4The Daily Tar HeelThursday, November 15, 1990
MOTS
and FEMTO
People of
By VICKI HYMAN
Features Editor
In response to the need of minorities
to have the basic human right to an
unpolluted environment, the People of
Color Caucus was established as a sub
committee of the Student Env ironmental
Action Coalition (SEAC).
l ne caucus origmaicu m -tnjuci ui
the second annual national SEAC con
ference, called Catalyst, when SEAC
members who were concerned with the
i nf m inoritv rnrpnf ntion and
CVXWIX VI 1 1 1 1 1 1 V' I J f
emphasis on minority issues in the
;movement met to discuss these prob
lems. - i 'i.iiiii iii.ii i i in mi, in u iiivi
minority groups in the environmental
movement because they (SEAC) don't
address a lot of the minority issues
directly, said caucus initiator rum
-Shastri, a freshman from Asheville.
There is an agenda made for what
SEAC considers important, Shastri said.
. l t t i 1 .L.!
they don't ask the people of color," she
'said.
. "People of color have so many other
things going on that they have to deal
with: the direct racism, the poverty,
worrying about where they're going to
sleep or the roof over their heads,"
Court has great influence
O
By SCOn MAXWELL
Staff Writer
Law professor Daniel Pollitt and
political science professor Richard
Richardson spoke to a group of eight
yesterday afternoon about the effects of
the U.S. Supreme Court on civil rights.
Undaunted by the small turnout,
. consisting of two reporters, five students,
and one Chapel Hill citizen, Pollitt be
gan to speak about the United States
Supreme Court.
Pollitt began by summarizing the
history of the Supreme Court and the
nominations for justices in past years.
He then addressed the kind of jus
tices that presidents choose. "They ap
point people who they think will carry
out their theories of governing," he said.
Since these appointees remain in their
positions for such a long period of time,
the presidents who appoint the most
justices will have a great influence for
many years to come, Pollitt said.
"Where we are today is that we have
a court that is dominated by people
appointed. by Nixon and Reagan," he
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Color Caucus to address minority concerns in SEAC
i ' voSSH-" $ -:
t ; g i
Shastri said. "They have to deal with a
lot of issues that come off as so separate
from the rest of the movement, but they
need to be addressed," she said.
"When we started the People of Color
Caucus, we forced them (SEAC) to
define their environment as also what
directly affects the people," Shastri said.
Environmentalism cannot stand
alone, said caucus member Caroline
Philson, a sophomore anthropology and
geography major from Charlotte. "En
vironmentalism has to take into account
that people's environment is not always
the rainforest," she said.
"SEAC's main issue is the environ
ment, but different people have differ
said.
He went on to explain why he thought
that recent appointee David Souter was
a poor choice by giving examples of
Souter's past decisions.
Souter defended a decision to lower
flags to half-mast on Good Friday. This
was not meant to honor Jesus as a Chris
tian, because that would be against
separation of church and state, but the
gesture would "celebrate that this was a
good man."
Souter took this argument all the way
to the Supreme Court. It was overruled,
Pollitt said, but not without wasting the
nation's money.
Richardson prefaced his talk by
117 Week
11990
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There are other ways to learn.
ent environments and SEAC has been
neglecting people of color and people
of a lower socioeconomic status, and
SEAC will no longer, as an institution,
do that," said Philson.
One environmental issue that par
ticularly affects minorities is hazardous
waste dumping, Shastri said. A major
ity of all toxic sites in the U.S are in or
near poor neighborhoods, she said.
"Many of these poor neighborhoods
are people of color neighborhoods,"
Shastri said. "It's not a coincidence in
this country that they are the poorest
people.
White upper-class neighborhoods
have the money and political voice to
keep toxic sites out of their neighbor
hoods, Shastri said. "But for these people
(of color) who often lack funding, lack
education, lack the time needed to lobby
politically, there's little they can do
when the government says ' Okay, we're
going to put the toxic sites here.'"
The caucus did not say this is the
fault of the environmental movement,
"but we're saying that to get the minority
people involved in the movement,
you've got to make it relative to them,"
Shastri said.
"Minorities have to be able to be on
the decision-making bodies that decide
on civil rights
stressing the importance of citizens
carefully choosing their president.
"The appointing power of presidents
is enormous in regard to what they can
do because of the justices' long term
impact," Richardson said.
"I've often contended," he added,
"that federal judges live longer than
anyone else."
Both Richardson and Pollitt agreed
that there would be some major changes
in many of the controversial issues in
the nation soon, such as abortion.
Pollitt said first there would be minor
steps, such as requiring parental per
mission for minors to have an abortion.
America will go from there, he said.
Richardson concluded by speculat
ing on the future of civil rights in
America.
"It's not occurred yet I think it's
happening now across the country
and I think Mr. Bush will bring about
the conservative civil rights revolution
that has been promised now since
f Nixon's administration." '
is important
this is what's important in our world
today so that a lot of their issues are
dealt with," she said.
The initiators of the caucus were met
with opposition concerning the rule that
the caucus was only open to people of
color, who are defined as "not white,"
Shastri said.
