Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2004)
I’ TIOS 'Ul)s »ts es dical j| is Id Du; sell ii| 'ee 4 1th m| Patb; ther | ie cei(. ity, sai eared t: he cai. clots* 't bee|. alo»®, nt of it* drive ■ re. ^lahar. am pi;. c. ii: . do: , d. . nts. Hit oped ii ocapta gram, ey spr the K irtWor to que> aith dye licide ti said. J I i Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Friday, February 6, 2004 Can justice be too blind? High school student guilty of rape played the race M eet Marcus Dixon. As a 6-tbot-6, 265-pound linebacker for Pepperell High School, he is an exemplary example of the slar athlete on the gridiron. As ayoung black Georgian charged with two sex crimes by a mostly white jury, he and his case have been adopted by racial activists who want to convince Americans that racism in the Deep South still exists. Dixon’s attorneys, backed by civil rights’ activists, have filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court on behalf of the 19-year-old man who was found guilty last May in Rome, Ga., of statutory rape and child molestation — a charge that can carry a sentence of 10 years. The defense, in conjunction with other activists and humani tarian organizations, claims that the case reeked of faulty prose cution and infringed upon constitutional rights by administering unusually cruel punishment. Everything about the defense’s concocted accusation epito mizes injustice. On the eve of the trial, 100 of these protesters gathered out side the courtroom to hold candlelit vigils, singing “We Shall Overcome" and listening to a message condemning the trial as prejudiced against all black men. Southern Christian Leadership Council founder Dr. Joseph Lowry delivered the message, which was a racially charged sermon. “If the young lady was black and Marcus Dixon was white. I don't think we would be here,” Lowry said. Lowry makes a good point, albeit unintentionally. Just as every coin has two sides, the only reason Lowry and the raving horde were present was that Dixon is black. It really has nothing todowith innocence or guilt, nothing to do with Dixon’s char acter-nothing to do with anything except his skin color. These activists have labored for decades, trying to convince Americans to doubt the doings of the supposedly colorblind justice system. However, they too suffer from bias-induced blindness. If Dixon, a legal adult, had sex with a minor and pro duced the bruises the evidence confirms, state law necessitates a 10-year sen tence. Dixon admitted to knowing the girl’s age, and he was surely aware that such illicit actions carry repercussions. This, of course, makes race an irrelevant point, but activists busy protecting our country from racism rarely seem to have time to consider the facts. Supporters of this racist conspiracy somehow seem to think his "B” class average and football skills should arbi trate the verdict. They claim that he is black, smart and athletic; ergo, his sen tence is not justified. Black, white or green; athletic or sickly; smart or slow — none of these qualities have anything to do with whether a crime was committed. Morphing issues like this into a social Mason-Dixon Line for the 21st century has been no easy undertaking for those who wish to stretch the truth about the reality of racism. They have sacrificed their reputation and their credibility in the eyes of many Americans. In this pursuit, however, it comes as no surprise that these groups neglected to focus on the obvious fact that Dixon did wrong. This evidence certainly seems more pressing and serious than unfounded claims of racial di crimination, but amid a barrage of declara tions denouncing racial injustice, it is also evidence that Americans will never read about. So. this is Lowry’s idea of justice? He seems to believe that if he can pull the he should have folded race card, other aspects of the case — including the crime itself — will vanish. In what is arguably the world’s fairest legal system, this type of activism makes individ ual crime a racial debate, which can ultimate ly circumvent the true intent of America’s legal system. Even if society deferred to the ridiculous definitions of “injustice” that activists promulgate, these civil hypochondriacs would only broad en the scope of intolerable actions. The plain, but unfortu- [ nate, fact seems to be that they I do not seek equity and truth, B though they claim to preach, f defend and understand it. Civil rights activism as exud ed in the Dixon case sermonizes that victimization is the answer to the black man’s problems. It breathes life into racial confrontation and purports that Southern good-boy “justice” will not die. Sorry to disappoint, but black men convicted of crime are not all victims of judicial racism. The Mason-Dixon Line has not been redrawn; activists just hope Americans will mistakenly see its image when they look at the exag gerated Marcus Dixon Lie. Flores • THE BATTALION Clint Rainey is a freshman general studies major. Microsoft had no right to take domain name M ike Rowe only wanted to create his own Web site. But lispast November, the Microsoft Corporation sent an e-mail to the Canadian iiigli school student and ordered him to close his site. MikeRoweSoft.com, which Ik company considers to violate Microsoft trademark rights.loan attempt to convey the company’s “generosity," Microsoft offered the young man $10 to sign the domain name over to thenl, which would be enough to cover the initial setup fee for the domain name. Why the company believed it had a right to lake a young man’s personal Web site with virtually no compensation is beyond compre hension and unfair. Just because the name sounds similar to the name of the corporation does not give Microsoft the right to take it without proper compensation for all of the work that was put While Microsoft’s response may seem a bit ridiculous, it infuriated Rowe that a giant corpora tion would try to take his personal site and only offer “The $10 is pretty insult ing for all the work I’ve put into my Web site,” Rowe said, “That’s why I asked for the $10,000 — because 1 was mad at the low amount they Why the company believed it had a right to take a young man's personal Web site with virtually no compensation is beyond comprehension and unfair. This is just one example of the type of friv olous law suits that the United States court systems encounter every day. Companies and individuals believe they are being attacked by others, yet they are not. Rowe had not set out to steal business or money away from the lucrative corporation. He had only thought that the name, which consisted of his personal first and last names, was interesting and fitting, partly due to the fact that his site was dedicated to Web devel oping. Soon after Rowe refused Microsoft’s $10 offer, he received a 25-page letter from the corporation explaining how Microsoft’s customers could get confused between his site and the company site. That argument leads to a whole other debate. The name of the Web site developed by Rowe was similar in sound, not in spelling, to the corporation’s Web site. Basically, Microsoft did not give its con- i credit for knowing the name of the : they use on a daily basis. It is actual ly stating that the company