To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Monic J. Muldrew’s letter published on November 14.

First of all, you seem to have great offense to my use of the term “colored”. I apologize if that term offends you. I cannot seem to keep up with the current politically correct terminology.

I could have said black, African American or negro in place of “colored.” I guess I just picked the wrong one that day. For today I will use the term black. If that is still wrong then somebody call me and tell me what the “correct” term is.

I wrote the letter not to offend the black community, but to show that blacks are not the only ones frustrated by the racism in this society. That was my purpose, end of story.

As far as answering your questions, Monic…well you pretty much demanded I did, so here goes.

1. I am angry at all of America because black men have been stereotyped as the most dangerous group in society.

I am angry because that stereotype is socialized into all of white America in such subtle ways that I did not even notice it as I was growing up.

Things like portraying all gang violence as something that occurs within predominately black communities, or making the “bad guy” on TV a black man.

I may be an adult now, but society has raised me and one cannot simply erase 18 years of socialization, it doesn’t work that way.

2. As I said, my purpose was to express my anger and show that blacks are not the only ones who are frustrated by the racism in America.

3. When I asked for an apology I did not really expect someone to come up to me and say “I’m sorry that society is so racist and has made you fear.”

I simply wanted people to become more aware of their own thoughts and hopefully try to change those thoughts, as I am constantly trying to do.

By “all of us” I meant the entire society, the blacks (and other minorities) who are continuously discriminated against, as well as the members of majority who feel fear for absolutely no reason.

4. The contradiction of my feeling fear without thinking that “black men are going to hurt me,” lies in the emotions that I have been taught to feel. We all know that thought and emotions do not always agree.

You mentioned my being an educator and what I will instill in my students. I will instill in them a sense of equality and a knowledge that they do not have to fear anyone simply because of the color of their skin, because of their sex, their sexual orientation, their religion or any other factor that is commonly used to discriminate.

At then end of your letter you said for me to answer your questions so that “we [the black community] can be ‘less threatening’ as if it is our fault that you are scared of us.”

You obviously did not get the meaning of my letter. I blatantly said that it was not the two black men’s fault (that) I was scared, it was my own fault and the fault of the socialization that I was raised with.

I hope this has cleared up some of your concerns and made everyone more aware of my intentions for writing the letter.

Amy Shell

Sophomore

Elementary Education/Early Childhood Education