The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Opinion

  • The Ethnic Studies Bill is a Blessing

    The Ethnic Studies Bill is a Blessing

    Ethnic Studies will thankfully become mandatory for all California State University students – as it should be.

    College is meant to be the epi-center of uncomfortable conversations, meeting people we normally wouldn’t and learning about the world. How does one go through college and not participate in education regarding the systemic oppression impacting those around you?

    Assemblywoman Shirley Weber proposed Assembly Bill 1460, which requires all enrolled California State University students take a 3-unit ethnic studies course.

    Governor Newsom signed the bill on Aug 17.

    This was a monumental decision to be made because ethnic studies require students to learn about various cultures’ histories, struggles and successes.

    Since we were in grade school, we learned about Christopher Columbus discovering America, that Thanksgiving was when the pilgrims and Native Americans sang kumbaya while eating turkey and potatoes, and that George Washington had wooden teeth. The history we were taught when we were younger was just one point of view, one perspective, and that was the white man’s point of view.

    I didn’t even learn about my own Black history until I attended college and took an African-American History course. That’s when I learned that Christopher Colombus did, in fact, not discover America, because he never made it to what is now considered America. He came across the Caribbean and was rescued by the natives because he was found drowning. I think we all know what he did after that. The first Thanksgiving was pretty much the pilgrims killing the majority of the native Indians, pillaging their land and then having a feast on it. Now George Washington’s teeth? They were actually made of hippo ivory and his own slave’s teeth. Great guy.

    Taking ethnic studies courses will force you to unlearn the lies you were taught growing up and relearn the facts, the stories, the culture and how it all impacts these groups today. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that people of color had a history of oppression that still takes place to this day. Denial of that is pure ignorance.

    We need ethnic studies more than ever. With various protests going on nationwide, there should be no excuse as to why you wouldn’t know what each one stands for. From Black Lives Matter movements to ICE detention centers, and from racist COVID-19 statements to Indigenous lands being destroyed, we need to acknowledge what has been happening and understand that it is not okay. This is where the necessary education comes in.

    Lucky for us, Humboldt State University has an amazing ethnic studies program run by phenomenal professors. From the introductory courses to the Dialogue on Race, having these conversations are extremely important and should have been mandatory a long time ago.

  • Defund HSU’s Police Department

    Defund HSU’s Police Department

    Incidents of racism from the former UPD Chief, past examples of excessive force from current officers and a shrinking university budget.

    In recent months, demonstrations against police brutality and the killing of Black and Brown people have increased. Black Lives Matter protestors have called not only for the demilitarization of police but for a move towards defunding the police and reinvesting those funds to community-centered organizations for public safety.

    On Sept. 4, Humboldt State University students and other community members met at the Arcata Plaza in support of defunding HSU’s campus police department. As of last quarter, HSU’s University Police budget sits at over 3 million dollars a year. The University Library sits just below 3.5 million dollars a year.

    According to the HSU’s Annual Security Report for 2018, 89 percent of law enforcement on campus consists of drug and alcohol referrals. UPD made a single drug-related arrest in 2018. The other 11 percent of cases reported were theft and assault. Referrals are basically reports filed directly to HSU that are not criminal but often result in administrative action. This job is something expected of R.A.’s who report alcohol use as referrals.

    Incidents of racism from the former UPD Chief, past examples of excessive force from current officers and a shrinking university budget

    With the existence of the Arcata City Police, and their own $6 million dollar budget, the necessity of an entire force for these offenses leaves the HSUPD as an utter redundancy.

    HSU student and Check-It staff member, Shelley Magallanes, compiled research about complaints against HSUPD for use of excessive force and shared it on their Instagram. Currently on the payroll is Delmar Tompkins who has been involved in two accusations of police brutality, cases were settled for $135,000 and $43,000. As well as Justin Winkle who was involved in an incident of excessive force that left the victim dead in his jail cell hours later. The City of Eureka settled this case for $4.5 million.

    Former University police Chief Donn Peterson resigned on May 31 while he was on leave and under fire from a multitude of accusations including racist remarks and manipulation of crime statistics. Peterson served as police chief of UPD for six years and to assume that his actions are that of “one bad apple” just doesn’t do this issue justice. His actions exemplify the prevalence of a racist culture that pervades the criminal justice system.

    The nationwide movement for defunding the police has been sparked by the way that force is used and applied recklessly to BIPOC. This comes after a long history of police operating as a militant arm of white supremacy and working to disproportionately incarcerate POC, leading to further widespread racial inequities. Allowing the persistence of unjust systems on campus, while alternatives are proven to work more effectively at promoting public safety is negligent. We have an opportunity to work towards a more just and equitable campus through the many organizations that we already have established.

    HSU is facing widespread budget cuts, losing funding to the array of vital multicultural centers, diverse academic programs and student-led organizations, the UPD budget and existence looks especially obsolete.

  • How Not To Be Bitten By A Kitten

    How Not To Be Bitten By A Kitten

    Please prepare to be prey

    Congratulations, a baby feline has recently come into your life. If they’re anywhere from 2-18 months, they bite. They see you as prey. Because you are prey. You always have been. You always will be. Yet, you are also their servant and being bitten can interfere with your duties. After a lifetime of servitude, I have learnt to minimize these attacks and I am willing to divulge my secrets to you.

    Squeak: I have no idea how to do this, but according to the internet, it works.Tell them that you are hurt by their actions. Cry loudly in a high-pitched voice. Leave them in your room while you go over to your neighbors’ yard and let their cat rub your legs. Go back home and shower in shame.

    Diversions: If you have an old scarf, tie or ribbon lying around, wave it to your kitty. Move in a jerky pattern but stay in the same spot. This will attract their attention and give them a location to pounce. You can also get toys on a string attached to a stick, but they’re easily chewed through. The ferrets are nice and sturdy, but might not always appeal to your kitty aesthetically. Ask your overlord what their favorite color is. Cats can see shades of blue, grey and green, and perceive some other colors as purple.

    Wear armor: Thick socks, hoodies and blankets will soften the blows, especially when warm from the dryer. When armored, wiggle your toes until they pounce. Now you are free to perform your duties with your supreme royal attached to your feet.

    Play dead: Do not try this on a dog, but it seems to work well with cats. Let your limbs go limp and hide under the covers. Ensure that there are no gaps their majesty can squeeze into and wait until they settle on top of you and fall asleep. If for some tragic reason you are not in bed, hide your arms behind your back. Depending on their mood, this comes with the risk of getting your face pounced on. If you sense this is about to happen, make a sudden, full body move. This will startle them long enough for you to grab the nearest toy and throw it far away.

    When all else fails, resign yourself to a life of being the cat’s quarry. You are a chew toy and you will get chewed on. You chose this, because you know that life without an apex predator in it is not a life worth living.

  • A Simple Favor, Wear Your Mask Correctly … Please

    A Simple Favor, Wear Your Mask Correctly … Please

    Wearing a mask correctly shouldn’t be a hassle or the worst part of your day.

    All I ask is, “Ma’am, can you please put your mask over your nose?” “Sir, your mask needs to be worn at all times. Thank you.” “Yes, masks are required here.”

    When a mask is being worn correctly, it has to cover both the mouth and nose. Think of it this way, the mask is meant to prevent any respiratory droplets from spreading to other people and elements around you. These particles come from your mouth and nose.

