LETTER: New Battles

After reading Bill Madison's article, I would have to conclude that all white women in sororities have too much hair, are prim, proper and immaculate -- not to mention ignorant -- and whose efforts to help their community are guided by selfishness and a feeling that, as superior white women, they may, condescendingly, help those less forunate. Did I miss anything? Madison is truly a tribute to the crusade against racism. His prejudices couldn't be more thinly veiled. Let me first dispel the notion that I might fit into this stereotype. I am a white woman but, contrary to your assumptions, I was lucky enough to attend a high school in which half of my classmates were African-Americans. However, my compassion is not directed toward unfortunate blacks; it is directed toward unfortunate human beings. I realize that his message may apply to a handful of self-righteous individuals, but you undermine the many who are sincere. It's not that these actions are "commendable," they are important, and they are needed. What motivates Madison's subtle condemnation of volunteers of a race different from his own? What I see is bitterness, a feeling which I realize is the result of lifetimes of injustice and inhumanity toward blacks. I get that sick feeling too, and although I know it doesn't strike nearly as deeply as it does for him, it makes me want to fight. Madison, however, has chosen the wrong cause. Stop fighting old battles and start initiating new ones, constructive ones, aimed toward ending racism and promoting equality. CHRISTINA CORDERO Wharton '95

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