Here is another editorial to the Daily Lobo that three of us co-wrote (hopefully they publish it!): Dear Editor, Emily Larsen, a student at UNM, recently wrote a letter to the Daily Lobo and stated that “the hate and resentment expressed towards the ‘rich and white’ (authors note: allegedly by #OURUNM at our first march) is not only counterproductive to solving the fiscal issues students face, but is counterproductive to building a community of acceptance. We will never have a peaceful society while race is still used as a substitute for income or culture. ” As working class, and white, students, who participated in the march and hereby support #OURUNM, we would like the opportunity to respond. What we think is most disturbing about the above quoted statement is the fact that she, a white person, does not want to recognize, and engage in critical and powerful conversations around, ethnic and racial disparities at UNM. Rather, she dodged this question altogether. She did not bother to come to the #OURUNM table that has been opened to all students who want an accountable, transparent, equitable, and inclusive university, but rather because she feels threatened as a white person with privilege, she decided to publicly denounce the whole movement because she refuses to discuss the historical realities of how racialized violence is played out at UNM. What we wonder is: how is it that she gets to frame questions of what a grassroots, all inclusive, and diverse movement should focus on, without coming to talk with us? We, the authors of this letter, acknowledge the structures of racism and white supremacy that exist, and our complicity as white people in these structures, and we seek to actively challenge and fight against them. We stand with #OURUNM because we believe in an inclusive, diverse, and fully represented university community. Contrary to Larson’s irresponsible and inaccurate analysis that separates race and class, we recognize the inseparability of race and class and refuse to allow ourselves to be pitted against working class people of color who share a common belief that we all have a right to the university. Finally, we reject the “peace” and civility of injustice offered to us by the UNM administration, defended by the Dean of Students, and regurgitated to us by Emily Larsen with the Young Americans for Liberty Club. Rather, we heed the historical call of Frederick Douglass “This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” We call on all who want a transparent, equitable, accountable, and inclusive university that represents all of us, to join us in this struggle! Sincerely, John Mitchell, UNM Law Student Rebecca Hampton UNM Undergrad International Studies and Linguistics Michael Butler UNM Undergrad American Studies
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 22:59:33 +0000
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