European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes Friday september 7,1990 columns Leon . Effort in Mideast hostage crisis criticized it was left to a Plain spoken fellow to Tell us How the cow ate the cabbage. A a in a like to say that the ambassador from Iraq is dead wrong a Lloyd Culbertson 76, of Elpaso Texas said sunday mincing not a word at the Airport news conference in Washington. A first of All the people that i just left about 24 hours ago Are held against their will a without water without food without with barely controlled rage Culbertson scoffed a and the ambassador says they Are free to ambassador Momammed Al Mashat linked away thoroughly vanquished just minutes after boasting again to the Media about How Well the hostages he insists on calling a a guests have been treated by his government. If Al Mashat was the loser at the news conference the Clear Winner was the Rev. Jesse Jackson who seems to travel to the troubled Middle East before launching his presidential bids. The Baptist preacher fairly preened before the to cameras As Culbertson bracketed Jackson with the almighty in crediting him with winning the release of hostages in Iraq and Kuwait. A but for the Grace of god and Jesse Jackson we be Here a said the Canadian National who left his Home in Elpaso seven years ago to teach electronics to the kuwaiti military. After dispensing with the iraqi ambassador Culbertson dispatched the . State department with a single sentence bitterly delivered a i want everybody to know a god forgive me for saying it a our state department Hasni to lifted a hand for the first american hostages to come Home were accompanied by Jackson who stepped out of his new role As a journalist to negotiate with iraqi officials for their release. An estimated 1,000 american women Are among More than 10,000 foreign women and children who were detained by iraqi forces after iraqis aug. 2 invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is using As a a human shield an unknown number of male foreign hostages held at critical military and communications Sites. The first hostages to appear before the microphones with Jackson were Bonnie Anderton of Colorado and her daughter Jennifer. The Anderton held a Small american Flag. Bonnie Anderton said she hoped her husband Richard would be freed soon. Jackson dominated the news conference speaking at length from notes on a yellow Legal pad in favor of a diplomatic rather than military solution to the persian Gulf crisis. He warned of a War in which a Many Young and innocent will die where blood will flow Oil will also bum governments will be destabilized. And so if there is a window of Opportunity for dialogue for diplomacy it ought to be some in the crowd expressed Surprise when the iraqi ambassador smiling and wearing a double breasted Gray suit showed up to a a Welcome the freed hostages. A was far As the men Are concerned we Are willing to let them go providing the United states will give us a guarantee that they Are not going to strike Iraq a said Al Mashat. A they Are there As a result of your threat to us a the ambassador said. A you have besieged our country and denied our children the Bazner family of Northville mich., did no to besiege Iraq. They were simply waiting for a connecting flight at Kuwait a Airport while on their Way Home from Malaysia when iraqi forces invaded the emirate. Dawn Bazner said leaving her husband Kevin behind in Iraq was not easy but the couples top priority was to get their two Young children to safety. A a it a hard to leave a she said. A a we re hoping this can be resolved most of those freed stayed Well away from the microphones but close to loved ones who had waited anxiously for their release. Meantime the iraqi ambassador having been adjudged dead wrong on nationwide television retreated to the safety of his embassy where the water and electricity presumably were still on. C Unstad press International Ellen Goodman cutting . Racial segregation Down to size the Man was talking about what he Calls the a Are segregation of american life. He was a Veteran of the civil rights movement and went South As a student in the �?T60s when Whites and Blacks fought american apartheid together. The Man went on to make his life in a midwestern University where he was my guide one Spring Day. Indeed he taught about race in America until he Felt discredited on account of his skin color a White a and went into administration. Walking me into the student Union he said the tables in front of me were nearly As segregated As a lunch counter in the Alabama of the 1960s. There was just one table where Black and White undergraduates ate in noisy camaraderie. They my guide explained were members of the varsity team. Pausing he counted on one hand the number of places where Blacks and Whites interact on his Campus these Days in sports in the arts or he added ironically in race relations class. A few years Back there was a Shantytown on Campus a makeshift protest against investing in South Africa. Now he was almost sorry the University divested because it had been one of the few actions that brought students together. I brought this Story Home to a woman who disputed Only one phrase desegregation. We never desegregated she says. An academic and Black she knows very few people who Ever had social lives that easily transverse the color lines. As a Mother she sees her Grade school kids with friends of All hues but her College students subdivided by skin color. So she also wonders when it happens and Why. Many of her Black students believe they can Only integrate on White terms and turf. Many of her White students feel unwelcome by Blacks. Who was defensive and who was racist and who was just uncomfortable and Why this great silence today Between Blacks and Whites about race relations in America both of these academics now enjoying the summer that is their chief professional perk can cite incidents Over the past year. Graffiti hostility tension. Yet they would agree that these Are by no Means the worst Days on Campus or the worst years. They remember the Kkt Mississippi Legal segregation. But they also know that nearly every Campus holds a volatile mix of attitudes that in no Way resembles a melting pot. In some places Whites believe that their Black classmates were admitted because of their race. In others Blacks believe that Whites believe that. On Many universities the Black search for identity a their own place on a White Campus a can end up fusing blackness with victimization. In Many universities White classmates resent the racist Label brushing them indiscriminately. There is today a High degree of racial consciousness and a sorry Lack of a language of a forum of a common ground where people can talk honestly about race. These two facts have Given Many campuses the look and sound of two cultures. And in these segregated places there May not even be Faith anymore in the value of integration. Neither of my guides believes that campuses Are unique in their Sharp segregation. Quite the opposite is True they say. Look around the office. Look around town. In Washington it is still almost impossible for Blacks and Whites to talk about the trial of mayor Marion Barry. To most Whites in the nations capital the Case was a a about the mayor and his alleged use of drugs. To most Blacks the Case was a a about the entrapment of a Black Leader. Across the great Divide of the race the words defied interpreters. Even in journalism bylines often come color coded. White journalists Are awkward writing about Blacks As if race were a qualification. Black journalists Are often both required and discredited for writing about a their and in our cities there Are neighbourhoods As separated by race As Ever in our history. There Are people who speak for the a Black Community and the a White Community As if their apart Ness was an accepted and permanent reality. But universities have often thought of themselves As models communities of scholars. At Best they Are expected to uphold their own values. At a minimum they Are places where we Are to think and talk deeply about what troubles the a real the universities Are reopening. They Start each new year with a fresh curriculum. But what troubles the real world As much As anything these Days is race relations. Its a problem that exists on a scale As Large As a City. But it can also be seen a and changed a on a scale As Small As a dining room table. Boston Globe
