To the editor:

Aaron Woell, only you, or possibly Andy Gonzales, would use three examples of bogus racism to justify its non-existence.

Of course, I had to remind myself that this was coming from the guy who said “bad news travels faster than the speed of light, and rumors spread like AIDS in Africa.”

I also had to remind myself that you’re not a minority and have never experienced racism firsthand. You’ve obviously been living a very sheltered life as evident by your self-described happy-go-lucky upbringing in Monday’s column.

In your column, you posed the question, “Why do these feelings of persecution keep cropping up?”

Take a look at the U.S. Department of Justice’s bureau of justice statistics bulletin of prisoners in 1998 at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ pub/pdf/p98.pdf. It states, in boldface type, that “an increasing percentage of prisoners are black or Hispanic” and that at the end of 1997, there were more black males in state and federal prisons than white ones.

When you’re done with that, visit the American Civil Liberties Union and read their special report on racial profiling at www.aclu.org/ profiling/report/index.html. You’ll find detailed reports from many credible newspapers of incidences where race was a key factor in individuals being harassed, charged, fined and/or detained for hours without justification.

Once minorities enter the justice system, they’re really screwed.

They receive less trial time and are much likelier to be convicted with heavier sentences compared to people who look like you.

In the state of Texas, they’re lucky to get a legal representative who can stay awake for most of the trial. Maybe that’s why a disproportionate amount of them receive the death penalty.

After you’ve read both of those reports, tell me if you still believe “the real problem is that the only hatred and racial bigotry that exists are the ones those people just made up in their own minds” and that “no evidence exists to suggest that there is widespread persecution.”

Three separate hoaxes on Iowa campuses in five years by people of questionable mental stability is enough to say racism doesn’t exist? I can give you three names that says it does: Amadou Diallo, Malcolm Ferguson and Patrick Dorismond.

Three unarmed black men, three separate incidences, all killed in extremely violent displays of police brutality, all within the span of a few short months. The police responsible for firing over 40 bullets to subdue the unarmed Diallo were acquitted of all charges.

You claim that “if black people are being oppressed, it is being done at an individual level. Widespread oppression exists only in the minds of a few minorities.”

Blacks and other minorities ARE being oppressed at the “individual level.” Many of them, in fact.

Lots of oppression at the “individual level” multiplied by lots of individuals equals widespread oppression.

The only place it doesn’t exist is in your warped little mind. The fact that you’re a senior in political science and have managed to achieve it thus far with all your ignorance intact is beyond me.

Sam Wong

Freshman

Electrical engineering