Tme B^vtt^veion
Editorials Board
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials 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.
Jay Robbins
Editor in Chief
Rob Clark
Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman
Opinion Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Assistant Opinion Editor
JUNETEENTH
We should all observe the holiday
and continue to work for equality.
So many times when a
person sits down to read the
newspaper, the stories tell of
scandal, murder and other
forms of mayhem. Not very
familiar are the times when
the news is good or joyous.
But today is definitely a
day to celebrate.
Today is Juneteenth.
On the nineteenth of
June, 1865, word reached
Texas of the Emancipation
Proclamation, and slavery
was no more.
The day has become an
anniversary to celebrate with
fervor, as much if not more
than the Fourth of July. In
1776, those men who became
free celebrated, while their
African-American slaves
sang songs about enduring
captivity. Almost a century
later, these wrongs were
made right.
In theory.
There is much work that
still needs to be done. No one
should stop until everyone
can rest assured “they will
not be judged by the color of
their skin, but by the content
of their character,” an idea
preached by the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
However, Juneteenth is a
day set aside to celebrate
our society’s racial accom
plishments before continu
ing the quest for freedom
and equality. There are few
precious days like this, so
we should all take part in its
celebration.
We should remember
those who gave their lives so
that others could live free.
We should stand on the
shoulders of giants — the past
and present leaders of the
civil rights movement — and
make every effort to advance
their ideas.
Over a century ago, the
black slaves of Texas learned
of their freedom and cele
brated. One-hundred and
thirty years after that mo
mentous occasion, we should
celebrate still.
However, we should re
member that the fight for
equality has not yet been
won. One day set aside to cel
ebrate an achievement is
pointless unless we recognize
that more can be done.
Juneteenth should serve
as a reminder that our soci
ety is not perfect. In our cele
bration of the holiday, we
also should recognize our re
sponsibility to do even more.
Increased fees not
fault of students
Why should the A&M stu
dents pay for the controversial
errors and questionable power
struggle created by those in au
thority over the students?
The $6.8 million budgeting
shortfall at Texas A&M is not
the fault of the students, but is
in the hands of the perpetrators
and “management.”
Justice will prevail.
Helen Pugh
College Station
Rap music must be
able to police itself
It is long been an American
tradition to generalize or stereo
type those things about which
we are ignorant. It seems that
“gangsta” rap is the current re
cipient of such unfair treatment.
Sen. Bob Dole and the other
politicians who occasionally
comment on rap music, consis
tently generalize about gangsta
rap. They make references to
the use of racial slurs, sexist
language and violence against
women.
These “hot topic” references
incline the uneducated citizen
to think these lyrics are repre
sentative of all gangsta rap.
As a student of rap music
since its beginning, I, too, am
alarmed at some of the gangsta
rap that actually gets produced.
I don’t support a lot of what is
Mail
out now. I believe that much of
it is simply capitalizing on a fad
and preying upon our youth. I
agree that we might need some
guidelines for what is produced.
But Sen. Dole and his fellow
congressmen are hardly in a po
sition to be the ones to set such
guidelines. They are not follow
ers of rap music. They do not
possess the ability to put these
songs and lyrics in their proper
context. They rarely, if ever, sit
down to understand these rap
pers’ feelings and the communi
ties from which they come.
This being the case, they can
not be the ones to “police” rap
music. Give me Ice Cube, Q-Tip,
Chuck D. and GangStarr. Let
these rappers be the judges if
there must be judges.
Rap must be controlled by its
artists, not by outsiders focus
ing solely on individual pieces
of the puzzle.
For those who say rappers
have yet to “police” themselves:
Very few of the record labels
that distribute, sell and make
the most money from rap music
are owned by rappers.
Ironically, those in control of
the major companies look more
like Sen. Dole than Russell
Simmons.
Another irony is that country
star Ty Herndon was recently
arrested on indecency and drug
possession charges.
I wonder if congressmen will
crucify him like Tupac and make
sweeping generalizations about
country music.
I doubt it.
e7. Frank Hernandez
Class of ’95
The Battalion • Page 5
Monday • June 19, 1995
Does O 5 Grady fit definition of “hero?”
A nother American
hero was suppos
edly created last
week with the rescue of
Air Force pilot Scott
O’Grady.
