On a campus of more than 20,000 students, tension is bound to arise for certain reasons and at various times. It’s inevitable. After all, when there are 20,000 people in an area, there also are as many opinions on any given issue.

Lately, there is one issue that has been particularly frightening—a problem that has surfaced and been quelled time after time. It’s a problem that affects everyone on campus in one way or another. Worse, it is a problem that probably will always exist.

It’s racism. And at NIU, it is spreading.

Last semester, racism made itself known through a scurrilous publication produced by three students and distributed in various campus buildings. The publication, called Stump, was a glaring example of just how pervasive racism is on campus and in society as a whole.

In fact, the numerous articles, poems and illustrations in Stump were so decidedly racist that just reading it conjured up images of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s master plan.

And last week, fliers that slurred blacks were posted in Huskie Buses that serve the Greek Row area. The fliers personified the Nazi Germany analogy because they were highlighted in the center with a large swastika—the symbol of the Nazi Party during World War II.

But racism is a difficult problem to contain because it is such a heated passion. Hatred is taught by socialization and not easily dissolved.

Children who are brought up in households with racist parents generally tend to be racists. And then those children have children of their own who pass on their beliefs, thus continuing the chain.

Kids hear the parents using derogatory words like “nigger” or “wop” and end up accepting those views as their own. The problem is, as children they don’t know any better and by the time they are adults, they honestly believe people of different races are inherently evil and to be hated. It is ingrained in their psyches and therefore not easily changed.

So then they come here to NIU or go elsewhere and find there are others out there who also share their beliefs. And to the racist, this is proof that racism is good.

They think they should share their views and produce things like Stump and the bus flier and whether they admit it or not, they realize the commotion that will result. And perhaps that is what fuels their hatred. It becomes a game. It becomes fun.

And when it gets to the point of being inciteful, it becomes dangerous.

It was hatred that killed Martin Luther King Jr. And it was hatred that resulted in riots in the south during the 1960’s. And it is hatred that causes so much strife in South Africa these days.

More often than not, hatred turns into senseless violence. And the violence “proves” to the racist that he is right. And again the chain continues.

Perhaps the only way a racist can be cured is to become the object of the same prejudice he inflicts on others. Perhaps that is the only way he will understand his ignorance. But if this happens it also continues the chain.

Unfortunately, there probably is no way to stop racism completely. As long as there are thinking people there will be people who think racially.

But in the same respect, there are people who are concerned about the problem and make an effort to lessen its extent. And as long as there is resistance to anything there is hope.

And at NIU, the furor caused by both Stump and the fliers of last week prove there is a stable body of resistance against racism. It also appears that the number of racists is far outweighed by the number of those concerned about racism.

Perhaps racism is not a problem that can be corrected. But it certainly is not one that should be ignored. And luckily it isn’t.