Posted on 10/28/2002 3:10:54 PM PST by jmcadams
From: John McAdams, Associate Professor of Political Science, Marquette University
Background:
A beating death, in the Milwaukee inner-city, made the national news.
A student at the University of Wisconsin -- Waukesha, wrote a column for his student newspaper on the death. But his interpretation was politically incorrect. He found himself in a lot of trouble.
See below for:
Milwaukee JOURNAL-SENTINEL article on the fray.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/oct02/90800.asp
The actual column that caused the hubbub.
Contacts:
Brad Stewart, the Dean who feels this kid needs to be politically correctified: (262) 521-5435
The UW-Waukesha Observer (paper that ran the article): (262) 521-5496
Dan Hubert: (kid in the middle of the conflict): hubert_dan@yahoo.com hubed815k@uwc.edu
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 01B
LENGTH: 734 words
HEADLINE: UW-Waukesha astir over column; Student writer links black fashion, community, parents to Young's death
BYLINE: SCOTT WILLIAMS swilliams@journalsentinel.com
BODY: Waukesha -- The fatal mob beating of Charlie Young Jr. is stirring racial tensions on a college campus here after a student newspaper column linked the Milwaukee incident to lifestyles and struggles in the African-American community.
"Stop the welfare payments and you'll end the madness," wrote assistant editor Dan Hubert in the latest issue of the Observer, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha's student newspaper.
Since the column rolled off the presses earlier this week, angry students have demanded Hubert's expulsion from school and called for the university to cut off funding for the Observer.
Administrators and students, black and white, say that although they support freedom of the press, they are insulted by Hubert's generalizations about African-American neighborhoods, parents and fashion. Dean Brad Stewart said he plans no disciplinary action, but he does have an offer for the young newsman: free tuition for one of the college's courses on multiculturalism.
"The purpose of the institution is to combat ignorance," Stewart said. "We'll find a seat in the class for him."
Apology offered
Hubert, a freshman from Brookfield, said he has received many positive remarks from other students. But he apologized for making generalizations about black people. He said he plans another column in the twice-monthly Observer to explain himself.
A political science student, Hubert, who is white, said he fears the incident has spoiled his chances at running for public office someday.
"I know I'm going to be branded a racist," he said. "I am not a racist."
Editor in Chief Lucy Czech said she would not seek his resignation -- as some students requested -- although she said she wishes she had taken time to cut some of the inflammatory rhetoric from his column.
"Our paper is supposed to be the voice of the students," she said. "A majority of the students were extremely angered by it."
An organization of African-American students has called a campus forum Wednesday to air issues raised by the newspaper column.
Of the 2,100 students on campus, African-Americans and other minorities make up 7%, or about 150 students.
Some students confiscated copies of the paper Friday in an effort to stifle the controversy. But the column reached enough people to create quite a buzz.
"I was offended. I was appalled. I was shocked," said Milwaukee freshman Christen Lake, who is black.
The event that touched off the debate occurred miles away in a Milwaukee neighborhood where Young was beaten to death earlier this month by a mob of young people wielding baseball bats, shovels and other items.
Young, 36, and the suspected attackers, one as young as 10, all were black.
In his column, which appears on the Observer editorial page, Hubert calls the suspects "monsters" and adds that "no federally funded after-school basketball program could have prevented this."
He also cites a "baggy pants" clothing style "associated with the derelicts and bohemians of society," and he charges that unwed fathers and mothers living on welfare make poor role models for children.
"Who is gunning down black people in Milwaukee? Who is holding the black community in Milwaukee down?" he continues. "The answer is simple: black people."
The African-American Union, founded earlier this year for students at UW-Waukesha, plans a forum from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Student Commons to discuss the uproar.
Backlash to column
Michael Moscicke, president of the Student Government Association, said some angry students want university funding to be withdrawn from the Observer. Moscicke called that unlikely, adding that he hopes tensions will ease after Wednesday's forum.
