Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 23, 1995, edition 1 / Page 10
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10 Monday, January 23,1995 Satlg (Ear Hrrl Kelly Ryan editor World Wide Web Electronic Edition; f j A 1 http://www.unc.edu/dth/indeiJitml jwr Established 1893 BHH 101 Years of Editorial Freedom A Good Salad Recipe The different ethnic and cultural groups that exist on this campus represent the diversity that this university has to offer, but it is past time for these groups to stop limiting their open-minded ideals to their own groups. If these groups realized their common struggles and worked together more often, they would all benefit. The recent meeting of the Black Student Movement, Asian Students Asso ciation and UNITAS is a good starting point toward this goal. These minority groups should meet more often and in more diverse forums than simply to convene socially to watch a movie or discuss social problems. If these groups worked together more closely and instigated multicultural pro grams or actual demonstrations of how they all relate, they would be able to break down stereo types they might have, especially about each other. In the past when minority groups have worked together toward a common goal, they have been able to accomplish much more than any one group would have working alone. When stu- Smart and Smarter In an hourlong press conference Wednesday, Harold Brubaker, likely to be speaker of the state House, stated that Gov. Jim Hunt should not expect support for the expansion of his Smart Start program. This program, designed to get North Caro lina children prepared for school, has worked well so far. Brubaker should listen to Smart Start’s supporters, i.e. most of the state, and continue to expand. Smart Start attempts to address the problem of children who arrive at school not prepared to leam, whether as a result of health problems or inadequate exposure to learning at home. The program’s supporters recognize that the first years are crucial to determining how well a child will do in school. Through this program, untold future expenses from troubled students could be prevented. The popularity of the program is evident in last year’s applications for admission into the program. As die program expanded from 18 to 30 counties, 82 counties applied to join the 18 already with programs. North Carolina has 100 counties. Brubaker is going against the wishes of many people in not wanting to expand Smart Start, including the many Republicans who also sup port the program. And why shouldn’t they? Smart Start at tempts to reach a universal goal through dis tinctly Republican means. Smart Start does not create another ineffi cient bureaucracy. It gives block grants to coun ties, which design programs to address specific needs in the areas of health care, education and It’s that time of year again, and The Daily Tar Heel is gearing up for its election coverage. Candidates for the major offices student body president, senior class president, Caro lina Athletic Association president, Residence Hall Association president and Graduate and Professional Student Federation president need to notify the DTH by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Candidates should contact University Edi tor Adam Gusman or Editor Kelly Ryan at 962-0245 to set up an interview and a photo shoot for candidate profiles, which will run the following week. Student Congress candidates, keep your eyes open for your notification deadlines, which Hff " wish coftcu' lit Wmk \Ji§SP dents began to push the administration for a freestanding black cultural center in 1992, groups including B-GLAD, ASA, SEAC and the Cam pus Y joined a coalition. Although fraught with tensions, the coalition was able to exert strong and effective pressure on the administration. Through this struggle together, these groups were able to get more campuswide support and to get further toward realizing their own indi vidual goals. Meetings such as the one last week between the BSM and ASA are a good start, but they are not enough. These meetings should move from discussion to action or their original purpose will never be achieved. If these groups want to move forward to a better understanding of each other and to stron ger unity within themselves, they must start doing more than just talking about their com mon problems. They should take a cue from past experiences in which minority groups have worked together to accomplish something and begin listening to each other more often to achieve their goals. day care. The programs combine the efforts of state and local agencies, businesses and non profit organizations, parents, volunteers, and churches. The result is programs that will have the greatest impact for the area. For example, Chatham County has used some of its grant money to teach English to the chil dren of Spanish-speaking migrant