Let’s Be Careful How We Describe People

To the Editor:

I’m sure it was unintentional, but on the front page of the June 19 FCR, Andy Behlen’s article titled “Intoxicated Assault Arrest in Schulenburg” made reference to a person’s race, pointing out that he was not white. The people described in the incident were a female driver and her female passenger in one car. In the other car, a Hispanic male driver. Why not simply a male driver? The two female’s race were not given. Why? Could it be that it was because they are white and the report was given from a white person’s perspective?

When I worked at an elementary school, this was a problem I encountered every day. I didn’t know all 750 students on campus and sometimes I would ask my principal or a teacher to point out a student. If it was a white child, they would say, “That little girl in the blue dress.” or “That red-headed boy playing soccer.” Otherwise, the answer was “The black kid over there.” or “That Hispanic girl playing on the swings.” Once my principal asked me to point out a student. I said, “That white boy over there wearing a baseball hat.”

She asked me why I would describe a student that way. I pointed out how she and the teaching staff made reference to minority students all the time. Being Mexican-American myself, I explained how it made me feel.

I noticed after that day that she and the staff dropped the use of race whenever they made reference to a student.

David McCall

Waldeck