As former editors of The Amherst Student, we are dismayed by the lack of news coverage The Student has provided about the indictment of Taharqa Patterson '05 on charges of rape and entering without breaking. The Student published Letters to the Editor relating to the case on Sept. 27, but online issues of The Student contain no news stories about the charges. The opinion section states that Patterson was indicted by a grand jury on Sept. 13. The Student should have contained a news article on the indictment including, at the least, information from court records, background from police reports and comments from the attorneys for both the prosecution and defense. The Daily Hampshire Gazette stated that Patterson was arraigned on Sept. 29. The arraignment was another missed opportunity for a news article informing the Amherst community about the progress of the case.
This is a high-profile case, and with its lack of coverage, The Student has blatantly shirked its responsibility to present an unbiased account of news affecting the Amherst community. The sensitivity of the issues involved does not absolve The Student of its reporting responsibilities. To the contrary, the magnitude and difficulty of the issues involved heightens the newspaper's obligation to provide a clear and complete account of the facts. The Student compounded its irresponsibility by printing letters about the issue, leaving readers to get their information from opinion pieces with apparently unverified "facts."
We hope that The Student will improve its coverage of this case and other news events.
Alissa Kahn '01, James Patchett '02,
Rachel Zinn '01
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amherst directs Katrina relief to middle school
Amherst Response to Hurricane Katrina is excited to announce its new partnership with D'Iberville Middle School in Gulfport, Miss. While the whole school district incurred significant damage, the middle school, which was flooded by over eight feet of water, was the most severely affected. Its building will not reopen for the 2005-06 school year. Since Oct. 3, students at the middle and elementary schools in D'Iberville have been attending in shifts on the elementary school campus, and this will continue until the school receives portable classrooms.
All of our fund raising is being directed towards the school, and we also will continue supply drives and collections throughout the year. The school's library was completely destroyed, and the students need new library books and textbooks. Because the community was so ravaged by the hurricane, students and their families still need very basic supplies.
We hope that staff, alumni and students will join in our relief efforts. The school is still in the process of taking an inventory of its losses and prioritizing its requests. It will certainly need our support and resources throughout the school year. We urge groups to be innovative in their relief efforts. Any support is welcome and needed. For more information or to make a donation, please visit our Web site: http://www.amherst.edu/~katrinarelief/.
Pem Brown '06, Stephanie
Gounder '08, Molibi Maphanyane '06, Jessica Rothschild '06, Erica Sams '08, Emily Silberstein '06
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'American' maintream also includes blacks
In the Oct. 5 Point/Counterpoint of The Student, three students debated whether or not the country's growing Hispanic population will assimilate into the "white" mainstream. Yet both sides seemed to take for granted that the American mainstream actually is "white."
In this day and age, when the cultural contributions of African Americans are quite well-known, it seems rather odd to refer to the American mainstream as "white." All one has to do is turn on MTV, VH1 or the radio to see that much of our national culture comes from blacks. Nearly all American music, from the bubble gum pop of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys to the hard rock of the White Stripes, traces its roots back to black American cultural traditions. Even the top selling Hispanic American music artists, notably Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez, have made their way into the mainstream by singing and dancing in the traditional styles of African American performers.
Blacks have also made a definitive impact on American humor, fashion, speech, sports and politics. What on Earth would mainstream American culture look or sound like if there were no James Brown, Richard Pryor, Martin Luther King or Michael Jordan?
I feel silly saying all of this. It's basic American history. If Hispanics have already begun referring to mainstream American culture as "white," then they have also already begun to pursue honorary white citizenship; they have tacitly accepted this country's pervasive bigoted view that American blacks, who have been in this country for 400 years, shaping its identity and redefining its values, are invisible.
As for whether or not Hispanics will change American culture, I cannot say. But what I do know is that whenever traditional Hispanic music finds its way into the "anglorific" mainstream (think Shakira and Ricky Martin), it is usually seen as distinctly foreign. Consequently, most Americans probably cannot picture themselves singing like Shakira or Ricky Martin in any sincere way. They can, however, see themselves imitating Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye or Michael "King of Pop" Jackson. And that is because black American music is native to this country, whereas salsa is not. Thus it should come as no surprise that people like Lopez and Aguilera, not to mention Carlos Santana and groups like Los Lonely Boys, opt to sing and play in black styles to make it big. White folks have been doing the same thing for years.
Justin Mitchell '06