Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Protest Some people have selfish motives demonstrating for or against war Freedom of speech is the most important right Americans enjoy. Our other rights as Americans, such as freedom of assembly and religion, originate from this basic freedom to speak one's mind. For this reason, it is particularly disheartening to see Americans scream at each other on the streets for publicly demonstrating theii hplipfs nn thp nior WhatPUPr r\no'c cton/i nn thp u;or tl-io TTnitp?H UV14V4U Uiv yy u.1 TTilWlVTVl V/11V/ J OIU11U V/Ii WlV VV U1 , Li 11/ UlillVU States is big enough for both sides to express themselves without violent reactions to one another. It is these hardcore demonstrators that should curb their emotional stance. CNN showed footage of a protest in San Francisco that blocked the Golden Gate Bridge, jamming traffic for 15 miles and causing property damage. One protestor ran around the streets turning over newspaper machines and trash-cans for no apparent reason. What does this accomplish? Does inconveniencing San Francisco commuters and messing up the city bring American troops home faster? NBC showed a group of Young Republicans wearing desert camouflage and yelling pro-war slogans at traffic in Washington, D.C. Again, the question must be asked: What does this accomplish? A tasteful gathering at a war memorial to show support for our troops or a nonviolent peace march is one thing; public disorder is another. There is a fine line between public good and individual rights; property damage and disruption of traffic crosses that line. The desert camouflage-draped Young Republicans and the tiedye clad faux-Hippies are trying to stage 1968 II: The Sequel and it's getting ridiculous. Both sides seem, to be terribly disappointed they weren't old enough to burn draft cards or beat up guys with long hair (depending on their political bent). These Baby Boomer wanna-bes could make a stronger impact if they wrote their congressmen and stated their minds instead of clogging the streets of America pretending to be in the '60s. .i ak.ii iaos/ tr\n\ The Gamecock i ; ' " . News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Kathy Blackwell robyn Thompson Editor in Chief Managing Editor ; Jennifer Jablonski David Bowden Copy Desk Chief Viewpoint Editor Lucy Soto Kathy Heberger News Editor Carolina Life Editor Steve Johnson renee Meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor Aaron Sheinin Tige Watts Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor Oct a via Wrtght Patrick Vtilegas Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Editor Chris Silvestri Julie Bouchillon Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Editor Eric Glenn Darkroom Lab Technician Ed bonza Erik Collins Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser Laura S. Day Ray Burgos Production Manager Assistant Production Manager Renee Gibson Kyle Berry Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. A COUNTRY URIVL, CAN" POOL AS MQ bEATW FOR TUOSE. RI6I e>y TUCIR Ui PROTECT TW nr: *m/\ rk n rk mm x line Held ill i The United States military is made up of at least 10 percent women. Yet no woman is allowed in a combat unit. It is 1991, but women still face prejudice. In the Army and Marines, female recruits must pass the same harsh training as their male counterparts, but are forced to serve in support operations (communications, medicine, etc.). In the Air Force, women can train men to fly combat aircraft, but can't fly combat missions themselves. In the Navy, a woman can't even be on a combat vessel. There are many arguments against women in combat, some intelligent, some not. The arguments fall into four basic types: they are physically inferior to men; they don't have the emotional stability of men; male soldiers would get romantically involved with them; and perhaps the dumbest of all, the sight of women killed in combat would demoralize the troops. The last two arguments are easily dismissed. Men already get romantically involved with their fellow females in the military, and the armed forces aren't exactly falling apart. And it is logical to assume the sight of anybody ? male or female ? disemboweled by shrapnel on the front lines is demoralizing. The first two arguments are more sensible, but are also incorrect. Women can endure the i hardships of combat as well as any man; it is only the sexist American culture that'dictates that a woman is supposed to act hysterical and cry in a crisis. There are plenty of female cops i v^ivii rignis it The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The utterance of the name itself brings feelings of pride, honor and courage. It also revives memories of the civil rights and peace movements and even anti-war demonstrations against Vietnam. And, in those changing times, King had hoped he could have an effective campaign with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to improve the condition of African Americans. He wanted to help his fellow man, and he gave his life for it. Those were the '60s. It's been nearly 25 years since his death, and as we embark upon the '90s, there is a deep sense of apathy among not just African Americans, but all Americans. This apathy is evident in the fact the bill for a national observance of King's birthday was initially vetoed under the Reagan administration, and in the fact Bush has recently vetoed new civil rights legislation. In light of the recent war outbreak in the Persian Gulf, the country has not been able to see the real issues. I challenge Americans to not only respect King today, but to observe where we were then and how far we've come. It might seem ironic that in those days of Vietnam, the U.S. actually sided with the South Vietnamese dictatorship, even with