I want everyone to read this article and tell me what you think. It was published a couple weeks ago in The Snapper (the paper I'm Opinion Editor of...) and has caused quite the backlash. Also contained in that issue was a very controversial and implicitly anti-Hispanic commentary that has gotten me into some trouble although I didn't write it...i'll address that one soon.

(login name: terry6, password on6mq2. I set this up specifically because this article is important. It's also posted below because it is...well..important. After the article, I'll explain.

The quotes to pay attention to are bolded.

The first few weekends of the semester were not good ones for those living in Brookwood Apartments. They were especially rough for a couple of MU's wrestlers.

It was the same weekend as the shooting at Brookwood, the same night as the BSU dance in the SMC. Two of Millersville University's wrestlers, who wish to remain anonymous, were walking home that night. As they were walking toward the 1600 block, they noticed a police car pass by them.

It was about 2 a.m., and both wrestlers were unaware of the shooting that had occurred earlier that night. As the police car was pulling by, a group of people who were walking around the apartment complex started running, and one ran into one of the wrestlers.

The police car was out of sight, and the runner turned on the wrestlers. "About 10 of them started beating the crap out of my roommate," said one of the wrestlers. Then, about 10-15 more turned on him and started beating both of them. Luckily, they were in front of their teammates house, and he came out to help them. Then a couple of guys from the basketball team came out and pulled them out of trouble.

Although both wrestlers were very banged up and bruised, they did not go to the hospital. They did not even go to the police that night; they pulled up their hoods and walked on because there was still a bunch of people walking around Brookwood.

They went to the police station the next day, but the police could not do anything because they could not identify the subjects as more than African-Americans wearing jeans and baggy white t-shirts. "Nowadays, everyone's wearing baggy white t-shirts and you can hardly identify them, especially in the dark."

The wrestler also commented, "They let anyone go to these [dances in the SMC], whether they attend the school or not."

He thinks that these events should be closed to the public in order to avoid more incidents like those that have been occurring off campus on the weekends. "They have to stop letting outsiders in. They don't card anyone; they should have to show an ID or be at least 18 and older. The cops said, [the crowd that goes to these events who aren't MU students] go to the apartments to look for parties and trouble afterwards."

With all the citations for open containers, breaking into the local pool, the recent shooting incident, and now this, it's hard for them to feel comfortable coming out of their apartment.

"There are so many people walking around [who don't belong here]," the wrestler stated. "The cops don't care because they know they're just leaving soon anyway. I want something to be done about it." The two didn't have to miss any classes since the incident happened on the weekend. Wrestling season started last week, and since both weren't feeling up to par, they had some trouble keeping up with the running and other activities they were expected to do to get in shape.

Although they are still getting over the bruises, they hope to be back in full swing soon.

note: the wrestlers, like 90% of the campus, are white. This fact added just for context.

In the classes I've had on Communication Theory, we learned about "message" and "receiver." An individual, or groups of individuals, may, in their heads, have a message they want to get across. The receivers may get a completely different message than what the messagegiver may be trying to state.

The messages in bold, to me, came off as ignorant--to me. Also I got the feeling that the wrestlers were not telling the entire story. I did hear about this incident shortly after it occured (it was a bad weekend, that one...) in a class where we were discussing White Privilege and some argued that there was no such thing. I said nothing, and wish I had. I don't know the individuals involved. I saw the article when it came in to the office when it raised my hackles. I mentioned that people would take it the wrong way--instantly seeing the message-receiver disconnect. I wish I had explained why.

I didn't have to say anything. Dozens of students did it for me and we've been in trouble ever since. Some staffers, all of whom are people I'm friends with, still don't see what I see (overly-sensitive was the word used...overlooking the fact that I cringed too, and said so). Some of the students think the staffers are a bunch of bigots and that's not true. Guess who is stuck in the middle because I see and understand both views.

I've talked about this before: my disconnect with nearly everyone. It makes me confused, tired, and sometimes very angry. There are days where I absolutely fear/worry/dread going to class or into the newspaper office, or being seen with my fraternity (who are not officially chartered at the school, but they're not one of the Five...that was the controversy I alluded to a few days ago...all quiet so far... that'll change i suspect because of the bidding process) because I'm the only black face in the crowd. I really should be used to this--I spent K-2 in private school and 2-12 in a public suburban district whose demographics were fairly similar to Millersville's. It still gets under my skin sometimes. It gets under my skin because in class, all the eyes stare at me when a racial issue comes up. It gets under my skin because in nearly every organization I belong to I'm the only black kid there. It gets under my skin because I always have to be the go-between guy between different groups of people who often don't want to see the other groups concerns...or even listen to me.

I just deal with it as best I can. I wish there were more people like me who try not to give a shit about skin color. But as the discourse shows (I read through the comments over at S-Train....my thoughts are with his family...may they recover well from their ordeal, and reading those comments got under my skin and inspired this post), and this article indicates, we've still got a long fight.

note: While I thought the comments in the article were ignorant and probably stupid, I didn't think they were bigoted unlike the rest of the black community here on campus. I felt they weren't telling the entire story (they probably provoked that fight), and I felt they came from individuals who probably grew up in one of the small towns of Lancaster County which has almost no minority population other than the occasional migrant worker outside of Lancaster city. There are black athletes on the wrestling team, and none of them have given me any indication that the team is a bunch of bigots. Another note, the BSU (black student union) did NOT sponsor the dance party...that was a mistake that was publically corrected in the October 8th issue. One of the sports teams and one of the Sororities hosted it, I believe. I also think that ignorance about one another is an issue that needs to be addressed here on campus, as I've heard of this sort of thing before in the past, and I'll probably devote my entire Opinion section to it very, very soon, as soon as I get approval...or I'll just do it anyway without approval and get fired, I don't really care.