knowledge
personal gain
Texans have a right to their past. Texans have a right to
keep their shipwrecks, a link with history, from being violated by
the greedy lust of treasure hunters.
A congressional panel is reviewing legislation which would
enable state governments to set their own conditions for allow
ing salvagers to recover shipwrecks. The authority, which now
rests with the federal admiralty courts, seems to encourage trea
sure hunters, rather than archaeologists.
Treasure hunter Mel Fisher claims the new legislation would
discourage excavation efforts. But Fisher’s definition of “exca
vation” could be exchanged with “pilfering” or “looting.’’Trea
sure hunters concern themselves with the personal monetary
gains they can find in a shipwreck, not with the understanding
of the past that can be gleened from them.
Texas doesn’t allow private businessmen to exploit state his
torical monuments. Shipwrecks in state waters should not be
treated differently.
States should be allowed to govern the recovery operations
of wrecks in their own waters as they see fit. It’s time to stop sur
rendering valuable connections with the past to self-serving
glory-seekers of today.
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Even
United Feature Syndicate
Texas A&M not immune to disease of racism
The most horri
ble illness known
to man is racism.
Throughout his
tory this disease
has caused mil
lions of deaths. It
is something that
needs to be cured.
ier for these people to blame those who
report the news than it is to criticize
those who make the news.
Racism is a be
lief that there are
differences in in
Karl
Pallmeyer
telligence and character due to race,
that one race is superior to others and
that supposed superiority must be main
tained. Although most racists usually
have some evidence to prove their
point, the evidence is either misinter
preted or has no basis in fact to begin
with. Basically, racism is ignorance.
When the quality of education de
creases some people will say it is because
integration of public schools has over
loaded the system. It is easier for these
people to blame blacks for overcrowd
ing the schools instead of the govern
ment that doesn’t put enough into the
education system to make qualified peo
ple want to teach.
ist organizations in the United States.
There are also several other groups, in
cluding Aryan Nations and the National
Alliance, that are dedicated to insuring
white supremacy. There is even a local
group, STORM (Students Tired Of
Race Mongrelization), that wants to
bring racism to Texas A&rM.
lightning bolt on either side. This “S” is
the same as the “S” used by the SS
troops of Nazi Germany.
During the anti-apartheid rally last S TORM members wore. The symbol of
At the anti-apartheid rally, the mem
bers of S TORM were wearing caps simi
lar to the ones worn by the Hitler
Youth. A symbol similar to that of the
National Vanguard was on the caps the
Racism seems to grow in hard times.
During the 1930s, Germany was in the
most severe depression the world had
ever seen. Adolf Hitler came to power
and created a scapegoat for Germany’s
problems: the Jews. It was easier for the
Germans to blame the Jews for their
problems than it was to look at the real
cause. Because of this racism over 6 mil
lion Jews were killed in concentration
camps. As astounding as it may seem,
some of the more severe racists refuse to
believe the Holocaust ever happened.
When the Social Security program is
on the rocks some people will say it’s be
cause of all the blacks on welfare. It is
easier for these people to think that only
blacks receive welfare than it is to look at
the number of whites on welfare or to
realize that the Social Security problem
is a general problem our government
has with allocating the proper amount
of money to the proper cause.
I broke out in a cold sweat. I couldn’t sleep.
And suddenly I saw the light.
At first it appeared as a faint glimmer, but then it grew brighter and
brighter.
Today in America some people also
have chosen racism over a cold, hard
look at the facts. When the news on tele
vision or in the newspapers is not what
someone wants to hear, some people
will say the media is controlled by the
Jews and doesn’t tell the truth. It is eas-
Racism is unbenef icial. A racist always
is looking for someone else to take the
blame for his problems. This causes a
racist to ignore the facts. If a racist loses
a job to someone of a different race,
creed or color, he will blame that person
instead of trying to better himself as a
worker so that he might keep his job. By
blaming someone else for one mistake,
that person denies himself the opportu
nity to learn from his mistakes and to
correct them in the f uture.
month, STORM handed out copies of
articles from the National Vanguard, a
pro-racism newsletter, and fliers declar
ing Apartheid is the Higher Morality.”
While Students Against Apartheid was
speaking about the evils of apartheid,
STORM was saying that apartheid was
the only way to keep the blacks of South
Africa in their place.
Racism is a problem in America.
Some of these racists feel they have to
join a group to f urther their cause. The
Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi
Party are probabley the best-known rac-
Students Against Apartheid is a rec
ognized student organization and had
received the University’s approval be
fore they marched. 'S TORM had no
permit to distribute literature and has
not even applied for recognition so that
they can have their views expressed on
campus in an official fashion.
the National Vanguard is a cross with
the arms bent upwards at at 45 degree
angles surrounded by a wreath. The
National Vanguard symbol is nothing
but a stylized peace symbol turned up
side down. An upside down peace sym
bol means only one thing — war.
Earlier this semester anti-Semitic
pamplets were found stuffed in books
on Jewish history in the library. Last
spring a banner in the MSG announcing
a meeting of the B’nai B’rith was de
faced. A column criticizing the Ku Klux
Klan that ran in The Battalion last
spring was answered with a letter that
told of an upcoming “race/holy war” in
which “race traitors” will be dealt with
“in the traditional manner.” The letter
The members of ST ORM seem to
have an unhealthy fascination with Nazi
Germany. On their literature, the word
“STORM” has an “S” in the shape of a
signed by “A White Patriot” and was not
addressed.
