Show Page 2 February 24 1994 New opportunity awaits Hispanic culture Disappointment is seeing depression in the eyes of an 11 year old I was told In a recent conversation with my 1 1 year old school The she was having problems with a group of students at her kids were calling her and other Latino children “scuzzy Magna Mexicans” She knew she was of Latino descent yet she did not understand why that made her “scuzzy" Truthfully I do not know either The stereotype employed by those children did not just manifest in their minds It was planted there by ignorant adults No the children are not racist They did not know anything better But that does not make the 11 year old classmates feel any better Racism his been around forever Unfortunately it will continue to be around forever It is not overcome by apathy It is not overcome by political legislation It is overcome movements Latino or and dealt with by grass-rohave not adequately dealt with racism They have not formed successful movements nor have they achieved political clout as have other minorities The 90s offer a new opportunity to this minority Will they take it? The findings of the 1990 census are not arguable: the Hispanic population is growing They account for nine percent of the population or roughly 224 million people Unfortunately Hispanics have very little political power There are no Hispanic US Senators and less than 20 US Representatives More importantly numerous studies show that Hispanics vote less attend fewer political rallies and donate very little money to political campaigns An important fact that should be mentioned is that the average age of Hispanics is 23 Obviously many of them are to young to vote Still the obvious must be stated: Hispanics do not participate In 1977 Raul Yzaguirre slated The 80s will be the decade of the Hispanic” Yzaguirre was the president of the National Council for La Raza a grass-roorganization for the advancement of Hispanics In sister-in-la- w 1 ot Hispanic-Ameri-ca- ot 1989 Yzaguirre stated “If anything (in the 80s) we regressed" Indeed this statement is true Hispanic Americans have not taken advantage of the US education system Only 44 percent of Hispanics over the age of 23 have graduated from high school Seventy percent of all other Americans over the age of 23 have graduated No group can get ahead in 20th Century America if they are uneducated Tim vast majority of Hispanics are uneducated Sure racism has a lot to do with it but so does apathy and a lack of will The numbers reflected in the census are important to Hispanic leaders Not because their power is growing but because Hispanics rely on numbers and visibility for their political clout and influence Ronald Reagan and George Bush have given Hispanics “token" appointments for governmental positions In the past 40 presidencies only four people of Hispanic descent have been appointed to cabinet-levpositions Who is to blame? I contend that while racism is an invisible hand hard to control the Marne lies in the hand of the Hispanics Unlike African Americans Hispanics have never had a common enemy They have never had a superior political substructure African- - Americans have had Martin Luther King Jr Malcolm X Rosa Parks and the NAACP Who or what have the Hispanics had? Give up? That is my point Hispanic heroes are few and far between The only one I can personally remember is Caesar Chavez Chavez fought for the rights of migrant workers He was a true hero and still should be today But Chavez does not get the recognition that African leaders do King Jr X Parks and the NAACP took the initiative to change the status-quSo did Chavez Because Hispanics have not been organized they have not been overly successful in achieving change or advancement Why? Because they have not been organized They have no representation in Congress because they do not vote One answer is obvious participate and vote But that is not all it can't be el o all Hispanic leaders today have their priorities in the wrong place I say this being of Hispanic decent because I do not know what our priorities are The Hispanic equivalent of the NAACP is La Raza Spanish for “the race" La Raza is not as powerful nor as organized as the NAACP In Utah La Raza his spent most of its time arguing with Gov Mike Leavitt over the appointment of judges Seriously is this where there emphasis should be? I think not Hispanics make up less than five percent of the Utah population Yet Hispanic (sm Ulbarrl page 8) The smell of elections is in the air For those of you who actually do take the time on a regular basis to read the articles appearing on the Viewpoint page this will truly come is a surprise— this issue 1 have decided to do a column on an issue that is directly related to the College of Eastern Utah and the students thereof Sorry no into militant social commentaries insight technological nightmares or inevitable disasters this issue but mind you the year is far from over It is that time of year again The smell of politics is in the air (Is it just me or does the smell of politics remind you of a barnyard?) Yes it is election time again at CEU and someone wants your vole They want it for a variety of reasons many of the candidates believe they can offer CEU that “special something" that will make next year all it can be or want your vote because it is the only thing that stands between them and the power and prestige of being a part of ASCEU Student Government Council Whatever the candidates’ motives they want your vote and whether you have