"There are some people who are pretty riled up," he said.
Freshman Tom Whalen of West Allis, who is white, said he found the newspaper column offensive in its stereotyping of African-Americans.
"You can't say baggy pants are to blame," he said. "I wear baggy pants."
Lake, the Milwaukee freshman, is certain a small percentage of students agree with Hubert. But she would like to see him thrown off the newspaper staff.
Although emotions are running high, Lake hopes for a calm discussion of the issues at Wednesday's forum.
"I don't think anybody's really going to get angry," she said. "People are going to try to be civil about it, just to prove him (Hubert) wrong."
LOAD-DATE: October 26, 2002
Column that caused the uproad:
By Dan Hubert Assistant Editor
Milwaukee, Sept. 29: A mob of 20 inner-city youths throw an egg at an African-American man. When the man strikes back and hits one boy in the mouth, the group erupts. They beat him with shovels, pipes, baseball bats and boards. Charlie Young, Jr. does the next day.
Liberals believe that there are two overwhelming reasons that these incidents happened. The first problem is that there aren't enough federal funds flowing into the neighborhood. The second problem is that white men oppressed and killed black men up until the 1960s. Enslavement of the African-Americans (before and after the Civil War) was the overwhelming cause of the killing.
Evil, baby-killing, African-American-oppressing Caucasion male Republicans believe in something called "personal responsibility" and have some esoteric view of so-called "morality." (Message to Republicans: don't impose your upper-class morality on the same people you oppress.)
Another argument some make is the "baggy pants" defense. You know the type. You may even wear the pants yourself. The children that killed Charlie Young were wearing the same kind of pants that you can fit Andre the Giant and his twin brother in the same leg!
They hang so low that recording artists such as R-Kelly and Eminem have to grab their crotches during music videos just to keep them from falling down! (In fact, R-Kelly has been accused of not keeping his pants on in the presence of 13 year old girls. Get a snazzy pair of suspenders buddy.)
As a style, baggy and loose fitting clothing has always been associated with the derelicts and bohemians of society. Hobos, transients, and the homeless are usually portrayed as having baggy clothing. Jesters and clowns are also associated with exaggerated clothing. Clowns wear larger than normal shoes and baggier than normal pants. Am I wrong? Could it be a different problem?
Answer these questions: who is selling cocaine to black people in Milwaukee? Who is gunning down black people in Milwaukee? Who is holding the black community in Milwaukee down? Who keeps on getting black females pregnant, and then leave the woman and the child? Who can solve the current crisis in the black community? The answer is simple: black people.
Very seriously, it isn't the children's fault that they have no role models to look up to. Currently the federal government pays unwed girls to have babies. It's called welfare! Believe it or not, there are women who make a living by being on welfare. In 1997, the Unites States Congress approved a welfare program that cost 1.2 trillion dollars over these past five years.
Few of these monsters had father figures in their lives. It's simply true that black men participate in "hit and runs." (You know what I mean.) It really isn't the children's fault that they were hanging out on a street corner with a gang of other social misfits and drug dealers. No federally funded after-school basketball program could have prevented this. No Boys and Girls Club could have stopped it. The one thing that could have prevented this horrible crime is parental involvement. Where were the moms? Where were these kids' dads?
As far as I'm concerned, throw these monsters in jail with their parents and throw away the key. Stop the welfare payments and you'll end the madness.
The problem is that the genetic capability of races are vastly different.
Affirmative action, reverse discrimination, government handouts, dumbing down educational standards etc....will not solve the problem.
Genetic differences are real and the chaos will continue because of jealousy and greed based on the false belief that all people are truly equal....intellectually and physically.
Pathetic
Your opinions, please . . .
Somehow, this statement explains all that is wrong with today's society-I just can't quite get a grip on it.
Why mine?
You've stated yours -- for what it is worth -- now defend it.