Many different fac
tors contributed to his
rise to fame. President
Clinton and his admin
istration, in an attempt to manipulate the
polls, quickly hailed him as a hero and invit
ed him to the White House.
The American public automatically fell
for the sensationalism surrounding the story
and watched every development as if it were
the O.J. Simpson trial. The press, as always,
scrambled to report every detail in the race
to boost ratings.
The truth is that O’Grady is not a hero,
and President Clinton and his staff deserve
little commendation for O’Grady’s rescue. In
addition to joyfully celebrating O’Grady’s re
turn from Bosnia, Americans should ques
tion why he was in enemy territory in the
first place.
O’Grady was the average Air Force pilot
before this incident, according to a recent ar-
tice in Newsweek. His SAT’s were too low to
enter a service academy, so he learned to fly
at a small aeronautical school.
Then he joined the Air Force and began
flying fighter planes. According to his broth
er Paul, he loved to fly, and the Air Force
quickly became his life.
His F-16 fighter plane was shot down over
Bosnia as he was flying over enemy territo
ry. He parachuted down to the ground and
survived off the land for six days. Then an
other Air Force pilot picked up his weak ra
dio signal and a group of Marines went in to
rescue him — a story as American as
apple pie.
This is all well and good — an
American pilot rescued from a
treacherous and dangerous place is
certainly cause for celebration.
And of course, this rescue was
dramatic enough for the national
magazines and newspapers to throw
O’Grady on their front covers and
hail him as a hero.
The problem remains that he still isn’t a
hero.
While it is nifty that O’Grady likes to fly,
believes in God and his country, that he re
membered his survival course and even that
he didn’t eat the “fuzzy” bugs, all of this has
little to do with whether or not he is a hero.
It is also neat-o that 41 Marines were sent in
and successfully saved him, but this still
does not make him a hero.
An unanswered question remains.
Why exactly he was flying over enemy
territory where he could have been shot
down in the first place?
If the Serbians, or anyone else for that
matter, were flying fighter planes over
America, United States forces would proba
bly shoot them down before they got half a
mile into our territory. O’Grady was already
two to three miles into enemy territory when
he was shot down.
Our military probably would have cap
tured the foreign pilot immediately and then
interrogated them intensely.
So what gives America the right to fly
fighter planes over other countries territo
ries, rescue the downed pilot and then hail
him as a hero?
The truth is we can do this because we
are a bigger and stronger country and have a
tougher reputation than almost any other
nation in the world today.
When America talks, other countries not
only listen, they usually cower.
And that is exactly the way we expect and
want it to happen.
Scott O’Grady is not a hero. It is great
that he is home safely, and a relief that he
was not captured, tortured or killed. But
should he have been there in the first place?
The American public is so busy hailing him
as a returning hero that they have forgotten ;
to ask questions.
For President Clinton and his adminis
tration to use this in the media as a politi- -
cal victory that they somehow orchestrated-
is ridiculous. However, he has used this in--
cident as a personal and political victory I
and has gained popularity with the Ameri- ;
can public.
This illustrates that Clinton’s popularity -
is based on more than his domestic policies I
or his bumbling way of handling foreign af- 1
fairs. Perhaps the president sees this as an *
opportunity to cover his lackluster dealings
with the new Republican-led Congress.
It is sad that the president’s popularity is I
affected so intensely by an Air Force mishap,!
and on the Marines luck in rescuing the
downed American pilot.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Barbara Jordan are stellar ex
amples of true American heroes. These three
people changed the way we view different
races and genders, and their accomplish
ments will be felt for generations.
In comparison, is Scott O’Grady really a
hero?
Elizabeth Preston is a senior
English major
Texas Legislature needs major reconstruction
I n 1981, Texas
State Repre
sentative Mike
Martin paid his
cousin Charlie to
shoot him in the
arm with a shot
gun and then
claimed the injury
was committed by
a satanic and communistic cult.
Why? Because he thought it
would help him get re-elected.
It seems that Martin wanted
the voters to take notice of his
pro-family and pro-American
stances by stressing that the
“bad guys” were out to get him.
Well, Martin’s cousin finally
confessed, and Martin went
into hiding. The Texas Rangers
were called to track him down,
and he was found hiding in his
mother’s house in her stereo
cabinet.
This true story, as told by
Molly Ivins in her book titled,
Molly Ivins Can’t Say That,
Can She?, illustrates just what
kind of freaks Texans have the
tendency to elect to the Legisla
ture.
