I am writing in response to Brooke Howard’s piece (“Pride and assimilation,” Oct. 8). Howard falls into a trap of making specious claims about race and attempts to address the lack of black identity on Grounds as being a problem of ignorance and mass assimilation. As political action chair of the Black Student Alliance, Howard’s job is to “voice the concerns of Black students at the University of Virginia,” not her own personal misfortune in obtaining a summer job. She uses her position as a means of pandering to allegations of racism on Grounds. Additionally, what is the “struggle” that Howard talks so passionately about?
Ryan Kelly
SEAS IV
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