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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1994)
Wednesday • October 19, 1994 ber 10 People, not books preserve history Older generations' experiences shed light on today's social problems ^P) — Buck 0 brought ,r k Yankees by contro- ) ver whelm- esday for >e manager scame the manager to created in ding New t recordin' b Yankees in position ■ ayoff spot the players' ■-he season IB, is the lager in Bived 24 of tes in bal- eball Writ- Y America, ir second- 1 finished :\ who had ndians in first post ice 1954,, our first- l finished Sox’ Gene •d with 17 Athletics' vas fourth the were just its slinging f an Apple rould have >u got sent hat it you and game, the S5S3S1S Ulliili MICHAEL LANDAUER T X TTien Michael l/W Jacobs was V V liberated from a :oncentration camp, he let a goal for himself. He decided 50 years ago hat he would give peeches about the atrocities he had endured. Jacobs told friends of his desire, but they only laughed. At the time many of those in concentration camps felt the world had turned its back on them. Who would believe the stories they had to tell? We believe the stories now because of men like Jacobs. He began, however, giving speeches in the ’50s to audiences who may have had difficulty believing what he had to say. Jacobs is still talking— telling his story in Rudder Tower just last year. But Jacobs was persistent and his life long efforts were recognized last Sunday when he received a Hope for Humanity award from the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies. According to The Dallas Morning News, Jacobs raised §300,000 10 years ago to open the center, only the second center of its kind in the country. If it were not for people like Jacobs, the Holocaust could have been forgotten. It seems impossible to us, after all. We are such an open-minded, prejudiced-free generation, aren’t we? Well, maybe not. Each generation seems to have fewer prejudices than the one before them. It is hard to believe that when our parents were kids they attended segregated schools. Maybe our kids will find it hard to believe that we debated affirmative action. My mom once invited an elderly women over for dinner. Onie Dell was straight out of the Old South, and it was amazing to hear some of the stories she had to tell. It was also incredible to hear the racist ways she described people. To say she was not politically correct would be an understatement. She had a lot to say, but I learned as much from her racism as I gained from her anecdotes. It should make us wonder— will our grandchildren learn lessons from us that will stand the test of time, or will they see our ideas as examples of the short sighted ignorance of the past? Not all elderly people are racist, and not all racists are elderly. There is no excuse for racism no matter how old a person is. But talking with that woman showed me that times have truly changed. Unfortunately not everyone has So much of history dies with the people who lived it, and many valuable lessons are never passed on to the next generation. changed with the times. There are still people who are ignorant enough to act on their prejudices. These people are usually looking for a way to explain things they don’t understand. My friend “David” lives in Louisiana and lost his best friend to violence. The people who shot David’s friend happened to be black, and one night David got mad because I didn’t hate black people. If we find it hard to relate to racist people, it is because they are drawing their views from an environment we cannot understand. I did not understand Onie’s ignorance in the same way I fail to see David’s logic. I believe prejudices fade, and racists have the ability to become rational. I’ve heard George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, has even changed his views since leading the charge to preserve segregation. That is promising considering that in his 1960 inaugural speech he demanded, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” Wallace was wrong when he said those words. Hitler was wrong when he thought he could get away with his evil plan to destroy a race. And Jacob’s friends were wrong when they doubted the world would listen to their story. Holocaust survivors are getting old. Their stories are invaluable to us as a generation trying to end racism. But these people will not be here forever, and that is why people like Jacobs are so . important. So much of ! * history dies with the people who lived it, and many valuable lessons are never passed on to the next generation. When he was our age Jacobs decided he wanted to tell his story. Now we should aspire to live by what we’ve learned from people like him. We should listen to elderly people, even if they are often wrong, because we can learn far more from them than we can from books. People like Jacobs have done so much to tell their story, the least we can do is remember. Hopefully it will change the way we act. If it does, then the name of Jacob’s award is fitting— because of people like him, there is Hope for Humanity. ZZ)C ' ^ The Battalion • Page 7 G i wanttoCD WHERE I CAN SEE YOU AT ALL TIMES MAR&VUBS ;t: <S>I^ TUB REtOfiP 'V.