TO THE EDITOR:
I appreciate James Dillard’s column “Why I’m a racist and you might be one too,” but I felt that he only addressed a small part of the problem. While he suggests that it’s important to acknowledge when we are stereotyping (and it is), I think the far more powerful forces of institutional racism (and how white people benefit from it) also need to be addressed. Dillard briefly mentioned “white privilege,” and the study on how people’s names affect if they get a call-back for an interview, however, there are numerous other ways that institutional racism continues to pervade our society. For example, Martin Eakes, the CEO of Self-Help, recently spoke at our campus about how it is dramatically more expensive for people of color to obtain home loans. (Studies support his point, even when controlling for the borrower’s income.) At the end of the day, if somebody is being harmed, somebody is also usually benefiting. Most of the time, it is white America that is benefiting from institutional racism which harms people of color. I strongly encourage people who are interested in this subject to read Peggy McIntosh’s list of 50 white privileges to see how both stereotyping and institutionalized racism confers benefits on one group while denying benefits to others. And to the extent that white Americans continue to benefit from institutional racism, we are all guilty of racism.
Sean Coffey
Master of Public Administration, Class of 2008
School of Government
TO THE EDITOR:
I know that the DTH has proudly self-proclaimed itself the “Nation’s Best College Newspaper” numerous times, but honestly, can you get the information correct before you report it? I know that everyone makes mistakes, myself as no exception, but before you misinform the University community about current events, especially issues as integral to our community as local governing officials or elected representatives, PLEASE take the time to get the facts straight; data verification is something that every other media outlet tries to accomplish before “breaking the news”. Instead of “cleverly” hiding the corrections in the corners of the paper, or just below an advertisement for Yogurt Pump, the DTH should just make a log of all their “corrections” and publish them in the “Diversions” section of Thursday’s paper, after all they are pretty good diversions from the truth…
Ben Grafchik
EXSS
TO THE EDITOR:
I found it frustrating that in this past Tuesday’s “La Colina” section of the the paper, the editors had chosen Carlos Slim as “personaje ejemplar del mes.” After praising Slim for being the world’s second richest businessmen, the article went on to state that Slim currently owns 90% of Mexico’s land line telephone infrastructure through his company Telmex and that this one man controls over 7% of the country’s economic production, as if these were positive examples of his personality. I am disturbed that La Colina would support this type of monopolistic behavior on the part of an individual. Granted, Slim is a shrewd businessman with very diversified assets, but due to the Telmex monopoly on the communications industry, Mexicans pay some of the highest phone bills in the world, according to a study done by the OECD. According to one critic, these high rates are directly making the Mexican economy more inefficient by discouraging communication through higher prices, hardly exemplary behavior. On the other hand, the article did mention Slim’s recent philanthropy, but maybe if Slim’s products were not overpriced in the first place, there would be less of a need for his personal re-distribution down the line.
Ian Smith-Overman, Junior – Latin American Studies
TO THE EDITOR:
For Halloween my freshman year I went along with the majority of UNC women and picked a sexy costume – Britney Spears a la her Catholic school girl routine. I completed my outfit with plenty of atrocious makeup and set out for my first Franklin Street Halloween with a large group of friends. Despite having practiced “safety in numbers,” I still had my ass grabbed no less than three times – twice under my skirt.
Wednesday’s editorial “You better watch out” advised females to dress as, “an Eskimo,
polar bear or Peter Griffin from Family Guy to avoid getting haggled.” That is outright
ridiculous. While I recognize revealing clothing might send an unintended message, it
still doesn’t say, “please touch me.” It doesn’t even say, “please talk to me.”
Maybe rather than encouraging women to dress more appropriately on a night noted for its wild lack of propriety, you should be encouraging men to restrain themselves and realize that it is not their right to “haggle” a woman, regardless of the way she is dressed. I usually question a costume idea for its coolness and originality. It’s sad that I’m now
expected to question whether my idea will risk creeps trying to assault me.
Alyson Culin
Senior
History and Political Science
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