workers. Ru ral areas have used Smart Start money to hire pediatricians and transport children to day care centers. Other counties have used money to take chil dren off of day care waiting lists and into day care centers, and to give children health and vision exams. Smart Start needs to be expanded. Even in the wealthiest of North Carolina counties, there are children who need these essential services and, for reasons beyond any 4-year-old’s abilities, will not get them. ' It will cost more than S3OO million to institute Smart Start throughout North Carolina, a num ber that will only rise over time. The benefits, however, are immeasurable. With Smart Start’s myriad programs in place throughout North Carolina, all children will get the services those whose parents have the means and ability already get. Twenty years down the road, one can envi sion a better-educated student body, with fewer dropouts, fewer underachievers and fewer chil dren in prison. This vision, however, requires the full support of the state House. Brubaker should listen to the uncountable supporters of this common-sense program and encourage its expansion. Ahoy Politicos! will be announced later in the week. Once all the candidates have contacted the DTH, we will discuss the procedures for en dorsements. Student Congress candidates will have to fill out questionnaires. Other candi dates will have to schedule interviews with the editorial board. T If you’re serious about your campaign, get on the ball. Don’t wait another day for the free publicity afforded by The Daily Tar Heel. If you haven’t yet made up your mind, we can’t help you. As for the rest of you, we look forward to hearing from you within the next two days. Let the games begin! TWasas Cambani* editorial PAGE EDITOR Adam Gasman university editor Ryan Tburaimrs CITY EDITOR Jenny Heinien STATE S NATIONAL EDITOR Justin Scheef sports editor Jon Goldberg features editor Alison Maxwell arts/diversions editor Peter Roybal special assignments editor Katbryn Sberer COPY DESK EDITOR Amy Ferguson DESIGN EDITOR Katie Cannon photography editor Cbris Anderson GRAPHICS EDITOR Miebael Webb EDITORIAL cartoon EDITOR EDITORIAL Be Your Own Dog: Leam Personal Responsibility Screw stupid people. As soon as I finish this column, I ought to get my gun and kill the sons of bitches. Ok, that’s the last negative comment for this week. Now, for the record, I offer an optimistic recommendation, a positive solution, an answer instead of a retort. Let’s bring back the virtue of personal responsibility. It’s not exactly a novel idea. Forthousands of years, religious and moral leaders from Christ to Kant have tried to drive home a single point: each person’s actions have consequences that they must face and be respon sible for. Somehow, modem society seems to have missed the point. Take for example the case of a California college student who climbed onto a window mounted air-conditioning unit to “moon” some friends. Unfortunately for the budding exhibi tionist, the window frame could not bear his weight, and he was dropped three stories onto a sidewalk. While it seems clear that Mr. Windowshopper deserves nothing more than a severe warning and a swift kick in the butt, however sore it is, his attorneys disagree. In fact, they disagree to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensatory dam ages. Apparently, the university was in the wrong for not posting a warning about the possible dangers of standing on an air-conditioning unit 30 feet off the ground. This is just a guess on my part, but maybe there was no warning posted outside a third-floor window because most people don’t walk around out there? The university should not be held responsible for the stupidity of an individual student. In general, California seems to be a breeding ground for moronic legal decisions. In fact, a man accused of killing the gay mayor of San Francisco in broad daylight was given a verdict of “not guilty” after he pleaded temporary in sanity. Such a decision may seem unremarkable until we leam that the insanity defense was based on the argument that the defendant had eaten too much junk food, Twinkies specifi cally, and drank so much caffeine that he was Forget O.J. Keith Edwards Is a Real Role Model The 0. J. Simpson case has made me, per haps, the single biggest cynic in the country as it relates to his guilt or innocence. How ever on this go round I have decided to sit this one out primarily because no one else is. Afri can-American columnists from the Washington Post to The New York Times have already done their bourgeois-centric hatchet job on Mr. Simpson. They all seem to have written the same thing and apparently faxed each other copies of their supposed opinions. How can nearly every Black columnist on the East Coast have the same opinion? Their columns go as follows: “Most people would say that O. J. Simpson is a role model. I don’tbuy