RESERVE OFFICERS' TRSIHIR6 CORPS
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS ON THESE
DOORS FIRST.
Why? Ikium Army ROTC helps you develop
management and leadatahip akills Buiida your
self-confidence. And make* you a dMinblt
candidal* in tha job market.
Thare'i no obligation until your junior year,
but (tick with it and yoeU have what il taka* to
auccaad — white you're in ooUega and onca
you graduate.
rind aat naara. Contact Ma|*r Bab
■artnaM, 1*7* Agate Street, 34S-BOTC.
ARMY ROTC
Tniauimrooujn
COURSE TOO CU TAIL
ARTIST S SUPPLY
20% Uhh
WINSOR & NEWTON
WINTON OILS and
COTMAN
WATERC0L0RS
15% OFF
GRUMBACHER
PRE-TEST OILS and
ACADEMY WATERCOLORS
15% OFF ALL ARTBIN BOXES
15% OFF ALL PALETTES
NEWSPRINT/DRAWING 6 1 A ft ft
BOARD PACKAGE ?1U.77
18x24 PAD WITH 23x26 BOARD: $14.30 VALUE
A
25% OFF ,
DRAWING PADS 1
I STRATHMORE MORILLA BIENFANG
20% OFF
WINSOR & NEWTON
SCEPTRE BRUSHES
15% OFF
MORILLA BRUSHES
assorted sable, sabeline,
and bristle brushes
SALE ENDS 1 16/91 LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND
NATIONAL
Church decries racism
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an
effort to "sound a national
alarm" and reinvigorate the
civil rights movement, a major
church group is issuing an un
usual pastoral letter warning
that racism is a deepening
problem in America.
More than three decades after
the start of the modern civil
rights movement, poverty is
worse for non-white Americans
and racially motivated violence
has increased, the United
Church of Christ contends.
Racist attitudes, it concludes,
"permeate most of our institu
tions" and systemic racism un
derlies economic and social
disparities between whites and
non-whites.
"As a result of racial discrim
ination. all over the United
States there are 'quiet riots' in
the form of unemployment,
poverty, social disorganization,
family disintegration, housing
and school deterioration, and
crime." church leaders said.
Next Sunday, a day before
the Martin Luther King Jr. holi
day, church leaders will read
the letter to more than 6,000
congregations of the United
Church of Christ, a 1.7-million
member Protestant denomina
tion.
The past carries both theolog
ical and social meaning for
church members, but it is in
tended to draw wider attention
to show that racism has wors
ened. said the Rev. benjamin
Chavis Jr., a veteran civil rights
leader and church official.
"We are trying to sound a na
tional alarm." Chavis said in
an interview last week. "We
(relieve the leadership of our
nation has focused so much on
the world situation that we’re
losing sight of the domestic —
the internal deterioration of our
society.
“We should have made
much more progress toward ra
cial harmony."
The church calls on itc fol
lowers to recognize racism as a
sin and to become active in the
political process on behalf of
equality.
The pastoral letter is only the
third in the history of the Unit
ed Church of Christ, said Chav
is, who is executive director of
the church's Commission for
Racial Justice.
In the 1970s. Chavis spent
4'j years in North Carolina
prisons as a member of the Wil
mington 10. a group including
nine young black men convict
ed of fire bombing a store and
related charges during civil
rights unrest in Wilmington.
N.C.
They were cited by Amnesty
International as the first case of
U.S. political prisoners, and a
federal appeals court over
turned their convictions in
1980.
The church’s statement
voices alarm at an increasing
frequency of violent acts
against minorities. The vio
lence cannot be dismissed as
isolated acts of fringe groups
and extremists, it says.
The attacks are. in fact, "visi
ble consequences of racist atti
tudes" permeating society, the
church says, and reflect a grow
ing climate of racial intolerance
and hostility.
An accompanying back
ground paper cites federal sta
tistics showing increasing in
equities in living standards for
whites and non-whites:
Minorities make up 30 per
cent of the population, but 58
jrercent of the American chil
dren living in poverty; black
males have a life expectancy of
65.3 years, lower than the level
of white males in 1950; infant
mortality among blacks is twice
that of whites; and health care
is far less accessible for non
whites than whites.
In addition, unemployment
among blacks is 2'/» times that
among whites, and blacks are
far more likely than whites to
receive the death penalty in
cases involving capital crimes,
the church notes.
A small percentage of ethnic
Americans gained some socio
economic status in the 1970s
and 1980s, the church says, but
the quality of life for most mi
nority Americans is worse to
day than it was in the 1960s.
"Virtually no progress to
ward social and economic
equality for African Americans
has lieen made since the earl\
1970s." it says.
Racism extends far beyond
black-white relations in a na
tion growing in ethnic diversi
ty. the church says. Racism is a
daily problem for Hispanic
Americans, Native Americans.
Asian Americans and Pacific Is
landers. it says.
Chavis pointed a finger at the
Hush and Reagan administra
tions. saying the federal gov
ernment "has become the ob
stacle" to racial justice.
"I think what we're witness
ing is the federalization of rac
ism," he said.
He cited an Education De
partment decision last month,
later rolled back, barring uni
versities from setting aside
money for scholarships to mi
norities only.
Chavis also pointed to Presi
dent Bush's veto of the 1990
civil rights bill passed by Con
gress and political exploitation
by Republicans of white back
lash to affirmative action hiring
practices.
Without change, Chavis said
he feared American society
"could explode from within"
in ways worse than the urban
riots of the 1960s.
(HARK!
j Who Throbs
j for Thee?
| Pluck a few heart strings
I Heart Throbs mess;
7 Valentine's Day. Be sine
I sexy, be funny but don't be
| LEFT OUT!' Place your ad today ^
I at the usual places
3 Km <00 I MU • I Ml Mam Desk
6 UO Buoi»iort
I^PtAIM.lNf^yrd ajrb. 13. 1_