There're a lot of people who're mighty GD'd fed up with hearing the kind of crap which happened in your city; &, really not all-that-far from where you live, now.
Did you take into account exactly who is being blamed for what these monsters did as well as their abhorant, criminally insane behavior beforehand?
It sure & the hell isn't the perps, Sir; it is, *you*.
~Helloooo~
How many trillion dollars have been spent since LBJ's "Great Society" in an honest effort to prevent people from going hungry & uneducated, remaining trapped in the cycle of poverty and in short, morphing into wild animals?
So now -- 37 years later -- we're still having to bear witness to incidents such as what happened in Chicago, and most recently, on Milwaukee's north side?
We're all being told what's already been done has not been enough & we need [to do] more.
Well OK Einstein; so, you tell me what that *more* should be.
I'm all ears.
Hate to tell ya, kiddo; but, I agree with every word the brat said.
I commend him for seeing the abject truth better than you -- someone whose at least 25 years his senior -- while surely knowing he'd get his head handed back to him on a politically correct platter more befitting a table set in North Korea or Vietnam.
Not to worry, though; for he shall pay, alright.
Next time we see this kid?
It'll be a scene right outa Clockwork Orange &, -- apparently -- you feel that'd be just A-OK, huh.
The conditioned, indefensible response in the article by the gal & the white male (Liberal) are going to have some mighty strange unintended consequences, long term.
Now if y'all don't get your heads outa your rectums & start seeing this BS for exactly what it is & soon?
It can & will only get that much worse.
For Heaven's sake, minimally, stop making-up excuses anyway if you've not the guts to confront this malarkey head-on now while there's still time.
I hate to tell ya this; but, feigned righteous indignation simply isn't playing in Peoria anymore, a'tall.
Will I be labeled a "racist" if I suggested the unthinkable, concerning the handling of the animals who murdered this guy?
...that they be treated as-if they were white?
Well stated, BraveMan. I almost hate to start down this path because the unknown is at the end. What I see now - the welfare state - is never ending. I wish I had a better crystal ball.
How is one weaned off of welfare? How is self-respect restored? How are family values re-introduced?
I think that a huge first step to solve this was implemented by several states awhile back - you can only recieve welfare for X amount of time - you will only be "paid" for X amount of kids, anything above that level and your on your own, etc.
As I recall, NY was quick to ask for an extension / revision, etc., to the terms. Seems like 5 years was the time limit. Obviously, that was not long enough to be weaned from the public money teat. How long is long enough? How much money is enough?
Ok, what do we do? Cut off funds? I feel I'm as compassionate as the next person - but is this my life long obligation? To fund these people's lives? What if Mom insists on having babies? Do we have the right to stop her? Take away the kids? What? Why is this my responsibility? I have my own family to care for. I have my own life to look out for.
It just seems to me that, no matter what, all of "their" problems are, some how, my fault. And I, along with every other tax payer, are expected to pay for them. BS - BS - BS - and I'm tired of it.
And now, we are being manipulated into the lie that "we" owe reparations? Gag - barf - puke.
Tax payer funded "relief / rehab programs"? I think we know what that results in.
Like I said, I do not like thinking about what the outcome of this is - no easy way out.
I'm not racist. I'm not the rich white guy.
I am the guy that is just plain tired of paying for this crap. If I can get a job - so can they. If I have to do without things I would like to have - so can they. If I manage to make a good living for my family - which is my right - they have no right to condem that. I worked at it. Anyone that wants to take that away runs the risk of physical harm.
I wish I had the solution.
LVM
Because your opinions are valuable to me. They always have been. But you knew that. Do not presume I'm looking for some sort of defense from you here . . .
Well OK Einstein; so, you tell me what that *more* should be. I'm all ears.
In short, a demanding of parental accountability, and fiscal as well as social responsibility. This is not happening in this instance, nor does it look likely that it will ever happen. This particular issue has me mad as hell. During the initial arraignment of the juvenille perps, half of them had neither parent present.
