THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Greens promote peace
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
The KU Greens are sponsoring an interactive display on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union in the old Mail Boxes, Etc. space that features posters, pictures and information about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The black words written on the front curtain read: "This exhibit seeks peace through peace. And it exalts those who work for peace, write for peace and march for peace."
William Justice, event coordinator and Saline County junior, said the Greens were active on many topics other than environmental issues and felt that the conflict in the Middle East needed to be addressed.
"We felt it would be a great opportunity to educate people in
a unique way and encourage thinking and dialogue on the problem," he said.
Quinn Gorges, Wichita junior, said she viewed the display because she was interested in social justice and in the conflict. She said she was impressed with the exhibit and the depth to which it covered the story of the current fighting.
"It's impossible in the face of the display not to have an opinion about the conflict," Gorges said.
Justice said the Greens got the idea for the interactive display from the domestic violence T-shirt project, where visitors could decorate T-shirts.
"We wanted to transform the space into a powerful educational experience," he said.
Visitors are welcome to leave quotes, articles or pictures. Justice said the Greens were also accepting potted flowers they will
donate to the Muslim and Jewish community centers.
The display changes every day. Today's theme is "Economics of War and Peace" and Friday's theme will be "A Poetry of Two Peoples." Justice said he was trying to keep the display up next week as well.
"it's kind of positive to see both sides." he said.
Muhanna Alnabhani, Oman senior, said he was just walking in the Union and decided to look at some of the pictures and posters.
A movie and lecture titled Bridging Sorrow: 9-11 Victims Journey to Afghanistan will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Contact Beatty at
Ibeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Guenley.
T-SHIRT
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raising money for charity. While the NCAA for a Day event last year raised about $3,000 for Habitat for Humanity and the House That Greeks Built, Chonko said the tailgate party would not raise any money for charity because the council could not sell the shirts.
Chonko said proceeds from the T-shirts would have benefited Habitat for Humanity, but that the council was under less pressure to raise funds through the event for the charity because the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association had been able to raise more than $6,000 selling KU basketball T-shirts in March.
Participants in the tailgate party will bring their own food and grills to the event, which is free, and the council will provide a tent in case of rain. The band Six Year Sophomore will play until the scrimmage begins at 6:30 p.m., and Mix 93.3 will be there to hand out prizes.
"It was an idea that they just wanted more of a community building situation," Chonko said.
Chonko said that when council members contacted the Athletics Department about it, the department responded that it had not made enough money last year to have the event again.
The party was planned as Junior Greek Council's Spring Event in lieu of repeating last year's event, NCAA for a Day, which allowed students to play the senior members of the men's basketball team.
Scott Silverman, Overland Park sophomore and member of the council last year, said this year would have had a possibility to make more money because more people would have known about it.
"We just assumed that we were starting a tradition, and it had great potential," Silverman said. "It's hard for something to get started and make money in its first year."
Contact Boyer at cboyer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Guenley.
PROFILING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
PROFILING
profiling, action will be taken. We don't do that and we're not going to tolerate it."
Mark Dupree, Black Student Union president and Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, said he tried to report any instances in which he thought he was a victim of racial profiling.
But according to some minority students, racial profiling is not often reported because they think nothing will be done.
"Regardless of how small or big it [the incident] is,it needs to be reported."
"Regardless of how Mark Dupree small or big it is,it Black Student Union president needs to be reported,or
Mark Dupree
the next time it happens, someone will think, 'If he didn't think anything would be done, why should I?' Dupree said. "It doesn't matter. Morally speaking, it's wrong."
Even so, Dupree said stereotypes were part of minority life.
"Being an African-American, you're going to have to deal with it," he said. "It's part of society."
Dupree said although he had been a victim, he didn't hold anything against police officers.
"There are good police officers," he said. "It's not all police. I think one bad apple sticks out — just as someone loves to enjoy a juicy lie rather than the truth."
ETThomas, Kansas City, Mo., freshman and Black Student Union member, said although he thought racial profiling occurred, he had never had a bad encounter with an officer.
"I haven't had a problem of disrespect from cops when I've been pulled over," Thomas said. "I've heard stories of cops being rude, but they've always been fairly nice to me."
Sgt. Mike Patrick of the Lawrence Police Department, said although complaints made to the department were not public information, any complaint made would be investigated thoroughly.
"We are committed to doing the right thing," he said. "Anyone who thinks one of our officers is not holding up with the standards they expect can contact me at the Lawrence Police Department."
■ Contact Keesen at kreesee@kansan.com. This story was edited by Gillian Titus.
WASHINGTON
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food and camaraderie.
Everyone piled their belongings in a communal room and then sat around picking at cold leftover pasta, preparing signs and swapping stories.
Vate Hoffmann, Overland Park sophomore, sported dreadlocks and a shirt denouncing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which were meeting in Washington, D.C., for discussions that weekend.
Hoffmann explained that he fought against globalization, or the spread of corporate power throughout the world. He also didn't agree with "what's going on over there," or U.S.-aided fighting in the Middle East.
