"The Reasons Behind Burning and the X"

"The Reasons Behind Burning and the X"

Yolanda Young's letter responds directly to Jonathan Patrick's letter by pointing out that the use of X is to symbolize the lost surnames of African Americans who had theirs stolen from them by slavery. She argues that burning the paper was not to "destroy" the truth as Patrick claimed, but to finally acknowledge and expose the injustices of the Technician's news coverage.

Yolanda Young

Yolanda Young, "The Reasons Behind Burning and the X," The Technician vol. LXXIV no. 22 (October 2, 1992), 4.

1992-10-02

Cheryl Dong

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After reading the letter that described newspaper burning as a racist act, I felt obliged to enlighten Jonathan Patrick as well as others that may feel the same way.

First of all, members of a minority may be prejudiced, but it is impossible for them to be racist. In order to be racist, minorities must have the power to implement a system of discrimination within society--a power that African-Americans do not have, nor ever had!

The newspaper fire was for the sole purpose of displaying the disapproval of the racial biases Technician has printed against African-Americans. It was not to “destroy the truth,” but acknowledge it. This is what some people don’t appear to understand. African-Americans have always been subjected to racist remarks, and it is high time that they ceased. It was apparent that the racist articles were not going to stop so the students took it upon themselves to exercise their legal right to protest.

I would also like to correct one of Patrick’s statements. The X is not a symbol of “pro-violence.” It symbolizes the unknown African family names which were stripped from people of African descent, due to slavery. Everyone needs to understand the X as a result of racism, not an act of it.

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