8The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, November 15, 1988
96 th year of editorial freedom
Karen Bell, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K. RUST, Managing Editor
' Will Lingo, city Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Am Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
' SHELLEY ERBLAND, Design Editor
Jean Lutes, Editor
KAARIN TlSUE, News Editor
LAURA PEARLMAN, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
t Kelly Thompson, Design Editor
Symbols of
The Campus Y has set aside this
week to increase awareness of human
rights violations around the world,
even as they occur in our own
backyard.
And although Human Rights Week
is in full swing at UNC, the end of
racial discrimination and equality for
all is not a priority everywhere.
This weekend, in a suburban
Atlanta county, Ku Klux Klan
members terrorized the congregation
of a predominantly black church as
they burned a wooden cross nearby.
Children were standing on the pews
of Macedonia Baptist Church, wit
nessing a scene their parents had no
doubt hoped they would see only in
history textbooks or educational films.
The chairman of the church's dea
con board, Leonard Broadnax, said
he was crying for the South. "I thought
this was a thing of the past."
Unfortunately, the west Cobb
County church is not the only site
where racism still can be found.
Take a look around campus. Last
week, Jews and Gentiles alike remem
bered a worldwide tragedy during
Kristallnacht, a two-day commemora
tion of the Holocaust and the 6 million
Jews who died at the hands of the
hatred in the Pit
Nazis.
On the first day of the Kristallnacht
celebration, a sign long associated with
the Third Reich and its atrocities
appeared on the panels covering the
front of the Student Stores. No the
swastika did not just appear. It was
painted there, in an act of either hatred
or ignorance.
The panels have since been white
washed, and new fliers announcing
various bands and speakers have been
plastered there to attract the eyes of
the thousands who pass through the
Pit every day. But the red paint used
to mark the Pit with swastikas has bled
through the whitewash, and symbols
of hate are still visible. So is the racism
that prompted the painter.
If nothing more comes from Human
Rights Week, students should hope
that all who see the swastikas in the
Pit will be ashamed. Perhaps if such
hateful actions made more people
hang their heads in shame, more would
have the courage to speak out against
injustice and racism in their daily lives.
And children such as the ones in the
pews of Macedonia Baptist Church
will not have to witness atrocities like
those of this weekend. Sandy
Dimsdale
The ghosts of authors past in Davis Library
Dark clouds loom on horizon
One cliche among economists and
investors alike holds that the stock
market and other financial institutions
always respond positively to a Repub
lican victory in a presidential election.
Investors and Republicans generally
hold similar economic philosophies.
During the 20th century, this analogy
has historically held true.
So it's surprising that the world
financial markets have already begun
to show displeasure with the election
of George Bush. The stock market
plunged 45 points on Friday and
dropped another five'points yesterday.
The panic has been initiated by foreign
currency traders, who exasperated
by Bush's vague economic proposals
are selling dollars by the bushel.
Throughout his presidential cam
paign, Bush unleashed a myriad of
attacks upon past Democratic finan
cial practices while neglecting to offer
reasonable solutions to the national
debt crisis. He adamantly refused to
raise taxes, but at the same time he
proposed some $10 billion in new
programs. In addition, he swore not
to cut defense spending clearly an
unhealthy fiscal picture.
Overseas investors are understanda
bly skeptical of the short-term pros
pects for the United States' economy
and are finally exhibiting the same
"apprehension that preceded last year's
stock market crash. The market
rebounded in President Reagan's last
year as speculators kept their money
in stocks, hoping that the new admin
istration would offer a creative solu
tion. Many were doubtful that Bush,
who was then embroiled in the hys
terics of the Iran-contra scandal,
would be elected!, Now that these
expectations have proven false, inves
tors are bailing out in droves.
To his credit, Bush has moved
quickly to reverse this trend. First he
named chief campaign adviser and
former Treasury Secretary James
Baker as the new secretary of state,
a position whose powers will be
expanded to include the international
and domestic economic arenas. But
until yesterday the newly-elected
president was on vacation. When
asked about the market's condition,
Bush responded, "Once in a while I
think about those things, but not
much." It was a truly chilling
statement.
If Bush is indeed serious about
eradicating the deficit and paying back
some of the national debt, then he
would be wise not to ignore the blunt
. warnings of investors and traders. He
and his advisers must quickly fashion
a realistic cure for these ills or a
recession is imminent. Dave Hall
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Louis Bissettc, Sandy Dimsdale, Dave Hall and David Starnes.
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Readers9 For em
TTt was Friday night, and I was diligently
working on my thesis, going over an
Jiarticle on T.S. Eliot's "Sweeney
Among the Nightingales." My housemate
stuck his head in my door and asked,
"What are you doing?"
"It's Friday night," I replied, "and I am
diligently working on my thesis."
He shook his head. "There's a fine line
between diligent and dumb. I'm going out
for some beers and the late-night movie."
He thundered down the stairs, singing
the Ramones' "Teenage Lobotomy," and
I returned to the article. In the endnotes
I found a reference to another article, one
that I needed to track down. I donned my
moccasins and overcoat and headed for
Davis Library.
