Jeff Primozich

Photo editor

I’m not sure what university in America offers a doctorate in racism and bigotry, but I guarantee Dr. Jack Wheeler graduated from it with honors. For those of you who don’t know, Jack, who in my opinion does not deserve an ounce of respect, is regarded by the Washinton Post as the creator of the Reagan Doctrine. He is also the author of an opinion piece targeted at Barack Obama’s identity. The “O-man,” to whom he so emphatically refers, “…has no real identity. He is half white … [and] the rest of him is mostly Arab … [which] is disclosed by his non-African Arabic surname and his Arabic first and middle name.”
What is most shocking about this article is not that it can be found deep within the annals of the World Wide Web, but that it ended up on the back of a flyer presented at an event on campus intended to publicize Rick Dancer’s candidacy for Oregon Secretary of State. I am appalled at this. For anyone to make the claim, support or to propagate the idea Obama is any fraction of any race, as if to insinuate he is anything less than American, is undeniably racist.
For this to make its way onto campus is unforgivable. This racisit ideology goes against the very foundation this country is built upon. Being American isn’t dependent upon being white or black; it isn’t being Catholic, Jewish or Protestant. America was created as a land of immigrants with different histories and different heritages. No matter how much I despise using worn out clichés, the fact of the matter is that statement is true down to its very core.
We are a nation of ideas and differences. To suggest in anyway that Barack Obama’s “Americanism” is somehow subjugated by his ethnicity is ignorant and bigoted.
This is why it is not surprising to hear people such as congressman John Lewis make allegations that the campaign John McCain and Sarah Palin are running is giving way to racism from their supporters, or at least allowing that racism to surface. When people at Republican rallies around the country present signs or slogans that make reference to Obama’s heritage in an attempt to scare voters, or when a disheveled woman stands up and directly tells John McCain how she can’t trust Obama because he is Arab, I lose faith in the progress this country is making in regards to race. Haven’t we as a nation come further than that?
I hope my generation is a little more in-tune with reality than Jack Wheeler is. And I hope that when you hear an ignorant racist comment, you won’t stay silent. I sure as hell don’t.