To the Editor:

Re: “People’s Republic Honors 60th Anniversary,” News, Oct. 2

The omissions in this article are an unfortunate example of journalistic negligence. How is it that out of an 880 word article about the history of the People’s Republic of China, there are only 70 words about the genocide of the government against its own people?

President Obama has been jet-setting around the Middle East this week in an effort to convince Muslims that the United States doesn’t hate them. It’s no easy task, but, given his family background and reputation for reasoned rhetoric, he’s certainly the man for the job.

But there’s a problem. For all of Obama’s admirable accomplishments in foreign policy thus far, the man’s positions regarding torture and the legal framework of the War on Terror are nothing short of despicable. Maintaining the worst of Bush-era government secrecy and Big Brother intimidation techniques, our constitutional-scholar-in-chief has left many hopefully progressives scratching their heads.

As Cornellians celebrate this Black History Month, we must take a moment to reflect upon how far this country has come. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s secured many basic rights for blacks, and America notably elected its first bi-racial president last November. Historically, great strides have also been made at Cornell. Alpha Phi Alpha, the country's first black fraternity, was established at Cornell in 1906, and in 1969, the Willard Straight takeover led to changes such as the creation of the Africana Studies and Research Center.