This freedom of speech crap

Needless to say, Phillipe & Jorge have strong feelings about what's been happening at the University of Rhode Island's student newspaper for the last week. When the paper printed a syndicated cartoon depicting an African-American male entering a classroom and being asked whether he was the janitor or a new minority student, a number of URI students took umbrage, calling the drawing "racist."

On the face of it, the pro-affirmative-action cartoon is not. But because of its exaggeration and the dated nature of the specific issue it addresses (a comment made more than a year ago by a University of Texas law professor), it's easy to see why the cartoon might have offended some people.

Jorge is especially alarmed by this brouhaha because he not only wrote for the Good 5cents Cigar some 25 years ago, but is currently an advisor to another student newspaper, Rhode Island College's Anchor. Back in his student days, Jorge also had the good fortune to know the Reverend Arthur Hardge, a prominent civil-rights leader and truly great man who happens to be the father of Marc Hardge.

For those of you who don't know, Marc is a leader of Brothers United for Action, the campus group that has spearheaded the drive against the newspaper. (Let us point out here that the verb "spearheaded" in no way should be construed as a racial stereotype.) The Brothers could have used the Reverend Hardge's tactical prowess here.

At its worst, what we have is stupidity and dubious taste being blown into a full-scale racial and First Amendment incident. Stupidity because the cartoon is a year old, so it has lost some of its edge and meaning. Indeed, the University of Texas incidents that inspired the drawing don't immediately come to mind when you see it now -- the cartoon cries out for context.

P&J also say dubious taste because the all-white staff at the Cigar apparently didn't have a clue as to why many people would find the cartoon offensive. Still, as real as they are, these issues in no way justify the attempt to shut down the newspaper. Does the word "overreaction" sound familiar?

Your superior correspondents suspect that insular campus politics had a lot to do with how this incident played out. Racial tensions on campus are undeniable, and much of this could have been avoided if there had been a minority presence on the newspaper staff.

But don't get us wrong. We suspect that the reasons why there aren't more minorities at the Cigar (lack of interest in the paper among minority students, little effort at outreach from the paper itself, etc.) have little to do with racism. What's more, it is not unusual for a student government to have an adversarial relationship with a student paper. Two years ago at RIC, for instance, some members of the student government tried to cut the newspaper budget for specious reasons and eventually were defeated.

Overall, P&J hope that a greater appreciation for what freedom of speech is all about will spring from this fiasco. The fact that a student senator actually opined that the Cigar was hiding behind "this freedom-of-speech crap" reveals just how behind some students are on the learning curve. We also hope that media types everywhere will glean from this an appreciation of the wisdom of diversity.

Turning the gun around

Given the URI brouhaha, it's interesting that Phillipe recently attended a Rhode Island Affirmative Action Commission meeting on race and the media -- specifically, on minority employment.

In this area, the Phoenix can take a good look in the mirror, and notice a virtually lily-white cast at Chestnut Street. And over on Fountain Street, minorities hardly prevail, the most visible reporters being Karen Davis, Soljane Martinez, Tatiana Pina and columnist Marta Martinez. Even worse, as a friend at the BeloJo once said to P&J, before Carl Senna signed on as an occasional editorial-page contributor, Ron Brown, then head of the national Democratic Party, was probably the first black to enter the paper's editorial boardroom without the intention of cleaning it. (Sound familiar in terms of the Good 5cents Cigar cartoon's intended thrust?)

Overall, the affirmative-action meeting that Phillipe sat in on revealed a range of opinions on the dearth of minority hires at the BeloJo or Phoenix, from a lack of minorities attending and graduating from journalism school to minorities not having any fiscal involvement (e.g., holding stock) in the BeloJo.

With an eye toward minority hires, the BeloJo does recruit an annual class of so-called Bics (they sign a two-year contract and then the paper disposes of 90 percent of them when their term is up) from top journalism schools. Still, it is rare to actually see minorities among these well-qualified Bics.

In terms of the Phoenix, we probably could do better at recruitment. But other than rhetoric about it during the current caterwauling at URI, we also don't see any minority students willing to start up an alternative voice to the Cigar.

It is a shame, since the campus paper -- and indeed the Phoenix and BeloJo -- would benefit greatly from the increased and broadened perspective that minorities would provide.

Downcity food bonanza

As thrilling as the initial success of Providence's new skating rink has been, your superior correspondents are even more ecstatic about the arrival of the Groceria, an upscale grocery store/restaurant at 159 Weybosset Street in the heart of Downcity. Opened this week, the Groceria is in the previous location of the Food Basket, a business that, in its last few years (it closed in 1994), looked pretty bleak.

The Groceria is a complete turnaround, all shiny and new. And John Rector, a guy who really knows food and service as the former head ramrod of the late, lamented Leo's, is running the joint, along with his partner, Steve Boudreau. To their credit, the pair are taking a considerable risk in banking on the downtown revival for their survival, even before the urban dwellers have actually arrived.

But you can be assured that this will be a class operation. And so will the new Daily Bread store scheduled to open next week just around the corner on Westminster. The smells alone should be enough to draw a pack of new inhabitants to downtown.

Laying down the Law

Great to see those good-looking old screamers in dresses at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops come out and take a new stand against Catholics who oppose abortion.

We guess it's just too cliched to reply with the line, "You no play-a the game, you no make-a the rules," but we certainly enjoy how this throws them right under the wheels of the Church's bus, which is quite visibly rolling in the opposite direction. Hey, at least they have shown the kind of flexibility that is such a wonderful hallmark of their religion.

After the reaffirmation, Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law said of his state's leading politicians, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Paul Cellucci, "Both senators in

my state are Catholic and wrong in the way they approach abortion. The governor of the state is from a different party, and he is wrong. Only I am right."

Whoa, Bernie! We're pretty sure there isn't a Prudential Center in the Vatican City quite yet. But given that adamant stand, we suspect we'll either see the boys turning over a new leaf pronto, or those ex-communication notices (like the one Mary Ann Sorrentino once received) going out FedEx, lest the bishops be open to charges of hypocrisy.

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