Today, I heard a familiar sound on a college campus: chanting in protest. “What now?” I thought. Oh yeah. I live right next to the ZBT house.

Since I’m not a minority and I’m not in the Greek system, I have pretty much been watching the “Tacos and Tequila” controversy from the outside. However, after today, a few things are prompting me to write.

At least three letters to the editor and a few signs in the protest pointed to Chief Illiniwek as a cause of this. I did a Google search of “university” and “blackface.” Among the schools mentioned in the first page of results were Auburn University (Tigers), the University of Mississippi (Rebels), the University of Tennessee (Volunteers), Penn State (Nittany Lions), Stetson University (Hatters), Oklahoma State University (Cowboys), and Syracuse University (The Orange). What do these schools have in common, besides being mostly southern? No Native American mascots. Yes, Syracuse University was the Warriors until 1978, but shouldn’t racism have left with their mascot? The point is that mascots don’t really influence racism on a college campus. Racist incidents have, and continue to happen, on campuses with all varieties of mascots.

The other thing I found interesting was one of the protesters holding a sign that said “Cowering Caucasians” with a caricature of a white person drawn on it. This is just plain hypocritical. Do you fight alcoholism with more alcohol? Do you counter a drug addiction with more drugs? Absolutely not. So then why would you fight against stereotypes by using stereotypes? How can you eradicate racism by perpetuating it?

I am not defending what attendees of the exchange did. What they did is completely reprehensible. I just see these hypocrites as people pushing other agendas and just feel the need to speak up.

Mike Dankler

Senior in LA