After reading Tiffanie Drayton's column, "Race Colors How Many Americans React to Newsworthy Events," I am reminded why racism still exists today.
Drayton has somehow perceived race to be an important part of the recent national tragedy with the sniper and in so doing has cast racial tensions where they don't belong.
One point of Drayton's (column) that is especially disappointing implies that the only people who read newspapers or watch news on television are white, racist Americans who somehow benefit from the media coverage of the snipers who happen to be African-American and Muslim. I'm not sure how she arrived at this point or even what she means by it.
But I do know that white, racist Americans are not only a smaller proportion of the population than they have ever been but that there are also an endless amount of diverse groups who turn to the media for important news. The media is not an exclusive institution.
There are many other examples of narrow-mindedness in Drayton's (column) that the length of this (letter) will not permit me to address. Drayton goes wrong with her close-minded views of the media, society and the circumstances of this tragedy. The fact that she tries to draw an arbitrary line between black and white in the aftermath of so many terrible crimes is appalling.
Drayton has insulted the intelligence of every open-minded American. If she stands for what she claims, which is presumably equality of the races, she should look to bridge the gap that exists, not make it wider by writing such inflammatory columns that place racism where it doesn't belong.
Harvey Barbee
Sophomore
Political Science
