Letter to the Editor
In response to "Student Claims Racial Profiling by Public Safety Officer"
Matthew Lamb
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinion
I can only think, after reading this article, how it is incredibly unfortunate that this article would ever appear in Messiah's newspaper. The MOST unfortunate thing, however, is not the topic, or the proposed racism, but the incredibly one-sided, unfair, and outright unkind way in which this article was written.
Not once in the entire article was any light shed on the Public Safety officer's response to these accusations or whether or not he was even approached for a comment or interview. Also, the writers apparently did not think about their article long enough to realize that the victim's assumption that this aggressive interview was the result of racial profiling is just as wild an assumption as racial profiling itself. And I cannot even begin to express how ludicrous a statement such as, "He already had it made up in his mind that I was guilty," really is. How funny! Wasn't this article about the unfair assumptions the Public Safety officer was making?
Put yourself in the officer's shoes for a moment. You get evidence that points you to a particular floor in Naugle that houses approximately 30-35 first-year students. You also receive an eyewitness account that describes the criminal's coat as the very one Krystian Elsey wears. Would you or would you not question Krystian? Of course, you would question Krystian. I am not saying that Officer Lippert's interrogation methods were appropriate, but simply that his evidence was solid enough to lead him to Krystian in the first place.
I was also startled that Krystian cited other racial profiling instances such as being asked by police officers if he was the owner of his nice car when, in fact, both me and my Caucasian friends who drive rather old and not nice cars have been asked the identical question when we have been pulled over. Have I been the victim of racial profiling too?
I would like to reiterate that my goal here is not to discount Krystian's claim that Officer Lippert's interrogation was unkind and inappropriate, but to at least leave room to believe that this incident may not have been racially charged at all.
So, the writers, in my mind, have committed the greatest crime of all. They condemned a man who could be, for all we know, completely innocent and not really a racist at all. But, this man had even less chance to defend himself than Krystian!
I'm sorry, Krystian, that his happened to you and I dearly hope that the incident was simply overzealous interrogation. I'm also sorry Officer Lippert that this article was so unkindly published without ever giving you a chance to be innocent.
My plea is this: In the future, Swinging Bridge, present both sides of the story.
Not once in the entire article was any light shed on the Public Safety officer's response to these accusations or whether or not he was even approached for a comment or interview. Also, the writers apparently did not think about their article long enough to realize that the victim's assumption that this aggressive interview was the result of racial profiling is just as wild an assumption as racial profiling itself. And I cannot even begin to express how ludicrous a statement such as, "He already had it made up in his mind that I was guilty," really is. How funny! Wasn't this article about the unfair assumptions the Public Safety officer was making?
Put yourself in the officer's shoes for a moment. You get evidence that points you to a particular floor in Naugle that houses approximately 30-35 first-year students. You also receive an eyewitness account that describes the criminal's coat as the very one Krystian Elsey wears. Would you or would you not question Krystian? Of course, you would question Krystian. I am not saying that Officer Lippert's interrogation methods were appropriate, but simply that his evidence was solid enough to lead him to Krystian in the first place.
I was also startled that Krystian cited other racial profiling instances such as being asked by police officers if he was the owner of his nice car when, in fact, both me and my Caucasian friends who drive rather old and not nice cars have been asked the identical question when we have been pulled over. Have I been the victim of racial profiling too?
I would like to reiterate that my goal here is not to discount Krystian's claim that Officer Lippert's interrogation was unkind and inappropriate, but to at least leave room to believe that this incident may not have been racially charged at all.
So, the writers, in my mind, have committed the greatest crime of all. They condemned a man who could be, for all we know, completely innocent and not really a racist at all. But, this man had even less chance to defend himself than Krystian!
I'm sorry, Krystian, that his happened to you and I dearly hope that the incident was simply overzealous interrogation. I'm also sorry Officer Lippert that this article was so unkindly published without ever giving you a chance to be innocent.
My plea is this: In the future, Swinging Bridge, present both sides of the story.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Tim Mackie
posted 4/30/09 @ 6:11 PM EST
If you read the other article "Letter from the Editor" you'll note that Ms. Stratton and Ms. Heidenreich did in fact attempt to reach Officer Lippert for comment, but were denied since the investigation was ongoing. (Continued…)
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