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D.nita James, Mjuin Editor
Ha An Kuteow, Associate Editor
Pam Kelley, Associate Editor
Karen Rowley, News Editor
Linda BaowN, University Editor
Martha Wacconu, City Editor
Mark Murpixl, State and National Editor
Bill Fields, Sports Editor
James Alexander. Features Editor
Tom Mocze, Arts Editor
Scott Shakfe, Photography Editor
Ann Pettis, Weekender Editor
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glass
By DA VID POOLE
he crystal
Lest cf two parts
A glass is filled with water to its halfway point. Is it half full or half empty?
Docs it hold the promise of quenching one's thirst or will in only wet the:
throat" and tongue and make the pangs of thirst that much more acute?
. Bobby Doctor, regional director of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, uses
this simple analogy to illustrate the subtle but real difference in the way
. blacks and whites perceive racial progress made in the last 15 years. (Doctor
' suggests that blacks see the glass half empty, while whites see it half full.) It is
a poignant analogy, one that crystalizes the dilemma of black white relations
today, but it does not define the enormity or the complexity of the issue.
What does the future of blackwhite relations hold for Americans? A brief
capsulation of some of ( the events sure' to affect this relationship , is t
revealing. Membership in the Ku JClux Klan had doubted to 10,000 during;
the past five years and few would doubt that the number of Klan
sympathizers would shame the membership figure. Accompanying this
resurgence in racist activity is an increase in race-related crimes. Many
blacks, in turn, are responding angrily and, sometimes, violently.
The recent Republican takeover of the Senate has spurred men like Sen.
Jesse Helms, (R-N.C), and Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R-Utah), to introduce
measures that would make Affirmative Action and busing even hotter issues.
Hatch is proposing a constitutional amendment that would ban Affirmative
Action programs on the basis of reverse discrimination. Helm's legislation
would make it impossible for the Justice Department to initiate or participate
in any action to enforce busing.
As Harvard sociologist Thomas Pettegrew said more than a year ago,
- "Global attitudes on racial justice have in fact changed greatly in a positive
direction, especially among young whites, but what hasn't improved much is
the attitude toward the implementation of programs for achieving racial
justice. On a whole series of implemented programs, attitudes have grown
worse in the 70s."
Yet, even these complicated questions do not encompass what is perhaps
the most pressing race-related problem today the inner cities. It is, after all,
in these areas where poverty, ignorance and hatred can be found in their most
deplorable and naked forms. Even as many middle-class blacks enjoy the
; benefitsof equal opportunity and figures show that many young blacks are
making gains comparable to those of whites of the same age the blacks of
the urban ghettos are excluded from this prosperity. As the middle-class
black sector grows into a potent political and economic force, the ghettos
grow as well ugly and threatening.
The efforts by federal government to improve these potentially explosive
areas have failed. And former civil rights activist Carl Gershman contends
. that the inner cities are mqre a class problem than a racial one. Still, the fact
remain that blacks constitute the vast majority of the inner city population.
So it is blacks who will rise up when they consider the situation unbearable.
' Whit" docs the future of blackwhite relations hold for America?
Certainly, the quiet '70s may giveaway to the more militant '80s, particularly
. if blacks don't see a change in white thinking or if the economy continues to
devastate already bitter blacks. Some will greet this militancy
enthusiastically, convinced that it is only through such action that positive
. change occurs. Still, the cries for patience and peaceful activism are just as
loud as the cries for more militant response.
The many aspects of blackwhite relations today will not obscure the most
important issue of all, the sensitivity of whites to the needs of the black
, community. Should whites, through ambivalence or resistence, push blacks
to the clenched fist or gun, the glass half-full or half-empty will crash
down, leaving black and whites thirsting for quieter times. .
"I just love to hear you talk."
People come up to me and tell me that ail the time,
and I'm getting a little tired of it. Let's get one thing
straight. We are in the South. Therefore, do not have
the accent.
If we were at Hahvahd (that's how the guise up dere
say the name of the school in Massatusetts), I would be
the one with the funny accent. But dese guise are on my
turf now. .
A couple of people I know got copies of a book the
other day, the title of which was "How to Speak
Southern." In this little book, tkey were given
instruction on the correct pronunciation of words like
"young'uns" and "ya'Il."
Now I'm not one of those eff-the-deep-end
Southerners who thinks that the only reason the South
lost the Civil War (correctly titled the War of Northern
Aggression) was that the North cheated somehow. I'm
also not the type who feels like anybody from north of
Richmond is a spy.
But there's just something about having to Bef end
my region when I'm still in it that I don't like. If we
were sitting around the beach house in Cape Cahd
discussing clam chawdah or Uncle Joe's haht
cahndishen, I wouldn't stand up and say, "Hot damn,
you boys shore talk funny." It just wouldn't be
gentlemanlike.
