The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, October 2; 2012 - 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, October 2, 2012 - 5 Hip-hop artists discuss, Islamic musical culture Resistance movements plays role in developing musical stylings By KATIE SZYMANKSI Daily StaffReporter About 60 students took out their ear buds and learned from the artists on their playlists firsthand about the unique con- nection between music and the Islamic religion at an event at Rackham Amphitheatre on Mon- day night. The Islam & Hip Hop Panel Discussion: The 5 Pillars & The 5 Elements - sponsored by the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs and developed by Hip Hop Congress, a University orga- nization that utilizes hip-hop culture to spark social action, and the Muslim Students' Asso- ciation -addressed the historical link between hip hop and Islam. The event featured a question and answer session with Muslim hip-hop artists One Be Lo and Langston Luv. Amer Ahmed, the associate director of MESA, emceed the event, opening with a rap greet- ing and moving into an in-depth lecture on the interconnected- ness of hip hop and the Islamic community throughout history. The presentation discussed moments of struggle that helped shape hip hop's creation, includ- ing the slave trade involving the Islamic population from West Africa. Ahmed's presentation highlighted' how the Islamic faith was part of the guiding ide- als of African-American culture in North America, because both groups spoke against resistance. ADIDAS From Page 1 University places on ensur- ing that the workers who have been involved in manufactur- ing license products receive the assistance they require and have earned," Coleman wrote in the letter. Coleman's letter was addressed to Patrik Nilsson, the president 5 of Adidas America and Gregg Nebel, the head of the company's Social and Environmental Affairs department. Coleman wrote that she acted in response to the rec- ommendation of the University's Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights, which oversees the responsible use and reproduction of the Uni- versity's copyrighted logo. "Adidas has acted laudably in seeking and locating re-employ- ment for former P.T. Kizone work- ers and in pursuing improved enforcement of labor laws, and the University appreciates these efforts," Coleman wrote. "How- ever, it remains the committee's considered view that the compa- ny's response to the P.T. Kizone situation is inadequate. I accept the committee's assessment" Adidas spokeswoman Lauren Lamkin acknowledged that the company responded to Coleman's letter last week, but declined to release the reply letter. But she did say the workers' well-being is a concern for Adidas. "Importantly, we are mak- ing headway in leading industry efforts to develop sustainable business solutions that address the systemic root cause of unethical factory closures around the globe, and protecting workers impacted by them," the statement said. The apparel company said it works with governments, indus- try groups and other companies to investigate poor labor condi- tions in factories it contracts for manufacturing. "We work with hundreds of factories in our supply chain every year to ensure fair, healthy and safe working conditions," the company said. "We measure "There is a continuation of oral tradition and the delivery of these messages of identity, of reclaiming of identity, of resis- tance through the use of oral tra- dition," Ahmed said. He explained how the resis- tance movement fueled the cre- ation of a genre of music that embodied the same ideologies. "This culture of resistance was very much part of the iden- tity of people connected to Islam- based ideologies, but it was also part of the cultivation of hip-hop culture," Ahmed said. "Hip-hop culture is a counterculture; it's a resistance to hegemonic forces and systems of oppression." After Ahmed's introductory presentation, One Be Lo and Langston Luv appeared on a panel to answer questions and demonstrate their rapping tal- ents. Luv addressed how it can be difficult to be a hip-hop artist that also identifies as Muslim. "I'm almost fearful because I, don't want to become (or) appear as if I'm some poster-boy for Islam," Luv said. "I would misrepresent it personally; I do things that are maybe against the permissibility of Islam." He added that many well- known hip-hop artists such as Lupe Fiasco are associated with Islam and place Islamic refer- ences in their music. "The jewels that these people are sharing are a part of their gift and a part of their faith," Luv added. During the question and answer session, One. Be Lo described his process of convert- ing from Christianity to Islam, and how he. was introduced to Islamic faith during his time in prison. He explained how his original views towards Islamic faith changed during this time. "I was comingto Islam in stag- es," One Be Lo said. "When I first heard about Islam, I thought it was about 'The white man is the devil,' and when I started read- ing the Quran, (I learned) it was nothing like that. It was a real beautiful thing to me." In an interview after the event, One Be Lo said music is a universal language that is all encompassing. "Maybe we don't speak the same language and totally dif- ferent backgrounds, but we both like this beat," he said. LSA freshman Dakota DeGroot said he attended because of his interests in hip- hop music and Islam. "I like to write music (and) I write a lot of hip hop," DeGroot said. "It's something that I've really loved my entire life. On the religious side, I tend to believe in the general beliefs of Islam, so it's culminating two things that I feel strongly about into one event." LSA junior Yazan Kherallah, the MSA social justice and activ- ism committee chair, said the event was important for spread- ing knowledge about various aspects of Islam. "(The event) helps to give a greater awareness of what Islam is," Kherallah said. "It is not real- ly one dimensional. Islam relates to so many things." LSA