8The Daily Tar HeelMonday. October 25, 1982
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k John Drescher. i-jfor
Ann Peters. Afaiupw
Kerry DERocH!.iJ5lvinr&iw
Rachel Perry, umfmiiy Editor
Alan Chapple. dry Eihr
JIM WRJNN. Sur? urn Haikmal Edihn
Linda Robertson, sports EdiM
Laura Seifert. ej
KEN MlNGIS. y4s.wur Eitor
Elaine McClatchey, PrKu Editor
Susan Hudson, Features Mm
Leah T alley, rt eiW
Teresa Curry, Weekend Editor
AL STEELE. Photography Editor
Stay the course?
When the Republicans began to see their economic policies flounder in
a continued sluggish economy, they refused to bail out. Instead they did
the next best thing: They advertised. .Through commercials on national
television, they called for Americans to stick with the president, to "stay
the course." .
The commercials must have worked. According to a recent Associated
PressNBC News poll, 52 percent of the American public believes that
the president needs more time for his economic policies to work, just two
months ago the figure was 38 percent. Through Republican propaganda,
the emphasis on the declining inflation rate has grown to proportions
large enough to make most Americans forget or ignore the increasing
unemployment figures. Inflation affects the pockets of every American.
Unemployment doesn't.
The poor economy cannot be blamed on the Reagan administration
alone. To do so is to assume that the economy is shaped in four-year
segments, rather than evolving through each presidential term.
32-year high
In September, 10.1 percent of the work force was unemployed, the
highest figure since 1940. That means more than 1 1 million people are
looking for jobs; an estimated 1.6 million more have already given up. In
September, 9.6 percent of all adult men and 8.3 percent of all adult
women were unemployed. Hardest hit are black teenagers with more than
48 percent out of work. : ;; ;
Conservative economists are quick to attribute the rising unemploy
ment to the three-year-old recession that has sapped the nation's produc
tivity and demoralized the businessman. Another key factor, they say,
has been the rising number of workers entering the job market at the tail
end of the post-World War II baby boom. And because of increased
competition with foreign businesses, many American workers have priced
themselves out of the market. In order to compete with imports, the
American businessman needs labor at cheaper prices.
But the largest factor behind the statistics, and the one government of
ficials are not prepared to meet, is the changing job market. Rising
technology has led to the replacement of the common laborer. For exam
ple, economists predict that with further computerization and automa
tion, about 200,000 auto workers will permanently lose their jobs. What
has resulted from the new industries has been a large education gap
where few workers have the skills needed to fill newly created positions.
Millions of jobs will be created through the new industries. However,
these numbers are of little consequence as long as other workers continue
to be replaced by computers. Northwestern University Dean Victor R.
Lindquist said in a recent Newsweek article, "Americans have learned
how to replace workers with technology, but they do not yet know how
to use technology to put people back to work."
New solutions .
In the past, government and the private sector have worked separately
to bring about changes in the economy. What is needed now is a com
prehensive effort from all sectors of society to fight back the recession
and eliminate unemployment. As cited in Newsweek t this can be ac
complished through the approval of programs such as the newly revised
Works Progress Administration, which would put portions of the
unemployed back to work this time on the nation's highways and
dams. ' ;: ..J-.-' ' " -;.r---i
The government must place new emphasis on helping workers adapt in
today's changing job market. With technological advances, workers need
to adapt to new jobs. Traditionally, the United States has emphasized
education as a primary means for such an improvement. To meet this
challenge, the government should enact tax credits to businesses which
offer on the spot training of workers. More importantly, funding should
be channeled to the high schools and universities that provide for more
programs to train workers to meet the new job standards,
, Economic policy does not have to be a trade-off between unemploy
ment and inflation; The public needs to see through Republican rhetoric
by realizing that 11 million people are unemployed and pressure govern
ment officials to adequately address the problem. Only when policies
designed to help the worker adapt in a changing job market are enacted
can the public then be expected to "stay the course."
The Daily Tar Heel
Assistant Managing Editors: Alison Davis, Leila Dunbar and Karen Haywood '
Assistant News Editor: Jeff Hiday
Editorial Assistants: Scott Bolejack, Lucy Hood and Chip Wilson
News Desk: Greg Boston, Joel Broadway, Bob Kimpleton, Rita Kostecke, Karen Koutsky,
Eugene Marx, Eric Nelson, Heidi Owen, Donna Pipes, Sharon Rawlins, Kelly Simmons, Karl
Trumbull, Mickey Weaver, Margaret Wood and Maria Zablocki.
