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TUESDAY
March 19, 1996
Opinion
Native Americans still face struggles
T he streets of Santa Fe,
N.M., were decorated
with tourists on Satur
day. They walked in and out
of shops, cash and credit
cards in hand, all in search
of some small piece of the
Southwest to carry home
with them.
If they had lifted their
eyes to meet the eyes of the sellers, they
would have come face- to-face with the lega
cy of a shameful side of American history.
Looking up from the silver jewelry and the
pottery, a tourist would have seen the red
face of a Navajo Indian relegated by over
three centuries of bad government policies to
peddling traces of their culture as a means
of existence.
But none of the tourists looked up. None
but me.
What I saw was not a people of bravery
and independence. I saw a shadow of a
once-great culture now reduced to total de
pendence on the fascination of tourists and
government handouts for their livelihood.
They sat in front of the oldest public build
ing in the United States with their work laid
out in front of them on blankets. And they
waited, ironically hoping that tourists would
find their work valuable enough to hand
them green pieces of paper adorned with the
faces of past American presidents who stole
their lands away from them.
Worse than having been stripped of their
dignity is that they have been stripped of
any means to regain it.
In 1990, the American In
dian population was
1,937,391, of which 225,298
were Navajo. Forty-eight
percent of Navajo Indians
live below the poverty level,
compared with 12.3 percent
of the general population, 9.4
percent of whites, 31.3 per
cent of blacks and 27.3 per
cent of Hispanics. Although the Navajo’s
poverty rate is greater than that of many
other Indian tribes, all have poverty rates
well above the rest of the population.
Gone are the great white men like An
drew Jackson and others whom we could
blame for the destruction of American Indi
an culture. They have been replaced by gen
erations of government bureaucrats whose
policies have been to place Band-Aids on the
mortal wounds of a dying culture.
America has cleaned its guilty conscience
by naming professional sports teams Braves,
Indians and Chiefs. And America has turned
a deaf ear to the pleas of Native Americans
because they have been given a slice of the
great gambling industry.
Ignoring color in.the people less fortunate
than us is not an isolated occurrence. Right
here at A&M we choose to ignore the color of
the persons in poverty around us. We ignore
the color of the people that clean our dorm
rooms and serve our food.
The racial inequalities of our com unity
escape our notice because we are accustomed
to them. It is a sad fact, however, that we
carry the ability to ignore injustices with us
when we travel, even when We are unfamil
iar with their nature.
By ignoring the plight of the Navajo Indi
ans of Santa Fe, tourists concede to the idea
that there is nothing left to be done. While
there may be no easy solutions to some so
cial problems, however, this is no reason to
turn our backs on those who suffer while we
enjoy the luxury of a vacation.
Elaine Mejia is a senior
political science major
Powell deserves better than sidekick status
T he race for
the Republi
can presi- .
dential nomina
tion is all but
over, with Sen.
Bob Dole tri
umphing over the
evil forces of Pat
Buchanan and
Steve Forbes. Seems appropriate
enough, considering Dole was one
of the signers of the Constitution.
But before Dole can even sa
vor his victory, the next chal
lenged looming large in the dis
tance: the choice for his vice
psidential running mate.
Possible candidates include a
trio of governors — John Engler
from Michigan, Tommy Thomp
son from Wisconsin and George
Voinovich from Ohio.
But all eyes turn to the one
man who could catapult Dole
ahead of Bill Clinton.
Dole can’t win without Gen.
Colin Powell. The only problem
is, Powell doesn’t want it.
And why should he? Clearly,
Powell can hold his own when it
comes to sparking
the nation’s inter
est. He has never
run for any politi
cal office, but be
cause of his im
pressive military
career he was
seen as the front
runner to chal
lenge Clinton in November. But
Powell chose to walk away from
the spotlight.
Well, he tried to anyway.
In a recent survey by the Wall
Street Journal, Powell was the
only person who could defeat
Clinton in a hypothetical elec
tion, defeating the incumbent by
47 percent to 38 percent. By
comparison, Clinton trounced '
Dole 53 percent to 34.
This logic, of course, is not
without its flaws. By never enter
ing the race, Powell escaped cer
tain scrutiny, an intense exami
nation into his character that
would have tested his political pa
tience. His escape will be short
lived, however, if he throws his
hat in the ring for vice president.
