The Brothers strike again, Bob ! (to Bob Kerr)

Bob, I applaud your column this morning. When I heard about the

    " race " incident crisis at " The Good 5-cent Cigar ", I sent out my

    buzzing E- missiles immediately, alerting whole handfuls of people to

    the FREE SPEECH threat.

            In fact I still have great respect for Malcolm X . But I wish

    THE BROTHERS would imitate him in one important way : Spend more time

    in the LIBRARY !  Malcolm was always reading books, " something useful

    to the black man ".

          But really learning is something accomplished in solitude. At least

    Malcolm was grateful to prison for this. You learn nothing always running

    with the pack .

          The ignorant black youth thinks there is great demand for one more

    SPOKESMAN FOR THE RACE. Better to study accounting !

              Have a nice day    - ron

" If you're the janitor..."

The biggest mistake the political LEFT has made in our generation

    is to obsess on RACE and SEX and  homophobia and abortion rights and

    now non-existent U.S. imperialism , ignoring old fashioned bread and

    butter BLUE COLLAR issues . They left all that social class stuff to

    the likes of George Wallace and Patrick Buchanan .

            Even old left wing publications like " The Militant " ( formerly

    Trotskyist ) and " The People's Weekly World " ( still Gus Hall Stalinist ? )

    seem more inclined to play the race card. Angry black and hispanic faces

    are routinely seen on their pages.

           These words - which infuriated - minority groups at URI have

    another interpretation . They appeared in a cartoon in the campus

    newspaper " The Good 5-Cent Cigar :

       " If you're the janitor, please wait until after class to empty the

    trash. If you're one of our minority students , welcome . "

        What I read in these cartoon words is a condescending attitude

    toward RACE ( but benevolent ) but a sneering ,contemptuous attitude

    toward CLASS .

            " If you're the janitor ... "  If the janitor was WHITE, we

    can be sure that the pseudo- liberal, politically correct professor

    would talk to him in a tone of haughty superiority .

      Does not a lowly janitor have a soul ? Does not he have feelings

    to be hurt, an ego to be bruised ? Does he not languish for something

    better in life than taking the good professor's trash away ?

          How about affirmative action for blue collar workers ? Or

    is there a new caste system in America ?

Is FREE SPEECH " Crap " ?

 I wonder where her name will show up, 10 or 20 years from

    now , the URI student who thinks FREE SPEECH is just so much " CRAP " .

    That is what I read on the front page of the PROVIDENCE JOURNAL this

    morning . FREE SPEECH = CRAP !  Tell that to the professors who

    refused to sign a loyalty oath in Yugoslavia ( story, Dec. 7 ) .

          The most appalling lesson ANY American college student can learn

    is disdain for FREE SPEECH .

           Should any outraged minority be able to shut down a newspaper

    virtually overnight . Is it educational to hear and read only what

    pleases you and flatters your self-esteem - especially in your

    formative years ?

            There is indeed a totalitarian strain in the thinking of

    many political activists who might even label themselves " LEFT- WING ".

          Perhaps Erich Fromm was right years ago about what he then perceived

    as a universal tendency : " Escape from Freedom " .

         FREE SPEECH can harm no cause worthy of free minds !

Good 5-cent cigar controversy at URI

Perhaps I'm a hopeless fossil of Western ( inspired by dead

    white men ) Civilization , but my first reaction  to an offensive article,

    editorial, or cartoon in a influential newspaper  would be to WRITE A

    LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

           The minority group at URI - offended by a cartoon they MISTAKENLY

    interpreted as racist and venomously anti-affirmative - a cartoon in the

    college newspaper " The Good 5-cent Cigar " - are acting like undemocratic

    bullies. They want to punish the editors and the staff of the paper; already

    finds have been cut for running the paper, a mindlessly hasty action .

            And let me ask this : Does the anti- affirmative action position

    simply have to be banned in the URI newspaper ?

            Is it not dangerous too over-react to perceived racism? It is a

    lot like crying wolf. When the REAL wolf is at the door of American

    institutions , we might mistakenly see him as a benevolent SAVIOR !