This rule has more to do with his
torical repression than skin color, Shastri
said. "We think it's very important that
people of color, since they are directly
affected with the prejudices and the
racism and see it directly in their com
munity, are the ones who make the
decisions as to what the agenda should
be," Shastri said.
The caucus feels that whites can
sympathize and help, Shastri said.
However, "It's just that when it comes
to the voting on these issues, it is im
portant these people who have histori
cally been repressed be able to make a
decision standing on their own for the
first time," she said.
The initiators of the caucus set up
two groups, the People of Color Caucus,
which is the decision-making body, and
the People of Color Caucus and Allies,
which was set up to include white mem-.
bers of SEAC who wish to participate
and help the caucus.
SEAC
State offici
State officials' vision of the future is
"simple-minded" and hazardous waste
sites may be a consequence of having a
major highway within 10 miles of 95
percent of the state's residents, she said.
Problems plague the state because of
a lack of funding, while the state high
way system has a $9. 1 billion budget,
Abbott said.
"Let's paint a picture of this state:
49th in SATs, lowest in infant survival,
libraries without books, classes without
teachers, we have the lOth-worst air
quality in the nation and we have
Mandela
The PanamericanPanafrican
Association's involvement in Mandela's
appearance at UNC came from a desire
to enhance her trip with fundraising
efforts, Pritchard said. "We had no role
whatsoever in bringing her to UNC."
Evelyn Toliver, co-chairwoman of
Human Rights Week, said she received
a call from Mpofu Wednesday morning
confirming the cancellation.
Campus Y officials would not com
ment on financial losses the cancella
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"We do realize that there is a lot of
input the white community can give us
and a lot of people who are willing to
work towards the same goals," Shastri
said.
The only difference between the
Allies and the actual People of Color
Caucus is that the Allies don't have the
same voting privileges, Shastri said.
The Allies will have the privilege of
being heard, but they won't be allowed
to vote on the agenda, she said.
By its very nature, the People of
Color Caucus cannot have the white
vote and still accurately be represented,
Philson said. "The whole basis for
forming the caucus was the fact that
minority-related environmental issues
were not being addressed," she said.
However, some members of SEAC
who would like to work for a larger
minority voice feel excluded by the
separation between the groups.
"I feel like this is so the bleeding
heart liberal can feel like they're doing
something rather than just watching
people of color going and taking care of
themselves," said SEAC member Ruby
Ji Sinreich, a sophomore environmen
tal protection major from Nags Head.
The caucus is not allowing whites to
try to relate to their problems, Sinreich
thousands of our citizens in Saudi Arabia
right now fighting to preserve our oil
addiction," she said.
"Meanwhile, we have the number
one most extensive highway system in
America. How can our government
morally justify subsidy of asphalt when
there are the overwhelming human and
ecological needs of our state?"
Student organizations will be influ
ential in reaching legislators about the
state's environmental concerns, Abbott
said.
After the speeches, the group marched
from page 1
tion caused, although Human Rights
Week did lose money. Hatcher-Wilson
said it was too early assess the damage.
Donald Boulton, vice chancellor of
student affairs, said losses from the
cancellation have been minimized as
much as possible. If the news of the
appearance's cancellation had come
later, losses would have been much
greater, he said. "Whenever the Y puts
on a program like this, the University
rallies around and pitches in."
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said. "By excluding them, you're just
cutting them off more from the experi
ence they could be getting and learning
from the people of color," Sinreich said.
White people who are not well
educated and poor and have no political
voice are just as often affected by the
lack of environmental standards.
Sinreich said.
"But they can't be in the People of
Color Caucus even though they are dis
criminated against in that very same
way," she said. "So you're cutting them
out even though they have just as much
concern in that area.
The caucus presented a statement to
Catalyst that said the all-white hierarchy
in SEAC seemed to exemplify an un
intentional institutional racism, Shastri
said.
'The words were very harsh, but
they were meant to activate a group out
of complacency. We say that Catalyst
was a great start, but it's not enough,"
she said.
"It caused some anger, but the a veer
was what was needed to cause a liti bit
of friction to start the movement goim:.
to get people excited and to get them
thinking, if nothing else."
from page 1
around the Highway Building carrying
banners and posters, blowing kazoos
and chanting "Defund the DOTStop
oil dependency."
Alex Guettel, SEAC co-chairman,
said he was pleased with the participa
tion and media coverage of the march
because it helped spread SEAC's mes
sage. ;
"There was a lot of state press around
that was good. The point is that the
people of North Carolina know what's
going on, that the Highway Trust Fund
is out there wasting all the money we
spend on our gas taxes," he said.
"Also, the legislators know that the
people are concerned about these is
sues," Guettel said. "It helps to set the
foundation for what we (SEAC) will be
doing over the next few months
lobbying to the legislature to get them
to change the Highway Trust Fund. .
"We're going to keep coming back to
Raleigh," he said. "Most of the people
who support us in Chapel Hill are already
on our side. We're going to try to use
students from all over the state to try to
use pressure, on a more broader base
than Chapel Hill." , . i
a
Gregg Sanderson
Expansion Consultant
(212) 629-0888
or
1-800-283-2337
MaU Box 07725
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