I guess the reason us "hicks" get all the guff (which
is also the way people around here tend to pronounce
the name of a large oil company) is that we're
surrounded by uprooted Yankees. I, for one, feel a
little intimidated by these guys from all those New
England prep schools who grew up believing the South
was something you had to fly over to get to the winter
home in Florida.
"Poole, come over here and talk some for me," one
of my Northern pals said to me one day last week. "I
want to hear them Southern words."
I entertained a motion from the floor of my mind to
table this guy with a left hook, but I never was one for
physical violence. (Although I have been known to
indulge in a little non-physical violence on occasion.)
What I wound up doing was humoring him.
I also find myself defending the cuisine of mv region
uiaiia
. r f
a II !Lc.il3
l
"Well hey there, buddy," I drawled; mustering up
all the molasses and sorghum I could from deep within.
"How's it gowin? It's been sulong since I seen you I
jest cain't believe y'all still around."
I know that I talk with a Southern flavor to my voice,
and I'm really quite proud of it. Sometimes, in the"
course of speaking the Southern language, I violate
some of the rules of grammar. But those rules were
probably made up in the New York office of some
English professor at Columbia University, and I refuse
to recognize his authority on the matter. Convince me
that some guy at Ole Miss or LSU made up the rules,
and I'll follow them.
a lot. My disrust for things like quiche cn
sprouts is well-chronicled in this column. I feel it's my
duty to try to re-educate folks; therefore, I have
introduced a lot cf Northern friends to the joys cf
barbecue, grits, liver mush and black-eyed peas. It's
really a challenge at first, though.
"Darbecue?" one asked me. "Darbecued what?"
"Just plain barbecue, ground pork that comes from
a pig after you kill it and put a fahr under it and let it
cook for about three days," I said.
"Pork. I thought barbecue was beef," the
Northerner replied.
"Common misconception," I seid. "Just rcme
if it never oinked, it can't be barbecue."
Before I get done (Southern for finish), let me say
that I don't feel that Stonewall Jackson's accidental
death is the only thing that kept Robert E. Lee and the
boys from riding through the north like Gen. William
T. Sherman did in the South. I don't even think the
South should have won the war we had some wrong
ideas back then.
But I do kinda wish Sherman hadn't blown the
South out so bad. If we'd a made it closer, we might
have been able to surrender on mere favorable terms.
At least then, I reckon, we'd have been able to say
"tars" (the things cars roll on) and norc'n (short for
more than) without being the stars of a sideshow.
"Hey, Poole. Kahm ahn ovah and tahlk for me."
David Poole, a seenyur journalism major from
Gastonia, is assistant sports editor and columnist for
The Daily Tar Heel.
i12 Q
(CodI-
MEmnniiit slips tmp9 reveals win Ibigntey
To the editor:
In his smug article seemingly against
Naziism (DTH, Nov. 20), writer Brad
Kutrow slipped up and revealed his own
bigoted attitudes. He cites as an
"unfortunate fact" that the Germanic
name Snyder sounds malevolent and
Nazi-like, and implies that the name
Covington (of Ang-o-saxon origin)
sounds pleasant by contrast.
Who more than the Nazis and the
Klan are infamous for downgrading
people because of the sounds of their
names, saying for example: F. X.
Flanagan sounds like one of those papist
Catholics; Leroy Jackson is probably a
black revolutionary; and (using the same
logic) Brad Kutrow must be a dumb
polack.
An unbiased reporter would have said
most observers concluded that some
voters perceived Snyder's name as
sounding malevolent rather than stating
as a fact that it does so sound. Yes, Mr.
Kutrow, you - slipped up. That
"unfortunate fact" exists only in the
minds of bigots.
As an aside, I wonder where you
dredged up the "most observers" who
agreed with you. I doubt you polled
enough people to justify use of the term
"most observers." As a minimum, the
37 Snyders (Schneiders, Sniders) in
Chapel Hill deserve an apology.
John L. S. Hickey
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Poc'd's vc!d
To the editor:
Concerning David Poole's column
"Wilson Library: uncomfortably
silent," (DTH, Nov. 17):
Is it possible that someone can spend
four years in college and still have no
appreciation for a fine library? Even
allowing for some exaggeration in the
name of humor, Poole's article is a
concession of shallow immaturity.
It does take a while to get used to the
way a large library like Wilson operates,
but surely by this time it should be
familiar to Poole. Unless of course he
spends so little time studying...
As for Wilson being too quiet, it is a
blessing that some place on this campus
reposes in calm quietude. In contrast,
the Undergraduate Library is little more
than a big, noisy study hall.
