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The Michigan Daily -- michigandailycom
Page 4A - Monday, September 29, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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MEGAN MCDONALD
PETER SHAHIN and DANIEL WANG KATIE BURKE
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR
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.
SAMUEL WEISS I
Police-militarization
A patriot against immigration?
Like many members of the University
community, I found the police response to
the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson,
Missouri, disturbing. Law enforcement's
militarized response to mostly peaceful
protestors made them look less like a
police force than an occupying army. Their
aggressive tactics sparkedprotests around the
country, including on the University's campus.
The issue of police militarization, however,
is not confined to Ferguson. Last week, MLive
reported that a University police officer was
suing the department for improperly using
a Department of Justice grant to purchase
below-standard body armor. Leaving aside
the merit of the suit, why is our campus police
department attempting to buy military-grade
body armor in the first place?
My current employer, the American
Civil Liberties Union, has documented
how America's police forces have become
militarized and the tragedies that have
too often resulted as a consequence. Police
departments do not buy military equipmenton
their ownbutinstead receive itthroughgrants
from the Department of Homeland Security
or Department of Justice, or simply are given
the equipment for free by the Department of
Defense. The federal agencies provide the
hardware with no training and little oversight.
The results can be absurd: small town police
departments across America have acquired
automatic rifles, armored personnel carriers,
bayonets and other objects designed for use on
a battlefield, not our neighborhoods.
A Detroit Free Press investigation revealed
that Michigan is not immune to the national
trend. The police of Dundee, Michigan,
obtained a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
Vehicle, built to protect soldiers from
improvised explosive devices and weighing
around 30,000 pounds, to serve its roughly
3,900 residents. Lake Angelus, Michigan,
obtained 13 military rifles despite its
department having a single full-time officer.
The consequences of these programs have
been tragic. Police departments with military
weapons increasingly use them not merely for
extreme circumstances but also for mundane
purposes such as serving drug warrants. In
one of countless harrowingexamples,aSWAT
teamin Lima, Ohiokicked down a door to look
for a suspected drug dealer. He was not home,
but the police nonetheless opened fire on
Tarika Wilson, his girlfriend, as she held her
infant son. The infant survived his injuries but
Ms. Wilson did not. In addition to the many
victims of individual errors by militarized
police, their use of military equipment and
tactics undermine public confidence in the
police, which in the longrun is agreaterthreat
to public safety than the rare circumstance in
which military equipment could possibly be
useful.
As is so often true with our criminal justice
system, the burdens of our militarized police
disproportionately fall on the poor and peo-
ple of color. This disparity was on display in
Ferguson and empirical examinations of the
deployment of SWAT teams have confirmed
that their use is inordinately against marginal-
ized communities. African American students
on Michigan's campus, through efforts such as
the Being Black at the University of Michigan
campaign, have recently been articulating the
ways that students of color can still feel like
second-class citizens on campus, among them
being increased suspicion from the police
towards students of color. Equipment that
encourages more distant and aggressive polic-
ing can at the least encourage divisiveness and
at the worst end in tragedy.
The University of Michigan has a legacy of
protest of which we should all be proud. Past
generations of University of Michigan stu-
dents have rallied against the Vietnam War,
demonstrated to end racial segregation, and
pushed the University to fight for affirmative
action up to the U.S. Supreme Court on several
occasions (even if our record once there looks
a bit like Brady Hoke's). In 1968, on the morn-
ing of Martin Luther King's funeral, a group
of University of Michigan students peacefully
chained the doors of the Fleming Adminis-
trative Building until the University agreed
to take steps to make sure African American
students and professors were full and equal
members of the University of Michigan com-
munity. A militarized police department
like the one we saw in Ferguson would have
responded to such civil disobedience with
battle fatigues, grenade launchers full of tear
gas and assault rifles drawn. The University of
Michigan is too good for such a response. We
don't need militarized police.
Samuel Weiss is a 2009 University alum at the
American Civil Liberties Union Center for Justice.
June 19, The Kojo Nnamdi
show on NPR's WAMU sta-
tion reported on the immi-
gration crisis
that left both
the American
government and
its citizens con-
cerned and anx-
ious about the
influx of wide-
eyed children ABBY
seeking asylum TASKIER
away from their
impoverished
and violent homelands. I remember
sipping on a cup of coffee in my par-
ents' house, reclining on the plush,
blue couch in the family room while
listening to Sheena Wadhawan, the
legal program manager at Casa de
Maryland, outline the tremendous
hurdles that Central American chil-
dren jump in order to cross the U.S.-
Mexico border.
