On the Front Lines for Racial Equality
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WWCREIGHTONINDOWINDOW UNIVERSITY ■ WINTER 1995-96 FatherFather Markoe:Markoe: Our ‘Champagne A Life Glass’ Economy on the Don’t Play TV Front Lines Trivia With Her for Racial Finding God in Equality Your Daily Life LETTERS WINDOW Magazine edits Letters to the INDOW Editor, primarily to conform to space W■ ■ limitations. Personally signed letters Volume 12/Number 2 Creighton University Winter 1995-96 are given preference for publication. Our FAX number is: (402) 280-2549. E-Mail to: [email protected] Fr. Markoe’s Battle Against Racism ‘And If the Rules Change?’ Bob Reilly tells you about a man who I have read with interest the article “The was a lifelong fighter. Fr. Markoe Social Roots of Our Environmental found a cause for his fighting ener- Predicament” by Dr. Harper in your Fall gy. The word portrait of a strong- 1995 issue of WINDOW. minded Jesuit begins on Page 3. I would like to pose a question for Dr. Harper. In this third human environmental The Rich Get Richer, revolution, supposing we were to discov- er an inexhaustible source of energy. I The Poor Get Poorer am assuming that the laws of supply and Gerard Stockhausen, S.J., talks about what he calls “our cham- demand would eventually lead it to be at pagne-glass economy.” In this case, it doesn’t mean champagne an inconsequential cost. for everyone; it means the shape of our economy that puts the What would that do to the human liv- rich at the broad top of the glass and the poor at the narrow ing conditions in the world? bottom. Page 10. Robert H. Matt Don’t Play Trivia With Omaha This Creighton Alumna ‘What’s Really Important’ Alumna Eileen Brady has been researching the yesteryears A big round of applause to Pamela and the todays of television. None of her friends will play Adams Vaughn, Kaela Volkmer and Fr. Trivial Pursuit with her. Test yourself. Page 14. Michael Flecky for their fine article about the Dominican Republic. As an ILAC (Institute for Latin Finding God in Your American Concern) alum, it was a great Everyday World reminder of the many things I learned during my summers in the Dominican Richard Hauser, S.J., tells you how to find God in Republic: the value of family and the your everyday world. Page 20. philosophy “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” Why is it that a third world country Alumnews......................................................................................................Page 26 can pinpoint what’s really important? University News...........................................................................................Page 27 Thank you for including this excellent article in the Fall WINDOW ‘95. Publisher: Creighton University; Rev. Michael G. Morrison, S.J., President; Michael E. Leighton, Vice President for May 1996 be a year where each of us University Relations. WINDOW staff: Jana M. Martin, Executive Editor; Pamela A. Vaughn, Associate Editor. Editorial take time to open our hearts to those Advisors: Rev. Donald A. Doll, S.J.; Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D.; Richard L. O’Brien, M.D., Allen B. Schlesinger, Ph.D, and David G. Schultenover, S.J. around us ... just as the Dominicans do Creighton University WINDOW (USPS728-070) is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October by Creighton daily without even thinking about it. University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178-0001. Second class postage paid at Omaha, Nebraska, and additional entry points. Address all mail to Public Relations and Information, Omaha, NE 68178. Postmaster: Send change of address to Creighton University WINDOW, P.O. Box 3266, Omaha, NE 68103-0078. Susan Broski Corpuz, MS’92 COPYRIGHT © 1996 BY CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY Omaha Pursuant to our educational obligation to search for truth and to expand knowledge, WINDOW Magazine promotes the discussion of a variety of issues. Although published by a Catholic, Jesuit university, the opinions expressed in WINDOW are not intended to be construed as the official teaching or position of Creighton University or of the Catholic Church. 