Fear and Racism
To the Editor:
I just read Alison Schmauch's article titled, "Is fear affecting our college experience?" in the Monday, Nov. 19 issue of The Dartmouth.
I appreciate the diversity of our student body and the variety of feelings expressed regarding fear on campus. I thank Ms. Schmauch for trying to capture that variety in her article. I'd ask that readers also consider the fear that now grips most African-American male students who feel under siege, especially after one student was publicly stopped by Hanover Police in Thayer last week and named in your newspaper. Many students, especially black men, have expressed concern about feeling profiled and under intense scrutiny for no apparent reason except that they are black men of college age. While we are all anxious to have the attackers apprehended, let us not resort to racial profiling in order to accomplish this or to report on it.
