Gray Panther Head Speaks in Cleveland

By Meredith Holmes

On Thursday, October 30, Margaret ("Maggie") Kuhn spoke to a small group of men and women at CCC's Parma campus. She was introduced as a "delightful person, a dresden doll who really packs a punch". She described herself as a sociologist by trade and by commitment. Although famous as the founder and often startling spokesperson of the Gray Panthers, Maggie Kuhn did not talk specifically about the Gray Panthers or the plight of the elderly. She talked about how to achieve social change and the important role the "elders of the tribe have in the movement toward a society" that is "safe, peaceful, just and healthy”.

Margaret E. Kuhn was born on August 3 in Buffalo, New York. She went to Cleveland's West High School and graduated from Flora Stone Mather College in 1928. She then worked for the YWCA at 18th and Prospect. Her salary was $900 a year. She worked with women who earned $6 a week, worked 6 days a week, and never had a vacation.

When faced with mandatory retirement at age 65 in 1970, Maggie Kuhn was not pleased, and decided to do something about it. She joined forces with friends in the same predicament, and formed "The Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change". Shortly thereafter the media dubbed the group the Gray Panthers. The group officially adopted the name in 1971. She feels that her generation, which has survived such enormous technological and social changes, has a valuable sense of history to share with the next generation.

The first thing Kuhn did was suggest that everyone read The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills, a discussion, of the interaction between society

and the individual. She stressed that people must recognize that they exist in relation to society. This is the first step toward making changes. "We are all part of society whether we like it or not...you can't live in a shell...just you and your family." She drew a time line and encouraged people to remember

"Why are we here today? Although debate is taking place, questions concerning an issue of vital importance to 53 percent of the voting public still must be raised. Women are voters, women pay taxes, women are workers. We are here to focus public attention on the status and concerns of American women in cities and communities across the country. We are here to demand ratification of the Federal Equal Rights Amendment."

About 100 people participated in the "Great Debate"/ mock debate sponsored by the WomenSpace ERA Task Force on Public Square, Tuesday, October 28, 1980.

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photos by Louise Luczak

Silkwood Commemoration Day

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milestones of both personal and political significance. One man remembered his mother's suicide; a woman remembered her first job; another how many ways she served eggs during the Depression. Kuhn emphasized that the personal and the (continued on page 11)

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The story of Karen Silkwood is rapidly becoming a part of our national mythology, like the sagas of Joe Hill and Sacco and Vanzetti. Silkwood was a laboratory worker at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Facility of Oklahoma City, which manufactured plutonium fuel rods for nuclear reactors. She became concerned about the health and safety conditions in the plant, and began working through her union, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) to document violations of AEC regulations and falsification of records. During this period Silkwood's apartment became radioactively contaminated, and Kerr-McGee alleged that she had done it herself, to discredit the company.

On the night of November 13, 1974, Silkwood set out in her car to meet an OCAW official and New York Times reporter, to present to them the evidence she had collected. She had driven only a few miles when her car mysteriously left the road and crashed into a retaining wall, killing her on impact. The documents she was carrying were never found,

In May 1979, an Oklahoma City court awarded $10.5 million to Silkwood's family in a suit against Kerr-McGee for negligence in handling radioactive materials.

Since her death, Karen Silkwood has become a symbol of courage and independence to men and women fighting for union representation, safe energy, healthful working conditions and nuclear disarmament.

The Labor Conference on Safe Energy and Full Employment, held in Pittsburgh October 10-12, called for a day of activities in commemoration of

Silkwood. In response to this, Cleveland antinuclear, labor and women's organizations have joined to sponsor the Karen Silkwood Safe Energy Rally, to take place November 16 at 2:00 p.m. at the International Ladies Garment Workers Hall, 3233 Euclid Avenue. The sponsors, North Shore Alert, WomenSpace, Coalition of Labor Union Women of Cleveland and Ohio, Citizens for Safe Energy and Pro-Choice Action Committee, hope to bring together the interests of women and organized labor

in the effort to stop nuclear power. The rally will focus on four issues: -Safety on the job

-The right to organize

-Equality for working women

-Safe, democratically controlled energy. Speakers will include Jane Lee, a farmer from the Three Mile Island area, who has recorded the effects of radiation on plants and animals since 1976, and Gail Bateson, Occupational Health and Safety Officer of the International Chemical Workers Union in Akron. Representatives of office workers, Native American and women's groups will also participate. For more information call Amy, 861-6945 (days), and 651-6773 (evenings).

Anti-Women Backlash in Movies

By Meredith Holmes

Bravo to Gene Siskall and Roger Ebert of PBS's "Sneak Previews" for their strong stand on the recent rash of sexploitation horror "women in danger" movies such as "Prom Night," "Terror Train" and "When a Stranger Calls". These movies follow a simple plot line: attack, rape, mutilation and death. Young, attractive women trying to act independently are the victims. Anonymous men are the killers. The women usually meet their ends cornered, screaming, and scantily clad. The violence is explicit; how these movies get R ratings is a mystery (there's nothing of redeeming social value about the TV and newspaper ads, either).

The most disturbing aspect of these movies is that the camera focuses on the helpless female in such a way that the audience is encouraged to identify with the killer. The two critics reported that audiences

they observed (consisting of men of all ages and couples on dates) seemed happy to oblige. Ebert heard one man say of an upcoming rape, "This should be a good one".

The two critics deemed the films trash pandering to men who can't cope with the implications of the women's movement. They pointed out that as a society we are offended by blood sports such as dogfighting and bullfighting. What about other human beings? Further, wouldn't we be disturbed by a wave of films which showed young boys being stabbed, raped and decapitated? Weren't we, as a nation, horrified by the John Gacy killings?

You don't have to be a feminist to feel revulsion at this trend in moviemaking. The threat of violence is one all women feel everywhere. And, as Ebert and Siskall prove, you don't even have to be a woman to feel outrage at the celebration of violence.

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I urge everyone to boycott theaters where these movies are shown.

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