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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2007)
BY JOSEPH A. LIEBERMAN Virginia Tech Backlash M aybe it’s always there, just below the surface, but we expect better of our college students. Still, this is Oregon, which as a territory in the 1840s rejected slavery but voted 8-1 to ban African-Americans from legally living here via the infamous Exclusion Laws (not removed from the state constitution until 1926). This is the place where in the early 1900s, the UO refused to allow interracial rooming for women. And until 1953, Medford and Roseburg maintained unwritten “Sundown Laws” declaring that all minorities must vacate populated areas by sunset. The state’s Prohibition of Intermarriage Law continued until 1959. So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that in the wake of the Virginia Tech mas- sacre by Korean-American Seung-hui Cho, Asian residents in Lane County — includ- ing UO students — have been the target of intimidation. On April 25, Eugene’s Asian community representative David Tam gave a press conference to announce that several local Asian citizens “have received very seri- ous threats,” adding, “Some are living in fear — they asked that we not give specifics.” Tam feels there has definitely been a Virginia Tech backlash both here and across the nation. “We want to prevent this kind of stereotyping,” he said. Never mind the fact that of around 100 U.S. and Canadian school shooters since 1974, only four had any Asian heritage, three were black and one was Native American. Educated white males carry out 95 percent of such attacks, but logic does not apply here. In this most violent of Western nations, the temptation to blame an entire class of foreigners for the brutal acts of a few individuals has a long pedigree. It hap- pened after Pearl Harbor, although no one suggested interning German-Americans at that time for ongoing Nazi atrocities. It happened after 9/11, although no one sug- gested profiling all Caucasian gun-loving military veterans after Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahoma City bombing ended the lives of 168 people and injured more than 500 in 1995. A few Asian students at the UO and at other campuses around the state have found themselves being the recipients of shunning and nasty shouts of “Go home!” UO exchange student Renaka S. told me, “Three times, walking in Allen Hall [the journalism building], white male students have said, ‘Get out!’ or ‘Get off the cam- pus!’ as I passed by.” “How do you know it was directed at you?” I asked. “Twice I was the only other person in the hallway! Another time, I was with two Japanese friends.” “How did you react? Did you report this?” I asked. “I just kept walking,” she said. “I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of a re- action.” Among the various Asian students studying at the UO’s American English Institute, some feel — unreasonably as far as statistics go — that Asians will be the target of the next campus shooting by whites. UO Media Relations head Pauline Austin acknowledged that, “Some students have reported feeling uncomfortable or anxious, but no specific incidents have turned up so far.” She said that all students have been sent email concerning emergency proce- dure plans, and all foreign students are told to report any acts of bigotry. Virginia Tech authorities have gone out of their way to mention how there has been no backlash at all against Asian students on their campus. What they may not have mentioned is that the South Korean government pulled home close to 500 of its foreign scholars from that campus soon after the shooting, in fear of just such a backlash. WHO YOU GONNA BLAME? Joseph A. Lieberman of Eugene is author of The Shooting Game — The Making of School Shooters. EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor News Editor Alan Pittman Reporter Camilla Mortensen Arts & Music Editor Molly Templeton Performing & Visual Arts/Copy Editor Suzi Steffen Calendar Editor Chuck Adams Contributing Editor Anita Johnson Contributing Writers Jason Blair, Jes Burns, Martha Calhoon, Brett Campbell, Rachael Carnes, Michael Cockram, David Constantin, John Dooley, Rachel Foster, James Johnston, Sarah Mazze, Sharleen Nelson, Mary O’Brien, Aaron Ragan-Fore, Vanessa Salvia, Steven Sawada, Sally Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Eva Sylwester, Adrienne van der Valk Interns Amanda Burhop, Deanna Uutela ART DEPARTMENT Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman Graphic Artists Shannon Browning, Todd Cooper, Barbara Cooper Intern Carly Kratzer Baby Samara Cooper Contributing Photographers Kurt Jensen, Paul Neevel ADVERTISING National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee Display Marketing