The library was nearly empty; it was only
half an hour until closing. I combed
through the second-floor periodicals,
unearthed the article, scanned it quickly.
Not much to it, but the author referred
to another source I hadn't seen yet. Up
to the seventh floor this time, where I
pulled the bound volume and flipped to
the page in question. Good commentary,
and two more unfamiliar sources. The hunt
continued.
Usually I enjoy that sort of detective
work, but that night I was tired. I wanted
to be in a darkened bar, not the darkened
stacks of the library.
Which were now indeed darkened. I had
stayed too late, missed hearing the
intercom warning, and now the library was
closed. The overhead lights glowed dimly,
and I jogged down the stairs in search of
an emergency exit.
At the bottom of the stairwell I burst
through the door and almost ran into a
wooden cart full of books. It was being
pushed by a ghostly figure who bore a
strong resemblance to Samuel Taylor
Brian McCuskey
In the Funhouse
Coleridge.
I stared. He stared. "What are you doing
here?" he demanded.
"I lost track of time," I said. "Looks
like you did too."
"No," he said, "this is when I work."
"Work?"
He gestured at the books. Many of them
were of or about his poetry. "Have to
reshelve these. And plenty more after
them."
"Don't the library assistants do that sort
of thing?" I asked, still staring. Coleridge
was supposed to be a pale man, but I could
see the card catalogs through his face.
He nodded. "Sure, but there isn't enough
manpower. Did you know there's a
backlog of just over 80,000 uncataloged
books, which built up in the early 1980s
when the cataloging staff wasn't big enough
to handle the acquisition rate?"
"80,000 uncataloged books?"
"Sure. If you don't find something you
need in the stacks, ask someone to check
the backlog. It might be there. So, we help
out where we can, sneaking a few books
out of the backlog, or just reshelving books
in heavy circulation."
"We?"
"The authors. Excuse me, I have to get
to work." He wiped away some ectoplas
mic sweat on his brow and moved on.
The authors? That meant ....
I dashed back up the stairs to the seventh
floor. PQ, PR, PS, PS 3509 .L43, and there
he was, bending over to straighten books
on the lower shelves.
"Mr. Eliot?" I said.
He stood erect, nodded. "Hello. It isnt
here."
"What isnt here?"
"The new book of my early letters. The
library hasnt acquired it yet." He sighed.
"I'm a victim of the serials budget."
"What do you mean?"
"The cost of subscription to periodicals
is soaring. One yearly subscription can cost
hundreds of dollars, or as much as $2,000.
The library's budget cant keep up, so to
keep subscribing they have to limit the
number of books bought, which could be
why my letters arent here."
"I just ran into Coleridge, and he said
something about lack of manpower."
"Yes, for the cataloging. Well, we try
to help in little ways."
"Listen," I said, "as long as you're here
IVe got a few questions to ask about my
thesis."
"Sorry, must move on. Plenty of other
libraries in need." He raised a hand in
farewell and began to fade.
I cried, "Mr. Eliot! Just tell me if
Sweeney is the man in brown ..." but
he was gone.
I must have dozed off, for I woke the
next morning with my head resting on c.2
of PS 3509 .L43 Z574. I could hear the
murmur of other students in the stacks.
Had the whole thing been a dream? Their
words had seemed so clear, so real.
I reshelved my pillow and left the library,
heading back to the books stacked high
on my desk. I cursed myself for not getting
Eliot to answer my thesis questions.
Maybe if I kept the books until they
were overdue, he would come to collect
them ....
Brian McCuskey is a senior English
major from Los Angeles.
Band-Aids for
gaping wounds
To the editor:
As . a new black graduate
student on this campus, I have
read with some interest the
debate over the establishment
of a Black Cultural Center. I
am not against blacks retaining
those cultural elements which
make us unique, but I am
opposed to the creation of"
superficial attempts to have this
University community appear
committed to making blacks an
integral and welcome popula
tion on this campus.
As a black student, I do not
need a place to go to be
reminded of my black heritage.
What I do need is an academic
atmosphere which does not
constantly remind me that I am
not just another student, but
specifically a black student.
These reminders are seldom
overt, but consist of subtle clues
given by white students. They
leave plenty of room to pass
me on the sidewalks, furtive
glances on elevators when I am
the only other person there,
inattention to my remarks in
discussions both inside and
outside the classroom and
hesitation to sit with me in the
dining hall when my table is the
only one with a free seat. This
is racism, subtle but racism
nonetheless.
Black students should not
cry out for a "separate but
equal" place on this campus,
but for our rightful place on
this campus. I know the cul
tural center will be open to all
races, but let's face reality. How
many white students will view
it as theirs also? How many of
those black students calling for
its creation will warmly wel
come whites using the facility?
To paraphrase Martin Luther
King Jr., judge me by the
content of my character, not by
the color of my skin. Money,
resources and energies would
be best spent educating the
students of this campus that it
is this ideal which should be
IMBSSIB TAKE!- TAKE! 'TAKtMX
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History
DOESNT REPEAT ITSELF
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established, not the establish
ment of a facility in direct
consideration of skin color.
