Editor:

I would like to comment on Tiara C. Auxier’s piece on Barack Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Wright (“Barack can’t hide it,” April 2). Let’s assume that in fact Wright actually hates white people and that he also hates America. It still does not excuse the comment made by Auxier that “Wright should be falling to his knees and thanking God he lives in America, the greatest nation in the world,” which was followed up a few lines later with “nowhere else in the world have black people been blessed with so many freedoms and opportunities for success.” These two comments made me chuckle at the ignorance that still exists in America today.

Let’s not go into comparing America with other countries, it just gets messy. With that being said, should black people really be thanking God for the freedoms and opportunities afforded to them by this great country? The fact that Auxier clearly recognizes that black people don’t have the same opportunities as white people should have triggered an alarm somewhere when that comment was made.

Personally, I don’t feel I should be thankful that the white man (I guess it’s implied that America is the white man since America has apparently given black people more opportunities than others) has decided black people should be given back the freedoms and opportunities that were originally taken from them. I’m pretty sure we are just as human and deserving as white people.

The problem that I have encountered throughout my life is that white people look at America today on paper and it appears that all is equal. This could not be any farther from the truth. History is history, and some know it better than others, but regardless it still deeply influences America today. I’m not here to give a history lesson. There are plenty of books readily available for that. However, I will inform you that many of the freedoms and opportunities Auxier speaks of are not, and even some cannot, be realized by the majority of black people because of the past’s effect on the present.

Matthew TerryBiology, Graduate Student