European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Plus shouting Down equals Damag Clarence Page he professor was trying to make himself heard by an Abc Crew despite the loud cursing of students. They did no to like what he was saying so they shouted obscenities to prevent the videotape from being used by the to network. Recalling the incident later the professor could not help but see the irony in it. Or hear it. V a /. A they want free speech for themselves but not for me Quot he said. The professor was Russell Adams chairman of the afro american studies department at Washington a Howard University which has been one of the nations leading historically Black colleges since its founding in 1867, the angry students were upset that Adams had spoken out against recent incidents that threaten to tar Howard As a hotbed of anti semitism. First came a Campus rally picked up by cd so Eye to Eye with Connie Chung at which students and outsiders angrily blamed jews for among other sins spying on Martin Luther King or. And a setting up his Only about 100 attended but on tightly focused television it seemed like More. Then a jewish history professor from Yale confirmed that he had postponed a scheduled lecture at Howard after the professor who had invited him cd pressed fears that the visitor might be heckled. Then Unity nation the same student group that held the earlier rally held another one in which the nation of islam a Khalid Abdul Muhammad former spokesman for minister Louis Farrakhan made headlines by saying a god told Colin Ferguson to shoot White and asian commuters on the Long Island Railroad. As far As Adams was concerned a few of the Campus most angry and outspoken militants had grabbed a moment of National Fame for themselves thanks to the University a free speech policies and the current National Media hunger for stories about Blacks who verbally attack jews. ,. Charged by some critics with allowing in effect nazi style rallies to be held on Campus outgoing Howard president Franklyn Jenifer said he deplored the sentiments expressed but maintained that the Campus cannot get in the Way of free speech. On april 23, Jenifer announced he was leaving Howard to go to the University of Texas at Dallas a move that was in the works before the speech con. Troverso came up. Adams held a press conference with Emory a Tolbert chairman of the history department to announce they did no to think Jenifer had gone far enough to Rescue the schools name from a Small band of Loudmouth. A we recognize with compassion the pain and Sinif Fering afflicting much of the Black Community a they said in a joint statement. A but to ascribe the plight of 30 million african americans to the actions of a single ethnic group among the Many in this diverse nation demonstrates a will to disregard the findings of generations of fair minded scholars Many of whom did their work at this i find it painful to hear intolerance coming from the Halls of Howard whose alumni have included such luminaries As the late supreme court Justice Thurgood Marshall who drove to Washington daily from Baltimore because the University of Maryland a Law school would not admit Blacks. It was in Washington where he armed himself Well enough with constitutional Law to use the framers own words to win the landmark Brown is. Board of education decision 40 years ago. Fearing a Triumph of evil a and a possible snubbing of Howard students by employers who done to. Know better a Adams spoke up even if he risked turning off some students. A i Felt for these youngsters for they arc in the grip of forces they do not in the slightest understand Quot he said a there seems to be an attempt to preempt the social science curriculum of this University by people who Are not academics students hear a Khalid Muhammad and they see the big crowds react and they say. Can All those people be wrong they find the rally More appealing than the classroom. I respond that the rally is More appealing because of one its atmosphere of defiant outragcousness., two it has a quasi mob environment that does no to demand much thought and three you done to have to take a quiz a indeed you Don t. You done to even have to produce results. The Saddest aspect of the Appeal some Black youths find in Farrakhan today is that it is born out of desperation Over the worsening condition of so Many poor Blacks and the sense they As College. Students have that their efforts will Lead to continued injustices no matter How hard they work. A a a a saw this thing evolving from the time sales of Malcolm xes autobiography began to increase a few years ago Quot Adams observed. A Young Black folks sense a malaise. A moral vacuum. They have been looking for a Malcolm. They think they have found him in Farrakhan.�?�. Based on my own experience visiting College campuses in recent months i agree. After watching Whites reject such Black leaders As Jesse Jackson and David Dinkins in recent years a new generation of angry Young Blacks is turning to the strongest voices it can find to As Farrakhan recently told Abc s Barbara Walters a get your this sort of attention getting does less to build african americans up than to Chase everyone else away which can Only bring everyone Down. A. Chicag Tribune. A. A on the High degree of Andy Rooney s everal years ago when they first started firing friends of mine at work i was angry. I thought it was a new heartless management that had taken Over at my to network. Over a period of months i heared about cutbacks and layoffs at Abc and Abc too. People in their Early 50s who had worked at those places for 25 years were being offered buyouts. A a a buyout is a Nice Way of telling employees they Arentt wanted anymore i realized it Wasny to just lbs that was cutting Down a an amp Back a it was the broadcast Industry. Maybe Cable television was destroying the networks. But then i heard things weren to too Good in the Cable to business either and i decided maybe the recession Wasny to simply in television but in new York and the whole Northeast. Well it Wasny tabs it Wasny to the broadcast Indus try and it Wasny to the Northeast. The fact is even with the recession waning Good jobs Are scarce everywhere in the United states. Big companies Are doing it with fewer employees. Young people can to get started and capable Middle aged men and women who worked All their lives until they got Laid off two years ago Haven to worked since Industry is doing whatever it docs with fewer employees. The product May not be As Good but that Isnit of much concern to a management whose Only interest is Money. They re making that at the expense of la id off workers. I was out of work for Long enough during one period in my life to know the feeling of desperation that comes with unemployment. It always seemed that there a so much work to be done in the world that there Ever be any unemployment but it does no to work that Way. It does no to work because the theory assumes that a Man who has been a Plant manager for example would be Happy cleaning up debris by the Side of the Road for the county Road supervisor. In most companies Middle management people have been hit the hardest with layoffs and a lot of them Are College graduates who thought their degree assured them of a decent jiving. I done to know Why More College graduates done tend up doing skilled manual work. It would pay As much and might be More satisfying than being the assistant office manager of an insurance company. We re Short of people who can actually do things. We re Short of skilled workers in a lot of areas. 1 in elude in that category carpenters electricians plumbers landscape gardeners builders Stone my sons automobile mechanics appliance repair experts it be demeaning or a waste of education for someone who graduates from Yale to build houses for a living an education is Good to have not because you use it to make Money but for its own Sake. Having an education is a Comfort to anyone who has one and there a no reason Why an educated person make a living with his hands As Well As his / a for the past 30 years in be spent my free time Mak ing things out of Wood. In be made tables chairs Beds and chests As a Hobby. People Are so amazed that i can do it at All that they done to notice in a Only fair at it. I have several College educated friends who have hobbies that involve manual labor and everyone holds them in High esteem for it. Why does that attitude change when someone does the same kind of Manua labor for a living maybe colleges ought to Start suggesting that some of their potentially unemployed graduates think about becoming plumbers in the daytime even if they go Home and read Shakespeare at night. Tribune Modia services Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter. May 15, 1994 sunday Page 9