Consultant Jennifer Donohue, Nate Krusi, Rob Weiss Advertising Traffic Coordinator Drew “Rockstar” Harrison Classified Manager Jennifer Donohue Classified Marketing Consultant Janus Brezsny, Aspen Rosen BUSINESS Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve Circulation Manager Danica Stiles Baby Persaeus Eilah Zapata Stiles Controller Paula Hoemann Distributors Bob Becker, Matt Bryson, Margaret Garrison, Tobin Herrera, Susan and David Lawson, Tim Risch, Quick Draw, Pedalers Express Printing Signature Graphics HOW TO REACH US BY E-MAIL: (letters): editor@eugeneweekly.com (advertising): ads@eugeneweekly.com (classifieds): classy@eugeneweekly.com (personals): personals@eugeneweekly.com ANTI-TAX ZEALOTS The recent “Slant” column condemnation of the negative recall effort against Commissioner Bobby Green resonates loudly with Diana Robertson’s powerful ex- pose (“Recalls a Waste,” letters, 4/19) of just who’s behind this vindictive push. Bravo! Recalls are for removing elected officials guilty of criminality like embezzle- ment or sexual predation — not a noose for some political lynch mob. Diana Robertson’s letter properly ex- poses radical forces behind the original re- peal effort — namely three antigovernment, anti-tax zealots with heavy out of county funding from “strident antigovernment cru- sader Don McIntyre and his Tigard-based Taxpayers Association of Oregon ($2,000).” All three of the tax vote repeal petitioners are partisan Republican employees of Linn County-based Morse Brothers concrete products company, including two corporate executives. Revealingly, the repeal group’s website lists Ben Pooler and fellow petitioner Loren Later as recent 2004 arrivals in Lane County, with Pooler arriving fresh from Nevada. Not all of Nevada’s illustrious traditions are wel- come here. Lane County’s tradition where honorable people disagree agreeably trumps nasty imported single-issue extremism. As a home-owning, taxpaying Lane County resident of many years, I oppose abusing the recall process; while I don’t al- ways agree with Commissioner Green, he doesn’t deserve this shabby treatment. Nor have Commissioners Bill Dwyer and Faye Stewart — next on this right-wing group’s arrogant hit-list — earned this pettiness. Sally Nunn Eugene tracted faculty and staff, seven administra- tors and an undetermined number of part- time faculty. It appears that we have offi- cially entered desperate times. So here’s my question: Why don’t they cut all athletic programs? I love sports as much as the next person, but wouldn’t cut- ting the sports programs from a community college make more sense than depleting the academic program to the breaking point? And for that matter, why not cut the music and drama departments, too? Yes, we highly value all of these departments, but when put in this impossible situation, are sports and music and drama more important than cut- ting teachers and staff? In the end everyone loses; yes, I realize that. But I am personally not willing to sacri- fice the quality of my education just so that LCC can have a couple more trophies in the athletic department showcase. Let’s cut all that which is not essential to ac- ademics and show that education is what LCC cares about most. I know that there will be plenty of people irritated by my suggestion, but if you have to choose between your son play- ing basketball on a community college team and getting adequate foundational education at that same school, what will you choose? The time has come for LCC to stop whin- ing and look at things with a realistic per- spective. And while I’m at it, stop insisting on buying the school new computers every other year. That is just irresponsible money management. Education is the most important thing for a community college. Not sports. Not music. Not drama. Desperate times call for desper- ate measures. Linda Cathey Eugene DESPERATE TIMES CRUEL IRONY Unless you’ve been living on Mars, you know about the pending budget cuts that LCC is facing. Last week, the LCC paper, The Torch, ran an article that rather officially stated that LCC will be making cuts to con- Most people in Lane County are not aware that there is a county-funded Veteran Services office that serves by assisting veterans in filing claims for assistance with the Veterans Administration. Additionally, there are cur- (calendar): cal@eugeneweekly.com (music/clubs/special shows): music@eugeneweekly.com (art/openings/galleries): visualarts@eugeneweekly.com (performance/theater): performance@eugeneweekly.com (literary arts/readings): books@eugeneweekly.com (movies/film screenings): movies@eugeneweekly.com (circulation): distribution@eugeneweekly.com Eugene Weekly • 1251 Lincoln Street • Eugene, OR 97401 • 541.484.0519 • fax 541-484-4044 4 MAY 3, 2007 TO THE EDITOR