I have teenage children of my own. There is a good reason they are not morphing into wild animals such as these; I am not letting it happen. This should not be considered optional, but mandatory. So far, not one parent involved in this has been charged with anything of consequence, nor does it appear any ever will. The ONLY way these actions will be prevented in the future is through holding the parents criminally responsible for the actions of their adolescent children.
I'll give our young author credit; he briefly touched on this issue at the tail end of his piece.
Hate to tell ya, kiddo; but, I agree with every word the brat said. I commend him for seeing the abject truth better than you
The area in which this incident occurred is known locally as "Little Berlin". It is roughly a six block square neighborhood isolated from the other neighborhoods by a quirky series of dead-end streets. The difference between Little Berlin and the surrounding neighborhoods, although also low income, would astound you. Brightly painted homes, clean yards, flowers hanging from the porches; dramatic in contrast by every measure, not the least of which is crime rate. Yet I doubt you got any sense of that from our young author's article; he paints with a rather indiscriminate brush. I am not so inclined to let him get away with that as you.
Next time we see this kid? It'll be a scene right outa Clockwork Orange &, -- apparently -- you feel that'd be just A-OK, huh.
Oh, he'll get away with his diatribe minimally scathed. He had some valuable things to say, yet the manner in which he said them eroded that value tremendously. His freedom of speech to be banal does not require nods and agreement from those whom he offends. If free tuition for one of the college's courses is the limit of his pennance, I'd say he's damned lucky. As I stated earlier, if he were my kid . . .
I hate to tell ya this; but, feigned righteous indignation simply isn't playing in Peoria anymore, a'tall.
I don't give a damn about how it will play in Peoria. How it will play in the powder keg that is Milwaukee is my concern. Make no mistake; he has his fawning audience. Observe how well he is playing in FreeRepublic . . .
Wisconsin's W2 welfare reform was the model used by x42 to be implemented nationwide, albeit with a few "adjustments", as you have correctly pointed out. It's by no means perfect, however it is much better than it was five years ago.
I have read this theory on FR previously with regards to the Islamic culture compared to the West.
I write quite a bit on FR....Could you please reference the statement I made and on receipt I will be happy to respond to you as you requested.
There is a wealth of detail on this subject. Suggest you go to google and type in words such as "racial differences."You will find data pro and con on the foregoing statement...much of it supplied, either way, by well educated people. PC understandably negates acceptance of differences in capability between the races in any way shape or form.
My opinion gathers simply from observing.... over my lifetime.....the racial make up and trends in "excellence within such arenas as professional sports, children's spellig bees, attendees of aircraft design symposiums, awards and advances in the high sciences including chemistry, physics, medicine, aerospace, engineering etc......as well as such things as the deterioration of societies in Africa following the expulsion of western influences and governments....Results and trends too numerous and continuous to ignore or sweep under the rug.
No hate intended.
I understand that you didn't make your statement in a "hateful" manner. Actually, if we're completely honest about it, it is obvious that your statements are generally true (always exceptions to the rule, of course). I guess what concerns me about going down this road is that these observations are custom-made for true racists to glom onto, thus causing everyone to be painted with the same broad brush.
Although I feel this peice was most likely written by a person from a very well-to-do family with little experience in the world that he attempts to describe, I have to say that this is the one bit of truth I see in the article. How could this group of young people attack and murder this adult male unless their upbringing has left them devoid of any feelings of respect for adult males. This is also the main reason behind the poor treatment of women in these situations. When normal male teen rebellion is experienced in a traditional family situation, it is the father that is being rebeled against. The mother retains her historic role as nurturer and comforter for the child. But when no adult males are present, the mother becomes the object of rebellion and this, I believe, leads to the rise in mistreatment of females in these cultures. Most of the rappers who put out vilest lyrics concerning the treatment of women were raised by their mothers with little male supervision in their lives. Without any adults being respected, the 'pack' mentality takes over.
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