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Monday, March 7, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Best way to disarm Klan is through peaceful protest
Dateline LAWRENCE.
Two members of the Ku Klux Klan appeared on a radio talk show at the University of Kansas. Outside the radio station, thousands of students and members of the community held a peaceful candlelight vigil to protest the KKK's bigoted views.
That is what should have happened at KU.
After the show, the KKK went away fully aware that their ideas were rejected at KU; and students went back to class now more aware of the Klan and racism in today's society.
That is what should have happened at RC Instead, under pressure from community members, the on-campus radio interview and an on-campus classroom interview that was part of an exercise in covering extremists, were canceled.
canceled. But in reaction to the cancellation, a student organized tonight's free speech forum that will feature two Klansmen. And students are planning a peaceful protest.
n students are planning to The University now has a second chance.
Tonight, every student, every teacher, every member of the community who opposes the Klan and their narrow, bigoted views should exercise their right to peacefully protest. Protest not against the Klan's presence but against their ideas.
To silence the Klan is to become like them. To deny them a platform is to endorse their beliefs.
platform is to endorse them. The University is a place of ideas, a place of thought and a place to grow. No ideas, no thoughts and no growth can occur by suppression or oppression for any reason.
Peace is more powerful than any message of hate that the Klan can preach, and the peaceful protest of this community can disarm the most explosive racist. Twenty voices shouting "hate" cannot drown out 10,000 saying "peace." And peaceful voices are respected and influential.
Tonight, let the KKK speak and let the community learn. And then move forward to eliminate racism and unite the community.
The editorial board
Those words soon will be heard across the state when Harney silt loam, which covers about 4 million acres of Kansas, is designated the official state soil. A proposal to do just that is now in the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee, and it is expected to breeze through.
Step proudly there, son, you're walking on the official dirt of the state of Kansas.
Official state things a waste
Meanwhile, a Senate committee is reviewing a proposal to make the emerald the official state gemstone. That particular gem wasn't chosen because Kansas is a hotbed of emerald mining; rather, members of the jewelers' association say they picked it because of its association with the Emerald City in "The Wizard of Oz."
The Wizard of Oz.
It seems that Kansas is following a national trend to designate official state anythings. For example, Florida has an official state beverage — orange juice; Pennsylvania has an official state dog — the Chesapeake Bay Retriever; and Hawaii has an official state fish — the Humuhum-u-nukumku-a-pu'a'.
kansas soon could be on par with Wisconsin, which has an official state flower, tree, bird, rock, mineral, animal, wildlife animal. domestic animal, symbol of peace, fish and song.
animal, domestic animals. There is some validity in the proposal to designate Harney silt loam as the state soil. It is something to be proud of because it is unusually productive; but that fact should show in the superior crops that the soil is capable of producing. Making the soil "official" will not improve it.
the soil official will warn the proposal to make the emerald the state gemstone, however, makes no sense. Kansas should move away from being recognized as the state that Dorothy hated and wanted to leave. The state has more to promote than its "Wizard of Oz" heritage.
Alan Player for the editorial board
State symbols are supposed to communicate characteristics of individual states. But telling the rest of the nation what kind of dirt Kansas has will not make a strong statement about the state. Neither will promoting a gem that can be found only under Kansas jewelers' counters.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board
The editorial board consists of Alison Young, Todd Cohen, Alan Player, Jody Dickson, Katy Monk, Russell Gray and Van Jenerette.
News staff
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Richard Stewart...Graphics editor
Tom Ehlen...General manager, news adviser
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Rev. Stonewall JACKSON and Albert E. LEE
Inviting the KKK hurts other rights
If a member of the Ku Klux Klan appeared on campus, with a soapbox, to speak, I would acknowledge his or her rights to speech though I would exercise my own right to protest and to demonstrate. Yet I do not feel it appropriate that the Klan be invited by a University organization to speak on campus. Why? How can I justify such a position? If the Klan were to appear through an invitation of any kind, my freedom and that of other targets of the Klan would be diminished. This, of course, has been virtually ignored in the outpouring of letters and comments by self-appointed defenders of freedom of speech these past two weeks.
practice.
Academic freedom and freedom of speech can only be upheld in an atmosphere of freedom and security, where all feel sufficiently secure to exercise their rights. If a member of the campus community — a black or Jewish or Catholic student or faculty member, for instance — fears reprisal for speaking out, his or her rights, all of our rights, have been diminished. The purpose of the Klan is to intimidate blacks, Jews and Catholics.
David M.
Katzman
Catholics.
Do we agenerate the potential for intimidation?
The threat to our rights? Who, after all, will be intimidated by the Klan? I have lived in Lawrence and taught at the University of Kansas for 19 years, and I have often heard (and participated in) discussions among Jews and blacks about speaking out on issues and defending minority rights. One opinion is always expressed and sometimes (if not most often) prevails: "If we speak out, we will make things worse; we will bring threats and violence against ourselves and our children." Intimidation occurs. The fears are real. When I was president of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, and my name was
Guest Columnist
listed in the telephone directory as president, I received dozens of threats against my life. On this campus, I have received death threats, some scrawled across my office door. Many of us are aware that in recent years, Klan-affiliated groups have murdered Jews and blacks. And others will continue to speak out, taking perhaps foolish risks to do so. But not all Jews or blacks believe that the risk of defending free speech is worth it; some believe it is better to keep quiet than to bring the wrath of the vigilantes on their families.
wrath of the vigilante on Jews. Those who call themselves the Klan do so because of the power of the Klan. It represents violence against minorities, intimidation and vigilantism against blacks, Jews and Catholics. If they used another name, they would have to deliver threats overtly; instead they can rely on the symbols that the Klan stands for. In other words, they call themselves the Klan because the Klan in its various incarnations has a century-long tradition of beating and killing blacks, Jews and Catholics. Thus they adopt a code that no longer needs to be articulated but has the desire effect.
effect.
