I recently had the unexpected pleasure of being on the receiving end of a distribution of anti-racist literature. Some guy with long, black hair, a worn leather jacket and dark sunglasses (who could that have been?) handed me a pleasant piece titled, “Kick the Klan Out of DeKalb.” I have nothing against the right to free speech, and I am even mildly intrigued by some of the literature the JLS has distributed. But why don’t these people get somebody who has some basic knowledge of the English language to edit this stuff for them? In an institution for higher education, one does not expect to see such blatant illiteracy.

I realize that proper spelling and grammar do not directly reflect a person’s intelligence, but the lack of them can destroy a person’s (or a group’s) credibility. A group whose sole purpose seems to be creating unity and harmony in the world (at least in our little community) should make some attempt at spelling correctly. The appearance of a piece of literature is often more important than what the literature is actually saying (especially in this case). I’m only writing this in an attempt to save their organization from future embarrassment.

James R. Held

senior, education