Question of Credibility

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Responding to Saturday's article entitled "Black Harvard Woman is Injured, Says White Demonstrator Attacked Her," I must say that as the unfortunate victim I am offended by his headline. The use of the word "says" is an insult to my credibility, and evokes a sense of doubt as to whether or not the incident was racially motivated. In addition, the tone of the article does not convey the emotional trauma experienced, only the physical damage. A strict presentation of facts does not allow a reader to understand how it feels to have one's rights violated for reasons that cannot be changed. I hope that my statement will make this paper more sensitive to the necessity of presenting racial conflicts in proper perspective.

Racism has been an ever-present issue among blacks (and other Third World groups) on this campus. Although we all realize that prejudice is strong beyond our "ivy walls," our efforts have been to change the attitudes on campus rather than those of society. We feel the need to disprove those individuals at Harvard who feel we are inferior in intellect. However, I think that this important campus-wide struggle tends to cloud the real obstacles to achieving equal status. To the racist the supposed intellectual inferiority sometimes attributed to blacks is justification for discrimination. It came as a shocking reintroduction to society that despite the number of achievements I may earn, there are those who will never respect me because of my skin color. This is a perfect illustration of how much further we still have to go before being viewed as equal. Name Withheld