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Race Problems Not Just In Jasper
Hate persists in daily life
Tuesday marked the beginning phase of the trial of Lawrence Russell
Brewer, the second of three white men accused of murdering James Byrd in
Jasper, Texas. Byrd, 49, was dragged behind a truck in June 1998 for more
than three miles and was decapitated when his head hit a concrete drain.
John William King was convicted and sentenced to death in February,
and Shawn Allen Berry is still awaiting trial. Jury selection began in
Bryan, Texas, for Brewer's trial.
Of the 161 prospective jurors, only 19 were black. Five of the 19 people
who have already been dismissed are black.
As this heinous crime returns to the nation's spotlight, it is all too
obvious that America runs rampant with racism and hate.
Murder is an extreme, but there are more subtle ways of degrading others,
ways that can even be found on our campus. It's in your jokes. It's in
your assumptions. And there is absolutely no room for such ignorance and
intolerance on our campus or in our country.
Racism isn't a problem that can be solved in Washington, D.C. The solution
starts in places like Jasper. Communities everywhere must unite to ensure
that this crime never repeats itself.
As part of the TCU community, we can no longer turn our heads and hide
our eyes. This is real. It is our responsibility to put an end to it.
- 'All about you' lures freshmen
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- Freshmen see it in their sleep. Sophomores remember this time last
year when they, too, felt the warm fuzzies that TCU sent to their mailboxes
at home. Juniors and seniors search through memories of the past few years,
memories left hazy from too many beers and too many core classes.
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- "At TCU, it's about you."
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- How's that for a refresher course? It is about you. But only until
you get here and discover it's only about you until you want to park outside
the Student Center, or until you want to add that class you need to graduate,
or until you want to eat on campus at a non-peak hour.
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- What a great marketing ploy. TCU sells itself well: a small-but-not-too-small
private university in a big-but-not-too-big metropolitan city. The smiling
faces on the colorful admissions brochure don't tell the stories of the
$5 turkey sandwiches or the equally expensive laundry machines. Instead,
those faces say, "Come to TCU! We're all so happy here!"
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- Here at TCU, it's not about you, or me or that guy you sit next to
in sociology class. It's about the profit we students bring into the university.
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- Is there some reason why, despite the renovations to the Student Center,
there has been no effort to modify the lack of parking in front of this,
the busiest building on the entire campus? Now is an opportune time for
a solution to be agreed upon.
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- TCU recently acquired the land on the corner of Berry Street and University
Drive. Is it opening as the much-needed parking for commuter students?
No. This landscaping project is part of TCU's commitment to the community,
said Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Don Mills.
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- But what happened to TCU's commitment to the students? Perhaps it does
make a prettier, greener campus for prospective students and the community,
but a parking lot would have been much more useful for - not to mention
much more appreciated by - current students. We are, after all, the ones
who are paying thousands of dollars to come here. Shouldn't the university
provide for us the same quality campus that they use to lure in prospective
students and community support?
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- It isn't a secret that parking is a problem here. And it's no secret
that this problem stems from the fact that there are so many students with
cars. It's a natural conclusion that these cars will need to be washed
from time to time. Let's encourage the powers that be to provide a place
to wash our cars free of charge. All it takes is a water hose and a patio
cover. There are plenty of sprinkler heads that are calling out, "Attach
me to a hose so I can wash your car!" And besides, it seems administrators
have no problem covering parking places.
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- As college students, we also have odd habits. We don't all eat at 8
a.m., noon and 6 p.m. Yet, walk into the Main or the Worth Hills cafeteria
at any other time of the day and be prepared to venture down Berry Street
for more selection. The food from the Main that is left out all day in
reach of every hungry student and house fly within a 16-mile radius just
isn't tempting when there are no warm mass-produced chicken strips.
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- With a substantial percentage of the student body living on campus,
it is necessary that a selection of good food is always available in the
cafeterias. We eat a lot, and we want more than a salad or frozen lasagna
from Stems and Staples. It seems that TCU is so interested in getting freshmen
here that prospective students get everything they want at the expense
of current students who have already bought into the farce that the ubiquitous
"it" really is about them as an individual.
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- So what is really about you? Does the university promise one thing
to high school seniors but provide something different to the students
here? Allow me to suggest a new marketing campaign:
- "At TCU, we pretend it's about you until you get here. Then you're
in for a rude awakening."
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Skiff Opinion Editor Laura Head is a junior news-editorial
journalism major from Shreveport, La.
Happy Birthday Laura!!
- For advice on politics, ask Ventura
- Only Hollywood resumé needed for candidates to
win election match
- I used to halfway like Jesse Ventura. Last year, when he "shocked
the world" and got himself elected governor of Minnesota, there was
a part of me that felt invigorated with a fresh hope for the future of
grassroots politics.
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- Granted, most of me felt that the people of Minnesota had gone plain
nuts, but there was that little part that had to admire Ventura's mixed
bag of straight-shooting, no B.S., don't-like-it-kiss-my-grits populist
politics.
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- But now I've got a beef with "the Body" or "the Mind"
or whatever the Sam Hill he calls himself.
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- Not so much with him personally, I guess (although I do believe he
and a majority of Minnesotans are still a bunch of crazies), but with what
he has done to accelerate America's already eerie fascination with celebrities
and politics.
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- Thanks in part to Ventura, it seems now that every two-bit celebrity
in possession of a lame-brained political ideology thinks he or she can
run for elected office and win.
