4 - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com 0 1 4 Tuesday, November12, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom * L71 4Aa tc44btoan 4latly Why race still matters Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MELANIE KRUVELIS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. FROM T HE DAILY Listening to the homeless Long- and short-term solutions needed for persistent problem n election day, a group of protestors who call themselves "Camp Misfit" rallied against current local homelessness policies, citing an incident this past summer in which Ann Arbor police ordered about 20 of Washtenaw County's 3,000-4,000 homeless people to pack up their belongings from behind a Kroger and find a new location. That incident wasn't isolated: In June 2012, "Camp Take Notice" - a known community of homeless people - was also shut down after Ann Arbor Police cited the camp for trespassing violations. Under current protocol, local authorities gave them 48 hours to completely evacuate the area. The evicted group are calling for an expanision of the current policy, asking for a five-day notice in lieu of the two-day notice, as well as eviction documentation from property owners and immediate contact with social service agencies. The city, along with the rest of Washtenaw County, should renew efforts to provide better assistance to homeless people in the future. Consider the African, circa 1550 A.D. or so. He's cap- tured by a rival tribe, sold to European traders, chained and put on a ship bound for the Americas. If he stays alive, he'll likely be soldy off to -a planta- tion in the Deep South to work JAMES the land. The BRENNAN rest of his days are spent till- ing fields, picking crops and doing whatever else his masters and han- dlers require of him. He may find a wife, marry and have children. His, children, however, are not his own - neither is his wife. They belong to his master, and are treated as a commodity. His wife will possibly be raped, and there's nothing he can do to stop it. Since before the dawn of the republic, this system was the norm for the vast majority of Blacks living in America. I don't call them "Black Americans" for a reason - they were not Americans. They were Africans brought and forced to live in America, but with none of the rights and privileges of their white counterparts. As Malcolm X once said, "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us." At the end of the Civil War, legal slavery was brought to an end, more than 300 years after the first slave was brought to the United States. While slavery may have ended with Reconstruction, the nightmare was justbeginning. With the remov- al of Union troops from the South, a new racial caste system was created in the form of segregation. For the better part of a century, the United States remained a nation of gov- ernment-endorsed inequality. Even after the Slaughter-House cases, even after Brown v. Board of Edu- cation and even after violent race- riots in New York, Detroit, Watts, Calif. and dozens segregation remain Civil Rights Act an Act ended many oft Jim Crow, but racia far from over. Interracial marri ruled unconstitutio and racial profiling ity and race-based h well past the civil r the passage of the C the federal governs ward to implemen tunity requirement and schools, while, mative action in job Today, Black Ame to underachieve it major statistical c unemployment is double that of white is around quadruple Moreover, Blacks o 7 percent of the na es, and Black-owi account for only hal of all U.S. earnings. So why are Bl excluding a handfu ers, so far behind whole? There are two main rea- sons. The first is -lingering rac- ism and racially biased systems that claim to be colorblind. Hous- ing and schools remain largely segregated, while of other cities, causes of Black inequality. Think ed intact. The of history like a race, where Black d Voting Rights Americans were not even allowed the remnants of to start running until after 1964. J inequality was Even once they left the starting line, they faced hurdles and challenges age laws weren't. that their white counterparts did nal until 1967, not: discrimination, racial profil- , police brutal- ing, poor schooling, de facto seg- tiring continued regation, and a lack of connections -ights era. With and money. Ending discrimination ivil Rights Act, allowed Black Americans to start nent moved for- running with policies like affirma- t equal oppor- tive action meant to give them the s for employers boost they need to catch up with endorsing affir- whites. s and education. The greatest crime in human his- ricans continue tory was .committed against Black n almost every Americans, and lasted more than ategory: Black 300 years. For nearly a century after typically about the end of slavery, Blacks were still s,.while poverty relegatedtothebottomrungofsoci- the white rate. ety. That adage about it being much wn only around easier to destroy something than tion's business- build it? Let's just say that expect- ned businesses ing 50 years of progress to over- f of one percent come 400 plus years of slavery and discrimination is far too optimistic. ack Americans, To say that racism has no serious 1 of overachiev- presence in American life is laugh- the pack as a able. To claim that the best way to end racism is to stop talk- To claim the best ing about race is just as ludi- way to end racism is crous - race is exactly what to stop talking about has . always driven inequal- * race is ludicrous. ity. Slavery was based on skin color, and so As it stands, the 48-hour period before homeless men and women are'forced to relo- cate isn't enough. According to protester Sheri Wander, "It's dangerous if you don't have time to take your stuff with you... If you only have a few hours or one day's notice, that leaves you vulnerable to the elements and crime." The local police argue that this is simply standing protocol; however, that protocol isn't in tune with the difficulties associated with relocat- ing. Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, told MLive that the shelter is full. Even when more beds are introduced under the, winter program, Schulmeister said those beds will be taken quickly. The requested five-day notice will give them more time to evaluate their options with the limited available options. Camp Misfit is also asking for a social services agency to be told when an eviction occurs, as well as a written request from the owners of the property that the homeless people were occupying. Increasing commu- nication between police and these agencies can help ensure that social services can offer the appropriate services as soon as possible and connect the homeless with resources to help them find jobs and a permanent home. It also allows these agencies to compile data of current homeless populations with the hopes of generating long-term action to aid the homeless. While these options may seem like quick fixes, the proposed changes not only give the affected population what they want, but they also offer long-term impacts to a persisting problem. While the changes do address very specific needs for the county's homeless residents, more work needs to be done to ensure that there are permanent solutions instead of tem- porary camps. While there are shelters in the county, they are more than 10 miles away from Ann Arbor - inaccessible for those without adequate transportation. If the city want to ensure that homeless people throughout the county have a place to live, then the scope of housing options needs tobe expanded. While the Shelter Association provides employment assistance, it's clear that more action is required to reduce homelessness across Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Access to opportunities for jobs, job interviews and application coaching are necessary to pre- pare the homeless for alife after homelessness. subconscious racial bias plays a powerful role in the everyday judg- ments individuals make about each other, from job interviews to the court room. The second cause of Black under- achievement is a failure to compre- hend the immensity of the problem at hand and directly address it. While busing and affirmative action programs have been a noble attempt at righting the wrongs of the past, they have failed to attack the root was Jim Crow. In addressing the outcomes of these institutions, race must be the driving force. To tell a group of people who were literally shackled for hundreds of years that "the laws says now you're equal, work harder and stop complain- ing about the past" does not make a person racially colorblind - it just makes them blind. - James Brennan can be reached at jmbthree@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, James Brennan, Eric Ferguson, Jordyn Kay, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe Centuries of oppression It sjust hair ... right? Saturday night, I s Years a Slave." Like movie left me spee chronicles the journey of Solomon Northup, a free . man living in New York who is kidnapped and sold in the South as a slave. Throughout the movie, we watch Northup go from master to master as he's subjected to the horrors of an institution that consid- ers him nothing more than a piece of property. The movie brings to ligi oppressionand dailytraumastl - broken-up families, brutal I petual illiteracy. Needless to s challenges the emotionally feeb it forces us, as Americans, to c ties of a bitter period in our his nowadays is often brushed over A Telegraph article describ ing that while it forces the confront bitter truths of its his most telling that it took . over 150 years and one Brit- ish director to do so. We like to think we live in a post-racial America. The slave trade, systematic oppression, racism - these are all things of our coun- try's past. We fought a Civil War to abolish slavery, we created a constitutional amendment to guarantee equal protection,we had the C ment to combat discrimination In this "post-racial Americ like: "Slavery happened so i been abolished. Why keep past?" or "My generation was slavery was happening. We we system, so why should we apo We continue to argue that tc try, every individual regardles right to vote, racial slurs are fr we have laws that prohibit se crimination on the basis of r elected our first African Am By this point, of course we're should just take "race"out of th And that's how we deceivec It's always difficult to con tices, and even more so when1 in our own communities ant aw the movie "12 necessary to understand that while laws may many others, the change, people's mindsets often persist. chless. The filrm While slavery is abolished and there are legal protections for minorities in place, the con- sequences of institutionalized oppression are far from over. Disadvantages continue to persist for certain groups of people. Social indicators show that specific minority populations, such as African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics, are disproportionately affected by disparities in edu- HARSHA cational achievement, income levels and health. NAHATA In some areas of the South, income inequality continues to mirror the social hierarchy of slav- ery, with most of the wealth remaining in the ht the struggles, handsofthelandowners.Andpsychologicaldivi- hatslavesendured sionsabetweenraces continue to persist. lashings and per- We aren't done dealing with the ramifications ay, it's a film that of our historical past. For when a group of people le, and in doing so is subjected to a system of oppression for as long onfront the reali- as slavery persisted, the process of reconciliation tory, a period that extends far beyond the law. r. Reconciliation has to happen at the commu- tes the film, stat- nity level, the local level and the personal level. United States to Dehumanization and oppression of a population