The Press-Dispatch
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B-8 Wednesday, Februar y 21, 2018 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg In the current era of conflict whether it is social or political, the essence of the teaching of Christ "turn the other cheek" is eerily si- lent. The wave of sexual accusations has almost reached witch-hunt sta- tus. Accusers have reached back into the 1970s claiming harass- ment and abuse. NeverTrumpers are hysterical in their passion to take down Trump from office. It has long been con- ceded that all parties have made- up stories and incidents. There will be no end to the haranguing of Trump. Daily we hear of policies of the US State Department and Penta- gon that could place the nation in the crosshairs of armed conflict with Syria, Pakistan, Russia, Chi- na, North Korea, Iran, and a host of other hotspots. The gender warriors have suc- ceeded in cancelling proms and father-daughter dances in sever- al public schools because of gen- der insensitivity. The foundation of internation- al negotiation has also eroded in the posturing of sever- al nations threatening armed conflict, forget- ting that there is "no final word in diploma- cy." Urban areas have witnessed an uptick in assaults and murders; the majority is tied to gang and drug activi- ty. Assaults and mur- ders go unsolved because of lack of cooperation from the surviving victims and the community. The twentieth century was an age of godless rulers who used the state as an object to be wor- shipped, venerated, and obeyed. It was an age where too many wor- shiped violence as a means and end to their goals and objectives. Our world leaders respond to one another either by threaten- ing conflict and demanding sub- mission. The world is in an upheaval and probably always has been. We are just aware of it more because of the 24 hour news cycle. No sane person can argue that there are winners in a war. [The Nye Committee inves- tigating World War I concluded armaments and banking won. That is why there was a se- ries of Neutrality Laws passed in the 1930s.] In the many con- flicts since World War I, the num- ber of noncombatants killed and the untold suffering that followed is incalculable! The same holds for property and resources; the amounts are stag- gering. It seems two paths have emerged in solving issues of life; war/threat of violence or submission. There is a third way—Christ; the only way western civilization can continue. The foundation of any civiliza- Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring Black History Month Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Turn the other cheek Campus free-speech zones are dying Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner "The Death of Free-Speech Zones," reads a recent headline in Inside Higher Education. It's a de- mise that anyone who believes in the First Amendment can cheer. The zones were intended to mol- lify college students who (right- fully) protested the proliferating rules aimed at restricting their ability to speak up on campus. Want to say what's on your mind? Just walk over here, to this one spe- cific piece of real estate, and say it. Problem solved! Except it wasn't. For one thing, the zones that campus administrators so gen- erously deeded to their students were often ludicrously small (at Pierce College in Los Angeles, for example, it was about 600 square feet, or roughly the size of three parking spaces). Others were lo- cated in campus areas that placed students out of the way of most foot traffic. In some cases, it was worse: You couldn't simply go to one of these zones and start handing out your literature, or begin speaking. You had to reserve the space before- hand. "At the University of South Dakota, a student needs to reserve a free-speech spot at least five days in ad- vance," the Inside Higher Education ar- ticle notes. But logistical prob- lems were the least of it. Even if the zones were larger, more ac- cessible, and could be used spontaneous- ly, you're still dealing with a cowardly "solution" that vi- olates the U.S. Constitution. It's a shame to have to point out the obvi- ous, but these administrators don't seem to realize that the entire cam- pus is already a free-speech zone. And not because they allow it, but because it's located in the United States of America. I call it cowardly, of course, be- cause these zones only cropped up in the wake of the insane assault on free speech that's been occurring on campuses for some time now. Students raised in politically cor- rect bubbles have arrived on cam- pus blissfully unaware that anyone disagrees with their worldview. So when, say, a speaker shows up to criticize affirmative action, or pro-life students be- gin handing out flyers on abortion, they can't handle it. I don't mean they offer a counterview. That would be fine, of course. Everyone's free-speech rights would be honored in that case. No, they form mobs. They yell, shriek and shout down those with whom they disagree. They attack them, both verbally and physical- ly. "Triggered" by the horror of a different point of view, they have a meltdown. Have administrators reacted to these tantrums by standing up for the Constitution? Used these "teachable moments" to educate their young charges in the process of civilized debate? Very few, unfortunately. Ma- Little Murder on the Prairie, part