1990_02 The Daily Collegian February 1990

              CaliPsrnia
State
University,
Fresno
c
The Daily
OLLEGIAN
Peter Sellers
rides again...
-See page 6
Thursday, February 22,1990
Established 1922
Vol. 95 No. 80
Vet Terry spills "Bloods"
Author
discusses
best-seller
By Robert Phlpps
Contributing Writer
As Pulitzer Prize nominee Wallace
Terry stood under the Satellite
Student Union spotlight Wednesday
night, the horrors and Joys ofboth Vi¬
etnam and the civil-rights movement
came flooding back.
a Terry, the author of "Bloods: The
African-American Experience in Viet¬
nam," spoke to a crowd of approxi¬
mately 70 Wednesday night, recount-
big the struggle to create a best¬
seller.
Born In Harlem and raised in Indi¬
anapolis, Wallace was educated at
Brown University where he is aTrus-
tee Emeritus. He has been an adviser
. to the U.S. Air Force in Europe and
has reported for such newspapers as
The Washington Post and USA To-
Published in 1984. "Bloods" details
the battlefield brotherhood ofblacks
in Vietnam, the greatest American
casualitiesofthatwar. The book be¬
came aninternational best-seller, was
nominated by Parade Magazine for
the Pulitizer Prize in literature and
picked by Time Magazine as one of
the five-best non-fiction works of the
year.
Ten years ago I wouldn't be stand¬
ing here because "our country was
stllldivided over Vletnam/Teny said.
"I think the veterans and you, college
students, have been a deckling fac¬
tor. If it werent for veterans, we
wouldn't have that memorial called
the wall'In Washington, D.C."
Terry explained that "Bloods" was
the culmination of 17 years of labor
which went through more than 115
Pulitzer Prize nominee Wallace Terry reflects the strain of African-Americans during the Vietnam era.
publishing agencies before finding a
permanent home atRandom House.
He said that a story which combined
two volatile issues of the day would
probably end up being remembered.
"Bloods" took 17 years of prayers,
struggle and a lot of work behind the
typewriter," he said.
The reason Terry cited for keeping
the faith in his novel was to ensure the
young Blacks in Vietnam, who ac¬
counted for 17 percent of the Ameri¬
can casualiUes In 1965 and 1966 arid
who carried extra burdens, were not for¬
gotten "as they have been in every other
war,"
However, the author did not blame any
one faction for the neglect Black soldiers
received during the war.
Rather, he pointed out, extreme leftists
disregarded them as baby-killers while the
right-wing labeled them wrongly as being
the first Americans to lose a war.
Terry reinforced bis assertions, men¬
tioning leagues of faithful soldiers like the
"Harlem Hellfigh ters" in World War I and
the "Buffalo Soldiers" of earlier wars.
But it was the "Bloods" he was mainly
concerned with.
"A new breed of soldier called Bloods
came to Vietnam to demonstrate the
bloodshed by Black soldiers whose bond
to each other was thicker than blood,'
he said.
The idea for the book came alter Terry,
while still working at Time, suggested
doing a story on the newly-integrated
See TERRY, page 4
Stark named senator
By Tim SI tar
Staff Writer
Making a landmark appointment
Tuesday, the ASI Senate chose SheJby
Stark as the new Senatorof the School
of Business.
He is the first openly homosexual
member of the Senate.
. The founder of the CSUF-GLSA [now
the GLBSA], Peter Robertson Is ex¬
cited about the appointment
There's no doubt this is an impor¬
tant decision. He can offer a lot of
things to the whole campus, not Just
the School of Business, but the gay
and lesbian community, too," said
Robertson.
Robertson knows a lot about land¬
marks. He was the first openly gay
person on the ASI stair. That was one
year ago this month.
Under the Scott VJck administra¬
tion, he was director of public rela¬
tions. He faced some opposition.
"Many Senators said they would
resign because I was openly gay. I
hope there is no opposition to Stark's
appointment, but you almost expect
it. In fact. Vtck was ostracized by
many, "satd Robertson,
"I am happy about the appoint¬
ment but a part of me Is scared to
death, because I'm openly gay and I'm
the Senator of the largest, most com
servative school on campus," said
Stark, a 28 year-old finance major.
Stark doesn't fear any possible op¬
position to his appointment'
See STARK, page 8
Rodriguez illustrates
Saivadoran situation
By Catherine Jlguet-JlgUlre
Contributing Writer
Salvador Rodriguez, member of the
Salvadorian leftist guerilla FMLN (Far-
Ibundo Marti National Liberation Front).
gave a noon lecture at CSUF yesterday.
His visit was sponsored by M.E.ChA.
Campus LASC and the Campus Rain¬
bow Coalition.
Sandra Gutierrez, M.E.Ch.A. chair¬
person and student in Literature, intro¬
duced Salvador Rodriguez.
"M.E.Ch-A. supports the FMLN be¬
cause their struggle for economic and
social justice is our same struggle as
Chicanos," she said.
Salvador Rodriguez, a little man with
a mischievous smile, got up from the
audience and walked* toward the ros¬
trum.
"I came here to bring yotithe hope of
our people in Salvador," he said, trans¬
lated as he spoke.
Rodriguez started his lecture with a
picturesque representation of his coun¬
try.
"San Salvador Is a smaller area than
the San Joaquin Valley, and only makes
three products: coffee, cotton, and cane."
he said.
Rodriguez^ former physics professor
at the University of El Salvador, briefly
recounted how the 10-year-old Salva¬
dorean war started.
"Inequity In the distribution of wealth
causes conflict in San Salvador," be
See SALVADOR, page 3