    These face coverings aren’t much, but they are one of the best defenses we have, alongside staying home and social distancing. Now, who would have thought that such a simple and minuscule request can cause such hostility and chaos?

    I’m a retail worker in a small business. I wear a mask, over my mouth and nose, for five hours a day and expose myself to locals and tourists. Some days, I’ll be in contact with 20 people and other days, I can be in contact with close to 100 people.

    I will never understand why people try so hard to fight against wearing face masks correctly.

    I fear for my life and sanity every day. There are crazy stories circulating around the internet of customers harassing and assaulting workers for trying to enforce these health orders. A retail worker in Modesto was brutally attacked, a crazy lady in Trader Joes in North Hollywood making a huge scene and the worst, most extreme case I have heard so far, a security guard being shot and killed.

    My co-workers and I always brace ourselves for whatever may happen for calling someone out. We have gotten glares, we’ve been ignored, ridiculed and even belittled just for asking someone to wear a mask or wear it correctly. We have had out-of-state tourists obnoxiously defy the rules we have set for our store, for them to then leave our store and express how much they hate California’s rules.

    C’est la vie de 2020.

    I will never understand why people try so hard to fight against wearing face masks correctly.

    There have been customers that have come in and complained of not being able to breathe with the mask on. My solution is to stay at home. If you cannot breathe with a mask on, you’re already vulnerable and should not be outside. If you’re bothered at the thought of wearing a face covering for 10 minutes in a small gift shop, maybe you shouldn’t be out and shopping for home decor.

    In order for many of these small businesses to be open, they needed to be approved by the state. My boss had to fill out a very lengthy form to re-open her business. She had to describe every action we, as employees, would do to ensure we are all safely navigating this pandemic.

    If you see any shop with state/county paperwork taped in their front window, they had to apply to re-open as well. If a customer or employee ends up testing positive, the entire shop has to be shut down.

    These face coverings are for the safety of yourself and those around you. This isn’t a time to be individualistic, this is a time where you need to put your ego aside and realize that your selfish actions can potentially harm a business, a person next to you or the family they go home to.

    Wearing your mask correctly to cover both your nose and mouth won’t kill you, but refusing to do it at all can.

  • Our Societal Structure is Slipping

    Our Societal Structure is Slipping

    With the pressures of the pandemic mounting, people are stuck with an impossible choice

    On Friday, May 1, around 100 people gathered in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse to demand the reopening of businesses deemed non-essential by the government. With signs like “Every Business Is Essential,” it is clear that the protesters are not being properly supported during this time of crisis.

    The government’s attempts to mitigate the spread of the virus have been controversial with over a million reported cases so far. Social distancing is the most effective measure we can take to prevent unnecessary deaths since the swab test is inaccurate and limited at the moment. Unfortunately, mandatory lockdowns and halts to employment in order to support social distancing efforts have left many without jobs and a way to earn a steady, livable wage.

    “This crisis is really illustrating both the violence of inequality and also the need for another economic system.”

    Thomas Piketty

    Everyone has a wide range of debts, rents and other expenses to pay for during this time. If we want to prevent the spread of the virus we need to support disenfranchised workers, not force them back into unsafe working conditions. With 59% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, for those keeping track at home, the percentage cuts for units is not reasonable to expect them to be able to handle all of their expenses with a one-time stimulus check of $1,200. The writer of the book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” and economist Thomas Piketty believes that a pandemic like this holds the potential to change dominant narratives about how we should organize our society and build our economy.

    “This crisis is really illustrating both the violence of inequality and also the need for another economic system,” said Piketty.

    The Americans most impacted by the pandemic are going to be the poorest, most vulnerable members of our society. For as long as our country has existed, so has the divide in quality of life, poverty, and access to government assistance in times of crisis.

    We need a societal structure that values every life.

    Due to our country’s reliance on employer-based healthcare, every company that is forced to lay off its workers in this necessary time of crisis is creating large swaths of vulnerable, uninsured people. The natural response is to want to go back to work and blame the government for taking away your insurance and employment so you can continue to provide for yourself and your loved ones. The only problem is that we have a virus on our hands, so one is forced to either ignore the dangers of returning to work or slowly drain themselves financially as the dues of existing in our society add up. This is not a fair choice nor a choice we should have to make.

    This is our societal structure functioning as it was designed to. When healthcare is tied to employment and to wealth, we are nudged into believing our right to exist is tied to employment and to wealth. When certain marginalized groups are underemployed or possess less wealth, our system is tacitly stating that those groups are worthless.

    We need a societal structure that values every life. That means universal healthcare, education, job guarantees, housing and access to technology. Without universal healthcare, there isn’t a solid system for distributing care during a pandemic, and the right to one’s own life is decided by socioeconomic status. Without job guarantees, people are set adrift during emergencies, not knowing if they will be able to get back to work after it’s all over. Without universal housing, a pandemic can leave many unsure if they will have a roof over their head in a month’s time. Without access to technology, some will lose education, jobs, communication with the outside world and entertainment to occupy the time.

    But more than all these things, we need a structure that prioritizes us. If everything starts falling apart because of one pandemic, maybe it wasn’t the most stable structure to begin with. An economy that does better when its workers die is like a car that goes up in value when it kills the passenger. The structure should exist to support you. This pandemic is exposing our economic structure for what it has always been. A burden that crushes the marginalized and the vulnerable. A $1,200 check, a rent freeze and a free face mask are only small band-aids on a gushing head wound. Normal, everyday life is why everything is falling apart in the first place.

    All we can do is build a system that protects every person within it and values life from the ground up. A system that lets numbers of people die will die along with them. It is a system bound to fail.

  • The “Chinese Virus” and the Social Disease

    The “Chinese Virus” and the Social Disease

    No one person is to blame when millions of people are at risk

    A cultural perception of coronavirus has been under scrutiny for people’s repeated insistence on referring to it as “Chinese virus.” This became known when a photographer shared a photo they took of Donald Trump’s script at a press conference March 19, which showed the word “corona” crossed out and replaced with “Chinese” above it.

    The World Health Organization has guidelines that diseases should not be named after geographical locations, partially in response to the consequences of disease names such as Spanish flu, Rift Valley fever or Singapore virus.

    These guidelines were first announced in 2015, with the reasoning that there are numerous other ways to refer to the name of a disease easily without identifying a specific place. One example is the SARS virus, which “avoided stigmatizing any place or any person. And then because of the acronym SARS, it also gave the media and everybody an easy way to refer to the disease.”

    Unfortunately, even outbreaks in recent years are given names such as Ebola, which is the name of a river in Congo, or swine flu, which indirectly blames an entire species of animal.

    When we call illnesses Singapore virus, Chinese virus or swine flu, it shifts the focus away from combating the outbreak and toward the myth that some place or group of people must be at fault for a problem that affects millions of people.

    Those arguing in favor of naming diseases in this manner will cite its supposed “accuracy,” and push back against the suggestion that it might be racist. Senator John Cornyn defended referring to it as the Chinese virus.

    “China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS and swine flu,” he said.

    “We’re talking about China, where these viruses emanate from,” he later said.

    Despite what Cornyn and others might claim, citing other examples of names that refer to people or places does not excuse continuing to use the same practice. Naming diseases like this serves as a means of ostracizing people.

    Numerous reports of violent attacks, both verbal and physical, against Asian-Americans occurred in the past few weeks, perpetrated by those who buy into the idea that China has to serve as the scapegoat for this outbreak. Identifying one group of people to blame for a pandemic only serves as a form of fearmongering and reinforces racist ideas among Americans.