Whether STORM was involved with
these and various other racial actions in
Mail Call
A job well done
EDITOR:
I am writing concerning the front page article w hich appeared Oct. 23, written
by Jens B. Koepke, concerning the debate between Ned Fritz and Steve Stagner on
Proposition 1 and 2 (the Water Bill).
It is extremely rare for issues as complicated as this to be reported with accu
racy, understanding, and attention to detail. It was an outstanding job by an ob
viously outstanding reporter. I am certain that the membership of the Texas A&M
Regional Studies Club and Greenpeace join with us of the Sierra Club in extending
our congratulations and thanks for a job well done!
David R. Gross
Publicity Chairman
Brazos Sierra Club
In contrast was the case of a prominent Arab-American. On Oct. 11, Alex
Odeh, West coast regional director of the Arab-American anti-Discrimination
Committee, was assassinated by terrorists (supporters of Zionism) in Santa Ana,
Calif. The previous morning he gave ABC-TV an interview in which he defended
the Palestinian cause and criticized one-sided news coverage of the events concern
ing the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Did you give an inch of coverage to that? Did you condemn and attack the per
petrators of this murder? Did any reporter talk to his grieved family? Was Odeh’s
life any less valuable than Klinghoffer’s? This is double-standard journalism. More
than being unfair, this hypocritical.
Now you know why we are bitter. Wouldn’t you feel the same if you were al
ways getting the short end of the stick?
Saeed and Elaheh Mirzaee
Unfair journalism spurs bitterness
A few suggestions for Page 2
EDITOR:
EDITOR:
In the past couple of weeks the media have been making a HUGE fuss about
the taking of the Achille Lauro and the related events. The biased media have
been using this incident to descredit the Palestinian cause, ruin the Palestine Liber
ation Organization (as if the media were an arm of the Israeli government) and
ridicule Arab people. •
Numerous articles, editorials and especially cartoons depicting Palestinian Ar
abs as bearded thugs with big noses printed in The Batt are all a witness to this
rascist campaign.
Did The Battalion (and other
raeli bombers, in which some 90 _
ians perished, in the same manner? Did you give the Israeli invasion of Lebanon,
in which over 40,000 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed, the same treatment?
Did you ever dare to depict the Jewish groups and individuals committing these
atrocities as criminals and thugs with big noses and curly hair, as you stereotyped
the Arabs?
There was an incredible amount of coverage given to the killing of Leon Kling-
hoffer (which we don’t condone), showing his family and hometown and inter
viewing almost everybody in the community from the rabbi to the neighborhood
grocer.
In response to Loren Steffy’s “Letter to the Readers” on the difficulties of or-
izing tne opinion page, I thought Td make a suggestion or two. I just f inished
ting together a newsletter which, though unsuccessful, taught me something
ganizmg
putting together
about trying to assimilate several letters or articles into a fixed amount of space
lally
r papers) treat the savage bombing of Tunis by Is-
Tunisians and Palestinians, including many civil-
which usually requires cutting the letters.
An editor friend suggested that, a layer space be allotted for a specific set of
letters or articles, an area which would always exceed the amount of material to be
included therein.
The extra space to be suggested could be filled up with short quotations, or bits
of memorabilia, and such. For an editorial page, it could be taken up by notes from
the editor.
Bill Clark
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit
letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. Each letter must
be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
the area is not known since they usual
don’t come out in the open with
beliefs and refuse to take responsibill
for such things.
Those who know the members
ST ORM, however, say that their leader
has a collection of automatic weapons
and that the group often goes out tore
mote areas to practice thei
marksmanship.
Private ownership of automatic weap
ons is both illegal and unnecessary !
person can buy a semi-automatir
weapon and convert it to a fullv-auio
matic weapon with little difficulty. At
automatic weapon is not w ell-suited for
hunting but is well-suited for warfare
That makes one wonder about the in
tent of groups like S TORM.
Groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Amer
can Nazi Party, Aryan Nations, National
Alliance, National Vanguard and
S TORM believe that the white race is
supreme and should remain pure
These groups feel that whites are being
subjugated by other races and are fight
ing to stop that subjugation. These
groups are trying to disguise their rac
ism as a just cause. Racists believe thata
person’s greatest duty is to serve his race
above all others.
We as humans should strive to make
our world a better place for everyone
regardless of race,^ olor, religious or po
litical beliefs. We as humans owe
gence to only one race — the human
race.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Bald
ion.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Stef f y, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett, News Editors
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors Kirsten Dietz,
Jerry Oslin
Assistant News Editors Cathie Anderson
Jan Perry
Assistant Sports Editor ....Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smith
Art Director Wayne (Jrabein
Make-up Editor Ed Cassavoy
Copy Editors Rebecca Adair,
Mike Davis, Sarah Oates,
Brad Whitten
Editorial Policy
the ttnitnlioii is u noii-prolh. sclf-siijiixmm)'
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/irviin-Collcf'c Stulinn.
Opinions expressed in The Rntlnlion are those' <>/ ik
Editorial Hoard or the author and do not twressarih mp
resent the opinions of Texas administrators, ImvIk
or the Hoard of Keffcnls.
I he Haltalioo also sen es as a lahoratort urn s/w/x-r lot
students in reporting, edit ini’ and photographt rhsso
within the Department oi (.onnmnhrations.
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Sec ond class postage paid at (■'ollci’c Station. IX 77XJX
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