The risks the children endure
laid out by Wadhawan are almost
unfathomable. She says, "rape is
almost ubiquitous for young women.
They're selling Plan B, the morning-
after pill, all around the route, which
girls take in advance, so because
of the high probability that they
will suffer sexual assault along the
way. Kidnapping, assault, murder,
starvation, heat, harassment by
gangs, by various customs officials,
havingto give bribes".
Girls preeminently taking Plan
B, assuming they'll get raped? This
surely made me cringe when I
recalled the countless number of
stories of girls I knew irresponsibly
popping Plan B pills like Pez. I can't
believe that anyone wouldn't sigh in
discomfort or empathetic pain at the
graphic detailingof these conditions.
Those are the only reactions I can
assume from anyone who's just
heard that Honduran gang members
publically dismembered children as
young as 5 years old in order to send
a message of who's boss.
Following this conversation
exposing Americans to another
world of systematic violence, one
taking place on our neighbor's lop-
sided continent, the program brings
various callers on air who ardently
oppose America's absorption of Cen-
tral American children as citizens.
The callers start off with a pre-craft-
ed phrase like, "my heart bleeds for
the children," or, "please don't think
I'm insensitive," but... this ain't
my problem.
Well, while the complexities of
U.S. immigration policies extend
far beyond this situation, which has
recently been quelled by a myriad of
forces, including the more aggressive
attitudes taken onbythe U.S. Border
Patrol, I fully believe that this is
America's problem. When I lived
in Havana from January to May of
2014, I became blatantly aware of
the discrepancy between my initial
perception of U.S. involvement in
Latin America's economic and social
systems, and the reality.
For four months, I'd ride the
Cuban yank tanks all around town
and be blinded by the excessive
number of revolutionary billboards
that stood tall next to the palm trees.
iViva la revolucidon! Long Live the
Revolution! And next to those bill-
boards that so assiduously push the
communist agenda were other, more
disturbing declarations. El bloqueo
es genocidio. The embargo is geno-
cide. I couldn't remember a time
other than in a high school U.S. his-
tory class that I'd spoken about the
U.S. embargo against Cuba. And at
home, it didn't matter. But here Iwas
in Havana, being taunted by Ameri-
ca's incursions, failure to recognize
the need for socialist ideologies in
Latin America and the eventual 1962
embargo that would plague Cuba
with severe economic impediments.
Unfortunately, although the
Castro government is more
dictatorial in nature than it is truly
socialist, the American influence
over Cuba's economy has a lot to do
with Cuban suffering.
The fierce North American
attitude toward Latin American
democracy, however, is not unique
to Cuba. In Guatemala, for instance,
one of the Central American
countries from which children are
fleeing today, U.S. incursion brought
civil war and a 30-year military rule
over the country. In 1954, when the
elected president of Guatemala,
Jacobo Arbenz, proposed land
reform and attempted to seize idle
lands from United Fruit Company,
supplemented by demonstrations
more democratic than socialist,
the U.S. government led a covert
operation attempting to "liberate"
Guatemala from communism.
What liberation meant here was
the maintenance of the U.S.'s unfair
economic foothold in Guatemala.
Not to mention, a strategic political
ploy against Soviet Russia to
maintain capitalism under the
heavy weight of the Cold War. But I
wonder when or how anyone might
know about America's detrimental 1
influence over Latin American
popular mobilism if not through the
insulatedbubble of academia.
Guatemalawas afruit notallowed
to ripen, and Cuba, a ripened piece of
fruit then taken off the shelf. Ameri-
ca's influence over what present-day
Latin America looks like is, like its
operations, covert. But that is not to
say that American influence has not
damaged and extinguished popular
mobilismthat couldhave turned into
positive socialism. Not every social-
ist movement has to turn out like
Cuba. If America is willing, through
the Cuban Adjustment Act, to make
Cuban refugees automatic citizens
of the United States, then why can't
that same privilege be extended to
the Central American children who
attempt the journey to the United
States knowing that along the way
they could be raped and murdered?
We say that we are patriots, and
we proudly accept our national
identities. But how can we claim
to be patriots when we ignore
the historical significance of U.S.
imperialism?
