Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

48° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Letters to the Editor

Blake blows it with political martyrdom, implied racism

While I agree that the recent acts of hatred on our campus should be condemned, I took great offense with Mike Blake’s Tuesday guest column, “Daily fails to cover fairly FMO’s recent rally against racism.”

While Blake had to read the February 21 article “NU marches against hate” twice to believe what he “couldn’t comprehend,” I had to read Blake’s column twice to sadly affirm what I had already comprehended: What first appeared to be an insightful column with a strong central point was seemingly served up as a red herring for more pressing political motives.

I initially was struck by the harsh and unfounded conviction of my hometown, Austin, Texas. In one poorly placed and completely irrelevant paragraph, Blake contends, “When I learned I was going to be interning in Austin, Texas, this quarter, I immediately wondered how I would deal with blatant racism.”

Has Blake ever been to Austin? Have I been living in a fantasy world where I didn’t realize I was born in the blatant-racism capital of the world? Hate crime statistics over the last several years have shown Austin to have one of the smallest percentages per population (see the Web site www.infoplease.com).

But maybe Blake is right, and we should look no further into these recent hate acts. Let’s just lasso up them Austin buckaroos and see which one is wearing swastika-shaped spurs. And while we’re on the subject, we should probably head over to the Foster-Walker Complex and round up any chemistry majors from North Korea. They clearly pose a nuclear threat.

I realize that Blake did not make these conjectures, but whether you draw a line by race or region, you’re still being prejudiced against someone who is different from yourself. Maybe next time he should reread his thoughtful prose to make sure he isn’t being counterproductive.

Blatant racism? The only blatant thing in Blake’s column was his transparent campaigning for Associated Student Government president. Referring to the “political suicide” that he was committing by criticizing The Daily, Blake stated, “If defending my people means sacrificing myself, then I choose to die an honorable death.”

Thanks for being a martyr, Blake. I appreciate your conviction, but no, you cannot have my vote.

Andrew Davidson

Communication junior

ASG must ask constituents before voting on resolution

An article in Thursday’s Daily quoted Associated Student Government senator Bassel Korkor as saying a proposed ASG anti-war resolution “does not mean that every member of the (Northwestern community) is against the war. … It means that the Senate has taken a stand against war.”

Korkor has it entirely backwards — passing this resolution definitely means that the majority of NU is against this war. Or am I mistaken as to what ASG does? According to the long-standing rumor, they do nothing. My understanding, which according to Korkor is erroneous, was that ASG represented students’ needs and desires, and senators were the representatives of those students. Silly me for making such a wild assumption.

Senators, if you are against war, good for you — but only vote for this resolution if it’s what your constituents want. For an issue this controversial, if you can’t prove that the majority of your constituents want this passed, vote no! Getting even 1,000 students to say yes is not enough — it’s not a majority.

Regarding general issues, most students trust their senators to make decisions in their best interest, but this is not one of those issues. ASG should not be debating this in the first place, but since it is, it needs actual constituent input. And if you aren’t getting any input, senators, then you can’t vote yes. While you’re wasting those three hours Wednesday, think about what this bill would say about NU as a whole, not just ASG.

Last time I checked, ASG doesn’t run independent of the students. So if Korkor wants to get together senators who oppose war, he should do it on his own time. Though rumor would suggest otherwise, I believe ASG can do some good if it would stick to this campus instead of wasting time on issues out of its control.

Mandy Pister

Weinberg sophomore

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Letters to the Editor