LETTER: Minorities don’t need Westbroek

Editor,

In his column last week, Mr. Westbroek portrays minorities as a welfare-hungry, instant-gratifying, handout-soliciting lot, who are starved of any ambition or aspiration for greatness. Has Mr. Westbroek visited Chicago’s Southside or a reservation, to see how Uncle Sam has actually failed minority youth? I am not arguing against minority youth taking responsibility, but for them to be given a chance. Fact-starved and ethnic-specific attacks, like Mr. Wesbroek’s, actually negate the efforts that Utah State University has made on the inclusion of minorities on our campus. Success in the advancement of diversity through offices like the Multicultural Students Services, is being achieved, albeit at a fair pace.

The virulence with which Mr. Westbroek writes is a portrayal of the morality-cum-fear dogma many opponents of inclusion here on campus use: that minorities are here to change things and undeservingly snatch scholarships.

I challenge Mr. Westbroek to visit the Multicultural Student Lounge at the TSC, to attend Salsabration, the Martin Luther King Jr. Vigil, and visit with one of our minority student athletes. These are self-respecting, self-driven, goal-oriented individuals who have never thought that they are entitled to a college education or ease of any kind, simply because of their skin color. They have jobs, they mentor each other and many are prospective first-generation college graduates. Had Mr. Westbroek attended the Diversity Week’s panel discussions, perhaps he would have also grasped the idea of diversity beyond ethnicity here on our very own campus.

Racially charged anger, supported by statistical stereotype, and camouflaged by the author’s claim of pursuit for equality, is puerile. I don’t understand what “inequality” or “Trojan Horse” is being snuck in, when America remains one of the most socially and economically segregated countries in the world, and when minorities, and other low-income youth are still academically disadvantaged by SAT/ACT exam make-up. Obviously Mr. Westbroek is happy with the current status quo. There are glaring inequalities that still need to be addressed in this nation, without Mr. Westbroek vehemently stigmatizing the efforts as Trojan Horses.

No, Mr. Westbroek, minority students on this compass already have a voice of their own, and they do not need a condescending spokesman.

Phiwo Mnyandu