I'm writing in regards to Jim Lala's article, "Diversity doesn't promote better education, system flawed" (SN 2/3). Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but if they are going to be published, they should be well-thought out. The article was especially offensive to me because he focused in on African-Americans as benefactors of affirmative action. Perhaps if he were not so ignorant, he would know that white women are the greatest benefactors of affirmative action. Most people who do not support affirmative action don't even know what it is or who it affects.

They just believe what someone else has told them instead of taking the time to look up what affirmative action entails.

Another issue with the article is that he has no idea of what it means to be African-American in this world. It is easy for him to sit back and say that all you have to do is apply yourself, because he has nothing to face. He probably didn't live in a neighborhood with schools that had books that were torn and falling apart or that had no libraries to get SAT books from.

Who is he? Who is anybody to say that someone does not deserve to be where they are, regardless of how they got there? It is that type of supremacist attitude that created racism in the first place.

What planet are you living on that you believe that everyone is tolerant and good-natured? African Americans are one of the hardest-working groups of people on this planet. Before we walk into any store, bank, community or college, we have to prove that we belong there. We have to go above and beyond what the average Caucasian person does.

I am disappointed in Lala's views, because he has no reason to be ignorant. He is a college student, and in all respects, an educated person. It makes no sense at all for him to be a senior and have no knowledge of the true meaning behind diversity or any accurate knowledge about African-American history and culture. What diversity really means is having respect for others, no matter what their differences, physically, mentally or intellectually. If you feel diversity is a forced issue at MSU, maybe you should transfer schools.

Melanie Dixon
criminal justice sophomore