Dear Editor:

Mr. Corderman’s letter published in the Daily Egyptian Thursday stated that my previous letter fostered stereotypes. His letter stated that after 15 years of working in automotive sales, his employers never sold vehicles at a higher price to blacks.

Well, I applaud his honesty as a salesman and his company’s integrity in business. But just because he and his company were honest does not diminish the fact that blacks still pay more for vehicles than whites on average nationwide.

I would like to point out to Mr. Corderman and others two articles that substantiate my point: “Review of Nissan Car Loans that Blacks Pay More” on http://www.racematters.org, and “Study: Blacks Pay Higher Auto Loan Rates” by Bill Lester of USA Today.

So to Mr. Corderman, unless every black person in the United States comes to your dealership and buys from your company, the fact remains that blacks still pay higher costs for automobiles.

So, am I perpetuating a stereotype, or are the media and researchers who publish these statistics? More importantly, who will hold the automotive companies responsible that perpetrate this crime of institutional and economic racism?

Bomani Spell

doctoral student studying higher education administration