By John Amorose
Assistant Opinion Editor
Amen. Amen. Amen. Forgive me,
but where I come from, you say amen
after you hear a sermon. And in last
week's Collegian, that is exactly what I
received in the article "Racism in
America", by Joneatra Henry. Please do
not misconstrue my following article; I
am simple going to give my own personal
"White American" reaction to the various
points raised by Ms. Henry. I realize that
I am not an Africa- American, or "black"
as Ms. Henry puts it, but please bear
with, me.
To quote Mark Twain, regarding his
book The Mysterious Stranger, I needed "a
pen warmed up in hell" to write this piece.
Racism is a topic that journalists take a
great care in commenting upon. One
must portray both sides as equals, and
back up any and all comments with actual
concrete facts. If Ms. Henry would have
done this, my response would not be
necessary. But such a one sided
generalization of the "white" race, to
which I am a member, required, if not
demanded a reply.
In the article, a large portion was in
regards to the Ku Klux Klan, and their
planned march on the city of Pittsburgh.
Ms. Henry was outraged at the fact that
this hate group was to march on the very
Letter to the Editor
When I entered college, I wanted to
improve my outlook on life, so in order to
achieve this, I had to raise my knowledge
content to another level. I enrolled in
classes that would help me reach my goal.
One of these classes, African and African
American Studies; The Life and Death of
Martin Luther King Jr. enriched my view
of life. When I told friends that I was
taking this class, they responded by saying
"what else is there to learn about him, he
had a boycott and made that famous "I Had
a Dream" speech. But not only did he
fight for the rights of African Americans
but he opposed any type of social or
economic poverty, he was also
vehemently against the Vietnam War. As
I look back at history, and see the vast
amount of people who fought for my
The Behrend College
Collegian
published weekly by the students of
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Danielle M. Murphy
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Sheila Bickel
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Colleen Gritzen
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Colleen Fromknecht
John Amorose, Assistant
Copy Editor
Michael DeSantis
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Tom Keefe
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Crystal Dehart
Advisors:
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Empathy for the Devi
city she planned to attend law school in
the future. To tell you the truth, I was
not exactly happy about this either,
considering I reside in the greater
Pittsburgh area. But, as Ms. Henry
pointed out, it is the Klan's right, as
specified by the First Amendment of the
Constitution, to congregate peacefully and
express their point of view. Marches such
as these happen in this country all the
time; small towns have anti-crime
marches to "clean up their streets",
homosexuals have marches to support
their causes, even the African-American
community had a "million man march" a
couple of years ago to support their cause.
My point is, whether you agree with what
the group stands for, or not, they have the
right to free speech. If you do not support
the Klan, which I do not, then do not go
to the rally; that is the choice you have to
make. But that is definitely not my main
problem with the mentioning of the Klan.
What bothered me most is how the only
"whites" mentioned in the article were Ku
Klux Klan members. I feel that this type
of inclination is comparable to me, being
a white man, writing an article on reverse
racism, and only mentioning black males
as being nothing more than gang
members. And if that is racism, than Ms.
Henry is guilty of that same crime; letting
one bad apple ruin the proverbial bunch.
Which brings me to my next point, or
rights, your rights; human rights. I
wonder if we as a generation are doing our
part for society. Have you helped
someone in need? Did you volunteer your
services when you had the time? Just by
giving the support, we help aid the cause.
The MS Walk, Behrend's Sleepout for the
Homeless and The Day of Caring, are only
a few that I can mention. I've realized that
higher education can not only be obtained
from hooks but by volunteering time and
effort to a cause. You not only benefit
yourself but others in the process. And by
doing so, you've already reached a plateau
of "higher education."
Ayodele Jones
Political Science, 02
Life at Behrend
Kicv g
Fl2l E
-6,..(A_1.1
The SGA, desperate for student involvement, tried tons of different
tactics to get the students to vote in this year's election.
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should I say Ms. Henry's next point. She
says in her article that racism should be
illegal. As good of an idea as this sounds,
the entire concept is ludicrous. The
shakedown of this would include the vast
majority of television and movie creators,
as well as every person walking the face of
the Earth; all guilty of expressing cultural
generalization of some kind. Being of
Italian descent, I too, experience a form
of racism on an everyday basis from these
people. From "Dago" jokes about only
eating pasta and being affiliated with the
Mafia, to the shameless display of Italian-
Americans in movies and television (not
all Italians are named Franky or Fat Tony
and have greasy hair and low IQs). So,
Joneatra, you are not alone.
Finally, I can never know what
hardships African-Americans have faced for
the last two hundred plus years. Frankly,
I have not been around for that long. But
I do know that it is like being a white
Christian male of European descent, and it
is no fun and games. Every facet of
society blames its problems and struggles
on little twenty year old me (or should I
say my ancestors). Homosexuals call me
homophobic, or consider me a bigot.
Minorities blame me for centuries of
mistreatment and oppression. Women say
that I am sexist and make more money in
the job market because I am vaginally
challenged (I made minimum wage last
summer working at Burger King). Even
`%.
1/51 , 11 L446.61301irrm.D ..ifatorAe.
