I grew up in a home without gender or race barriers. It's true that the elementary school I went to was rural and all of the students and faculty were white and probably Christian; but that was simply a matter of circumstance. There was no room for or even consideration of sexism or racism.

Now I am in college, in a much more diverse social environment. My knowledge and my understanding of the world (with the operative word being `my') have broadened my beliefs but not changed them from their moral foundation - that people deserve equal rights and treatment.

Now, unfortunately, I am beginning to realize that these gender and race barriers still exist. A line is drawn before me, a white, straight, Christian male, as the great oppressor of our time. It is illustrated in UMD's Women's Studies department, Affirmative Action programs, "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", the $240,000 memorial to three men lynched in 1920 in downtown Duluth, and even the memory (meaning more to me now) that there was no Minnesota science camp for me to attend as a 6-year old aspiring paleontologist because they were only available for girls.

I am not complaining about a lack of personal opportunity or trying to seem a victim. Neither am I saying that programs of this nature were never needed. Rather I believe that today programs like these often only perpetuate old crimes and injustices that few still dispute.

For an organization representing victims to perpetuate a crime demands a perpetual criminal.

In order to function at the most basic, ideological level, these organizations require sweeping generalizations and even stereotypes. Until they change the way they work towards their goals, they will continue to "teach" na?ve young people like the me of last year that there are distinct lines between races and genders.

Without a problem to fix they are no longer needed; perhaps it is time for some victorious sunsets. But obviously they must have some sense of self-preservation. Could that be why the civil "battles" are ever more ridiculous (for example, the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union suing the city of Duluth to remove the "offensive" Ten Commandments statue at City Hall)?

But they will continue "fighting" for "civil rights". And as long as they continue they need an adversary.

How about "equal treatment" instead of "special treatment"? I'm ready to try it. Are they?