Editor:
Let me begin by stating that I am in favor of the overall message of the Million Man March ... that each man should make a conscious effort to improve himself. However, I am at odds with some of the comments made by Farrakan. One in particular stuck out in my mind. He said something to the effect of, "White folks cannot solve black folks' problems."
Farrakan spoke of racism among white people, but it seems that there is an increasing racism in blacks towards whites. It is of no wonder to me that there is racial division among blacks and whites with ideas like this one of Farrakan's, that whites cannot help blacks with their problems, that blacks have a different set of problems than do whites. It is time we stop thinking that white people and black people are too different to work collectively. Black people do not have a monopoly on problems, just as white people do not. If there is a problem that affects one race then it affects all races.
Racism is everyone's problem. It affects all people, black and white, whether directly or indirectly. When Farrakan speaks about "the problems of black people," he is himself clinging to racial division. Racial division is a problem that affects everyone and can only be solved when people stop bickering about race and start working together towards a common goal. Assuming blacks have a different set problems (as Farrakan did) is to assume that blacks are different.
Blacks and whites are not so different as Farrakan would like to propose. We are all humans. We are all Americans no matter what our color. We all share the same problems.
Sometimes these problems affect us in different ways, even on a racial scale, but nonetheless, the problem for racism is not the black community's problem, but a problem for all Americans.
Dale B. Williams
Mechanical Engineering Junior