News: Cheryl Anderson, Hope Buffington, Stacia Clawson, Tom Conlon, John Conway,
Tamara Davis, Ashley Dimmette, Charlie Ellmaker, Mary Evans, Bonnie Foust, Dean Foust,
Bonnie Gardner, Steve Griffin, Jeff Hiday, Ivy Hiliard, Lucy Holm an, Charlotte Holmes,
Bob Kimpleton, David Lamberth, Lisbeth Levine, Elizabeth Lucas, Christine Manuel, Alan
Marks, Kyle Marshall, Shawn Mcintosh, Mary McKeel, Melissa Moore, Robert Montgomery,
Joseph Olinick, Rosemary Osbom, Sharon Overton, Laurence Pollock, Pamela Pressley, Lisa
Pullen, Scott Ralls, Sarah Raper, Cindi Ross, Nancy Rucker, Mike O'Reilly, Kelly Simmons,
Susan Snipes, Mark Stinneford, Susan Sullivan, Lynda Thompson, Evan Truelove, Scott
Wharton, and Jim Yardley.- Pam Duncan, assistant university editor and Lynn Earley,
assistant state and national editor.
Sports: Jackie Blackburn and S L, Price, assistant sports editors. Frank Abbott, R.L. Bynum,
Richard Craver, John Dahl, Michael DeSisti, Jamie Francis, Paul Gardner, Brian Haney,
Frank Kennedy, Keith Lee, Draggan Mihalovich, Kathy Norcross, Robyn Norwood, John
Pietri, Lew Price, Kurt Rosenberg, Mike Schoor, Eddie Wooten and Tracy Young. "
Features: Shelley Block, Karen Fisher, Cindy Haga, Belinda Rollins, Lynsley Rollins, John
Rice, Debbi Sykes, Mike Truell, Rosemary Wagner, Randy Walker, Clinton Weaver, and Edith
Wooten. Jane Calloway, assistant Weekend editor.
Arts: Jeff Grove and Frank Bruni assistant arts editors; Ashley Blackwelder, Steve Carr, Jim
Clardy, Todd Davis, Jennifer Dykes, Julian Karchmer, David McHugh, Jo Ellen Meekins,
Karen Rosen, Marc Routh, David Schmidt and Gigi Sonner. 1 ( . . -
Graphic Arts: Matt Cooper, Nick Demos, Danny Harrell, Janice Murphy, Vince Steele,
Suzanne Turner, Robin Williams and Denise Whalen artists; Thomas Carr, Stretch
Ledford, Jeff Neuville, Zane Saunders, Scott Sharpe and John Williams photographers.
Business: Rejeanne V. Caron, business manager; Linda A. Cooper, secretaryreceptionist;
Lisa Morrell and Anne Sink, bookkeepers; Dawn Welch, circulationdistribution manager;
Julie Jones and Angie Wolfe, classifieds.
Advertising: Paula Brewer, advertising manager; Mike Tabor, advertising coordinator; Dee
Dee Butler, Harry Hayes, Keith Lee, Terry Lee, Kathy Mardirosian, Jeff McElhaney, Doug
Robinson and Deana Setzer, ad representatives.
Composition: Frank Porter Graham Composition Division, UNC-CH Printing Department.
Printing: Hinton Press, inc., of Mebane.
Desegregation hasn't changed social biases
By SCOTT BOLEJA CK
I realize now, regretfully, that I'm just as naive at 21
as I was at 11. For whatever reason, I believed that no
one still called a black person a "nigger." I actually
believed that the time had passed when blacks were
openly ridiculed in public.
I suppose I was fooled because part of the institutional
racism of the past century has been dealt its death blow.
I believed, I guess, that when segregated buses, schools
and public facilities disappeared, racial prejudice as a
whole had vanished also.
I was so convinced racism had disappeared that I ac
tually started getting upset when I heard a disgruntled
black charge discrimination. Surely, I thought those
charging discrimination were just looking for an easy out
to their problems. I had even gotten to the point where I
believed that affirmative action had served its purpose
and was better off discarded as a tool that was behind
the times.-
I was, I admit, a fool.
Racial prejudice, despite obvious gains in desegrega
tion of society, remains. It is alive and well and living in
America and, yes, even in Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill?
That's right.
If you're like me, you thought, or may still think, that
Chapel Hill, with its tradition as a liberal university
town, was immune from the disease that is racial pre
judice. Such is not the case.
As has become habit of late, I was waiting on the
J-bus outside the Pizza Hut on Franklin Street. I was
leaning against a car. Another guy, who looked to be
about 25, waited also.
I had been waiting awhile when some noise across the
street caught my attention. It was a group of four guys
and a girl. It was obvious that they were either drunk or
high. They managed somehow to make it across the
street and to the guy who was waiting along with me-'
It wasn't long after that that a couple walked out of
the vicinity of Mr. Gatti's. He was black and she was
white. They started to cross the street toward Granville
Towers.
