To the Editor:
Mr. Yohalem would do well to acquaint himself with another "Black English" idiom: "Chill out, homey."
I can attest to the fact that Mr. Phillips does not have a racist bone in his body. He might be guilty of other things, though: For example, he may profess a desire to shed Dartmouth's ignoble image as a boot-and-rally school, the most subtle manifestation of which is the pidginization of English on this campus. I back him on this and I found his choice of words rather amusing. If that makes me a racist: Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
We are part of an institution of higher learning. We ought, at the very least, to be able to express ourselves in a way that befits this institution: In standard received English. Monosyllabic grunts, however "authentic" do not qualify -- a realization that Mr. Yohalem will come to should he choose to venture outside of the U.S. where his potential Ghetto slang will belie the quality of education he received from Dartmouth.
In the mean time, he should temper his rhetoric. It is unwise, after all, to blame the mirror when the face is crooked.