I am not arguing against the rights of Klan members. Instead I take issue with those who have defined the issue simplistically: that their rights are diminished if the Klan is not invited to campus to speak. What they are not considering is that if the Klan does appear by invitation, the rights of many others, the potential victims of the Klan, will be diminished. To invite the Klan is to
take the initiative in diminishing the rights of some of the members of our academic community.
mity.
There is one other issue that I find disturbing. Somehow the media and most people I have talked to believe that the potential victims of the Klan — blacks, Jews and Catholics — should be the ones to debate the Klan members.
the nubes.
That is why I was invited to debate the Klan. I noted that to debate the Klan because I do not believe that I or any other minority person should be the one to take issue with them. After all, the Klan and its affiliated organizations claim to be speaking for and in defense of white Christians. I, as a Jew, as an outsider, am beginning to believe that the Klan must speak for a good part of white Christianity because I have not heard very many objections by white Christians to their claim. Many people have taken pen in hand to defend what they seem to feel is the simple violation of academic freedom; no letter writer in this paper seems to be disturbed by the Klan's claims to speak in defense of this nation as a white, Christian one. Frankly, I believe that racism and anti-semitism are not black and Jewish problems; they are problems for whites and Gentiles.
teens; they are Freedom of speech is important and worth defending; I believe in it strongly enough to defend my rights and those of other Jews and blacks against intimidation by the Klan. I also believe in speaking out against those who would tear this good society apart, who would set white against black. Gentile against Jew, native born against immigrant, and have against have nots. At this moment, on this campus, indifference and silence might well be the greatest evil. David M. Katzman is a professor of history.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Issue drew sympathy
Over the past few weeks, a great deal of controversy has gone on about the Ku Klux Klan's visit to the University of Kansas. As we all know, the Klan will not be appearing on campus. Instead, KJHK will present a taped version of the interview they were going to have live on the air.
Something that needs to be pointed out is that the Klansmen were not denied their First Amendment rights. The reason is that the Klansmen were invited to KU, they did not request to come. All KU did was revoke the invitation. If the Klansmen had asked to come, and the University had said no, then we would have violated their First Amendment rights.
However, a greater problem has arisen since the invitation was revoked. Many of us have seemed to develop some sympathy for the Klan. I'm not saying that we agree with Klan doctrine, but several people were very upset that the invitation was revoked. Many of us mistook this as a violation of the First Amendment. Editorials were written in favor of the Klan's right to speak.
The KKK is a horrible organization whose actions are nothing less than those of other
terrorist groups. As a Roman Catholic, I know that the Klan has no more compassion for me than they do for any minority. I think they are a hideous group of people who profess to be Christian, yet do not follow the Christian principles of "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
principal I think the Klan should have come and spoken to the journalism class, answered questions from their audience, done their point-counterpoint on JKHK, and then gotten the hell out of Lawrence.
the next one.
However, this did not happen. One of the programs that the KKK coming to KU was that they would attract people to their organization. After all, not everyone is in favor of such programs as affirmative action, and the KKK is well known for their political opinions on that issue. There was concern that some people would sympathize with the Klan.
people woud sympathize. But by reason of the invitation, KU has handsome sympathy for the Klan — maybe not for their political standpoint, but for their right to speak.
I think we made a great mistake by not letting them come here and get the whole thing over with, instead of allowing this to become the much bigger issue that it has.
Rex Johnson Wichita senior
Free speech has limits
This KKK thing is being misconstrued as a matter of free speech and respect for the opinions of others. It is not surprising to me
that blacks in the community see the Klan visit as something which would threaten them. The Klan represents a position on racial distinctions which has no place in a democratic society; there is no room for debate on the question of equality for all races in our society, and indeed in the entire world today.
It is extremely difficult for Caucasians to see what blacks see when the ghost of the KKK is revived; it is difficult for non-Jews to see what the Jews see when the ghost of the Nazis is revived; it is difficult for other Americans to see what Native Americans see when the ghost of manifest destiny permeates society and permanently mars the face of the Earth.
Supreme Court interpretations of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States clearly recognize the limits on the right to free speech; we are all too familiar with the "yell fire in a crowded theater" analogy. We also have seen recently that it is within the rights of free speech to parody a religious leader's relationship to his mother. A parallel can be drawn in the KKK case: it is within the KKK's right of free speech to talk about their beliefs to people who invite them to do so; it is not the obligation of a university to invite them, anymore than it is the obligation of a publication to print the parody of Falwell. Bringing the repugnant message of the KKK onto the campus of the University of Kansas is akin to inhaling plutonium dust to prove that it causes cancer.
Robert Bruce Scott Great Bend graduate student
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed