To the editor:

According to Andy Gonzales, “It’s bad enough we have to see minorities in jail for wreaking havoc in urban ghettos … “

Mr. Gonzales has brought up an interesting point only to diminish its effect with his own “whining” and slanderous labeling of all minorities. It’s particularly interesting since he is also a minority.

Yet I’m not surprised, for it is not at all uncommon for some people to lose sight of the issues (or in his case, to try and forget). Mr. Gonzales is typical of “minorities” who want to forget that they have special problems that are inclusive to a whole group of people.

I’d like to be able to pretend that no one can tell I’m black, but that’s not going to work. Mr. Gonzales wants us to believe that racism is not an issue in life, much less cartoons that aren’t real.

Well, here’s a news flash: cartoons can be very real to a child! Maybe he doesn’t understand that artists write cartoons from a personal perspective that can be just as real as any movie. I’m really sorry his movie experience was spoiled by irksome chants of those darn minorities, but that doesn’t mean he should share his own moans without putting any thought behind his ramblings.

Mr. Gonzales talks as if he, and rest of the world, heard so much from the nation’s ghettos that it was time turn a deaf ear to problems and they’ll just go away like protesters walking away from a rally (or movie theater). That just won’t happen. As long as we live in American cities, racism has to subside in order for everyone to have an elevated quality of life. Otherwise, the tensions will continue to erase the gains as we strive to advance our society.

Sure, people cry about nothing and some of the racism is merely biased perception, but racism is alive and well, even in the form of cutesy cartoons from Disney where the characters (of all ethnicities) have nice, smooth Caucasian features and Western singing voices.

It doesn’t take long for a 5-year-old to realize that whites take precedent in cartoons and life and for that ‘ism to perpetuate. Think about it, obviously cartoons have a lasting impression. Someone sure does remember that cartoon with the wolf tears. Ok, so you don’t have to listen.

Well, it can get pretty loud when someone has a gun to your head because he is mad at the world and since you’re of it … BANG!

Raushan Johnson

Junior

Liberal studies