Hate of other cultures not an unsubstantiated claim

TO THE EDITOR:

While I agree with the message — the importance of free speech" the need to speak back — in Tuesday's editorial (""Debate"" don't accuse"")" there are flaws I would like to address.

First Youth for Western Civilization's right to exist hasn't been contested to my knowledge. The petition uses strong language to make clear that we do not believe a hateful group should be at UNC.

It does not call for the administration or anyone else to remove them. The petition was created as an opportunity for students to come together and make a collective statement against hate.

Second when I and other students say that Youth for Western Civilization is promoting hate it's not an unsubstantiated claim.

I'd refer The Daily Tar Heel editorial board to a Jan. 31 editorial from The New York Times which accurately labels the national group's founder Marcus Epstein" as having ""white-supremacist views"" for his disdain (hate) of diversity.

Epstein's hatred is echoed by the UNC chapter's founder in an attack on UNC's commitment to diversity in the latest Independent Weekly. The group uses evasive language (""Western heritage"" versus ""white"") to avoid sounding overtly racist"" but phrases like ""trendy multiculturalism"" and labeling Western culture as ""high culture"" indicate its hatred of the presence of other cultures.

I agree with Louis Brandeis: sunlight is the best disinfectant."" We need to start shedding light on hate since" according to the Southern Poverty Law Center hate groups have increased by 54 percent since 2000.


Patrick Toomey
Sophomore
Coalition Against Hate