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Tuesday, April 12, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Pot growers' booby traps make drug trade deadlier
Drugs are bad news. The Midas touch in reverse — everything and everyone they touch comes away in bad shape. Look at South America, Len Bias, Panama's Noriega — and the person next door. That may sound real trend, but we might as well throw the cute "Just Say No" buttons out the window because the bottom line is — DRUGS KILL. And now you don't even have to use them to be killed by them.
During the past few months, the battle between growers of "harmless" marijuana has taken on a deadly new twist. Some pot farmers using National Forest Land in California to grow the weed have begun to protect their crop with booby traps that can kill.
It's time to seriously rethink our attitude toward drugs. The argument that drug use is an individual's choice because it is not hurting anyone else can no longer be said to be valid.
Getting high is one thing; allowing drug growers or dealers to kill in order to get their cron to the marketplace is another.
Not scarecrows or keep off the grass signs; these booby traps are similar to those used by the Viet Cong against U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam war. Park rangers displayed metal punji spikes that were hidden along the trails near some plots of marijuana. Also displayed was a spring-loaded branch with about a half dozen foot-long sharpened spikes attached to it. Hooked to a trip wire, the device was set to swing the spiked branch across the trail with a force that would penetrate the body of any man, woman or child who, while enjoying our national parks, got too close to the illegal harvest.
This is sick. What state have people come to? Hasn't watching countries like Colombia, where the drug barons kill anyone who gets in their way, taught us anything?
As long as there is a market for drugs, the dealers will continue to provide them. Now it appears, even in this country, that drug dealers will kill anyone who gets in their way.
Van Jenerette for the editorial boa
is getting high reany worth that much:
VanJenette for the editorial board
God isn't threatening to kill Oral Roberts this year, but the televangelist still hopes to gouge another $8 million out of his supporters.
Gearing for another gouge
Roberts raised $8 million last year for his medical missionary program by saying God would "call him home" if he failed to raise the money. He got the money and set up a four-year scholarship program to train missionaries, but less than a year later the money has disappeared.
A financial officer at Oral Roberts University said that the money raised last year was used to underwrite the costs of the medical school for one year. Now, Roberts needs another pile of money to really get his missionary program off the ground.
The 117 students now in the scholarship program, however, need a better assurance than that offered by Roberts. The students are depending upon the scholarship money to complete their educations and give them chances to act as missionaries in Third World countries.
Robert's also said, "You fine young men and women have come face to face with the heart of Christianity: living by faith. I have no guarantees of what will happen in the future as we try to serve our Heavenly Father."
Alan Player for the editorial board
Roberts should stop with the religious rhetoric and give his students and his followers something concrete to believe in. When $8 million is at stake, people deserve a guarantee.
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Guide to the Coalitions
FOCUS
PARTNOY E KRAMER HAVE PROBLEMS GETTING THEIR STORIES STRAIGHT, AND ABOUT THE ONLY THING YOU CAN BELIEVE ABOUT THIS COALITION IS THAT KEVIN PRITCHARD IS RUNNING WITH THEM. (AND THEY TELL YOU THAT EVERYTIME
THERE'S NOT ENOUGH CAFFEINE IN KANSAS TO KEEP ME AWAKE WHEN THEY SPEAK ON SUCH HARDLINE ISSUES SUCH AS FIRE INSURANCE.
MEM. (AND THEY TELL YOU THAT EVERYTIME YOU TURN AROUND)
TOP PRIORITY
THEY'RE SOOO CUTE!
EVEN THOUGH THEY LACK
EXPERIENCE, AFTER LOOKING
AT THE OTHER COALITIONS
THEY SEEM TO BE THE
KLINE
LOGICAL CHOICE.
Some KU students are invisible Racially motivated behavior may be subtle, but it's still discriminatory
As for the last question, it's just plain ignorance about the world. Most of the students on this campus know who Spuds McKenzie is, where the party will be this weekend, and where to go shopping. But I have asked many students on campus, only to find that they don't know, for example, the difference between the contrast and the difference in the two North did; what apartheid is and where it's used; who running for president; the capitol of Missouri; or the location of the Soviet Union.
One upperclass student, despite the flood of Japanese imports as well as World War II, asked me if Japan was a country. It is this ignorance that contributes to the racism in this country.
Okay, KU, a short pop quiz: 1) (short answer) Quick, quick, name a black who is not an entertainer, athlete, actor, politician or any other public figure. Give up? 2) (yes-no) Even though your parents cheered them on, would they welcome Danny Manning, Archie Marshall, Milt Newton or Clint Normone into their homes for conversation or dinner? 3) What if they didn't play basketball, but were just students in your class; would they be the best players, would YOU even invite them? 5) Do you know what apartheid is and where it is practiced?