2 Creighton University WINDOW “It Has Been the Few Who Have Acted, Who Have Saved Us from Unspeakable Scandal” By Bob Reilly n the 3rd of April, 1965, two years that audience with stories of his experi- didn’t protest loudly enough or often before his death, Fr. John P. ences while disguised as a black man. He enough against discrimination — in our OMarkoe, S.J., sat impassively as mentioned incidents so painful, he neighborhoods, our business communi- the honoree at a testimonial dinner. couldn’t describe them in his book — ty, our churches. The Brandeis Student Center was including his being denied access to a Today we may be losing sight of packed with friends and admirers, Catholic church one Sunday, the same those times. This generation may not including members of the De Porres church to which he had been welcomed appreciate what it was like to be black Club for which Markoe served as moder- a year earlier as a prominent white jour- then, not only in the distant and dispar- ator. John Howard Griffin, author of the nalist. He detailed the racist attitudes aged South, but in Omaha. Jews insist blockbuster Black Like Me, was guest inherent in our society. We were mes- they must explain the Holocaust again speaker, and among those on hand to merized. I remember wanting to reach and again, because the knowledge of salute the Jesuit activist were Roy for a glass of water during that long what happened in those years is slipping Wilkins, executive secretary of the speech, delivered quietly, flatly, without away. They are right. We need to see our- NAACP; Whitney Young, executive histrionics. My hand wouldn’t move. selves as part of a history which is both director of the National Urban League; Turning toward Markoe, Griffin said: proud and ugly. So we’re bound to recall and Frank Morrison, governor of “It has been the few — and I say that Omaha and Creighton as they were 50 Nebraska. Archbishop Gerald T. Bergan word sadly — it has been the few who years ago. apologized publicly for not being more have acted, who have been what we all During the Second World War, some 2 openly supportive of Markoe. profess to be, who have salvaged us 1/2 million African-Americans served in “He was right,” acknowledged from unspeakable scandal — if indeed the Armed Forces, the vast majority of Bergan, “and your Archbishop was we have been salvaged from unspeak- them in non-combat roles — transporta- wrong.” able scandal.” tion, quartermaster corps, as Navy stew- Griffin declared that Fr. Markoe and Griffin was on target. In that post ards. Conventional wisdom questioned his Jesuit brother, William, were “in the World War II era, there were few saints their reactions under fire. Only the cauldron when most of us were in dia- and many sinners. Most of us didn’t do Tuskegee Airmen managed to leap this pers,” alluding to the long careers both enough. We took comfort in our own barrier, chalking up a remarkable record men had spent in combatting prejudice. beliefs and conduct, tallied the names of of enemy planes destroyed. For the For more than two hours, Griffin held black friends. But the truth is that we remaining military, rear echelon duty Winter Issue 1995-96 3 section of population. During the ten year period South Omaha. from 1947 to 1957, twenty-three major Unemployment housing sub-divisions of one hundred was high in this homes or more were developed, none of small community, them open to non-whites...between 1952 per capita and 1957, there were 13,293 new homes income half that built; only 32, or .002 percent, were avail- of whites, the able to Negro buyers.” chances for Personal humiliations were even advancement more traumatic. slim, and illness Tessie Edwards, one of the city’s most and death far respected educators, recalls being con- higher than that signed to a balcony at the Brandeis in other areas of Theater and remembers seeing her father the city. Eighty- directed to the back door of a restaurant seven percent in order to purchase a meal. In high of African- school, she was barred from student The fighting Markoes: Fr. William Markoe, S.J. (left), and Fr. Americans organizations, occupied a study hall for John Markoe, S.J. (right), flank writer John Howard Griffin. employed held black students only, and ate meals alone unskilled or ser- in protest of the segregated lunchroom. was the norm. Despite the non-discrimi- vice jobs - on the railroad; in the packing While this was a public high school, the nation clause in the Draft Act of 1940 houses; in hotels, restaurants and clubs; Catholic high schools were hardly better. and the Fair Employment Practice Act of as maids or janitors. Only 13 percent had Only one, Notre Dame Academy, openly 1941, blacks in the military found segre- clerical, professional or semi-profession- welcomed black students. gation everywhere - training camps, al jobs. They lived in an area where half “I used to walk up 24th Street,” she troop trains, and even USOs. the homes failed to meet minimum says, “swinging my book bag, and I’d I recall no black members of our housing code standards. pass by Creighton, and I wondered if Creighton R.O.T.C. unit, and, when we In his master’s thesis, Creighton they would let me in. I saw no black finally got to Fort Benning, to Officer graduate Dr. Jeffrey H. Smith, MA’67, faces there, although I believe there were Candidate School, our company was wrote: a couple of black students in the School composed of three platoons, two white “The post-war housing boom almost of Pharmacy.” and one black, each in a separate bar- completely ignored Omaha’s non-white In all of the nation’s Jesuit colleges racks.