'Trinity Joe's' Solutions Unacceptable
Flysha Padilla
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Opinions
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I am highly offended at the views represented in Joe Tarzi's response to the Mather protest last Thursday evening. To be told that we were too "passive" and not aggressive enough is what angered me the most. If we had walked into Mather threatening to "kick the ass" (as Tarzi says) of the person who wrote the racial slur, it would have stirred up more negative feedback than anything else. I wonder how those who felt the protest interrupted their dinner would have felt if we personally approached every non-minority student to ask if they were the racist who wrote the slur on Scott's board so that we could incite violence toward them as a reaction. What if they came out with a broken jaw or arm because a group of us decided to jump them to deal with the situation? Which would have interrupted the Average Trinity Joe's dinner more, I wonder?
Each person who chose to walk out of Mather during this rare moment of unity at Trinity is part of the problem.
Each person who chose not to hear us out is part of the problem. Each person who refused to extend their hand to greet us or got up and moved when we sat at a table on that side of Mather is part of the problem. Each person who feels we did not react violently enough is part of the problem.
If we had walked into Mather on Thursday and caused a violent riot of a scene against an act that reflected the racism many of us minority students deal with on campus, I am sure that many who are part of the problem would have said, "There go those minority students again! They can't even handle themselves in a respectable and self-controlled manner." We handled ourselves in the best way possible. We stood our ground and tried to make the Trinity campus more aware that we, too, are people and deserve to be respected as a human being with emotions.
We should not, in any way, shape, or form, have to listen to someone call us a nigger, a homo, or anything other than our name and be forced to just deal with it. None of us on this campus have the right to label anyone a WASP, dumb-blonde, cracker, spic, or faggot. Put yourselves in the shoes of the victim and see things from the minority side of the table and then decide if being called a nigger should be an acceptable part of everyday life that we just have to deal with.
Each person who chose to walk out of Mather during this rare moment of unity at Trinity is part of the problem.
Each person who chose not to hear us out is part of the problem. Each person who refused to extend their hand to greet us or got up and moved when we sat at a table on that side of Mather is part of the problem. Each person who feels we did not react violently enough is part of the problem.
If we had walked into Mather on Thursday and caused a violent riot of a scene against an act that reflected the racism many of us minority students deal with on campus, I am sure that many who are part of the problem would have said, "There go those minority students again! They can't even handle themselves in a respectable and self-controlled manner." We handled ourselves in the best way possible. We stood our ground and tried to make the Trinity campus more aware that we, too, are people and deserve to be respected as a human being with emotions.
We should not, in any way, shape, or form, have to listen to someone call us a nigger, a homo, or anything other than our name and be forced to just deal with it. None of us on this campus have the right to label anyone a WASP, dumb-blonde, cracker, spic, or faggot. Put yourselves in the shoes of the victim and see things from the minority side of the table and then decide if being called a nigger should be an acceptable part of everyday life that we just have to deal with.
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