To the editor:

Norman Yetman finished his decades-long career teaching American studies and sociology this semester and I was one of the students fortunate enough to experience part of his legacy. Professor Yetman taught lessons that capture the purest form of true learning – lessons that actually and ultimately changed the person I am and the way I will interact with the world I am now entering.

The most frightening aspect of racial inequality today resides in the illusion provided by legal equality. Because of the legal racial equality provided by Brown v. the Board of Education, other landmark legal victories, and the civil rights acts, as Americans we mistakenly presume universal equality. However, as professor Yetman demonstrated, institutional discrimination is the silent and elusive process now hindering our progress.

He forced me to confront the fact that I am the beneficiary and participant of systems of unintentional economic, educational and legal racism. Now dually armed with the awareness of continuing racial inequality and the obscured mechanisms upon which they are built, I find myself ready to interact with society in a cognizant and responsible manner. Professor Yetman taught me far more than I am able to convey here, he has endowed all of his students with an entirely new approach to ascertaining truth and discovering their role within it.

Kansas University should be grateful for the years it was bestowed with his brilliance and aware of the extraordinary individual it’s losing, while Lawrence in general should fully appreciate the contribution Norman Yetman is to our community.

Corey Michael Roelofs,

Lawrence