Student Activists

As a member of the Los Angeles Student Coalition, I completely agree with Byron Dillon’s sentiments that the dire problems of our own country, such as drugs, AIDS, racism and homelessness, must be dealt with immediately. But his criticism of our organization is unfair for precisely the reasons he cites (letter, Jan. 2).

It is very true that compared to a sit-in at the South African Consulate, working for the homeless is unglamorous and yields little publicity. This is exactly why people such as Dillon have never heard about our efforts to help Los Angeles’ homeless, such as our clothing drive to raise emergency supplies for the men and women of Skid Row who lost what little they had when the homeless arts and cultural center Another Planet burned down last summer. He has also never heard about the educational anti-racism workshops the coalition has sponsored for high school, junior high and college students, or our work for the women’s rights movement. I could give many more examples.

Obviously, the Student Coalition alone will never solve all the problems of the world, or even Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Student Coalition members see themselves as part of a global student community. To be disruptive to the actions of the South African government’s representatives in our own city is what we had in mind. Saving the life of a South African citizen is no less worthy than saving the life of an American citizen.

And if the Student Coalition can continue to bring together youth from all cultural backgrounds, as we have been, and uniting them together in a common goal, we are making the first big step in eliminating the racial barriers of our own society.

KEVIN SULLIVAN

Van Nuys