The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Womens Rights

  • Students show out in solidarity for El Salvador

    Students show out in solidarity for El Salvador

    by Alana Hackman and Carlos Pedraza

    Cal Poly Humboldt students and Arcata residents gathered around the plaza Thursday, April 7 in solidarity with El Salvador. The event was led by Klara Hernandez, a senior environmental studies student at Cal Poly Humboldt. Hernandez organized the event through her senior project and organization Eko Social Justice. Hernandez was also joined by Centro de Pueblo, an immigrant rights organization for Southern Indigenous communities also joined the event.

    Photo by Carlos Pedraza | Gathered crowd looks on during the speech at the Arcata Plaza on April 7.
    Photo by Carlos Pedraza | Gathered crowd looks on during the speech at the Arcata Plaza on April 7.

    The protest began at 4 p.m. and carried on into the evening around 6 p.m. Hernandez walked to the center of the plaza megaphone in hand and began her speech with a land acknowledgment and thoughtful address to her family who fled to the U.S. from El Salvador. Hernandez called for solidarity with the people of El Salvador and pointed out problems of racial discrimination against Indigenous and Afro-Salvadorian citizens as they are forced to adopt Spanish culture.

    Hernandez also addressed abortion laws in El Salvador and the rising violence and femicide rates in the country.

    “They imprison [women] even if it’s not your fault the baby didn’t make it,” Hernandez said.

    She continued to speak against many problems, including corporations privatizing and contaminating water, Bitcoin being adopted as their main currency is hurting those who don’t have access to it, and the LGBTQ+ community facing discrimination and violence in the country.

    An attendee of the protest was Alice Turk who heard of the protest from social media. The women’s rights issues spoke to her most and she feels people need to stand in solidarity with women everywhere.

    “I think the fact it’s a crime to have [an] abortion is something that needs to change, it’s a problem that is happening all over the place,” Turk said.

    Cal Poly Humboldt students Ben Cross and Evina Romero came out to the event also after being sent the social media post by friend and Cal Poly Humboldt psychology major Cheyanne Elam. Elam found out about the event through a class and was attending to learn more about what she can do for the people of El Salvador. All agreed it was important to use their privilege to be at this event and show their support for the citizens of El Salvador.

    “Immigrants from El Salvador and all over South America are being turned away at our borders, and the U.S. really has the ability to rectify these things,” said Cross.

    Photo by Carlos Pedraza | Klara Hernandez gives her speech to crowd while standing in the center of the plaza at the Arcata Plaza on April 7.

    Hernandez ended her initial speech with a call to action toward environmental justice and immigration rights for all. The crowd wavered cheers and screams from around the plaza flashing cardboard signs reading, “U.S. out of El Salvador,” “Women’s rights in El Salvador,” and “Indigenous sovereignty in El Salvador.” The signs were written in both English and Spanish. Hernandez mentioned her organization, Eko Social Justice, and that this event is an effort to use her voice for good and represent her home country of El Salvador in Humboldt County before her graduation and departure to Los Angeles this May.

    “The [Salvadorian] community is so tiny here that these things don’t get addressed. It’s like we’re invisible in this area so I wanna speak it out,” Hernandez said.

    Hernandez will be holding an art show at Brainwash Thrift Thursday, April 21 in solidarity with El Salvador. The event will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will include Hernandez’s own photography and art.

  • Defunding women’s rights

    Defunding women’s rights

     

    By|Domanique Crawford

    Don’t spit on my cupcake and call it frosting, don’t urinate on my leg and tell me it’s raining, and don’t make laws restricting my access to healthcare and claim it’s to protect my taxpayer money.

    On March 30, Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote on a measure that effectively defunds Planned Parenthood [PPFA]. The new legislation allows states to withhold federal funding from PPFA and other healthcare programs that provide abortion services.

    Congress first had to agree to rollback on Department of Health and Human Services rule established under the Obama administration that prohibited cutting funds from Title X family planning grants to community health centers because they offer abortion services.

    Despite what the new administration thinks, these programs are not secret baby killing factories. In fact, abortion services are only 3 percent of PPFA’s total services according to the PPFA fact sheet. Regardless of your feelings on abortion, defunding health clinics like PPFA means limiting women’s access to affordable healthcare.

    More and more the Trump administration and state lawmakers seem to be passing laws restricting women’s right under the guise of de-funding abortion services. When clearly, this is another strike against women’s right to equality.

    Even if critics of clinics like PPFA, are afraid of these programs using taxpayer money to fund abortion services, they could just as easily form greater stipulations and regulations monitoring the usage of such resources rather than then simply defunding it. As usually seen with this administration, they defunded another program without a clear plan in sight for all of the low-income people rejected healthcare services by the bill. An attitude that says the Trump administration doesn’t actually care about what happens to women.

    Lawmakers are using a highly controversial issue of abortion to push laws that subjugate women and classify us as second class citizens unable maintain our simplest values. The right to govern or own bodies.

    Pro-choice is simply your right to choose. I respect pro-lifers decision to have a child despite the physical harm the pregnancy can cause the mother, the mental and physical conditions of the baby, and the determination to have a child despite the circumstance of conception through natural conception or through sexual assault.

    I don’t condone pro-lifers forcing their ideals on the rest of us by threatening our access to healthcare. Pro-lifers are free to make that choice for themselves. However, to enforce those options on someone else is barbaric. What’s worse, is punishing women who depend on these Title X services for access to pregnancy care other than abortions, contraceptives, STD/STI testing and treatment, etc.

    If the government were really worried about protecting taxpayer money rather than restricting women’s right, then they would have installed greater measures that guarantee taxpayer money isn’t going towards paying for abortion services. That is what regulatory agencies are for.