People have a tendency to believe that racism is abolished just like slavery. I hate to break it to you, but racism does exist. To this day, we are still judged by the color of our skin. Sean Jin said that he had never experienced racism before he came to the University and it was not until people of color started “expressing their hatred and contempt for whites” that he saw ethnic bigotry (“Schwoeffermann’s remarks only deepen racial divide,” ODE May 7, 2007). To assume that people of color only have hatred toward white people is bigotry. If standing up to racism and if fighting for equality is hatred, then so be it.
I think that Sean Jin has a problem with people saying “white people.” I do not think there is anything wrong with saying “white students” or “white people,” because when I say it I do not mean their pale skin, but because white people are the majority in this country.
Sean Jin is obviously offended by Ty Schwoeffermann’s writings and I feel like he is tokenizing Ty as a representative of all students of color. Jin, would you like us to call “white people” American, so people don’t have to feel uncomfortable when they talk about race?
Jin missed the point completely of Ty’s article; all I see is a person trying to defend a culture he has assimilated to. Jin repeatedly mentions that he is a student of color and a minority as if that gives him credibility to talk about race. It is not our job to educate people about oppression. It is hard to understand what you have not lived. I am tired of seeing people suffer, people being cheated out of opportunities, and I am especially tired of people who think they know what they are talking about just because they identify as a “minority.” There is a struggle for social equality and institutional equity. You may not see it because you may not have experienced it or seen it on television. But this struggle is happening and has been for a long time now.
Diego Hernandez
University student