I am as angry as any other
black student about the trends
demonstrated on this campus
which indicate a lack of aware
ness of black problems and
concerns. I perceive a reversal
of progress made in race rela
tions over the past 25 years.
However,; let us be more crea
tive in treating the problems,
not applying bandages to man
ifestations of the symptoms.
JIMPAILIN
Graduate
Business
Get minorities;
keep minorities
To the editor.
Your article in the Nov. 8
edition of the DTH ("Black
enrollment increases at UNC"),
which bragged of the increase
in black enrollment at UNC,
should have been titled, "How
to lie using statistics." Lying is
what you are doing when you
do not show the whole picture
on minority status at UNC.
Recruiting the 10 percent of
black students needed for the
state quota is a realistic and
attainable goal. Keeping that
same 10 percent is another
story. I would like to know
what the University is doing in
terms of recruitment for other
minority groups.
I am one of 85 Native Amer
ican students on UNC's cam
pus. Statistically speaking,
Native Americans make up .04
percent of this campus' student
population. Interestingly, the
largest Native American pop
ulation east of the Mississippi
River is in Robeson County, a
mere 100 miles from UNC. Yet
the recruitment of Native
Americans to UNC remains at
an intolerably low level. What's
more, there is not one Native
American faculty member on
staff at UNC. I think UNC's
record on minority student
difficulties shows where UNC's
priorities lie not with minor
ities. If UNC's administration
were really concerned with
both government funding
received through admitting
minority freshmen and with the
students themselves, they
would consider implementing
effective programs, to keep
these students a viable part of
UNC.
During the Carolina Indian
Circle's annual Pow Wow in
1987, one of the UNC faculty
members and her daughter
attended the ceremonies. The
UNC faculty person stated
later, "I'm glad I brought my
daughter here today. She
thought all the Indians were
dead." I speculate this is indic
ative of how many people think
and feel. Our voice is small and
often goes unheard. Neverthe
less, we do exist and are crying
out for freedom and justice.
RAMONA LOCKLEAR
Graduate
School of Public Health
Word choice sets dangerous precedent
I do not know Dave Hall personally.
Judging from his essays, he shares with
me a passionate concern for human
itarian issues. This is why I was so
anguished to read "The lessons of the
Holocaust" (Nov. 11).
Dave Hall's editorial commemoration of
the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht
a night of anti-Jewish violence in Germany
that marked the beginning of the Holo
caust was written with the noblest of
intentions: to recall the horrors of the Nazi
campaign of extermination against the
Jews. It is therefore unfortunate that Hall's
essay lapses into rhetoric that is insensitive
and inappropriate to the memory of the
Holocaust.
Dave Hall expresses amazement that the
Jewish people, "who only 40 years ago had
no homeland, is among the most powerful
on the face of the earth." I recall these
words with a mixture of sorrow and anger.
They are a repetition of the anti-Semitic
myth of the all-powerful Jew, a myth that
fueled the Nazi flames that destroyed
European Jewry. Dave Hall does not
substantiate or clarify his remark; the
assertion that Jews are extraordinarily
powerful is uttered as a self-evident truth.
My anger and sorrow at this single
sentence may seem unjustified and over-
Jon Oberlander
Guest Writer
blown to some. If this is the case, permit
me to explain. I am a Jew, and as a Jew
I have a deep sensitivity to anti-Semitism.
The attitude that Jews are a powerful
people is not innocuous; it is central to
the anti-Semitism that culminated in six
million Jewish deaths. During my three
years at Carolina it has become clear that
anti-Semitism endures, often cloaked in the
disguise of anti-Israel politics. Just two
weeks ago on a campus radio program a
Palestinian panelist commented that "Jews
buy the press . . . they control everything
in this country." And earlier in the semester
a writer for a campus weekly warned that
America was under the control of an
alliance of U.S. Jewry and Israel. I cannot
let these comments pass by unchallenged
because they are not acceptable. I cannot
pretend that I do not see or hear them
because these words are racist, offensive
and historically fatal to the Jewish people.
I would also like to address the notion
implicit in Dave Hall's essay that there is
a similarity in the behavior of Nazi
Germany and Israel. I deplore the brutality
of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip. As a Jew I find it obscene
that Israel can deny another people its
national rights when the foundation of the
Jewish state's existence is the affirmation
of these rights. But Israel is not Nazi
Germany. Nazi Germany's crime was
genocide; Israel's is occupation. What
Israel is doing is wrong but it is not
genocide. The Palestinians are deprived of
their rights as the Algerians were under
French rule; they are the victims of hostile
occupation, not extermination. To suggest
otherwise is to insult the victims and
survivors of the Holocaust and to demean
the Holocaust itself.
This week UNC celebrates Human
Rights Week, focusing attention on people
around the globe who are denied basic
rights. It is an appropriate time to
remember the Holocaust, when an entire
people was denied its right to exist. It is
also an appropriate occasion to consider
the problem of anti-Semitism. By doing
so we can appreciate the lessons of the
Holocaust.
Jon Oberlander is a senior political
science major from Gainesville, Fid.
v