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THE DAILY TARHEEL
Tuesday,- April 23, 19S3
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76 Years of Editorial Freedom
Bill Amlong,. Editor
Don Walton, Business Manager
Duke Vigil
Non-Violence
Out of all the arguments put
forth recently on behalf of non
violence, perhaps the most ef
fective one was that one articulated
by the Duke University students
who maintained nearly a two week
vigil in support of striking non
academic workers there.
The reason it was effective is
simple: it showed that non-violence
can indeed work.
The Duke trustees have agreed
to meet the demands made by the
workers for a pay hike. Further,
they have agreed to grant them
collective bargaining rights.
This victory, however, was not
only one for the striking workers
and sympathetic students, but
more importantly for the principle
of non-violence.
What it did was to reaffirm
non-violence as a useful tactic in
dealing with the power struc
ture whichever power structure
demonstrators might be dealing
with.
And now is a time when non
violence needs reaffirming.
The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., who was assassinated
Dr. Hawkins
Dr. Reginald Hawkins, the
Negro dentist from Charlotte who
isn't supposed to have a snowball's
chance in his campaign for the
Democratic gubernatorial nomina
tion, is opening an office here to
day. Presumably he'll have a lot
to say a lot more than any of
his Opponents have had. : :
' But's that's how it's ' been
throughout this whole primary
campaign, for candidates within
both parties: while the Big Four
(meaning the four candidates who
have the undisputed advantage of
being white) have neatly sidestep
ped most the issues, Dr. Hawkins
has been the only one to speak
out honestly and sincerely about
what this state needs.
And when he opens his cam
paign office at Rosemary and
Sunset today at noon, chances are
he'll come right out and answer
questions about poverty, open hous
ing, education and other issues
Prison
Students from Carolina and
Duke will join with poor people
of both races today to protest con
ditions at Central Prison in
Raleigh, where guards shot into
a crowd of demonstrating inmates
last Wednesday, killing six and
wounding 80 others.
As usual, people will ask: "Why
: are students getting involved in
this?"
The answer, of course, is that
students are people, and people
should care and should get in
volved when things are wrong.
But why should students or
any people get involved with a
drive to reform conditions at Cen
tral Prison?
Part of that the answer was
given in an editorial in the Raleigh
News and Observer Monday. It
quoted the state Commissioner of
, Corrections as saying that Central
Prison is 'one of the worst design
ed maximum custody units in the
country but the only one we
have."
Here is that editorial:
Tragedy and Antique
Following the tragic riot at the
Central Prison here commissioner
of Corrections Lee Bounds made
a statement which may have been
overlooked in the more exciting
aspects of the situation. Central
Prison, he said, is "one of the
worst designed maximum custody
. units in the country but the only
one we have."
Under Commissioner Bounds
Reaffir
med
As
Tactic
in Memphis as he was about to
lead a non-violent protest there,
began using non-violence as a tac
tic in the Montgomery, Ala., bus
boycott, and carried on with it
through the Civil Rights struggles
of the early 1960's.
The principle took a beating, -persons
especially those in big ci
ty ghettoes began to feel that it
wouldn't pay off quickly enough,
and turned to rioting, burning and
looting as an outlet for their
frustrations.
It was especially forsaken dur
ing the bloody aftermath of King's
assassination.
But the students and workers
at Duke showed by their patience
and perserverance that determined
demonstrators can effectively
make their point, and also bring
the status quo to a screeching halt.
Hopefully this method of
massive, non-violent resistance
will catch on enough so that it
will become the predominant mode
of protest.
And if it keeps working as well
as it has at Duke, there's no reason
why it shouldn't.
And Truth
which need to
be dealt with by
North Carolina.
He will tell it like it is instead
of spouting forth a mouthful of
political rhetoric that carefully
says nothing to offend anybody.
But how can Dr. Hawkins be
like this when all the political rule
books say that vagueness and half-
truths ( are the basis of North ,
C a r o 1 i n a ' gubernatorial cam
paigns?"
Maybe it's his political naivete.