And despite the wooing efforts
of Dole, and apparently former
FYesident George Bush, Powell
isn’t interested, and not all party
leaders ^re ready for a Dole-
Powell ticket.
Leading the Powell witch
hunt is Buchanan, who has gone
so far as to threaten defection
from the party if Powell is cho
sen. Much of this is because of
Powell’s un-Republican pro-
choice stance on abortion. The
idea that one issue can define a
political party affiliation is
ridiculous, but then, that pretty
much goes with the territory
when it comes to Buchanan.
But he does have a point in
that Powell is not a typical
politician. Instead of wallowing
in political gibberish, he has
spent his life defending his coun
try. But most impressive is his
demeanor. Powell simply con
ducts himself with dignity and
maturity at all times. Candi
dates do more trash talking than
basketball players these days,
and political bashing seems to be
more important than the issues.
Somehow, Powell seems to
transcend the babble. Granted,
he hasn’t been thrown into the
fires of a Republican debate, and
he hasn’t had to deal with tbe
rhetoric and accusations from
other candidates. Some say Pow
ell might have withered under
such scrutiny.
But even if he had run and
not won the nomination, Powell
would have remained a class act.
The verbal jabbing that
Buchanan, Dole and Forbes have
thrived on would have been lost
on Powell.
But in the role of vice presi
dent, Powell would have to take a
back seat to a man who seems
shaky on his own vision. Dole’s at
traction to Powell is obvious, but
there’s not much in it for Powell.
Powell has even said reports
of him running are “irritating.”
The savior of the Republican
party has got better things to do.
And playing second fiddle just
won’t do.
Rob Clark is a senior
journalism major
fou liave reached the office
of Colin Powell ...
If ^/our call is about my nmimic
for vice president, press 1...
If your call is about another
Campaign role for me, press 2.~
If your call is about iny plans
for the presidential race
four years from now, press 3...
A j ii
the pew Newtek
JmMaryQaolam
Mail
Qaii.
Disabled Aggies run
rampant on campus
At this time, it seems appro
priate to congratulate Dr.
Bowen and the registrar’s of
fice for their new admittance
Policy on disabled and handi
capped students.
It seems that the percentage
of disabled and handicapped stu
dents must be at an all-time high
because as I walk around cam
pus, it seems that every handi
capped parking spot is being uti
lized, and even some disabled
drivers must park in other re
served lots. It is great to see that
the University is diversifying
and reaching out to all people.
If you have not noticed this
phenomenon, just look for all
the handicapped parking hang-
tags that are being used daily
on campus. They are every
where. Just wait outside Block
er or Wehner to see the handi
capped spots fill up with cars,
and their drivers run into their
classes just before it is too late.
On some campuses, handi
capped parking may be a prob
lem, but not here in Aggieland.
I am glad to see that opportu
nities opening for the disabled
and am also glad to see the
good Aggies of A&M are not
abusing the handicapped park
ing system.
David Minor
Graduate Student
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor and will print as many as space al
lows. Letters must be 300 words or less
and include the author's name, class, and
phone number.
We reserve the right to edit letters for
length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be
submitted in person at 013 Reed McDon
ald. A valid student ID is required. Letters
may also be mailed to:
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Page 11
The Battalion
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.
Editorials Board
Sterling Hayman
Editor in Chiej
Stacy Stanton
Managing Editor
Michael Landauer
Opinion Editor
Jason Brown
Assistant Opinion Editor
Altered Access
RTFS should warn the disabled of
changes in parking and ramp access.
Parking, Transit and Traf
fic Services threw a road
block into the daily lives of
disabled students recently
when it shuffled parking lot
spaces in parking area 23,
near the Sterling C. Evans
Library, which cost the dis
abled students several gener
al-use handicap spaces.
Although the switch can
be viewed as a necessary
evil, the manner in which
PTTS carried it out cannot.
Taking away parking
spots from students, espe
cially the spots of disabled
students, without notice
shows a certain disregard for
those students’ well-being.
The shuffling has already
caused at least one conflict
between PTTS and a student
on crutches.
This conflict, and any oth
ers that may have occurred,
could have been avoided if
PTTS would ha e adequately
notified the student body, or
at least those students af
fected, in advance.
PTTS could have simply
posted fliers around the
parking area and the library,
or called Support Services for
Students with Disabilities to
inquire about the best way to
notify the students.
