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Show OPINION THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL • SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSlTY • FRIDAY APRIL 4, 1997 BRANDON R. SCHRAND DEBORAH MATHIS i COMMENTARY The hatred starts early As of this writing, 13-year-old Le nard C l a rk i s s ti ll a live in Chicago but co matose-be at e n into uncons ci o usn ess by three s trangers who jumpe d Le nard as he left a pick-up bask e tball gam e. By every indica tion, th e attack was a n act of raw racism . The a l lege d assailants- ] 7, J 8, and 19 yea rs o ld and white-reportedly bragged later t hat, by slamming th e black boy's h ead into a bui ldin g a nd ki cking him rep ea tedly, they had "taken care o f th e niggers in the neighborhood." Victor Ja sas, Fra nk Caruso a nd Michael Kwidz ins ki have bee n ch a rged with att e mpte d m urd e r, agg ra v a t e d batte ry and commission of a hate crime. But w hil e Le n a rd lies in a h ospital n ear death , the thr ee suspects a r e walking the s tr ee t s, r e l ease d fro m police custody af t e r p os ting all of $35,000 in bo nds, a mighty ch ea p ti cket fo r freedo m under the c ircums ta nces. Jasas, Caruso and Kwidzinski did not have c rim i n a l records before thi.s in cident. They were sa id to be average kids, th e produc t o f Cathol ic schools a nd, t h e reby, pres umed t o b e a bove suc h jungly be hav io r. Folk s in their predomina tely white n cighbo rhocl arc wo nd ering when th e hatred was instilled in the t h reeso m e. And where th ey got the idea that th ey could e nact it. And why u po n a hapless little boy they didn ' t even kn ow. And how they were brazen e no ugh to boast about it. Those questions be tray th e regretta bl e assumption that it was so m e thing the three were taught a nd told th a t preci pitated the recent tragedy when it was m o re probably what was no t impa rt ed to th e m that le d to these awfu 1 events. This is not to say t h at their evil was unnurturcd. Someo ne o r so me thing-fa mi ly, TV, racis t pro paga nda- surely primed th e pump with a epithe t h e re o r a de ris ive jo ke there or a n occasional sly act of cruelty. Add t o that th e a bs e n ce of a ny dis co urse dcd.icated to counteracting ste reotyp es, myths and t h e ridicu lo us noti o n o f s uperiority as o ppos ed t o equality, and you 've got t h e m a kings of a tim e bo m b. If we could see the whole of Jasas, Caruso and Kw.idzinski's lives, I bet we wou l d find thre e b o ys who w e re casually exposed to racist though ts a n d act s, did n o t h a ve any o ngoing expe rie nce with which to co mpare and eventually dis pe l the prejudices they had picked up, a nd we re never taughtdirectl y and ex pre ss l y- that b l ack people were n ot a proble m to be ta ke n care of. By no m eans am l looking to excuse the accused for t he ir hei no us, vi le act. They do n ot deserve special m e rcies n or any p a rti cu l a r sy mpat h y. Ca u sa l relationships between w h a t m ay h ave happen ed t<J.th cm a nd what they did in turn a rc m oot . They arc grow n o r nearl y grown men, fu l ly ca pabl e o f und ers t a ndin g th at m os t fund a m en t a l ru l e of human interacti o n- that, whate v e r yo u r demons, yo u may not exerc ise the m a t someone else's expense. But let t h e rest of us take a lesson from this h orro r and wait n o longer to cleanse our children o f whatever hatred, resentment a nd fea r th ey h a ve of oth e r races. Teaching them to ha te, o r a llo wing the m to, is abuse. It consigns the m to a life of mi sery, s in ce th ey ca n h a rdly esca pe a nd ce rtainly cannot eradi cate everyon e guilty of this fa lse offe nse. Whi c h m ea ns they wi ll eithe r have to h o ld it in