TheGuilfordian
April 10,1998
Letter to the Editor: hiding behind anonymity
To the Editor:
As I am a new student to Guilford
College, that is to say I transferred here
after a year and a half at Washington Col
lege in Maryland, I was unaware of the so
called racial problem the minority students
claim to experience. The intensely liberal
atmosphere that dominates Guilford is a
sharp contrast to the conservative aura that
exists at Washington College. In this way,
the level of resistance the minority students
experienced in acquiring a director of Afri
can-American affairs is unusual.
One must remember, though, no mat
ter how liberal and progressive Guilford
claims to be, it is still an old, small southern
institution and therefore, slow in accepting
changes in the status quo. Because of this
thinking, I was resolved to allow Guilford
to go through what changes it must in or
der to satisfy the growing black portion of
the student body without my interference.
Initially I foiled to perceive a racial
problem, in part, because of my previous
racial experience. The racially motivated
Generation Y: seeking out knowledge
BY EMILY DINGS
Staff Writer
In the early '9os, Coca-Cola began
an ad campaign for a drink called "OK
Soda" targeted at the members of Genera
tion X. Such slogans as "What's the point
of OK Soda? Well, what's the point of
anything?" sought the appeal of this gen
eration. To Coca-Cola's surprise, the ad
vertising campaign foiled.
Perhaps the label "Generation X"
should be changed to "Generation Y." As
a generation among generations, we have
been awarded the status of the letter "y"
among vowels: only sometimes do we fit.
Sometimes we share the values of past
generations: awareness of social issues, a
hunger for knowledge, and a devotion to
family and loved ones. Sometimes, how
ever, we are the unreachable generation
whose collective conscience has splintered
into sound bytes and video clips.
A gross co-dependency of society
and media is to blame for what we do and
don't know and care about as members of
Generation Y. Newsweek, one of the most
popular sources of news among college stu
dents, is giving us what it thinks we want.
For three weeks, Monica Lewinsky ap
peared on the cover of the magazine, be
cause the staff believed that we wanted to
know the intricate details of her alleged af
antagonism there was quite visceral. My
compatriots and I often found ourselves in
physical confrontations with white frater
nity members for reasons I still fail to fully
comprehend. So because I had not as of
yet had to deal with card carrying klan
members, I assumed Guilford might be as
good as its brochures claim. However, my
opinion began to change with the Molly
Martin incident. In spite of this complex
situation, I was determined to stay neutral
in Guilford's evolution.
Given this college's small campus, it
is virtually impossible to close one's eyes
and ears to the movement to free Kvvame
Cannon from his lengthy jail sentence. I
personally have no compassion for the plight
of thieves; however, logic dictates that two
life sentences for grand theft is unquestion
ably unjust. What's more, this decision is
in dire need of review. Be that as it may, I
am unmoved by the outcry for support.
My view of the racial problem at
Guilford took a drastic change when on the
night of March 30 th , I saw a sign in Milner
fair with Clinton.
Newsweek self-deprecatingly men
tioned the many letters to the editor it re
ceived criticizing its lack of attention to more
newsworthy topics. However, as occurred
during the excessive coverage of the O.J.
Simpson trial, these letters were met with a
note from Newsweek implying "look at this
interesting sociological response our cov
erage has provoked," not "we will make a
concerted effort to be more of a news
source and less of a tabloid in the future."
The evening news on the major chan
nels follows the same trend. Ten minutes
of every half hour discusses an allegation
against Clinton, five minutes cover some
thing like Clinton's trip to Africa (the focus
on Clinton, net Africa), five minutes go to
the latest massacre, and the remaining time
mentions conflicts in Yugoslavia or Iraq,
focusing cm U.S. involvement. This "news"
coverage is broken up further by lengthy
commercials.
Nevertheless, the media presents us
with a distorted vision of the outside world
because we let it. We get our news where
we can, and don't blame ourselves if the
details of Monica's love letters to the Presi
dent are more accessible than the details
of the conflict in Israel. We want news
that we can digest while riding an exercise
bike or standing in the check-out line. We
are, above all, busy.
Forum
which read, "FRY KWAME CANNON."
As I said before, I don't have an abun
dance of sympathy for thieves, but this com
ment was totally unqualified.
I am unsure whether the person who
exerted the effort to be so divisive is racist
or not, but the substance of his note clearly
implies a racist disposition. However, be
fore I make an unfair judgment, I will ex
tend to him the benefit of the doubt and
assume that being berated with the glam
orization of a petty thief is his motive. This
is a plausible assertion based on another
assumption: that mo§t people are like me
and have never heard of Kwame Cannon
before coming to Guilford. Regardless of
his motivation, though, his actions were none
the less racially antagonistic and should be
addressed.
My reason for writing this letter is
not in defense of Cannon or his actions but
rather the anonymity of the note and the
racially motivated antagonism. Whether
the author believes what his note says or
not is not for me to say. Nor it is important.
Some believe we are fundamentally
different from other generations in that we
are not moved by the same calls to arms.
Our education has taken us through the
gambit of romanticism, rationalism impres
sionism expressionism, modernism, post
modernism, minimalism, dadaism, capital
ism, communism, behaviorism, Buddhism,
activism and egoism, to name just a few
"isms." We are left with a need for exor
cism.
Enlightenment is no longer anything
special, because the mass media has put
us in epiphany overdrive. In the realm of us
20-somethings, a messiah would most likely
be mistaken for a mental patient.
Skepticism and overload, however,
are the kindest interpretations of our lack
of knowledge about the surrounding world.
More often we are depicted as the genera
tion that wouldn't know if a war was break
ing out outside the glow of our Nintendos.
Neither the media or today's youth is
solely at fault for our poor test scores and
lack of awareness about history and cur-
What is important is that he claim his note
and stand up for what he really does be
lieve in.
Without question, racism is a concern
in these United States. But cross burning
is not what we need to fear. With all due
respect to Martin and her injuries, cowards
who attack women by night are not who
we need to fear. To those who wish to
combat racism in this college and this na
tion, the people who deserve our attention
are those who harbor racism in their heart
and manifest it with anonymity. Liberal or
conservative, people have equal right to
believe and promulgate whatever ideas
they please. But to the authors of anony
mous letters and notes, if your beliefs are
based on reason and logical discourse, then
bring them to a public forum as Guilford
professes to offer. To whomever it may
concern, regardless of one s political or ra
cial opinions, if one does actually have the
strength of conviction, they should say what
they believe with confidence.
Akil Cornelius
rent events. But Generation Y needs to
show the media that it demands to be edu
cated. As long as we listen to the details of
Monica Lewinsky's private e-mails with the
detached attitudes of half-disgusted, half
intrigued sociological observers, we are
fostering ignorance.
Although it is not entirely our fault,
Generation Y will continue to be blamed
for its lack of awareness if we do not seek
out knowledge. Informing ourselves will
empower our wounded activist spirit, elimi
nating our "sometimes" status among other
socially concerned generations. If our popu
lar press is not teaching us where Yugosla
via is, we need to find out ourselves. The
media will follow our lead.
As members of Generation Y, we
have more information at our disposal than
any preceding generation has enjoyed. Let
us seek out the knowledge that matters and
not let ourselves be overpowered by sen
sationalism. Let's reclaim the position of
the letter "y" as a vowel in the words mo
rality, curiosity, and inquiry.
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