    When we call illnesses Singapore virus, Chinese virus or swine flu, it shifts the focus away from combating the outbreak and toward the myth that some place or group of people must be at fault for a problem that affects millions of people.

    Even if a specific source for this pandemic does exist, dwelling on that serves little purpose when the problem is this widespread. It absolves the U.S. government of much of their responsibility to protect their citizens, which they need to be held accountable for.

    Violating World Health Organization policy and reinforcing outdated racist practices that should never have been practiced to begin with will not end this pandemic any sooner, nor make dealing with it any better. The only people that benefit from such ideas are those who do not understand that we are all at risk and need to be taking action, the same as everyone around us.

  • If It Wasn’t Already Obvious, We Need Universal Healthcare

    If It Wasn’t Already Obvious, We Need Universal Healthcare

    The U.S. healthcare system isn’t built to handle a pandemic because it’s not built to help everyone

    A 17-year-old boy from Lancaster, California died in March due to COVID-19 complications. After having serious respiratory problems the boy went to an urgent care facility. The facility denied care due to lack of insurance. While en route to the closest public hospital, the boy went into cardiac arrest and died hours later.

    “But by the time he got there [the local public hospital], it was too late,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said.

    After the boy passed, doctors confirmed he had COVID-19.

    The tragic death of this 17-year-old boy shows the obvious divide and unfair treatment within the U.S. healthcare system. If the boy had been insured or affluent enough to pay upfront for whatever treatment he needed, he would have received care and possibly still be alive.

    There are 6,146 hospitals in the United States. Some are community owned, some are owned by the state or government, and some are privately owned.

    According to 2018 data from the American Hospital Association, 58% of community-owned hospitals in the U.S. are non-profit. Out of all U.S. hospitals, 21% are for-profit.

    There is a distinct separation in our healthcare system, but it’s not just about where hospital funding comes from and goes. Hospitals also differ when it comes to if patients actually receive healthcare.

    In 1986 Congress passed the Emergency Medical and Treatment Labor Act, which restricts all hospitals from denying care to patients based on a lack of insurance or ability to pay. But this hasn’t stopped privately owned hospitals from denying care to uninsured patients. In a pandemic, this can have deadly consequences.

    “We cannot and will not close our eyes to the economic consequences of this crisis.”

    Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte

    Universal healthcare works to prevent these situations. The Netherlands has universal healthcare and is taking a completely different approach to dealing with COVID-19.

    March 16, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte made an address to the nation.

    “The reality is that in the near future a large part of the Dutch population will be infected with the virus,” he said.

    He went on to introduce a concept called group immunity.

    “Those who have had the virus are usually immune afterwards,” he said. “Just like in the old days with measles. The larger the group that is immune, the less chance that the virus will jump to vulnerable elderly people and people with poor health. With group immunity you build, as it were, a protective wall around them.”

    This is similar to what United Kingdom Chief Science Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance calls herd immunity. Herd immunity is the idea of letting the population be exposed and eventually become immune.

    Although the Netherlands has closed some facilities like schools and restaurants, that might not be the case for long. Rutte believes a lockdown will not stop COVID-19. He also has much more confidence in the Netherlands’ hospitals and healthcare system than the U.S. has in its own systems.

    “We build immunity and ensure that the healthcare system can handle it,” Rutte said. “With the aim that nursing homes, in-home care, hospitals and especially intensive care units are not overloaded. So that there is always sufficient capacity to help the people who are most vulnerable.”

    “We cannot and will not close our eyes to the economic consequences of this crisis,” Rutte said near the end of his speech.

    Rutte is obviously concerned with the economy of his nation, but he also seems relatively confident that the Netherlands healthcare system could support their entire population if infected by the virus. It’s important to note, the Netherlands pays for their universal healthcare services through taxes as well as a monthly premium payed by individuals.

    This is very different from the current situation in the U.S. By all accounts, our healthcare system couldn’t handle the whole population getting infected by the coronavirus. Hence the need to flatten the curve.

    Even with social distancing rules in place, cities like New York are struggling to find personal protective equipment or have enough intensive care unit beds for infected patients. Whether or not herd immunity is an effective or morally acceptable approach, the U.S. healthcare system isn’t built to handle it because it’s not built to help everyone.

  • Even if You’re Sick of Them, Don’t Take Your Partner for Granted

    Even if You’re Sick of Them, Don’t Take Your Partner for Granted

    Social distancing has strained my relationship, so be grateful if you’re still with your partner

    Social distancing life isn’t much different from my usual life. I’m not physically going to school or work anymore, but I’m doing my assignments in bed like I normally would. My free time before quarantine would consist of doing homework, eating, watching movies with my roommate and spending time with my partner. There’s only one of those things that I can’t do anymore—spending time with my partner—and it’s the one that hurts the most.

    Life was busy before the days of sheltering in place, and I hadn’t seen my partner much. We vowed after spring break we would spend more time together since I was going to be leaving after graduation and they will be staying up here. But now it looks like our long-distance relationship has started a lot sooner.

    If you find yourself being in quarantine with your partner, but want to get away from them, there are little things you can do for some space.

    Some of my friends have said they were tired of being quarantined with their partner because they were getting on their nerves and they just needed space. When social distancing started, there were a lot of memes going around about how women trapped their partners in their houses with them so that they can talk about their issues and the partners can’t go anywhere. That’s funny, but you shouldn’t need a quarantine to finally talk about your issues. You should be able to do that all the time.

    China reported a spike in the divorce rate and the same is expected for the United States. Due to the quarantine, people’s daily lives have changed and they aren’t used to being stuck with their partners all day. Which is understandable, but also sad. I would love to be stuck inside with my partner during this quarantine. We’ve talked a lot more which is nice, but actually having them under the same roof as me would hit differently.

    If you find yourself being in quarantine with your partner, but want to get away from them, there are little things you can do for some space. Maybe put yourself in another room if you have another room—but if you don’t, maybe take a nice long shower.

    Instead of both of you going to the grocery store together, make a list and have only one of you go. I would hope that you wouldn’t need to distance yourselves and that this time would be enjoyable for you two, but maybe that’s just because I wish I could be watching movies or getting creative with my partner.

    If you’re stuck with your partner and are getting annoyed with the way they do the dishes or something small like that, well, get over it. Either tell them it bothers you or take over the task. There are so many people out there, like myself, that would rather be stuck in a room with their partner no matter how much they annoy them, not to mention all the single people that wish they had a partner to be quarantined with.

  • Tuition Refund Petition Reflects Student Experience

    Tuition Refund Petition Reflects Student Experience

    With labs, classrooms and most facilities on campus closed, what is being done with student tuition?

    After Humboldt State University canceled in-person classes three weeks ago, students created a change.org petition calling for a reimbursement of tuition. With 2,000 students and supporters rallying behind it, perhaps HSU will bring their concerns into the conversation. Regardless of the administration’s acknowledgement, or lack thereof, HSU students are and will be experiencing a drop in the quality of their education.

    As a journalism major, our classes haven’t been heavily impacted, but our access to the university spaces we all pay for is not as integral as for majors like art, dance, theatre and lab sciences.

    Bryan Gambrel, a kinesiology major at HSU, said the switch to online labs has affected his motivation to learn the material. With an inability to use the lab spaces, the only way to show comprehension of the reading material is through quizzes.

