Black community must come together

I am outraged by the column "Calling for Sisterhood" (Feb. 23). The author says she wants solidarity among black women on Duke's campus but proceeds to verbally destroy the entire community, both men and women. To me, this seems counterintuitive. She portrays men as dogs and women as petty enough to snipe at each other over them. That is a problem.

How are black men supposed to respond when the only thing they hear from black women is that they are no-good liars and cheaters? I will agree that the disparity between the number of black men and women creates a sometimes tragic dating scene. But over-generalizing and dismissing every black male as the column does is no kind of solution. It's not as though the black community is the only area at Duke where people (guys and girls) prefer hookups to relationships.

And about this call for solidarity among sistas. What kind of bond are we really building if it's against those that would be our brothas? That kind of tie is not a true union and would create pitiful excuses for friendships. Yes, we as women do need to support each other and show as much love as possible. But I will not allow myself and my fellow black women to be portrayed as incapable of bonding over anything beyond how we hate black men.

I would like to request that instead of taking the stance that "petty sistas need to stop fightin over triflin brothas" (which is my summary of the column) the black community comes together as an entirety, based on a more solid common ground.

Samantha Griffin

Trinity '09