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opinion
Those Who Are Coming Behind
A weary traveler,
dusty with the road he has trod,
comes into my view.
From a distance,
I see the face of ...
Crispus Attucks
Nat Turner
Harriet Tubman
Marcus Garvey
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Malcom X
My grandfather
As he grows nearer,
I see the face of ...
Stokey Carmichael
Angela Davis
Dick Gregory
Andrew Young
Ben Chavis
Minister Louis Farrakhan
My mother.
As he passes me,
I see the face of ...
The little boy
I met in the park
The student I ran into
on Howard’s campus
The young Black executive
I shook hands with
The reading tutor
at Cardozo High School
My children.
I call out to this traveler,
And say to him
From whence you came
and where are you going?
He replies
From the womb of Mother Africa,
to my grave of liberation.
Why so grave of liberation.
Why so weary I ask
He replies
I carry with me
the burden of struggle,
justice, and hope.
The tools I used
to pave the roads
and build the bridges.
For I know I am not alone,
there are others
coming behind me.
Looking into the face
I see a Blackness
that could only be seen
by an understanding eye.
I see in that face me.
So I pick up the tools
of that weary traveler
and take up his journey.
I build the bridges of Umoja (unity),
Hujichagul (self-determination),
Ujamma (cooperative economics),
Ujima (collective work and responsibility),
Kuumba (creativity),
Nia (purpose),
Imani (faith).
Not for the magnificence
of their beauty
but for those
who are coming behind.
Katryna Henderson
This poem was written in cooperation with the Black Awareness observance of
Black History Month.
Crazy Marvin and
Chinese railroads
by Art Buchwald
There is quite a flap going on between
the People’s Republic of China and the
United States concerning some railroad
bonds the Manchu Dynasty issued in
1911 to build a rail line between Canton
and Peking. A federal judge in Alabama
ruled that the present Chinese govern
ment had to make good on the bonds
held by Americans, which have been in
default since the 1930s.
The Communist government now in
power refuses to honor the judge’s deci
sion, and is threatening to seize U.S.
assets in China if America makes any
move to seize Chinese property in the
United States to pay off the $41 million
plus 5 percent the judge ordered Peking
to remit.
I have a friend named Marvin Kitman,
who is the TV critic for Newsday on Long
Island. In 1963 he was a free-lance writer
and one day he said to me, “I think I can
get out of this rat race.”
“How so?” I asked him.
“I’m putting every last nickel I own in
Chinese Imperial Railroad Bonds.”
“But you don’t have any money.”
“That’s the point. They’re now selling
on the market for $10 on the thousand.
For 200 bucks, I can own $20,000 worth.”
“But if you can get them that cheap,
they must be worthless.”
“How can they be worthless?” he said.
“They’re backed in gold by the Manchu
Dynasty.”
“Where did you get the tip on the
bonds?”
“If you promise not to tell anybody, I
found it in a fortune cookie. It said, ‘This
is your lucky day. Invest in the Hukuang
Railways Sinking Fund.’”
“You found that in a fortune cookie?”
“It was a very old, soggy fortune
cookie, and didn’t taste very good, but
the message was loud and clear. I’m only
passing the information on to you be
cause you’re a friend, and because I’ve
invested so heavily in railroads, I can’t
afford to pay for my lunch.”
A few years later I met Marvin on the
street.
“How are you doing with your invest
ment?”
“My bonds are worth $20 per
thousand,” he said. “On paper I’ve dou
bled my investment.”
“How did that happen?”
“When I placed my order with Merrill
Lynch I drove the price up. You’d be
amazed what $200 can do to the market
in defaulted Chinese Railroad bonds.”
“Why don’t you sell out, and take your
$400?”
“First, because the CIA reports the
railroad is going strong, and secondly,
I’ve been reading Time Magazine and
they still believe Chiang Kai-shek will
take back the Mainland. Once he does I
could make my big score. I’m now the
biggest holder of Hukuang Railway
Bonds in northern New Jersey.”
The years passed and Marvin and I
lost touch. Then I read the story in The
Wall Street Journal that the federaljudge
had ruled in favor of 280 bond-holders in
a class action suit against the Chinese gov
ernment. I immediately called Kitman to
congratulate him.
“I have to hand it to you,” I said. “Mer
rill Lynch is not going to call you ‘Crazy
Marvin’ any more.”
He said modestly, “I can’t take all the
credit. I owe a lot of it to Nixon.”
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion
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Reagan getting ready
by Arnold Sawislak
United Press International
WASHINGTON — We may not know
for sure for some time whether President
Reagan is going to run for a second term,
but he certainly has been hard at work in
the first months of 1983 getting ready for
1984.
The First and most important step
Reagan took this year was cut a deal with
the Democrats on Social Security.
Republican political strategists have
known for some time that the perception
that Reagan was going to try to cut Social
Security benefits was big trouble.
The Republicans took a terrible bat
tering on this issue in 1982. Democratic
charges on Social Security hurt GOP can
didates more than the state of the eco
nomy, the nuclear arms issue or cuts in
social programs.
