4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 OPINION GWet £irbigan ady JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON Go Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE We have been living like cavemen, sleeping in cars, doing bodily functions outside." - John Owens, emergency management coordinator and deputy police chief of Port Arthur, Texas, describing how people are living in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, as reported yesterday at CNN.com. KIM LEUNG ThE TAKE-uT Box AN s Z k ~ 1 k . \(' .. 3 . # 0 0 I'm tired of being a suspect DAVID BETTS PONTIFICATIONS was really psyched media outlets. So are all of my black male people in the black community were up in up to write my col- friends - it's been something we've talked arms about the suspect being described as a umn for this week. about my entire time at this university. It's black man, 5'9" wearing a white Tee and a I was going to blast the been discussed on blogs, in The Spectrum and dark baseball cap. Apparently that could have Department of Public in countless other settings. We're concerned been any number of people at the party. Blame Safety for the vague that these descriptions just perpetuate the for this description is being thrown all over the suspect descriptions and stereotypes that black men are violent, dan- place - at this newspaper for example. The general emphasis on gerous criminals. I hate to disappoint people, thing we forget to realize is that - barring making sure black people but almost all of the black men I have come some conspiracy - a black person gave this don't act up while white across at this university are concerned with description. And unless someone knows some- members of the campus getting degrees and making it in a world where thing I don't, the shooter was actually a black community are allowed to run relatively free. I it so often feels as though the odds are stacked male, about 5'9" and was wearing a white Tee was going to complain about how sick I am of against them. and a dark hat. being a suspect in the unarmed robbery spree I'm angry that in the liberal, progressive I was going to dedicate the column solely to that started in the summer and continued into city of Ann Arbor, so many law enforce- venting about always being a suspect, but that this fall. But somewhere between Friday night ment officials are so quick to assume that isn't going to serve any purpose. Harassing this and Monday night I lost some of my fervor. at a black event there's going to be trouble. publication is not going to do the black com- I'm still angry that I'm always a suspect, but Every year at the Icebreaker, an event thrown munity much good. Instead, what we need to be simply throwing blame at campus publications by the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the doing is going to DPS and the AAPD and asking isn't really going to solve anything. police stand on the front steps of the Union them, "What goes into a suspect description?" To a certain extent, I'm still going to get and essentially wait for someone to act up so We need to explain to them why "baggy, hip-hop on DPS for listing one suspect of a Sept. 15 they can take them around the corner to the clothes" is an ineffective, racist remark. We need unarmed robbery as wearing "baggy hip-hop police vans waiting between West Quadrangle to ask them, "Why there is so much emphasis clothes." Exactly what are baggy hip-hop Residence Hall and the Fleming Administra- on having a presence at every black function?" clothes? Are they Kanye West-style preppy tion Building. I have been told numerous sto- We need to dedicate a lot of the energy spent on sweaters in loud colors? Are they 1992 MC ries of black people being questioned by both complaining to making sure the gentleman that Hammer-style Genie Pants? Are they baggy the Ann Arbor Police Department and DPS was accidentally shot is OK. We need to dedicate versions of Run-DMC-style jean outfits that Dr. while white people engaging in various illegal the incredible intelligence we possess to figur- Dre wore in the late 1990s and early 2000s? Or and/or destructive activities go unconfronted. ing out how to prevent non-students from Ann are they just anything resembling loose-fitting I have seen four police cars swarm the scene Arbor, Detroit and Ypsilanti from infringing on jeans and a T-shirt/hooded sweatshirt/jersey? when a lone black man accosted several white what little black party scene we have. There are Unfortunately, my guess is the latter of the males walking through the Diag. I have also no easy answers to the problems facing the black four. Nevertheless, the question remains, what seen somewhat disorderly behavior at predom- campus community. That's why I've made so are "baggy hip-hop clothes?" Theoretically, inantly white fraternity parties get ignored by few suggestions. But just because real change is this university is a very progressive, diverse, the police. These claims may seem unsubstan- so difficult doesn't mean we can settle for mak- tolerant place, but somehow the suspect tiated, as the racial profiling by the AAPD and ing misguided complaints that suggest cosmetic descriptions disseminated by the University's DPS has probably never been written about. solutions to huge cultural problems. There is law enforcement agency are stuck somewhere But I guarantee that a large proportion of the unparalleled intelligence in the black community in a place where all black people are criminals black people on campus know exactly what I at this university. It's time we began to use it to and we should all be feared. am talking about. make real change. Let it be known: I'm angry about being both In the aftermath of Friday's shooting and a potential victim and suspect of the crime Monday's front-page Daily article (Frat Party Betts can be reached at spree that made it all the way to several Detroit Shooting Injures Freshman, 09/26/2005), many