LETTER: Racism pervades Rice attitudes

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A common example of racism in action: Late at night, an innocent black person is running down the street. A suspicious police officer pulls him over, detains him for however long it takes to ascertain that he's not a threat and then leaves without apology or remorse for the incident. Or people deny that racism even exists anymore, that it ended with the civil rights movement. So whenever a black person complains of racism, that black person must be "overreacting."

Another example is the confused presumption that so long as a person has no overt hostility, the best of intentions and is not dressed in white sheets brandishing a torch and a cross, that person must not be harboring any racist predispositions.

In the case of Apollo Amoko ("Campus practices closet racism," Jan. 24), all three of the above examples rolled into one as he was detained by police on several occasions, under suspicion of being a threat to the Rice community.

Of course, anyone who knows Amoko would have to question the efficacy of the officers who stopped him. A well-groomed, textbook-toting Kenyan with a sunny disposition and large vocabulary walking in broad daylight doesn't particularly resemble the robbers described in all those "Crime Alert" posters.

Amoko is owed an unmitigated public apology. That it has not been forthcoming is evidence of racism itself. The fact that the police department has taken a defensive posture is evidence of racism as well.

That the police department has been condescending, telling Amoko his detention was for his own good and in the name of protecting the community (which community?), tacitly tells Amoko, "We're sorry, we didn't know you're one of the good ones, we thought you weren't." It was for Amoko's own good that he was presumed guilty -- not of any crime reported, just guilty? That his civil rights were violated?

That Amoko has been told by a number of people that he is "overreacting" is evidence of racism as well. What is really meant by this is that black people complain too much. If a white person fights for his or her civil rights, then he or she is a hero. But if a black person stands up for his civil rights, like Amoko does, he's a complainer. He's overreacting. His experience of being presumed a criminal because of the color of his skin is deemed trivial.

Amoko charges that self-important, busybody "officials" at the Graduate House informally encourage police officers to violate the privacy and personal dignity of completely innocent students. I would like to vouch for this.

One month ago I was sitting at a table at the Graduate House eating dinner. Across from me sat a woman who is involved with the Loan Closet and consequently is very important in the Graduate House hierarchy. She went on about how "they" (meaning the Asian population at the Grad House) are singularly responsible for the messes that are left in the Graduate House kitchens, as if white people didn't use them as well.

She continued on about how "they" didn't know how to use appliances correctly, and felt someone should condescend to instruct them. Apparently, "they" keep items in "their" rooms that "they" shouldn't and informally suggested that the police (or whoever) ought to conduct weekly room searches. Make no mistake about it, racism is alive and well at the Graduate House --Amoko is right.

People deny Amoko's complaint because he is holding a mirror up to Rice's collective conscience, and Rice doesn't like what it sees.

He is owed an unqualified apology by the police department without attempting to defend their actions, because for whatever reason, he is a human being who was wronged. That he didn't get such an apology is testament to the faltering of Rice's collective conscience.

Robert Gross

Graduate student

Shepherd School of Music

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the January 31, 1997 issue.

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