To the Editor:
Before I published my article on hip-hop on Sept. 27 ("The Mixed Message of Hip-Hip"), I sent it to several black friends and asked for a critique. While the responses were positive, I nevertheless felt that negative reactions would emerge.
Though I had predicted it, I was still disappointed to see sophomore Alexandra Garrison's letter to The D on Friday ("More to Black Culture than Hip-Hop.") I was disappointed that she ignored my lamentations over the continued racial divides that create a situation where hip hop provides the only window into black culture for white people.
I was further disappointed that she called me ignorant because I only focused on the aspect of black culture that I know intimately. In no part of my article did I claim that hip hop encompasses the entirety of black culture. I feel that true ignorance is a refusal to accept overtures from members of one race to the other for what they are: attempts at rapprochement and understanding on an admittedly minute commonground like hip hop.
A spit in the face in response to an outstretched hand makes me hearken back to darker times; yet I refuse to be taken aback by it and will always hope that we shall overcome such negativity.
On a separate note, I was appalled to notice that the editors at
The Dartmouth had inserted three rather foolish grammatical mistakes into otherwise correct sentences within my article. I understand the difficulty of the job of editing text under time constraints, but I had expected more professionalism from the staff of America's oldest college newspaper.
