smeeyy—— news BCOFR to fight racism April 9,1981 The Other Press page three The BC Organization to Fight Racism (BCOFR) spo- ke to students at Doublas College, Monday, April 6, to ask forsupport in fighting racism and ensuring that all minorities are able to enjoy their democratic rights. by Carol Pope BCOFR president, Charan Gill and member, Kay Ryan said the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) should be banned. ‘We have to stop the KKK before it acquires more power,’ said Gill. He reminded his audience that Hitler was not stopped in time and that the KKK is currently working on ‘mis- informing and misguiding - our young people’. ‘There should be laws to prosecute them, ’said Gill, ‘The human rights code is not strong énough.’ ‘Some people feel the KKK should have the same rights as minorities,’ said Gill, ‘but the klan has a platform that clearly wants to deny rights to ethnic minorities.’ ‘They want us to get the hell out,’ he said. The KKK claims minor- ities ‘are less than human and less intelligent than white people’, said Gill. ‘In order to protect my right as an ethnic minority, the klan has to be stopped,’ he said. Freedom of speech should not mean that ethnic back- grounds can be insulted, said Gill. “We should get rid of this nonsense so we can get on * to our real work; fighting racism,’ he stated. If the KKK was banned it would be prevented from using public forums and the media, and they would be unable to recruit members by hanging around schools, he said. ‘Racist attacks increased when the KKK started re- cruiting enough publicity,’ Gill said. = He said the KKK recently distributed five million co- pies of a newspaper for recruitment purposes. ‘Young people who are not well educated could be influenced by the hate lit- erature of the klan,’Gill said, ‘The literature claims ethnic minorities are the root of unemployment alth- ough it is state policy which causes unemployment.’ The KKK uses racism to break up unions which are against its rightwing poli- cies, said Gill. ‘The economic situation is bad and some people take out their frustrations thro- ugh racism,’ he said. The KKK claims to be arming themselves and they have already set up an office in Toronto, Gill said. *They should not be al- lowed to open inB.C. ’ he said. Gill said the Klan acts as a figurehead even for some nonmembers. He said the BCOFR members Kay Ryan and Charin Gill display KKKnewsletter. methodology of the klan is to terrorize ethnic minorities who are stereotyped and isolated into categories. “We just want to walk around freely without fear,’ he said, ‘Right now, its risky to be on the street in the evening.’ The BCOFR is concerned about women who are suf- fering on a double level “sexual harassment with ra- cial overtones’, said Ryan. The 1981 Douglas College jstudent society elections never saw the light of day by Greg Heakes as next fall’s current two an council are in office by acclamation. Not a single ballot was cast last week when the jpositions of president, and treasurer were acclaimed. The remaining three posi- tions of vice-president, Co- quitlam and New West- minster chairmans received no takers and also remain vacant. ‘‘There’s no way we are going to go with two of three people. The student society will fold as such.”’ explained president Kevin Hallgate, who became the first two-year president in the’ history of the college. ‘*We had a full executive last year by acclamation, but when only two members get in by acclamation, it’s not very good. Not having a full executive is going to put a lot of work on myself and the treasurer (Tim Shein).”’ he said. Hallgate emphasized the fact that unless he gets more input from the student body, the society will cease to operate. He said he hopes that next year there will be a lot more information coming out of the office. They will also be holding regular meetings during the summer months which will be geared to establishing the council for Kwantlen College who are also in the same apathy boat as Doug- las. Despite having the posi- tions of president, vice-pre- Limited manpower may cause Student Society to fold come fall sident and Surrey chairman filled they still lack a trea- surer and two chair posi- tions. ‘In the past, student society at Surrey has been a joke.’’ said an optimistic py *sident-elect of Kwantlen bob Powell. ‘‘I’m talking about a lack of respect and participation from the stud- dents. But we’ve got a few: ideas that we’re piecing together for next year.”’ Powell also expressed his dissapointment that the po- sitions were filled by accla- mation and said he had looked forward to the com- petion. Both societies will have to hold a fall by-election in the hope of completing their councils. ‘With just two back, there’s nobody to fill our [ positions when we resign or finish.’’ added Hallgate The BCOFR is responsible for a march through down- town Vancouver, April 4, to protest the presence of the -KKK which drew 800 parti cipants. They had planned to present AttorneyGeneral Allan Williams with a pet- ition with 15,000 signatures of people demanding the KKK be banned but Wil- liams did not show up. photo by Greg Heakes The BCOFR has over: 400 members involved in vari- ous committees didicated to fighting racism. ‘It makes a good impact on victims of racism if they see white people are helping ,’ said Gill. i Le 3 juin: Recensement Soyez du nombre of schedual The college split and the new campus construction are going ahead on schedule and in some cases under the budget says Bill Day Doug- las College president. Day says that, ‘The two by Ian Hunter \ colleges are now effectively seperate bodys, each with its own administration and staff, but will be working very close for the next six months on a shared bud- get.’ IN preparation for transi- tion into the new college sight, the staff and admini- stration have ‘organized for |Permanent campus ahead | the future,’ with the admin- istration now operating as one campus and the courses jugled to ease the transit- ion, Construction of the new cmapus is os far uneffected by labour trouble and infla- tion and material costs have been more or less fairly accurate.’ says Day. The projected completion date is slatted for the sum- mer of 1982 with various facilities moving in over the following few months. Both the Winslow and the Agnes St. campuses will be phased out as well as the main campus at McBride and 8th. .