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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1988)
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, February 12, 1988 V Opinion Racist At Ease essay merits an apology Sue Krenek The Battalion screwed up. This probably comes as no sur prise to those of you who read us regularly. M is- takes, after all, happen. At The Batt, we use a bul letin board to post those mistakes. It currently contains critiqued copies of the past week’s pa pers and a nasty memo from me about a headline that nearly went into print in correct. On the lighter side, there’s a letter from a former student who says, “Be cause of Spartan housing accomoda tions when I was a student, A&M was sometimees called ‘Sing-Sing on the Brazos,’ but at least we lived in dormito ries.” Attached is the headline that prompted his comment, the one that read “Parking garage to house students, faculty.” It seems like a silly mistake, and it is. As always, we try to keep things like that from happening. But it was a mistake that, at least, could be looked at with hu mor, a helpful thing when you’re trying to stay sane. Last week we did something that was no laughing matter. Each week At Ease, The Battalion's weekly supplement, publishes an essay on its attention!! page. Last week’s col umn, titled “Poverty: A culture shock,” was a student’s account of her trip to the Rio Grande Valley and her reaction to ithe poverty she encountered there. We should not have published the column. Many of you realized that. Many of you were offended by the column. I’ve talked to some of you, and I’ve read a lot of letters to the editor saying the writer — and the paper — were way out of line. That’s absolutely right. The attention!! essays usually give students a chance to talk about a per sonal experience. A student becoming enlightened about poverty fits right in with that idea. But last week, the writer demonstrated that although she may have learned about poverty, she had a long way to go in recognizing racism. Describing a drive through Har- Writer’s attitudes ignore rich Mexican traditions Charles Schoonover Guest Columnist I have just fin ished reading a column by senior journalism major Jill Galarneau ti tled “Poverty: A culture shock,” which was the at tention column in the Feb. 4 edition of At Ease. It was about her “ . . . first en counter with poverty in its purest form.” She accompanied her roommate to her roommate’s — and my — hometown of Harlingen, in the lower Rio Grande Val ley, for spring break. In her column, she mentioned driv ing through an older part of Harlingen and seeing a local car club of low riders hanging out in the K-Mart parking lot where all of the differnt high school groups, including the kickers and red necks, hang out. She was amazed to see, in this group of “ . . . about 50 Mexicans from age 12 to 20 . . .” that “. . . two young girls . . .” were wearing “. . . shirts labeled ‘baby’ with an arrow pointing downward.” This is an amazing display of observation on her part. If her roommate would have driven only one mile north of K-Mart to the Valley International Airport, Jill would have been able to use her powers of ob servation at the nationally famous Con federate Air Force Museum. She would have also been able to see the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is an exact replica from the original mold of the memorial in Washington, D.C. She was told by her roommate that “ . . . Mexican girls love to have babies — regardless of whether they are married or financially able.” She was also told that at her roommate’s high school, “. . . which is 80 percent Mexican-American, pregnant girls continue to go to school until a few days before delivery.” I grew up in Harlingen, and it is true that “Mexican girls” do love to have ba bies. Just as much as “upper-middle class North Dallas” girls.I also attended Harlingen High School for three years, and in that time I saw very few pregnant students. But I feel that the few I did see are a credit to all women because they continued to pursue their education even while pregnant. Further on, Jill says, she saw . . un bathed children playing in the weeds in front of their homes. Their tiny de crepit shacks looked as if a gust of wind would blow them over.” It might surprise Jill to know that out of the 20-odd years that I lived in Har lingen, every person I ever knew bathed frequently. But kids will be kids, and I do not doubt that Jill did see dirty chil dren. But there is a very big difference between unbathed children and kids playing. Being so close to the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes are a very real threat. I have been through two myself. Any decrepit shacks would have been blown down a long time ago. After leaving Harlingen, Jill went to Brownsville only to find that it “. . . was even more of an education.” I will be the first to admit that Brownsville has its problems, but Brownsville is the sister city of Matamoros, Mexico. The two cit ies’ economies are dependent on each other, anud. currentlyJMexico is in an eco nomic crisis and Brownsville is also suf fering from it along with the rest of the Rio Grande Valley. Jill and her roommate got to Brownsville just as a high school was let ting out. She noted that “Swarms of Mexican students, mostly dressed in filthy jeans and ragged T-shirts . . .” crossed the street in front of them. She also noticed that “their school was a group of stacked, portable buildings that looked like a temporary set-up.” But her roommate assured her that they were permanent. What her roommate should also have told her is that the Su preme Court of the State of Texas de cided that Brownsville is required to ed ucate illegal aliens. That ruling was financially devastating to the district, which is doing the best it can under the circumstances. Jill finished her article by stating that she “. . . felt greedy and spoiled and . . .” she found herself on the “. . . verge of tears.” She also wanted to “ . . - join the missionary field or the Peace Corps.” Well, Jill does not have to go to the Val ley to see poverty. I have seen far worse conditions in Bryan than I have ever seen in Harlingen. She does not have to join the Peace Corps either. If she really wants to do something about it, she can start right here in her own community. But it is my opinion, from reading her article, that she was far more inter ested in looking at the poor “Mexicans” than at the poor people. And they are poor people with very real problems in a very real world. Jill should have spent more time looking at the people of the Valley instead of looking down at them. If she had, she would have discovered a