As for Wilson being a "great void," I
feel sure the only void there Is when
Poole deigns to visits and brings, the one
between his ears.
P.B. Thompson
321 Craige Residence Hall
Letters? .
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes
letters to the editor .and
contributions of columns for the
editorial page.
Such contributions should be
typed, triple-spaced, cn a CO-jpace
line, and are subject to editing.
Column writers should include
their majors and hometowns; each
letter should include the writer's
name, address and telephone
number. . .
n if la
1
To the editor:
I must object to your editorial, "Justice is
just a word," (DTH, Nov. 18), and cartoon of
the same day. Criticism of the recent elections
is just fine; but criticism of a jury verdict on
the grounds that you stated borders on
irresponsible journalism.
What places you in a, better position to
determine the guilt cr innocence of the
Greensboro defendants 'than the jury of 12 of
their peers who heard the case? I think that
your cartoon and editorial do an injustice to
the people cn the jury who took their duty very
seriously and deliberated for seven days before
reaching a verdict.
You reach the conclusion in your article that
justice is just a word, but you have reached
that conclusion because you don't know what
constitutes justice. The function of a jury is to
determine the guilt cr innocence cf an
individual cn the basis of the facts presented
concerning the incident giving rise to the
charge.
The jury is not to consider the political or
social consequences of reaching a certain
verdict in determining the guilt or innocence of
the individual on trial. Considerations such as
whether the Communist Workers Party
members will point to Greensboro as a symbol
cf corruption, or whether blacks will wonder
tbout the concept cf justice, cr whether there
will be future violence ere immaterial to the
jury's determination cf the guilt or innocence
cf the individual end rightly so.
I &ee no desecration cf the ideas for which
the Judicial system b this country stands.
Ncthir.s essential has been lost in Greensboro.
The concept cf justice has been affirmed in
Greensboro when ?:c;l: from such vile and
hated groups as the Nazis and the Ku ICJux
Klan can te found innocent despite public
UNCCJ.aclcfU
ufti c . ... . . .
To t! e c
Readers speak out on controversial Greensboro verdict
el i e c '
!. A)
.;:e is jr.! a
word" editorial (DTH, Nov. 18), conveyed in
regard to what black people will wonder as a
result of the disgusting verdict given in
Greensboro. I took particular offense at the
following sentences: "And like it or not,
blacks will wonder about the concept of
justice. They will wonder about the all-white
jury and the racial superiority espoused by the
Klan and Nazis, and they may conclude that
there are in fact two sets of laws in America,
one of whites and one for everyone else."
Those two sentences reveal a total ignorance
of the black experience in this country.
Whoever wrote or approved that garbage
should bone up on the black experience or at
least talk in depth with a lot of black people
before assuming so damn much about what
black people are going to wonder. Your
audacity to print an editorial so
"knowledgeable" about what black people
will wonder does not surprise me because of
the writer's and the Tar Heel's origins. Dut
that does not make me any less angry at
educated people who should know better than
to make such ill-thought and off-hand
assumptions with the pedantic arrogance of
know-it-alls.
For your information correct me if I an
wrongblacks will not wonder about the
concept cf justice in the United States as a
result of the Greensboro verdict. They will net
wonder about the all-white jury cr the bullshit
spouted by the Klan and Nazis. Llacks do not
have to wonder about such things tkey
know! They know tU about America's serewed
up, racist justice system, just as they know all
about biased, all-white juries from generations
of "not guilty" verdicts exonerating white
murderers. Clack people have known for years
that there are two sets cf 1 $ in this country.
And ycu had the fall to print that the verdict in
Greensboro will male Hacks come to the
concluy.cn that there are "in fact two sets cf
laws in America, cne cf whites and cne for
everyone the."
Where in the wcrli has the writer cf the
edit cried, been for the past few years? Is he
really raie cnouah to th'r.k that after the
tcrvaltteJ cf five murd;ring caps by an all
white Jury in Flariia ani the r::r.rtal cf
Klanr.ers wha ';ct three thick w,r :n by zn
all-white jury in Tennessee, that the verdict
given in Greensboro b so damn unique and will
cause blacks to despair at the unfairness of it
all? Blacks in America know how unfair and
how biased the judicial system is, it is too bad
that "ivory towered" individuals are just
finding out about that unpleasant reality
created and sustained by white America. It's
quite a rude awakening, isn't it? It should give
you a little to "wonder" about.
Phyllis A. Hopkins
Durham
Armchair jyd33
To the editor:
To read The Daily Tar Heel, it would seem
America is ready to eliminate trial by jury in
favor of trial by the media. Many people are
upset ov;rr the verdict of the Greensboro trial.
These people, after carefully weighing evidence
' from the two-minute segments on the evening
news and a story or two they might have read
in the paper, judiciously decided on a verdict
of guilty.
