n In response to Eleni Belisonzi’s letter (“Caucasian scholarship is ‘insensitive and ignorant’,” Nov. 29, p. 6) I ask the following: Do the “Hispanic only” or other race-based scholarships take into consideration the recipient’s financial status or lack of past “opportunities?”
It is racist to treat people differently because of their skin color, on either side of the argument. Belisonzi stated that minorities tend to have fewer opportunities. This is certainly true, but the problem in the situation isn’t the “minorities,” it’s the “fewer opportunities.” The goal of a scholarship should not be helping strictly minorities, but helping anyone with “fewer opportunities.”
If an organization sets out to help people with “fewer opportunities,” they wouldn’t be targeting minorities that don’t need the help, and they wouldn’t be leaving behind non-minorities that do need it.
Neither minorities nor non-minorities should be treated differently based on race, neither positively or negatively. To do so is the definition of racism.
John Mazzarella
CAS ’08