    “My difficult class has become now something that’s based off of reading rather than three hours of experimenting in a lab,” Gambrel said. “I’m not even sure how they can credit it for your GE.”

    Lindsey Miller, an HSU freshman, signed the petition. She is a part of the environmental resources department and is taking a chemistry lab course this semester. With the switch to online classes, lessons consist of videos of the professor completing the experiment. She felt like this semester’s labs were a little more challenging than her first semester.

    “Without having that hands-on experience in the lab, I don’t know when people are gonna learn it again.”

    Raili Makela

    “I was only kinda picking up on it before spring break,” Miller said.

    Raili Makela is a fourth year marine biology major at HSU. This semester she had signed up for two labs and two lectures that have now been transitioned into online courses. Makela noticed the switch to online labs has made understanding the concepts more difficult.

    “It’s because of that hands-on learning that I really start to understand the other material,” Makela said.

    While she has learned a lot from her earlier labs and can work from that knowledge, she is worried about how those getting their first lab experience will be impacted.

    “Without having that hands-on experience in the lab, I don’t know when people are gonna learn it again,” Makela said.

    The situation we are in is reasonable. There isn’t another option that would keep our students, staff and faculty as safe as the current measures we have in place, but it is our money that’s no longer being spent to keep the doors open. Our tuition is not a goodwill donation. It is an exchange for the resources provided by the institution, and if those resources are not being provided, then we are getting shortchanged on our education.

  • Major League Marijuana

    Major League Marijuana

    Why I don’t think marijuana is everything it’s cracked up to be in baseball

    Major League Baseball is an organization that prides itself on having great talent on and off the field. Players are drug-tested fairly regularly and subject to different levels of punishment if caught with opioids or other banned substances. That is all changing with the legalization of marijuana in baseball.

    Marijuana graces the covers of magazines and virtually everything in sight in modern culture like a groundbreaking scientific discovery. Seemingly everyone will go to great lengths to defend the devil lettuce’s honor if one attacks it. In general, marijuana is looked at like a god. Sure, people have benefited from it, but its usage has gotten out of control and the relaxed restrictions of marijuana in baseball are just more nails in the coffin.

    With the increase in American marijuana users comes the increase of ramifications. While there are many compelling arguments for normalizing marijuana usage, there are also legitimate health concerns around it.

    As a matter of fact, marijuana-induced emergency room visits have jumped up, particularly in more left-leaning states.

    According to the Colorado Hospital Association, a collection of more than 100 hospitals in the state of Colorado, “the prevalence of hospitalizations for marijuana exposure in patients aged nine years and older doubled after the legalization of medical marijuana,” and “emergency department visits nearly doubled after the legalization of recreational marijuana.”

    That is scary stuff. Maybe marijuana can wash away anxiety or depression temporarily, but to risk the added side effects is foolish.

    Returning to the realm of Major League Baseball, we find ourselves in the midst of an organization that is trying to appeal to a younger audience by making games more enjoyable and watchable. After all, the kids are the future of the sport.

    Yet the idea that loosening the grip on marijuana in baseball will do no harm couldn’t be more wrong. It is common knowledge that youth look up to ballplayers as role models in many different facets.

    If marijuana is more debilitating to one’s health than beneficial, we should be making it clear that any, and I mean any, drug or substance will not be tolerated in baseball no matter how harmless it may be marketed as. I certainly wouldn’t want my kids to form the idea that they can get away with smoking weed like it’s no big deal. Marijuana and e-cigarettes are already being passed around like packs of gum in middle and high schools and it’s only getting worse.

    “Drugs work very well, at first, for mentally ill people. If you’re anxious, it’ll go away with a couple of hits, a beer. It’s like magic. But then, the tolerance sets in. So, not only do they need to drink more to relieve the anxiety, but every single time they try to stop, the underlying anxiety comes back worse.”

    Dr. Alex Stalcup

    Beyond setting a bad example for the younger generation, people are using marijuana for non-medical purposes and leaning on it like another shoulder. Especially in Humboldt County, people are socially smoking marijuana and claiming it’s saving their lives.

    I recognize there are some individuals who actually need it to function, but nonetheless, it’s spread like a wildfire and now it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t smoke it or consume edibles.

    Mental health issues affect the extent to which people get addicted to marijuana or other substances, according to Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in a 2016 interview with Healthline Magazine.

    “Drugs work very well, at first, for mentally ill people,” Stalcup said. “If you’re anxious, it’ll go away with a couple of hits, a beer. It’s like magic. But then, the tolerance sets in. So, not only do they need to drink more to relieve the anxiety, but every single time they try to stop, the underlying anxiety comes back worse.”

    Stalcup went on:

    “Fifty to sixty percent of the people with an addiction to marijuana whom [my] clinic treats have some sort of underlying mental health condition,” he said.

    Granted, it is only one clinic, but the point is an overwhelming amount of people across the country who abuse weed are dealing with a mental health crisis of some kind.

    I will admit that I am in the same boat with a lot of these folks, but I will never use weed as a solution to my problems. There is an abundance of other remedies and treatments available to cure internal issues.

    I can’t control what you do. I can’t control what Major League Baseball does. But I hope that baseball will go back to looking at marijuana as a banned substance that could incur fines and treatment.

  • The Light at the End of the Speeding Metal Death-Box

    The Light at the End of the Speeding Metal Death-Box

    The United States needs better regulations on rear car lights

    There is a frightening flaw in American car design clearly visible during every trip to the grocery store. United States auto regulation does not require brake lights to be a different color than turn signals. They should be.

    The colors and positions of rear lights may seem like a small detail, but it has deadly consequences. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 36,560 people died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2018. Given this statistic, one would hope we are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of drivers and their passengers.

    Tight and statistically informed regulations on the auto manufacturing industry are important when making something so necessary but so dangerous for the modern worker’s everyday life.

    The lights on the rear of a car are designed to do a lot of jobs, the most important of which are to indicate when the driver is braking, when they’re turning and when they’re reversing. Seeing as communication between drivers is one of the most important requirements of safe driving, these signals must be as clear as possible. A simple system designed to effectively communicate these three actions already exists.

    A three-color system makes driver intent clear. Red brake lights indicate a driver is slowing, white back-up lights indicate a driver is reversing and amber turn signals indicate a driver will be mixing up their position a bit. This is where America stumbles. Back-up lights are required to be white and brake lights must be red, but turn signals can be either amber or red. Worse, they do not have to be separate from the brake lights.

    Turn signal color and separation may seem trivial, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found in a 2008 study that cars with amber turn signals may be up to 28% less likely to be struck while maneuvering in a way that involves the turn signal.

    A 1995 study by the same agency found reaction time to brake signals decreases significantly when the braking driver possess amber turn signals. This remained true even when the braking driver wasn’t using their turn signals.

    Even using the most conservative estimates in safety increase, there is no doubt amber turn signals would save lives.

    We’ve known for at least 50 years red lights aren’t the best choice for communication. Red light can appear to be further in the distance than it really is. It is also difficult for the human eye to see differences in red light intensity. A blinking red light is less noticeable than a blinking amber light, which is something that should be taken into consideration when creating fast, metal death-boxes.

    There are more studies with similar results. The weight of the evidence for better turn signals is overwhelming. Most other countries require amber turn signals. Cars sold in the United States without amber turn signals have them in other countries. The United States and Canada stand virtually alone on this. The question is clear: why are American cars not required to have amber turn signals?

