Letters to the Editor

To the Daily:

While this is not another “Here”s what we should do!” letter regarding Rev. Phelps” visit, consider this as another aspect of his visit. The University community has concerned itself with Phelps” protest at the Queer Visibility Week (QVW) Rally, and understandably so. However, others of us are not so lucky to worry about his attendance at a rally in a huge public space.

Along with other members of my church”s congregation, I am genuinely nauseated knowing that he will be waiting for me when I arrive for worship on Sunday morning. The Rev. Phelps” original reason for attending Ann Arbor is not even remotely related to QVW.

He is coming because Rev. John Rollefson, pastor of Lord of Light Lutheran Church, led the ordination of a qualified and called minister, Donna Simon, a lesbian.

I attended Rev. Simon”s ordination in Missouri, and I will not back down from supporting her and Rev. Rollefson entirely. Indeed, I am the undergraduate with the greatest personal involvement in the protests this weekend, as I hope to be in Rev. Simon”s shoes some day.

Though I do not wish to portray myself as a martyr of sorts, I hope that the University community will remember where else Rev. Phelps will be taking his message of hate this weekend. While most students are resting in their campus homes Sunday morning, I will be standing before Rev. Phelps, defending my right to be a queer Christian.

Please make no mistake that those are the toughest shoes to wear on this campus today.

Emily Marie Sippola

LSA senior

SCC”s retrospective comments untrue

To the Daily:

I feel that I must object to a statement made by SCC member Diego Bernal in the Daily”s article on the Tower (“Then … and now,” 2/15/00). Bernal is quoted as saying “We hesitated from calling individual people racist.”

However, when attempting to enter the Union during the SCC protests, I was called a racist, as were two visiting parents, because we attempted to enter the Union through the front doors.

Simply because the SCC chose not to accuse Michigamua of racism does not mean that they in any way restrained their rhetoric or even attempted to convey civility to those who were merely attempting to go about their daily routine.

Jason Bourne

LSA senior

“Model minority” myth perpetuates racial biases

To the Daily:

I am saddened by the ignorance that Chuck Wang”s letter to the editor, “Asian-Americans do not need race-based affirmative actions” (2/14/01) conveys. Obviously, he too has been sucked into the model minority myth of Asian-American success.

Wang”s acceptance of the myth shows limited recognition of the heterogeneity of the APA (Asian Pacific American) community. By recognizing heterogeneity within the APA community, one sees that not all APAs are “succeeding” but in fact struggle in sweatshops or fields as migrant laborers.

It is a pity that Wang”s memory is selective, or forgetful of the institutional discrimination that Asians and Asian-Americans have experienced and continue to experience.

Instead, Wang buys into the dominant framework and once again puts Asian-Americans into the role of the “middle-man minority” and lets himself be used as a silent pawn in the discussion of race and inequality in the United States.

Wang”s assertion that the success of Asian-Americans is based upon “simple, hard work” is completely naive.

If this were true, ideas such as “over-representation of Asian Americans” would never come into play. We do not live in a meritocracy and people are not rewarded for their “hard work.”

Wang”s primary anti-affirmative action arguments are based upon the American dream and model minority myth. These two ideas are tools that society uses to make people believe that they, and not our institutional systems, are failing people of color and the underclass.

It is unfortunate that Wang not only buys into these fallacies, but chooses to advocate on their behalf.

Rebecca Kinney

LSA senior