OPINION: Beginning to 'Get the Message?'

I came home from a night out at about 4 a.m., about two weeks before the end of last semester, and found two messages on my answering machine, from a man whose voice I did not recognize. What follows are excerpts of the messages: "David, you need to pick up the phone right now. David, you fuckin' faggot. This is [his name]. I'm in [fraternity name]. I understand your fraternity had a problem with two of my friends tonight. They might not be in a fraternity but they are my friends. I am looking for you and you exclusively..." "...you're in deep trouble. I don't care how many brothers you think you have. Are those brothers? Do you know what a brother really is? See cause I never saw a white guy who is a brother... you know this is a dangerous neighborhood full of niggers like me and we are gonna fuckin' rock your fuckin' world. I'm gonna fuckin' find your ass. No one fucks around with people that I know. Your fraternity, nobody fucks around with people I know... yeah, you sleep, you sleep hard. I hope you're with a girl, man, cause that's the last time your dick will get in anything ...What's gonna happen when you are sober, white man?" "What's up, pussy? It's me again ... Who you turn your hat to the back on? See, I think you think you turn your hat to the back on a couple people last night. But you turn your hat to the back on a whole society of people. You turn your hat to the back on a whole fraternity. You fuckin' faggot ass motherfucker. What happened with my dick in your ass all night long ... does that mean you came out of the closet, does that mean you a faggot? You are gonna get hurt. It's just that simple. I suggest that when you wake up tomorrow you realize that maybe you shouldn't drink anymore, because you get a little too bold motherfucker. You should never ever fuck with anybody cause you can't back shit up. Cause you are just who you are. A hat to the back faggot ass motherfucker?" "Where you from, motherfucker? ... You from, like, Maine? Are you from Newport, Rhode Island? ... cause I may fuckin' put a slug up your ass. You know what a slug is motherfucker? ... it's something that goes in your fuckin' chest. [laughs] I just got a gun tonight and I gotta get you ... I got a itchy finger motherfucker ... Well, think. Don't ever fuck with people you don't know about. Cause sometimes things come back and haunt you. And no matter how many people you think got your back at not matter what time it's always gonna be you one on one. Can you back that up? That's what you gotta ask yourself. Because it's gonna come..." My immediate reaction was incredulity that in light of all the race relation problems we've had on campus, this guy would go and do this. I kept asking myself why a black person would do something which obviously could only worsen things for his own race. So I "star 69'd" him hoping this was all some kind of sick joke. It wasn't though. I identified myself immediately by my full name. He told me his, and initially insisted that I had started a fight with his friends, in his absence. When I told him that he was mistaking me for having been there, he asked me if I'm in a specific fraternity, which he named. Although I am in a fraternity, I'm not a member of the one he specified. When I told him this he remained doubtful and belligerent. His last hostile words were "Well, if I am wrong, an apology will be forthcoming in the morning." I haven't heard from him since. I can't buy the argument that some black men feel this is the only way left to make their point. Fear and intimidation can sometimes increase an individual's power in some instances, but they can't do so without alienating the individual from the rest of society, besides making him look like a complete jackass. Slavery taught us that. I suggest black men don't make the same mistake my ancestors did. If alienation from me and the rest of society is fine with them en route to empowerment, then they can't expect understanding or help from me. I can say to all blacks that white people are listening and trying to respond to you a lot more than you perceive. The water buffalo case should at least teach them that. From experience and common sense, I know that this verbal threat to me was racist. I truly believe that if I were black, and the caller white, he would be found guilty of racial harassment, in addition to criminal charges, in no time flat. I'm not so sure that this will happen to him, however, because he is black, and I can't help feel that we now live in a society that is not as quick to punish black-on-white crime as it is to punish white-on-black crime. This happens for political reasons and because some people feel attacks such as these are justifiable by virtue of the fact that my ancestors held blacks as slaves, and since blacks were oppressed, certain behavior is excusable. Every individual is a spokesperson for his or her own race because, unfortunately, human beings categorize everything. When a black person does something wrong, I do take notice that he or she is black, as well as when he or she does something positive. The guy who left these messages on my answering machine made me, and most of my fraternity brothers, that much more prejudiced. While it is wrong of me to direct some of my hostility towards blacks as a race, since this man acted alone, it's hard to keep from doing so. I don't do this selectively towards blacks. I'm guilty of stereotyping Asian-americans, women, the elderly, etc. While it's wrong, I believe it's human nature. As a target of stereotyping myself, I am really sick of white-male fraternity bashing. The main reason isn't that it offends me, though. It's that everyone who tries to stifle us is actually acting on their own stereotype of the closed-minded, one-dimensional, rapist frat guy, while accusing us of being the actual upholders of prejudice. They simply further alienate us and breed our resentment towards them. The result? All those people saying that it's time to give the white man a taste of his own medicine are simply perpetuating the institutionalization of racism. Short term victories granted by such programs as affirmative action often lead to long-term resentment. By the time things are finally evened out, the white man will be too bitter from his own disenfranchisement to want to coexist in harmony. Right or wrong, this is the way it is. This is the nature of prejudice, and these are the facts that black people must consider when using pro-active methods to further the black cause. Many are wondering why racism seems to be on the rise, and people's prejudices, including mine, are intensifying, although I still recognize skin color as irrelevant to an individual's ability. I feel the cause is the separatist nature of groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and men like the Reverend Al Sharpton who use band-aid methods to "help" blacks while not realizing they're giving ammunition to the bigots of the white community and alienating the rest of us. One hand is being held out to whites in friendship, and the other is flicking us off. My answering machine messages are a prime example of the reverse racism that many claim "can't" exist. I almost didn't do anything about this whole situation just because I'm so sick of hearing about this bullshit myself and the last thing this school needs is one more issue to divide us. But I finally decided it would be irresponsible of me to send a message to the caller and his friends that blacks can get away with threatening and intimidating white people by virtue of their skin color. David English is a senior Entrepreneurial Management major from Virginia Beach, Virginia.