By Melissa Meister
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 3, 1997

McKean should examine her culture

Editor:

I would just like to reply to Jennifer McKean's colum[sic], "Black and Blue." McKean states, "I don't use my race to get me places in the world. I believed that race was irrelevant until I realized what reverse discrimination does to people." Ms. McKean, this is a truly sad statement, and what is even sadder is that it is one I used to agree with [sic].

Sure, being the fairly privileged white woman that I am, I thought affirmative action was a good idea to begin with, but that it had lived past its prime and was becoming racially divisive. Ideally, there would be no need for affirmative action, we should just abort it and head for the idealization of a world without color. However, what works in theory hardly ever works in practice. Ideals are present as markers to work towards[sic], not as reality. What you (and I previously) never realized is that while we might not actively "use [our] race to get [us] places in the world," it does already. Your belief that race was irrelevant was your blindness to your own privilege. Let's look at what you (and I previously) have taken for granted as a white woman:

- you can walk into a classroom and generally find people like you around

- you can move into a neighborhood and generally find people like you around

- police won't usually stop you by the side of the road based on your skin color

- you will generally be given[sic] "personhood" in a court of law

- you get to see your image every day in movies, tv, and news, and furthermore, you get to see a much wider variety of yourself in movies, tv, and news (i.e. you are not always the gangster, the housewife, the pregnant mother, the illiterate, etc.)

Hey, this is just the beginning. Go home tonight and make a list of everything "racial" that you have taken for granted simply because those who hold the cultural "power" rarely question it. However, before any of us can move toward a "cultural enlightenment" that recognizes race as a beautiful diversity of culture rather than a divisive issue that must be erased, we must all question our positions.

In conclusion, I would like to address your point about minority clubs on campus. All clubs on campus promote an arena where people of like-mind can come together and feel safe discussing issues, whether that be of race, sexuality, gender, or water polo. Minority clubs are wonderful arenas for people to find out more about their history, their culture, political issues, social issues, etc. Perhaps your problem is that you need to start you own. However, "white" is not a culture, it is a color. Perhaps you would like to start a club to examine your own cuture, German? Southern? Tucsonian? One must find out about oneself and oneself's own culture and history before they can combine in groups to erase oppression.

Let's work on changing ourselves before we try to change the world.

Melissa Meister
Women's Studies/Humanities Senior