Racism is still alive

In response to “Playing race card is a cheap trick” (Oct. 4):

I was shocked and offended when I read your article entitled “Playing race card is a cheap trick.” You state that we, as a country, have made great strides in eradicating racism. Maybe I’m reading too much into this line, but it seems that you think that all racism has ended as opposed to saying great strides towards eradicating racism (sic). This is problematic for several reasons. While racism is no longer “legal” and our human rights are “protected,” there is still covert and passive racism that is thriving more than ever in our country’s history. For example, the inequalities present in our prison system. African-Americans are greatly over represented in the U.S. prison system. 2,531 out of every 100,000 are incarcerated compared to 957 out of 100,000 for Latinos and 393 out of every 100,000 for whites (2004 Census Data). The same inequalities are present throughout any institution in the U.S. Another example (is) the educational system. Even with poverty and other socioeconomic factors considered, race and ethnicity still remain the most significant factors in placing children in special education (www.law.hardvard.edu/civilrights).

Garofalo is not playing the blame game, she is speaking the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts. The Tea Party has been known to have extreme blatantly racist posters and signs at their rallies referring to (President Barack) Obama as a monkey (anyone with the slightest intelligence would know the history of calling African-Americans monkeys or apes), and Rick Perry also holds part ownership of a ranch called “N-word Head.” If this isn’t the conservative party being blatantly racist, then I don’t know what is. Not to even mention the passive racism that is able to slide under the radar by people who take on a colorblind mentality.

I am saddened that in our school newspaper someone would try to minimize racist acts that continue to happen and then try to blame the victims for actually pointing it out in an attempt to be anti-racist. I hope that other people who read the article will continue to think critically about the racial disparities that are still present in our country, otherwise, there is no room for improvement.

— Briana Burgan, Speech language and hearing sciences senior