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Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, May 15,2003
-- Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant:
Salena De La Cruz
Editorial
Why is it that
‘diversity ’ leads
to a whirlpool
of difficulties?
Recent guest commentaries about Eugene Weekly’s
May 1 cover story, “Two Languages, Two Worlds,” again
raised issues of diversity representation, tokenism and
what at times feels like a gulf of understanding between
different segments of the campus and city community.
This topic isn’t new. The Emerald has been criticized
in past years, alternately for disregarding, overregarding
or tokenizing minorities in its news coverage, and the ed
itorial board has been blasted for daring to take sides on
diversity issues.
Similar types of concerns were raised about the EW ar
ticle, namely that publishing it as the cover story before
Ginco de Mayo ghettoized Latino issues and that the arti
cle’s cover treatment characterized Latino struggles as
boiling down to nothing more than a language problem.
After a long, free-form discussion, the editorial board
has some free-form comments about this. However, with
only one racial minority and one sexual minority on the
board, we may not be considered qualified to weigh in at
all — but it’s the best we can do.
• Does no one believe in empathy or imagination?
It’s difficult to operate as a white ally of ethnic minori
ties if those minorities are unwilling to accept that a
white person may be able to understand their situation,
their oppression and their world view. Understanding is
possible even without direct experience — otherwise, lit
erature would be impossible. There seems to be an ongo
ing negative reaction to allies who are well-intentioned
but make some small mistake in their wording of opin
ions. How can we slow this trend?
• Doesn’t personal interaction count?
Straight-up anger about institutionalized racism seems
to blind some people to the fact that individuals can get it
— and individuals are the only ones who can change the
institution. Regular, personal interaction makes people
see their similarities and humanity, but the impetus for
interaction gets reduced when allies feel they’re input is
n’t valuable or isn’t correct.
• Who can change things?
This question has no right answer. Although, if the lib
eral doctrine is correct and straight wealthy white peo
ple are the holders of power who won’t play nicely with
others, then don’t they need to be allowed into the con
versation — even if they might say the wrong thing —
and valued when they’re allies? On the other hand, much
liberation has been won when those without the power
demand it long enough and loud enough.
• How did we get here and how can it end?
It sometimes feels like America is stuck in a whirlpool
of identity politics. Rather than reaching a point where
the culture can focus more on what Americans have in
common, there is still a regular need to focus on the dif
ferences — and the problems those differences create.
Some of this has to do with the dire situation in which
many oppressed minorities find themselves. As long as
some people still are shit on every day by the majority
culture, there is a need to speak up.
In thinking about the first waves of immigration to
America, it seems that those groups were more quickly
assimilated, and the culture didn’t have to continually
address these issues. While the situations aren’t strictly
analogous, one thing stands out: For those first waves,
the power-holders eventually let those people play the
game as full partners. In America today, many minori
ties still are only allowed to play from the sidelines, and
even then it’s a battle. As long as this continues, the
whirlpool will keep bubbling.
me uiuc ocauie stues were a liiue
gray this past weekend. Even though
the sun was shining unusually bright
over the lake at my grandmother’s
house, I could not enjoy its warmth.
Beautiful spring days aren’t as promis
ing as they used to be when death is
threatening to overshadow all of the
new life spring promises.
If you’re in a good mood, you may
want to quit reading here.
You see, my 89
year-old grand
mother, everyone’s
bluebird of happi
ness, is dying. And
Sunday may have
been her last Moth
er’s Day on this
earth.
My grandmother
has a terminal
disease called
myelodysplastic
syndrome, which
basically means
that she has bad blood that can’t regen
erate normally to heal any injuries she
may incur at her tender age. From the
outside, she is just as chipper and inde
pendent as she used to be, the way I will
always remember her no matter what
happens in the future.
My grandma is the most active I
know; she still lives in her own house on
a half acre, takes care of her own gar
den, cooks and cleans, attends social
meetings and even drives at her doctor’s
encouragement.
Julie
Lauderbaugh
Judge Julie
i ou wouia never Know rrom one
glance that her time is limited to about
six months, according to the medical
textbooks.
After all, this disease has no known
cure. It can’t be killed off with radia
tion or cut out with a knife; it has crept
up on my grandma and the rest of my
unsuspecting family and slapped us in
the face. Suddenly getting an A on that
next economics midterm doesn’t seem
so important.
I guess most college students have gone
through the process of letting one of their
loved ones go. I have buried two grandfa
thers and a great aunt, among many
beloved pets in our makeshift backyard
cemetery. But this is my first time to deal
with certain death in adulthood of some
one with whom I have shared an uncon
ditional love with since birth.
And I’m not sure what to do. The five
stages of grief — denial, anger, bargain
ing, depression and acceptance — are
hitting me like a load of bricks.
I’m worried about what kind of pain
my grandma will experience as her dis
ease continues. I’m worried what my
mom, aunt and uncle will go through
when their own mother passes away.
And I’m worried about what will hap
pen to her after her death because I
can’t imagine what a soul’s life beyond
this one holds.
At the Sunday get-together, every
one seemed to accept grandma’s fate
and rejoice in the fact they could still
spend this holiday with her. But in the
shadows or my smiling tace brimmed
tears of agony.
How could I pretend things were nor
mal, bullshit about Mike Price and “the
million-dollar lap dance” when the
world’s landscape, as I’ve seen it for 23
years, could be obliterated before
Christmas?
If I went by grandma’s life standard, I
would have to find the silver lining to
this dark storm cloud.
The best I can think of is that my
beloved grandmother has an indetermi
nate amount of time to live yet, giving
me the opportunity to spend as much
time with her as I can. I knew it may or
may not be the last time I saw her, given
the dire circumstances of her disease
and the five-hour 1-5 trek.
So on Sunday I showered her with
more hugs and kisses than usual, lis
tened to more stories of yesteryear
and generally soaked up her warmth
and love that she has always given so
selflessly.
Paying attention to her was the least I
could do for a woman who has spent her
whole life putting others’ needs ahead of
her own.
Even the cheery spring sunshine
can’t lighten this emotional burden.
But I will try my best —for my grand
ma — to be the beacon of hope, even
in her darkest hours.
Contact the columnist
at julielauderbaugh@dailyemerald.com. Her
opinions do not necessarily represent those
of the Emerald.
Letter to the editor
Cutting financial aid
would hurt University
Receiving a Dean’s scholarship? Di
versity Building Scholarship? Graduate
Teaching Fellowship? Too bad for you, if
the Joint Ways and Means Committee
co-chairmen’s budget proposal goes
through. As stated in the Emerald (“Plan
would curtail tuition waivers,” ODE,
May 13), the co-chairmen’s budget
would cut #30 million from the “fee re
missions,” which are part of the Oregon
University System’s financial aid.
The remissions are the tuition dis
counts that come to us in the form of
the merit- and need-based tuition dis
counts (often given as scholarships).
With the cuts in fee remissions, 5,000
students could lose their aid and schol
arships — along with their chance to fi
nance higher education. Many of these
students have already been “guaran
teed” their scholarships for the remain
der of their time at our University. Also,
without the ability to give out new schol
arships to incoming students, the Uni
versity will lose its appeal to students
and the parents who pay the bills.
With the current and future increases
in tuition, the cuts to fee remissions
would be even more detrimental to OUS
by cutting off current students and shut
ting out incoming students.
Kaitlin Kerwin
ASUO intern