that.” After they make this blistering statement they then begin to list a plethora of “accepted negro icons.” Aren’t we all tired of the same bullshit “jive behind” cliches from these movie-star African- American columnists. I contend, in my cyni cism, that most of them are writing to please their white male editors and I must say, quite frankly, that their scurrilous opportunism makes me feel damned fortunate that I have an editor/ publisher who allows me to write what I truly feel. I intend to write about a different type of role model today. Keith Edwards is the first African-American female police officer in the history of the UNC campus. Bom and raised in that small college town, she stands at about 5 feet 10 inches tall, cracks some of the funniest jokes anyone would want to hear and possesses the type of “down home” mannerisms normally found in Zora Neale Hurston’s books of “backwoods” Florida folklore. I knew that this lady was something special when I first met her in 1989. While working in a clerical position at the University 20 years ago, a friend suggested that Edwards fill out the application for campus police officer. She shrugged, smiled, and said, “well what the heck, it can’t hurt none.” As one might well imagine, all of the “good ol’ boys” were quite shocked when this bronze goddess walked in ready to report for duty. They were all expecting a man for after all who ever heard of a woman named Keith? The battles with her first name was something that Edward’s’ mother had pre pared her for years ago. She would ran into the house crying on many occasions saying; “Those ROLL IT AGAIN, JAMES not aware of what ine using this as an excuse during exam It’sthe perfect crime! and we could even sueFrito-Layfornot placing warnings on their products that mixing snack foods and large amounts of soda may cause cancer, birth defects or even fits of homicidal rage. After all, who can hold us responsible? All joking aside, the responsibility ethic has been lost, even in our own beloved Chapel Hill. Here, the story takes a serious turn, because we are not talking about some idiot college coed, or a disgruntled postal worker, but a man with a family and a job. Nobody really knows if Eric Browning de servedpromotion except for his supervisor. We’ll never know if the spectre ofracism reared its ugly head, or if the right decisions were made in good conscience. In truth, the only substantiated fact in the whole bizarre case is that Browning, in a state of anger, threatened to kill his boss. Twice. Every employer, be it the state or a private firm, should and does have the right to dismiss any employee who becomes unmanageable. This isn’t racism, or class oppression: it’s common sense, and it’s the law (or at least it used to be). No person in their right mind could ever expect to keep their job after threatening to kill their boss. When Browning uttered the words “I ought to get my gun and kill the son of a bitch,” he gave up his rights to his job. For this action, Mr. Browning alone is responsible. ' Unfortunately, campus activists at both the employee and student level have twisted an issue of responsibility into a racially loaded weapon, and a figure of questionable merit has been made kids outside keep messing with me on account of my name. | BRUCE KARRIEM | GUEST COLUMNIST Why did I have to get named this anyway?” “Hush your ol’ mouth girl!” said her mother. “You have a good name— a special name, ’cause your mamma’s special girl.” The coming years would determine that Keith Edwards’ mother’s prophetic vision was true. Lincoln High School was the colored high school in Chapel Hill during the era of segrega tion. This is where all of the African-American boys and girls went. Edwards’ schoolgirl dream was to become a majorette for the legendary Lincoln cheerleading squad. This dream was tarnished when it was decided that Edwards would be one of a few black students chosen to integrate Chapel Hill’s white high school. Edwards recalls that era as one of her worst nightmares. The white kids in this new school made fun ofher, called her names and once some boys in school picked her up; carried her into a science laboratory and continually burned her. Incidents such as this were traumatic, but they were turning her into the courageous freedom fighter and example she would ultimately be. Keith Edwards was married briefly to the boy next door. The marriage lasted less than a year, but it did produce one son, Robert Edwards. While her son grew up, Keith played mother and father, tossing him baseballs and playing basket ball with him. Even though she had to work and was a single mother, she wanted him to have everything that the other boys had. While in high school, her son played on the basketball team with former UNC guard Ranzino Smith. Edwards once informed this writer laughing: “When I would go to see him play in high school he never