COLUMN: Let Martin Luther King’s ways be your guide
Firstly, I would like to rebut one issue raised in Mr. Dilley’s letter to the editor last week. I do not know the specifics of any hiring freeze enacted last year, but the department of mechanical engineering has three new faculty because of the second-tier tuition money. Yes, as far as I can tell, the money did go to its proper place.
Now, the last time I wrote an article for The Statesman it was Diversity week: a week celebrating how wonderfully different we all are. This upcoming weekend we will celebrate a holiday focusing how we are all the same. How we are all entitled to the same inalienable rights. How we should not be judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.
It may seem that these two ideas, diversity and humanity, are paradoxically linked, that one honors our differences while the other points out our similarities. However, it is the underlying clause that by celebrating diversity, we recognize that we are all human. Diversity week did not include cats and dogs. That may sound silly, but I am not trying to make light of the subject. The celebration of diversity is a recognition that, in a way, we have fulfilled the dream of Dr. King and that we are a diverse people living together in peace and harmony.
Diversity thus becomes a result of humanity. Without unifying ourselves as a human race, we could not enjoy our differences, but rather we would exploit our disparities and suffer from the injustices that would therefore arise.
The question I ask now is, “Have we unified enough?” The sad answer for the entire nation is no. Unfortunately, there are still people who think that racial prejudice is proper. There are still ghettos and “projects” with people who are locked in a war with drugs, poverty and violence because of prejudice in the past. Fortunately, there are programs that help elevate and educate those who are victims of this prejudicial disease, but they need more help.
I hope that you, the concerned reader, will take time this weekend to evaluate where you stand, and how you can help to bring more people into the realm of caring for humanity. I hope that one day we will be a conglomerate of humans, free to exercise our rights to equality and justice.
John Jacklin is the engineering senator. Comments can be sent to him at jbj@cc.usu.edu