    Is it cost? It’s tempting to think this is yet another example of the auto industry cutting corners. In this case, it’s probably not. Amber turn signals are not significantly more or less expensive than red turn signals.

    Even using the most conservative estimates in safety increase, there is no doubt amber turn signals would save lives.

    It could also be aesthetics. Nothing says boring like safety. The fear of death is just part of what makes driving exciting, apparently. We want sleek, sexy cars. Our most expensive cars look angry and aggressive. They aren’t designed to pick up kids or run to the store. They are accessories or fashion statements, not tools.

    Maybe Americans just enjoy the freedom to refrain from changing simple things that would increase the quality of life for everyone around them. The rest of the world may do something in a way that’s objectively better and uses the same amount of effort, but we’re Americans and we’ll be damned if we let the United Nations tell us what to do.

    Maybe it doesn’t matter. Driving around Humboldt County, one wouldn’t know turn signals are mandated at all. If we do away with turn signals altogether, this isn’t an issue. American ingenuity triumphs again.

  • My Hair is Not a Dress Code Violation

    My Hair is Not a Dress Code Violation

    Natural hairstyles are often shunned, but these hairstyles keep hair healthy while representing cultures

    “You would look so pretty if you straightened your hair,” is something I heard a lot growing up. So much so that for two years I straightened my hair everyday. It took three years of haircuts and deep conditioning treatments to get my hair back to normal.

    That comment along with others like, “Your hair gets in the way,” seem small but take a toll on an individual’s self esteem. A lot of care goes into textured hair. Someone tearing it down hurts.

    “It’s discouraging to know that there are not a lot of people that like or can handle your hair,” Humboldt State University student Dimitri Mark said.

    There are still some schools in the United States that ban natural hairstyles such as braids or dreadlocks because they violate dress codes. I’m not sure how they violate dress codes—these hairstyles keep your hair back and can even keep your hair healthy.

    In 2018, a video surfaced on the internet of a 16-year-old boy crying as his dreadlocks were cut off for him to participate in his wrestling match—it was either that or forfeit.

    Hair comes in many different textures, lengths and colors, and should always be taken care of and accepted. Hair doesn’t get in the way. Get over it and stop trying to pick on people of color.

    Girls have also been suspended, sent home or given detention in Boston, Atlanta and Terrytown, Louisiana for their hairstyles.

    At the 2015 Oscars, Zendaya sported dreadlocks to go with her hairstyle. Giuliana Rancic, a host on “Fashion Police,” wasn’t a fan of Zendaya’s locks, which she said smelled “like patchouli oil and weed.” This comment almost led to the end of Rancic’s career. Rancic’s prejudiced words hurt, and they caused a riot against her.

    The reason natural hairstyles such as big curly hair, afros, dreadlocks, braids and twists are a problem is because they’re considered dirty. Things like accents are considered dirty too, unless they’re coming from a blue-eyed, white boy. Many places in Africa, Italy, and Greece once considered braids to be a sign of wealth. Braid-making hairdressers were worshiped and highly trusted.

    It’s understandable why schools have certain dress codes, but hair shouldn’t be part of them. If a school said I had to have my hair in a ponytail everyday, I’d probably fight it everyday and then get kicked out. Hair comes in many different textures, lengths and colors, and should always be taken care of and accepted. Hair doesn’t get in the way. Get over it and stop trying to pick on people of color.

  • Parking Pisses Me Off

    Parking Pisses Me Off

    The trials and tribulations of finding parking on campus

    Parking on campus sucks. And I’m not the only one that thinks so.

    I try my best to walk or take the bus whenever I can. Sometimes I’m just too slow in the morning and have to drive to avoid being late. The problem is that between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. it’s ridiculously hard to find an open parking spot on campus.

    Usually I end up parking on a residential street nearby. To put that into perspective, my apartment is a 21-minute walk from campus according to Google Maps. From where I usually end up parking, it’s an 11-minute walk to get to class. When I add the four minutes it takes to drive there, I only end up getting to class six minutes faster. Sometimes, that’s exactly what I need to make it to class on time.

    “If people have to pay even more for parking permits there HAVE TO BE SPOTS AVAILABLE FOR THEM TO PARK IN.”

    Parking Survey Response

    A 2018 study by Walker Consultants included an anonymous survey on the state of parking on campus. The full results of this study are available, and boy, a lot of people were mad about parking.

    “Prices as they are, are already ridiculous. One should not have to pay $315 a year to only find parking between 7:00-8:00 a.m and after 5:00 p.m.,” one person wrote.

    The survey had multiple respondents to the parking issue.

    “If people have to pay even more for parking permits there HAVE TO BE SPOTS AVAILABLE FOR THEM TO PARK IN,” another person wrote.

    In addition to the sentiments behind these two comments, a large number of the comments suggested building both on-campus parking structures and off-campus parking with shuttles to campus.

    One question on the survey struck a nerve with many respondents when it suggested the cost of parking passes may have to be raised in order to meet the demand. Many of the answers to this question were filled with colorful language.

    “What in the world do you do with all the money that you are unable to sustain the program without raising prices again?” one of the less expletive-prone respondents wrote.

    Another respondent offered to try and get the extra funds themselves.

    “Perhaps we can lobby the state for funds? I’ll go to talk to Jerry on behalf of HSU. Dunno if he’ll see me, but I’ll go,” wrote the hopeful respondent.

    Unfortunately, Jerry Brown is no longer our governor, so if this respondent had it in with Jerry Brown, that won’t work anymore. Even more unfortunate is that this is an issue that is going to take a lot of work from the school if it’s going to be fixed. It’s also likely that even if it is fixed, it’ll take longer than many of our students will be here. In the meantime, it’s still a great excuse for being late to class.

  • Mountain Biking Has a Sustainability Problem

    Mountain Biking Has a Sustainability Problem

    With all the gear and gadgets, mountain biking isn’t as sustainable as it may seem

    For a sport that usually occurs in natural settings, and whose participants generally value the ecosystem and the world around us, mountain biking has a serious sustainability problem.

    Everything has an expiration date. No matter the maintenance, nothing is ever ‘for life,’ and nowhere is this truer than in the mountain bike industry. Chains stretch, tires bald or blow out, brake pads get worn down and bearings become crunchy and rough.

    Issues arise when one attempts to revive or service a bike. Many of the functions are delicate and precise, requiring fresh parts to operate smoothly. This means something as simple as a tune-up often results in cables, housing, tubes and tires being thrown away.

    Improper installation or use means that these parts break before they should and get replaced prematurely. Some people replace prematurely simply because they want improved performance.

    It’s hard to process this waste on an individual level, but walk into your local bike shop and look in the trash cans. Often, they’re filled with very un-recyclable items that are used, removed and replaced.

    Of course, the nature of the sport is that parts get worn down or broken and must be swapped. That so many of these parts get replaced prematurely or destroyed early due to user error is only part of the problem.

    With the way our world is headed, mountain biking is due for a rude awakening on the ways that it creates unnecessary waste.

    Other issues arise when we look at the bike industry and the way they market their high-end products. Often, these brands will swaddle their expensive parts in multiple layers of processed cardboard and plastics.

    Recently, I purchased a new shifter for my bike. The shifter is a small plastic pod, about the size of a mandarin orange. It arrived in a box that I could’ve fit my shoes into.

