Letter to the editor: Response to “A Call for Political Neutrality”
Editor’s Note: To submit a response to this column, or submit a letter to the editor on a new topic, email your submission to opinion@usustatesman.com.
I want to start this response where the authors leave off their letter: with the declaration that Utah State University “should be a home for ALL students.” The authors’ opinion is that by calling out systemic racism, Utah State is taking a liberal political stance that undermines “free learning and engagement” for conservative students. To be clear: if your conservatism believes that systemic racism is a “radical and statistically inaccurate belief”, then it isn’t conservatism – it’s just racism, pure and simple.
Let’s step back and take a look at what systemic racism really means. According to NAACP President Derrick Johnson, systemic racism refers to “systems or structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage African Americans.” Racism isn’t just about white people being discriminatory on an individual basis; it’s about institutions designed to benefit white people at the exclusion of Black people, and historic wrongs that have never been righted.
There is ample evidence that this kind of “systemic racism” exists, including a litany of heartbreaking statistics. The average white family has 6.7 times the wealth of the average Black family. Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Schools are often still segregated by fact if not by law, with majority-white schools receiving more funding. And, yes, Black suspects are more than twice as likely to be killed by police than white suspects.
Racism exists a lot closer to home, too. In the past month, I’ve been made aware of several racist experiences that have occurred on campus, including a Black undergraduate student whose Economics professor refused to learn to pronounce her name, and a Black graduate student whose professor drew a racist caricature of him during class. The fact that I can’t name more examples is a function of my white privilege and ignorance, not evidence that racism doesn’t exist. It does – and those that listen to Black and other minority students know that our university has never fully been a space of “free learning and engagement” for them.
In the face of these statistics and experiences, I don’t understand why these students would think that the main problem facing our university is discrimination against conservatives due to mentioning systemic racism in a public statement. Neutrality is complicity, and we should reject the idea that an accurate naming of the problem is a sign of liberal bias.
Vidalia Cornwall
Vidalia is a senior at USU studying Economics. Her favorite hobbies are running, reading and spending time with her husband Chaz.
This is thoughtful, well-researched, and reflects the kind of thinking that would make our world more fair and kind. Thank you for taking the time to counter that piece and to speak for so many who also believe that BIPOC deserve a safe and comfortable experience at USU which involves addressing the ugly past and present dynamics involving politics and systemic racism.
Well said. Thank you for your thoughtful response.
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I appreciate voices like yours that speak kindly on such vital topics like this. Conservatism is so often confused with plain bigotry and it is necessary that it is called out when this happens. Especially on a college campus, if we allow space for bigots we are soon making room for violence. I appreciate you and all others with the courage to speak out.