heavy U.S. civilian opposition. Today, the U.S. sides with a monarchy while being virtually unopposed by its citizens and reluctant allies. But among the plight of African Americans, there has been no real change since those turbulent times. For example, in the '70s, 75 percent WHERE WOAlEfsl CAKJ'T r SWIM INI -FUE. SAMEL SJ, ARE STOWEb TO ADULTERY, HAVE ONLY WTS GRANTED TO 1UEM US&AWDS--YOUR JOE>: IE STATUS QUO m 1 T7f M 1VCU IUI Wlill DAVID BOWDEN JBllIn, . ? i ~ * who can cope with pressure just fine. The first argument ? physical inferiority is the hardest to ignore. Women are not stron enough or big enough to play in the NFL, NB^ NHL or the Major Leagues. However, this i misleading. Professional sports is the pinnacl of athletic achievement in the United States The average male solidier couldn't start in thi big leagues either. Also, combat in the '90s requires stamina an< agility (categories in which women are not sub stantially inferior to men), not brute strength. I these were ancient times when combat was ; matter of hacking one's opponent apart with j sword, the prohibition of women in comba would have more weight. However, as the Gulf war proves, combat is more technically oriented than ever. It is both stupid and sexist to think that a woman piloi could not successfully complete the same missions that Our malp nilntc hovp Wn flvintT Huf ...wv Vk_? 11M ? V I/W1I UU1 ' ing this conflict. A woman can pull a trigger as well as any man. Even in ground combat, I feel women are capable. In an experiment several years ago, the ader's words f 1 OCTAVIA WRIGHT W % of all black men were employed. In 1988, onl> a little more than half of them had jobs, accord ing to USA Today. Half of all African American children are born below the poverty line. Despite the accomplishments of the civil rights movement, African Americans actually had better chances tc grow economically in those times because more domestic programs were in existence then. In the '60s, American involvement in the Vietnam War was thought of as being inhumane. King himself said, "With the resources accruing from termination of the war ... the elimination of all poverty could become an immediate national reality." Today, history is again repeating itself. Money and lives are being spent on a costly war to defend a countrv whf>?p nil ic nnf even vit^l tn the U.S. And we still have unsolved problems here at home: the growing number of the homeless, unemployment and poverty. During the Vietnam War, King said, "Things are worse for the mass of Negroes than they were 20 years ago." I wonder what he would say today ? probably the same thing. King had called America's involvement in Vietnam hypocritical. The same exists today. While we are defending a weal monarchy, we cannot even defend our owi poor. % ? 4 rpc len in war Marines trained an all-female unit in a series of grueling tests to see if they could stand up to the heat of battle. The male commander of the unit said afterwards he had total confidence that those females would perform as well as any male Marines. Obviously, women who pass basic training in the U.S. Marines have the fortitude to go to war. There are many, many men who do not. As Gwynne Dyer pointed out in his book g War (the companion to the PBS series of the i, same name), the average American woman is s bigger than the average Vietnamese man. e Surely, if those Vietnamese men made such ;. good soldiers, our women could be as good, e The government's sexism on this issue seems to be limitless. The Army refused to give com1 bat medals to female soldiers in the Panama in vasion who happened to get involved in the f fighting. i Whether or not they were supposed to, some i women did get involved by accident and pert formed very well. I can hear some Army bureaucrat somewhere saying, "but they weren't > supposed to fight They aren't capable of fighti ing." Tell that to the female Major who led an L all-male platoon in a successful attack on a Panamanian bunker. Women will be involved in combat in the ; Gulf. Unfortunately, some may be killed. It would be outrageous if our female troops didn't ; receive combat pay and commendations for ; their efforts. Men don't monopolize bravery. ; still relevant | As King said, "The national administration is more concerned about winning the war than the war against poverty right here at home." Why do his words continue to reverberate in the souls of all of us today? Because there has still been NO real change. If anything, there's r only been a growing mass economic oppres/ sion. On the streets, many blacks have just given up and resorted to the fast cash world of drug dealing. Hence, it's really hard to "Just j Say No." The civil rights movement's failures are painfully clear now. The movement was unable to i complete a top goal, which was to restructure American values. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'person-oriented' society," King said. We have only come a fraction of the distance. We can act humanely in countries like Kuwait and Israel, but not in places like Lithuania, South Africa and even our own country. Despite America's ever-heightening patriotic emotions, it is time that we look beyond the red, white and blue and face the facte "Thprp has never been any single, solid, determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans to genuine equality for (African Americans)," King said. The "radical reordering of priorites" that King spoke of are still not taking place. Twenty years from now, it will indeed be interesting to see the effects of U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf. But one thing's for sure, if America c doesn't begin to prioritize itself as King stated, 1 America's decline into a land of oppression rather than opportunity is inevitable.