junior Zach Kendall, the president of Hip Hop Congress, said the event was successful in uniting a variety of people from many backgrounds. "We like to get people in a space, in the name of hip hop," Kendall said. "We want to bring people together that wouldn't normally be in the same space ... for me, this was an extremely successful event." MEMOIR' From Page 1 the death knell for any profes- sional ambitions I might .have. And in the 1950s, he was statis- tically right, but he was wrong about me." The last chapter of her book boasts the title "Having It All." "What I mean by that is, look- ing back at my advanced age, I realized that I've been able to do what my father wanted me to do, which is use whatever intellectual capacities you have," Whitman said. "I managed to be very happily married for 56 years to the man I announced at the age of 17 I would marry. And we had two terrific children and two terrific grand- children. And so, in a sense, all * those expectations merged," she added. Using two distinct anecdotes, Whitman's second focus in the book is how society has changed during her lifetime. In the first, she describes how she was turned down for a prospective job oppor- tunity at IBM because the rfcruit- er saw she was engaged to be married. "I stood up and apologized for taking up his time and left," Whit- WEIBO From Page 1 Twitter had that capability," Foreman said. "Soit's really quite incredible." As a result of government restrictions, individuals living in China are prohibited from access- ing Twitter, Facebook or You- Tube, and turn to Weibo for their social networking fix. On Weibo, people make profiles to create and comment on 140-character Weibo posts, photos and videos that their followers can view. The University's Weibo profile currently has about 4,000 follow- ers, comprised primarily of peo- ple from Beijing and Shanghai. "(Weibo is) the mostimportant source of information for a large segment of the Chinese popula- tion," Foreman said. "Right now the most recent estimates are 400 million Chinese are using Weibo." According to Weibo analytics, Foreman said the University's Weibo site was the most influen- man said. "He was completely in his rights. I could have kicked and screamed on the floor and threw a fit, and it would have made abso- lutely no difference. There was no (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), nothing." The second anecdote dis- cusses Whitman's application to Princeton University for a Ph.D. in economics; the economics department invited her to apply, yet turned her down for a simple reason. "I went to see the president (of Princeton). And what the conver- sation boiled down to was, 'I'm so sorry, Mrs. Whitman, we can accept a student of your caliber, but we just don't have enough ladies' rooms.' "And I think the message for younger people, young women, but young people in general today, is that it is still within my lifetime that things have changed," Whit- man said. "It took the work of a lot of peo- ple to get there despite the fact that there are still plenty of prob- lems," she said. "And it's fragile; it could disappear. And I think in the current political environment the notion of that fragility, and the fact that it takes some work to make sure we move forward and not backward, is relevant." tial American university profile and ranked fourth among other global university Weibo sites. The University's Weibo, account also serves to attract prospective . students overseas and publicize the University's acclaimed programs, while also allowing alumni to remain con- nected. Foreman and Zhangsendthree posts a day and post pictures and videos regarding University mat- ters, deriving their content from campus life and University activ- ities. Foreman said the program attracts viewers of a wide age range of users, including parents and alumni. Foreman added that the page allows the University to promote school spirit overseas. "It's a great platform for engagement," Foreman said. "For example, during (the) Michi- gan-Alabama football game, I was (posting) quarterly scores on Weibo, and alumni in China started sending me pictures of parties that they were having." Foreman specifically noted Having served in such power- ful positions during her career, Whitman said the media was much 'to blame for continuing stereotypes about women in the workplace. "The very worst were the Fourth Estate," Whitnan said. "The press was appalling. Every headline was, 'Woman Econo- mist' Half of them would write things about my looks and my clothes and whether the family gerbil survived the trip to Wash- ington. I mean the press reports were about as sexist as you could get." In the gallery of the Hatcher Graduate Library on Tuesday, Whitman will read the prologue to "The Martian's Daughter," take questions and sign cop- ies of the book. There, one can ask about her dream job on the Council of Economic Advisors - and why she eventually chose to resign in 1973. "Like many people, I suc- cumbed to the vanity of thinking, 'Well, if rm involved in it, it'll do less harm than if someone else was involved,' "Whitman said. As hinted by the book's title - which references a nickname given to her father by his col- leagues - like Martian father, like Martian daughter. an instance last spring when he posted a photo of maize and blue cookies at a Ross School of Business graduation event. The photo was reposted by a Hong Kong investment banker who is a University alum with more than 10,000 followers, many of whom are former Ross students. "The coolest part of it was people started tweeting back to her, 'Oh, I didn't know you went to Ross.' This was great exposure for the University... That's what we're doing. We're tryingto raise the awareness of the University of Michigan overseas," Foreman said. University students who use Weibo feel that it has become an important part of their lives. Dang Shuodong, a Business and Engineering junior and a Chinese international student, said he has used Weibo since it first started. "I basically go on Weibo