Guest column by Katiera Sordjan | Dear Titus Adkins, you are an embarrassment to our community

By Katiera Sordjan 10/15/15 10:35pm

Dear Titus,

Like you, I am black, and a black woman at that. However, I am biracial, meaning I am also white. I have straddled the worlds of interracial identity comfortably. I have been coded by society to be an outcast, but I know better.

It is unfortunate that both black and white audiences choose to pick apart the mixed-race identity instead of becoming enlightened by it. So allow me to educate your severely misinformed opinion that I believe is doing more harm than good to the POC communities that matter to me — and to you, as you claim.

You see, white people are not oppressors by virtue of their skin color. What would that make me? Your half-oppressor? An oppressor of myself? The logic is flawed. White people are oppressors when they are made aware of their privilege and use it to put down others. We cannot expect white people to understand our lived experiences; I cannot even expect you to understand mine. But we can give them the opportunity to at least understand their position in society.

You and I have been able to have such discussions in this forum, because as Alec Ward — whose opinions I have respected greatly as a former columnist — has mentioned, The Daily Pennsylvanian is not controlled by the University or its funding. The poor execution of your latest column is evidence of this. You are allowed to make a fool of yourself before the entire readership because all opinions, however faulty, have merit here.

But do not take Romanticism to an extreme. We do not get to be right because we are black. When Alec brings attention to the fact that censorship is not the answer, he is correct, and I fear that out of your frustration you did not read his words correctly.

You are wrong when you say that the protesters of the Wesleyan Argus have used the same fundamental freedoms of expression. The Argus piece that ran made the oh-so-daring suggestion that we consider the effect that Black Lives Matter can have and make sure it is used to its maximum potential.

We have the right to protest, but when students try to bar the circulation of a student paper, that is infringing upon the student body’s freedom of the press.

As black men and women, our voices have historically been considered beneath the white majority. This I cannot deny. Often, when we bring up free speech, it is white Americans who want to be able to say anything without consequence, while we aren’t even considered on the same level. But this is not the case here. This is you defending our community’s weakness by feeling so threatened by the thought of being told to self-examine.

Racism is not over. Not even close. But our efforts cannot be wasted on the policing of words. We need to correct imbalances and make sure all groups’ voices are heard. Outlets like this allow for all misinformed opinions to be scrutinized and corrected by the public eye. This would not be possible if we censored every piece before it ever saw the light of day.

You see Titus, I do not know about you, but journalism is very important to me. I will fight any attempt at censorship because that is not how we will obtain true equality. This is how a newspaper works: The opinions you, Alec and I have expressed here are our own and do not represent the opinions of the editorial staff or organization at large. The only people responsible for those expressions are us three. It is interesting that you defend the censorship of a racially charged piece, while yours could have been left unpublished for the same reason.

Quite honestly, I am disappointed in you. We could use this moment to perfect ourselves, to unite our movements and strengthen them to the point where an America of all colors will have no choice but to heed our calls.

Instead, you would rather us look weak. You would rather us silence voices instead of unmuting ours. You would rather continue to disappoint our elders as they look to us to carry on the fight for equality.

My identity, on the other hand, has demanded strength. So when you misrepresent the point of press freedom entirely, speak for yourself. And please, stop stagnating our goals with lazy racial arguments.

KATIERA SORDJAN is a College senior from New York, studying communication. Her email is skati@sas.upenn.edu. She is a former columnist for The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.