Amber Billings’ column “Racism is not a part of culture” should be titled “Racism is a part of culture”. Her honest look at the unfortunate discrimination that continues in certain segments of our country’s culture is weakened by this error.

I invite the Daily staff and readers to re-examine the story of her friend’s boyfriend – “he asked her if she had ever noticed that black people always seem to be pretending to be talking on their cell phones and pretending to be rich.” Why would he say such a thing? “The only response that he could give was that he thought it was true.”

Why does this man believe this? He doesn’t know it for a fact; he doesn’t know black people who pretend to talk on their cell phones and be rich. He simply grew up in an environment that made him believe that skin color was a determinant for character. In a culture that continues to celebrate the Confederate flag and fight to display it knowing that it is a potent symbol of slavery and racist oppression, this belief can actually seem reasonable to an educated man. I regret that this mentality exists, but we must not forget that it is a culturally fed racism.

Lillian Erdahl

Senior

Biology