The heavy inpouring of the
children is over, but immigration
from Latin America and into the
United States is ongoing. If your
sympathies are extended and your
hearts are bleeding, but you still
don't think that it has to do with you,
then ask yourself if you area patriot.
And if you are, then this is definitely
your problem.
-Abby Taskier can be reached
at ataskier@umich.edu.
EMBERS
hn, Nivedita Karki,
Megan McDonald,
.hael Schramm,
on Raeck, Linh Vu,
Wang, Derek Wolfe
EDITORIAL BOARD MI
Barry Belmont, David Harris, Rachel Jo
J aco b Ka raf a, Jor dyn Kay, A arica Marsh,
Victoria Noble, Melissa Scholke, Mic
Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman, Allis
Meher Walia, Mary Kate Winn, Daniel
CARLY MANES I
Happy anniversary, Hyde
Abortions are expensive. A first trimester framework of reproductive justice, forcing a
abortion costs an average of $470. A second woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to
trimester abortion at 20 weeks costs an aver- term is wholly a violation of human rights.
age of $1,500. Reproductive rights are innately human
So what do you do if you can't afford an rights, and for the more than 12 million
abortion and you definitely can't afford a women who depend on Medicaid and other
baby? federal programs, such as women in the
If you happen to be one of the 12 million military, Peace Corps, disabled women,
women who depend on Medicaid and other American Indians using Indian Health
federal insurance programs, you are pretty Services and federal prisoners, their human
screwed, thanks to the Hyde Amendment. rights are being violated.
The Hyde Amendment was passed Sept. In the name of abortion rights, human
30, 1976. The Amendment bans all types rights and reproductive justice, it is time to
of federal funding for abortion care. This repeal Hyde. Reproductive rights activists
funding restriction is most salient for low- often focus on abortion's legality and
income women on Medicaid. As we approach physical accessibility - where women can
the 38th anniversary of one of the first federal receive abortion care and how far along into a
restrictions on abortion access post Roe v. pregnancy the procedure is legal; but the fight
Wade, it's important that we take a moment for safe and legal abortion means nothing
to look at and reflect upon the social impacts if it isn't accessible to everyone. I shouldn't
of the Hyde Amendment. have to mention that providing coverage
The Hyde Amendment was crafted with for abortion care leads to better economic
the intention of creating systematic barriers outcomes for both the women who have
for low-income women seeking abortion abortions and for the institutions that would
care, as the bill's author, Congressman Henry otherwise have to provide childcare service.
Hyde, noted at the time of its introduction. But, for some readers and most politicians,
The Hyde Amendment is simply one of these nuances are what matter most for their
the many laws that systematically targets public support of repealing Hyde. Sadly, the
low-income women, denying them the right value of a woman's life, autonomy and dignity
to self-determination and autonomy. Which aren't always enough to influence policy.
in the context of Hyde, is withheld as a Often in a political context we see financial
privilege only for wealthy women who have outcomes superseding socially just policy.
the money to pay out-of-pocket for abortion Hyde is neither a socially just policy nor an
care. Low-income women are not only barred economically sound one.
from abortion care due to restricted federal I currently have $342 in my savings
funding, but with the hundreds of other state account. If I didn't admit that having less
and federal laws that police abortion access, than $470 makes me nervous, I would
women sometimes have to travel states away be lying.
and wait days to access care. Between the Like I said, abortions are expensive. But so
cost of the procedure and the money spent is the cost of injustice.
on physically getting to a provider, abortion So, happy anniversary, Hyde. Here's to
is less and less attainable with each passing another year of classism, sexism, and broad-
week of pregnancy. based discrimination lovingly provided by
If federal health insurance won't cover the United States government.
abortion care, and federal welfare programs *This article refers to abortion care
certainly won't aid in the exorbitant costs of patients solely as women, but not all people
raising a child, we leave low-income women who have abortions identify as women.
vulnerable to the cycle of poverty that is
statistically likely to consume them. In the Carly Manes is a Public Policy senior.
TREVOR DOLAN I
When students vote, Democrats win
People aged 18 to 29 composed 19
percent of the electorate in the 2012
election. This 19 percent had enor-
mous sway, and 60 percent of them
voted for President Barack Obama.F
Our capacity to affect our country's
political future issignificant, and we
all have a responsibility to acknowl-
edge this capacity by exercising our
right to vote. The right to vote gives
students a voice.
