Minority Harassment

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Recently year paper has run several articles that concern minorities in the Harvard community. The articles are unrelated dealing with isolated incidents, but they all suggest a need for greater cultural awareness at Harvard. The situations cited should not exist in this or any other community, but they are problems that are faced daily by both minority students and the white majority.

A very controversial issue that has surfaced is the harassment of minority students by the Harvard Police. Perhaps the most publicized case is the complaint that is being filed against H.U.P.D. by Remigio Cruz '86. This is the second such complaint filed by Cruz, who claims the police singled him out of the crowd because his dressing did not conform to the current Harvard trends. The police say they stopped him because of suspicion of wearing illegal gloves. The lack of appreciation by the police of minority culture is reprehensible Minority students should not be forced to submit to conventionality to avoid suspicion.

Other cases were mentioned in the same article including the stopping of a Black prospective student who was visiting the campus. He claims the police asked him who he was and what he was doing in the Yard. The police refused to comment on the subject, but it is not too outrageous to assume that he was stopped because he was Black. A person's color should not be enough to arouse suspicion.

This insensivity to the rights of minorities cannot be allowed to continue. Who knows how many times minority students have been harassed by the police, and were simply too afraid to report it? Through publicity and greater public awareness these injustices can be stopped. Publicity will give minorities the courage to come forward and complain. If the community is made aware of the gravity of the situation, much can be done to incite the police to be sensitive to the concerns of minorities, and to banish their discriminatory ways.

Another concern is the lack of minorites in the faculty at Harvard. Recently, a tenured position was offered to Gerald C. Lopez at the Harvard Law School. Lopez, however, turned down the offer. Had he accepted, he would have been the first minority on tenure at the Law School. Your article concerning the matter suggested that his rejection was due largely to the absence of women and minority faculty members already on tenure at the Law School.

I believe it would have been beneficial to minorities if Lopez had accepted the position. It is understandable that he didn't want to be the first minority, but his acceptance would have paved the way for future openings for minorities. The Law School should consider the implications of the Lopez situation. The precedent set by Lopez will be hard to break. The Law School should carefully consider their current policy concerning the hiring of faculty, and make a place in it for minorities.

The efforts of minority student groups to improve conditions between minorities and the Harvard community are not always beneficial to minorities. I understand the need to associate with people with similar backgrounds, but I believe this separation from the community can be detrimental to the fight for better relations. The recent Black Alumni Weekend is a good example. The purpose of the weekend, as stated in your paper, was to address the problems of decreasing Black enrollment, relatively few Black faculty members, and a chance for alumni and students to get to know each other better. These are very good aims and the benefits they could achieve are great. However, such a gathering could also cause a great deal of harm. By banding together, they only separate themselves from the community and emphasize their differences.

This, I believe, is the key to improving relations between minorities and the white community. Instead of putting distance between groups, effort should be made to integrate minorities into the community. No one is denying that there are differences between minorities and the white community. There are differences, but they should enhance the community and not hinder it. The goal is to gain equal treatment for minorities. The method of obtaining this goal lies in greater public awareness.

I never realized how ignorant some people are to the problems of minorities until a recent experience with a friend of mine. My friend is an "average", 'white Harvard student. Another friend of ours, a Black, invited us to a dance at one of the houses that was being sponsored by one of the Black organizations on campus. My friend asked if he would be the only white person there. My friend is not prejudiced against minorites, he just thought he would feel uncomfortable if he was different from everybody else. He didn't want the others to stare at him or make him feel like he didn't belong. He didn't even realize that this is the exact same problem that minorities have to deal with every day, especially in this predominantly white atmosphere.

White majority unawareness cannot be allowed to continue. We cannot pretend these problems will go away by themselves. The whole community needs to recognize and deal with them. The acts of a few groups will not be enough. In this day and age, injustices to minorities should not exist. If all groups could recognize and appreciate the differences that exist between the races, then the whole situation could be turned into something positive. I realize this is a big step, but it is not unreasonable. The advances made in the past are not enough. Someday I hope the term "minority student" will cease to exist, and we can all accept each other's differences and use them to enhance our own lives. Julie C. Lopez '88