Or maybe he figures he doesn't
have a chance to win since he's
black and simply wants to use
his candidacy to bring the issues
to the attention of the voters, to
be a thorn in the side of his glib
opponents.
Or maybe he's just an honest
politician.
In any case, if you want to
hear the nitty-gritty about North
Carolina, come down to the
Hawkins' headquarters today.
At least it will be a change
from the normal pap.
Problems
and his immediate predecessors
much has been done to improve
prison conditions as a basis for
the rehabilitation of human beings.
Work has also been underway to
provide better maximum security
for irreclaimable prisoners. Mr.
Bounds' remark, however, em
phasizes the antiquated quality of
the prison system's central unit.
One of Raleigh's most strik
ingand certainly its most
austere landmarks, this prison
was authorized by the legislature
in 1869. It took fourteen years to
build its battlemented complex. Of
course, it has been much remodel
ed since. Buildings have been ad
ded. But it remains a prison
designed with the prison ideas of
men a century ago.
Obviously the State needs a bet
ter structure for its central opera
tions. It requires in concrete and
steel a building designed in terms
of all the best that man has learned
about penology and prison manage
ment since those days of
Reconstruction when the gray
granite fortress was begun.
This State at this time, despite
the recent trouble, has every
reason for faith in its prison
management. But the best men
cannot do the best job with worn
out tools.
Central Prison has seen its best
days, if any, and its worst ones.
It is time to discard a relic and
build the best designed such prison
in the nation.
AN
iJMBafe
1-,. w EZ..- ks
Billing Objectionable
At Memorial - ffosp
To the Editor:
Four months ago, North Carolina
Memorial Hospital changed its charging
system for outpatient department lab
tests. Uner the old system bills, were
graded so that poorer staff patients
were charged less than private patients.
Now all patients, private and staff alike,
are charged the same lab fees which
fees incidentally have recently been rais
ed. A hospital administrator discussed
this new system with the house staff
and attending physicians in my specialty;
He assured us that provisions were made
for the grading of bills so that poorer
patients would not have to pay the
full amount of lab fees. He admited
though that the , only way a patient
could t, have his bUl, reduced .was, by,,.,
complaining about ftf He 1 also" assured
us that the outpatient secretaries would
inform each patient of his right to
complain and thus to have his bill
lowered.
This new system has not worked.
In practice there has been no grading
of bills. One reason for the failure of
this system has been a complete lack -of
communication between the ad-
mniistration of the hospital and the out-
patient clinic. My conversation with three 1
members of the Outpatient col- -lections
department revealed that these ;
men were not even aware that bills
could be lowered for needy patients.
In addition, the secretaries have not ;
been informing the patients of their
right to complain. The reason for this j
is unclear, but apparently a breakdown ;
of communications has occurred in tiiis I
area as well. f
This - new billing system is ob-!
jectionable. JCven if it were working .
according to plan, it would select out
those patients either too timid or too,
Issues Weren't Cured
By LBJ's. Withdrawal
To the Editor:
Now that the haze of euphoria after
the President's dramatic announcement
of last week has dissipiated somewhat,
if only because of the tragic death of
Dr. King and its diversion of the mass
media and the public conscience, perhaps
we have a more sober perspective on
the war in Vietnam and, particularly,
the import of Mr. Johnson's withdrawal
from the 1968 presidential race.
It is true that Mr. Johnson's action
has, as one writer said, "cleared the
air" and allowed more free discussion
of the issues and not merely
personalities. However, despite this,
despite the - fact that we are closer
to peace than six months ago, the war
goes on and, needless to say, men are
killed, lives are disrupted and destroyed
among the innocent. Perhaps it is too
early to say, with any degree of cer
tainty, what precisely the effect of Mr.
Johnson's "magnanimous" act win be.
It is not, I believe, too early to suggest
what are the immediate, political con
sequences of this act. By withdrawing
from what he termed the sordid arena
of "partisan politics," Mr. Johnson
has deliberately created a vacuum in
his own party, a vacuum which he
hopes Mr. Humphrey will fill. He has
thus. . .
"stolen away the savior images of
the dissenting insurgents, McCarthy and
Kennedy. Now it is they who appear
to be the ambitious politicans, not LB J.
