Alligator,
My name is Juan Hernandez. I graduated from UF last year with a history BA and am a regular, if casual, reader of the Alligator. I always appreciate the openness of tone and the liberal mind of the Alligator.
However, there is a fine line separating free expression and disrespect.
Yesterday, I, my family and my friends (of diverse backgrounds) felt attacked by the lack of prudence of one of your columnists. Under the title “Teeing off with Tom Green” there were two or three lines that referred to Colombia, my country of birth, that were not needed at all and left us completely shocked. I won’t reproduce the text, but please check it yourself to understand our point of view.
In a post-racial and multicultural America, and even more in a diverse and healthy community like Gainesville, a town inhabited by college students with, if not liberal, at least respectful opinions, sentences like this can only serve to resonate racial hatred and discrimination.
Sincerely,
Juan Hernandez