As the couple got about halfway across the street, one
of the guys in the noisy bunch shouted:
"Hey, man. Don't you know that black and white
don't mix.'
The black guy, trying to laugh it all off, said "I know
they don't. They make yellow." The girl said nothing; ;
she didn't even turn around.
The group finally left and the bus came. On the way to
my apartment I sat quietly in the back of the bus and
thought about what I had just witnessed.
I tried to pass it off by telling myself that they were
under the influence of something. But that's no excuse.
You may not say some things when you're sober that
you say when you're drunk. But that doesn't mean that
when you say them, you don't believe them.
I tried to tell myself that they were not University
students. They certainly didn't look the part. But I had
. no, way of knowing that for sure. And, even if they
weren't, it wouldn't make a difference. You can be the
most prejudice-free person around, but if someone you
Racial prejudice, despite obvious gains in desegregation of society, remains. It is
alive and welt and living in America and, yes, even in Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill? That's
right. ; , -:' : '
"They make nigger," another one of the noisy guys
said -
The guy who spoke first said, "They don't stir very
well either, man."
"Think about it, motherf -," the second guy yelled,
guy yelled. . '
By this time the couple had made their way out of,
sight and the members of the group began to talk among
themselves.- v.. , '"'T.-':'"
"I hate that," ther first guy said
"What's that?" .
"White girls who date niggers," he answered.
"I don't understand," the second guy said. "Niggers
just got white girls brainwashed."
.. The girl in the group said nothing. She just laughed
and clung to her boyfriend who also remained silent. At
this point the conversation became too sexually oriented
to warrant printing.
know is prejudiced, it reflects just as badly on you and
you should share the responsibility.
I don't blame those five people totally. I suppose their
childhood environment had something to do with it as
might the present economic situation. I blame also a
society which tolerates racial and ethnic jokes as easily as
it does a traffic jam.
i" ..
Most of all, however, I blame people like myself who
are naive enough to believe that the storm has passed,
that reforms have put us all on an equal footing, and
that the time has come when people judge a book, not by
its cover, but by its content.
Scott Bolejack, a senior journalism and religion major
from Germanton, is an editorial assistant of The Daily
Tar Heel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
UN
C workers reject Cobey stands
To the editor:
Since Bill Cobey has received few, if any
endorsements from Chapel Hill, he would
certainly welcome and publicize University
support if he had it. Beyond the facts
stated by Susan Snipes in last Thursday's
story "Cobey won't politicize University
ties" The Daily Tar Heel, Oct. 21), there
are good reasons why Cobey isn't asking
for UNC endorsements. He can't get
them.
UNC employees on frozen salaries and
students unsure of continuing loan
availability know that we don't need more
Reaganomics. Since 1981, scholarships,
loans and research and construction fund
ing have disappeared at UNC, tranferred
into Pentagon surplus and subsidies to
corporations. Yet budget cutting is one of
the few sure things that Cobey stands for.
Given the chance, Cobey would vote for
more Reaganomics and against UNC.
Obviously, high University ad
ministrators can't overstep their roles and '.
join political campaigns. But signs are un
mistakable that UNC leaders value Rep.
Ike Andrews' powerful support for the
University on the House Education and
Labor Committee, and his long history of
service to UNC as a Board of Governors
member and state legislator. Andrews
help, for example, has been instrumental
in making our medical center the fifth- -largest
in the United States. These might
be reasons why Dean Smith appeared at an
Andrews fund-raiser in Raleigh last
month. The News and Observer said he
drew more attention there than the gover
nor did.)
Susan Snipes might have read the signs
more clearly if she had interviewed some
of the political wives of UNC leaders.
Marilyn Boulton, for instance, told a local
reporter last week K that she will vote for
Andrews, partly because of his support for '
education. And Barbara Fordham, too, is
an Andrews supporter.
Thousands from the UNC staff have the
same "University ties" that Bill Cobey
used to. They're on the payroll; so was he.
But nowadays, Cobey is working for
somebody else. The Congressional Club is
no friend of education or of this Universi-f
ty. That's why Cobey can't politicize
University ties.
Lightning A. Brown
Dept. of Psychiatry
School of Medicine
Character assessment
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To the editor:
Yellow journalism?
Divide and con-'
quer? Which one, Daily Tar Heel; which
one are you guilty of? No, don't answer.
Let the Black Student Movement Central
Committee answer those questions for
you. You are guilty of both and the Black
Student Movement will tolerate neither.
On Aug. 31, 1982, the DTH headline
read "Calls for Impeachment" and the
very next day the headline read "Impeach
ment Dropped." To date, no impeach
ment document has been presented to
either the BSM Central Committee or to
the DTH. Most recently, the headline read
"Jenkins resigns over fight with BSM
leaders" (DTH, Oct. 70). These sen
sationalistic headlines exemplify the same
professionalism as those of the National
Enquirer. . Now let us set the record
straight.