They can no longer capitalize on massive
anti-Johnson sentiments; we must now
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proud to complain. It also would give
certain offices great power in deciding
who should and who should not have
to pay. But it is clear that it is not
working according to plan, and, unless
covered , by . welfare, the poorer staff
patients pay the same high lab fees
as private patients. A hospital must
be run as a business, but when it seeks
to make its money by victimizing those
least able to pay, it is time for reap
praisal of the situation.
John T. Benjamin, MD.
Resident
N.C. Memorial Hospital
II.
The ; 'Law And Order! . Choral Club-
Raleigh News and Observer
After rehearsing for months, North
Carolina's political choral club burst
forth during the recent disorders with
a concert at which the major work
performed was "We Love Law and
Order."
In a way, it wasn't a bad program.
The audience certainly had no trouble
hearing what went on. The tempo was
lively the enunciation superb. We would
have preferred a few more verses,
however.
Each sang in his own key. J. Melville
Broughton Jr., Democratic gubernatorial
candidate, urged a special legislative
session "to deal with special needs aris
ing out of the riot conditions in our
State." (He had warmed up a bit earlier
with this measure: "The circumstances
of one's upbringing should not be an
excuse for lawlessness.")
Lt. Gov. Robert Scott, Broughton's
major primary foe, unrolled once again
his law-and-order platform and from it
listen to and accept what Kennedy has
implied and what McCarthy has stated:
the U.S. has made a mistake; we must
accept a- coalition in the South, and
we must not be afraid of "losing."
(AMHERST STUDENT, Apr. 4)
The talk of a moratorium" on dissent
and serious discussion of our Vietnam
policy is just as irrelevant as responses,
such as Rep. Gardner's to the looting
and burning in many of our large cities.
What is the good of allowing our
spokesmen to negotiate, armed with the
same, old mistaken assumptions and
misconceptions concerning Vietnam and
our involvement in a land war
in Asia? What is the good of
invoking that old shibboleth of "law
and order," as Messrs. Gardner and
Broughton and others are doing, while
choosing to ignore the Kerner Report
on Civil Disorders? What kind of
response is it to say, as did Rep.
Gardner, that no civil rights bill will
or should be passed until the effects of
"white racism," i.e. rioting, butrning,
etc. are treated by military force?
Fortunately, Rep. Gardner and those
who think as he does, are in a minority
at least insofar as the present
civil rights legislation is con
cerned. Fortunately, Senators McCarthy
and Kennedy have not, and will not,
I hope, cease talking about the issues
of the unjust war in Vietnam, merely
to show respect for the "magnanimity"
of their nominal party leader.
Peter C. Gerdine
Carrboro
H 111
From
.Racial.
To the Editor:
Al though this attempt at eloquence
has been inspired by the visage of Silent
Sam, I hope it will convey some meaning
to those who still may speak and act.
When I walked through the Quad on
Palm Sunday, I immediately noticed the
paint job bestowed on Sam the night
before. My reaction was mixed. To the
extent that Sam memorializes men who
died defending an ideal of republican
government or their homes, I wish Sam
to stand bright and brave. To the extent
that Sam commemorates those who
chose bloodshed in order to preserve
slavery or selfish economic interest, I
would see him trampled in the dust.
To most of us today, Sam represents
not the reality of what happened from
1861 to 1865, but the attitudes of
Southerners since. In the minds of most
whites, the memorial at the courthouse,
the Confederate flag, and "Dixie"
represent the same things: domination
and superiority of white over black,
a fierce sectional pride which tells
outsiders they cannot understand and
better not meddle, a martyred pose
of having lost something noble, a justifi
cation for remaining economically,
politically, and socially isolated.
To the Negro, these same symbols
represent a heritage of oppression, a
present of intimidation or at best
patronizing by whites, countless years
of spiritual emasculation. In this last
sense, l can understand tne leeung oi
defiance and of self-fulfillment which
must have come as black students dared
burn a Confederate flag in public and
befoul a Confederate memorial. White
stand while the band plays "Dixie";
blacks desecrate memorials to dead men
(presuming, in lack of evidence, that
the obvious parties painted Sam). Thus
we both stand in the shadow of the
past and try to humiliate the other.