considers its con sumers quite dense, as they may become con fused as to site is the correct one in helping them with their software troubles. “We take our trademark seriously, but in this case maybe a little too seriously,” said Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler. “That said, we appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name.” Once Microsoft determined that it may have taken the domain name case one step too far, it publicly admitted to overreacting. Rather than taking advantage of an average high school student. Microsoft discovered that its young adversary was rather creative and savvy. With all of the quarreling over this particu lar domain name, Microsoft may have devel oped more problems than if they had just left the whole thing alone. Microsoft’s legal department may be busier than it anticipated during the next few months because in the past few weeks, all the top-level domain extensions for MikeRoweSoft (.co.uk, .net, .org and .tv) have been snapped up, and MikeRoweSoft.tv has been put up for sale on eBay. As an agreement had been reached between Rowe and Microsoft last week, it was by far a win for the little man over the bigger corporation. In exchange for the domain name, Microsoft will pay for Rowe’s expens es, the cost of switching over to a new site, provide training for certification on Microsoft’s products, a subscription to Microsoft’s developer program Web site, and an XBOX video game console with games, as well as an invitation to bring his parents along for a visit to Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters for the company’s annual tech nology fair. If there was truly an infringement on a trademark name, then, action should take place to rectify the problem. But in this case, there was no problem to begin with —just one that was thought up by some big-time corporate lawyers who made a situation for their compa ny worse than what it was to start. Lauren Esposito is a senior English major. MAIL CALL A&M leaders must oppose fees In response to Josh Peschel’s Feb. 5 column: Personally, I would liked to have seen even more student leaders come out in opposi tion to the unnecessary and illegitimate fee increase rec ommendations issued by the Student Service Fee Advisory Board instead of trying to convince their con stituents why they need even more of their money. Not only does the SSFAB want to give themselves the power to raise the student service fee up to 10 percent per year, their recommenda tions only cover the expan sion of programs from groups seeking funding. Before approving any increases, the SSFAB should demand that the money these groups already receive is being well spent. When groups like the Graduate Student Council, Student Government Association, Memorial Student Center and others spend thousands of dollars a year in food and retreats for their membership, the stu dent body should not be asked to foot the bill for even more waste. Additionally, the SSFAB’s final deliberations and votes regarding their recommenda tions were held behind closed doors and the members of the SSFAB were not appointed in accordance with state law or even confirmed by the student senate. Our student leaders should not support this seri ously flawed system that acted in such an unethical manner. Mark McCaig president, SGA Watch Class of 2005 Women should stop the excuses In response to Carrie Pierce’s Feb. 5 article: As a woman majoring in electrical engineering, I am frequently exasperated by the complaints of feminists on this campus. They demand stu dent organizations for women, which claim to provide some intangible benefit that will somehow compensate for the “trials" inherent to their gender. Yet they would be outraged if someone tried to start a “Society for Men Engineers.” I believe that if women want to achieve more respect in tra ditionally male fields, they need to stop emphasizing their gender, which does not represent a personal accom plishment of any kind. Instead, all individuals should derive professional pride from the quality of their work, and from nothing else. Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that I have never once experienced any kind injustice because of my gen der. My professors treat me no differently than they would any other student. In fact, most employers would hire me before they would hire an equally qualified male! So, to those women who feel repressed on this cam pus, I challenge you to show me a tangible example of the discrimination you claim to have faced. If you want per sonal fulfillment and profes sional success, I would sug gest that you spend less time whining about inequality, and more time working to achieve your goals. Cindy McReynolds Class of 2005 Kerry is a veteran and a change In response to a Feb. 5 mail call: The fact that Dean Brown says that “the men and women of the military will continue to support President Bush” is a completely wrong assumption. There are many in the military who do support the president, but there are quite a few oth ers who realize it is time for a change in the administration. American citizens, includ ing military personnel, should look to John Kerry, an actual veteran who served his country in the Vietnam War, and not to George W. Bush, who used his father’s political influence to join the Texas National Guard in order to avoid the draft—and then did not even serve as an active member. While our president attempts to convince the Americans that invading Iraq was a good idea, more than 500 soldiers have come back in body bags as a result of this unjustified war. Brown must realize that those who do not support the war are still quite patriotic and do indeed sup port the troops. We support the troops in every effort to bring them home safely. When November comes, I hope that Americans will look at all of the flaws, lies and misleadings in the Bush administration and elect someone new. David Johnson Class of 2004 Bush deserves the military vote In response to Collins Ezeanyim's Feb. 4 column: I see selective journalism is not just reserved solely for The New York Times or The Washington Post. You present only the facts that support your already slanted opinion of the president. Why not mention the new federal budget that was released this week, where military spending is boosted by 7 percent? Why not name the Democratic candidates for president who oppose the $87 billion needed for the military complete our work in Iraq? Are you aware of the 10 per cent increase in the Homeland Security budget, that includes an 11 percent increase for the FBI to fight terrorism? It’s clear to me President Bush is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to helping those who protect us at home and abroad. The military will vote for President Bush because they love him. He stands up for what is right and brings integrity back to the White House, in sharp contrast to a former president who used the oval office as his personal brothel. He’s demonstrated he won’t cut and run like Clinton did in Somalia either. And most of all, he has the fortitude to face terrorism and understands we must force radical change in the Middle East if we are to stop the onslaught of radical Islam. Ray Hovorka Class of 1999 j
