Colonnade

Dear Ms. Bell,

You made it sound like she wrote something atrocious like black people should never be allowed to sit together. To be better informed, I read the article you were referring to.

I laughed. Mostly because I believe you blew it completely out of proportion. Her opinion was more than just about black people sitting together. Would you have felt less insulted if she said Hispanics instead of Blacks? Maybe so. It made sense for her (I would assume) to "target" black people because they are the school's largest minority group at that time. It was relevant to this campus. It would have made less of an impact if she addressed the Hispanics or even Asians that were on campus.

I think the big mistake you made is that you have solely focused on the bit of the article about the black table. I think people were more upset about the headline on the article than the actual article itself. People proceeded to read the first few paragraphs and then the controversy was born.

That would've been ok, I guess, except for that pretty important part that the rest of her observations on affirmative action, preferential treatment, stereotypes and such, were completely lost. The people were insulted before they can even pay attention to what her entire message was all about.

I believe it is poor journalism, on your part, to selectively address one facet of her point of view when a fair analysis would have included a multi-faceted approach. Sure you mentioned that she was "trying to question equality", but you failed to say that her main focus was questioning equality. People were upset not because she examined those things but because she noticed there was a black table. I would have agreed with you if in fact her column simply said that black people should not be allowed to sit with each other or if her message was that black people were racist. You took some things out of context.

What you also failed to address was that she wished it was easy to sit together and just simply pass fried chicken, to burritos, to rice because so many cultures could be sitting in ONE table. A bit too idealistic perhaps, but a very important, if not the most crucial part of that author's argument.

She was writing something that people have always thought about, but were afraid to ask. It's not always pleasant but it makes people think and even inspire people to spring towards some form of action or at least see a different perspective of the issue. It was her way of challenging the norm, of vocalizing what a lot of people were always curious about. It doesn't make her wrong. It doesn't mean she should tread softly either just because people might be upset by it.

I was here when the original article was written, and the reason the black students were offended was because the writer never asked our opinion. Nor did she address the other groups of students that sit together in the cafeteria, like Fraternity and Sorority students, Athletes, Science Majors. The central things, is they all have something in common. Ms. Lugo in the original was misinformed on the reason we all sat together. She said "they are creating an elitist society to one day over throw the majority" that article to me is stupid! We have not ever done that or have an intention of doing that.

I think the point Ms. Bell is making is that we sit together because we have a commonality, not because we want to be segregated!