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Editor:
I feel very disenfranchised with the students that wrote the Sept. 13 letter entitled "Many services openly available to non-minorities who look for them."
Let me start out by saying that I am Hispanic. Let me also say that I am also white, a product of two loving parents who both hail from completely different heritages. So what? Well, I think that I have a very good feel for both sides of the debate about minority-only services. As does almost everyone, I am not racist, nor do I call people racist lightly. Since we are examining the issue of race, we all need to proceed with caution to have a debate of ideas and not name-calling.
With that out of the way, let me first pose the question of whether any of the seven who signed the letter believe that they are racist? No. OK. Then, the Scot - is he? No. But why should some students have services that others don't? Tough question, inde ed. The Hispanic side of my family should be very wealthy, as it owned about half of what is now Santa Fe, so I understand how Hispanics have been cheated. But does that mean that after we have gone through all of these hardships and growing pains that ma gically someday, everyone gets the old ways back?
Whites in Jamestown, Hispanics have a larger southwest, Native Americans have the west to roam and African Americans are just African? Completely unreasonable, but we now separate services for minorities just the way we separated bathrooms a half-century ago. Why? Because we are making up for it....but for how long? Why should I as a "minority" feel as if I am ENTITLED to more? I pose the question, "When is it enough, and when are we all even?"
If you want to separate more services to those who are not financially well-off, good, though I don't believe that is right, either. But if we as a school, in our own microcommunity, want to start fighting the inherently morally correct fight of racism el imination, we need to start at the institutional level. EMBRACE DIVERSITY BY NOT EXCLUDING ANYONE!
Just remember, we are not all victims, and don't forget that anytime we make a decision based on a person's race, it is a racist decision.
Richard M. Chavez
Finance sophomore
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