELIVERY HOURS:
5 pm - Midnight
Monday - Sunday
I
COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON
COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON !l
The Ultimate Kabob
Buy One Dinner
Get Another For $1
New from The Branding Iron, The Ultimate Kabob.
It's a delicious Combination of marinated Top
S.rloin chunks, Chicken Breast and Prawn
skewered and broiled with fresh mushrooms,
onions, and bell peppers. This delicious new din
ner entree is served with rice pilaf or french fries,
homemade soup or tossed greens and bread.
AND, FOR A LIMITED TIME, WHEN YOU BUY
ONE ULTIMATE KABQB DINNER AT THE
REGULAR PRICE OF $8.95. YOU'LL GET ANOTHER
KABOB DINNER FOR ONLY $1. |UST PRESENT
THIS COUPON WHEN ORDERING.
BRANDING IRON
579 East Broadway, Eugene Phone 683-3626
COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON
COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON: COUPON COUPON