LETTER: Important Motives

I have helped young black children in outreach programs too. But because I am a white male, that now means I'm racist. Perhaps some sorority women tend to be capricious at times, but that doesn't prevent them from doing small favors for the community. Perhaps we are a product of our upbringing; perhaps it's quite possible that our parents told us to lend helping hands to those that are less fortunate than we. Perhaps we fulfill our upbringing by doing small favors. Yes, Bill Madison is right. Motives are important. You get a strange feeling that the same women who reach out to the community are the ones who ride Escort Service at dusk. Is this relevant? Could it possibly be that these women don't want to become another murder or rape victim? I view this to be the likelihood. Just because they ride Escort doesn't preclude them from having pure motives in helping others. These assumptions Madison makes are unjust. Madison mentions that those who favored the elimination of Mayor's Scholarships and the freshman Diversity Awareness seminars can offer nothing but contempt to a black child. I think the Diversity Awareness seminar was complete crap. But then again, that means I'm racist. I worked for hours after school in high school tutoring black students. I have spent hours with outreach programs for elementary schools that were primarily black. I offered my time to help. I could have watched television or rode Escort, but no, I helped someone else. Perhaps next time when you decide to point the finger at someone whose motives you don't know, analyze your own. Who is generating the racism? Is it really there? KEVIN WELCH Engineering '95