In America, when people are described, it is usually their appearance that is first discussed, and with this description, simultaneously their race is looked upon.

Race is a big issue in America. This may be because of the 300 plus years our country spent taking part in the slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement that changed America forever or the fact that we have an African-American president in office for the first time in history. Whatever the reason, race has always played a part in daily American life, whether it is in the classroom, playground, boardroom or in the media.

Recently, Northern Illinois University has been a casualty of the race issue. With the recent editorial on NIU Chief of Police Donald Grady, and his subsequent 30-day removal from office and panel review, the issue of race was the first topic.

Of those who agreed with the editorial, they praised the Northern Star: “I’d like to personally thank you, Northern Star, for doing your job and alerting the public to the rumors about Chief Grady” said junior Andrew Holmblad in his letter to the editor on the topic.

Some others believed this was purely an attack.

“While I admit that I cannot defend Grady’s temperament in the workplace as I have never had any personal experiences with him there, I do have to say that every time I have encountered him otherwise he has always seemed to me a calm, rational and polite man. I have spoken to a few people who know him better than I do, and they agree with me that the description of him as a volatile, “crazed” man seems out of place,” said sophomore Darrien Sommer in his letter to the editor on October 26.

Should one trust the editorial board’s statements?

“Given that so much action has been taken to review Chief Grady, I would doubt this action would be based off of little to no evidence as many students are claiming” Holmblad said.

It is clear that there are two valid sides of a very controversial topic, but when, where and how did race become the topic at hand?

With the election of an African-American president in 2008, many people feel that racism is dead, but how can that be when so many topics border upon one’s race?

A December 2006 CNN article, “Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism --in others,” contained an interesting point to consider: “University of Connecticut professor Jack Dovidio, who has researched racism for more than 30 years, estimates up to 80 percent of white Americans have racist feelings they may not even recognize.”

“We’ve reached a point that racism is like a virus that has mutated into a new form that we don’t recognize,” Dovidio said. He added that 21st-century racism is different from that of the past. “Contemporary racism is not conscious, and it is not accompanied by dislike, so it gets expressed in indirect, subtle ways,” he said.”

With the expertise of Dovidio, could it be that Chief Grady is being reviewed because the racist feelings against him were not conscious and indirect, or is that an issue with only certain individuals? Well, it is a well-known fact that DeKalb has a small population of minorities; subsequently, NIU has a small population of minority students compared to other races, and therefore many organizations have a small population of minorities. This underrepresentation is the problem. If there were more minorities in certain organizations, the editorial on Chief Grady may have been singing his praises instead of asking for his removal. One organization that did voice its opinion was the Black Student Union, which held a mass meeting very soon after the editorial was published. Holmblad’s attitude on the BSU and protestors was, “I’m shocked and appalled at the accusations of racism and the manner to which you are attempting to gain public support for your beliefs.”

But what Holmblad failed to address was the fact that Chief Grady is an African-American and there is a great likelihood of other African-Americans supporting him. Historical Particularism is the belief that society is a collective representation of its unique historical past. So, has our once openly racist past led us to ask for the removal of an African-American man because his race made him stand out and gave way for attack, or are we asking for his removal because he has done wrong?

The reality of this issue is that in the 21st Century, no person will ever admit if they are a racist or not, but their actions and words say it all, however subtle or indirect.

Editor’s note: Columns reflect the opinion of the author. The Northern Star editorial board stands by its position.

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