EDITORIAL
Riot violence hurts,
but forces attention
The violence resulting from the R(xlney King ver
dict is bad. And it's good.
l,a.st Wednesday s acquittal of four white Los An
gules police officers charged with last year's video
taped beating of the Black motorist kicked off the big
gest and bloodiest wave of rioting in the nation's histo
ry.
Forty-five riot related deaths have now been re
ported by L.A.'County coroners, topping Detroit's 101)7
record count of 4 t. l. A 's 10(if> riots in the Watts area
had 04 fatalities.
The recent riots aren't limiter) to 1. A . either; boat
mg. burning and general destruction have spread
throughout the country, stretching from Atlanta to
Manhattan. Seattle to Southern ('.alifornia
The source of the violence is obvious. Acting as the
release valve on a pressure cooker full of long brewing
frustrations, the King vnrdii t was the catalyst in the in
evitable spewing of steam
It boils down to pain and anger These people are
angr\ Who wouldn't be7 They've been betrayed by a
|u<h< lal system laneien an
equal prolector of this
country's public They are
sick of continuing preju
dices long gone uncalled
Thev are hurt h\ a hypo
critical society that claims
to be founder! on equal
White America
has comfortably
worn the blinders
of ignorance for
too long.
ngms Din n 'DM n m
and/or at knowledge its biased slams
The violence finally brought to light a problem
most of white America has long been ignorant of: N‘a
live American, Black, Hispanic, Asian and all other
non white Amerit .ins very often do not get a fair shake
in this land of the free and the brave, and they are get
ting sit k anti tired of it Prejudice continues to exist,
living off the souls it steals
One speaker at last week's 1 Ml r.dlv said it best
"It's not a black tiling, it's a human thing " It's true
The pain caused by America's prejudice must be
shared and acknowledged b\ every citizen of this
country, as well as the struggle to right the long com
mitted wrongs
The lives lost are the worse part of this scenario
Most were innocent bystanders, many were Him k or
Hispanic One should consider the fact that if a cause
is worth dying for. it's fairer to sai rifice one's own life
before taking another's
Some say it's crazy for the crowds to destroy their
own neighborhoods, and that some jumped on the de
struction train not in an honest effort to protest the ver
dict. but to destroy and loot because it ysas the thing to
do Some tret that absolutely nothing good can come of
this.
Regardless of one's opinion on these or related t>>p
ii s. one must see the violence for what it is — a back
lash against a system of continuing oppression with
years of hurt and anger behind it
It apparently took an extremist action like tins to fi
nally call attention to a problem that everyone should
have been conrerned about a long time ago — not just
people of color. That’s the productive part of this
yvhole tiling. The uglv part is the reality of the death
toll, and the physical as well as emotional havoc
wreaked on those affected,
White America has comfortably ysorn the blinders
of ignorance for too long. It's m the best interest of
those still wearing tins outdated an essory to take them
off It's "our" problem now. the time of "their" prob
lem is over, and it will remain "our" problem long at
ter the v iolence fades
(ht-gon Dai!'
Emerald
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1
STATE
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I^eeDbD operator SEPAPATioiA.
