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PAGE FOUR, SECTION A

gleutO editorial Page

A Page Of Feet And Opinion WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012

Arrest George Zimmerman

By Maggie Gallagher

IF 114111 ROGERS WERE ADVE TODAY.,

DONT BELONG TO ANY ORGANIZED POLITICAL PARIY,

In the whole swirling political/media uproar over Trayvon Martin's shooting, only two things are indisputably clear: A 17-year-old boy is dead, and George Zimmerman shot him. Nothing we can do can bring Trayvon back. It's clear from all versions of this event that Trayvon did not deserve to die. It is not clear whether his death is a result of murder, manslaughter or what the law calls "justifiable homicide" -- a legal term for an intentional death that is not a criminal act. The other thing we can know for sure is that this case has exploded in the media in part because it touches a raw nerve for every African-American in this country, but perhaps most especially African-American middleclass parents. Can they protect their sons? Will the law stand with them in this process? If the answer is "no," then no African-American family in this country, however successful, however law-abiding, can feel safe. If we don't empathize with this reaction on the part of black parents, we cannot in our turn be trusted or ask them to trust the legal process. What we owe Trayvon and his grieving parents, and every other anxious parent in this case, is the truth. Was it murder? Or justifiable self-defense? That depends on uncovering what actually happened that night. We have only one process for discovering that truth, and it is the legal process. It is imperfect. But the last few weeks, if they have proven anything, have proven this: As a mechanism for uncovering truth and doing justice, trial by jury is infinitely superior to the barbaric ordeal of trial by media. We live in very ugly postmodern times in terms of our public and media culture. Elites right and left have recognized clearly the power of "spin" as an ancillary to the great doctrine of Plato that poets are the real rulers of society. Someone at NBC who edited the 911 tapes from that night was acting on that impulse: The narrative which serves the "larger purpose" is more important than the truth. Here is what NBC broadcast, what millions heard as truth: Zimmerman: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black." At rallies across the country, speakers refer to having heard these 911 tapes to confirm their worst fears: A good kid can be gunned down for "looking black" and the law does not care. But here's what actually happened that night: Zimmerman: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about." Dispatcher: "OK, and this guy -- is he black, white or Hispanic?" Zimmerman: "He looks black." NBC's edit was a savage violation of not only the norms of journalism, but of basic human decency. NBC has issued a weak apology but zero explanation for how a mainstream, powerful, well-funded news organization could do this. Crafting a narrative that allows you to seize power, or hurt your political enemies now appears more important to both right and left than what Plato called the most crucial task: "Crucial indeed is the struggle, more crucial than we think -- the choice that makes us good or bad -- to keep faithful to righteousness and virtue in the face of temptation, be it of fame or money or power, or of poetry -- yes, even of poetry." Or, I might add, journalism Arrest George Zimmerman. Not because I know or you know his actions were a crime, but because the legal process is only way we can possibly know the truth. And without truth, there can be no justice.

N. Korean Concentration Camps Worse Than Soviet-era Gulags, Says Investigator

The labor colonies are enclosed behind barbed wire and electrified fences, mainly in the north and north central mountains of the country, the report says, alleging high rates of death in detention due to systemic mistreatment, torture, execution and malnutrition.
WASHINGTON (AP) The it marks the centennial of the U.S. human rights envoy for nation's founder a step that North Korea said Tuesday Washington says will derail conditions in the communist a recent U.S.-North Korean country's "brutal" prison camps agreement to provide food aid are worse than in the Soviet in return for nuclear concesUnion's gulag during the Cold sions. According to South KoWar. rean intelligence, the North is Robert King made his com- also preparing its third nuclear ments at a conference exam- weapons test. ining the North's network "Clearly the nuclear issue is of prison labor camps and a critical issue that needs to be penitentiaries. A new report dealt with in North Korea. It's estimates the camps hold more an issue that threatens North than 150,000 inmates, despite Korea's neighbors, Japan (and) North Korea's denial it holds South Korea," King said. "At the political prisoners. same time, we have also to deal King said the U.S. has made with human rights." it clear to Pyongyang that The report on the North's it needs not only to address prison camps is by the Commitinternational concerns over tee for Human Rights in North its weapons' programs but to Korea, a U.S.-based private improve its human rights re- group and the organizer of the cord if it wants to participate conference. It documents the fully within the international alleged incarceration of entire community. families, including children The international spotlight and grandparents for the "pois currently on the North over litical crimes" of other family its plans to launch a long-range members, and infanticide and rocket as early as Thursday, as forced abortions of female prisoners who illegally crossed into China and got pregnant by men there, and were then forcibly repatriated to North Korea. "It is not just nuclear weapons that have to be dismantled," said Roberta Cohen, chairwoman of the committee's board of directors, "but an entire system of political repression." The report, is based its report on interviews with 60 former prisoners and guards, says the camp system was initially modeled in the 1950s on the Soviet gulag to punish "wrong thinkers" and those belonging to the "wrong political class" or religious persuasion. It cites estimates from North Korean state security agency officials who defected to South Korea that the camp system holds between 150,000 and 200,000 people out of a total population of around 24 million. It urges North Korea to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access, and to dismantle the camps. King compared the vast number of North Korean detainees with the hundreds imprisoned in Soviet prison camps in the 1970s. He cited anecdotal reports that people have faced arrest, torture and imprisonment for making a joke about North Korean leaders and being overheard by government informants. He said conditions in North Korea are worse today than in the repressive Soviet Union during the 1960s to 1980s. The committee's report described different kinds of detention facilities, including penal labor colonies where it says political detainees are imprisoned without judicial process for mostly lifetime sentences in mining, logging or agricultural enterprises. The labor colonies are enclosed behind barbed wire and electrified fences, mainly in the north and north central mountains of the country, the report says, alleging high rates of death in detention due to systemic mistreatment, torture, execution and malnutrition. The report says former prisoners were able to identify their former barrack and houses, work sites, execution grounds and other landmarks in the camps via imagery available through Google Earth. The committee says the report's findings contradict a December 2009 statement by North Korea to the United Nations Human Rights Council that the political prisoner camps do not exist. Greg Scarlatoiu, the committee's executive director, said more than 30,000 North Korean defectors have now fled the country, up from just 3,000 a decade ago, so Pyongyang cannot hide the harsh reality of its political prison camps.