    Just because you can get away with selling drivetrain parts that cost as much as high-end electronics, doesn’t mean you need to package them like iPhones.

    If these parts were packaged in plastic bags rather than bulky cardboard, you could fit 10 times the items in a similar space, drastically cutting down on shipping material and resources.

    Usually, I give corporations a bit of lee-way with the way they package expensive items. It makes sense that they’d want to provide the customer with a sense of exclusivity for choosing to spend their hard-earned dollars on these parts. But with the news about our world’s climate becoming grimmer with every passing day, the mountain bike industry needs to step up and restructure their priorities to make the sport more sustainable.

    I’ve never met a mountain biker who didn’t care about the environment and the future of our planet. Unfortunately, when something breaks usually the whole bike is unrideable until the issue is corrected. Most of us just accept the impact of our sport as there aren’t many other options.

    With the way our world is headed, mountain biking is due for a rude awakening on the ways that it creates unnecessary waste.

  • Vaping Epidemic Overshadows Opioid Crisis

    Vaping Epidemic Overshadows Opioid Crisis

    Opioid crisis overlooked as ‘vaping epidemic’ is brought to the foreground

    With Hollywood actors and prominent public figures accessorizing day-to-day life with a JUUL in hand, vaping was quick to enter the teenage party scene and develop a reputation amongst the younger crowd.

    Years ago, public disapproval was primarily aimed at the advertisements vaping companies released. The younger crowd became the target audience with the promotion of sweet, tempting flavors, and the original audience, adults who were looking to quit cigarettes, quickly became a secondary target.

    In late August, seven deaths in relation to vaping were confirmed. Beyond that, 530 cases of lung illness found in young adults have been attached to vaping with the numbers on the rise. Regardless of whether marijuana or nicotine cartridges are being used, an unrelated chemical substance is being singled out. Vitamin E acetate, a common diluent used in vaping cartridges to cut the product and increase shelf longevity, appears to be the cause.

    Vitamin E comes in many forms and is most commonly known for its moisturizing and adhering quality. Physicians are dumbfounded by the idea of smoking it. Medical officials compare smoking Vitamin E acetate to “[s]aran wrap around your lungs” as the tocopherol element adheres to the lungs liner fluid, blocking oxygen travel.

    The light on vaping has cast a shadow on a much older and somehow less prominent issue affecting our country, the opioid epidemic. Since the ’90s, medical officials began distributing pain relievers at a higher rate after pharmaceutical companies assured them of their non-addictive quality. Proven to be false, this ultimately resulted in over 700,000 people dying from a drug overdose within the 1999 to 2017 time period. And according to the CDC, 400,000 of the deaths were due to overdose involving opioids, prescription and illicit.

    Since then, an estimated 130 people die daily from opioid-related drug overdoses. Unlike the vaping “epidemic,” officials are aware that 40% of opioid overdose deaths are connected to a prescription but refuse to take action and put restrictions on pharmaceutical companies.

    Focus continues to surround vaping. Measures are being introduced to limit access to vaping devices. Meanwhile, the country has been at war with drugs since the ’70s with little to no improvement.

    It took less than two months for legislators to begin discussions on vaping issues and introduce more than 200 bills to combat it. In almost half a century the opioid epidemic has claimed more than 400,000 lives, with 47,000 in 2017 alone, and leaves 1.7 million people suffering from substance disorders relating to prescription opioid pain relievers.

    The more urgent issue is somehow the least prominent thought in any officials mind.

    Before jumping into the next news-worthy drug epidemic, let’s overcome the current opioid battle we’ve been struggling with for almost 50 years and relieve the pain of over a million people before forgetting them altogether.

  • Athletes Are People Too

    Athletes Are People Too

    Pro sports is a two-sided business in need of a power redistribution 

    Owners of professional sports teams have made headlines the last few years for all the wrong reasons. The primary issue regards team owners treating players as property instead of as people, and a good amount of this coverage surrounds the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.

    Since 2014 there have been numerous situations where owners of sports teams made racially-toned remarks concerning their athletes, who are predominately black. Simply referring to whomever controls the majority of the team as ‘owner’ can have its own racial implications in leagues where most players are people of color.

    According to the NBA’s 2015 Racial and Gender Report Card and a 2014 NFL Census, 75% of NBA players and 68% of NFL athletes are black. The NBA also has the largest percentage of people of color in its fan base, whereas NFL fans are primarily white.

    In 2014, The NBA forced former LA Clippers’ shareholder Donald Sterling to sell his team after a tape of him spouting racist remarks was released to TMZ. But in the NFL it seems like their majority shareholders are able to get away with more. NFL team owners were more vocal than ever this past season due to the outrage from many fans about players kneeling during the National Anthem.

    While NFL contracts may seem ridiculous compared to other high-grossing sports, professional football players receive the lowest percentage of guaranteed money in their contracts. In contrast, NBA athletes make every cent of their contracts and are often considered to be involved in the daily running of the league as opposed to just their respective teams’ shareholders making all the decisions.

    When it comes to the relationship between owners and their athletes, a large factor in the athlete’s treatment is how fans act. Rhetoric during the kneeling protests relayed many of the players who took a knee as unpatriotic, spoiled and privileged, with fans telling players to “shut up and play.”

    Fans treat players as if they are toys for amusement instead of human beings. And team owners treat players like property that can be replaced at any moment. But when there is a media storm of fans and others calling for change like with the Clippers in 2014, progress can be made. Fans hold more power than they know and can directly affect how teams are handled and how athletes are treated.

  • A Local’s Perspective on HSU Football

    A Local’s Perspective on HSU Football

    HSU football brought two communities together and now we’re at a loss

    In July of 2018, with most of the student population home for the summer, former Humboldt State President Lisa Rossbacher and former Athletic Director Duncan Robins made the announcement that the HSU football team would be cut following the conclusion of the 2018 season.

    The efforts of many community members to raise money for the football program earlier in the year were seemingly for nothing. Many community members, including myself, were outraged about the decision to cut the football team, but some applauded the move, saying that a football program was unnecessary and a drain on academics. Either side you may be on, it was a polarizing move for the university to make.

    I am part of the small percentage of HSU students that grew up in Humboldt County. In fact, I grew up right here in Arcata about a mile away from the HSU campus. I am as local as a local student can get. I spent a good portion of my life going to HSU football games and it became a significant source of pride that my small town had a Division II college football team. When I started attending HSU, this was not just my school’s football team, this was my hometown team as well.

    When I transferred to HSU from College of the Redwoods, the first thing that caught me off guard about HSU was how separate it seemed from the rest of Arcata. Even though I was going to school in my hometown, HSU felt like a world of its own, far from the Arcata I grew up in. I felt that my identity as a native of Arcata and a student at HSU were two separate worlds, even though in a geographic sense I was in the same place.

    HSU football games were one of the only times that these two worlds felt one and the same. The games became some of the only times where I saw both students and local community members in the same place, at the same time, rooting for the same team. People from Arcata and Los Angeles alike, all rooting for the Jacks.

    It wasn’t just about the football team itself, but it was how football brought the entire community together. Getting rid of the football team felt like severing one of the last ties between the campus community and the local community.

    The only good news I can gather from this is that the Redwood Bowl is actually seeing more football this season than when the HSU football team was active. My alma mater, College of the Redwoods will be playing their football games at the Redwood Bowl starting on October 5, and both Arcata High and McKinleyville High are playing their football games on campus as well.