two Lenten season Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Conquest changes everything: build the wall Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson At my very first class session on my first day of college, I en- countered Dr. Randall Braman, a burnt-out professor of psychology. He was unyielding on class dead- lines, with one exception. "If you can tell me an excuse I've never heard before," he told his wide-eyed freshmen, "I'll give you an A." Many of us gave it a shot dur- ing that semester, but I never heard of anybody getting the A. It's true that much of our suc- cess over the ensuing 40 + years would, in fact, depend on the qual- ity of our excuses. "A lie is an abom- ination unto the Lord," Mark Twain quipped, "and an ever-present help in time of trouble." But lying to authority figures is one thing. Lying to your children is something else. And so it's easy to forgive illegal aliens who lie about their status in order to put food on the family table, but not so easy to forgive Baby Boomers who lie to their grandchildren that Ameri- ca's going to be just fine with open borders. Our American grandchildren need a barrier at our southern bor- der, and soon. Without it, the Unit- ed States will cease to exist, per- haps within your grandchild's life- time. What would that ending look like? Chicano activist and professor Charles Trujillo has predict- ed a merger of the U.S. and Mexico, af- ter which fertile immi- grants would overtake the American-born vot- ing population, without a shot fired. But he has also called secession of the Southwest from America inevitable, due to recent immigration. His colleague Armando Navar- ro, who says he takes inspiration from Saul Alinsky, Vladimir Len- in and Che Guevara, advocates a forcible occupation of the South- west. "A secessionist movement isn't something you can put away and say it's never going to happen in the United States," Prof. Navarro writes. "Time and history change." He has a point. Who could have predicted that the Greatest Gener- ation would give birth to a genera- tion like mine, that would squander the American advantages and pres- tige purchased at such great price? What if a hypothetical resur- gent Mexico not only occupied the Southwest but drove north and east to conquer America from sea to shining sea? Would Mexico's title to Indi- anapolis be valid un- der American prop- erty law? Yes, and it's not even a close ques- tion. The Supreme Court settled it in 1823 with Johnson v. McIntosh, a case about Native Americans' attempt to sell their land to whites. That decision established once and for all that conquest confers title. It even trumps good-faith bilateral contracts for purchase. If we're under the impression that we can cut a side deal with invaders, that we can deal away our grandchildren's sovereignty but keep our property and priv- ileges, we're playing a very dan- gerous game. The truth is that conquest not only trumps proper- ty rights, it effectively trumps all rights. Try out your best excuse with Dr. Braman, but let's not lie to our grandchildren. Conquest changes everything. Don't put our grandchildren through it. Build the wall. My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Carter G. Woodson, noted scholar, historian and educator, created "Ne- gro History Week" in 1926, which be- came Black History Month in 1976. Woodson chose February because it coincided with the birthdays of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. Ameri- cans should be proud of the tremen- dous gains made since emancipation. Black Americans, as a group, have made the greatest gains, over some of the highest hurdles, in a shorter span of time than any other racial group in mankind's history. What's the evidence? If one totaled black income and thought of us as a separate nation with our own gross domestic product, black Americans would rank among the world's 20 richest nations. It was a black Amer- ican, Colin Powell, who, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, headed the world's mightiest military. There are a few black Americans who are among the world's richest and most famous personalities. The significance of these achievements is that in 1865, neither a former slave nor a former slave owner would have believed that such gains would be possible in a little over a century. As such, it speaks well of the intestinal fortitude of a people. Just as importantly, it speaks well of a nation in which such gains were possi- ble. Those gains would have been im- possible anywhere other than the U.S. Putting greater emphasis on black successes in the face of seemingly in- surmountable odds is far superior to focusing on grievances and victim- hood. Doing so might teach us some things that could help us today. Black education today is a major problem. Let's look at some islands of success from yesteryear, when there was far greater racial discrimination and blacks were much poorer. From the late 1800s to 1950, some black schools were models of academic achievement. Black students at Wash- ington's racially segregated Paul Lau- rence Dunbar High School, as early as 1899, outscored white students in the District of Columbia schools on citywide tests. Dr. Thomas Sowell's research in "Education: Assumptions Versus His- tory" documents similar excellence at Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School, Atlanta's