* wav JEfizeY 1L " AVVV\V < JV; Michael Landauer is a sophomore journalism major The Battalion Editorial Board Belinda Blancarte, Editor in chief Mark Evans, Managing editor Jay Robbins, Opinion editor jenny Magee, Assistant opinion editor Editorials appearing in The reflect the views of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. T ** - ■HHhhhhh Racial disharmony » Tensions demand A&M's attention Last week’s controversy surround ing the College Republicans and Bon fire have brought attention, to the issue of race relations at Texas A&M. A&M President Ray Bowen, Vice President for Student Affairs J. Malon Souther land, A&M faculty and administrators will meet with leaders from minority student organizations today. This meeting is an excellent oppor tunity for students to express their problems and concerns while they have the attention of the whole University. Those attending the meeting will have the op portunity to discuss the possibilities of racial edu cation work shops. The discussion of domestic cul tural educa tion, a more localized form of multicultural education will also be on the agenda. After music played at the Bonfire site was viewed as racist and offended several students, the Bonfire Commit tee agreed to screen all music before it is played. The decision will help all students enjoy building Bonfire. Similarly, the College Republicans responded quickly and appropriately to the distribution of racist fliers last week by taking them down. The resig nation of Bo Armstrong, College Re publican’s vice president for publicity, who was allegedly responsible for the distribution of the fliers, indicates that the group is not interested in causing racial confrontations and will not toler ate overt racism. Should further problems arise in the future, organizations and students must continue to work together to solve the problems of race relations. Organi zations and students should also con tinue to find, ways to prevent further incidents of this nature. By acting on these sugges tions, the stu dent body of A&M can closer to unity and move for ward. David Washington, president of Alpha Phi Al pha, said the fliers are a symptom of a greater prob lem. Now is the time for the problem to come to the center of attention. Students have chosen to come to A&M to learn, and in their educa tion, they must also learn to respect and cooperate with each other, re gardless of race, religion or creed. Until we learn to do so, the ten sion will remain, and it may have the propensity to grow into a larger problem if we don’t stop it now. Affirmative action not the yellow-brick road we wanted AJA HENDERSON J! Columnist I really don’t believe I was the average child. There was many a morning when I went to school with a bright, mismatched ensemble on my back, the spoils of my victory in that morning’s what-I-want-to-wear- to-school fight with my mom. Then, there was the period when I wore two enormous Afro-puffs on each side of my small head- I wanted to be just like Princess Leia from the show “Star Wars.” Nobody in my entire family, no grown-up who knew me in my small child days, will ever let me forget one of my cockiest hang-ups- I simply adored a pair of sunglasses that I wore everywhere, even to bed. These weren’t just any I ordinary glasses, though. These were bright l green, plastic, rose-tinted glasses. Those little | suckers made everything look way different, and way better. I don’t know what happened to those glasses- legend has it that I lost them and cried for days. I have thought about my glasses often over the ' past week as the College Republicans flier incident, and the racist music played at the Bonfire site, revealed a campus-wide tension that none could see, but all could feel. I do not know the feelings of each and every Aggie regarding affirmative action and equal employment. I do not know if all Aggies even care. What I do know is the difference between a perception and a fact. The great thing about our country is that you can think anything you want- it is OK. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions here. However, an intelligent person weighs realities, not just perceptions, when forming an opinion. The difference between perceptions and realities is that perceptions are things you think are true, while realities are things to know to be true - sensory observations form perceptions, facts form realities. Let’s deal in what is real for a moment. Affirmative action began in 1979, not because anyone in Washington, DC, thought women and racial minorities were dumber than anyone else, but because employers obviously did- they were not hiring them. Affirmative action was not designed to make the hurdles of women and minorities lower than that of the majority, only to make everybody’s hurdles the same height. None lower, none higher than anyone else’s. All equal. We are all Americans