1989_05 The Daily Collegian May 1989

              Page 2  FY1day.May5.1989
TheDa%Couegian
Opinion
LETTERS
Senators clarify bylaw positions
To the editor,
We need to bring out in the open some
facts that were either distorted or left out
in yesterday's articles in the Daily
Collegian. 0
First of all, the purpose of the L&L
committee is to review ideas for leg¬
islation to ensure that there are no
inconsistencies or illegalities; and that it
best reflects the intentions of the original
author.
With this in mind we would like to
reveal the original author of the
"sweeping bylaws changes" (excluding
the abolishment of Student Court). This
original author is not Ron Avedesian,
who has worked many long and faithful
hours for the ASI. The original idea came
from none other than our beloved ASI
President, Mr. Scott Vick. Therefore, we
would like the student body to draw their
own conclusions when Mr. Vick says,
"he had not been aware of the full extent
of the actions."
Furthermore, the editorial in the
Thursday, May 4 edition of the Doily
Collegian has done Ron Avedesian a great
injustice by shifting the blame to his
shoulders and praising Scott Vick.
Further corrections to the facts include:
1. In writing of the bylaws changes,
there were no self-serving reasons due to
BLOOM COUNTY
the fact that none of the senators on uY
L&L committee or Ron Avedesian will
be returning next year.
2. The committee is not comprised of
primarily rival Reality senators. In ac¬
tuality the committee consists of two
Reality senatorsvone independent and one
SRG senator.
3. When Ron Avedesian stated, "We
felt there were certain modifications that
needed to be made to the way student
government is run," he was not being
demure and sly but supporting the wishes
of the president.
4. Jeff Anderson will make a good
administrative vice president for the
students next year and for the SRG
supporting groups to shift any blame to
his shoulders is ludicrous. He had
absolutely nothing to do with these
changes.
In conclusion, since our names were
never actually mentioned in either article,
this letter serves us no purpose other than
the satisfaction of knowing that the facts
were revealed.
Sincerely,
Dan Attema
Senator, School of Engineering
Brian Godden
Senator, School of Natural Sciences
See LETTERS, page 5
by Berke Breathed
theDaily Collegian
The Dolly CoUegtan Is published by the Associated Students. Incorporated ol California State University.
Fresno and the newspaper staff dairy except Saturdays, Sundays, examination week, and university holidays.
The newspaper office H located m the Keats Campus Building Fresno. California 93740. Nrws/Editonsl
lair: 294-2486. Business and Advertlstr_}?294-2266. The Dally CoUeakm Is a member of the California
Intercollegiate Press Association. Subscriptions are available by mall far $17.50 per'semester or S30 per
year. The opinions published on this page are not necesssrlly those of the Dairy Collegian or Its staff.
Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the paper's editorial board.
Apartheid alive
and well in U.S.
Steve Leone
"If you want an example of the failures
of socialism, don't go to Russia—come
to America and go to the Indian
reservations.
—James Watt,
then U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1981.
Today is Cinco de Mayo, a day of
celebration for the entire Mexican race in
North America. On this day in Mexican
history, a Spanish-French army attacked a
band of Mexicans in what would be
known as the Battle of Puebla. Although
the Mexicans were outnumbered 3-to-l,
they were the victors. From that point
on, the Mexicans rallied to win thcir
independence from Spain on September
16, 1862.
Food for thought; most of the Mexican
rebels who fought to win Mexico's
independence were, whole or in part,
Aztec, Nahua or Zapotec Indian. Since the
rebellion, Mexicans have rejected Indian
blood to uphold a tradition of patriotism,
to uphold the Mexican way, and this
rejection has carried over to the treatment
of Indians in that country as well. For the
sake of the Mexican race then, citizens of
Mexico have forsaken their own Indian
heritage. This does not look good on the
country's resume.
America has the same problem. It's
amazing that, in this country of many
freedoms, one people are continuously
subjected to subjugation. Yes, we may
point to Mexico, to apartheid in South
Africa, to the oppression of Jews in the
U.S.S.R., to the tyranny of the Turks
over the Armenian people, but we have
had our own apartheid in the
government's dealings with the Ameu^m
Indian population since the very founding
of this great country of ours.