Booker T. Washing- ton High School, Brooklyn's Albany Av- enue School, New Orleans' McDonogh 35 High School and others. These ex- celling students weren't solely mem- bers of the black elite; most had par- ents who were manual laborers, domes- tic servants, porters and maintenance men. Academic excellence was obtained with skimpy school budgets, run-down buildings, hand-me-down textbooks and often 40 or 50 students in a class. Alumni of these schools include Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice (Frederick Douglass), Gen. Benjamin Davis, Dr. Charles Drew, a blood plasma in- novator, Robert C. Weaver, the first black Cabinet member, Sen. Edward Brooke, William Hastie, the first black federal judge (Dunbar), and Nobel lau- reate Martin Luther King Jr. (Book- er T. Washington). These examples of pioneering success raise questions about today's arguments about what's needed for black academic success. Education experts and civil rights ad- vocates argue that for black academic excellence to occur, there must be ra- cial integration, small classes, big bud- gets and modern facilities. But earlier black academic successes put a lie to that argument. In contrast with yesteryear, at today's Frederick Douglass High School, only 9 percent of students test proficient in English, and only 3 percent do in math. At Paul Laurence Dunbar, 12 percent of pupils are pro- ficient in reading, and 5 percent are proficient in math. At Booker T. Wash- ington, the percentages are 20 in Eng- lish and 18 in math. In addition to low academic achievement, there's a lev- el of violence and disrespect to teach- ers and staff that could not have been imagined, much less tolerated, at these schools during the late 1800s and the first half of the 20th century. Many black political leaders are around my age, 81, such as Rep. Max- ine Waters, Del. Eleanor Holmes Nor- ton and Jesse Jackson. Their parents and other authorities would have nev- er accepted the grossly disrespectful, violent behavior that has become the norm at many black schools. Their si- lence and support of the status quo makes a mockery of black history cel- ebrations and represents a betrayal of epic proportions to the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors in their struggle to make today's educational opportunities available. The sheriff of Stuhr sighed and sprawled back against the Truett's wooden fence. A single snowflake rested on the tip of his bulldog nose, and he scratched his earlobe with one finger and sighed again. His deputy was crouched down in three feet of snow next to John Tru- ett's half-covered corpse, inspect- ing a bloodstain. "Bill," the sheriff said, "This snow is the darnedest thing about the whole mess." Deputy Bill nodded and dabbed his finger into the stain, which he immediately regretted. Blood was icky. "If it had been a couple inches, and not three feet, we could have just followed the footprints," he said. "It's the darnedest thing," the sheriff repeated. They shuffled around in the snow a while more, apologized to the widow Theresa Truett, then called the undertaker. "Bad enough John's dead, but what'll his widow do to get through the winter? " Bill asked as they rode back to the jail. The sheriff shrugged. "I hear one of the neighbors agreed to help—that young boy David." And so he did. That winter was harsh for the entire valley, but David helped the Truetts shovel snow, feed the horses and even split logs. He'd show up once a day in his flannels and muffler, do what Mrs. Truett needed do- ne, share a meal with the family, and disappear into the snow, back to his own home on the other side of the fence. Every day, from the day after the first snow all through the big melt, he came and went, once a day. He was there when the Truetts were mourning, and there when they started to move on. By and by, he came to learn the names of the two Truett children, and would read to them from the almanac—crop forecasts, railroad There are a few topics I would like to share. The first one is about Lent. I did some reading on this matter. Seems like I already knew something about it, but the more I spent time reading up on it, the more I felt the need to prepare to do what it intended me to do, and probably what everybody should do. That is to be reminded that the season of lent is a challenge to do acts of sacrifices, prayers, pen- ance, mortifying the flesh, repen- tance of sins, almsgiving and self denial. So while reading up differ- ent kinds of information about it, I think I feel the challenge to do what are recommended, which is rather tough. To read up on the lengthy discussions of Lent en- tailed a lot of the need for virtues- like patience and discipline. You see, when the topic gets tough to digest and the practice of virtues is encouraged, we all know that those virtues are contrary to our nature. We tend to avoid the hard way, we derive pleasure when we pursue the easy way. We tend to avoid be- ing inconvenienced. We tend to find ways not to see or experience or endure suffering. The world tells us to always seek pleasure, to always go the easy route, to be the good look- ing, the beautiful, the perfect and buy things that will make us happy. I did not mean to imply that we should not engage in what the real world offers, but rather we should know what truly is important and what true joy and happiness are.