Many students share progressive
values.We feel that nature is a shared
resource that should be protected,
not exploited. We know that
everyone deserves equal treatment,
regardless of their gender identity
or sexual orientation. We agree
that women should be paid as much
as men and that a woman should
have total agency over her body. We
understand that a quality education
is a universal right and that no child
should be penalized because of her
socioeconomic status. We believe
that every person deserves affordable
healthcare and a living wage.
The Democratic Party embod-
ies and espouses these progressive
values. By coming out on Election
Day and voting for Democratic can-
didates, you are voting for men and
women who will fight on your behalf
to craft policies and legislation that
reflect your values. Unfortunately,
it's unlikely that many of us will
make it to the polls this year. In 2012,
64.7 percent of the eligible popula-
tion in Michigan voted, but in 2010
only 42.9 percent made their voices
heard at the polls. Midterm elec-
tions have historically low turnout
because there isn't a presidential
election to draw people to the polls,
and 2014 will be no different.
It is important to understand,
though, that the future of Michigan
depends on this midterm election.
This year we will be electing a new
U.S. senator, as well as a new gover-
nor, lieutenant governor, secretary
of state and attorney general. Every
state house and senate seat is up for
election, as are all 14 of Michigan's
U.S. Congressional seats. This year
we will not be electing a president,
but we will be defining Michigan's
political climate and determining
the composition of the U.S. Congress.
This is an incredibly important elec-
tion for the state of Michigan, and
the significance of your vote this year
cannot be overstated.
Michigan's governor and state leg-
islature develop policies and legisla-
tion with very real consequences for
Michiganresidents. Michigan'shigh-
er-education funding has declined
28 percent since 2008, and Republi-
can Governor Rick Snyder's budget
cuts have resulted in Michigan K-12
schools losing $393 million in state
funding. This past year, the Michi-
gan state legislature passed a law
mandating that a woman must pur-
chase an additional insurance policy
if she wants reimbursement for an
abortion, unless her life is at stake.
This law - dubbed "rape insurance"
because women now have to antici-
pate the possibility of being raped
and purchase insurance before the
assault - is a striking example of the
tangible impact that state-level leg-
islators can have on the lives of their
constituents.
So, the people we elect this year
will pass laws that significantly
impact us. Who do you want to make
such important decisions?
In 2013, Republican legislators
in Michigan attempted to pass a bill
mandating that women undergo
transvaginal ultrasound procedures
(wherein an ultrasound probe is
inserted into the vagina) before
having an abortion. In late 2012, the
Michigan state legislature passed a
"right-to-work" bill that seriously
undermined labor union funding
(Governor Snyder had previouslysaid
thathe would avoid addressingsuch a
"divisive issue"). In 2011, Republican
state Representative Tom McMillin,
introduced a bill that would ban
municipalities from adopting
nondiscrimination ordinances that
include LGBTQ residents. It's clear
that Republican state legislators do
not share our progressive values.
Meanwhile, there are a number of
Democratic candidates and elected
officials who fight passionately
for the causes we support.
Gubernatorial candidate Mark
Schauer has advocated for increasing
K-12 education funding. State
Senator Rebekah Warren, and state
Representatives Adam Zemke, Jeff
IrwinandSamSinghhaveintroduced
an amendment to Michigan's Elliott- 6
Larsen Civil Rights Act that would
ban discrimination based on sexual
orientation and gender identity. State
Representative and state Senate
candidate Dian Slavens has called
for stronger regulation of toxic waste
disposal in Michigan.
The list of Democrats advocating
for progressive values goes on.
Unfortunately, Republicans hold a
strong majority in both houses of
Michigan's state legislature. If we
want to see our state government
advocate for the values that we
support so strongly, we need to
change that. If we want to win back
the governor's seat and the state
legislature, we need to get out the
vote among University of Michigan
students. If you aren't registered *
to vote, the College Democrats at
the University of Michigan will be
registeringstudents onthe Diagfrom
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., this Wednesday,
Oct. 1, and Thursday, Oct. 2. It takes
five minutes to register, and your
vote is incredibly important. When 0
students vote, Democrats win.
Trevor Dolan is an LSA junior and
the Chair of the College Democrats
at the University of Michigan.
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