Conservatives Wrong to Claim 'Minority' Status

To the editors:

I am writing to applaud Alan E. Wirzbicki on his column, "Bleeding-Heart Conservatives" (Opinion, Sept. 24) in which he describes recent attempts by conservatives to co-opt minority status.

As member of an organization often noted for its strong conservative presence--as Wirzbicki notes, "The last two presidents of the Undergraduate Council have been Republicans"--I am amazed at how many times I have heard conservatives describe themselves as minorities.

I particularly remember hearing a conservatives council member call himself and his colleagues on the Republican Club minorities during a discussion of faculty diversity. Disregarding the discussion about the lack of female and minority tenured professors, he claimed that the "real minorities" were conservatives and any attempt to increase faculty diversity should focus on increasing conservative faculty members.

This co-option of minority status has proved very powerful for conservatives who through their pronunciation of minority status seem to be arguing for special rights. On a campus which purports to be so inclusive and diverse, we don't want to deny anyone the right to speak, particularly anyone who cites prejudice.

Wirzbicki writes of the "coming out" dinner that he feels like he should be offended, "but [such events] are so pathetic that I am not." Well, I am. As a minority on this campus I find it both disrespectful and offensive that a group which has often rejected claims of discrimination by minorities, now seems to be arguing the same thing.

Being minority means something on this campus, and it means something more than a simple semantic reading would imply. "Minority" connotes a group that has been historically oppressed and repressed, a group whose voice has been either dismissed or ignored by white normative America.

However, being a minority also implies a sort of power. In a country in which identity politics have quickly become salient (much to the dismay of many conservatives), minorities have learned to organize to demand respect and acknowledgement. Being a minority has meant learning to become visible after being invisible for so many years, something that conservatives in this country and at this institution have never had to contend with.

I urge conservatives to re-read the history books, specifically America's treatment of its minorities before they enshroud themselves in a minority "mantle."

Kamil E. Redmond '00