Editor,
I feel it a little unfair that I am picking on Larry Crum twice in as many months, but it appears that I will have to do it until he submits a legitimate argument. In this case, in his letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo, Crum found it offensive that there was a peer group offering mentoring services for people of color. In the next paragraph, he states that minorities would not want to be called "colored."
Perhaps that's why the name of the organization is "of color," which is a slight but significant difference for many people. "Of color" has long been rather inoffensive and applies to all ethnic minorities in the United States, whereas "colored" generally means African-American.
Second, Crum may have felt unwelcome in this group. The reason this group even exists is likely because there is a need for it. In his mind, somehow, not having access to a service he doesn't even need is discriminatory. Were I to extend that same logic, I suppose I should be upset about my lack of access to chemotherapy despite not having cancer.
Lastly, I would like to stop the horrible savagery committed against the English language by ending the use of the stupid term "reverse discrimination." Discrimination means to sort or to separate, and no one would be quite so foolish to say something inane like "reverse sorting." "Reverse discrimination" was coined by sensitive white males who felt they lost all those wonderful chances to succeed that they once had - which, I assure you, is not even remotely true - but rightly felt that the term "discrimination" would be hard to swallow for honest-to-God minorities and impoverished groups. For the sake of English, just say discrimination.
And then shut up about your plight, because I am sure African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, women and other groups have you beat.
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Clinton Kile
UNM student
