ustxtxb_obs_1984_03_23_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

Information for Historians, Researchers, Nostalgia Buffs, & Observer Fans Bound Volumes: The 1983 bound issues of The Texas Observer are now ready. In maroon, washable binding, the price is $20. Also available at $20 each are volumes for the years 1963 through 1982. Cumulative Index: The clothbound cumulative edition of The Texas Observer Index covering the years 1954-1970 may be obtained for $20. The newly published 1971-1981 index Back Issues: Issues dates January 10, 1963, to the present are available at 75 cents per issue. Earlier issues are out of stock, but photocopies of articles from issues dated December 27, 1962, will be provided at 75 cents per article. Microfilm: The complete backfile dividual years may be ordered separately. To order, or to obtain additional information regarding the 35mm microfilm editions, please write to Univ. Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. to the Observer Business Office. Texas residents please add the 5% sales tax to your remittance. Materials will be sent postpaid. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 600 W. 7th ST. AUSTIN 78701 ary, before his trial, Manley signed a letter endorsing Paul Hernandez for State Representative. Biased trials are bad. So is biased journalism. Neither is to be saluted. I am supporting Lena Guerrero against Paul. Richard Hamner, Austin. The letter writer is a business partner of Lena Guerrero in Bravo Communications and has been paid by her campaign for work as a political consultant in the race for state representative, District 51, in which Hernandez, Guerrero, and four others are candidates. ed. Manley Replies With the exception of my endorsement of Paul Hernandez for State Representative, Mr. Hamner’s information is so inaccurate that making a point-by-point rebuttal would be a lengthy exercise bound to test the patience of Observer readers. Instead I would like to address what I consider to be larger failures which underscore the position of Hamner regarding the prosecution of those, like Hernandez, who speak out against the Ku Klux Klan: many First Amendment champions fail to advocate free speech rights for all citizens, including those protesting the philosophy of racial genocide espoused by the Klan; many “liberals” fail to acknowledge the existence of institutional racism within the judicial system, for example and tend to defend the status quo, even in the face of injustice; and, finally, liberal/left factions have historically failed to fully understand and unite in opposition to racism. Just as this problem was evident in the beginning of the century when white pacifist organizations refused to support the NAACP’s stand against colonialism in U. S. foreign policy, it is evident today as many of us fail to fully measure the causes and effects of the Ku Klux Klan’s resurgence. Paula Manley, Austin. Karnack Weapons Plant First, general congratulations on recent issues. I’m glad to see the Observer is getting its critical edge back. We need it and I’ve missed it. Second, glad you got all those nice letters about TO’s review of T of E. You and Michael Ventura de served them. Clearly you printed the most intelligent review of that film that I saw anywhere in the national press. Third, your piece on weapons production in Texas was an excellent overview of an important subject. You might add to your list of military facilities Thiokol Chemical’s Longhorn Division ammunition plant in Karnack, just north of Marshall. Peter Larson of the Dallas Times Herald’s Tyler office wrote a good article on the plant some months ago in which he mentioned if memory is correct that Thiokol was planning to hire an additional five hundred workers to produce MX propellent, subject to Congressional approval of the expenditure. Military spending surely affects labor markets and communities like Fort Worth; but the impact is probably even more dramatic on small, rural counties like Harrison and Marion. The fact that government contractors have been held to equal opportunity standards in employment longer than civilian employers complicates our criticism of those facilities, in that they have helped, in East Texas at least, to build and sustain a Black middle class. That’s a whole other subject; maybe you could investigate it in your spare time! Martha McCabe, Nacogdoches Will Rogers on War Regarding article about arm’s manuf. said, “Take the Profit out of war and there’ll be no war!” Sam Terr, Austin. Jeffersonian? Congratulations on an insightful review of State Board of Education politics and the need for more public attention to the election of State Board members \(TO, Mrs. Currey will be a great loss. Butler represents the Cro-Magnon tribe well. Unfortunately, he has many supporters in our state legislature. The growing curricular censorship via textbook adoptions and editing pressures is needed to make the public aware of the serious nature of state control of our children’s education. The curriculum tends to be pablum for many reasons, but texts are an important part. I wish some who “cry with alarm” about the Gablers and Butlers would also 6 MARCH 23, 1984