    I hope that someday HSU football will be brought back, but in the meantime, all of the other HSU athletes that are still here deserve our full support. Go Jacks!

  • OPINION: What’s in the black hole?

    OPINION: What’s in the black hole?

    Will you be ready for whatever is to come with, or even out of black holes?

    Earlier this month the science community exploded when the first images of a black hole were taken. This new development got me thinking, what’s in the black hole?

    Until this photo no one knew what an actual black hole looked like. Scientists weren’t even completely sure they existed, it was all a theory.

    Some people think if we go into a black hole we’ll just die. Others believe that going into a black hole will take us into another dimension in time or space.

    I want to have some fun and make some guesses to what I think is the black hole. One guess is that when we go into the black hole, we’ll end up on a new foreign land filled with aliens who all look like Beyoncé.

    Another theory is maybe after getting sucked into a black hole, we could all come out like Looney Toon characters or deformed in some way.

    What I truly believe is that there is nothing on the other side of black holes. Maybe, if you fall into a black hole you just never come out. What if there is no end point to a black hole? The universe is always expanding and growing, what if black holes just keep growing?

    What is also interesting about this discovery is how spot-on the pictures of digitized or drawn black holes are. I mean, the movie “Interstellar” was spot on compared to the real image of the black hole. This is not the first time Hollywood has eerily predicted future events before they happen. Which is a whole other opinion, for a different day.

    Whatever ends up being in the black hole will be a question that I may or may not be alive to see answered. I think while we’re doing all this exploring in space people should be ready for whatever comes our way.

  • New Netflix series ‘Thirteen Reasons Why” sparks controversy

    New Netflix series ‘Thirteen Reasons Why” sparks controversy

    By Erin Chessin

    Last month, Netflix turned Jay Asher’s New York Times Bestseller, “Thirteen Reasons Why”, into a popular new series, but not everyone is excited about the outcome. The show has received high ratings and critical acclaim for its cinematography, but people are having different interpretations based on whether they read the books prior to watching the series. Those who have only watched the series are not grasping the brutal struggle with mental illness compared to those who read the books–the extreme differences between the series and Asher’s 2007 novel are apparent.

    The biggest changes are within the main character’s portrayal, Hannah Baker, something fans of the book are displeased with. Netflix’s “Thirteen Reasons Why” tells the story of a high school teenager, Clay Jensen, who finds a box of tapes mysteriously on his doorstep one day. He listens to the tapes, which turn out to be a recorded suicide confession from Baker, who committed suicide two weeks prior. There are thirteen tapes, each are meant for a specific person who contributed to her decision to take her own life.

    Grace Hall, a freshman environmental science major at HSU, is disappointed to see various differences between the series and the novel she admires.

    “The series portrayed the story a lot differently,” said Hall. “People are watching it and are not having the right discussions about it later.”

    Hall believes Baker is depicted as “whiny” and “a drama queen” in the series, which is not the same character she remembered from the book.

    “It doesn’t highlight the fact that she has a mental illness,” said Hall. “In fact, it’s never even mentioned that she was depressed.”

    Some argue Netflix changed too much within the plots, characters and storytelling. For example, the story is told by Jensen in the TV series, whereas Baker narrates all thirteen episodes in the novel. Also, Jensen and Baker are not close in the book, but they are undeniably friends in the series.

    Taylor Walters, a freshman business major at HSU, did not read the novel and said she did have a good impression of Baker’s character.

    “What I gathered from the show was that she blamed everyone else for her problems when she was the one who caused them,” said Walters.

    Walters said the issues that Baker dealt with are common and happen to a lot of teenagers.

    “Watching this made me angry,” said Walters. “These are things that happen to a lot of high school kids.”

    HSU senior and environmental science major, Andie LeDesma, is upset with how Baker is portrayed on the show.

    “Because they didn’t mention that the girl had a mental illness, I wouldn’t be surprised if people said she was whiny or overdramatic,” said LeDesma. “A person who has depression is going to react differently to bullying versus a person who doesn’t have depression.”

    LeDesma believes it is important for Netflix viewers to be aware of the main character’s mental illness, otherwise the story gets misconstrued.

  • Perception, bias, division and expression  

    Perception, bias, division and expression  

    By|Joe DeVoogd

    Hippy.  Redneck.  Sheltered.  Blow-hard.  Egg-headed.  Bat-shit.  One word can say it all:  Perception: how one views itself in relation to the other.  Labels inform our reality and that fact all too often goes unconsidered in our day to day.  It’s about time we revisited the whole subject in a time of such political inhospitality.  

    I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t leave my front door thinking everything I know is wrong.  I like to think that my assertions are adequately rationalized.  Yet, presented with information that stands to challenge those assertions, it becomes far easier to dismiss than to discuss.  Perhaps this because we never want to be wrong, or maybe it’s the product of our binary sense of morality.  Let’s try not to get wrapped up in an epistemological quandary.  What we believe informs greatly our identity, how we express ourselves, how we present ourselves, and more importantly who we place our confidence in.

    We humans are creatures of curiosity.  When we don’t understand something, we seek to understand.  Man’s need to root out the truth, whatever the cost; to build upon a body of knowledge passed down for generations is how humanity moved out of the Dark Ages and into enlightenment.  There are those, however, who merely seek validation and not truth.  The types of people who will defend a demonstrably wrong idea just because it aligns with their philosophy. One will come up with a hypothesis, and run with it without testing it because the conclusion feels good.  This is called bias, and of this crime we’re all guilty.

    While we dispense arguments that don’t fit our world view, we can also discount the people that pose such arguments based on how they present themselves.  Is it just a coincidence that people in cliques tend to dress similarly?  You may see a die-hard conservative wearing Birkenstocks, but would that align with his identity?  Probably not.  In fact such a choice would likely estrange him from those who think like him, and lump him in with the “incorrect” thinking people.

    We all work from the bias of our perceptions.  It doesn’t matter what political stance you may take.  Prejudice can be applied socially as well as racially.  It’s happens when we stop perceiving others as complex sentient beings and start thinking of them as manifest attitudes, expressions and practices that run contrary to our personal point of view.

    We do it with our media as well. At least 35 percent of adult Americans say they get their news feed from social media. And Facebook and Twitter are perfectly designed for the cherry-picker in everyone.  The algorithm behind these sites learns what you pages you should subscribe to for the “news” you like, the people you will want to follow, and dismiss everything else.  This positive feedback effect, a by-product of our comfortability within our info-spheres, is further galvanizing the political ideologies further apart from each other, narrowing our perceptions.

    You may say that distancing yourself from people and news outlet that don’t fit your view is a win win.  The problem is that while this improves our ability to defend the ideas we agree with, it appears to dull the human instinct of healthy skepticism, and this has led to fanaticism on both sides of the aisle.  Find me a moderate politician that people can get excited enough about to win the White House today.  I’ll wait.

    The perfect storm hits when our perceptions of one another and our biases lead us to express our division from each other.  I don’t think I need to tell you that freedom of expression is increasingly becoming a touchy subject.  With violent protest breaking out between the far-right, and the far-left, snafus like the XL pipeline, Republican lawmakers are drafting anti-protesting legislation in 18 different states; abridging the liberty to express oneself freely and peacefully.  Our own president, has condemned protesters and equated news outlets like CNN and the Washington Post to tabloids.  You may argue that they’re trying to enact those laws to limit general disruption and destruction of property.  I get that.  Here’s the rub.  After these states enact these laws, what will happen when the political pendulum swings the other direction?  The right will want to express themselves peacefully, and they won’t be able to.  It’s not leveling the playing field, it’s repressing dissent, and that is an exercise in thought control.

