1997_03 The Daily Collegian March 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, March 3,1997
Opinion
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Racially-motivated
beating needs to be
addressed in Clovis
By Manuel Annear
The Daily Collegian
For about four weeks, there's
been a big stink washing over
Fresno State from the northeast.
No, the odor is not from the ani¬
mals in our agricultural unit, they're
kept clean by dedicated students.
The origin of the stench is a bit
farther off. It is a mixture of white-
supremacist racism, thuggery,
cover-up and deceit emanating
from the halls of Buchanan High
School and the Clovis Unified
School Board.
After months of harassment (be¬
ing called a disgrace to the white
race among other things), a white.
130 pound 17 year-old at Bucha¬
nan was surrounded by seven or
eight self-described white suprema¬
cist students and brutally beaten
into unconsciousness. He was
blind-sided, knocked to the ground,
and repeatedly kicked in the head
to the chant of racial epithets.
Only one or two of the
"Peckerwoods," as they call them¬
selves, actually struck the student;
the others kept him trapped and
detained those who might help.
The battered boy's injuries: a
fractured nose, swelling of the
brain, multiple facial contusions,
and a jaw broken in two places.
Once the savages were pulled off
their victim, the cover-up began.
First, no ambulance was called
to the scene (too noisy, someone
might think something is wrong).
Instead, the injured boy was moved
to the nurse's office and his mother
was called to come and transport
him to the hospital.
Then, during media interviews,
Buchanan's assistant principal said
it was just an altercation between >
two boys from rival gangs (The vic¬
tim is no gang member. He spends
90 percent of his time playing video
games and bugging his mom.). If
the principal's statement was true,
why were seven boys removed
from school and why was a restrain¬
ing order filed by three different
families against 12 boys known to
be "Peckerwoods?"
Finally, when a student editor at
Buchanan wrote an article for the
high school newspaper denouncing
the mauling and the racism that pre¬
cipitated it, her story was sup¬
pressed by the administration (must
be a new class; Censorship 101).
Why all this scrambling to hide
the truth when those involved have
a history of harassing and threaten¬
ing other students, especially non-
whites? Primarily because they are
well-heeled and connected; the sons
of big-name, wealthy locals who
can exert some influence in city and
state politics (yes sir, the good old
boys are in charge in Clovis).
Another compelling reason for
deceit and concealment: Clovis
Unified is the educational jewel of
the Central VaHey; this can't hap¬
pen here. If this is the "Clovis way
of life." I want no part of it.
One student was arrested and
will be arraigned in juvenile court
tomorrow on aggravated assault
charges, but he was only the muscle
in this coordinated and premedi¬
tated attack.*He and his compatri¬
ots should face attempted murder
charges (remember, every blow
delivered was to the victim's head)
as adults in federal court. Unfortu¬
nately, they still roam the streets and
continue to threaten those who
would testify against them.
Do the parents condone or en¬
courage this behavior? Why is the
Clovis School Board so deafeningly
silent about this issue? Why do the
local media only parrot school of¬
ficials, instead of giving the beaten
boy's side of the story?
The stink is only going to get
worse if the problem isn't con¬
fronted and eliminated.
'Political correctness' hits Fresno State
By Bridget Johnson
The Daily Collegian
"Political correctness." The
premise seems pretty logical —
don't say things to offend anyone;
speak softly and leave your big stick
at home.
But hasn't it occurred to the gen¬
eral population that some of these
terms are ridiculous, erroneous in
nature or actually insulting'?
Wouldn't it be more sensible to
address a problem or issue with
some "straight-out-of-Webster's"
terminology?
I have come across most of these
politically correct terms right at
Fresno State in my "let's not hurt
anyone's feelings" classes.
The first term I have a problem
with is "homophobia." A phobia, as
defined by Webster's, is "a persis¬
tent, irrational fear of a specific
object, activity or situation that
leads to a compelling desire to
avoid it."
So technically a homophobic by
definition would be an individual
who shivers under the covers in the
dark each night, frightened that
there are gays in the closet.
Just because one does not mor¬
ally agree with the homosexual
lifestyle does not mean that they
live in fear of homosexuals. The
gay men that I am friends with are
wonderful, funny, caring individu¬
als.
Here is where I separate the per¬
son from the action. You may not
agree with a person's actions, but
accept and love them as a person,
and still not agree with the moral¬
ity of their actions.
Now, when it comes to deciding
legislation such as gay marriages, I
cannot override my moral voice. So
for this, I am labeled homophobic?
In one of my classes this semes¬
ter, we were all handed a paper on
how to be nice to each other and
sensitive to feelings. The paper
stipulated that "classism" would not
be acceptable in the classroom en¬
vironment.
Now, I have a problem with this
term because we live in a country
where you are not born into one
class and doomed to remain there
for the rest of your natural life. I
thought ours was the American
Dream — work for what you want.
"Classism." As if any college
student is really rich. We all tend
to hover around that lower-middle
class income area.
And many of us who succeed
don't come from silver spoon back¬
grounds. Hey, I was born in
Inglewood. I can't (currently) af¬
ford Prada shoes or Armani dresses
Classes are constantly evolving
I, who am in the lower class, have
every potential in the world to move
up as far as I want to — my own
initiative dictates how far.
So, with this motivational school
of thought, we have no need for pity
parties and no use for the useless
term "classism."
In this same class, we were told
that "heterosexism" was not toler¬
able. What the hell is this? Gay
people oppressing straight people?
Straight people prejudiced against
other straight people for being
straight?
In this case, I proudly admit that
I mock what I do not understand:
The last, and most recent, politi¬
cally correct concept that outrages
all forms of logic is "ebonies."
You see. the Oakland School
Board thought they would be diver¬
sity geniuses by unanimously de¬
ciding that African American
schoolchildren should learn street
slang as "their" language.
What an insult to the strength.
Please see CORRECT page 5
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