It would be easy to blame the work-
ings of history, the mistakes of past
generations for the bitterness and anger
of today. We of this generation are
stuck with the problem accumulated from
the past, we are stuck with a backward
and divided region, we are stuck, for
the most part, with each other. Neither
black nor white today asked to have
it this way. It is up to us to seek
sang that law and order must be main
tained "if we are to have a peaceful,
a progressive and a prosperous North
Carolina."
Congressman James Gardner, GOP
candidate for governor, displayed a bold
voice. "When I become governor," he
intoned, "I will not have any rioting
or looting in North Carolina. Those who
think they can riot and loot will be
jailed and prosecuted by the law."
No sensible citizen of this State would
really disagree with the central theme
of the performance.. We all favor
strengthening and improving local law
enforcement. We all think rioters and
looters deserve to be punished. We all
abhor the way hoodlums take advantage
of the sightest excuse to hit the streets.
We all would prefer that our lovely
Wt MY ,.-T j; j
Wute Two! S
Once a Tar Heel, always a Tar Heel.
And so the rah-rah spirit goes all the
way from Chapel Hill to Phu BaL South
Vietnam, where Marine First Lt. John
Lovell posed with this sign 30 minutes
after listening to the Carolina vs. UCLA
game of the NCAA finals in Los Angeles
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some constructive solution or let hesiia-
tion and anger determine events. Shall
we continue to look to a romanticized
past? burn down every city? shoot every
nerson of the other color? continue a
system of government which has come
ultimately to depend on bayonets and
armored cars rather than the consent
of the governed?
On a level which speaks more im-
mediatly to the white Southerner, shall
we continue a system whch has create
a "New South," which can still boast
0f the lowest per capita incomes, the
lowest hourly wages, the longest working
hours, the highest infant mortality, the
least money spent per child in public
schools, the hi chest Dercentases of men
unfir for Selective service? Certainly
progress has been made, but judging
from a simple material standpoint,
we have too little to be proud of, too
little to stand up and cheer for. Make
no mistake: treating so many of our
people as second class, deliberately
deadening their talents by wretched
education, stifling their spirit in lonely
tenant farms or filthy slums, consigning
them to jobs which exhaust both body
and mind, keeping them on the bottom
of the economic ladder has hurt us
all. Obviously the Negro and the poor
white have suffered most, but everyone
in the South suffers.
What. then, is to be done? If I
were addressing a professing Christian
audience, I would urge that a new spirit
and course of action be founded upon
the belief that we must respect and
love every man for worn Christ also
died. Since students are not known for
their devoutness, perhaps I should stress
the practical side. Southerners, it is
time to "secede" again, to abandon the
wys of the past and even of our paents,
generation. Make the present worth liv-
ing for and we will no longer need
the emotional crutch of white superiority,
the easy excuse and bittersweet
cherishing of a military defeat a century
ago. Oncw e have really determined
to create a home worthy of every man's
support, we will quickly find the concrete
means to do so. If the South does
not "rise again", our lives are in vain,
Sharon E. Brown
History Department
Tar Heel spring not be marred by burn
ing and brick throwing.
But there came a disturbing coda"
from Dr. Reginald Hawkins, the Negro
candidate for Democratic nomination t&
the State's highest office. It went like
this: "I still believe in nonviolence I
am a Christian minister. But the only
reason progress is being made in Detroit
is because of the fires there last sum
mer." "We Love Law and Order" seems
to be in danger of becoming as
overperformed as "We Love God and
Motherhood" or "We Hate Sin." What
we would really like to hear is another
verse or two proposing things that could
be done to combat the conditions which
seem to breed unrest in the first place.
Singers, can you find the right chord?
4
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via Armed Forces Radio. Lovell, who"
was president of Phi Kappa Sigma
Fraternity daring his undergraduate days;
here, graduated in 19S5. The sign reads:
"We may not be number one, but we're;
sure as hell number two."
i: