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Thursday, February 27,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald —
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editor
Pat Payne
A real resolution?
Cutting down on
oil consumption
Guest commentary
It is a beautiful thing to express a conviction openly. It is an
even more beautiful thing to live by that conviction.
It may be a positive thing for the University’s faculty to uni
formly declare that military action in Iraq is wrong. This is as
suming the majority of the faculty feels this way.
If such a declaration is officially stamped, it is possible that
other institutions may follow suit. There is influence behind
the voice of a university.
But regardless, if your stand is for or against military action, it is
ultimately personal choice and not official declarations that will
bring the peace that everybody wants.
There is a growing number of people who are willing to listen to
ideas that would have been thought of as conspiracy theories not
long ago. Particularly, the idea that oil—and ultimately power and
money—is the primary reason that the U.S. has been so interested
in the Middle East for the past few decades, if not longer.
This is precisely why charter signing, banner waving and march
es are not answers in themselves. These things are part of an overall
change and are important, but can only have so much effect.
If present and historical military action against Iraq is ultimately
about controlling the flow of oil, then personal choice is the only
real means toward peace. This nation, and increasingly the world,
operates on a basic economical principle—supply and demand.
It is good to rally together and march peacefully against the
war, but if we then get into our cars and drive home, we’ve effec
tively undermined ourselves.
It is just as good to make official declarations, but if the
school itself is a wasteful consumer of oil — heating and elec
tricity— then again we’ve undermined our own cause.
The supply of oil, and thus its sometimes violent and envi
ronmentally destructive acquisition, will continue until one of
two things happens: Either it runs out, or we stop buying it.
The second is our personal choice, and it’s the most powerful
statement we can make. If the school wants to make an effective
statement against military action in Iraq, it should invest in solar,
wind and other non-petroleum sources of energy to heat and light
its rooms and bring life to its computers, mainframes and servers.
Wind generators and solar panels on the top of every building
will make a statement that is far more powerful than charters
and words. Encouraging students to ride bikes to school by pro
viding a low-cost bike with tuition will also be a believable and
practical statement. Encouraging students not to drive to school
by offering some creative tuition reduction will give me reason to
believe an officially declared stance.
If the response to these ideas is “It’s not cost effective,” or “It’ll
cost too much,” then our officially declared statement is nothing
more than words.
Tom Adams is a junior in the music department
Letter to the editor
Moral beliefs don’t
imply authoritarianism
In “Keep absolute statements to yourself’ (ODE, Feb. 21),
Scott Austin claims “democracy (is) inherently evil,” but then
goes on to question the very existence of “absolute right and
wrong.” If I’m not mistaken, his earlier use of the word “evil”
denotes the very existence of such. Either Austin must accept
that absolute morality exists, but should not be coerced upon a
citizenry by the government, or else that there is no such thing
as right, wrong or any ethical litmus test for a given action.
As his claims stand, I feel inclined to turn his own words against
him: “Beware the dangers of such a stance, sir, for it would readily
place you in the same court and arena as the Christian right, a
place I am confident you would not like to find yourself.”
Yet the fallacy of Austin’s argument lies in the assumption
that those who believe in absolute morality also believe in gov
ernment policies that force it upon other people. As a Christ
ian, I freely concede the existence of absolute right and absolute
wrong. However, as a fallible human, I have no authority to im
pose my guesses as to what absolute morals are upon other peo
ple: This is why I am a card-carrying libertarian.
My being a libertarian and Christian immediately defeats
Austin’s logic. Through the absolute moral of “Do not coerce others
unless in defense” do I justify my politics. How, Austin, do you jus
tify yours?
Brandon Rhodes
freshman
, . , political science
CUSTOM* R Umitl
TOBACCO
Peter Utsey Emerald
--
What happened to gay black history?
Guest commentary
Editor’s note: Earlier in the month, stu
dents at Wayne State University in De
troit organized a showcase on black gay
historical figures in the student center.
The display caused a stir on that cam
pus, and this column is a response ex
amining the issue.
Langston Hughes, Benjamin Banneker,
George Washington Carver, Harriet Tub
man — gay? The LGBT Student Union,
and the LGBT Student Union of Color’s
“Historically Black, Historically Gay”
showcase in the student union has been
getting quite a bit of attention.
I’m the secretary of the LGBT Student
Union of Color, and the co-designer of the
showcase. As I was walking through the
Student Center today, I noticed a small
crowd around our display, so I stopped to
see what was going on. I was there for a
half hour answering questions.
People just couldn’t believe that so many
of their historic black heroes were gay. I
think that it is important that people know
that throughout history, lesbian, gay, bisex
ual, and transgender people have made
huge contributions to the world.
Angela Davis, activist; Howard Rollins,
actor in the film “Ragtime” and TV show
“In the Heat of the Night”; Alice Walker,
novelist; Billy Strayhom, wrote “Take the
‘A’ Train” with Duke Ellington; Max
Robinson, first Black anchor on a national
news program; Barbara Jordan, congress
woman; Benjamin Banneker, designer of
Washington, D.G. — all are among the
many who have made contributions to
Black History Month.
It’s the part of black history that tends
to get lost in the celebration. Martin
Luther King Jr. cemented his place in his
tory with the “I Have A Dream” speech,
but if not for the handling of the logistics
and pulling together of the million details
it required to conduct the March on
Washington by his colleague, Bayard
Rustin, it never would have happened.
Rustin was a gay man and his homosexu
ality was hardly a secret.
For black lesbians, gays, bisexuals and
transgender, Black History Month must be
somewhat bittersweet. They’re invited to
join in the celebration of black achieve
ment and accomplishment, but only if they
keep a discreet silence of their role in it.
Strange, isn’t it, how this is a month
where every library pushes its authors
of color to the front window exhibits,
but works by James Baldwin or Audre
Lorde go missing. It’s a good month to
read Terry McMillan and Toni Morrison,
but not so for Sapphire, E. Lynn Harris
or Essex Hemphill.
Black History Month is kind of funny in
the way it seems to self-censor what parts of
our history should be told and what should
be glossed over. There are gay black people
in this so-called “community” and the
longer it takes those of us who know it and
refuse to face the truth, the harder it be
comes for us to truly know ourselves and
accept ourselves for the diverse group of in
dividuals that make up our race.
Are the awesome oratorical powers of
Barbara Jordan diminished by discover
ing she was a lesbian? Do the sweet
melodies of “Take the ‘A’ Train” suddenly
become harsh and displeasing to the ear
knowing that Duke Ellington’s collabora
tor was a gay man ?
If we start with merely being more toler
ant of the differences between others and
ourselves, then later we can move on to big
ger issues like acceptance. Maybe then,
Black History Month can truly become a
celebration where all the voices of its par
ticipants ring equally loud and clear.
Michael Fifueroa is a student at Wayne State
University. This column originally ran in The
South End, Wayne State's student newspaper.
CORRECTIONS
alleges police brutality," ODE, Feb. 26) should have
said that Williams said he was convicted ip 2001 of
resisting arrest — not disorderly conduct.
Wednesday’s article about the
fraternities (“Substance-free fr
Feb. 26) misidentified Delta Sig
John Hannam. Jonah Lee is the Interfraternity
_
* >
Council president.
The article should have said that Faryl Kagan said
members now have conversations with recruits
instead of just throwing parties involving alcohol.
Also, Kagan did not mean that pre-alcohol-ban
partying at fraternity houses was mindless.
The Emerald regrets the errors.
• A