He spoke realistically about his expectations for the protest.
"You can't really shut down the war while you're out here," he said. "So this should mainly be about raising awareness."
Hoffman planned on handing out fliers during the protests.
Camille Fiske, a student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., held the group in rapt attention as she described her experience as a street medic at anti-corporation demonstrations in Quebec last April.
As a medic, Fiske was trained to search the streets for activists injured in the melee of violent protests.
"They built a 6-foot-high concrete and barbed-wire fence around two square miles," she said. "When the protesters tried to tear it down, they shot canisters of tear gas at them."
Fiske's boyfriend, also a street medic, described the experience of picking up a human finger that had been severed during the struggle between protesters and police.
Fiske said that she would put away her street medic equipment for the protests Saturday. She expected the demonstrations to be peaceful.
Day 3----Saturday
On the subway ride over to a Palestinian rally and march Saturday, the students happened to meet a group of older protesters from New York state.
Adams, Shrum and Jessica Cook, Topeka freshman, chatted with an older woman named Florence Smith who held a hand-made protest sign. Smith said the sign was intended originally for the Vietnam War.
"It's so sad that she's still using it." Shrum said.
The KU group emerged from the subway station to a long green lawn surrounded by imposing museums and gleaming monuments. The protesters made their way past gaudy yellow vending shacks that sold pretzels and hot dogs to a stage surrounded by a
At the rally, it became obvious that Smith was not an exception to a youthful throng. The demonstrators included many Vietnam-era activists like Smith.
crowd of colorful, bustling protesters.
The RC students were struck by the diversity of the crowd. The Soldiers of Allah, a group of African-American Muslim men covered head to toe in camouflage, argued with a middle-aged white woman. Counter-protesters stood to the side of the rally, saluting the American flag and playing patriotic music.
Ryan Pratt, Topeka freshman, strained to see the screen above the main stage, from which speakers passionately defended the Palestinians' right to a homeland.
The crowd was a flurry of black, white, green and red, as thousands waved or wore the Palestinian flag. Chants like "Free, free Palestine," and "We are all Palestinians," rang out across the field.
The students chimed in with some chants and remained silent during others. At one point, the rally moderator called out in a steady rhythm, "Israel is a terrorist state, a nation based on terror and hate."
Cook said she was offended by that particular chant and chose not to repeat it.
Later, as people prepared to head down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol Building, the Palestinian statehood chants began to merge with those of three other rallies converging on the street. The march organizers for the Palestinian rally began to herd all of the protesters into one tightly packed unit.
Adams decided that the nationalistic overtones of the march and the increasing anger and tenor of violence were too much for her.
She pushed her way to the other side of the street, wavered momentarily outside of the wide line of protesters and then finally walked with the others away from the crowd.
"I just didn't want to be in the wrong march," she said. The group waited while the pro-Palestinian group passed and then joined a general peace march to the Capitol Building.
At 7:30 in the morning, it was drizzling, and the temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees since the night before.
The students woke up, reluctantly removed themselves from sleeping bags and ventured out into the cold for an early rally at the World Bank.
Twelve hours later, they admitted that what had happened in the meantime was definitely worth one morning's discomfort.
"We led the protest!" said Tyler Longpine, Hays freshman, as he entered the community room at Georgetown. "We were at the front, we held the
banner."
The banner said in large lettering, "Mobilization for Global Justice," the name of a group that sponsored the march.
After hearing that their picture was part of an Internet slide show at www.yahoo.com, Cook, Longpine and Hoffmann headed over to Georgetown University's library to see for themselves.
Hoffmann sat at a terminal as the others crowded around him. He made a few clicks to get to the Web site. Though they were in the second picture in the slide show, the first showed a group burning an American flag.
"What?" Longpine said, surprised by the image. "I didn't even see that happening."
He criticized the mainstream media's coverage of the weekend.
"Fox reported that 50 people protested today," Longpine said, laughing. "There were more than a thousand of us."
Day5—Monday
On the long drive back to Lawrence, the group submitted to sheer exhaustion. The weekend's early mornings and late nights wore on everyone, especially the drivers. They pulled the vehicles over and slept for five hours.
Afterward, the group evaluated the experience.
There were some disappointments. Pratt admitted that the Palestinian march, which he thought was going to carry a message of peace rather than nationalism, was a let-down.
"They didn't want to integrate," he said. "They didn't want to discuss how all of these issues intertwined."
But everyone said that the weekend was, all things considered, a success. The protests were peaceful, and only a few people were arrested, none from KU. The Washington Post quoted the chief of police describing the rallies as "one of the best we've ever had . . . This is really what protest ought to be."
Adams brought back ideas for activism in the Lawrence community. Hoffmann brought back some cash given to him while panhandling. He had missed his ride home, so he turned in his fliers for a sign that read "Traveling. Need money."
He recounted that after awhile, a businesswoman came up to him, reached in her purse and extracted $10.
"Then, she told me that she worked at the World Bank," he said, smiling.
Contact Meisner at
contact me in knmeisner@kansan.com. This story was edited by Molly Gise.
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