By Joyce Kelly
On-line Forty-Niner

They shouted, chanted and turned their backs on David Horowitz, an activist for war and against reparation for African-Americans, as he tried to speak to a group of supporters of the war with Iraq at Cal State Long Beach on Tuesday.
 
The CSULB College Republicans invited Horowitz to the campus to speak at their Pro War Rally. The group does not want a war with Iraq.
 
“We’re not for war,” Jessica Ochoa, a political science major and organizer of the event, said. “It’s more like it’s peace through strength.”
 
Ochoa handed out “invited guests” tags and told Alex Omel, a political science major and director of fundraising for the College Republicans, to speak for the group.
 
“No one really wants war,” Omel said. “We don’t want to be intimidated either. With 17 unresolved resolutions from the [United Nations] by Iraq, we’ve given [Saddam Hussein] 17 chances.”
 
Those who were against the war protested with signs and shouts from “racist” to “bullshit.”
 
While Horowitz spoke, those against the war chanted, “USA, USA.”
 
The police forced protestors to move away from the supporters of the war and the speaker. They were from La Raza, the African Student Union, the Muslim Student Association, the 2000+ Bookstore, Long Beach City NAACP, among the Campus Progressives and others who are against the war.
 
But the speaker could not be heard, because the microphone continued to stop working and eventually the shouting from the crowd drowned him out. Those shouting seemed to be louder and outnumbered the supporters of the war.
 
The ethic make-up of the two separate groups was reflected in their appearances. The supporters of the war were predominately white and those against the war were a mix that resembled the diversity of the campus.
 
“The Republicans are all white with one paid-token black guy, one Asian, mostly white males and blonde bimbos in tee-shirts,” Uduak-Joe Ntuk, from the Campus Progressives, said. “Our group [those against the war] is a mix. We look like the melting pot.”
 
Ted Hayes, long-time activist for the homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row and the “paid-token black guy” that Utuk referred to, led the group of republicans in a chant of “USA, USA.” He believes that it is okay to have a war with Iraq and North Korea.
 
“It is okay to have a war with Iraq,” he said. “If North Korea does not act right, kick them in the ass.”
 
Todd Bethell, senior and business major, is in support of the war, President Bush and justice.
 
“I am in support of the president, the war, freedom and 100 percent pro justice.”
 
The ethnic make-up of the group against the war was a surprise to Horowitz.
 
“I am amazed to see any person of color supporting [anti war activity],” he said. “I cannot believe anyone who is black would support a murder of millions in the Sudan.”
 
The protesters shouted louder and chanted, “No war.” This angered Horowitz, who started to attack the campus and the motives of the administrators.
 
“These people here are deaf, dumb and blind,” Horowitz said about the protesters. “They are fascists. Long Beach is not a free campus. No conservatives are hired here. This school has hired a convicted torturer, Maulana Karenga, who heads the black studies department. This is a left wing university because the left has cleaned the slate because you don’t get the information.”
 
He continued to call the protesters names and asked why there was no security to remove them so the speaker could speak. Horowitz said the history that is taught at CSULB is perverted and distorted.
 
Some of the people against the war could not believe that the republicans would call Horowitz to the campus.
 
“It is disgusting to see the Republican Party continue to support people like Trent Lott,” Ntuk said. “They paid him $l,000 to come out and speak.”
 
Jeb Sprague, a history major, was in agreement.
 
“[Horowitz] lied when he said communists were responsible to organize against the rally. He said the Communist Party was responsible to organize,” Sprague said.
“I don’t know any communists. I know that there were no communists organizing the protest. He said that because he knows people do not like communists.”
 
Horowitz told the crowd that, “It is an academic state of terrorism at Long Beach.” He was met with the protesters yelling.
 
Although Horowitz did not want the protesters against the war to be heard, others thought it was a good idea.
 
“The issues are different,” said Doug Robinson, vice president of Student Services. “This is healthy when the people want to express themselves. It is freedom of speech.”
 
“[The speakers] have a right to be here and the students have a right to be here,” Robinson said. “Developing ideas is what the college is about.”

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