Mr. Barton is clearly living in a fairytale. Mr. Barton stated, “If we keep telling ourselves that there is a problem, we will be forced to believe that there is a dilemma”. Little does he know there still is a racist problem and from the looks of things, it will always exist. From my understanding, Mr. Barton has never had to undergo discrimination or anything of the sort. I, on the other hand, have. Right here onSHSU campus, I was called the “N” word by a group of white guys riding by in a truck. Now you tell me there is not a problem with that. If they did it on this diverse campus, there are other people out there the same way doing it off campus. In fact, I grew up in a small white town and I can write a book on the way I was treated by whites, but I won’t. Yes there is a problem with ignorant minds and Mr. Barton’s is an example. If you have no clue and especially if you have not experienced it, you are ignorant to the experience and have nowhere to comment on the situation and what should or should not be said about the issue. Mr. Barton might not focus on skin color, but I assure you others do. All people are not the same, and as good as he thought his intentions were, he was horribly mistaken. Just because Warren Sapp said his boss was a slave master, does that mean he is a racist? No, he has the right to state opinions just as everyone else! Mr. Barton says race is not an issue, but it was an issue when James was tied to the end of a truck and murdered in Jasper, it was an issue when I was called the “N” word while minding my business, it was most definitely an issue when I get in a check out line at Wal-Mart and it just so happens to be a white woman clenching her purse! To Mr. Barton and any other person that feels the same, you may be good-hearted people and you may think race in not an issue, but until you have walked in the footsteps of an African American, you really have no idea of where we are coming from.
Letter to the EditorLaToya Washington