djmbetts@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 0I Daily drops the ball on Trotter House event TO THE DAILY: I have to admit that I nearly skipped Mon- day's town hall meeting at Trotter House about the recent incident involving students of Asian descent. I'd spilt some coffee on my sweatshirt and, I was afraid I'd look like Pigpen. In the end, I did attend. I wasn't disappointed. There was general agree- ment that the details of the incident were murky. It provided an opportunity to talk about a pattern of quiet racism, though. Students, alumni and faculty had the chance to come together and talk about ways to celebrate diversity and strengthen net- works. It was inspiring to see how an ugly incident could mobilize students into positive action. I'm especially glad I attended, now, because nary a mention of the meeting made it into Tues- day's Daily. Don't get me wrong - topics like the extrava- gance of grass (The clover's greener on the other side, 09/27/2005) and the aerodynamics of the Big House (Researchers, students test wind currents in stadium, 09/27/2005) are newsworthy, I guess. I'd like to believe that campus responses to important recent events are also worth noting. The feeling exists among many that the University turns a blind eye to issues involv- ing Asian-Americans. The Daily's omission of Monday's town hall meeting only adds to that impression. Kurt Christensen School of Public Health Fraternity shooting coverage propagates stereotypes of black community TO THE DAILY: I am deeply troubled by the article printed on Monday entitled Frat Party Shooting Injures Freshman (09/26/2005). There are some things that admittedly took place - the shooting DPS crime alerts with loosely scripted depictions of "hip-hop, baggy clothes wear- ing" blacks only further perpetuate the con- cept of our black citizens being criminals. It is indeed necessary to report on incidents to prevent further attacks, but there is a dispro- portionate way in which blacks are reported and described for crimes. The story printed on Monday noted the shooter "as being a 5'9" black man wearing a white T-shirt and a dark hat." I'm not denying nor confirming the identity of the shooter as anything other than that. This depiction does, however, give rise to many black men not only on this campus, but in our community. Addi- tionally, nowhere in the article was it men- tioned that, more than likely, this person was NOT a student at the University. Though that does not negate the fact that this person is still at large, there is indeed a bit of relief when you know that this person may not be sitting next to you in class, passing you at night or God forbid, sleeping across from you in your residence hall. This article also skips the part where an Ann Arbor Police Department riot van was sitting outside of the Michigan Union, several armed police officers were inside the Union and video surveillance took place during a dance-party that Friday night in the Michigan Union Ball- room, several hours before the shooting off campus. There are double standards occurring on this campus all the time. It is upsetting to know that people expect members of our com- munity to act violently, and dehumanizing to see the measures that are in-place "in case" this happens. The efforts taken to protect the students inside of our union were followed, being a guest list and checking student IDs, yet we were treated like suspects all along. When violence did occur, furthermore, it was at an off-campus house by a nonstudent, though this piece of information was not included. The organizations in our commu- nity have been working together to make this a more safe environment for all students, but that can't happen if nondescriptive articles like Asians face discrimination on a daily basis on campus TO THE DAILY: I have been closely following the Daily's coverage of the racist incident that occurred two weeks ago, and as an member of the Asian Pacific Islander American community on cam- pus, I am concerned that it took an incident of this nature to mobilize the APIA community and its allies to action. Having said that, a catalyst is sometimes need- ed, but I feel that the more the Daily and others on campus focus on this particular episode, the more disappointed I am. It is true that there is controversy regarding the exact details of that Thursday evening, and although it is important for the sake of justice that the investigation exam- ines all sides of the story, this has transformed into more than just one evening. Underneath it all, APIAs - and perhaps people in other com- munities as well - have gotten stuck in this state of complacency. This movement on campus is not solely in reaction to Thursday, but also for every single time APIAs are stopped on the street and complimented on their English, asked if they can show off kung fu moves or my personal favorite, if I am related to Jackie Chan. The fact that the Daily gets so caught up in the details of this one incident speaks to the insensitivity the Daily has regarding issues of multiculturalism and race in its reporting. Perhaps the Daily should report more on the growing campus response and mobilization, instead of the tiny details of one incident. Unfortunately, some details may not be as important as others; In Suspects dispute hate crime (09/26/2005), Stephanie Kao is misiden- tified as president of United Asian American Organizations when she actually serves as co- chair. (Editor's Note: Please see "Corrections," 09/27/2005.) Mobilization of the APIA community is not enough to fight the ignorance that prevails everyday. The administration must join us on this journey; issuing an e-mail without any clear timetabhles or courses of action is not enoih.I 0l 0 Editorial Board Members: Amy Anspach, Reggie Brown, Amanda Burns, Whitney Dibo, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Eric Jackson, Theresa Kennelly, Rajiv PrbhA-irMArr RnP ngidRi,Pll VVRi lkrronski. Brian SladeLau 1ren Sog.