Whites face racism, too
To the editor,
I am writing in response to the ignorance depicted in Erik Salcido's letter on Tuesday (Nov.14). In his letter, which was in response to a letter written by a white man, Mr. Salcido made the following stereotypical comment: "How would you know anything about feeling pre-judged based on the color of your skin?" It seems as though Mr. Salcido believes that white people are never subject to racism or prejudice, and that we all live in some kind of a utopian fantasyland. Not only are there many forms of racism that are directed towards whites, but the amount of stereotypes you have to face as a white person in society are overwhelming. Everyone, including the government with their discriminatory affirmative action programs, seems to believe that whites are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Moreover, everyone in society is eligible for affirmative action, educational aid; less you should happen to be a white male. I'm not sure what planet Mr. Salcido has been on, but when the government implements stereotypical, discrimination programs against white males just because they were born a certain color and gender, it tends to spawn angst and division, much less unity. If we as a nation are to ever come together and leave the racism and bigotry behind, we have to stop stereotyping ALL people based on what they look like.
James Petrie
Business junior
Lockdown letter invalid
To the editor,
I would like to respond to the Nov. 14 letter by Ms. Middleman. First of all, I'd like to ask her where she was when the whole situation was taking place. If she was on the sidelines, then her letter is on a very weak foundation. If she wasn't there, then she is showing that she doesn't care enough about the issue to stand for it herself. She seems to want others to speak for her, and will only defend the cause if it's popular, or when there's something to be gained. I agree that the President of this campus is only interested in bringing money into this campus, and could really care less about the students, and the causes that they represent. I think that this is a bad situation, one that needs to be changed. However, I don't agree with the tactics that were used by the less than twenty members of students against sweatshops. I think that the demonstration was ineffective. If the cause really has support on this campus, it should be publicly supported by more than just a handful of students.
Karen, if you really agree with the statement of the lockdown, then why didn't you let your voice be heard before now? Why weren't you out there to get arrested with the truly dedicated ones? Your actions show that you are really apathetic ,and don't really support the cause you say you do. I'll bet you didn't even vote, did you? Next time, try putting feet on your intentions, so you can walk out your convictions!
Jason Patrick
Creative writing junior
SAS disrupted students
To the editor,
The SAS' goal of bettering working conditions for peoples not as fortunate to have a constitution protecting their rights as we do in the United States IS a noble and worthy cause. Notwithstanding, SAS' actions last Wednesday were over the line. Rachel Wilson said they felt bad for inconveniencing students. Obviously they didn't feel that bad, because they still did it.
"If we could just disrupt the president, we would," she said. But they couldn't, so screw us. Is that it? I wasn't personally affected by the protest but I genuinely feel for Casey Schmiett trying to take care of business. How many other students were inconvenienced? Have any of those arrested ever lived in a third world country, more than just a weekend trip to Rocky Point. I have. I lived in Argentina for two years. You know what people in third world countries who have crappy jobs say at the end of the day? They get on their knees and thank God for what they DO have. You might be lucky to make $300 a month and you have a large family to feed.
Maybe you boss doesn't pay you for three months. You complain and he gives you $100 and a couple day's worth of groceries as your payment (of an owed $900). If you complain too much, you're fired. Quitting is an option. In both situations you not only lose your backpay as Argentine law dictates, but now you have no job at all. Yes, it sucks. But it's better than your neighbor who didn't receive anything. They all want a better life, yet know there is worse. They don't want the US coming in and telling them how horrible their life is compared to our standards. On top of all this, did the SAS think of how many TPD and UAPD units they put out of service? Did they consider the Tucson Fire unit's response and the increased response times to emergencies for other units? When seconds count, minutes kill.
But they feel bad for the "inconvenience." What about the $15,000 in wasted UA employee man-hours? Combined with the off-duty pay for 20-25 UAPD officers and the TPD and TFD responses, that is a lot of tax and tuition money. MY money. OUR money. Maybe we can just lock the SAS members in a building until they pay us back. It would only be an inconvenience, right?
Sean McMillan
Business Management sophomore
Radical cheerleaders misunderstood
To the editor:
In response to Shana Heiser's November 10th article regarding the SAS protest, Las SinFronteras would like to address what we feel is negative and misinformed reporting concerning the Tucson Radical Cheerleaders.
Las SinFronteras is a creative women's collective focused on female empowerment. We use art, music, spoken word, activism, dance, film, photography, plays, and radical cheerleading to create an inspiring and safe place for women and girls to be pro-actively involved in the social and cultural issues that affect our community. Our participation in Thursday's demonstration reflects our commitment to social justice movements in the Tucson area, and should not be considered an attack on the campus community.
While we are disappointed with the lack of objective reporting throughout the entire article, Las SinFronteras is particularly dismayed that Heiser portrayed our organization as childish and trite. Since cheerleaders were available for comment all day long, fair and responsible investigative reporting would have included not only accurate quotes from our cheers, but a statement from our members, as well as representative audience sentiment.
Mary Nell Trautner
Sociology Graduate Student
Las Sinfronteras Member
