Dear Larry Shinn and world at large,

My initial instinct on the issue of Jason Cohen's tweet was that students offended by the incident would be best to forgive instantly and find compassion. I am not saying you (we) need to feel guilty for our white privilege, but I am afraid faculty at this school is ostracizing students who speak out with the kind of activism for which we should be proud. I am saying that the tweet unearthed a lot of discomfort around racism that needs to be addressed.

It is easy for me to forgive, to find compassion at the drop of a hat. I have this privilege. But privilege is not the same as entitlement. It has taken me a long time to come to this. But the truth is racism is alive and present at Berea College. Overt racism and institutional racism both exist. This college does not have as many minority professors as it used to. Those numbers are actually going down. Many of you know people who were involved in the civil rights movement. My mother called the white folks who fought for civil rights in the 60's "white knights." Those civil rights activists were integral to the movement, and should be role models us today.

If you don't understand why the majority of white Bereans are apathetic on this issue or are uneasy and defensive then maybe you should study that a little. Maybe you should go back to college on that subject. The people who come here to this college are the most diverse I know. I have student friends here who were homeless, who are gay and lesbians, who are disabled mentally and physically, who are black and white, who are Christian and Muslim and of every religion, who are from countries I never knew existed, to be honest. Each one of these things holds a strong grip on our identities. We ALL need role models here, even in our adulthood. Having Obama in office gave African Americans everywhere the audacity to hope, granted them a sense of possibility.

If you see a white anglo saxon protestant future in the vision of the mission of Berea, by all means, hire more white men, more wives and husbands. Continue the legacy of nepotism. But that is not what your mission statement says, it is not the word your public relations department is spreading.

I don't usually lecture like this, on a soap box or pulpit. But now as I am realizing these things to be true, it seems these words need to be spoken. I think the symposium should be mandatory for all students.

<please, re-post as you may. I no longer use facebook>

in Truth, Maggie Hess