s ide a n d le t th e rage c h ew their own inna rd s, o r they wi ll release i t, do ing damage to ot h e rs' lives and property a nd, in th e process, ru ining thei r own . Racis m makes a terribl e heirl oo m . Deborah M at his is a nationally syndicated columnis t. Students' paper; keep sending letters In the beginning, the re was not hingat least, to the editors there might have been n othing, beca use it t ook m ore than one quarter for students to even sta rt to t h ink abo ut writing down their ideas a nd opinions for the paper. We w ou ld lik e to take t h e ti m e to th a nk th ose w h o did respo nd to o ur request for letters, and remind students that th ough w inte r qua rte r is coming to a close, there is s till a ful l quarter o f school remaining before summe r. Space is ava il a bl e fot student con cerns a nd opinions o n any to p ic, but the space re m ains tmuscd for on e reason the s tudents. The edi tors have co ntinu all y re minde d the ca mpu s community that the pape r is here fo r the stude nts. T he vast m ajority of t he articles and fea tures appearing in the Journal a rc written by SUU stude nts. The onJy requirement for a letter to th e edi t or is th a t the letter b e re s p o n s ib ly writte n; n o l ib e lo us or m alici o us m a te rial wi ll be accepted. Le tte rs must be typed and include the a utho r's name and phone numbers. In addition to the lette rs to the editor, we have also continued the 'A ccess' column fo r those of you who want to express more le ngthy opinions. With these submission s, yo u must include name, major a nd year in school. It is gen erall y accepted that e veryone has an opinion on som ething. Even if it is only o n how to be a back-scat driver. So take a few moments of you r time to tell us what you think. I Ii COMMENTARY Paradise Repossessed "Of Man 's first disobedi e n ce, and the fruit / Of t h a t forbidden tree ... "-Jo hn Milto n, Paradise Los t Jimmy Buff e tt is on th e stereo. Fin a ls a re fi n is h ed . The grass is tu rni ng green again. I w atch from my doo rste p a l I the s t u d ents scutt l in g from o n e p lace to the n ext pre pa r ing to leave for the week. It was tim e for Spring Break and all I wanted to see was good o ld so ut h ern Uta h i n my rear view mirror. I w e nt in search of solace. First, however, I would need co mpan y and a drink. Kno wing tha t my co h o rt, Brad, wo u ldn ' t let m e dow n, I ph o ned hi m . " Idah o?" h e ask e d as th o u g h he tho ught I was being sa rcasti c. "Yes, Ida h o. Soda Springs, Idah o," I assured his disbe lief. And with a little convin c in g and tw o, ma y b e three blood y m a ry s, we were no rt h bo und. O ne of th e m os t s triki n g things J re m e mbe r ab out o u t driv e north w as a ll 0£ th e scen e ry c h a nging back into a gree n, pastora l back dro p recovering from th e blea k th roes of winter. Brad p lugged in the ZZ Top Greatest H its alb u m and w e l it cigarettes. " So what's in Soda Springs?" h e h o lle re d over th e mu si c be l c hi ng th ro u g h m y stock door m o unt speak e rs. " Paradise," I ca lled back. H e looked a t m e blan kl y. So I told him t hat if h e h ad do ne hi s ho m e w o rk he would have known th a t th eologia ns h ave recent ly discove red that Eden was actua I ly in So d a Springs, Ida h o , 83276. And furthe rm o re, it wasn't a n app le o r any ot h e r fruit th a t Ad a m and Eve had ea te n . It was a potato. And it wasn't a se rpe nt th at h ad tempted the m; it was a pig. So t h e re t h ey were: Adam, Eve, and so m e pi g rooting potatoes o ut of th e dirt a nd c h o mping th e m d ow n unti l they were s i c k . "Th is is Paradise, sweetie," Adam sp a k e unto Eve. They we re bea ming unti l th ey saw a Fo rd F-25 0 l