COLUMN: Fighting Ignorance On the Internet

From Biren Johnson's "Footsteps in the Dark," Fall '94 In any event I won't be coming to Penn campus. I'd have to disinfect myself after leaving the place. But I'll tell you what, I'll have the place, you name the date and time, ok? Or are you afraid to go somewhere where you can't be with your b's[boysl? So you c'mon to where *I* decide, bring your gat[gun] if you've gotta, wear your X hat and yer 8-ball jacket ... show up in full nigger regalia and I'll rip you apart so bad, they won't know if you were a nigger or some kind of missing link. So c'mon spearchucker, you really wanna do this? Fine, I'd be glad to put you out of yer misery." Michael A. Smith Btech 3056 Muse! 21st Century Ltd. msmith@tech.netaxs.com btech.netaxs.com 3056 (215)630-9477 "You wanna see something crazy?" asked the student next to me, as I was checking my email in SH-DH. He pulled up this e-mail message that he had received from some guy who has been anatagonizing people for a while over the Internet. "Do you know anyone who works for any type of publication or something?" Wow, what do you know, that was me and I was struggling a little for a column topic during this week of exams, interviews, resume drops, etc. After reading this e-mail message, the only thing that I could do was laugh. It is really sad that some people have nothing else better to do than exhibit racial absurdities to others especially by hiding behind a computer terminal. Mr. Smith probably heard about the University's position on the Racial Harassment Policy. I'm a firm believer that people should be free to say anything they please, but they also have to expect the consequences. So don't go crying to your friends when you come back home with some new "scars of life" after calling someone a "nigger", "chink", or any other endearing racial terms. Look in the mirror and consider it a lesson. But then again, I don't know the University's position on racially-provoked incidents outside of the classroom. It would make sense to me that if there is no recourse for students being antagonized, then there should be none for individuals who crossed the wrong "spearchucker". But Mr. Smith is obviously not alone at this University in his opinions. I guess I have to give him a little credit for sending this over the network so that his address could be traced. I'd be even more impressed if he actually did step on the campus and exercise his freedom of speech to the faces of the Penn community. People who think that these types of attitudes don't apply to them better think again! If someone expresses contempt for one racial group, you better be damn sure that they're going to talk about you too when you leave the room. If you don't express your views or let people tell those same racial jokes while you sit back and laugh you're just as bad as Mr. Smith and part of the problem. These types of people are the few that make racial relations so bad in this country and especially at this University. Although I think that some of the media coverage and publicity that Penn gets is exaggerated, nevertheless events and comments such as these happen all of the time. I guess this would be a good time to plug a project that I'm part of -- C.O.L.O.R.S. -- Campus Organized Lectures On Racial Sensitivity. C.O.L.O.R.S. is an annual event that is co-sponsored by the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Chi. The week-long event is geared towards formulating solutions and clearing up misunderstandings or stereotypes among students and the community at large; in other words, getting to the root of the problem. Events such as C.O.L.O.R.S. help alleviate the tensions surrounding situations such as these. More people and organizations ought to be involved, especially people like Mr. Smith, who could learn a lot from others here at the University. Take this as a personal invitation to take the right steps towards understanding if not ending the various racial issues within the Penn community. Ignorance is out there and it's truly not just on the Internet. Biren Johnson is a senior Strategic Management major from Naperville, Illinois. Footsteps in the Dark normally appears alternate Mondays.