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Thursday, AprH 6 ? 1989
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Locks won’t solve problems
EDITOR: *
I am a resident of a northside modular dormitory, and next fall will mark
the beginning of my third year of living on campus. Since my first semesterin
tfie dorms, rent has increased by $86 per semester.
When I walked into my room yesterday a few days ago, I found a letter
from my old buddy Tom Murray at the housing office, who just wanted tolet
me know that as “part of a University-wide commitment to provide greater
security from Texas A&M residents” the exterior doors to my dorm would be
locked 24 hours a day starting next fall. This reassuring statement was
followed by an impressive list of heinous crimes from which I would now be
protected, based on the assumption (I suppose) that the facts would speakfor
themselves.
OK, Mr. Murray, I have a few facts of my own. Residents let strangers
into the dorm without a second thought. 1 know. 1 live in the dorm. I see
them do it every day. When I try to prevent this phenomenon I amcalledall
sorts of names. Locking the doors 24 hours a day is not going to solve the
problem. If Texas A&M is so committed to my safety, why doesn’t it spenda
little of its resources to install a check-in desk at the main entrance to my
dorm? My friends who go to other Texas schools can’t believe we don’t
already have some sort of receptionist arrangement, and frankly, I can’t
believe it either. My parents can’t believe they’re shelling out an extra $86
each semester to build more dorms without effective security plans. That’sa
pretty big bundle of disbelief to be overlooking.
Locking the doors doesn’t keep the boogie man out. It just means 1 have
to hike downstairs to get my pizza.
Jennifer Maloney ’91
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the light to edit littm
for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signetm
must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
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Todd
Honeycutt
Columnist
I w f as sitting in my room one fine
Texas springtime day, feeling kind of
hot because of a lack of air conditioning,
when I caught myself thinking of how
great our campus is. We have grass and
tre s and new parking garages and
v - id i -s status and fine professors.
; was looking out my window and no
ticing the people. Most of them were
white.
That reminded me of an article I had
read in a recent issue of The Battalion
about a man who goes by the name of
Louis R. Beam Jr. I wish we had more
political and social leaders like him.
Beam has had an intriguing history,
which is sad when you think about the
quality of this man. He’s been in the Ku
Klux Klan since the ‘60s, and he became
the Grand Dragon of the Houston area.
Later, he was listed in the FBI’s 10 Most
Wanted List. For what? Probably the
main cause was for his unpopular ideas,
along with his minor bending of various
rules.
Beam, you see, wants to form a na
tional state for the white race, an Aryan
Republic.
The United States has been infil
trated by inferior peoples. And because
of this, we are having difficulties with
our education, our political state, our
economy, and our society in general. It
is because America’s population is im
pure that America is falling into the
same status as other nations and failing
to keep its former stature.
For precisely these reasons, w r e must
form a new nation of only white people.
They art the superior race. In creating
an Aryan Republic, we would not only
save American values of justice and
equality, but also return America to the
greatness it once had.
Think about it. By having an all-white
nation, we would be better able to edu
cate our youth, without having to slow
down the rate of learning because of in
ferior races’ educational problems. We
would eliminate racial strife and vio
lence which is predominant in today’s
America. And we ourselves would not
be discriminated against, a problem
which has occurred because of those
Communists who call themselves United
States Congressmen.
What better choice do we have than
to create a nation of only the Aryan
race?
But there is a problem, you may say,
of who to call white and who to call non
white. That is simple to answer. Non
white is obviously any person who is not
of northwestern european descent. This
includes Hispanics, blacks, Indians
(both “native” American and Asian),
Slavs, Poles, waps, Greeks, and Orien
tals. But it is not limited to just those
peoples. Non-white also includes athe
ists, Communists, hippies, peace-lovers,
and liberals.
And God is behind the idea of an
Aryan Republic. It says so in the Bible,
I’m sure. The Jews are not God’s chosen
people, nor are the Muslims or Hindus
or any of those other Christian-hating
religions.
Everything points to an all-white na
tion, superior to all others -— powerful,
patriotic, pure, good.
Tell me now, what’s wrong with this
picture?
All of the above is dry sarcasm, used
to point out a grave wrong which is oc
curring now, in this land of America.
Mr. Beam really does want to create this
Aryan Republic within the United
States. This is racism, Nazism, — all fu
eled by hate.
Racism is a product of diseased minds
who do not see anything wrong with ha
tred against another human being, es
pecially if that human being has a dif
fer ent skin color or cultural
background. The perceived differences
between various peoples is not caused
by inherent inequalities or inferiorities,
but by the wrongs of our social and po
litical class system.
I do not want to run racism into the
ground. It has been discussed a great
deal this semester. But can you actually
overexpose an issue about wfiich noth
ing has been done?
