Tuesday, May 04, 2004

RACISM AGAINST WHITES AT OREGON STATE U

And no free speech, of course. Hardly surprising, really. Just another American mini-Soviet

Barred from writing columns for the Oregon State University Daily Barometer, senior David Williams is in the eye of a storm some call a racial double standard.

The newspaper's editor fired him after he wrote: "I think blacks should be more careful in deciding whom they choose to support. They need to grow beyond the automatic reaction of defending someone because he or she shares the same skin color and is in a dilemma." Williams, who is white, was referring to examples such as when singer R. Kelly, who is accused of being a child pornographer, received a standing ovation at the Soul Train Music Awards. He also cited past support for O.J. Simpson and Allen Iverson.

"I guess this case has shown me that just because I'm a different skin color, the merits of what I wrote have been marginalized and ostracized to the point that I'm labeled everything in the book like racist, Nazi," Williams said.

A similar article, written just two days earlier by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts drew no such outrage. Pitts, who is black, wrote: "Blacks ought to be more thoughtful about whom they choose to rally around, ought to be less automatic in leaping to the defense."

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