Instead, disabled students
found out the hard way when
they drove to parking area
23 and discovered that the
spaces had been moved.
PTTS justifies the move,
saying a total of three gener
al-use handicap spaces were
lost as a result of the shuf
fling, and that Texas A&M
still has more spaces than
the Americans with Disabili
ties Act requires.
Nevertheless, those three
spaces will impact disabled
students needing access to
the library. PTTS could have
made a positive move by re
locating three reserved facul
ty spaces for a short time
and replacing them with gen
eral-use handicap spaces.
Instead, PTTS opted for
an easy way out, making it
more difficult for students to
find a way in.
Southwest customers
get what they pay for
back. Af-
spending a week
in various places
across Texas and
the United
States, Aggies
are back in Ag
gieland, dealing
with the pressures of tests, bills
and a campus inundated with
campaign signs.
But I have to be honest with
you. I am glad to be back. And
I’ll give you two words why:
Southwest Airlines.
It all seemed simple enough
when I saw the advertisement for
my flight two months ago. I think
it was the unbelievably low fares
for a round trip from Houston to
Baltimore that sold me. As I
made the reservation and paid
for the flight, I thought I was get
ting the deal of the century. But
in reality, I was setting myself up
for the flight from hell.
My first mistake was missing
my 7 a.m. flight on Saturday
morning because of the lingering
effects of a fun night with some
friends of mine in Houston. Hav
ing to fly stand-by on any airline
is a big pain in the rear; having
to fly stand-by on Southwest is
worse than poking your eyeball
out with a big wooden spoon
(well, maybe not that bad, but at
least as bad as stabbing your
pinky finger with a “spork” from
Taco Bell).
Southwest does not have re
served seating. As a result, lines
that are probably half a mile
long form at various gates
throughout the airport, snaking
around seats, trash cans and
various other stationary objects
as people desperately seek a
green plastic pass that enables
them to board the plane. Each
plastic pass has a number on it.
At boarding time, after helping
the screaming kids, confused el
derly and other passengers
“needing assistance” onto the
plane, the person behind the
gate gets on the P.A. and says,
“Numbers one through 30 can
board at this time.”
I approached a huge mass of
people, pushing and shoving
their way toward the boarding
ramp with no regard for their fel
low passengers. Men were push
ing women, women were clawing
at men, and youngsters were
kicking adults in the shins as
they all jockeyed for position to
get a good seat. I finally strug
gled to the ramp, noticing that
most of the people had numbers
that were much
higher than 30.
Upon boarding
the plane, I real
ized the struggle
had not yet
ceased. Now I had
to fight for room
in the overhead
comp artm ents.
Following 10 minutes of strug
gling with my backpack, I suc
cessfully squeezed it in a hole
the size of a grapefruit. I began
to realize what women must go
through during childbirth.
Then I sat down in an aisle
seat and prepared to take off.
However, my preparations
proved premature when I heard
a flight attendant get on the air
plane P.A.
“Folks, we have unfortunately
booked more seats on this flight
than we have room. If anyone
would like to give up his or her
seat, Southwest will refund the
value of your ticket and give you .
a travel voucher worth $200,”
she said. 1
No one moved. The attendant
made another attempt.
“Please ... if there is anyone
out there who will help us out,
we’d really appreciate it. And
don’t forget that we’ll give you a
voucher worth $200 for another
flight on Southwest Airlines.”
Still no one made a move. The
attendant became desperate.
“OK everyone, we’re begging
now. We’ll take you to dinner and
a movie if you give up your seat...
Anyone?... We’ll put your eldest
child through college ... Please!”
I felt sorry for the poor gal, but
then I realized it was Southwest’s
fault for overbooking its flights.
Someone finally stood up and
gave up his seat, so we were able;
to take off.
By the way, Southwest does
not offer any meals on any of their
flights. However, it does give out
peanuts, and it gives each passen
ger three packages. I noticed hun
dreds of packages of superfluous
peanuts on the ground when I got
off the plane, which was another
terrible struggle.
For those who have flown
Southwest before, this column
will probably bring back some
repressed memories of your par
ticular experience. For those
who have not, remember my sto
ry, and don’t let the cheap rates
suck you into the hellacious ex
perience known as Southwest
Airlines. r l ;
Chris Miller is a sophomore
English major