Because the Republicans had blun
dered into a premature proposal for So
cial Security cuts and restrictions in the
spring of 1981, they could not claim the
Democrats were manufacturing their
charges out of thin air.
They had to neutralize the issue by
getting the Democrats to agree on at least
a shortterm solution to the cash crisis that
was rapidly approaching. They had to
give more than they got in the final deal
— bow to a speed up in Social Security
taxes in return for a delay in a cost of
living increase that wasn’t going to be
very large anyway.
But politically, they succeeded by get
ting Speaker Tip O’Neill’s name on the
compromise. If the package passes, it is
hard to see how Democratic campaigners
can attack it or the Republicans next year.
The other big problem was, and is,
jobs. Even if the economy stages a healthy
recovery this year, the unemployment fi
gures well into 1984 are likely to be high
— near, if not over, 10 percent.
It does not solve the political problem
to make sympathetic statements about
unemployment or argue that when busi
ness picks up, it will provide “real” rather
than “make work” jobs.
When people see factories and stores
closing — in their home towns, not just
on the evening news — they start wor
rying even if they have not lost their own
jobs.
A majority of Americans were not alive
during the Depression 50 years ago, but
that searing experience is imbedded
deeply enough in the national psyche to
make
high unemployment a se
problem for whoever is running the
ernment. That is especially true f<
Republicans, who took the blame f(
crash and almost died as a political|
in the aftermath.
So Reagan offered another deal
effect, he agreed to 80 percent of
same jobereation program the
crats proposed last fall and he threaliftr
to veto.
on
Dc
... are, hea
Even if the Democrats insist tha r
Reagan plan is too small, they can't! n Rudd<
say he is totally insensitive to theui
he h
ises of I
id tech
ill have
ployment problem. And, if they insi iuigery
more money rorjoos anci get into as
doff with Reagan, it will be the D
crats, not the Republicans, who wi
holding up action.
It can be said that neither of these
amples constitute evidence that Reag anan ai
planning to run for re-election,
could, after all, be trying simply to!
the problems of Social Security and
employment. The problem with thai
planation is that both represent chai
in the course the president urged
country to stay before the verdict
1982 elections was delivered.
The
prolong
tore the
ife and
ies, said
Savior (:
\ soci
ry to Fin
ective,
peech s|
issues.
“If it
ective hi
he costs
Ions mij
pmpass
In son
Letters: Answer in sex education
ions air
Unicorn lost
Please explain
Editor:
The Parental Notification rule (the
“squeal law“) is generating quite a bit of
controversy. Sadly, it seems its most vocal
supporters are also the most ignorant.
Dannette Heren objects to paying for a
teen-agers “fling“. Well, I would rather
pay for birth control than pay support
for mother and child (sex can result in
babies, you know). Contrary to Ms.
Heren’s belief, withholding birth control
or telling a parent will not result in celi
bate teens.
It will, however, encourage them to
have sex without protection, according to
a survey commissioned by Planned Pa
renthood. Teens are just afraid their pa
rents will find out but it won’t stop them
— they’ll just make sure their parents
don’t find out. Consequently, they will
not use available clinics to get birth con
trol. Woe to the taxpayer then! I wonder
what evidence Ms. Heren has to the con
Editor:
Help! I lost a gold James Avery un
icorn charm at the OCA M*A*S*H
B*A*S*H Saturday night at Plantation
Oaks apartments. Besides being my
“lucky” charm, it also has a lot of sen
timental value. I would really appreciate
if anyone found it, if you would please
call me. A reward will be offered. Thank
Editor:
you.
Lisa Sullivan
260-0092
Neeley Hall
Dana Eubi
Aston
trary.
The answer lies in sex education. If
teens were taught that it can happen “the
first time,” or even if he “promises not-to
...”, perhaps then teen-agers would be
more responsible in respect to sexual
activity. But I’m sure the Dannette
Herens lobby hard against this as well.
S. Ruby Lang
Anthropology Graduate Student
Dorm noise
Editor:
This letter is in response to the Feb. 28
letter, “Keep it down.” Although the peo
ple involved did not intend to keep any
body awake, I do not think we owe an
apology. My feelings can best be de
scribed by quoting the late John T. Fran
cis — “A man who cannot occasionally see
the world through the eyes of a boy, is a
sad excuse for a man.”
David Adams
Kent Knight
Davis-Gary Hall
Slouch
By Jim Earle
Howe
ire not
earch o
Recer
he me
I am only an ignorant nuclear
gineering student in my second nu(
physics course. Could you please!) ;ur 8 er V
gracious as to explain to me how
Glashow’s new neutrino “process usf
rays to find hidden resources?” P!
explain to me this new matter-en
transformation of which I have i) ;eni re |
heard mentioned before.
o abou
aid.
Ofthi
urgery,
eturn n
“Can you give me some advice for improving my grades. I
tape every lecture, transcribe the tape, outline the key
points, and make up question cards to study. My problem
is that I’m caught up on the first week, but we’re seven
weeks into the course.”