No justification for use of N-word

Dear Editor:

I have never felt so blatantly disrespected in my entire life until I read the sorriest excuse for journalism entitled “Black people need to start sharing.”

I am angry with the author as well as the editors who allowed such filth and ignorance to be displayed in the Daily Kent Stater. I am amazed that the editors would even allow the word “nigga” to be used a total of 16 times along with a host of disrespectful racial stereotypes and slurs. I couldn’t imagine how anyone in their right mind would think that such a belittling and disparaging word is “cool.”

Not every black person utilizes that word and it was ignorant for you to assume that every black person is from the ghetto and listens to rap music while eating some fried chicken. You have robbed the Daily Kent Stater and every young journalist who actually researches and publishes articles that invokes thought of their honor by posing as a journalist. It is sad that after all the time and money you have spent at Kent State, you’re still nowhere close to being a journalist. I am just as surprised that you still have a job as you are, seeing that you have no skills or moral conscience and you depend on shock value alone to draw readers. I forgive you for being so stupid. After all, it’s free speech. You can have it your way now but I’ll have it mine when you’re working at McDonald’s because you have no chance of ever being a true journalist.

Cordarryl Thomas

Sophomore nursing major

Board downplays activism merits

Dear Editor:

The Stater‘s Dec. 5 editorial on activism praised the work of Stacy Bogart, a sexual assault activist. Ms. Bogart should be praised for her courageous work but the real intention of the editorial is a thinly veiled attack on the campus left.

In the latter half of the editorial, the Stater spells out what it deems acceptable activism i.e. “working within the system” and unacceptable activism i.e. “protesting ruckus.” The Stater even gives examples of student groups that have done a good job meeting its acceptable activism criteria, Black United Students and PRIDE!Kent.

The Stater for some reason forgot to mention that within the last year, both groups have held protests because working within the system reached a dead end. BUS protested in Risman Plaza for renovations on Oscar Ritchie and PRIDE!Kent held a demonstration in last month’s board of trustees meeting for faculty domestic partner benefits.

The flawed historical analysis of activism doesn’t end there, though. By only giving support for “working within the system” the Stater denies the gains won by the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage movement and labor’s fight for the eight-hour working day.

The real attack is directed at the Kent State Anti-War Committee, International Socialist Organization and Anti-Racist Action. These groups are the only ones to have held regular demonstrations over the past year. The Kent State Anti-War Committee has been protesting against the war in Iraq and against military recruitment on campus. KSAWC has sat down with administrators regarding military recruitment but this has not worked because military recruitment, like the war in Iraq, goes beyond the scope of college administrators and a few enlightened politicians.

The working class has not won anything because of enlightened politicians or administrators. Where it has won is because masses of people acted in a unified manner to exact change and shift consciousness outside of the proper channels.

Robert R. Hare

Junior political science major