Spring Break
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Forum
Response to Roman Nose
Apparently wearing black face paint and donning an afro are now considered racist. I didn't see that one coming.
On Wednesday the Gazette Times published an article about the recent "Black Out Reser" event conceived by OSU student Casey Grogan. Grogan convinced the entire student population to wear black colors to the football game against Arizona on Oct. 6 as a visual sign of support for the team. Some students took the idea further, wearing black face paint and afros. The GT article was titled "Black Out Reser raises racial issues." I'd like to suggest that something else "raised" these "racial issues."
Not a single participant at that football game had racism on their mind when they painted their face and put on their t-shirt. But as is true of any circumstance, some people choose to see what they want.
Renée Roman Nose has created this racial issue. Ms. Roman Nose was upset about an article concerning the event, so she decided to write her own (as of this writing, unpublished) column about it in the Daily Barometer.
"What do you think it might make a black person on campus think if they see such an article in our student newspaper?" she wrote. "Do you think they feel welcome here? That the OSU environment is friendly or considerate to minority people?"
Seeing as how aspects of black culture like afros were included in the event, I'm confused as to why a minority student would feel unwelcome. "Black Out Reser" was a fun, positive thing that the student body did to show unity, and people are distressed that black culture was a part of that? I certainly never thought acceptance would be the new discrimination.
The nature of racism is that people have preconceived hate towards a particular group. It seems to me that by criticizing this event you are simply reinforcing those same inflexible and outdated ideas.
I know I'm just another white guy. It is entirely true that I don't really get it. I will never know what it feels like to be discriminated against like black people have been.
Yet I can't help but feel a little discriminated against in this situation. My whole life I've been taught acceptance; can't you reciprocate some of that acceptance?
We simply want to dress up in our school's color to support our team. The fact that the color coincides with the shade of someone's skin is merely happenstance, and a frivolous point of contention.
There is no satisfying those who choose to be offended. And so I say go ahead, Ms. Roman Nose. Print your column, and boycott the game if you must.
But I'd like to think that you could look past your perceptions, as we've all been instructed to do with each other our whole lives. And I'd like to think that you would attend the next Black Out game this Saturday, and that I could turn to you and give you a high-five when the Beavers score, just like I would anyone else.
Matthew Holland
Microbiology
Black Out Reser
Apparently wearing black face paint and donning an afro are now considered racist. I didn't see that one coming.
On Wednesday the Gazette Times published an article about the recent "Black Out Reser" event conceived by OSU student Casey Grogan. Grogan convinced the entire student population to wear black colors to the football game against Arizona on Oct. 6 as a visual sign of support for the team. Some students took the idea further, wearing black face paint and afros. The GT article was titled "Black Out Reser raises racial issues." I'd like to suggest that something else "raised" these "racial issues."
Not a single participant at that football game had racism on their mind when they painted their face and put on their t-shirt. But as is true of any circumstance, some people choose to see what they want.
Renée Roman Nose has created this racial issue. Ms. Roman Nose was upset about an article concerning the event, so she decided to write her own (as of this writing, unpublished) column about it in the Daily Barometer.
"What do you think it might make a black person on campus think if they see such an article in our student newspaper?" she wrote. "Do you think they feel welcome here? That the OSU environment is friendly or considerate to minority people?"
Seeing as how aspects of black culture like afros were included in the event, I'm confused as to why a minority student would feel unwelcome. "Black Out Reser" was a fun, positive thing that the student body did to show unity, and people are distressed that black culture was a part of that? I certainly never thought acceptance would be the new discrimination.
The nature of racism is that people have preconceived hate towards a particular group. It seems to me that by criticizing this event you are simply reinforcing those same inflexible and outdated ideas.
I know I'm just another white guy. It is entirely true that I don't really get it. I will never know what it feels like to be discriminated against like black people have been.
Yet I can't help but feel a little discriminated against in this situation. My whole life I've been taught acceptance; can't you reciprocate some of that acceptance?
We simply want to dress up in our school's color to support our team. The fact that the color coincides with the shade of someone's skin is merely happenstance, and a frivolous point of contention.
There is no satisfying those who choose to be offended. And so I say go ahead, Ms. Roman Nose. Print your column, and boycott the game if you must.
But I'd like to think that you could look past your perceptions, as we've all been instructed to do with each other our whole lives. And I'd like to think that you would attend the next Black Out game this Saturday, and that I could turn to you and give you a high-five when the Beavers score, just like I would anyone else.
Matthew Holland
Microbiology
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