realized it or not your vote is just that your vote A vote that will dictate how you live and work next year what events will lake place during your free time and how the money you rake out in fees will be spent and who gets it That is quite a bit of responsibility is you're delegating out to an individual whose primary objective to use bit of responsibility that should your vote to obtain their end That is a and not given away lightly by the voters be earned by the candidates Beciuse these elections affect next year and its policy will affect years ne voting is something that should be done by everyone on lo cam jus after evaluating the issues and using those issues to persuade their vote— not popularity We are out of high school now a PU Now that the importance of voting has been stressed the real challenge is to get the students to vote When talking to current Student Body President Jeff was startled to find out that only about 260 or nine percent of the student body voted for their representatives in last year's spring election I was even more startled to learn that figure is one of the highest in the stale So for an election that affects people more than the actual election for US President (that one is low also30 percent in 1992) nine percent of the people votedyou got to love that participatory democracy Also in the February 14th ballot to consolidate the the two positions of financial secretary and executive and create a new appointed position of financial 100 people turned out Of those 100 six voted “no” Six people voted “no" to a referendum that would allow the individual that assists the president in budgeting your S8230 would replace the president if anything happened to himher and is head of the ASCEU Advisory Council to be appointed without the consent of the studentspraise you who did so I don't think the problem of lack of voter turn out is entirely the fault of the students ASCEU or any other group 1 think we are at fault for the situation we are in and should take blame ASCEU needs to lake a more active role in informing the students of upcoming ballots through flyers or forums The students need lo be more aware of campus politics Bid all of us need to express the importance of participation so both the costs and benefits of issues and how they will affect the student body are made aware to all before decisions are made that affect all I hope the candidates running for office will maintain their humyn side when asking for the support of the student body and remember what the end goal of their crusade is— the betterment of CEU and not just themselves It becomes truly easy when one is in the public's eye to lose sight of reality and get d caught up in the popularity and power Remember that many of us have beat following student body elections since junior high and the old “Let's rally around the flag hold hands and meditate around your fearless leader" campaign can get pretty gut wrenching and the “If I am elected! will” election gets pretty boring Save us the Rolaids Just be an honest human and remember that promises get you lynched (“Read My Lips”) and Jordan 1 vice-preside- nt vice-preside- nt short-live- (sm Hoglund page 8) Letter to the Editor Poor isn't poor when you have a television Dear Editor I had a hard time deciding which article to comment on from the Viewpoint section of the January 27th issue of the Eagle 1 decided on Ryan Hoglund's article concerning the practical application of socialism The article by Joshua E Ulibairi concerning the ATF was so full of presumptions uneducated guesses uniformed commentary and gross deception that anyone with any common sense would laugh out loud upon reading it Although the idea that socialism will ever work is completely absurd there are still some misinformed people out there that still think that it has a chance particularly in the Clinton administration First let's take a look at the traditional stronghold of socialism the Soviet Union It is no longer a country!!! Socialism destroyed the Soviet Union Mr Hoglund tries to find an excuse in Stalin but the real key to understanding the uselessness of socialism is incentive People have no incentive to work in a socialist system so everyone is equally poor Socialism is in effect spreading the misery equally Mr Hoglund also contends capitalism guarantees that there will be a lower class Of course it does! Gass division is what guarantees incentive To quote one of the greatest political minds of our time Rush Limbaugh “You can never wipe out the poor because the standard for being poor keeps rising" In other words being considered poor is not bad if you have a high standard of living Over half of the people considered poor in our country own a dishwasher most own a car and almost all own a television This standard of living e would be considered class in the world What docs that tell you about capitalism? It works Socialists believe that all people other than themselves lack the education to decide what is best for them They underestimate the power of the human spirit and show contempt for all the ideals that made this country great such as freedom and free enterprise Socialism has never worked and it never will Behind all the big words the abstract theories and the smoke screens of the Marxist philosophy is the undeniable fact that socialism is a failure Welcome to America Mr Hoglund where you have freedom to write things that don't make a whole lot of sense and 1 have the freedom to tell you about it upper-middl- Trent Lythgoe |