Editor, Daily Nexus:

Now that the Nexus has used its best judgment in devoting four pages to the intellectually dishonest and subrosa racist discourse of David Horowitz, I wish to note that a faculty panel will address the Orwellian twisting of concepts by Horowitz and other neo-conservatives that the College Republicans have brought to campus. This mind-blowing panel, titled “Exploring the Repressive Mythology of Conservative Thought,” will feature distinguished faculty from UCSB and other campuses. It begins at 6 p.m. in Webb 1100 on Wednesday, May 30. At 8 p.m., a video, “The Myth of the ‘Liberal’ Media,” will begin. It features Noam Chomsky of MIT and Edward Herman of the Wharton School of Business. Refreshments will be served at break. Faculty panelists include Richard Flacks, professor of sociology; Gerald Horne, former chair of UCSB’s Black Studies Dept., now at the University of Virginia; Eileen Boris, Hull chair of women’s studies; and Diane Fujino, assistant professor of Asian American Studies.

Most people in America understand what racism is, but when confronted with the distorted rhetoric these people spout, they begin to think that they are doing something worthwhile by ignoring centuries of institutionalized oppression. For example, the white power structure enacted the laws that made every person born to a slave a slave for life. I don’t think that the slaves did that to themselves – do you? Now that the Nexus has provided such broad coverage, there is no need for students to actually go to see Horowitz, except for the opportunity to look an agent of hate in the eye. Horowitz’s argument, targeted to college campuses where African-American populations are very low, leaves these students with a horrific burden to bear. Hate crimes against blacks are increasing on college campuses. At Penn State, a black student was found dead in a field recently. A campus hate group sent a letter telling the police where to find the body.

I think that the Nexus should have taken Horowitz’s money and used it to sponsor events to educate the campus about the results of the hatemongering of Horowitz and his kind.

DEBORAH LAGUTARIS