September 1
right to walk out of
racism conference
MARK
PASS WATERS
it up a b
hout am
vaid.
n Saturday, the U. N.
Conference on Racism,
Racial Discrimination,
enophohia and Related
Intolerance
wrapped up
in Durban,
South
Africa. But
by then, the
United
States dele
gation
walked out.
While
iUc: an action seems callous on
surface, they were right to
io no. I'his conference had an
■ ag»nila hijacked by groups
* Jfl It looking to change the past
\HO • The BA** inslead of the future, leaving
er enjo, a grth 0 " w ho suffer in the 21st
senturv totally ignored. The
United States and other Western
d that the teJB ons beciune the immediate
• :he Texa5>-^JL e( G f African nations who
hut it was den landed reparations for the
Mck of tinx s i a v e trade that ended eight gen-
lon we brc erations ago.
■“'Reparations need to be
^Bile in the name of Africa and
of those mil-
liot i s of our
ancestors who
were brutally
rip|vd from
then homes
and shipped to
the new
world,” said
President
Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo.
If this was not to be forth
coming, African countries ration
alized that their foreign debt
should be wiped out in a show
of sympathy. The United States
and European countries did not
go .along with these demands.
I “The tricky part is whether
that entitles someone to com
pensation, especially if they
ha\e no direct link with past
slavery,” a European diplomat
told The Washington Post. “How
do you identify who is the victim
or who is responsible?”
I After having slavery and
colonialism blamed for every
thing from famines to centuries-
old ethnic conflicts, they ques-
tioned whether such an action
Would be merely a glorified
Handout, and rightfully so.
I “I think reparations, given
the fact that there is plenty of
blame to go around for slavery,
plenty of blame to go around
among African and Arab states
and plenty of blame to go
around among Western states,
\ve are better to look forward
and not point fingers back
ward,” said National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice on
NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
As pointed out in a Sept. 2
\ Washington Post editorial, these
I Conferences are designed for
ni Cenlfl ■nations ‘to criticize the United
xte
c was t
si
legislate
â– ce
the do
aic
L
ffc
[ i cc toot
rent regK
he
policy »i
t
work.” 0
w
is desigE
ng
related i
ide
nts with.
wa
s unac
This conference had an
agenda hijacked by
groups looking to
change the past instead
of the future.
I
States while (managing) to
shield their own records of
racism from scrutiny.”
The United States finally
walked out of the conference in
disgust over the demands of
Arab nations that Israel be
declared racist and that the
World War II holocaust be min
imized in importance. Some
Arab nations crowed that this
showed the United States was
merely a pawn of Israel, but
were quickly silenced when the
members of the European Union
threatened to leave as well.
The Bush administration
appeared to regard the entire
conference as a tragic disap-
pointment.
“This conference spent far
too much time in trying to con
demn Israel and single it out,”
Rice said. “I think the United
States made the right decision
to leave.”
If this is the case, then they
are quite correct. In spite of all
its hubris about helping the poor
of the world, this conference
merely passed a resolution vow
ing to “fight racism wherever it
can be found.”
Would this
be in the
Sudan, where
Muslims tor
ture, enslave
and kill
Christians and
animists?
Perhaps this
racism is exhibited in India,
where a quarter-billion people,
known as “untouchables,” live
in enforced neglect and squalor.
If this applies to minorities in
Myanmar, Nigeria, non-
Muslims in Afghanistan or the
people of occupied Tibet, we
will never know. The represen
tatives of the U.N. conference
did not mention them.
Even before the conference
started, it was apparent that the
losers would be the neglected of
the present day. Simply put,
nobody cared about them.
In an Aug. 29 editorial. The
Times of London predicted the
demise of the conference and
said the United States should
be praised if it ignored the fias
co entirely. “The European way
has always been to haggle on
the ground that these are mere
ly ‘words,’ “ it said. “Americans
have always, honorably, been
readier to insist that, even if
they are not legally binding,
words still matter.”
In this case, the words from
the United States delegation as
it left Durban should probably
have been “get serious.” Once
again, the United Nations has,
in the words of the Times, made
an “irresponsible perversion of
a good cause.”
Mark Passwaters is a senior
political science major.
:y
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THE BATTALION
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I
n accordance with the rules of the
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President George W. Bush is caught up
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ident earlier this year,
would grant amnesty to
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who have already been
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works Univision and Telemundo blatantly
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interest in them is only politically motivated.
Although the Democratic National
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aimed at challenging President Bush “to be
compassionate and inclusive in his immi
gration policy,” it is clearly exploiting the
GOP’s electoral weakness among
America’s fastest growing voting bloc.
