-Editorial
King holiday needs
ASUO involvement
It seems every year the Dr. Martin Luther King Cel
ebration grows larger, with more groups taking part in
the festivities.
Unfortunately, involvement from campus groups
and the ASUO has not kept pace. This seems out of
sync with a campus that is constantly celebrating an
awareness week for some noble cause.
While we are struggling to create awareness of hu
man and global conditions, it is crucial to remember
the efforts of those who initiated the fight.
True leaders are hard to find these days. Wo live in
a world of distractions designed to fill our time and
our minds. With the exception of money, there is little
incentive for people to step into leadership roles. Rec
ognition is rare for people who reach beyond their own
lives to try to create positive social change.
Dr King's life is a beautiful example of servitude
to humankind. It is distressing that more of the ‘so
cially conscious" student groups on campus do not
find the King Celebration worth investing their time
and money.
Both the Black Student Union and the campus
YMCA are sponsoring events during the celebration,
which is commendable, to be sure But unfortunately,
they are the only University groups sponsoring events
on the celebration calendar.
On the other hand, the Associated Students of
Lane Community College are sponsoring many events
on the celebration calendar. This year marks the third
year of the "Dream Lives" celebration at the Hull Cen
ter. The event, sponsored primarily by the ASLCC, is
free to the public and has practically filled the Mult ev
cry year. Keynote speakers have included Ralph Alxir
nuthy, and Martin Luther King III. Yolanda King will
be speaking tonight. This event and others are spon
sored by the ASLCC. which has a much smaller budget
than the ASUO.
Eugene and Springfield have developed extensive
tributes to Dr. King. People from all parts of the com
munity are involved in honoring his memory: high
school students, churches, temples, etc. Why then is
the University so uninvolved?
We are an important part of this community — eco
nomically. socially and politically. It is therefore im
portant that we take part in community events such as
this one.
Inside the EMU lobby is a famous quote from Dr.
King. Perhaps the ASUO should consider the impor
tance of this holiday to the students, and in the future
pay him the respect he deserves, instead of just lip ser
vice.
THE NEXT WALL TO PALL
<g iff
Students should receive King holiday
While today's hirthdax of Martin I.other
King |r goes unmarked h\ the \S('() (see
above editorial), so will it he just another
da\ of i lasses for I 'niversitx students
l Diversity administrators will have the
day ofl and I hiiversit\ offices will he i losed,
of i nurse, as always happens oil each of the
10 federalh recognized holidays Students
get only six of those 10 davs off (New Year's
I >av. Memorial Oav Independence Day. l,a
hor Dav, Thanksgiving and Christmas),
mostl\ because time taken oil to celebrate
outdated holidays such .is Columbus l)av.
President's Day or Veterans' I)a\ is disrup
tive to precious classroom time in short aca
demic quarters
We re< ogm/e this, and so we'll continue
grumblinglv to attend classes on those
days while the rest of the nation takes time
out Hut the advent of Martin Luther King |r.
Day is one that should, quite literally, give
lls pause.
Dr King was, and still is. a figure of
enormous inspiration and importance to a
great mam students and people on this cam
pus. It there is a11\ modern figure who de
serves <i dav of remembrance. it is surelv
that groat man.
King is more than some explorer with .1
dubious ( laim of being the first to discover
Amerii a The rest of the nation is coming to
a halt to honor him even the hyperactive
New York Stock Kxchange is planning a mo
ment ot silence Shouldn’t we do the same?
In future years, we admonish the IJni
versity to give students their king's Birthda\
holiday Because king speaks to this genera
tion ot students far more than the struggles
ot l‘)20s labor movements or postwar cele
brations, it is our belief that any king holi
day would become more than the three-dav
party weekends Labor Day and Memorial
1 lav have become.
A king's Day without classes would al
low the ASUO and students greater room to
participate in events such as the city’s king
Celebration The time spent participating in
that event, and in following king’s dream of
racial equality, would be as useful to stu
dents as any spent in the classroom.
Letters
Nonpersons
Imagini' with ini', it vmi w ill.
Ilial »f .ire living in tl"' Iasi
century Thu Supreme Oourt
li.is |usl dec lareil that til.it ks
(annul he considered "per
suns'1 tor legal purposes
You argue that this is wrong
lil.it ks are people, not am
mats Proponents of slaverv
londemn vou as ,i meddler
No one is Ion mg you to own
slaves What 1 do on m\ land
with my propertv is im busi
ness."