wonderful culture full of rich traditions that have been around long before any shopping malls went up on the north side of Dallas. Charles Schoonover is a junior com puter science major The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvillon, City Editor Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, ijnd do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Departn.ent of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&fJ regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $ 17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. lingen, she said, “About 50 Mexicans from age 12 to 20 were there hanging out.” When she drove through Brownsville, she said, “Swarms of Mexi can students, mostly dressed in filthy jeans and ragged T-shirts crossed the street in front of us. I asked Megan if we were still in America.” The Battalion has a policy stating that we don’t allow incorrect statements to appear in any opinion material we run. So if you write a letter to the editor and mention that John F. Kennedy was as sassinated in 1960, we’ll run an editor’s note correcting the error. It also means that we shouldn’t have allowed a writer to refer to Americans of Mexican descent as “Mexicans.” Un less the people she saw were illegal aliens — something she couldn’t have known through observation — she should have referred to them as Ameri cans or as Mexican-Americans. That is what they are. One thing should be clear: If the writer had said clearly that she thought the people were illegal aliens or pre sented some kind of evidence that they were, her assertions might have been al lowed to stand. The problem is that she presented as factual observations some things that simply weren’t true. In other areas, the essay provided a grim reminder of how easily some peo ple accept racial stereotypes even now. “Megan told me that Mexican girls love to have babies — regardless of whether they are married or financially able.” “Mexican boys yelled obscenities at us as they drove passed (sic) in their low-ri ders.” I’m not saying the writer didn’t see and hear the things she wrote about. But she didn’t use her essay to examine those stereotypes. I’m not even sure she recognized them as stereotypes. Instead of either accepting or rejecting them, she simply passed them along as factual observations. That’s where the column violated an other of our policies. We try to get an open exchange of ideas in our opinion material, both on the opinion page and the attention!! page. But we want that material to be well thought-out. Care less, unexamined stereotyping is not what we’re looking for. I don’t mean to suggest in any way that we have to consider an idea “valid” for it to be published. Printing only col umns and letters that agreed w would be unfair to our readers. Itwoi also make for a very boring paper we have standards that opinion mates must meet. Some, such as guidelines for letters, are simple.Sots such as when a piece becomes toooffn sive to run, are not. And so the editors of .4f Ease dead to publish the essay. They recognia that parts of it might offend people felt the overall message justified prim ing it. In a way. they may be right. 1 letters we’ve received tell methatthe say may have made some of you tala look at stereotypes. I was offended by the essay. H; seen it before publication, it would have appeared. But in the end,I'm responsible for it. I apologize to anyone — Hispanic otherwise — who was of fended by essay. You have every right to beanm I only hope you understand opinions were not those of The Band ion staff. We made a mistake. We are veil sorry. Sue Krenek is a senior journalism -J jor and editor oEThe Battalion. SAVING £ LOAN V OF TEX1S MARGOMES ©MSB MOWN FWfl- Mail Call We shou/d have a faculty club EDITOR: According to a front page story in The Battalion on Feb. 9, “Students try to prevent faculty club,” some stu dents and anonymous former students are attempting to block the establishment of a faculty club on campus. The objections seem to be, first, that a faculty club would be for faculty members who pay to join and would not be shared with students who would pay no dues. All major universi ties and colleges in the nation have faculty clubs, and their paying members do not open them up to non-paying members, whether students or former students. Of course, this is yet another way Texas A&M could be unique: no faculty club. Believe me, no paying club member is going to subsidize non-paying members. Is it possible that student body president, Mason Ho gan, and his fellow petitioners do not not know what a fac ulty club is and how important it can be to faculty morale and recruiting? Or could it be they don’t care? The second objection seems to be that state owned property should not be used exclusively by any one group but should be open to all taxpayers. According to the latest information I have, student dormitory rooms are state owned property. Should they be opened to all taxpayers for their free use despite the fact that students pay housing fees? According to Mr. Hogan’s logic, the answer must be, “Yes.” If by influencing the governor, or attorney general, former students are successful in destroying the faculty club, they will have created an interesting precedent dial would have to be applied to this board of regents on-cam pus quarters, which is open to neither faculty nor students, Manuel M. Davenport Department of Philosophy We shouldn’t have a faculty club EDITOR: Where will it end? Today the tower dining room,to- morrow the parking garage. Let’s go Ags — we just can’t sit and do nothing while the tower dining room gets con verted into a faculty club. We pay taxes. We pay tuition Some of our family and friends are even financial support ers of this school. If things keep going the way they are, NONE of our friends and/or family will he allowed to use the tower dining room except on special occasions such as graduation. I wonder if the faculty could learn a little from the student organizations here. When we want something special or just something new, we raise the money and build it ourselves. But of course the faculty is much tooths- tinguished. The faculty would rather just take it and nobody notices. David Davenport ’88 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial si serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every ej maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include thtd# sification, address and telephone number of the writer. BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathe* /Td me 3A5Him fK&HRe AYes sow?.' fox Ayes ( ATTACK/ I CAPTAIN / ppess pprson tpepcp ahtap/ dTANPtNC PY TO F/P6 / 1! npe / mm! IT PUN PAWePT U/OWM PRtl 1 !