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Wednesday, September 6, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Whites retain restrictions on South African Blacks
The motto for South Africa should read: "For the few, the free, the white." Because today, the South African government is denying the 26 million Black majority a voice in the country's parliamentary elections. Unfortunately, the apartheid saga continues.
The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that "acting President Frederick W. de Klerk had been telling international leaders that apartheid was dead." This is the same gentleman who said last May in a speech to the whites-only chamber of parliament that instead of giving Blacks an equal electoral franchise (whether one may vote, the value of that vote and where it may be exercised), that the government would seek to create a political system of governance by consensus of nonelected representation of racial groups. De Klerk said this type of system would not be conducive to majority rule or domination.
He can't really believe that a policy change such as this is reform. If his suggestion were to become South Africa's policy, it would be a change that protects the continuing abuses of the apartheid system.
The May 1989 issue of Current History reports, "Far from being more sympathetic to Black political aspirations, an increasing number of whites have retreated to conservatism or to the extreme right." Now more than 40 years old, apartheid seems to be infiltrating even more white minds in South Africa. That is precisely the reason we should not forget for one minute what injustices continue in that country.
'Apartheid is not only unjust to South African Blacks, it is a crime against humanity, which includes us all.
The South African government continues to initiate laws that perpetuate apartheid. If it truly wants reform, the government has the power to repeal the laws that support apartheid. Much of the problem lies in the country's 1984 constitution, which retains five beliefs essential to classical apartheid legislation.
retains five beliefs essential to classical apa methodology.
One aspect of the new constitution is based upon the Registration Act of 1948. This law identifies and classifies from birth each person as belonging to one of four distinct races. The races are white, colored (mixed-races), Indian and Black. This law determines, by race: electoral franchise; mobility and residential rights; and the social benefits and pensions provided by the state.
The Group Areas Act of 1950 is the second pillar to the 1984 constitution. This act separates socially and residentially the race groups.
The third ideal establishes 10 Black territories, or "homelands," in which Blacks are encouraged to exercise their political rights and aspirations. However, the land allocated lacks resources such as power installations, dams, harbors, and mines, thus leaving these territories dependent upon South Africa.
The Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970 is the fourth pillar. This law denies Blacks South African nationality and the rights associated with it.
The final pillar, the Aliens Act of 1978, declares that citizens of the independent homelands are "not South Africans" and imposes severe penalties on those who do not follow proper procedures for getting a job within South Africa, where almost all the jobs are.
Former President Pieter W. Botha has been credited with some race reform, such as the abolishment of the law that banned interracial marriages and the law that required Blacks to have a permit to be in whites-only areas. Nontheless, he insisted that whites retain segregated schools and neighborhoods. He also declared a continuing state of emergency on June 12, 1986.
One of the greatest crimes of the state of emergency is that police officers have indemnity from prosecution on any charge. Furthermore, an officer has the power to arrest without charge and to interrogate persons they consider a threat to order. South African Blacks need the basic human rights guaranteed in the United States by the Miranda decision.
The South African police resort to barbaric methods in their efforts to quiet the Black majority. Clubs and whips are common tools used to beat protesters, often children, into silence.
The mindset of white South Africa is equivalent to that of early American slave owners more than 120 years ago. It's time for the white, bigoted minds of South Africa to open up and realize that Blacks have the right to call South Africa "home."
Kathy Walsh for the editorial board
News staff
David Stewart...Editor
Ric Brack...Managing editor
Daniel Nieml...News editor
Candy Niemann...Planning editor
Stan Diel...Editorial editor
Jennifer Corser...Campus editor
Elaine Sung...Sports editor
Laura Huser...Photo editor
Stephen Kline...Graphics editor
Christine Winner...Art/Features editor
Tom Eben...General manager, news adviser
Business staff
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Debra Martin...Local advertising sales director
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Jill Lowe...Marketing director
Tami Rank...Production manager
Carrie Staninka...Assistant production manager
Margaret Townsend...Company
Eric Hughes...Creative director
Cristel Dool...Classified manager
Jeff Messey...Tearsheets manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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Survey does Lawrence an injustice
Lawrence made the cut in Money magazine's list of the 300 "Best Places to Live in America," although our 228th ranking probably won't cause in-cunning moving vans to back up traffic coming off of 1-70.
We were rated higher than any other place in Kansas, with Wichita and Topeka garnering the 267th and 282nd spots, respectively. But Lincoln, Neb., was ranked 153rd and Columbia, Mo., made the 108th spot.
Maybe it's hometown petulance, but I've spent a fair amount of time in Columbia and it doesn't seem twice as livable as Lawrence, and I sure don't follow the magazine's ranking of Detroit at 47th and Houston at 25th.
So, how did the magazine determine that Lawrence was only one-tenth as desirable a place to live as Houston? My research into this has left me more puzzled than informed.
The magazine gathered data from a sample of 251 subscribers as well as sources such as the FBI, the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau. These data were run through what the magazine calls its "proprietary formula" to arrive at ratings on a 0-100 scale for each of nine aspects of livability: health care, local economy, housing, crime, transportation, educational opportunities, weather, leisure and arts. A high score indicates that the category is highly favorable to the quality of life in the area.
for example, Danbury, Conn., scored 75 in the crime category, meaning that there is comparatively little reported crime there.
Denver's crime score of 15 implies rampant crime, and that brings up another point. The subscribers polled by Money magazine were asked to weigh the categories by order of importance to them. Crime was the most important factor to last year's reader sample, but it dropped to fourth this year.