Time's up! I bet 12,000 or more of you Jayhawks couldn't name a black person who isn't a public figure. And for questions 2, 3 and 4, it's my guess that even more students will want to say "yes," that to you or your parents color doesn't matter above individual worth. But, deep down, you know it's not true. If you're not sure, just call your parents and tell them you have a black friend (of the opposite sex maybe) that you'd like to bring home this weekend for dinner with the family.
I challenge professors to raise questions and promote dialogue about these matters in class this week to test the validity of my generalization on how I will ignore ignorance. And now that I have your attention,
My plan is to outline the symptoms of racism — what racial discrimination may look like. Some things you never thought of as being racial
Richard Felton
Guest Columnist
discrimination are indeed racial discrimination.
How many blacks have attended your parties this year? Have you ever invited a black person to join you for anything? (e.g., dinner, lunch, a sporting event, movie, dancing, etc.) Do you even think to ask or does it ever cross your mind? Ever sent a birthday (or any other kind of greeting card to a black person? To be fair, I should ask blacks the same questions about their interaction with whites.
How many blacks have you walked by and not said "Hi?" You reply that you don't say "Hi" to every white person either. But you do say "Hi" to some while saying "Hi" to few or no black students. Have you ever avoided sitting next to a black student on a bus or in a class or in an auditorium? Have you ever been asked to a social occasion (reception, party, dinner, lunch, movie, etc.) by a black person or group only to find some reason not to go?
are fused racial discrimination. A black male student I know made friends with a white female student because they share many of the same values and interests. Odd, odd her mother she came to be, odd her mother she did not to go to his house because she felt her daughter might be raped. Excuse me, lady, but I think you'll find that statistics show white males engage in the phenomena of "date rape" much more often than black males. Just recently, there was the case of the "prepie" in New York City's Central Park whose date somehow died while engaging in vigorous sex. If white mothers knew the real numbers, they wouldn't allow their daughters to go out with white males
But that’s ludicrous, right? It doesn’t matter whether you’re white or black — all that matters is the type of person you are, right? Wrong. That’s wrong. And a way it is — no matter how nice a person you are.
Even "non-contact" with whites can be racially-tinted. While crossing the street at crosswalks, I've heard doors being locked. While returning to my car in the Dillon's parking lot, I've heard doors being locked. I've knocked on doors, knowing that the people are home, only to have them not answer the door after they've peeped through windows or a peep-hole in the door. I knocked only to get directions or to tell them that they left their car lights on or something. Most of the time, I had a wrong address. Whatever happened to old-fashioned courtesy?
discriminate. too.
A white female student boarded a bus and sat next to a black female acquaintance, and they began talking . . . until the black student saw another black female start to board. She never said another word until she left the bus, saying "goodbye" as if it were an apology. Yes, blacks
But, mostly, it's whites. Why do I say that? Look around campus, what do you see? There are only 788 blacks in a student population of 26,000 (or 3 in 100). How many blacks are in your classes? None, one, two, or three? And how often do you speak? And wouldn't you feel intimidated if you were black on a campus (outnumbered 97 to 3) that had no blacks in their fraternities or sororites and only 25 black faculty members out of 1,900 (1.3 of every 100 professors).
Yeah, there are exceptions — but mentioning the one or two exceptions just demonstrates your insensitivity. Some people don't want to admit there's a problem. Just look at Wesco Beach, the Kansas Union, your classes, your social events, the school district where you are exceptionally visible because of their skin color. But they are "invisible" because they're ignored — even avoided.
But my asking these questions was only to point out some of the behavior that blacks already recognize as being racially discriminating, but whites might not. The issue now is to find the cause. Tomorrow, The Second Slavery. Richard Felton is a second-year law student.
Cancellation was valid
In response to Rex Boyd's letter in Thursday's Kansas:
responses like this one. I wasn't "furious" with the decision to cancel classes Tuesday, but I am infuriated with your attitude concerning the Jayhawks' success April 4.
Come on, Rex! Are you serious? I hope not. I hope you were trying to provoke angry
Don't get me wrong; I'm all in favor of attending class regularly, but I must admit that I don't share your seemingly fanatical devotion in that department.
Don't you think that the spirit and student unity generated by the Jayhawks' phenomenal tournament run was a fair trade-off for missing one day of classes? ! doubt that many teachers, let alone students, were motivated and ready for class bright and early Tuesday morning.
Even if classes had not been canceled and some students actually had showed up, how focused on history or calculus would they have been? Why can't you enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime moment without moaning about missing a few hours of class in which nothing would have been accomplished anyway?
Go ahead; petition for your eight dollars or whatever missing April 5's classes cost you. You probably already have the exact figure figured out.
Robert Wark
Rumford Center, Maine, sophomore
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
- 1996 Washington Post Co