LETTERS: Thoughts on race relations

To the Editor: We're never going to have true integration until the proportion of blacks at Penn increases. We only represent 6 percent of students here. There are three times as many Asians and 10 times as many whites. No matter how much we integrate, white people will always be the majority, able to stay in their comfort zones. However, I do see some of the benefits of desegregation. I probably wouldn't have any close white friends if I hadn't lived with a white girl freshman year. It wasn't difficult for me, though -- I lived in DuBois that year so I could be around whites but still able to spend a lot of time with blacks. I don't think all black people will be comfortable living with whites because we have sufffered so much at their hands. When my family tried to move into a white neighborhood, they broke the windows and smashed a pumpkin on the steps. We moved to a black neighborhood instead. Many blacks have been burned or bombed out of their homes while trying to integrate white neighborhoods and universities. During my freshman year, DuBois received bomb threats and blacks received telephone calls asking "Is this the nigger dorm?" Also during my wonderful experience at Penn, people wrote "Penn Against Niggers" in the elevators. If you think everything is copacetic now, in Pittsburgh recently, a white policeman was acquitted of murdering a black man. Just imagine you were the minority. Would you want to live with someone who could murder you in the middle of the night and get away with it? You might, but you shouldn't have to. Carla Land Wharton '97 u To the Editor: I thought the grandiose headline of Lee Bailey's column, "How to foster racial harmony," could only be followed by an article that would change the world forever. I was sure Bailey knew something the other five billion people on this earth don't. But much like his fellow idiot savant, former DP columnist Dave Crystal, Bailey left nothing but a sour taste in my mouth. He was ever so mistaken from beginning to end. There's more than one black film-maker, for instance. Much like his colonialist, imperialist ancestors, Bailey failed to see that we, the unfortunate non-white, do not necessarily feel compelled to be like him. He failed to see the beauty in different cultures and instead promoted the idea that we should give up our culture-based social groups so that he can be more comfortable. Why should I assimilate? Why didn't I see Bailey at Diwali? He must have slipped past me at the step show. It boils down to nothing more than the tyranny of the majority. We are proud of who we are and will not be forced into allegiances just because Bailey said so. The road to integration is an arduous one that minorities have traveled for hundreds of years. It is now time for Bailey to make his journey because only then will there truly be racial harmony. I do hope Bailey attended all of this week's Unity Week events. Tope Koledoye, Program Coord. United Minorities Council College '98 u To the Editor: These days, when tensions about race relations threaten to seriously divide this campus, how wonderful it would be to have a brief respite from these problems. A temporary refuge exists. The Inspiration, an a capella group specializing in songs by African Americans, afford a vacation from thoughts on race relations at Penn. How? Group members do it with their music, their voices, their hearts -- singing with a beauty and passion most people can only dream of possessing. So perfect their song choice, humorous their comedy shorts and rehearsed their solo performers that these artists have achieved the elusive at this school: Integration. In the Inspiration's audience sit representatives of every race Penn prides itself on having, specifically for purposes of diversity. And in the audience's minds dwell not thoughts of racism or a segregated Commons or DuBois, but rather an appreciation of song itself and support for the group's effort to please. In each show, the Inspiration sang of "A Land Called Fantasy," and as I sat there I believed such a place was possible -- if only all people could put aside conflict and work for the common good. I encourage everyone to see an Inspiration show while studying here; you will not be disappointed. Sadly, I return to the harsh realities of ignorance and hatred. I excused myself at the end of the show to find maliciously carved in a bathroom stall the words "Die nigger." I wish the Inspiration could sing every day. Louis Juliano College '97 Taking back U. City To the Editor: Penn students reacted with understandable dismay and alarm to the tragic Halloween slaying of researcher Vladimir Sled. "The University must do something about this," a female Penn student was quoted as saying on the evening news. As long as the dominant reaction of the Penn community is only to level blame and to expect someone else to do something, crime in the area will remain at its intolerably high levels. I am active in a town watch group that patrols the area bounded by 44th and 46th streets, from Walnut to Spruce. We meet the third Wednesday of each month at the Spruce Hill Community Center, near Spruce and 45th Streets -- and they are vigorously publicized through fliers delivered to every house in our area. Yet I can count on one hand the number of Penn students who have ever attended our meetings. Yes, certainly someone should do something about crime in the Penn-Drexel area -- namely, the students themselves. Jet Wimp Mathematics Professor Drexel University