    Ultimately we need reach out to one another, and indulge in other points of view occasionally.  Where we cannot reconcile our differences we must still seek to respect one another as people.  It benefits nobody to berate and lambaste people for the way they identify or how they express themselves.  If you ever catch yourself saying ‘Liberals are ____’ or ‘Conservatives are ____’ remind yourself that these are biased perspectives .  (Besides you haven’t met them all, have you?)

  • A letter to the non-racist people

    A letter to the non-racist people

    by Alexandria Hasenstab

    Congratulations on not being racist! We know resisting your natural instinct to be racist is no easy task. You deserve to be acknowledged for all the non-racist things you do.

    Do like Drake, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar? Everyone knows that if you enjoy black performers you can’t possibly be racist. You might even try becoming knowledgeable about black culture. Everyone is copying style, dance, words and music from black culture anyways. If you’re able to name all four aspects of hip hop culture, but you’ve never shown support for the black community, it’s okay, mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery.

    Maybe you eat tacos or even venture out and try mexican candy, you know, the spicy kind. Afterall, if you enjoy aspects of another race’s culture, then you’re not racist.

    And if you went so far as to acquire a friend that is a different race than you, then you get double points. They might not be your best friend, maybe they’re a friend of a friend who you would never hang out with one-on-one, but hey, it counts.

    Have you ever told an Asian person they should be better at math or piano or karate? I mean come on, that’s not racist, those are positive stereotypes.

    Maybe you’ve walked by a Muslim person and didn’t put your head down in an extremely awkward manner, maybe you even managed a smile. Well pat yourself on the back cause you deserve it.

    Do you like to make negative comments about white people? That’s okay because reverse racism doesn’t exist, so we can forget about individual people’s feelings.

    You’ve used the hashtag #alllivesmatter? Of course it wasn’t to take the focus off an oppressed group and make it about yourself, it’s because you truly so not racist that you care about everyone equally. It’s so unfair to focus on one problem at a time. I mean how can we ethically have a breast cancer awareness month when all illnesses matter.

    You slept with a person of color? You are definitely not racist. Everyone knows that having sex with someone and then telling everyone about it is the ultimate sign of respect.

    So once again, congratulations on not being racist. Go on and tell the world, because nothing says “I’m not racist” like repeatedly telling people that you’re not racist.

     

    Sincerely,

    Your conscience

     

    P.S.

    You might not be racist because racism is a social system, not an individual’s characteristic, but you are most likely prejudice. All sarcasm aside, we have to acknowledge our own prejudice in order to become more open-minded and accepting people. You should not be congratulating yourself for not being blatantly racist. Becoming defensive when prejudice is brought up will not make you less prejudice. Claiming that you are not racist will not make you less prejudice. Admitting that you are prejudice and being conscious of what factors have caused you to be prejudice is the first step to change.

     

  • Letters from Pelican Bay

    Letters from Pelican Bay

    When I first got interested in the criminal justice system, I began following community leaders throughout the nation who were involved in the reform movement. One person I began following was Glenn E. Martin, founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA and a formerly incarcerated individual. JustLeadershipUSA is an organization committed to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. Their mission is to empower the people most affected by incarceration to drive policy reform. One of their biggest campaigns was #closeRikers, which was a battle to close Rikers Island, New York City’s main jail complex. It is a facility notoriously known for its brutal treatment and violation of human rights. As Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, stated, “Rikers Island is a whirlpool of poverty, incarceration, and injustice.”

    Throughout Rikers Island history, there have been many cases and controversies regarding conditions and treatment. One case involved Kalief Browder who was arrested for stealing a backpack. Since he was underage during his arrest he was placed in solitary confinement for his ‘protection.’ After serving 3 years, he was released without charge, but it was clear his incarceration had took a toll on his overall well being. He failed his first suicide attempt shortly after his release. Unfortunately, after a second attempt he ended his life.

    While his case is not reflective of all cases, it does serve as an example of the faults at Rikers Island and in our criminal justice system as a whole.

    After years of advocating, organizing, and protesting JustLeadershipUSA celebrated a victory this past Friday, March 21, when New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to close the facility.

    “It will take many years. It will take many tough decisions along the way, but it will happen,” de Blasio said at a City Hall press conference.

    While no specifics were given, Mayor de Blasio did say it would take roughly 10 years to close the detention facility and it would require reducing the jail population.

    So why does something that happened across the country matter to us?

    Personally, it serves as inspiration and on a larger scale it provides a model for us to follow. California currently has 123 county jails which are used to house inmates awaiting trial or those who are sentenced to one year or less. Our jails like many across the nation are overcrowded with mentally ill inmates or people awaiting trial simply because they cannot afford bail or solid legal representation. Over 12 million people funnel through our jails annually and if California is rethinking prisons, it must rethink jails.

    Right now, the goal of majority of criminal justice reform advocates along with JustLeadershipUSA is to cut the incarcerated population in half by 2030. That is going to take some serious coalition building and community organizing which the citizens of New York engaged in. Reducing incarceration in jails and prisons requires addressing homelessness, education, public benefits, employment, and the stigmatization of formerly incarcerated individuals. If New York can successfully close down its largest jail, then California can begin to close down its local jails.

  • Act like a man

    Act like a man

    Reinforcing negative gender roles
    by|Domanique Crawford


    During Women’s History Month, there always seems to be a resurgence of  phrases circulating that hold the theme “act like a man.” These phrases express that woman should work to be more aggressive and rude rather than their usual sweet selves. These type of quotes are a disservice to both man and women.
    This kind of quote reinforces typical stereotypes facing males and females. That women are not as smart and as strong as men, that we are emotional homebodies. For men, these quotes install the idea that they always have to be in charge and always need to maintain strict control of their emotions.
    One of the popular quotes circulating the web is “look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss.” I have no idea when this quote started popping up. However, when I first read it, it instantly made me angry. One of those moments when blood rushes to your eyes and your heart starts beating to such dizzying speeds that if you don’t calm down, you are likely to pass out. It took me a while to dissect every single reason this particular phrase irritated me. 
    I’m not even going to touch on the little girl remark because the heart attack would be imminent. As to the rest, act how you want to act and think for yourself. If someone hates you for it, then they are not worth your time. These type of negative comparisons reinforce the idea that you have to adhere to certain gender roles and ultimately defeats the point such phrases are trying to inspire; to encourage women to feel free to be themselves no matter the judgment we face. 
    Each decade, women seem to do more and more to become more “manly”. Back in the day, the focus was on obtaining the status man held not conforming or adhering to specific gender roles. For the generations of women, this meant different things. In the 1920’s, women worked for the right to vote. In WWII, women were sent to work in factories. Shortly after this time, women allowed to be enlisted personnel in the military and never have we, in any of these situations, allowed ourselves to be seen as anything other than women.
    Women changed how the world looks at work relations, family relations, reproductive rights, and human rights. Women have brought about stability in a world that seems to be forever changing. We should celebrate our past and present achievements and not get caught up in false equivalencies that are counterintuitive to our goals.