Some insight into the magazine's use of its proprietary formula may be gained from the upbeat intent of this excerpt from the article's report about Denver, the fourth-ranked living area:
Stuart Beals
Staff columnist
The property-crime rate exceeds the national average by about 10 percent. But civic-minded Denverites are fighting back. When California youth gangs moved into the area last year, neighborhood coaltions and churches tried to repel them with job and recreational programs."
moved here because of our winter? On the other hand, Money referred to the "Siberian winters" in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and went ahead and gave it a 42 weather rating and ninth place overall.
An anecdote about northern Minnesota winters provides some comparison with ours. A few years ago some acquaintances made a mid-winter camping trip into the boundary waters wilderness during a cold snap that sent temperatures dipping near 40 degrees below zero. Their water bottles froze in their sleeping bags, foam sleeping pads crumbled like soda crackers, and their gas stoves wouldn't develop enough pressure to cook anything.
That's it, "tried..." And then the Denver entry abruptly ends. This leaves the impression that the hapless reporter in the magazine's Denver bureau barely issued that dispatch before the place was overrun and sacked by marauding California youths. In any case, a crime score of 15 apparently wasn't weighted very heavily in assigning Denver the fourth spot.
A publicist at the magazine furnished some category scores for areas that were not included in the article. Kansas City, Mo., got a 13 crime score and 164th overall. Detroit surprised few with its 12 crime score and still made 47th.
Here is the breakdown of scores for Lawrence:
health, 49; economy, 44; housing, 47; crime, 22;
transit, 24; education, 46; weather, 10; leisure, 2;
arts, 31.
But a weather score of 10? What did the National Weather Service tell Money magazine about us? What makes our weather so bellish?
Anyone aware of the incidence of sexual assault and burglary, particularly involving the KU community, will grudgingly accept Lawrence's crime score. And if leisure is technically confined to activities involving major league professional sports or taking place in scenery from Sierra Club Bulletin centerfolds, then one can see why Lawrence doesn't rank with Seattle in this category.
These were fairly experienced winter campers, but they flied the back country after one night. In town, they observed kids hanging out on street corners, and like kids everywhere, they made a point of doing without coats, hats or gloves.
At a service station, the attendant directed them to the restroom, which turned out to be a portable outhouse with a naked steel seat. No, Minnesota would hardly complain about our winters, unless they confused them for summers with too little sunshine.
Maybe it's the winters. Do you know anyone who
Maybe it actually is the sunshine here, or lack of it. But hey, in spite of Seattle's "legendary rains that make for long, gray winters" its weather was rated a 34. Notoriously foggy San Francisco got a 65 weather rating.
When asked to account for Lawrence's dismal weather score the Money publicist asked, "Do you get a lot of rain?" Well, actually we've had a drought, she told, but lately our rain has been normal. "That's it," she decided, without elaborating.
Make what you can of this, Lawrence boosters. They say that if you don't like the weather around here, wait an hour and it will change. And change for the worse, Money magazine might add.
▶ Stuart Beals is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
Condom machines needed
LETTERS to the EDITOR
The Aug. 23 article, "Senate Still Wants Condom Machines," stated that "University officials have maintained that education, not condom machines, is the key to reducing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases on campus." The story also gave the statistic that "Watkins performs two or three HIV tests a week."
I support our Student Senate AIDS task force in its fight to bring condom vending machines to the University of Kansas.
In my opinion, the story should have added a few more statistics. For example, how many pregnancy tests does Watkins perform
each week? How many STD tests?
How many students at KU fill their birth control prescriptions at Watkins? I think it's safe to assume that this statistic runs a little higher than two or three a week and that these students represent a fraction of the population that does not practice safe sex.
Using simple logic, it's easy to refute the University official's argument that education is the solution to our AIDS problem: College students are educated people. Watkins patients are college students. Therefore, Watkins patients are educated people.
So why are all of these educated people still neglecting to use condoms?
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said that the University didn't want to condone casual sex by providing condom machines. I reply: Face facts! Students have sex. We are not going to become amoral, frenized, insatiable sex hounds with the arrival of a few vending machines.
We make moral judgments. The AIDS virus does not.
Education, though definitely worthwhile in the fight against AIDS, is not a miracle cure-all. Education needs to be followed by action.
Our individual choices reflect our personal morality, not that of the University of Kansas.
Support the Student Senate AIDS task force and make KU a safer place to live.
Laura Prouty Kansas City, Kan., senior
Cartoon cheapens tribute
After reading the Aug. 28 University Daily Kansas, I was somewhat disgusted at the editorial cartoon on page 4A. "Keep KU Covered" read the words, while a condom cloaked the Campanile.
The meaning of the sketch was understandable. True, sexually transmitted diseases are a massive problem on college campuses across the nation, and people, particularly college-age students, are becoming more aware of the terrible risk of AIDS. But to show the University of Kansas' most famous landmark engrossed in a contraceptive is a great injustice.
The Campanile is a tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in battle to defend their country. It is a source of reflection for young and old who visit the campus to see the names engraved in the walls and hear the haunting reverberation of its bell.
I hope the editor's pen will continue to speak on the issues facing today's college pupils, but yield to writings and cartoons that create degradation to this institution.
CAMP UHNEELY
The tall tower is a distinctive mark of the University. So it should be treated as a symbol of pride of hostel of with jeers and sarcasm.
Andy Taylor
Caney freshman
BY SCOTT PATTY