really did that much, then once when I missed a game he told me he scored 23 points.” Edwards shook her head and I could see the motherly pride in her eyes. Becoming a police officer was anew experi ence for Edwards, and in the beginning she simply had a lot of fun. She would drive by her friends in the police car and “toot the horn,” as she is fond of saying. She would flash the lights and was really the woman about town. This fun lasted until Edwards began to notice patterns of discrimination in the department particularly as ®lff Satlg ffiar Hwl a martyr in the war against alleged institutional racism. The fact that a University employee was threatened with death has been, of course, con veniently erased. At a rally for the housekeepers’ movement, Browning gave an emotional speech during which he made one statement that reveals once and for all the lack of personal responsibility involved in this case: “Yes, I did threaten to kill my boss, but I need my job.” “I need my job.” My answer to Mr. Brown ing: please, act like an adult and accept the ramifications of what you did. You should have thought about needing a job before you threat ened to kill your boss. Racism or not, wrong is wrong. It’s that simple. Ultimately, if we are to have a free and func tioning society, we must show as much disdain for whining and irresponsibility as we do for bigotry and discrimination. In the words of the Red Dog, “Be your own dog.” It’s hard to find truth in a beer commercial (even if it’s good beer, I’ll take Kant or Christ any day), but it’s there, like an anthem for the ’9os. Be your own dog. So there you have it, my positive recommen dation, my panacea. Admittedly, ours is not a perfect world: racism and sexism linger on, sex (hetero-, homo- or bi-, take your pick) is as dangerous as ever, and Camille Paglia insists on writing more trash about pornography and fat feminists. Yet, despite our imperfect world, we are expected to behave as reasonable, respon sible adults, not helpless infants crying to be fed or have a diaper changed. Our actions matter and, for better or worse, they are ours. Nothing can change that, not air conditioning, not junk food, not even allegations of racism. In short, being “your own dog” doesn’t mean barking at shadows and pissing up a tree until someone throws you a bone. Let’s grow up a little, and show some responsibility. For our own sakes. Tadd Wilson is a junior English and political science major who is going to blow up the DTH office and blame it on Red Dog. it related to women. She never could get used to the fact that she was the only black woman on the force. Edwards, outspoken and opinionated, eventually came up against discrimination in the department and she accepted it for 13 years. In 1987, Edwards and other black officers filed a class action law suit against the UNC campus police department alleging discrimina tion and other abuses. By 1989, the other officers had gracefully bowed out of the suit and Edwards stood alone. Her years of seeing abuse and in many instances accepting it made her know that she would never give up this fight for, as she once informed this writer in classic dramatic terms: “I know I’ve been discriminated against!” Her son is now grown, and Edwards has a granddaugh ter. She says: “I want that child to always believe in herself, and I never want her to have to lay back and accept the type of things that I’ve had to." Edwards saw her mother have to hold her tongue in the presence of supposed superiors and she vowed to always be a champion for all those who “suffer in silence.” Edwards over the years has refused to suffer in silence, and listening to a classic oration of hers one day, I knew that this fightwas largely forhermother and granddaugh ter. Edwards’ mother passed away in May of 1991, and I know that she’s proud of that feisty daughter of hers. Edwards’ case went to the top level for state complaints in 1989 and it was heard by a white liberal female judge named Delores Nesnow. After months of testimony and numerous post ponements, Nesnow ruled in Edwards’ favor, upholding her claim that she had indeed been discriminated against for years. A Raleigh jury upheld Nesnow’s ruling, stating that she is en titled to monetary damages. Recently an appel late court ruled that the judge in Raleigh had instructed the jury improperly and overturned the ruling in the Edwards case. Edwards and her attorney will have to start again from scratch if they want a victory. I’m proud to have met my hero and role model, and though her health is suffering I know that my sister will fight to the end. This fight has always been bigger than she is. It’sforhermom, her granddaughter and for all who are forced to suffer in silence. Biuce Karriem lives in Cambria Heights, N.Y.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 23, 1995, edition 1
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