Mike DeSantis
I I
the citizens of foreign countries, which
our government supports, call me fat, out
of shape and lazy. I have been forced to
wear these masks for as long as I can
remember. I am not saying that I am
perfect, in fact I am the furthest thing
from it. But I am tired of apologizing for
the actions, or should I say mistakes of
my fore , athers. And I am not going to do
it anymore. I am not asking for anyone's
sympathy, just your empathy. Put
yourself in my shoes for a whilt:';
In closing, I wish Ms. -kto . 4 y/ nothing
but the best of luck in her ifttyre, both in
law school and beyond. But I did not own
slaves, or oppress an entire people in
1865, and I am sure I will not in 2065.
Please leave me alone! •
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e
Fascism lives in America
By Colleen Fromknecht
Collegian Staff
I'm sure everyone by now has heard
about the judge in Montgomery,
Alabama who displayes a copy of the
Ten Commandments on his courtroom
wall and makes no bones about starting
the day with a Christian prayer brfore he
hears cases in his courtroom. I was
really appalled when I read about the
interview with him where he states that
his rights to do so are protected under
the First Amendment of the
Constitution. Yes, he does have First
Amendmant rights to freely practice his
religious beliefs, but not at the expense
of my religious beliefs. He also has
conveniently forgotten that the
Constitution also has mandated a
seperation between church and state.
Whether or not the document should be
interpreted strictly or loosely is beside
the point, the judge seems to think that
the Christian dogma is the only religious
viewpoint which is valid.
I am also concerned with the support
the judge's views have from the right
wing conservative people of America.
The people wholeheartedly support the
judge's views, but they have not thought
out their position. What happend if the
judge wakes up some day and decides
that he has been following the wrong
path? He decides he has been given a
revelation and from now on he will start
his day in court by requiring the
participants to read a copy of Dear
Abby's and Ann Landers' columns and
try to live by the principles that were set
down in these columns.
The point is that no one creed should
be given prescendnce over another
creed. To do so opens the door to a
myriad of problems. Today's creed
which is widely accepted and followed
Thursday, April 17, /997 The Behrend College Collegian - Page 5
Spit sucks !
By Colleen Fromknecht
Collegian Staff
Now that the weather is becoming
relatively spring-like (according to Erie's
standards), I've noticed a reoccurrence of a
phenomena which is starting to appear
around campus. White walking from my
car to class I have to be careful that I don't
step into a big glob of slimy, disgusting
spit. It is as bad as stepping into a dog
turd as far as I am concerned. Both
experiences are unpleasant, unsanitary and
rate right up there with having one's
,fingernails ripped out as far as a having a
fun experience.
I think this must he some sort of
esoteric rite of spring. As soon as the
weather improves a bit, guys all over
campus start making noises like a
wounded moose and let loose with a good
one. Unfortunately for me, I am usually
right behind this example of male
perfection and have to perform some fancy
footwork so I can avoid the glob of goo
that usually land on the sidewalk too close
to my shoe for comfort. I hardly ever see
a woman hawk a good one on the
sidewalk. It must be a guy thing.
After watching these paragons I am
struck by the coincidence that the guys
who seem to be flinging their spit around
campus with abandon are the same guys
who arc whining they can't get a date.
Well guess what? What woman in her
right mind wants to go out with a guy
who thinks nothing of letting large
streams of phlegm spew out of his mouth
(at inappropriate times) which then land
smack dab in the center of a sidewalk ?
Come on, guys! Do you act that way
in front of your mother? I should hope
not! Next time you get the urge to spit
on the sidewalk, stop for a minute and
think of all the people who have to walk
behind you on the sidewalk. Give us a
break! Maybe some nice girl will decide
you're not a camel after all, and you'll
finally get a date and have a good time.
kXX:F;3
IMMII
by many people could tomorrow become
power. The situation with the judge
terrifies me.
His thinking is similar to the thinking
of those in power immediately before
the rise of the Nazis to in Germagy.
The, country was on the brink. of
anarchy; most Germans approved of
Hitler because they felt he would bring
Germany back to the position by having
"values" the citizens felt were sorely
lacking. As a result, the world watched
in horror as eleven million (that's
11,000,000!) people died in
concentration camps so that Germany
could return to a way of life which had
true values.
This is ;he same kind of thinking that
the judge is promoting. The only
accepatble viewpoint for Americans is
the Christian viewpoint. If Americans
are too ignorant to realize the error of
their way, he will be happy to educate
them. I think he goes too far. I'm
scared. His policy strikes at the core of
my existence, and once again I am
threatend because I do not follow or
believe the tenets of middle class
conservative Americans. Does this
mean I will be persecuted for it? Do I
have to lie awake in fear because I do
not fit into the mold of what the
majority of people think I should be and
fear for my safety?
Has everyone in America forgotten
how to think? What are we teaching
our children? The only way we will
continue to exist on this earth with its
shrinking resources, and massive
problems which have been caused by
our technological "progress" is to come
together. We must learn to understand
and accept our differences and realize
that the majority point of view is not the
correct point of view just because the
majority of people hold it.
, I •