I would like to make a few comments in response to Greg Rivara’s editorial column (Oct. 25). The headline to his column, “More violence will not solve problem” was probably the best part of his effort. From there it all seemed to go down hill.

Maybe the incident between the motorists wasn’t racially motivated, the more important issue here is the reaction of the black community. In general people don’t get upset over insignificant issues. Possibly their reaction is based on the subtle prejudices they deal with everyday and this incident just magnified the problem.

I won’t pretend to know what it is like to be black in America, but for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, I lived as a minority on an island in the West Indies. The people there were more accepting of whites than we are of blacks. Even so, for the first time in my life, I experienced prejudice based on my color. I realized that it was the subtle prejudiced comments from friends and associates that hurt more than the outright racist actions by people I did not know.

Rivara states, “No one is skirting the issue of racial tension at NIU,” is seems to me that that is exactly what everyone is doing. His parting shot, “The bullet doesn’t discriminate,” is probably the most callous statement one could make. Anyone who looks at the statistics knows more blacks are victims of violent crime than whites. Nationally there are more cases of whites committing violent, racially motivated, crimes against blacks. Whites need to confront and overcome their racial prejudice, not run and hide from it.

Chris Wooleyhand

Graduate student

Outdoor education