On Sept. 15, two University students either committed a hate crime or simply threw a beer can over a balcony in an Asian couple's direction. All of the events are currently under investigation. Since that time, the Asian-American community at the University has spoken out about a wide variety of issues involving racism.

Although racism and prejudice can rear their ugly heads in all kinds of forms, the recent events have led me to some conclusions: One, most racism and racist actions are rationalized. We, as human beings, find some difference, real or imagined, on which to base our hatred. All the diversity talks in the world do not make a hill of difference if we do not truly believe or practice what we preach.

Second, we cannot put a multicultural perspective into practice if the dominant framework for race relations, racism and ethnicity in America is still dominated by the desire to put everything into a black-white context. This is also a form of racism because America does not consist of only two ethnic groups. For example, Cornel West in "Race Matters" discusses race only in terms of black and white and only cites authors and sources who are either black or white throughout the majority of his book.

Third, even among minorities in America, there is a hierarchy. If you don't believe me, ask me how many newspapers across America have covered this alleged hate crime? Three? "Is that all?" How many covered the Tawana Brawley case? More than 2,000 local and national media outlets. "Why is that?" one might ask. Well, that leads back to point two: The dominant framework in America regarding race, racism and ethnicity is a black-white framework which in itself is also a form of racism.

Additionally, American media works to reinforce this racist framework. Media is extremely important because it defines and projects who we think we are as Americans. I would estimate that 90 to 95 percent of all the images in American mainstream media, whether television or print, have only black and white images as their primary focus. Primetime American television is America's most racist hour. During primetime television, we as viewers never see a scene that actually looks like the city or place that it purports to be. For example, if we are watching a black show, then the majority of actors are black. If a white show, seven to nine out of the 10 actors are white, two to three are black. Who says that this is America? Where are the Arab Americans, the Persians, the Latinos, the Asians, the Indians, the Pakistanis and the Armenians? Current media representations of Asian Americans and others only serve to marginalize or exoticize the already marginalized. How many times have we seen an Asian-American actor, with just two lines, further marginalized by having to speak with a pidgin accent?

"I don't believe you