every single day," Dang said' "On Weibo, I tweet about college life ... other times I retweet other people's tweets." factories' performance, 'as well as our efficacy in resolving these issues." In the statement, Adidas announced that it has called for a summit of manufacturers, financing institutions, insurance experts and other firms in part- nership with the Global Forum for Sustainable Supply Chains, an industry advocacy group, to form a private insurance fund for workers affected by the factory closures and lack of compensa- tion. The forum is scheduled to take place in Switzerland later this month. Adidas claims the use of an insurance fund, which the com- pany is calling a "provident fund," will provide relief in coun- tries that require severance pay by law, but don't ensure employ- ers have sufficient funds to fulfill severance obligations. In addition to a job placement program and a $250,000 food aid program that Adidas said it has provided for the former employ- ees of P.T, Kizone, the company announced in the statement that 'it would pledge an additional $275,000 in humanitarian aid., "As a company, we are sym- pathetic to the plight of workers impacted by the unethical clo- sure of the P.T. Kizone factory in Indonesia," the statement said. "Although the Adidas Group had no business relationship with the factory for nearly six months prior to its closure, we are the leaders in the industry and, accordingly, the Adidas Group has directly dedicated more towards the for- mer P.T. Kizone workers than any other brand." In March, University students met with Nebel to discuss the con- troversy, asking the executive to leave after 30 minutes of intense questioning. At the time, Nebel said the meeting made no progress in find- ing a solution to concerns with the company's handling of the dis- pute. "That wasn't very respectful to just make me dismissed like that, and that is a little disconcerting," Nebel said. . United Students against Sweat- shops released aletter on Monday praising Coleman's recognition of, the issue with Adidas, but also criticizing her for not going far enough in "targeting the true problem." "As we have seen from past groundbreaking campaigns against Nike and Russell Athlet- ic, apparel brands only respond to universities making credible threats of contract loss if they fail to remediate their code of con- duct violations," the letter stated. "Given this reality, we call on you to put Adidas on notice, and if the company fails to pay the legally mandated severance within the contractual remediation period, then the University should termi- nate its $60 million contract with Adidas." The letter also stated that USAS took issue with the services that Adidas has offered to the for- mer P.T. Kizone employees, writ- ing that the food vouchers were a cheaper way of getting out of paying the actual severance pay owed to the workers. Public Policy senior Michael Guisinger, a member of USAS, said although the organization was pleased to see Coleman rec- ognizing the problem, they were dissatisfied that Coleman did not directly threaten the partnership. "We're not entirely satis- fied," Guisigner said. "It does not threaten actually severing the contract. What we wanted was for the University to say, 'If you don't do something about this, we're going to have to end ties with you.' There's none of that in the letter." In September, a representative of USAS presented the group's case before the University's Board of Regents at the board's month meeting. The University of Wisconsin and Cornell University have pre- viously expressed their concerns about Adidas' conduct in the P.T. Kizone case. Earlier this year, the University of Wisconsin- Madison sued Adidas, alleging it was not in compliance with its contract with the university. The Colombian president says he has developed prostate cancer Santos has a 97 percent chance of survival of neighborin Hugo Chavez, w to release m regarding the c identified last ye he has been treat BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Santos did n - Colombian President Juan when the cance Manuel Santos announced but he said it Monday that he has prostate his doctor int cancer. He said the tumor was a routine annua caught early and would be confirmed by removed this week. The 61-year-old Santos told reporters in announcing, the cancer at the presidential palace, his wife Maria , o)aua tts Clemencia at his side, that he 55 tlassa has a 97 percent chance of a full letre and recovery. nyonntt 7,34.l "It is not an aggressive cancer," Santos added. He said he planned to fly to Lima, Peru later Monday for a summit of South American and Arab leaders and then undergo surgery on his return to Bogota on Wednesday. Santos said the surgery would be performed under local anesthetic so he would not need to relinquish temporarily his presidential responsibilities. Santos said his doctors told him the surgery places him in no danger, "but they have recommended that after the surgery and after I leave the hospital, I don't travel for several weeks." He was also joined by his doctor, Felipe Gomez, who characterized Santos' situation as "common among men." The news comes two years into Santos' four-year term and with his government about to begin formal peace talks this month with Colombia's main leftist rebel group. Santos said his medical records would be completely public. That contrasts sharply with the president g Venezuela, 'ho has refused edical records ancer that was ar and for which ted in Cuba. ot say exactly r was detected was found by- Colombia after al physical and specialists at Memorial Sloan Kettering hosptial in New York during his visit last week for the U.N. General Assembly. "This could happenlto anyone. Prostate cancer is much more common than people imagine," said Santos. "I am calm because this cancer was detected very early thanks to my discipline in repeating medical exams year after year." The University's chapter of case is still under review. * FOLLOW THE DAILY ON TWITTER @michigandaily 4 a. I 0