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Monday, December 11, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Navy shouldn't have used force against Greenpeace
One would think that the Navy has had enough accidental trouble recently without going and ramming a ship on purpose.
Of course, the Navy denies that it rammed the Greenpeace as it tried to stop the submarine Trident from test-firing a Trident II missile.
The courts are going to have to decide who is right and who is wrong in this case, which is basically a my-word-against-yours battle. The question, though, will probably come down to whether the Greenpeace had the right to be in the waters at all.
And it did. The U.S. Navy can't mark off sections of sea and post 'No Trespassing' buoys. The Navy may or may not have rammed the Greenpeace ship, but the gaping holes in the ship's side seem to indicate that someone didn't want the protesters around.
If Greenpeace wants to make an effective protest, they will have to put themselves in dangerous positions. Obviously, Greenpeace members are quite willing to do that; they have been doing so for years. They were practically sitting right on top of the Trident II. The blast of the missile would no doubt have been a little worse than being rammed by a ship.
Greenpeace's leader, William Arkin said, "We do expect to mix it up with the Navy." Referring, one would assume, to the legal action Greenpeace will file. The idea of legal action seemsilly, though. Greenpeace knew it was provoking the Navy ship. That was the intent. If the Navy did ram the Greenpeace, it was probably analogous to slapping in frustration someone who is getting one your nerves.
That doesn't make the Navy right. It should not have used force against Greenpeace, but legal action is not likely to help much. Greenpeace probably should stick with its area of expertise: "mixing it up" during protests.
David Stewart for the editorial board
Boeing should be punished for obtaining documents
The disclosure that Boeing Co. officials had access to classified Defense Department documents and that federal investigators knew of the violations yet did nothing doesn't fly very well.
The findings, made public during testimony in a U.S. District Court trial of Richard Lee Fowler, make charges that defense industries knowingly bilked the federal government of millions of dollars seem even more real and widespread.
Fowler claims he was hired by Boeing specifically to attain the documents. His attorneys are basing his defense on the basis that the documents were readily available to defense contractors, and rules for their release were unclear. They are also pointing to the fact that Fowler was arrested and charged only after he refused to tell federal official who gave him the documents.
Gloria Mahaffey, a retired Boeing worker testified that she ran a library of classified documents for her employer. She said the library was set up in the early 1970's and that she was told the documents contained data "commonly used throughout the industry."
As evidence of abuse in one of the country's leading defense manufacturers continues to mount it is becoming plain to see how vulnerable the current system of defense procurement is. An overhaul of the system is not only timely, but necessary. Any discrepancies or loopholes that exist in the laws governing access to classified documents should be eliminated.
Federal investigators should also be more thorough and earnest in their inspection of industry files.
Boeing pleaded guilty to having classified documents and has agreed to pay a $5.2 million fine. But, fines may not be enough in the future if current trends hold true and more violations are found, in Boeing and throughout the industry.
Brett Brenner for the editorial board
Members of the editorial board are David Stewart, Stan Diel, Brett Brenner, Ric Brack, Daniel Nieml, Craig Welch, Kathy Walsh, Thom Clark, Tiffany Harness and Scott Patty.
News staff
David Stewart ... Editor
Ric Rack ... Managing editor
Daniel Niemi ... News editor
Gordon Winnann ... Photographer
Stan Diel ... Editorial editor
Jennifer Corseu ... Campus editor
Elaine Sung ... Sports editor
Luca Husar ... Photo editor
Christine Willner ... Art/Film director
Tom Ebben ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Linda Prokop ... Business manager
Debra Martin ... Local advertising sales director
Jerre Medford ... National/regional sales director
Jill Lowe ... Marketing director
Tami Rank ... Production manager
Carrie Slaninka ... Assistant production manager
Cindy Townsend ... Co-op manager
Eric Hughes ... Creative director
Christian Dool ... Classified manager
Jeff Meeesy ... Tearsheet manager
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Steps to sensitivity might be rocky
It's difficult for the Kansan to respond to charges of prejudice without opening itself to further attack. "They are defensive, so it must be true," the argument goes.
Despite recent accusations, however, the Kansan makes an effort to be sensitive and raise our readers' awareness of the issues.
We were accused of being racist because of an article on the front page of last Monday the Kansan that described Lawrence gang activity. In the seventh paragraph, we included information given to us by a police spokesman that the gang members were Black and Hispanic.
It would be easy for me to just forget about this issue and not comment on it. I am in the process of turning over control of the Kansan to next semesters, so I don't know how to get the non-louder have anything to do with the newspaper.
But that doesn't mean I can forget about the issue of racism. Although I can see the point of the people who say that mentioning race in an article about gangs only enforces stereotypes, I have to shake my head in sorrow that these people don't see the larger picture of what we've done this semester on the Kansas.
Since the semester began, we've had two reporters working full-time covering minority affairs. Never before has the Kanans dedicated that much time to the issue. And never before has the paper tried to be so conscious of the way it portrays minorities.
We've made many subtle changes. Making the B 'in' Black "uppercase" was a difficult decision, but it was something that I thought we needed to do. Before I became editor, the Kansan received at least three calls requesting the change. Some people in the School of Journalism and some staff members were against it, but I rejected arguments that said "it is pandering to Blacks" and "it is unfair to whites" and went ahead with the change because it seemed to be what our readers wanted to see. I've received only one poorly worded complaint. Perhaps no one else even
Dave Stewart
Editor
noticed.
Skip Turner, director of the Office of Affirmative Action, speaks each semester to the Advanced Reporting class, which makes up the Kansan's reporting staff. I've listened to him speak twice, once when I was a reporter and once this semester. He has some interesting things to say.
