I Was Misquoted

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Michael Balagur's article in the January 25th Crimson ("Tough Choices About the War") provided an informative look at the current anti-war activities of Harvard/Radcliffe alumni/ae, including myself, who had also participated in anti-Vietnam War protests several decades ago. Mr. Balagur accurately noted that when he interviewed me, I stressed the importance of drawing connections between the disproportionate degree of suffering that the Gulf War will cause to non-whites (both in the U.S. and the Middle East) and other forms of ongoing racism and discrimination in the U.S.

However, Mr. Balagur grossly misquoted me in this context as referring to "connections between this war and how colored people are treated..." I do not use the phrase "colored people" to refer to persons of color and did not do so when speaking with Mr. Balagur. That phrase, with its unfortunate heritage in the Jim Crow tradition, is generally considered offensive and I very much regret that an apparent transcription error caused Mr. Balagur to attribute it to me. Ellen J. Messing '73