With regard to Diane Swanbrow’s piece in the 6 March Record, I have a couple of comments.
Firstly, why is Blacks with a capital B and whites with a lower case w? Speak of blatant discrimination!
Also, the following comment is totally without justification: “Likewise, whites who subscribed to statements reflecting a less blatant, more contemporary brand of racial prejudice—agreeing, for example, that Blacks should work their way up, that Blacks blame whites too much for their problems . . .”
I believe if the authors looked outside of their narrow conception of how racial groups think/behave (i.e. many supposedly prejudice free, e.g. educated academics, believe that the Black community is a monolith), they would find that many Blacks would agree with those supposed racist comments. I think Ms. Swanbrow and/or the authors of the study should look more closely at their own biases before they self righteously declaim against those they imput to others.
Kevin B. Atkins, senior health science research associate, Internal Medicine-Nephrology
Editor’s Note: The University Record and other publications and materials produced by News and Information Services follow University policy in capitalization of the word Black when referring to Black people. The policy was set in 1987 when the Black community at the University stated its opposition to the use of the lower case letter.