Racism is still predominant in our cul- fusing to acknowledge its existence, by
ture, whether we are blind to it or not. saying that you don’t do it, you allow the
And the fault of its existence is not due ^ ire lo continue to burn,
solely to those who blatantly pat tit ipate Someday you’ll wonder how the
in racism. Racism is to be blamed on all Aryan Republic came about. The possi-
of us. By allowing racism to occur, by re- bility is not that improbable. If you are
true to yourself, you will know wholo
blame.
Todd Honeycutt is a sophomorepsy
chology major and a columnist for Jk
Battalion.
Differences between leaders
will force changes in Cuba
The biggest news on the international
front recently has been Mikhail Gorba
chev’s visit to Cuba for meetings with Fi
del Castro and other Communist Party
leaders. Because of the ideological dif
ferences between the two comrades-in-
arms, watching Fidel give a “bear-hug”
to Mikhail, watching the Gorbachevs
ride through the streets of Havana with
Castro, and watching Mikhail shaking
hands with the other Cuban leaders was
very amusing.
Although Castro greeted Gorbie with
a warm-hearted, “welcome-to-the-oasis-
among-capitalist-imperialist-scum” hug,
Mikhail just didn’t seem to care. It was
almost as if Gorbachev wasn’t sure who
this Castro guy was. He remained stiff
lipped and cold during his tour of Ha
vana while Castro had an uncharacteris
tically large, tooth-showing smile and
was enthusiatically waving at mobs of
cheering spectators.
It looked as if Castro was bending
over backwards to promote Cviba and its
people as a sort of Communist Disney
land. Obviously, he wants to impress
Gorbachev and keep this visit on an en
thusiastic, jubilant note, and avoid any
of those uncomfortable, confrontational
feelings that were rumored before Gor
bachev arrived.
Castro and Gorbachev don’t see eye
to eye when it comes to Communist re
form. Castro, as can be expected, let his
opposition to perestroika be known.
Yesterday a group of Cubans wanted to
assemble in front of the Soviet Embassy
to ask Castro to adopt some of Gorba
chev’s reforms. Rather than state his
reasons for not accepting perestroika,
Castro simply had those people thrown
in jail.
He doesn’t see any reason to change
the system he has been building for 30
years. The Cuban people seem to be
content — not necessarily happy, as is
obvious by the large number of dissi
dents, but they do seem content. Castro
has worked for years to acheive this
level of content in his country, and
doesn’t want to jeopardize it.
Gorbachev, on the other hand, has a
different story. The Soviet Union is in
an economic deadlock, experiencing no
growth while its resources diminish.
The people are unhappy and see noth
ing great in the future for their children
or country. So despite his facade of
wanting world peace, Gorbachev had no
choice but to reform the Soviet eco
nomic and social system. He had to give
people a sense of some freedom and
move the economy’s focus away from
building weapons.
Nov/, Gorbachev comes to Cuba to es
pouse some reforms for communism to
better their countries. But Castro
doesn’t buy it; he thinks Gorbachev’s re
forms are too much like capitalism, the
institution Castro has spent 30 years
brain-washing his people to hate. Be
sides, he likes the way things are in
Cuba, and why fix something that isn’t
broken?
The Soviet Union is clearly different
from Cuba, and what works in one
country may not work in the other. Bui
the main difference Castro forgetsli
look at is that Cuba is on the Sort
Union’s payroll. Cuba is given $5billion
a year by the Soviet Union to supportis
system. This makes Castro the recipienl
of the world’s largest welfare died
With this kind of outside support itsni
wonder the Cubans are content.
Who gives the Soviet Union financial
support like ihat? No one — that’s win
they’ve been caving in economicallfi
and Gorbachev has been forced to re
form.
Because Cuba has a $5 billion shekel
from the economic erosion communisis
causes, Castro feels secure with thesp
tern there, even though he does owe!
Soviets a mere $20 billion in defaulted
loans that they are never going to see
Without that safety net, Cuba woul
face worse turmoil than the Soviet
Union has seen.
Castro doesn’t stop to ask himselfwb
he needs all this continuing assistance!!
his Communist structure is so great. He
doesn’t want to change his system be
cause there aren’t severe problems rigb
now, but this system can’t support itself
it can’t work without sucking monel
from another country forever. Whl
so great about that?
Gorbachev can’t afford to maintain!
failed economic system in his own cone
try, but Castro expects him to keepCu
ba’s system propped up. What will Got
bachev do? Most likely he’ll cutbackon
this perpetual financial aid, and tbf
Communist system Castro has beconif
so fond of will have to be reformed it
Cuba.
James Cecil is a senior economic
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Becky Weisenfels, Editor
Leslie Guy, Managing Editor
Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor
Anthony Wilson, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi
tor
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