You may think Martin was
just one ‘Lad egg”
in an otherwise
normal legislative
body, but unfor
tunately, that’s
not the case.
Texas boasts a
long line of odd
legislators.
Ivins, who
has studied the Texas Legisla
ture for over 20 years, tells of
many such weird members.
•Former House Speaker Gib
Lewis, after issuing a pro-
claimation on Disability Day,
asked the disabled persons who
had filled the gallery with their
wheelchairs to “stand and be
recognized.”
•Former State Representa
tive Hudson Moyers went to
prison for buying a pickup
truck with postage stamps from
his legislative expense account.
• Former State Representa
tive Walter Knapp, after being
released from prison, where he
spent some time for abusing his
postage priviledges, killed his
ex-wife and then himself.
Democracy is a wonderful
thing, ain’t it?
Well, a Republican-led idea
in Washington that continues
to gain momentum calls for the
national government to trans
fer more power to the state gov
ernments, where more respon
sible legislating can take place.
Obviously, these people have
never been to Texas.
However, our Legislature
cannot help the way it is. It
was designed to be that way.
In 1876, the framers of the
Texas Constitution decided that
the state legislature would only
need to meet for 140 days, every
two years.
As the state has grown and
Texas’ problems have become
more complex, the Legislature
has kept its original format.
Also, our legislators should not
be expected to be professional.
Representing the citizens of Texas
is only structured as a part-time
job. After all, it only pays $7,200 a
year. That’s less than most blue-
collar workers make.
It’s sad knowing that some
Texas legislators have success
fully applied for food stamps.
This low pay has largely con
tributed to the fact that the
Legislature is heavily influ
enced, if not controlled, by spe
cial interest groups. These in- !
terest groups like to help make
up for the legislators’ low pay.
However, Republicans are ;
convinced that programs such
as welfare. Medicare and edu
cation would best be handled by
the state legislatures.
In theory, this idea seems logi
cal. After all, different states have
different needs, and the politi
cians of each state should be able
to best assess those needs. But
unfortunately, the prerequisites
for elected officials in Texas some
times aren’t that high.
The structure of the Texas
legislature needs some serious
adjustments.
We cannot expect our repre
sentatives to responsibly legis
late when we only pay them
enough to flip burgers.
Maybe if we made represent
ing the state of Texas a full
time job, we would no longer
have to look for our legislators
in stereo cabinets.
Sterling Hayman is a senior
polical science major
Sterling
Hayman
Opinion
Editor
TTme B/VriyYI_I O TS1
Editorial Staff
Jay Robbins, editor in Chief
Rob CLARK, Managing Editor
STERLING Hayman, Opinion Editor
GRETCHEN PERRENOT, City Editor
JODY Holley, Night News Editor
Stacy Stanton, night News Editor
Michael Landauer, aggieufe Editor
NlCK GeorgandiS, Sports Editor
Stew Milne, Photo Editor
Staff Members
City Desk - Assistant Editor: Eleanor Colvin; Re
porters: Katherine Arnold, Javier Hinojosa,
Scott McMahan, Jill Saunders, Michael Sim
mons, Wes Swift & Tara Wilkinson
Aggieufe Desk - Feature Writers: Amy Collier
& Libe Goad;
Columnist: Amy Uptmor
Sportswriters - David Winder and Lee Weight
Opinion Desk - Assistant Editor: Kyle Littlefield;
Columnists: Elizabeth Preston, Frank Stan
ford & David Taylor; Contributing Colum
nists: Justin Barnett, Margaret Gordon, Alex
Miller, Chris Stidvent & Mark Zane; Editori
al Writers: Jason Brown & Alex Walters;
Editorial Cartoonists: Brad Graeber &
George Nasr
Photographers — Mike Friend, Roger Hsieh, Nick
Rodnicki & Eddy Wylie
Page Designers - News: Kristin DeLuca
Sports: Robin Greathouse;
Aggielife: Stew Milne
Copy Editors — Rob Clark & Sterling Hayman
Graphic Artists — Toon Boonyavanich & Melissa
Oldham
Strip Cartoonists — Valerie Myers & Quatro Oakley
Office Staff - Office Manager: Julie Thomas;
Clerks: Wendy Crockett & Heather Harris
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