By María del Sagrario Ramírez
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 2, 1997

Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud - Hermann Hesse

Arizona Daily Wildcat María del Sagrario Ramírez

WANTED: CHICANO STUDENT TO WRITE WEEKLY. MUST BE INFORMED ON COMMUNITY ISSUES RELEVANT TO THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN/ CHICANO/ HISPANO STUDENT COMMUNITY, AND ABLE TO DEAL MATURELY WITH CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. NON-CHICANOS AND WHITES NEED NOT APPLY.

Alberta: What's your column about this week?

Maria: I don't know. I want to write about the need for more Mexican-American students writing for the paper. Or at least more students of color.

Alberta: What for? White students think we're a bunch of radicals who are against everything. They don't listen to our concerns, much less read them.

Maria: Maybe, but we still need to tell them. Eventually, these people have to stop and understand that the problem of racism is not going away. That anti-immigration isn't going to send our people back to Mexico because this used to be Mexico! Besides, they read what I write. Haven't you seen the racist remarks they're writing on the online Wildcat chat?

Alberta: About you?

Maria: About me and all the other columnists. (Pulling up Wildcat chat). Some guy - G****d M****s - wrote in and named me as the No. 1 finalist for Bigot of the Year. (Reading from the screen) "Who spent weeks talking about her brown skin and her vagina and her rabid hatred of persons not so endowed." I want them to keep it up so others can see how racist people can be.

Alberta: Can he do that?

Maria: It's freedom of expression, regardless of how pendejo this guy sounds. Just like I can print my articles, he can express his own opinion, unless of course it's hate mail, then it's against the law. But that doesn't take away how he and others feel because it's not just him. Some people don't seem to think this really happens and this is the kind of racism I'm talking about.

Alberta: It's because they're scared. Look at all anti-affirmative action and anti-immigration legislation that's happening now. They're afraid of losing their power.

Maria: You think? Some people think I place myself in that position. But not one thing I've printed is untrue. I thought college was supposed to bring up intelligent debate.

Alberta: Yeah, right. They don't want to face the truth. Historically, Mexican children weren't allowed to speak Spanish in school, yet, when and if we do make it to college, we're required to take two years of a foreign language. Did you know that 8 out of 10 Hispanics drop out of school? Who's more likely to make it college?

Maria: I know. Then there's the English-Only initiative. You know that the average white American is going to take that law and think that it means no Spanish anywhere. I wonder what would happen if we told all the white student they couldn't learn to speak Spanish?

Alberta: They're the ones who make it to college. Y cuando alguien sees a white person who is bilingual, they think it's great. They want to take it away from us, yet make it a big accomplishment for them. Now, is that fair?

Maria: Girl, haven't you heard? There's no such thing as fair. There's two kinds of fair: The state fair and the county fair, that's it!

Alberta: What about affirmative action? Some of these minority kids who want to be judged on their merits don't remember who got their little butts here? It was the radicals of the '60s who fought for them to sit in that classroom. The kids now don't see how it's helped them. What about those students who are accepted because their daddy or mommy are alumni? Or athletes? I have an article from The Arizona Daily Star, dated Sept. 16, that takes about that issue. Look, it says here that ,"In fact, for every accepted minority student, with below average test scores... there is an accepted white recruited athlete or accepted legacy with equally low scores and ranks..." quoted by Michele Hernandez, former assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth College.

Maria: Instead of always wanting to eliminate programs that deny benefits, why don't they try offering solutions to race-based preferences?

Alberta: Because they can't get around issues of social economic factors, demographically low income areas and access to good education. That these disadvantages really exist.

Maria: Taking about education. Did you know that by law, African Americans were the only race who were not allowed to read or write? (Alberta nods.)

Maria: My African-American Studies teacher talked about it in class the other day. Then, after 500 years of being denied an education, blacks are considered inferior. She also talked about expediency. It was a tactic used by white women and men to deny black men the right to vote during the suffrage. Paula Giddings talks about it in her book, "Where And When I Enter."

Alberta: And you know, the only ones who have really benefited from Affirmative Action are white women? I heard it in one of my Mexican-American Studies classes.

Maria: In the Tucson Citizen last week, they wrote about Mexican-American history. Did you know that Mexicans were fighting in Louisiana during the Revolutionary War; that they fought on both sides of the Civil War, and that in World War II received 17 Congressional Medals of Honor, "the highest per capita for any group in that war."

Maria: You know, this country gives everyone freedom of expression, but when one of us starts talking about things like this, they say you're preaching racism. I guess I'd better change my wording since there's people who can't take the truth. What the hell, I guess only "minorities" aren't allowed to be politically incorrect, huh?

Wanted: Students to write a weekly column that reflects the diversity of the college campus. Minority students are encouraged to apply.

Maria: I really don't think this is going to make a difference.

María del Sagrario Ramírez is a senior majoring in Mexican-American studies and journalism. She thanks everyone for their comments and letters and is considering a "Dear Abita" column next semester.