Harvey Jenkins was not pushed,
touched or yelled at by any BSM leader as
one might assume from your headline. In
an executive session of a general body
meeting, he was simply asked to explain
his resignation to the governing body. In
which case he did and. left the executive
session with his resignation accepted by the
Central Committee. Harvey said that his ;
role as BSM treasurer was not congruent
with a more politically aggressive role that
he wants for himself now and in the
future. As the governing body of the Black
Student Movement, we had a right to hear
of it first and with a full explanation. As a
supposedly responsible and respectful
newspaper, the DTH had no right to slant
the facts as it did. And if indeed the DTH
were a responsible and respectable paper
. rather than a folded accumulation of
gossip, then the DTH would have printed
the truth instead of such yellow jour
nalism. There is yet one more point which the
BSM Central Committee will take the
liberty to express: Far too many times in
world history has a majority people been
successfully able to "divide and conquer"
the minority. Listen, don't even try it. The
DTH may have been successful at inciting
our brother into becoming defensive
, toward the Central Committee, but the
game stops mere.
We, the Central Committee, do not
fight our own so that the press can have a
field day. We discuss, debate, listen and
respect each other. And we are sure that
Jenkins will not fall into that trap next
time. Therefore, don't even try that anti
quated game with us. This letter is not
written to or about Harvey Jenkins. This
letter is the Central Committee's assess
ment of the character of the DTH toward
the BSM.
, Sherrod Banks
and the Central Committee
of the Black Student Movement
Letters?
j . -
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes letters
to the editor and contributions of col
umns to the editorial page. All submis
sions should be typed, tripled space on
a 60-space line and are subject to
editing.
Column writers should include their
majors and hometowns. Each letter
should include the writer's name, ad
dress and phone number. Unsigned let
ters will not be printed. '
Kids. . . kidsl
OBS!
By JEFF GRO VE
On Saturday I went to see a film at the Carolina
Union. I had a hard time enjoying it.
That was unusual. The film was the animated classic
Dumbo, Walt Disney's eloquent if simplistic essay on
the problems of being "different." The print the
Union Film Committee was using was of good quality.
The temperature in the Union Auditorium was com
fortable. Why, then, did I find it difficult to enjoy the film?
Kids. Lots of them.
Before faculty members, staff members and mar
ried students begin jumping on me and calling me a
child hater, let me defend myself.
I like kids. I'm an education major, so I have to.
But the kids who are taken to the Disney films the
Union shows on Saturday mornings are a different
matter. They show up in herds, with anywhere from
two to six kids being brought by only one adult. Be
honest, now. How can one adult control two kids in a
movie theater, let alone six?
During most of the film, I had to strain to hear the
dialogue and music because of the constant hubbub
created by the children.' I had a rough time following
the story line because the woman behind me kept ex
plaining the story to her three little angels. She stayed
about two minutes behind what was happening on the
screen. Kids were wandering up and down the aisles
with no supervision. : v'
I have no objection to children seeing the classic
Disney animated feature films. They were, after all,
made with "the child in everyone" in the minds of the
filmmakers. But I draw the line when the presence of
all these children interferes "with the enjoyment of the
films by students whose fees have paid for the films.
... The Union Film Committee supposedly allows each
student to bring one guest to each film. How, then, do
some adults get in with several children? The Film
Committee should enforce its one-guest-per-student
rule at all of its films.
This could be done by requiring all students pur
chasing tickets for the Saturday morning films to show
a student ID. Each ID could be marked, the way they
are marked when students vote in campus elections, to
insure that no student receives more than two tickets.
I now hear screams from two camps: parents yelling
"Unfair!" and Film Committee members asking.
"Who'll come see the films if we cut back on the
number of kids who can get in?"
Parents, is it "fair" that you were able to take five
of your children to see Dumbo when I was not allowed
to bring two guests in to see a regular weeknight film?
Film Committee members, most students don't
come to your Saturday morning films because of the
inconvenient showtimes 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Three
years ago, the Disney films were shown on Friday
nights at twice their current admission price, yet all
three shows usually sold out. Show the films at a con
venient time, and students, will pack the house for
them. ' - ; '
The solution to "the inequities the Film Committee
has created involves a choice of two paths. Either en
force the one-guest-per-student rule at all times, or
throw it out completely. Personally, I would prefer the
former because I like to be able to enjoy a film instead
of struggling through it. But either route would be ac
ceptable. The point is the achievement of fair,
equitable treatment for all students.
Jeff Grove, a senior English education major from
Jacksonville, Fla., is assistant arts editor oThe Daily
Tar Heel.