Helping Students Aspire to Success

By Bryan Gonterman, President, AT&T Oklahoma AT&T is honored to help America's children Aspire to success. One in four students more than 1 million students a year - fails to graduate high school with their class. This is one of our nation's most critical problems, particularly in an era when competition for jobs among people and, indeed, among nations is becoming evermore intense. Over the last four years, our Aspire program has worked with organizations across the country to help reverse this trend to reach the national goal of a 90% high school graduation rate by 2020. AT&T Aspire has already impacted over 1 million students with $100 million invested since 2008. Although the high school dropout rate has shown improvement, we can do more. In fact, we're doubling down on American students and America's future. In our continued effort to address this critical issue, we are excited to launch a new phase of Aspire - a $250 million investment planned over five years that will further build on our existing initiative to help more
students graduate from high

Casino to Open Soon Despite Massive Protest

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) A tiny Oklahoma Indian tribe of fewer than 450 members could partly open a casino in this Tulsa suburb by the end of the month despite protest from thousands of residents, a pending state lawsuit seeking to stop the building and permission from a national gaming organization. The Kialegee Tribal Town, headquartered in Wetumka in southeastern Oklahoma, broke ground on the 20-acre site near the Creek Turnpike late last year and has trucked in several pre-fabricated buildings in recent weeks to temporarily house the Red Clay Casino. When it opens, the gaming center will be among several larger casinos already operating in Tulsa County the closest is about 10 miles away from the site. The casino quickly drew the ire of residents, pastors and school administrators, who fear the tribe is trying to force the development on the conservative bedroom community of 99,000. Opponents say the casino will only be a few blocks from the future site of an elementary school and pre-kindergarten center and worry it could attract a flurry of criminal activity to the area. More than 10,000 people have also signed a petition to keep the casino out. The facility is located several blocks from an 80-acre parcel purchased by the district for a new elementary school and pre-kindergarten center, where nearly 1,000 students are expected to attend when the buildings open in the fall of 2013. Dozens of angered parents have lobbied the district to oppose the casino because of the proximity and safety concerns, such as inadequate roads.

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Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me... Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. -Psalm 51:10,12 Prayer: Dear Father, help us to recognize where the Holy Spirit is working in us, and grant us the courage and strength to cooperate in what the spirit is doing. Amen. Thought for the Day: God takes us from pathetic to promising

school prepared for careers and college, and to ensure our nation is better prepared for global competition. Here in Oklahoma, public officials and educators have placed a premium on education, and we are delighted to have had an opportunity to play a role in their success. With our new phase of Aspire, we'll take a "socially innovative" approach that goes beyond traditional philanthropy, engaging people and technology to create new and different solutions to social problems. In today's world, the mobile Internet is omnipresent. Students - of all ages are adept at using this powerful resource, and it is critical that its potent power be harnessed for the cause of education. Our AT&T Foundry innovation centers will work with educators and other companies to find fresh or atypical approaches to improve education. The new Aspire will also leverage technology to connect with students in new and more effective ways. And you can expect to see a particular emphasis on gamification (using game techniques to teach students math, science, and other applications), mobile
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applications, video and social media - the communica-

tions environments in which many of today's students are most comfortable - to instill a new level of excitement into learning. But technology alone will not solve the education challenge. It takes people too. We plan to take our current Job Shadow program to a new level with the Aspire Mentoring Academy, a program that will provide more opportunities for our employees to work closely with students most at-risk of dropping out to help them succeed in their classrooms and in life. Students and mentors will be matched on the basis of shared interests and will work together to explore and solve real-life, on-the-job business problems. They will also have the opportunity to participate in e-mentoring, specifically in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Some 100,000 students participated in the AT&T Job Shadow initiative with Junior Achievement to date, including over 2,100 in Oklahoma. Local community organizations will be vital to the success of Aspire and our plans call for providing financial support to those

groups that deliver genuine results in helping students learn. Thanks to the commitment of our employees and many Oklahoma organizations, our initial $100 million investment in high school success and college and career readiness has made a positive impact. The Oklahoma Aspire investment has amounted to over $3.3 million since 2008. We're excited to expand our investment in this great resource - our children's education - with our new commitment. There's no doubt that our investment in Aspire is an investment in America's future, and, indeed, our own. At AT&T, we believe that people are the critical differentiators in our industry, especially given the lightningfast pace of technological evolution. And Aspire helps to create a pipeline of diverse talent for all U.S. companies, including AT&T. Our children are the key to our future. And joining together in the communities where our employees and customers live and work, we can make a difference in the lives of students and families and in our own communities and across the nation.