His main focus is on photographs. He says that Blacks are portrayed in the paper in only four basic ways, and all of them reinforce a stereotype: clown, actor, musician or athlete.
Before a picture can get in the paper, a photo editor must present it to me, the managing editor and the news editor during our daily news conference. We keep Turner's lecture in mind when a photo shows a minority in a stereotypical situation. I can recall one time when a photograph of a Black woman in a graduation session was submitted for the front page. It ended up running a few days later — buried inside.
Are we being oversensitive? Perhaps, But I wouldn't say that being oversensitive is wrong. Before we can truly rid ourselves of racist attitudes, we have to face those attitudes head-on.
The Minority Issues Task Force report mentioned the Kansan's policy, style and layout guide specifically. The guide is an in-house publication that sets editorial policy for the staff. The task force wanted us to include something about sensitivity to minorities, which I did. It reads, "Be sensitive to the concerns of minorities. Realize that not all people celebrate the same holidays or have the same values. Try to stay abreast of the events that are going on in your sources' lives, no
matter what their race, religion or sex."
That statement may not go far enough. Maybe next semester's editor will see fit to add something about avoiding stereotypical judgments. I don't know.
I do know, however, why race was mentioned in the gang story. The Kansan's main goal, no matter how sensitive we try to be, is to present the facts. That's plain and simple. If, by our decision to give that information, we have offended anyone or made anyone think that we aren't being sensitive enough, all I can ask is that you look at our recent steps forward and forgive us for the mistakes we may make on the way toward wiping away racist attitudes.
I had meant to use the space for my last column to name all of the people who have worked behind the scenes this semester. I don't have room enough to show I'm sorry. But I would like to thank a few noelle:
Candy Nieman, planning editor, who didn't take a day off the entire semester and made an extremely difficult job seem so simple:
Carrie Harper, production editor, who got up at 5:30 a.m. three times every week to supervise paste-up, a job that's never been done before on the Kansas;
Ric Brack, managing editor, who complemented my sometimes-lacking news judgment and tried to
Daniel Niemi, news editor, who stayed late most nights shading a mediocre reporter into a good one;
and to the rest of the editors, reporters, copy editors and photographers, who worked long hours for little or no pay.
Thanks, everyone, and congratulations for a semester well-done.
▶ Dave Stewart is a Broken Arrow, Okla., senior majoring in journalism.
Moynihan must complete the story
The words were those of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, senator from New York and eloquent man. They may be found in the Congressional Record of Nov. 19, 1989. The senator was recalling his last conversation with the late lorete of the University of Central America in El Salvador, Ignacio Eliacuria, victim of one of the more barbarous massacres in that country's pitiless civil war.
"I asked the one question I had come to learn about," Son. Meyihan recalls, "the question central to American policy. Were the Sandistas sending arms to the guerrillas?" Good question. The rationale for U.S. aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua was the role of that country's Communist regime in supplying arms to the guerrillas in El Salvador.
So, asked the senator back in 1893. "Were the Sandinistas sending arms to the guerrillas? Were they, that is, intervening in El Salvador?" The answer: "The rector replied no, they were not. I asked, had they been? He said, yes. And so I asked why then were they now not? And he answered, because the United States was sending so many arms to El Salvador that there were more than
Paul Greenberg
Syndicated columnist
enough to go around."
Sen. Moynihan's conclusion: "So there it was." The administration's policy toward Nicaragua at that point; I am sorry to say, although it has been said before and by others, had become a lie."
If Daniel Moynihan is willing to look, he can see a lot more than a shotgun now. A two-engine Cessna aircraft that came crashing to earth 65 miles southeast of the Salvadoran capital last week carried a mini-arsenal of sophisticated weapons obviously destined for the rebels in El Salvador's brutal civil war. The arsenal included Soviet SAM-7 anti-missile aircrafts, 75mm recoilless rifle grenades and a 75mm recoilless rifle to fire them, plus a Redeye anti-aircraft missile
made in the United States. But the flight plan found in the wreckage was evidence enough; the plane had taken off from Managua, Nicaragua's capital, and headed for an airfield in south-central El Salvador.
The conclusion should be clear: The Stalinists continue to ferry arms into El Salvador.
Let's be more charitable to Sen. Moynihan than he was to the Reagan administration. Let's not call him a liar. He was only retelling what he had been told.
But now that Sen. Moynihan has made this little speech about Managua's not intervening in its neighbor's affairs, he has an obligation to tell the governor that she should send a lot more than shotgunsto their comrades.
Without such shipments from Nicaragua or Cuba, would the guerrillas in El Salvador have launched their latest offensive, with all it has been of civilian casualties and murderous retaliation?
▶ Paul Greenberg is the editorial page editor for the Pine Bluff (Ak) Commercial.
CAMP UHNEELY
BY SCOTT PATTY
FOR THE PAST SIXTY HOURS
I'VE BEEN CRIMMING MY
BRAINS
WHILE JOLTS OF CAFEINE'
DANCE IN MY VEING.
WHEN WHAT TO MY TIRING
EYES SHOULD APPEAR
WAS JERRY GARCIA
AND EIGHT TINY REINDER
I WAS TOO HIGH STRONG
TO PUT UP WITH THIS CRAP
AND SAD CAME BACK LATER
AFTER IVE TAKEN A HAP.
BUT HE HEARD ME COMPAN
AS HE DROVE OFF IN HIS JEEP
"HOW CAN I BE MERRY
WITHOUT ANY SLEEP?“