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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1995)
EDITORIAL Spare AmeriCorps from budget cuts On the road to cutting the budget. Congress might veer off the side and cut necessary programs that must be funded. A prime example of this would bo AmeriCorps. A public service program instituted by President Clinton, AmeriCorps offers money for education in exchange for a year or more of national service. A House subcommittee has cut S210 million from the 5580 million budget already approver! for the program this year. Now it appears some Republicans might like to cut the whole thing. AmeriCorps is a program that deserves every dollar allocated to it. ff this program cost ml lions ol dollars, it might be argued that cuts In the program would bo justi fiable. In an effort to reduce spending. Con gress is currently trying to cut a littie out of AmeriCorps is one of those visionary programs that only t omes along every few det odes most programs wnne eliminating others. However. AmeriCorps Is nu( an expensive program and doesn't deserve to be cut. In fact, for the good that the program does both for the workers and for their com munities. AmeriCorps is the type of program that should be promoted rather than gutted. AmeriCorps encourages many things society actively trios to promote. The program aims to help people pay for their education by working for projects to better soci ety. Recent projects throughout the country include building houses and immunizing children noble pro jects few could find fault with. Opponents argue people shouldn't be paid to work on community service projects. As humans, we should be willing to help another person in need. However, the reality is that even while working to help the commu nity. people are still looking to get an education, livery one has bills to pay and college isn't getting any cheap er. If people are willing to work to belter society to get the funds necessary to attend college, then AmeriCorps is a successful program. AmeriCorps is ono of tboso programs everyone can benefit from. With AmoriCorps, no one loses. Those-in the program gain money for college or vocational school, white gaining valuable experience that might help when applying for employment elsewhere. The community benefits as well. AmoriCorps workers can often accom plish tasks the local community cannot do itself. AmeriCorps is one of those visionary programs that only comes along every few decades. Similar to the Peace Corps. AmeriCorps allows people to help others and better themselves at the same time. Congress should spare AmeriCorps from cuts. Ameri cans are getting excellent return tor their dollar and workers are getting an education. What more could Con gress look for in a federal program? 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G*y*s Form*n, C?v*flfc**w*Q* Man Geriorv, Gary Grass Joe Haneood. Km Henry, Trevor Kearney. Sh*rvxm KAJun. Adam Ksncher, Sutame Mur*a Mar* UtTyre, P«t*<* Mntond. Ben Moabtus. NalaAe Montgomery. Anne M- .^w Kom<ed Coeenn PdNtg. Sherry Remay **»« SabOuw, P«J Van SiCWe Saan Smah. Je»#my S*n*on Ken Wes*. Br^r WomacK lm General Manager Judy >W Adverting Director Ma* Wart«v Production Maneger M*:ho»e Roes Advertising An/te Amaky A**ia Borgrte* Marco Ch*ng, Tony fo*. Erin Harsher tecoie Heri-ners. Jeremy Meson Seren Mrs ?•«• Tom Mttettiasdt. KeMr> w«*e* Classified tlecAy Merchant. Ma-upt* Ky«e Daw*. Jo* Se*en Distribution: John tong, f erervc Refcocii. Graham S-mpeon Busina** *ethy Cetoom Supervisor Judy Conrx*> Production Deft** McCobb. Pfodbebon Coordinator Shewn* AbeM Tsrs Gainey. Bred joes. Mo#y Mi Cent*. JenrwMr Rotard. Qeyton '*«*« N*w»room OflKm >46-5611 >46-5312 Dttpliky Adv*rtl*mg 346-3712 MM343 * * 0»gg' ■#— *■ -vj n* Going to carry TWIS ONE Tb TERM.. ■ OPINION All crimes are created equal Brian Womack Evt>ry crime that happen* today hi the t ity of Eugene will be a hate crime 1 tie same g«ies for the rest of the state and tim nation, for that matter I can sav tins because, as far as I can tell, nobody does crimes out of love. There are no "love crimes Hate is the motive in jus! about any crime I can think of At least if they're not done out of pure hate. Perhaps the criminals are just ticked-off or really upset for some reason I guess these crimes could h*» < ailed “ticked-off crimes" or "I was really upset crimes " Crimes are committed with the intention of infringing upon another person's property or self that 1 would characterize as. if not at least hate, certainly evil. Lei's suppose on the way hack to my i ar tonight, some people decide they need some money, and I'm the person they decide to take it from. |ust for argu ment's sake, let's suppose in the process of the mugging. I lose my kneecaps to a 38 Am 1 now going to cam if the person who committed that crime is black, white or a radical vegetarian? No. I'm upset that I'm missing my kneecaps Whether the person did it out of hate for me for any reason is really beside the point That crime or any crime is wrong because it is a crime. It s not because of what some per* son was thinking at the time of the crime. Yet many believe it does. In a New York Times editori al on June 16. 1993, the board of the paper called a Supreme Court decision that found the idea of classifying crimes because the person was biased toward the person’s minority a “welcome message." But this board and others who hold its views should consider the consequences of such laws, In the May 1993 issue of the AHA (American Bar Associa tion) Journal, an article explained a case where a a group of hla< k men heat up a white boy This was the case the Supreme Court decided in 1993 The theft and felony aggravated battery conviction by the jury was expanded from two to four years because of the hate crimes law in the state of Wisconsin where the crime took place. It was said that the incident took place after the group of blacks watched Mississippi Burning and one of the men said. “Do you all feel hyped to move on some white people?" Fhis may make sense to some If the person who did this was a rat ist. doesn't ho deserve worse punishment? A symposium in the 1992 winter?spring issue of Criminal luutter Ethics, discusses the very topic of penalty enhancement for hate crimes Martin H Redish of North western University School of Law argued that, “while the vio lence that results from racial strife is surely not constitution ally protected, no additional punishment may be imposed solely for the racial motivation." Redish questions the basis of hate crimes because they attempt to sentence people based upon what their thoughts are, not just on the art itself "Anyone who has devoted substantial thought to issues of freedom of expression knows that a system that protects only expression, which we find morally or politically acceptable will soon disintegrate As dan gerous and offensive as I find any expression of bigotry. I fear much more any attempt by gov ernment to ; ontrol the minds of its citizens,” It s amazing to me that once again the left, with all of its tails for freedom of thought, are too happy to trample on that free dom when it doesn't line up with their politics. (nines B. Jacobs of the New York. University School of Law wrote one of the most striking points in the symposium. He said, "A decode ago many thoughtful individuals and the responsible press were opposed to even reporting the race of arrested individuals and their victims ...Now, the reverse pol icy seems to be gaining the ascendancy, especially among liberals who propounded the color-blind approach in the first place." Because hate crimes are not color-blind, discrimination abounds. Though we often think of hate crimes ns white on black or some other minority, it isn't always that way. The New York Times reported on Dei 13. 1993 that the "racial ly motivated crimes by blacks have soared in the last few years." The report found this was done by a group that was formed to monitor hate crimes by the klu Klux Klan It said from 1991 to 1993, the number of actual killings done by blacks on whites. Hispanic* and Asians leaped 4t> percent. This is another problem with hate crimes. They end up pun ishing some of the groups of people they were supposed to protect. If a group of people is being hostile toward another in a vio lently threatening manner, they should be prosecuted fully. I do believe that However, as as Jacobs said. "I continue to believe that our goal should be a color-blind society and a color-blind criminal jus tice system." This is just something else in society that tears at the relations between the races. We don't need anymore of that — no matter how political ly correct one may think the ideas are. Brian Womack is a columnist for the Emerald.
