Paper is guided by a visionary; racism has no place here

I am not a race-ist.
As the editor of CM LIFE it is my job to act as not only the voice of the paper, but the ears as well.
“You are racist against African Americans. … I’m talking about slavery…,” an irate woman screamed, so pent-up with anger I could feel it slam into me.
The woman was furious that I had not put a story about a minority student winning a scholarship on the front page. It was placed on the second front page, also known as the Inside Cover, on page three.
Instead, I chose to put the academic initiatives announced by the Provost’s Office, the Fusion 2K Fashion Show and MTV’s Campus Invasion on the front page of the April 14 issue of CM LIFE – issues and events that affect and affected hundreds of lives, from spectators to participants to the academic future of CMU.
I don’t regret that decision and do not apologize for it. What I do regret is the decision I made to stand and listen to that woman, acting merely as the eyes and ears of CM LIFE, instead of using my own voice.
If I had the opportunity again, this is what I would have told the woman:
When I was named editor back in May 1999, several people congratulated me for being the first black editor of CM LIFE.
But not a single one of those few people congratulated me for being the first Angie Fenton ever to have taken the reigns at the newspaper.
To them, my color seemed to define my role more than the hard work I had put in to attain it.
While I understand and appreciate the need for diversity in the workplace, I was not appointed to my position because of my color. I was appointed because I was the most qualified applicant.
And I make all editorial decisions based on what’s in my head and, sometimes, what’s in my heart. My decisions are not made based on the tint of my exterior, nor anyone else’s.
You want to talk about racism? Tell me what I should have said to two of my white staff members – who were told they hadn’t received a prized internship after working two to four years at CM LIFE, serving in editorial positions, working hard to get internship experience at smaller, professional newspapers – when the spot went to a young, black female who had only written three articles in her life.
You want to talk about slavery? How my newspaper confines minority students to lower positions? Try talking to the biggest mix of reporters and photographers we’ve ever had at CM LIFE. And I’m talking gay, white, Chinese, Hispanic, biracial, pagan, black, Christian, everything in between and then some.
Ask them what happens when they don’t meet deadline, uncover a big story, screw up a proper noun, misquote someone or write a fantastic article. I would bet you they’d say that whether they are being reprimanded or congratulated, their race is never, ever the issue.
After you talk to them, take a good, hard look at me.
When you’ve finished looking, why don’t you ask me what I think? I’ll tell you that I am not a race-ist. My color, my race, is a part of me; it does not define who I am because I am so much more than what I look like.
I’m not ashamed of my color; I celebrate it. I may not have rich, dark skin, but you can catch me walking into local tanning booths in an effort to try to darken the hue of my flesh.
My mother and father have beautiful pale, white skin; I have a Korean sister with golden-yellow skin; an ebony sister; a cocoa-colored sister and a white-hued brother. I celebrate them too.
While I agree that the media need to work harder to include stories and issues that affect a wider array of populations, my CM LIFE decisions were never made based on anyone’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender or otherwise. But your accusations – calling me racist, accusing my paper of confining races to certain positions – were based entirely on race. My race.
You looked at me, the product of a white mother, black father, and deemed me a black girl whose insides are freshly painted white – as if I was supposed to act, or not act, a certain way based on the shade of my skin.
This summer I may have the chance to teach writing to young students of a variety of hues. I will be a teacher who happens to be brown-skinned, but they will know me as a woman who has a desire to share her love for words, for writing, for life. As I teach them, I hope to impart a sense that what you can do – your dreams and goals and talents – will always be more important than what you look like.
I am not a race-ist. I am an idealist.
And ideally, I’d like you to look at me as a human and get past the color of my skin. Because I am so much more and so are you.