To the editor:
My sympathies are entirely with Russell Contreras on the issue of racism, but I dislike the implications of his column and his story, in which "Amelia" represents all minorities and "Danny" acts in the place of all "whites," who have a coherent policy to throw brown kids from playground equipment.
The actions of a child in 1963 are not a good analog for the racism problem today.
For every such instance of playground politics, a similar one can be found in which the Mexican child is the aggressor. I knew Mexican bullies in grade school, but I don't think they were bullies because they were Mexican (I think it was because they were human).
Contreras says, "They (whites) were never thrown off a playground toy." I am Irish. Tell me, Mr. Contreras, the Irish were never crammed down coal-mine shafts by the cartload.
I am German. Tell me, Russell, the "Krauts" were never maligned and discriminated against during the two World Wars of this century.
I am a Baptist. Tell me thousands of Baptists were never massacred in Central Europe during the Reformation. Tell me Roger Williams was not thrown bodily from Massachusetts Colony into the howling wilderness.
Exclusion and discrimination are a part of the American experience. All of us can claim a heritage of oppression - some of us are still fighting the beast. But to postulate the existence of a privileged white class historically immune to racist abuse is to disregard the reality of the past.
We "whites" are not the monolith Contreras paints us to be. White America consists of peoples from a wide variety of hellish traditions. Even the Mayflower gang, who got to write most of the rules when they landed on Plymouth Rock, brought with them a history of oppression.
Neither of us is a bad guy, Russ. I certainly don't implicate you in the historical battles and brutality of Mexican history, even if you do celebrate Cinco de Mayo (the commemoration of a battle).
Who am I in Contreras' simplistic division of society into "us" and "them?" I am a white farm worker. In the fields, I sympathize more with my brown, Catholic co-workers than with the white, Protestant, capitalist jefes. I speak español, eat tacos for lunch and get paid $5 an hour.
As an outspoken critic of racism, Contreras must provide a place for me in his unsophisticated categorization. Because of my ethnic and religious heritage, because of my friends and occupation, and because of my progressive views on racism, I do not fit into his definition of "them." Because my skin is white, I do not fit into his definition of "us."
Because my historical vision extends beyond the 1960s, and my conception of American society includes more than two groups, I stand condemned of not "understanding" the struggles of minorities, I am guilty of perpetuating the "white fear" that Contreras so flippantly brings into being with the flick of his pen.
I join Russell Contreras in his criticism of racism, but I urge him avoid abusing language and words. I urge him to treat the historical record as the stories of a wide variety of groups and to avoid imposing upon it the artificial and shallow divisions of "us" and "them."
The only legitimate "white fear" is a fear of being stereotyped as a racist because of the color of one's skin.
Jesse Rainbow
sophomore, history
To the editor:
The editors of The Daily Cougar have demeaned this entire campus with the reply to my letter printed in the paper on April 15. When I chastised the newspaper for its historical ignorance, they mocked educated people everywhere by suggesting the Civil War as a historical event has as much relevance as the comic strip Blondie. This insults and slanders the discipline of history, something that every person should know about but the editorial board of the Cougar obviously does not. The editors' comments trivialize important events that have shaped the lives of the world, this country, your ancestors and you today.
I suffered no "inconvenience" from this "lapse," as the editors claim. It instead appears that the inconvenience was to the editors of The Daily Cougar. By criticizing their ignorance and imbecility, I touched a nerve. Instead of sincerely apologizing for their error, they resort to snide remarks and sarcasm. Sarcasm, as we know, is the protest of the weak. Through their comments, they have shown themselves to be devoid of any human decency or propriety.
Chris Danielson
junior, history
Editor's note: We sincerely apologize to all those who believe we at The Daily Cougar actually think a comic strip is more important than The Civil War.
By the way, did you know that, on this day in 1964, the FBI audio lab reported it could not decipher the lyrics to "Louie, Louie?" This event marked the beginning of more than three decades of speculation over whether the song refers to a sailing trip or something far more ominous.
disgusting
To the editor:
I have had enough. The prospect of spending two more years living on campus and eating at Aramark establishments almost is enough to make me drop out of UH and enlist in the Navy.
I mean, come on. I have to sell a body part each semester in order to get the lowest meal plan offered. Then I end up shelling out $3.99 for a chicken wing that is usually half-cooked and would make Colonel Sanders roll in his grave.
Here's a good example of what I feel is a widespread dissatisfaction with the UH food services. I ate at OB yesterday for breakfast and they removed the lemonade, which I liked, replacing it with Apple-Kiwi-Mango-Guava. After taking great displeasure over this, I almost fell onto the floor in gales of laughter when, on the juice machine, there sat a sign that read, "Back by popular demand, Aramark listens to its customers."
If Aramark listened to its customers it wouldn't be here, or within a 500-mile radius of the campus.
Everybody I know who resides on campus always cringes when they think of eating at the Horizons or OB. Or how about how residents have to unload $5.99 for brunch at OB on Sundays because that is the only restaurant open until 3:00 p.m.?
I find it amazing, though, how every meal was cooked to perfection and every drink machine worked during the Aramark evaluation week. I am not asking for Aramark to renovate OB into a Red Lobster with Cici's Pizza-like prices, or convert the Horizons into a Chuck E. Cheese's, but let's at least ask the Aramark establishment to invest a little thought, time, manners, heart and taste into its vital role at the university.
If UH wants to attract students to the university, or at least retain them, let's stop investing all the attention on a two-day event like Frontier Fiesta and do something that will help to improve the lifestyles of the students at least three times a day.
I recommend that if the administration and the new chain of command at UH want to improve that No. 5 ranking, the dining facilities are a great starting point.
Alan Throop
sophomore, political science
To the editor:
The Cougar web pages are great, and it is especially fantastic that past issues of the Cougar can be searched via keyword! I have one suggestion which would help this, though - date each article.
When you use the search engine to retrieve articles, there is no way to determine when the article was written (although the URL contains the volume/issue number, a date would be more helpful).
Gretchen McCord Hoffmann
Coordinator of Library Instruction
University of Houston Libraries