Letters______________
2________
Opinion
WediMEsdAy, J anuary 17, 2001
All signed letters to the editor should be 500 words or less and will be
considered for publication if submitted by 1 pm the Friday prior to
publication. Letters to the Editor are subject to editing. We reserve the
right to not publish any letter.
Awareness key in preventing hate crimes
From cat editing to tearingdown banners, crimes happen more thanyou may be aware
As I write this, MTV has just
begun its tributejo victims of hate
crimes in America. lorj/iesext 17
hours, t|i|yj^ill faAl fne first name
oljhewreffm, the date of the crime,
and the place. A brief description
of the offense is posted on the
screen and read aloud. The crimes
run from catcalling and bottle
throwing, to beatings, muggings
and murder. One young Philippine
man was beaten so badly that ev­
ery organ in his body burst. His
mother could identify him only by
a mangled tattoo on his arm.
These horrific stories tell a chill­
ing tale of America - one we
don’t like to think about and too
often ignore. These things don’t
happen to us. If they do not di­
rectly affect us, we go on as we
always have. But hate crimes
don’t just happen in big cities to
other people. They happen ev­
erywhere. On our own campus,
we’ve had posters for the Rainbow
If at first you don't
succeed try try again
Did you ever wonder why so
many people resolve to lose weight
after the holidays? It could be be­
cause the average American gains
12 pounds between Thanksgiving
and New Years.
But hon-
estly,
how
many people
really keep
their
New
Year’s resolu-
tions? How
many times
have you said,
“This year I will not procrastinate in
my classes,” or, “I resolve to exer­
cise on a regular basis.” Or here’s a
good one, “This year I will not be
lazy.” I think the reason most reso­
lutions go bad is because people
don’t set realistic resolutions, or
they just plain give up or forget. So
I’m going to tell you a few ways that
I think you can keep your resolu­
tions in the year 2001.
First, set up steps to meet your
goals. If you resolve to stop pro­
crastinating with schoolwork, take
the first step by starting your home­
work by 5 p.m. every night, or by
doing your homework during breaks
between classes. Your second step
could be to go to the library and work
on your assignments to prevent dis­
tractions from friends. Another
helpful step could be to use a day
planner to keep track of time. What
I am trying to say is, you can’t do it
all in one day. It takes baby steps to
meet your
goals.
That'
way it is
Diana Serivner
Editor-in-Chief
Second, find a friend to help you
keep your new resolutions. Maybe
you have a friend that is in the same
boat as you. You can keep one an­
other accountable for your resolu­
tions. It’s always easier to accom­
plish goals when you have some­
one on your back pushing you to
meet them. You are more likely to
meet your goals if you tell someone
else about them.
My last step for you is NEVER
GIVE UP! Remember the old saying,
“If at first you don’t succeed try, try
again.” This is a good time to apply
it. It takes three to four weeks to
develop a habit and only a few days
of not doing it to break the habit. So
keep it up! If it is truly a goal you
want to meet, you will stick with it
and not give up.
Club - a club for gay, lesbian and
bisexual students and their advo-
cates - defaced and tom down.
Take a
stand!!
While this may seem minor in
comparison to the slaying of Mat­
thew Shepard, it still begins to
breed an atmosphere of intoler­
ance. Every time a white person
calls a black person nigger; every
time you hear a girl called bitch;
every time someone calls another
person faggot; every time some­
one says they Jewed down the
price; with every Mexican joke or
retard joke or Polish joke, little vi­
ruses of hate are spread. Hate is
like a virus. It needs a suitable en­
vironment to grow and thrive. This
generation has the power to turn
the tide on hate crimes. We have
ability to kill
this virus and
stop
the
spread of this
cultural dis­
ease.
Now
Corinne Rupp
as MTV kicks
Opinion Editor
off its Hate
Crimes
Awareness campaign, let us here
at Clackamas do the same within
us. The simplest thing you can do
to help is to monitor your own
tongue. Stop using offensive or
derogatory language, and don’t be
complacent when your friends use
it. Contact your senator or con­
gressman. Attend meetings, write
to newspapers and speak up when
you see things happen. Get in­
volved. The most important thing
to do is to take a firm stand against
hate. Like the bumper sticker says,
“Silence = Death.”
