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Show MoNdAy, DecEMboi r- - CfiRONicU 7, 1987 Paqe Seven Fight racism with understanding My opposition to racism led me to produce a poster for Saturday's rally against the Aryan Nations. However, even as I penciled in the words, "All people are equal," I began to wonder whether antagonism toward racists isn't The Aryan Nations represents a threat to enlightened social concepts like equality and unconditional love for all human hfe. Dogmatic dislike of the Aryan Nations is a new construction of the same problem. You can't design an accepting and unified world using tools that divide and ideologies that constrict. By attacking the Aryan Nations' right to publicize its world view, protesters make their desire for human integration more difficult to attain. Those who attended Saturday's demonstration in West Jordan City Park will undoubtedly resent this assertion because protesters have sought the most means for ending racism. open, This wasn't always the case. For instance, in a demonstration against a woman who put racist signs in her tailoring shop, protesters rejected humanitarian notions. Activist leader Tom Price went so far as to say shop owner Donna Parker and other racists should "get the hell out of Utah." In a protest against the Aryan Nations in early November, defenders of human dignity hurled insults at white supremacists, calling them "disgusting" and "garbage." m activists have Since these two events, worked to humanize their campaign. In Saturday's action, speakers continually emphasized the Aryan Nations' right to free speech. Unfortunately, protesters softened this benevolent bestowal of rights with rhetorical backstepping. Price said racists have the right to speak up, but when they self-defeatin- non-aggressi- g. ve anti-racis- Don't ignore real issues " ' Editor: in Heather Gourley's Dec. 4 I found little to agree with letter. She proposes the Chronicle provide more articles on sports, art exhibits and theater reviews, and less on such issues as AIDS, drinking and abortion. Per sonally, I think that might be kind of nice, too. I wish the headline-stealin- g, distressing problems in the world use this right to call for race war or revolution, they word-for-wo- I complaints. Instead, people were allowed to take an active stance against something they despise, to reaffirm their belief that all human beings truly are equal. In our post-Civ- il Rights society, the fight against is inequality rarely so easy. The lines between fairness and bigotry are blurred. The distinctions between racism and miscommunication are fuzzySquelching the Aryan Nations, hating it and denying its right to exist won't make the lines between unconditional and hesitant acceptance of individuals more lucid. It won't free human beings of - hate. Erasing prejudice from society requires a far more delicate hand. It requires us to put aside the compulsion to battle and to take up, instead, the finer tools of education and love. Shauna Bona is a senior English major and editor in chief of the Chronicle. didn't exist. But they do. And people need to read and write about them a lot even if they're "too busy and tired." Awareness of social ills can never be spread thickly or widely v enough. Chronicle coverage of such topics is Gourley complains the to professional media. I don't unprofessional compared I speak for the staff, but hardly think they consider themselves accomplished journalists so early in their careers; I hope none of them let inexperience stand in the way of '; Moreover, those writers among them who do care enough about important issues to research and write about them should be appreciated instead of criticized. What a mundane paper the Chronicle would be if all it contained were entertainment. And how isolated this campus would be from the real world. Helen Senior motivation. Oer tlhiree-yea- ir t focal point in a larger continuum of human progress. The group functions as a societal magnifying glass in which we can visualize the horrifying enlargement of our tendency to divide, isolate and judge. If it is analyzed without hate, the Aryan Nations can serve as a catalyst in our own movement toward human unity. It allows us to examine our own racsist feelings and provides us with a tangible enemy to battle in our desire to create a better world. And unlike more subtle, more egregious methods of of racism allows bigotry, the Aryan Nations-typ- e itself to be confronted. None of the people bearing signs in West Jordan City Park Saturday had to worry that society would view them as incessant bellyachers. None of them had to wonder whether their feelings toward the Aryan Nations were paranoid delusions or justified must be silenced. This doesn't sound like the same Tom Price who rallied for his right to crash Institutional Council meetings until the University of Utah divested its interests in companies dealing with South Africa. I know how easy it is to pull away from the First Amendment when free speech gives voice to brutal, painful ideologies. And I know I've matched Tom rd when it comes to reactionary statements and moral grandstanding. But I'm starting to realize that my longing for human perfection should never eclipse two higher values : dedication to free speech and acceptance of all human beings for what they are and where they are. If we truly believe in free speech, we must reject any attitude which infringes upon it. We must particularly avoid legalistic boundaries in which some paternal voice of reason determines free speech that is OK and free speech that goes too far. It is not enough, however, to merely grant the Aryan Nations its First Amendment rights. Hope for a discrimination-fre- e society demands an even an acceptance, of bigots. and understanding, This statement may seem odd, especially coming from a person whose words scream out against bigotry of any kind. Nonetheless, hatred of bigotry includes a denial of words and actions which prejudge those individuals whom our society labels bigots. This doesn't mean I advocate an acquiescent attitude toward injustice or individuals whose philosophies support inequity. It means resistance to bigotry must be instilled with tenderness with a desire to educate rather than battle, to identify rather than ostracize. I view the Aryan Nations as, a sad, but necessary Salas-McCar- ty linguistics and scMaiislfonps worn' make coles easnei two-ye-ar Jtat easier to pay ff Even if you didn't start college on a scholarship; you could finish on one. Army ROTC Scholarships pay for full tuition and allowances for educational fees and textbooks. Along with up to $1,000 a year. (Jet all the facts. 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