Now that the real jury has disagreed, the.
armchair judges arc shouting that the jury is
wrong, that the jury members obviously hate
Communists. To show disapproval, these
people are going to have rallies and protest
marches and write snappy slogans such as
"Justice is cr.ly a word" and "Justice is
dead."
The point is that 12 pecple in Greensboro sat
throu-h the largest trial in Nenh Carolina
history and deliberated six days before
rendering their unanimous verdict. These 12
pecple are no leas Ir.teHer.t thin the armshalr
judges and mere prejudiced. Thankfully,
theirs is the verdict that stands.
Unfortunately, the armchair jud;es may
pave to te prr;hr.lcal when they say
Justice is dead" if Americans continue to
l;.-cre the mast impcrtar.t ter.rt cf that justice,
that cne is innocent until proven fallty.
Chrk V: rtt
cr,::-.) ii 'i
Don't think
To the editor:
Please don't ask the average intelligent
student to choose, or even begin to take sides,
between the Communist Workers Party and
the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis after a 20-odd
week trial by asking if the verdict is just. In
"Justice is just a word," (DTH, Nov. 18), you
are asking all those who disagree with the
verdict to become Communists and all those
agreeing with it to become Klansmen and
Nazis. It's like asking one to choose whether
they would want a mentally retarded ch lid or a
stillborn baby to be born into their family. I
would want neither.
So, the next time you or anyone else asks me
what I think of the verdict of the Greensboro
trial, I'll answer: "I don't."
Dean Hodge
Carolina Apartments
Poetic
To the editor:
Bob Dylan may write a song about it
May even turn cut a kit
Dut one thing's for real
This one's by me for our Daily Tcr Heel
There was enzer in the air, Carolina red
, By Ike fa be erdict it was bred
The news came through the pints crj caks
I heard it say "Justice is a joke. "
Durham
Terrifying trend
To the editor:
The series cf articles cn thrluhlte
relations and the KhnJlUzl triJ in Jr.i week's
Daily Tcr Hcvl has trouaht home the ttanhng
realization that this jear may rrrk a
fri'h'enir turr.i" j pc.r.t in cuf r.sti. art's
hhtery. A surprisingly rapid ae cf
consenatxtnt stpt the country in the rc.er.i
elation, end Ha -rant!y racist cr-:n:eitl; s? ;e
atrractin tha at:: a: .-n ani ::-:t t.f a
th .-.".::.! ?r;r.-r.t cf th r -:; -..::?. 1:
):zfi ;-.,, , . , .. i i. . K!. wc;c
barely visible, ineffectual and easily ignored
organizations because their membership,
though fervent, was decidedly small.
More recently, our nation and our state have
witnessed a period of regression in terms of
civil rights; racist groups have become vocal,
violent, widely publicized and indeed
powerful. The most terrifying aspect of this
trend is the lack of response from those who
constituted the moderately progressive farter
in this country a few months ago. Nazi leader
Harold Covington speaks of a "White Power
Party" and a "racist Mecc3," cf a society
dichotomized into the White and the
Worthless, and the retort has been minimal at
best.
I, for one, am infuriated, amazed and
terrified. Pro-Aryan groups are gaining
momentum in Europe and America, while
those of us who believe in civil rights and the
dignity cf every human being have remained
silent, f shudder to think that the spirit cf
Martin Luther King may be dead.
We are living in the age cf the "Moral
Majority," yet prosperity and military power
arc cur priorities. If a choice mud be made, 111
take human rights, thank you.
Racism is indeed a difficult barrier to break
down. Slacks cn this campus, far example,
have made a few (shamefully few)
administrative advances, and yet the spirit cf
the University remains essentially tcjregateJ.
As Hayden Renwick, associate drai in the
Ccllege cf Arts ar.d Sciences, observed. Hack
students for the most part are tired cf reach;.-j
cut to the white population, and wl.'te
students simply don't make the effect- Gar
greatest thstacle, then, is inertia cn the
p-rr venal l:zU
The p. -.t four r-'. v.hde less than
pre;':: . ,e. have tt least t sen peaeefJ. t'.i U
may j... .t te tn unr.cldh'e fct that peaeefJ
t r:a;:,e too cemf.-rta' I; in tar cn i:
: es c f
cl
rr.ee to r.a.1: c.f.r!S tc -.sd ca:.:t;u;tl.e
:?. Perhaps it Lies a Water:.:? cr a
r.s.J:r h:.h-as! cr a Ihsler 13 in-.; ,:e pea;'?
toward the acthe ttprrstlcn cf tl:if
cc-nvl.ti -s. I -pe Vn is;t;.
e s-jCi'-f
C-12 1 ! i l .;".