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The Definition of Racism?
Just ask Mario Van Camper

I couldn't have scripted it better! If I had hired someone to help prove my point it couldn't have gone more to my liking. And I owe it all to community troublemaker and head racist Mario Van Camper. You see, Mario is one of those guys who comes over to me whenever we are in the same room says what a great "friend I am to the Hispanic people." He does this because he knows white people such as myself generally do not listen to nor understand his lunatic ravings on WHAV about how the "white people in South Lawrence are all a bunch of racists." But be forewarned Mario, I am learning fast!

Van Camper, as well as a few other ignorant members of the Dominican community have made calling me a racist their claim to fame in the Latino community. And this week Van Camper went so far he made a total fool of himself, exposing his racist political tactics to the English speaking population of the city.

Van Camper called my radio show last Saturday on WCCM to cry, "you are a racist!" I know he thinks he was helping his cause, but Van Camper got a reaction he didn't expect. "I will give you all the time you need right here on my show to give my audience one example of anything I have ever said or done that is racist," I told him. And I did, I gave him several opportunities to give just one example.

But Mario couldn't come up with one. So, instead of hanging up on him I gave him more airtime. "Come on Mario," I urged him, "I'm proud of my record on race in this community, I'm still waiting for you to give us one example. And I am still prepared to give you as much time as you need. Go ahead."

But the best Van Camper could come up with was this brilliant comment. "Anytime something is convenient to the Hispanic people you are against it." When pressed to give a specific example of anything I have ever said or done that is racist, he got frustrated and hung up. It was a great example to the English speaking Lawrencians of what we have to deal with anytime we try to advocate something that is opposed by people like Van Camper.

So you see, he isn't even smart enough to try and conceal his own stupidity. My only regret is that he didn't do this while I was a guest on WHAV so the Spanish speaking population in Lawrence could see how the charge of racism is defined by the likes Mario Van Camper. According to his definition I am a racist because I am white and sometimes I advocate issues that he disagrees with. And since he is Hispanic, it's automatically a case of racism for me not to agree with him.

The problem is, Mario Van Camper isn't alone in his twisted belief on this definition of racism. Many times a day, you will hear ignorant immigrants like him throw around the accusation of race simply because a white person disagrees with them on issues like bilingual education or zoning lot sizes. The saddest part of all is that they are leading newer immigrants to believe that everyone who is white that happens to disagree only do so because they are Hispanic.

Never mind that I endorsed Marcos Devers, Isabel Melendez and Nilka Alvarez in the last city election. Or that I supported Jose Santiago for State Representative or that Willie Lantigua is my friend. It doesn't matter that I sat on the board of Directors of Hispanic Week for two years. Or that I write for a bilingual newspaper and have stood with members of the Hispanic community to improve conditions in their neighborhoods for 15 years. None of that makes any difference to the race baiters. If you are not on their side today on whatever issue is important to them right now, you are a racist, period.

For months, while Van Camper and company spewed their phony charges of racism I expected to hear my friends Marcos Devers or Nilka Alvarez or Willie Lantigua call in to WHAV and say "hey, I know Tommy Duggan and believe me he is no racist." But that never happens. So, the accusations of race continue to be used as a political weapon and there is no one with a leadership position in the Hispanic community willing to stand up and put a stop to it. What a shame, because they are supposed to be leaders.

So now I am taking a crash course in Spanish. And I advise those in Lawrence who have resisted doing so to think very carefully about why there is so much racial division in the city. The reason is Mario Van Camper and people like him. They shake our hand and tell us what we want to hear in English, and then when we are not paying attention they use the loaded and emotional topic of racism to try and destroy our reputation.

It is high time that the people of Lawrence learn Spanish as a function of self-defense. When we become fluent enough in Spanish we can stand up to the likes of Van Camper and send our message (whatever it happens to be at the time) directly to the Spanish speaking population, thereby stripping power from racists who define us and our motives in the Latino community.

According to the dictionary, racism is a "policy based on race," or "an opinion solely based on race." And by that definition, it is Mario Van Camper and Pedro Payano (a teacher at Lawrence high school) who are the racists. Because they are the ones who create hatred and resentment in the Latino community against good decent white people who happen to disagree with them on local issues.

And they will continue to perpetuate that hatred and racism, continue to divide the community and continue to create an atmosphere where people cannot agree to disagree as long as Marcos Devers, Nilka Alvarez and Willie Lantigua stay silent when such ridiculous accusations are made for the political "convenience" of Mario Van Camper.

Well, I for one am no longer going to make it convenient for the race baiters to divide the community. I am learning Spanish as fast as I can so they will be challenged on WHAV every time they misinform the public on issues and cry race when it suits their needs. Stay tuned folks, Paying Attention in Spanish is coming! If I have to buy time on WHAV myself and take the message directly to the Latino population about what is really going on in our city I am prepared to do it. Because unlike some of our so called leaders I am not going to sit by and watch the reputations of good people be destroyed with accusations of racism while the real racists hide behind their ethnicity and pretend racism is a white disease.