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- The most recent shining example is Warren Beatty.
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- Most famous for "Dick Tracy," "Bulworth" and his
dalliance with Madonna, Beatty is deliberating a run for the Democratic
nomination for the presidency of the United States.
- Now let me tell you something: If any Beatty's going to run for president,
it dang well ought to be Ned Beatty.
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- I know I'd vote for the guy. Any dude who can survive what he went
through in "Deliverance" without going criminally insane has
demonstrated the mental toughness and security in his own masculinity needed
to lead this great nation.
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- That being said, what makes Warren think he can become president of
the world's only superpower?
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- It can't be his political beliefs. Ideologically, the guy's a dead
horse.
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- On most issues, he's just to the left of Mao Tse-tung.
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- While that may endear him to a various assortment of pinko campus radicals
and burnt-out ex-flower children, it won't fly with the majority of the
American public.
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- So what is it then? Because he's famous? He's a movie star? He hasn't
killed anyone?
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- Unfortunately, with the state of American electoral politics being
what it is today, that might just qualify him. Heck, it could win him a
nomination.
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- Well, probably not.
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- Still, the simple fact that someone like Beatty is seriously considering
a run says something about how low the standards for candidates in this
country have become.
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- In fact, judging by President Clinton's strong showing of support in
national polls last year during the impeachment process, one of the biggest
things going for Beatty may be the whole fooling around with Madonna thing.
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- Americans love philanderers. They don't much care for politicians.
But they can't get enough of philandering politicians, as long as they're
Democrats.
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- You read me? Beatty's in a win-win-win situation here.
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- Plus, if he should decide to run, Beatty faces some severely charisma-deficient
competition.
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- Al Gore and Bill Bradley are deathly boring candidates. All they ever
want to do is talk about taxes, Social Security, health care, yadda, yadda,
yadda.
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- On the other hand, Warren Beatty was Clyde of "Bonnie and Clyde,"
he was "Mugsy" and he's got a famous crazy sister.
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- Politics in our great republic has increasingly become more about fanfare,
image, style and sound bite.
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- Issues, policy statements and "that vision thing," as referred
to by former President George Bush, appear to have taken the back seat.
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- We can look at the George W. Bush juggernaut as an example of that.
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- The junior Bush is blowing every other candidate, Republican and Democrat,
out of the water in current polls in spite of the fact he never tells anybody
where he stands on anything.
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- Don't get me wrong; I don't hate the guy. I think he's done a good
job in Texas. It's just that currently nobody's made him address any real
issues. He's relying on his rock-star-like popularity because he can.
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- Let's face it. Bush is all image: a combination of charisma, looks,
his famous name and those nifty little 15-second "compassionate conservatism"
sound bites.
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- Bush is the guy to beat because he's a celebrity, not because of brilliant
articulations on foreign policy or the future of Social Security.
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- It's not good for politics, but it's what the game has become. And
in the process, candidates who actually have ideas and aren't afraid to
express them get thrown to the wayside.
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- An example is Steve Forbes.
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- The guy's got more ideas than India's got Hindus. In my opinion, he
has some of the best ideas for the future of this country.
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- But unless about 12 people currently running for the presidency die
within the next few months, Forbes probably won't become President. Why
not?
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- It's that celebrity thing. He doesn't have its cherished qualities;
he's kinda goofy-looking; he's rather dry; his dad was never president;
and he's never played pro basketball or rassled in the WWF.
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- So what's a guy with a solid position on Individual Retirement Accounts
to do? Ask Jesse Ventura, I guess.
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Josh Moenning is a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan
at the University of Nebraska.
- Letters to the editor
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- Personal agendas should include concerts by world-class
musicians
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- In response to David Becker's "Personal Agenda" suggestions
(which, by the way, were excellent) I would like to add the following:
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- Make a point to attend at least a half-dozen free presentations by
the many performing groups in the School of Music. We have much to offer
- from Bach and Beethoven to Basie. We have wonderful choral, orchestral,
band, jazz, keyboard, chamber music and faculty solo recitals by world-class
musicians. It's free. It's great. It's too good to be true. Bring a date.
Bring two dates!
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Curt Wilson
Director of Jazz Studies, Professor of Music
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- Students should keep campus beautiful, clean up their
own trash
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- Why can't people throw away their trash? It's easy. Just put it into
a trash can! There are plenty available.
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- It seems like every year someone has to remind students that they are
responsible for this simple act. I was again reminded of it this morning
as I drove into the quadrangle by Frog Fountain and it was littered with
Whataburger garbage.
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- Then as I was walking up to my office, I saw more and more signs of
trash as bottles and containers and cups from The Main were left out in
the mall area. What will it take to get people to dispose of their own
messes? WE ARE NOT YOUR MOTHERS AND FATHERS!
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- Maybe that's part of the problem. We as parents have not taught our
children to be responsible for this simple act and to take pride in anything
other than themselves.
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- People are constantly complaining about the rise in cost of tuition
and fees. We spend thousands upon thousands of dollars each year making
this place beautiful, yet there are always those who don't take enough
pride in their university to keep it looking that way.
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- I commend our facility services and physical plant staff who work hard
from sun up to sun down to make the campus a pleasant place to live, learn
and work. Would you want to have the job of picking up other people's trash?
What is it going to take?
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- Students, remember that this is your campus! Take pride in it, and
let's keep it beautiful!
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Nancy Styles
Executive Assistant, Communication and Public Affairs
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