Letters to the Editor

A stigmatized community

To the Editor:

I appreciate Eliot Sherman's columns and enjoy the witty and engaging style he employs to make arguments. As a former DP columnist, I also agree that the DP editors do not have a "malevolent" agenda. However, I think Eliot missed some important points in his most recent column ("Finding the true definition of a racist," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 10/7/03).

I agree that the DP should use discretion in running photos of all accused members of the University community before they are convicted. But I find it interesting that Sherman, who is keenly aware of racial disparities in many of his columns, seems aversive to race-conscious activism. It may be true that the DP runs pictures of all suspects -- black, white or South Asian -- if they are arraigned. But in American society, white and South Asian males are simply not stigmatized as criminals in the same way that black males are. Numerous black male students have spoken to this fact, and police harassment of African Americans is well documented.

It is perfectly appropriate for students of color (and white students, for that matter) to selectively protest the representation of black males in the DP, even if other ethnic groups have been portrayed similarly. And DP editors should consider the unfair perpetuation of racial stereotypes when making editorial decisions, just as media outlets always consider, to some extent, the potential consequences to their constituents. This does not mean the DP should stop reporting crime, but rather that it should critically assess the relevance and representation of race in its reporting.

It is not just people like Rush Limbaugh who perpetuate racial stereotypes; seemingly neutral actions like those of the DP do it as well. And even if the DP is not malevolent, it has still stigmatized black males, albeit unintentionally, in its recent coverage of campus crime.

Vinay Harpalani GSE '04

Clouded message

To the Editor:

I found something above Sarah Eskreis-Winkler's column about the double standard regarding Israel's quest for peace ("A double standard in the Middle East," DP, 10/8/03) fairly inappropriate. There was a drawing showing an Israeli woman holding a dead child and an Arab woman holding a dead child.

This sort of equivalency is the exact type of media coverage that the column was speaking out against. If the point of the editorial is to show that parallels should not be drawn between the two sides, because the Palestinian terrorists' goal is to murder innocent civilians while Israel's goal is to try to protect itself by getting rid of these murderers, why would you place a picture drawing that parallel? That drawing is certainly not representing the same idea given in the column. If it was put in as an example of what the column is speaking out against, then I think that it's a mistake to put in a picture which people might see without having read the article and then assume that this is the position being put forth by the paper.

Raphael Cohn College '07

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