story, it's perhaps doesn't just inflict physical torture, it leaves long term scarring psychologi- cal impacts. It disenfran- chises people, meaning' W e aren't done that even after they may dealing with the be "free," they struggle to find their voice within ramifications of our a society. Reconciliation means providing a pro- historical past. cess to understand the truths of people's experi- ence, while showing them respect and humility. It's ivil Rights Move- . been 150 years, and yet we still have to have n. some of those difficult conversations. a" we say things I've heard a lot of my friends complain to ong ago, and it's me about history classes. They. argue that focusing on the there's no point in dwelling on events that have n't around when already happened and people that have already ren't a part of the passed away. But, as this movie reminds me, logize for it?" studying history isn't just about memorizing oday, in our coun- the facts of the past. It is about knowing what s of race has the has happened before so we can better under- rowned upon and stand where we are now. gregation or dis- Slavery is just one example, and the one race. We've even I focus on because of the movie. But many erican president. present-day social or political problems are all equal. And we rooted in past policies or trends. If we want e equation.Right? to solve them, we have to understand the his- ourselves. torical baggage that may come with them. front huge injus- they've occurred - Harsha Nahata can be reached d nation. But it's at hnahata@umich.edu. y mom always says, "It's just hair," but Culture- with-a-capital-C seems to suggest oth- erwise. In the Bible's Book of Judges, Sam- son loses his strength when his hair is cut. Chris Rock dedi- cated a whole documentary to hair. And I nod- ded in agree- ment when my ZOE STAHL friend observed that the most popu- lar kids at our all-girls high school had "pretty hair." I'm sure that at this very moment a sociology major is typing out a thesis on the intersec- tion of hair, identity and sexuality. On Halloween, I decided to dye my own hair. Sitting nervously in the middle of my bathroom, I watched as my friend Caitlin coated the tips of my dark brown hair in thick red goo that the box assured would dry to a deep reddish-purple. I can't dissect and analyze all the reasons behind this relatively out- of-character decision, but I have a vague idea. I dyed my hair because I was bored of my style, which hasn't changed noticeably since seventh grade. I dyed my hair because as a college senior - feeling more than a little confined by 17 years of aca- demic work and the job search - I was trying to recapture something that was youthful and carefree. I did it because at age 8, I loved it when my counselor Dylan dyed the bottom of her black hair magenta and because I still loved it, at age 21, when both my younger sister and eldest cousin did. I wanted in on that lineage. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't include Lake Bell's character from "In A World" in my order, quoting psychologist Renee decision-making process. Cohen: "When someone has disso- Though at first I felt a bit like a ciative identity disorder each iden- walking Kerrytown cliche, I admit- tity is split off from the other." tedly enjoyed life post hair-dye. I And when Miley cut her hair heard the word "cool" a lot more short, the Twittersphere blew up. than usual. But even better than @judgementalbitch wrote "Is Miley the obligatory compliments was Cyrus pulling a Britney Spears when I was meeting new people - to get attention with her awful each time, it felt like a mini-social haircut?" and @rockingmytiara experiment. With this look, these tweeted "Miley practically pulled a just-met acquaintances could and Britney. #ThisIsNotOkay. Goodbye did make assumptions of how sup- Princess Hair" posedly "quirky" and "eccentric" Even Jennifer Lawrence, Pame- I was. But their first impressions la Anderson and Emma Watson were followed quickly by their couldn't escape the crazy, petty and surprise upon realizing just how "aretheylesbians?"talk.AndasMary square I really am. Elizabeth Williams wrote in Salon, Soon the novelty (and the semi- "Longhair represents femininity and permanent vegan Manic Panic vulnerability and sex. It's princesses "Vampire Red" hair dye) began to and mermaids and porn stars. Short wear off, and in its place grew the hair, on the other hand, says, 'If you realization that I was part of a larg- think I'm gorgeous, great, but this er narrative about women and hair, isn't about you, pal."' Even more, women and identity, and women women doing something for them- and sexuality. My younger sister, the selves rather than others was consid- same one who had ered a violation dyed her hair just of accepted six months before, Women doing norms. told me it meant I To some was going through something for degree, I get a "life-crisis." "I themselves is a it. We all rely am sorry, but it's on visual cues true," she insisted. violation -of accepted and heuristics My friend Danny to craft seem- agreed - "It's not norms. ingly logical like you are going narratives. through a break- These stories up. I like it, but what is this - some help us make sense of our experi- quarter-life crisis?" ences and the people we encounter. All these reactions felt eerily But women flouting beauty stan- similar. I had inadvertently placed dards doesn't mean their looks, myself in a larger narrative - one sanity or sexuality should be ques- with the Britneys and Mileys of the tioned. Because you know what? As world. When Britney shaved her my mom says, at the end of the day, head in 2007, everyone - myself it's just hair. included - called her crazy. People Magazine even ran an article sug- - Zoe StahI can be reached gesting she had a personality dis- at zoestahl@umich.edu. 0 0 0 INTERESTED IN THE ISSUES? POLITICS? 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