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Editor:
This letter is in response to the many, often white, students who have carried the issue of affirmative action and all that it entails to ridiculous heights. I think these people need a dose of reality. A gentleman wrote in recently to inform us that while affirmative action may indeed be a necessary correction to institutionalized wrongs, it is a racist concept.
He went on to say that there are no 'white only' scholarships, and that minorities would be up in arms if there were. Are you sure about that? The Sons and Daughters of Columbus give thousands of dollars in aid to their members; know any Native Americans in that category? I've never seen a Chicano student on a full scholarship from the ADL. There is an alumnus in California who offers a full scholarship to students who have, among other things, blue eyes; maybe a handful of blacks could qualify.
The point here is that you (and one or two other white students I have encountered) fail to realize that there are millions of dollars in public and private aid to only white students. Do some research next time! Contrary to this young man's casual definition, racism is the belief that one's race is superior to other races, which surely is not the mindset of proponents of affirmative action. Let us take a moment to strip away the veneer of progress in Amerika (sic) and be real. I have been thrown up against a wall for hanging out with friends for "fitting the description of..." - well, many blacks and Chicanos know how that sentence ends. Racism did not end with the civil rights movement, and desegregation doesn't work because the government can't tell business owners not to be extremely prejudiced.
I'm not going to throw out a bunch of empty rhetoric, just truth, so listen up. When Susan Smith alleged that a black man kidnapped her children, the soldier-cops rounded up (AND VIOLATED THE RIGHTS OF) several black men in that part of South Carolina who "fit the desc..." They took the word of a woman with a history of mental problems and violated people's rights. In Tennessee, the soldier-cops held an extremely prejudiced cookout - in the 1990s, NOT the 1890s. These 'public servants' helped to perpetuate the institutionalized racism that exists right now in Amerika. If you're not convinced, look into Oneonta, NY, the CHP 1990s video file, or any grocery store in a minority dominated neighborhood (which is where many major stores often send their second-rate produce and meats). Leonard Peltier is STILL in jail. Mumia Abu Jamal is STILL in jail. Amerika, and its banker-owners, have never given up anything willingly.
The emancipation proclamation, Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, civil rights legislation, countless 'quick-fix' agreements with Native American groups...all done to pacify so that some white guy (86 percent of all upper-management positions) could sleep in peace and keep his money, NOT as attempts toward equality. The point is, if you're going to talk about equality, racist policies or progress in Amerikan institutions, you need to open your minds to the actualities, not just the theories.
Omar Passons
philosophy and pre-med senior
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