To make matters even more politically-
rewarding those who disregard the law and
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Millions of Mexican citizens and other
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Should this idea ever come to fruition,
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Bush regards immigration as a
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ported him in the previous election
and realized that he needs to secure
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However, in doing this, the
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The reasoning is that the proposal
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the law.
Immigrants from other nations who
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have also voiced their discontent.
“Immigration law is supposed to be
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Such a policy of immigration does
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Hispanic support for the
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when former California Governor Pete
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Proposition 187. This proposition cut off
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These sentiments still exist among many
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M
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charged, in last week’s meeting between
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The ramifications of President Bush’s
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JOE PEDEN • THE BATTALION
The president has said that “good
neighbors work together and benefit from
each other’s success.”
This may be true, but it can also be
noted that the great American poet Robert
Frost once said “good fences make good
neighbors.”
Jennifer Lozano is a junior
English major.
Mr. Rogers represents good in TV wasteland
T here were rarely any
fancy guest stars, unless
you count Mr.
McFeeney or Lady Elaine
Fairchilde.
There weren’t
any eye-pop
ping special
effects, nor
was there any
technological
wizardry. For
34 years,
“Mister
Rogers’ Neighborhood” enter
tained countless children with
a simple, predictable format.
Last Friday, “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood” aired its last
new episode, meaning Mr.
Rogers will only be available
to children in reruns and on
the PBS web site, where he
will be providing the voices
for puppets. With the end of
the show, simplicity and inno
cence in children’s television
has been chipped away.
The man who provided
children’s television with
innocence and simplicity has
moved on to other things,
leaving weekday mornings
with a weak supply of quality
programming.
“Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood” first aired on
Pittsburgh’s WQED in 1968,
before being picked up by
PBS in 1969. Rogers, an
ordained Presbyterian minis
ter, started the show to use tel
evision to teach children.
Rogers got into his profes
sion with the right motiva
tions, and parents should turn
off shows that do not teach the
same types of values he com
municated so well. “I believe
that those of us who are the
producers and purveyors of
television — or video games or
newspapers or any mass media
— I believe that we are the
servants of this nation,” he
told CNN. “I got into televi
sion because I hated it so and I
thought there was some way
of using this fabulous instru
ment to be of nurture to those
who would watch and listen.”
Today’s children’s pro
gramming is
filled with
quick-paced
action, plenty
of violence
and colorful
animation.
These qualities
do not necessarily make them
bad shows, but there is some
thing to be said for straightfor
ward friendliness. And the
children responded. Above all
else, simplicity was the key to
Mr. Rogers’ many years of
success, and that is what will
be missed most of all.
Every week, Mr. Rogers
would come into children’s
homes with a smile and a ren
dition of “Won’t You Be My
Neighbor?” Children could
count on him to come in with
a cardigan sweater and a pair
of loafers. They could count
on the same visitors the same
Simplicity was the key
to Mr. Rogers' many
years of success.
songs and the same routines.
That routine brought Mr.
Rogers numerous awards,
including four Emmys, a
Lifetime Achievement Award
and more than 30 honorary
degrees from universities
throughout the nation.
These were well deserved
recognitions for an honorable
man who did much positive
for nation’s children. Although
current children’s program
ming is brimming with ani
mated violence, Mr. Rogers
thrived on an endless supply
of tranquility.
In all those years, Mr.
Rogers never
raised his
voice. His
movements
were never
any faster than
a friendly
wave goodbye
before he went out the door at
the end of the show. From the
soft singing to the show’s slow
tempo, “Mr. Rogers’
Neighborhood” was a lesson
in inner peace for almost three
and a half decades. This is
something sorely missing
across all television programs
since he went on the air.
Nearly everyone has a fond
memory of “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood.” Those who
watched the show can recall
the serenity of watching tales
from the magical world of
Make-Believe. Today’s parents
fondly recall that half hour of
the day when the kids were
actually quiet.
In fact, it is probably those
who no longer watch the show
who will be most deeply
affected. When they open up
their local papers and learn
that another piece of their
childhood is gone, adults like
ly will remember the inno
cence of “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood” and of their
own childhood. They will
remember when waking up at
seven o’clock on a Saturday
morning was sleeping in,
when summer seemed to last
forever and it didn’t matter if
your clothes matched. Most of
all, parents will miss the inno
cence that is embedded in
every episode of the show.
In the course of 34 years on
television, Mr. Rogers has
touched the old and young
alike through his understand
ing of innocence and simplici
ty, two qualities that have vir
tually disappeared from chil
dren’s television since then. It
is fortunate for future genera
tions of children that values
still exist in reruns.
We need to return to that
same level of substance in
order to bring children’s tele
vision back to its better days.
Substance over style: it seems
like a lesson to be found in an
old episode of “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood.”
Rich Bray is a junior
journalism major.