LETTERS
For Wooten
I ,im writing in support of
Cynthia W ... !i n i ifiinii riit. tor
state represent alive, District -11
W outre .1 (• it mi l !'.iigi'iii‘ til v
councilor ami legislative .isms
tanl has tin' experience lii he
tin oflis live si,ill legislator Her
ris orci of ad omplishmiinls ami
curing is too long In fully list
hilt tier ox per lem es range from
(hairing task forces on homo
lessness a lid affordable hous
ing. in working on tin- Commit
tee lor I., onomii Diversilii a
tlori, ami owning her own small
business
Sion ivet not only does
W : ii lien hr mg a wealth ot exjie
mince. tint she holds strong
i onvii lions that ate truly repre
sell tat i ve ill the people of ills
Irtit it She unequivocally
supports a woman s rigtit to
i house, yy line the iru umhellt
Mane Hell is atltl abortion
W .,1 ltd, Si eks tax relorm lo
protect the quality of edur iilton
at tiie t m v er si ly yvht O' Bell
has refused to even talk to toll
lerneii students Wooten envi
sums a diyersiln ii and produt
ttye mi omiltiy yyitli a growth
plan that lotuses on worker
training programs, an enhuru ed
pubic 'Works mlrastrur lure and
support of small business,
yy idle prolix ting tie quality of
life yy '. s.u red ! he im um
irent. on the other itand. lai ks
y is ton altogether
If in, re as embarrassed as I
am to rail inexperienced, anti
O M .. O' 11' a
something about it Let the
y on e id the rna -nix tie heard
at the state capital Our best
| i to it;, district III
New, I IS to fl'-i ! Wo.-’.rrt O;
May V to: W ooten on May
David Frost
Students for Wooten
Railing
1:4
involution by offering a multi
tu(i• ■ of- courses teaching white
people to apologi/e for being
born Ibis was only a ploy,
however, to get people to regis
ter for summer classes so they
i uultl tie iihIoi triruitecl in the
wavs of "high -minded, classi
. ii sr hnl.irslnp with a token tip
ol the hat to those pioneers of
the women's ishe must moan
vs uni vn s rights movement
However the University
lath'd to have its propaganda
department supervise the crea
tion of this particular banner
and in doing so. its true mo
lives were revealed Stahlei ker
has lot led tb,e I 'diversity s das
tardlv plan by exposing its bin
taut disregard (or diversity and
informing us all of its true in
tent
It may appear to some as it
Stahlei ker ids merely’ invented
something to rail against lor the
pure, hlreral jov of railing, hut
bo assured she has saved us all
I hiink you, Stahlei ker By us
mg your time to expose such a
hold buk of concern bv the
University lor people of non
white raies, you have Irrcd up
time for me 1 think 1 vx ill use it
to engage m ai tiv ities of a low
er moral order like making
money
James Scha3n
Marketing
Pathetic
According to the l-'mrruld of
A;sr11 . appro vimate I v til
peri ent of University students
voted in the primary elections
That's roughly students
out of 15,500 Hus number is
really pathetic
livery time ! turn around. I'm
constantly hearing people
whine about the esi alatlng ini i
dental lees, departments being
( lit and tai ulty losing their po
site :is Ui II stop w hilling and
do s, methmg about it' Vote!
'Hus is your government
control it. don't let it c ontrol
von’ nor.': be* ,ime i>ne of the
tuci's become one of the
in,: i's' Volt■1 \ i only is 11 your
duty, but wr'ti' talking about
your freedom. Don't let your
frtuidnm lie controlled'
(Control your freedom!
Kristi Miller
Student
Language abuse
There in prestige these days
in tieing politic ai 1 \ correct, and
to these politically corns t peo
p 11■. thi‘ adjectives 1 have most
often heard applied are "on
lightened tiiid liberated " I
am speaking out in hopes of
drawing attention to the gross
misapplication of these quail
lies Enlightened means freed
Iroin ignorant e To call a per
son enlightened merely bet arise
they follow newly formed so
dial etiquette is to dilute the
connotation of a great quality
The won) liberated denotes
one who is free From my expo
rionce politically correct pet>
pie are hopelessly enslaved in
an effort not to break the sonsi
live codes, which give them
their identity In the liberated
Mis. sexuality w.is freedy dis
cussed All points of view, no
matter how perverse, were
open for consideration and of
ten embrac ed. in the politically
correct 'His, such conversation
is a stifling entanglement of
iln's and dan's anything hut
liberated
Finally the words enlight
ened and liberated imply some
one who is internally strong,
hut the politically cornu t pen
file I see are easily (and amus
mgiv) riled al anything whic h
doesn't lit into their narrow
view of what's correct This
doesn't appear to he a display
of strength Surely we can find
more ippmpriate weirds to at
lac h to the politically correct
perhaps “enslaved,' “puritan!
i al.' and "myopic "
Ted Golder
Student
Dau
t -
POLICY
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