Monday, June 15, 1998
Opinions, biases must be pushed aside to succeed
The Bruin has covered ethnic communities poorly this year. We
tried our best but it wasn’t good enough.
Throughout this year, our staff members have run into personal
checkpoints, where we were forced to reassess what we thought.
Some of us have come from dusty, rural towns and others from
different countries. We had to figure out who everyone is "out
there" on campus before we could cover them.
I think it was too difficult for us.
One reporter, a white person, told me of reservations he has
about approaching groups of African American people. "I really want
to, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing it," he said.
For another person, it was the reverse. This reporter, a
non-Hispanic, grew up in a neighborhood of Mexicans and Central
Americans. He had to get used to dealing with white people. "It is
not like we are different," he said, "but I feel intimidated around
them."
He imagines or clearly sees conceit on their faces.
"A lot of them roll their eyes and give dirty looks," he said.
"Like some sort of kings of the school."
I myself have tripped once or twice. I openly asserted strong
political opinions against a student group while covering a
story.
I couldn’t keep my lips shut. I challenged the community rather
than just covering the community.
All these are examples of individuals, but The Bruin itself has
had to take on different cultures, has had to adjust to a diverse
staff.
One of my sources, a scientist, said that as an undergraduate at
UCLA he remembered that The Bruin had an all white staff.
There were no Chicanos on the paper, he said
matter-of-factly.
Contrast that to the diversity of this years staff; look at our
mug shots.
These are the people who cover UCLA. These are the people
assigned to edit and write stories ranging from Armenian politics
to Vietnamese water puppets.
And if you ask people who work here about covering stories you
will get similar answers. Maybe the task is to understand someone
else’s religious duties. For others it is different.
Whatever the hang-ups are, they interfere almost daily for about
50 students who enter the newsroom and surrender their culture and
opinion.
We give up our world views. We challenge ourselves to show the
rest of the campus who they really are.
Sometimes we missed the target and often we were called on
it.
We, who aim for professionalism, have taken this year to swallow
our small fears, prejudices and a little bit of pride.
We were students learning about the students we had to cover and
writing about them at the same time.
That should explain things.
At the next level, for those of us who become professionals of
any sort, maybe we’ll bring our winnings with us.
Gregory Mena