o ng bed co m e t ea ring ac ross the fie l d toward t h e m . It was God and h e was very angry. Adam , Eve, and th e pig were al l nak e d and ashamed so th ey cove red t h emselves with 1:,runny sack s. God told Adam and Eve h o w disappointe d He was with the two o f th em . Whil e God was spea king, Adam accid e nt ally burped a nd Eve smacked his head and to ld h im that was rude in fro nt of compan y. God then told the pig t h a t h e w o ul d be cm scd to a life eating s lop like fla t b ee r , r o tt e n m eat l oaf, and s tal e c heeseburge rs. T h e pi g s imp ly s mil ed and m a rvel led a t his n ewly appointed ca ree r. " What 's a c hee se burger? " Adam asked. Again, Eve s ma c ked his h ea d a nd told him it was n o n e of hi s business a nd to keep quiet. I h ad n oticed Brad was h av in g a difficult time buying this story. But as it turn ed o ur, it was not hing co mpa red to the o n e m y co usin to ld us upo n o ur arrival in Soda Spri ngs. H e t o l d u s a s t or y a b o ut a man named Happy Si n n . I had known Happy Sinn w h en I was growing up in Idaho. Wh e n I l e ft high schoo l Happy Si nn still had two teet h left in h is hea d. He was nearl y 40 years o ld, we ighed abo ut 90 pou n ds, s ti ll had n ot found "steady work, 11 a nd was indifferent a bout his wife, Pudgc, w h o had jus t turned 19 when I graduated. Ov c; r the pa st fe w years, Happy fina ll y lost those two teeth . S ix m o nths ago h e made a n a ppo intme nt with t h e l oca l dentist and a rrange d for so me d e nt u res. They were very fine de n tures fro m wh a t J. ga the r beca use h e s h owed th e m to eve ry o ne. H a pp y was h a ppy a bout his new teeth. Pudge was h a ppy about Happy's n ew tee th too. In fa c t, eve ry b o d y was h appy a bou t H appy's new tee t h and th.is m ade H a pp y happy too. Ha ppy 's teeth beca m e the t alk of their trai le r park and a ll t h e n eig hbo rs f l ocked a b o u t . "Thi s i s Paradi se, s weetie, 11 Happy had said to Pudgc o ne day. But there was one problem that made Happ y a n d Pudge no t so happ y. H appy wa s s ti ll o ut o f work . W h at l i ttl e m o n ey t h ey h a d w as sq u a n d e red o n beer for t he guys down a t the loca l ba r. For four m o nth s th ey h a d b een ce le bra tin g H a pp y's t ee th a t th e expense o f t h e $ inn 's bank account. O ne clay last m o n t h w o rd was se nt to the loca l ba r from the de n tis t's o ffice. They wanted Happy to co m e in for a routine cleaning . Happy sc h e du l e d another appointment and wh e n th e t im e ca me, h e wa l ked tall and proud to his appo intm e nt. But mu c h t o hi s s urprise, when h e w alked throu gh the d oo r o f Dr. M ac k s lacke n 's office h e was thro wn viole ntly to t h e floo r. The n ex t t h ing h e kn ew h e w as h og-tied and tw o m e n w e re prying his m o u th op e n . " Y o u 've m issed th e las t four payments o n your teet h, Happy . And as mu c h as it ki l l s m e t o d o it, w e' re takin' th e m ba c k. Yo u ' re t eeth have bee n rep ossessed, Happy Sinn! 11 The m en united him and kicked him out o f the o ffic e. Poo r Happy S inn stoo d o ut s id e b a ngin g o n the d oor and g umm e d swear words at the lot o f them. Paradise m ea ns an a rray o f things fo r diffe re nt peop le. For H a ppy a nd Pudgc, it was his tee t h. For Adam a nd Eve, it was a pig a nd a dirt field. The latte r brings up a good point: had Adam and Eve had c redit t ro ubles with their de nti st a nd los t t h e ir teet h, there co uld n o t h ave been a fall of Mank ind. Beca use try a ll yo u like, w itho ut teeth, the re is no way to c h ew a spud do wn to a reasonab le bite si ze p o rti on o f foo d. Hrandon K Schrand is a senior English major from Soda Springs, Idaho |