Id s move forward now to
the hegmmng ol this i entuiA
A neighbor has been severeh
beaten h\ her husband You
summon the polite The court
upholds his "right" to main
tain order in his home Ontsid
eis have no business interfering
in the private affairs ol this
fartiih
Sound familiar?
Shouldn’t you have been sat
isfied simply not to ow n slaves
vourself ? ()r not to beat up vour
own wife? Shouldn’t vou have
left others to make their own
choices, without seeking to
"impose your personal morali
ty on them?"
The answers are obvious
Page 2
The fat t tlt.it these prai tii i", are
legal and socially accepted
does not matter; human beings
were mistreated and denied
pratet lion and justii e It would
have been wrong not to defend
them
The term "proa hou c" on
plies that .1 legitimate < hou e is
there to he made This simply
is not so ( dinosing to abort 11\
ing i hildren is no more a moral
option than was owning slaves
or heating women
We do not gel to choose
whether abortion is moral; onl>
whether we will respond to this
issue (anil these voting lives)
with integrity and compassion
William Moore
• Start, music
Not thankful
(direful reading of 77ie Ke
g/slerf •u.inl '.s Thanksgiving
Day editorial page dost ribing
President Lincoln’s prm lama
lion establishing Thanksgiving
as ,i national holidav (IHb.t)
leaves one less than thankful
for its promotion of irrational
theist i oncepls
Then existing "Reasons of
State" rather than personal the
isl convic tion die tilted Alira
ham l ine oln's invoi ation oi an
inexistnnt "(»od.” using reli
gious strut.igi'iu to bind the
wounds of .1 (.nil War while
providing balm the South
( uuld and did use to assuage its
guilty ions, ieui e ill defeat
I'o suggest otherw ise is to be
lieve I inr oln a lawyer and
master of rhetoric tailed to tin
derstand that the Hible i learly
unei|uivoi abK i ondoned sla\
ery
Southerners (like the Uriel's of
South Africa) turned to l.eviti
i us z < 44 4(> m The iuigiisn Hi
hie King lames Version to
liiul psvi bologii al justification
from "God" for enslaving liu
mans from whence the "Hi
ble Hell " Readers must e\um
me tile Hible used between
Hi 1 1 lH7f» to gain that clear III)
derstanding
Moreover of the children of
the strangers that do sojourn
among you. of them shall ye
buy. and of their families that
are with you. which they begat
in your land: and they shall be
vour possession And ye shall
lake them as an inheritance for
your children after you. to in
herit them for a possession,
they shall lie your bond-men
forever Doth thy bond-men.
and thy bond-maids, which
thou shall have, shall be of the
heathen that are round about
you; of them shall ve Inn bond
men and bond-maids " (The
Knglish Bible king James
V ersion. I.evitic us L'"> 44-4(0
Modern Bible revisions make
it difTk ult or impossible to es
tablish the many i ontradii lions
and inconsistencies ot the "in
errant Bible" that led main ot
our Founding Fathers to rejec t
the anthropomorphic "God" of
scripture
Bert Tryba
Fugene
On sucking
Lately I have noticed a dis
turbing trend, not only among
the c ontributors to this column,
but among my own friends and
acquaintances as well It has to
do with the increasingly popu
lar expression. "You suc k
I have always found the ori
gins of words fascinating. I
have discovered that many
common expressions are hold
overs from old racist or other
bigoted phrases I know that
main people who still use such
expressions are only doing so
out ol ignorance, not bigotry
but it is important that you
know how uncomfortable (and
unsafe) you make others feel
w hen you use such language
Now what do you suppose
the origins .ire of the phrase.
"N on suck".’’ (,'ould it be some
tiling like this "You suck (and
are therelore a disgusting tag
got)."
Whether you intend it that
way or not. many gay people
out there do not like the iuipli
( ations ol this language
You see. main ol us do suck
(literally), and We think tb.it
sucking is a good and fine
thing, furthermore, there are
plenty of non-gay people who
suck, and I'll bet you don't de
value them, do you?
I would maintain that using
the verb "to suck" is a negative
context, is probably homo
phobic. and certainly offensive
to many If you care about hu
man rights at all. please try to
jettison this bit of bigotry from
your vocabulary.
Tim Hughes
Student
Monday. January 15, 1990