The following letters are in response to Joshua Britt’s Sept. 17 letter “African-American activists have gone too far and responses that ran in the Sept. 19 issue.

“I’m not a racist”

Ms. Shepard, after reading last week’s Herald, I realize my point wasn’t clear. . I do not know you and therefore I was guilty of stereotyping you.

. I was putting you in a category of person at Western that neither of us would like to be associated with.

I would like to ask the people who wrote in about me – how can you label me, and not even know me? Mr. Stone, I never said I was affiliated with the Klan in any way, but you asked me to “try to leave my white sheets at home.” You also labeled me a racist . The same thing you have accused me of, you have done to me.

My message is not one of hate or discrimination. The problem is that blacks are not the real minority anymore, good people are.

. I wrote the letter because I was so frustrated at the way the Herald made the Klan rally and your stand such an issue. The Klan is a horrible organization that I would never be a part of. In my opinion, the Herald is one of the most liberal organizations around and I feel this contributes to sensationalizing issues. I think the best way to combat the Klan is to not show up.

. I am not a racist. I am against the culture of today that says African-Americans are struggling worse than other races. The “N” word is not in my vocabulary either . The Hispanic community has it far worse than blacks, but I hear more African-Americans complaining.

. I feel we have won the war against the Klan and need to worry about other things. The reason I stated that you are not a hero to me is because you were standing up against something that’s already been won. The Klan only had 13 people and there were 75 protesters there. If the 75 protesters and the Herald had not been there to encourage them, they would not have been heard.

Ms. Shepard, we cannot change history or the things that were done to your ancestors or mine. If you want to make a real stand against things that we can change, I’ll be happy to join you.

I would support you and call you a hero if your cause was something like underage drinking and sexual immorality at Western parties, or if you were making a stand against a radio station playing gangster rap music. But I warn you, you won’t have 75 protesters on your side and you won’t be labeled a hero in the Herald.

Joshua Britt

Franklin sophomore

Black activisssts desegregatd Western

. (Joshua Britt’s Sept. 17) letter shows that after all of this time, America still has a race problem. His views on Ms. Shepard and the N-word show that Mr. Britt is not stupid; rather, he is the epitome of a nigger. Webster’s dictionary defines nigger as an ignorant person.

. Britt asked, “Where is my white American studies?” Well it is in History 119, 120, 240, 241, etc. Your history is required, black history is optional. Affirmative action, discrimination, and EARNED – not free –

scholarships are given to insure equality, not to make it easier, but to make it possible for blacks and other minorities.

. He called my black activists crybabies. Well, it is the crybabies that were beaten so I could sit in a restaurant and receive service. It is the crybaby Rosa Parks, who cried so that I could sit in the front of the shuttle. . It is the crybaby Ernest Green who makes it possible for me to attend Western, a predominantly white university.

Whenever black activists, or slaves, cried, we have been heard. When Ms. Shepard shed tears, her cries were silent, yet she was still heard. . and until we feel that we have been heard on all issues we cry for, we will cry. We may never see the day that Martin Luther King Jr. talks about in his “I have a dream” speech, “. one day they will be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.” But we will continue to cry because we have been taught to never stop crying.

La’Keya Rochelle Ritchie

Chicago senior

Student supporting Britt’s stand

I salute Joshua Britt for taking a stand. To write something of that nature in this day and age takes quite a bit of courage and considerable fortitude.

I believe what Mr. Britt expressed in his letter is a result of the pent-up frustration and alienation that many European-Americans, especially heterosexual males, feel as a result of the myriad forms of reverse discrimination found on television, in the classroom and in the workplace. White Americans are compelled to “tread on egg shells” lest we offend a “minority’s” sensibilities.

At Western, there is an entire DEPARTMENT set aside for the benefit of “minority” students. There are fraternities and sororities solely for black students.

Imagine the immediate recriminations and cries of “racism,” should white students, heaven forbid, ever attempt to take part in, or form a white organization such as the previously mentioned black frats and sororities.

Are wholly black organizations not “racist,” then, by the same principle? “Black pride” is OK, but not white?

. It seems to me that on the rare occasion any black individual or enterprise is criticized, the criticism is frequently labeled “discrimination” or “racism.”

Indeed, it is quite the spectacle how we whites bend over backwards to avoid that most feared of labels, the big R-word.

Celebrate your history, but don’t force it on the rest of us. Slavery was bad, granted. Key word: WAS. It no longer exists here .

With scholarships being awarded on the basis of “skin color,” and whole academic departments and TV channels devoted to you, how can you really look anyone straight in the face and say you are “oppressed” or “discriminated” against?

If anything, “discrimination” exists in your FAVOR. If you want true “equality” as you say, than you should eschew affirmative action, “minority” scholarships and organizations like the NAACP. Stand on your own merit. That is TRUE equality. Everyone is equal under the law of this land. Why the need for more “Civil Rights” activism? Is true equality the goal of such activism, or preferential treatment?

Zak Cummins

Princeton sophomore

The following letters are in response to the Sept. 17 editorial “Forum attendance shows student apathy, again.”

Attendance didn’t matter

The parking forum was missed by so many for a number of reasons, most of which I don’t believe warrant the thrashing students received by the Herald editorial board. The most obvious reason is that whatever issues were brought up would have had no effect on parking on campus.

“Until students get together, combine their complaints and then pitch it to the administrators, parking reform will never happen,” you declared. Yet Gene Tice said in Thursday’s edition, “If (students) come here just to complain, it’s not going to be helpful.”

Administrators know just as well as students that there are few answers to the parking dilemma, and that the only answers that will work are the ones that someone somewhere doesn’t want to hear.

Lee Uber

Bowling Green sophomore

Students earn parking

Many people have suggested taking away freshmen’s right to park on campus. At first I agreed with this idea, until I met some freshmen who work off campus. They shouldn’t have their jobs put in jeopardy – possibly causing the problem of them not being able to pay to go to school.

Hence, I have come up with another idea. This one could be more feasible.

Make parking a privilege, not a right. If a student doesn’t have a certain GPA, they lose their right to have a car on campus.

. Though some may not like my idea, at least I am trying to think of ways to solve the problem.

Amanda Ortega

Junior, New Albany Ind.

Parking not a big deal

For commuters, faculty and staff, parking may be “the most talked about issue on campus,” but I’ve yet to hear rampant protests in the on-campus demographic. Sure, if you go up to someone and ask their thoughts on parking, they’ll probably tell you it isn’t very good. But a problem?

After MASTER Plan – when the rest of the student body joined campus – parking became difficult. I could no longer find a spot in the coveted PFT Lot or even in the small lot next to Jones-Jaggers, and I was a bit disappointed. But after only about five minutes of searching I found the lot between Russellville Road and Creason. It’s not the nicest or the closest parking lot, but I’ve yet to find it full.

This is where I don’t agree with the way this ordeal has been portrayed. You can’t find parking spots on top of the hill. Unless you’re a commuter, I don’t consider that a “parking problem,” I call it a “parking nuisance.” It means those of us who live at the bottom of the hill might have to walk to classes, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have a place to park our car after a trip to the grocery store.

We have to walk in the morning. Big deal. If a fat guy like me can do it every morning, I’m fairly certain everyone else can, too.

I appreciate what SGA did, but I wasn’t interested and, apparently, neither were a lot of people who live on campus. You’ve grossly overestimated how many people are upset about the parking situation.

(The Herald said)”You could have spoken with your mere presence.”

We spoke with our lack of presence. We’re trying to say it’s not that big a deal.

Mike Robertson

freshman from Birmingham, Alabama