By Marisa Trevino, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – When Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez inspired their followers to fight oppression and racism, everyone knew it would be a tough road. The people of that era had to grow an armor of personal resolve to deflect shouted slurs, as well as, physical threats to continue their marches, pickets and strikes.
The experience educated that generation of "equality fighters" into discerning which battles were worth fighting, and worth ignoring. Unfortunately, somewhere over time, the outer armor of the descendants of Dr. King and Mr. Chavez's followers has dissolved into an onion-thin peel where cries of racism and oppression have become so redundant that it has sparked national attention to a festering problem. The problem is the fact that non-minorities are unwilling to comment or criticize publicly on anything related to African-Americans or Latinos for fear of being labeled a racist.
It's known as White Man's Guilt.
I first became aware of these feelings after receiving several letters in response to an op-ed I had written last year about how too many times we Latinos will cry over tests bias in standardized testing rather than trying to help our children overcome those obstacles. I was intrigued that several letters from Anglo readers began the same way, "As an Anglo, I cannot say what you said, though I agree, because I would be considered a racist."
These letters were from people who were business owners, college professors and stay-at-home moms. All of them claimed they cared and wanted to help Latinos succeed in school, but were afraid to offer help. They were afraid because offering help would be admitting there was a problem and, thanks to some of our so-called Latino leaders, no one better dare say Latinos have problems.
I'm reminded of the incident last April at the University of Texas at Austin where UT's President, Larry Faulkner, was forced to apologize to state Hispanic leaders after saying that there were not enough minority applicants who had the education and experience to qualify for administrative positions at the University level. He wasn't slandering anyone; he was merely pointing out a sad fact of academia. Yet, it was our Hispanic representatives who preferred to dwell on the fact until the sad reality manifested itself into a call for the President's resignation.
Another example is the recent ruckus at Harvard University. The new president of the Ivy League school, Lawrence Summers, had the audacity to accuse one of his more famous African-American professors of embarrassing his professorship by recording a rap CD and contributing to Harvard's grade inflation problems with his own uncritical grading practices.
Understandably, the targeted professor was insulted by the accusations but instead of defending himself, he and his colleagues from the Afro-American department went hunting for new office space, at Princeton - where no one would dare insult professors of such standing. Criticism alone, constructive, or otherwise, should not be used as a rallying cry for racism. Criticism is how we learn to grow, improve and see things from another perspective.
It is only when criticism is coupled with deliberate actions to keep the growth experience from happening that an alarm should be sounded - loud and clear.
In the struggle for equal treatment and opportunities, too many of us have either become too sensitive to perceived injustices or have a desire to relive those fighting days when blacks and Latinos were routinely separated from the rest of society.
Only today, we seem to be doing a good job of separating ourselves from those who want only to help us.
Marisa Trevino is a writer in Rowlett, Texas.