Upon waiting for a class to start the
other day so 1 picked up a copy of the
Clackamas print for a leisurely read. I
often read the Clackamas Print to un­
wind after a long day, but NOT that
day. I flipped through the paper and
found the comics. I must say that I
was HIGHLY offended that you al­
lowed a comic with racial slurs into
your fine newspaper. If you do not
know what I’m talking about, I refer
to the “Cracker Community College”
comic. Being a white male, I find the
term cracker offensive and I think it
was VERY poor taste allowing such a
comic into your newspaper.
I hope in the future that you do not
allow such obviously racially moti­
vated comics in your fine newspaper.
It ruins the reputation of your fine
newspaper, and my afternoon. Please
keep this in mind next time anything
on the same level as this “trash” comes
across your desk.
Offended In Oregon City
The comic in question, reprinted
above, ran November 16,2000.
Welcome to a new column here in The Print. BackTalk is a student
discussion forum. Each week a question will be asked for our readers to
respond to. Replies can either be e-mailed to us at
cccprint@clackamas.cc.or.us or dropped by The Print office in Bl04.
Please include your name to be considered for publication.
Question
The State of Oregon has passed hate crime legislation
making it an offense to attack anyone based on race,
religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. However,
there is no federal legislation for hate crimes. Many
lawmakers do not see the need to pass hate crime
laws, as laws already exist for murder, rape, arson,
etc. They feel that legislation that addresses a
person’s motive for a crime is one step away from
prosecuting thought crimes, which is a First
Amendment violation. What do you think?
"I want to quit smoking. I try
to keep it by chewing a lot of
tobacco.”
Davin Gaffney
To begin with, the intention of this
cartoon was not necessarily to target
any specific group, racial or otherwise,
but rather to point out an observation
in a manner which would make people
take notice. Clearly my method was a
success.
Furthermore, even if it had been my
goal to attack the white population, I
have every right to do so as a member
of that population. Common practice
has shown us that making fun of one’s
own group is perfectly acceptable. For
instance, comedian Chris Rock does
qot offend the African American com­
munity at large despite his frequent
use of racial slurs towards them. My
ethnic make-up is primarily composed
of Swedes and Danes. Why would I
not be justified in using a term like
“cracker” to describe my own kind?
Skin just doesn’t get much whiter than
mine.
In addition, what right does a white
person have to such indignation?
Clearly we enjoy considerable advan­
tages (which we can not even begin to
understand) over minorities every day.
A little humor at our own expense
hardly offsets this inequity.
To conclude, I would like to thank
Mr. Baker for sending his letter,
thereby giving me a chance to add my
commentary. Also, I would like to
commend him for his astute observa­
tion; indeed we do publish a “fine
newspaper.”
Christopher Lundgren
Staff Cartoonist
Business Manager:
Diana Scrivner (x2447)
Feature Co-Ed it or:
Daisy Bain (x2578)
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Maggie Jirasek
Feature Co-Editor:
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Staff:
Tam Oliver
A <& E Editor:
Tam Oliver
Opinion Editor:
Corinne Rupp
Copy Editor:
t
Jenny Chavez
Sports Editor:
Jason Lingel
Ryan Brinkley
Darrel Hobson
Chris Lundgren
Elena Boryska
Lies! Muggli
Matt Shempert
Melodi Huey
Allison Gerfin
Secretary:
News Editor
JoAnne Gale
Steve Nielsen
Photo Editor:
Advisor:
Linda Vogt (x2310)
Mike Pollock
"I want to switch to a less
pleasing brand of cigarettes so
I willsmoke less, [don't
think it will work out; I always
say this is what I'm going to do
by then I never do it.”
Alicia Carrier
"I want to stop drinking so
much. I try to keep it by not
putting myself in situations
where I drink a lot"
Greg Bakanoff
Artist responds to criticism
Edi tor-i n-Chief
19600 S MoUtU Avt. Oatqos C itv . O> i <¡ on 97045
(505) 657-6958 txt 2509
cccp»l»»®cltc5m»»cco»u.
New Year's
resolutions:
How are you
going to
keep them?
dlßT Jas
Letter to the editor--------
Cartoon 'racially motivated'
Student Poll
"My resolution is to go to
the gym 5 out of 7 days. So
far I have kept it. I just go to
the gym. ¡motivate myself."
Denise Bean
Piiotos by Gilbert Barrett
Quotes collected by Maggie Jirasek
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