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| Racism will probably be around for a while |
To the Editor:
A recent editorial in your paper stated that racism shouldn’t
have a place in today’s society. That is very much true. However,
when you look at what racism is, at its core, you see that it runs
rampant and is not going to go away anytime soon.
Racism is fundamentally the promotion of one race above any other.
Simply put, anytime that any special emphasis is given to your (or
any other) race, then that is racism. Everyone deserves equal input,
equal time, and equal respect.
However, when a month, such as February, is set aside as “Black
History Month,” that’s simply not giving equal opportunity
for people to dwell on other races, cultures and ideologies.
Why isn’t there an “Asian History Month”, or a
“Latin History Month”? Or, dare I say it, a “White
History Month”? The fact of the matter is that every race
gets the proverbial “short end of the stick” when it
comes to getting equality.
It doesn’t matter who you are, or what race you think you
are (most of us are more than one, if we trace our genealogy back
more than 5 generations), sooner or later you’re going to
realize that you’ve experienced racism.
Bryan McGuire
Appalachian State University
Staff
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| Survery shouldn't have made news |
To the Editor:
I don’t know why The Appalachian feels a story about a survey
centering around homosexuals or heterosexuals is newsworthy. To
me it seems like yet another crusade by a member of your staff to
push their own little agenda. You get sick of hearing this? Well
maybe it’s true. Or maybe the editors stuck this person with
this assignment. I’m tired of these kinds of articles (also
the “Rise Up!” - a socialist newletter - article on
the same front page). Save the crusades for the opinion page. The
survey taken is absolutely silly in the first place.
While we’re at it, why don’t we poll black, Asian, Hispanic
and Arab students as well as people with 4 toes, and conservative
professors about whether they feel comfortable eating in the dining
halls.
They’re minorities too right? We’ve all had negative
or disparaging remarks made about us one way or another in life
and most of us have weathered the storm.
If someone has a religious objection to homosexuals should they
suppress their beliefs for others? The whole mantra about “acceptance”
and “tolerance” really comes down to “keep your
mouth shut at all times if you disagree with what I believe”.
As I said before, I welcome these kinds of issues on the opinion
page and to open debate but despise making news out of thin-air
and printing it all over the front page of our school paper.
Ryan Richards
Junior, journalism
ASU Box 22203
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| Use paper for underrepresented groups |
To the Editor:
Just a friendly reminder to your opinion columnist Jana Nordstrand
that while her Valentine’s Day feature, “Call me Crazy”
was very fun and witty, it was also biased toward straight relationships.
I assume that this was unintentional.
I would encourage all Appalachian writers to keep in mind their
fellow students who may be offended by reading the ‘his and
her’ normalities that seem inoffensive to those who identify
with the straight lifestyle.
Especially with recent social and political events, it is becoming
increasingly important that journalists use their media to open
eyes and minds to the changes our world is facing. This includes
GLBTQ issues.
I suggest not that we all agree on these issues, but rather, I challenge
my fellow journalists to use the paper as a tool for assisting underrepresented
groups receive proper attention to their issues.
Thank you for the high standards that your journalists continue
to uphold and I trust that as concerns come to the attention of
your staff, they will continue to be noticed and addressed.
Crystal Thomas
Secretary, Society of Professional Journalists
Program Coordinator, BGLAAD
Senior Journalism/ Spanish
ASU Box 10582
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