This letter is in response to the Sept. 24 article entitled “U police investigate assault, role of bias.” The alleged attacker in the story was quoted as saying, “Why don’t you go and blow up another two buildings?” He should be condemned for such a blatantly ignorant statement. To attack a group of people for the actions of misguided individuals is wrong. Period.

But we need to be consistent. Later in the article, a number of statements by various individuals do the exact same thing he did. There are numerous attacks against the United States and Americans for something a fraternity boy did early one Sunday morning.

Sulieman Nader, president of the Minnesota International Student Association, says in the article, “Think a thousand times before you touch us.” Consider the use of the word “you.” “You” is referring to all of us. Sounds similar to the frat boy, doesn’t it? Why don’t “you” go and blow up buildings? These are both classic examples of blaming a group of people for the acts of the few or one. Nader is practically accusing all Americans of conspiring to commit a hate crime and warning us not to. A few others in the article attack Americans as well, again because of the actions of one of us.

Why is it wrong to blame all non-Americans for Sept. 11 like the fraternity boy, yet OK to attack all Americans for the actions of one frat kid, like Nader and others in the article do? Both are wrong, and all rational people should condemn both.