ROCK HILL, S.C.
A column in the Winthrop University student newspaper comparing today’s racial climate for Whites to the oppression Blacks faced before the Civil Rights movement has caused quite a stir.
Copy editor Christine Byington’s column published this week began: “Black people at Winthrop will probably be angry.”
It turns out she was right.
In the column, Byington, who is biracial, criticized Blacks who complain about Winthrop. She also came out against minority scholarships and organizations devoted to Blacks, arguing that equal treatment should be given to other races.
The column also compared the climate for Whites today to that of Blacks in the 1950s.
“We no longer hose people in the streets,” Byington wrote. “I’d say if you have the freedom to sit in a classroom and state those opinions, you’ve got it pretty well.”
