This is in response to the many letters to the editor about racism. If you call someone a bigot because they disagree with you, does that make you a bigot?

I am not denying the existence of racism. It continues to exist as does discrimination based upon religion (or lack thereof), sexual orientation, gender, nationality, age, disabilities, etc. And I believe we need to counter these problems and not let society accept its flaws without trying to improve the lives of its discriminated member, which will improve all of society in reality.

But why must we label white people as oppressors or call anyone names? Some definitely were and still are. But this is not a black and white world.

Last month, I was at Meijer and a guy loudly said, “If you ain’t white, you ain’t right.” A white woman was good enough to respond it’s people like him that make her sick.

By saying white oppressor, you’re labeling her in the same category as the ignorant man. That’s a mistake that’s more likely to offend than unite people. We can inform the people who don’t understand the issue that when you’re a minority in a place, you sometimes need support from others of similar backgrounds, circumstances and adversities.

The support and collaboration from people of all races is what’s important.

Kiran Raja Joshi
computer science
graduate student