and all equal, remember? Anyway, since its induction in 1979 affirmative action has reaped the most benefits not for blacks, not for Hispanics, but for white women. This is not a judgment of whether affirmative action is good or bad- I am not a social scientist. This is just a statement of fact. You decide. If it were up to me, affirmative action would never have come about. People would never have historically been discriminated against - we would all have been judged solely on our merits and personal strengths. The hurdles women and Affirmative action was not designed to make the hurdles of women and minorities lower, but only to make everybody's hurdles the same. other minorities face would have not been higher than that of the white male’s - our hurdles all would have been of equal height. If it were up to me... Well, I realize that my contemplations are ambitious- after all, I deal with reality. And reality tells me that equality for all people has historically been nothing more than an ideal, even since the birth of our nation. Isn’t it sad that the average black female college graduate working full time receives less than 90 percent of her white counterpart’s salary? That is the average equivalent to the salary of a white high school drop-out. If you truly believe, as I do, that all Americans are equal, and should be treated equally, let’s work to make this ideal reality. We can fight the Z- discrimination, prejudice and racism that plaques our country and hinders equality. There are many organizations and events here on campus you can get involved in — too many for me to list in this limited space. You can start by sharing your culture and heritage with someone who is not like you. You can call the Department of Multicultural Services and say, “I believe that we are all Americans and that we are all equal. How can I help to make equality a reality? How can I get involved?” On the other hand, if you think that everyone in America is treated equally, that everything in America is really OK, don’t be surprised if I assault you on your way to class- I think you stole my rose-colored glasses. That kind of crime doesn’t pay, my friend. Y - 1 j '-s' 1 « ""'■■ >s’ycy ' Aja Henderson is a sophomore finance major , ij\/YY\YY/YnS Humans, not statistics draw faulty conclusion One of the reasons that statisticians become cranky as they age, is articles like “U.T. outranks A&M in total crime rate” in the Oct. 14 issue of The Battal ion. There are technical and conceptual errors throughout the article and the graph. The heights displaying the num ber of crimes are not drawn to a common scale. Comparison graphs are meaning less, or even worse misleading, unless they are all drawn to a common scale. The major conceptual error is the use of crime totals to compare different uni versities which are of greatly different size. What’s needed is crime rates, for ex ample, crimes per full-time student or crimes per student residing on campus. Totals of almost anything have no mean ing when comparing populations of differ ent size. Of course, what really makes statisti cians grumpy is comments like: Statis tics can lie; it depends on how you inter pret them. It’s not, in other words, the statistics that lie, but the humans. So, to lighten up a bit, how about redoing the analysis? Let’s see if we are really #2! Raymond J. Carroll Professor of Statistics Soldiers use violence to protect, not destroy I must write in sheer disgust of Michael Landauer’s column on Oct. 12. Imagine yourself loaded with gear, an M-16 automatic weapon “Locked & Loaded” in your hand. You haven’t seen your family in years and you are 16,000 miles from home and 100 yards away from unseen enemy troops who only know they should kill you. Yes, you are a soldier, a pawn sent to fight and maybe die in a country you never heard of be fore. It is so easy to “Armchair quarter back” military movements. I speak as a Army veteran from the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks HI. It was there I spent 4 years as a Jungle expert/Air Assault qualified forward observer. I joined the Army out of a heartfelt need to protect Americans. Every time I watched the news during those years, a black cloud hung over my heart every time troop movements were reported. I knew this meant possible death for my team, for as a soldier, you never know when God may call you in. A soldiers mission is to protect. We understand we may die, yet none of us, or our families want soldiers to die. L know now that there are far better ways to solves disputes than by the violence-' of wars. To the unknown soldiers who guard us across the world as we sleep, I salute you.; Kelly Williamson Graduate Student The Battalion encour ages tetters to the editor and wilt print as many as space allows, letters must be 300 words or less and include the au thor's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters fcr length, style, and accuracy. Address letters to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (409) 845-2847 E-mail: &att@tamvm1 .tamu.edu