Why is it that North American Indians
are excluded flat out from the same rights
as the rest of the population and are
continuously oppressed? In both Mexico
and the U.S., Indians were viewed as
foreigners by the Founding Fathers of
each subsequent nation; they only shared
the continent and were not considered
citizens with rights of protection or
likewise. Thus, founding policy of both
countries labeled Indians as n on person s, a
label which continues to exist today in
Indian reservation life.
This may be hard lo believe. Look at
the stats:
*The U.S. Constitution does not apply
on reservation land.
♦Property may be seized without just
compensation on reservations.
•Freedom of speech, assembly, etc. are
routinely and legally denied.
•Indians have the highest infant
mortality rate, the shortest life span and
the highest unemployment rate for any
minority (49 percent in 1985).
♦Indians have the poorest housing, the
poorest transportation, the lowest average
income, the lowest level of education.
•Forty percent of the Indian population
live under the country's standard poverty
level.
•Alcoholism and suicide rates have
reached epidemic proportions for the
American and Mexican Indian race.
•Two-thirds of the American Indian
population live off reservations,    but
find themselves unprepared for urban life
or simply rebel against it, creating their
own vacuum of depression and despair.
Indians do seern to create such poor
conditions for themselves. But
Europeans came to this continent to
conquer, to take the country by force from
its inhabitants. It was because our
governments forced natives into
reservations and to conform to our
standards of living that Indians have
become confused and lost They love their
country and they love their people, but
the nation has to this day never given
them equal respect
Oh yes, the Indians are reimbursed for
their hardship; S3 billion from 20
national programs. Yes, they get free
medical, hospital, dental and optical care,
but they are not hampered by the legal
restrictions that bind other Americans. In
reservation life, Indians do not have to
impose taxes on real estate, gas, liquor,
or cigarettes. Gambling is legal, and
hunting and fishing regulations are not
applicable to reservation Indians.
Basically, what has happened is that
such Indians are spoiled and don't live for
themselves and have become
impoverished alcoholic dependents.
Indeed, reservation Indians depend on the
U.S. government for handouts for food,
shelter and clothing, and most survive
within our failing welfare system.
Because of forced relocation of Indians to
government subsidized areas of
confinement. Native Americans (and
Mexicans) have lost their identity as a
people and as individuals, and have
become our most oppressed minority, an
embarrassing slain to democratic standards
and the Judaeo-Christian conscience of
our country. This is the result of a long
era of unilateral decision making by Euro-
American "experts" on the needs of the
Indian people. It does not look good on
our resume either.
Reservations simply should be
abolished and land should be given back
to the Indians for their own use.
CivLization and technological progress
has just has hot been in their favor. In
manv respects, Indians will remain an
uccupied nation anyway.
*     *     *
On our own CSUF campus last
weekend, members of the Karuk, Yiuok
and Tolowa people gathered in a Pow
Wow to celebrate life and the brotherhood
of all man. This is the irony, Mr.
Reagan—there were no bows and arrows.
It was a friendly gathering open lo the
public, and it was quite the place to
experience and learn about the Indian way
of life.
One man, a Karuk artist who sketched
mandala and wilderness drawings, served
as the wise man for a group of interested
listeners at his booth of turquoise
jewelry. We ate Indian tacos and we
learned.
Recentiy, the U.S. Supreme Court
made a decision to support the
construction of logging roads through Ihe
Six Rivers National Forest in Northern
California. These would extend through a
sacred region considered critical for
maintaining religious traditions. To the
Karuk artist, building through his
people's religious grounds is analogous to
"building a freeway through the Vatican,"
for the roads would desecrate burial
grounds and "power sites" for religious
activity.
The fight has gone on for more than a
decade now, and the battle was lost in a 5-
S ruling last year. Sandra Day O'Connor
said the government need not "satisfy
every citizen's religious needs and
desires." This is a cruel example of
injustice and constitutional hypocrisy. As
Justice William Brcnnan responded to the
decision, I find it difficult "to imagine
conduct more insensitive to religious
needs." However, this conduct continues
to occur in opposition to Indian needs.
From day one of the European
See LEONE, page 3