Opinion

JENNIFER CALFAS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

AARICA MARSH 

and DEREK WOLFE 

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MANAGING EDITOR

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, October 2, 2015

Treat all situations with sensitivity

Rethinking Detroit

“A

ww, I’m so sorry.”

I’ve heard this said 

to me a few times 

recently. 
Don’t 

worry: I haven’t 
lost any child-
hood 
pets, 
I 

haven’t endured 
a messy break 
up 

and I’m not the 
latest victim of a 
burglary.

But 
I 
am 
 

Syrian.

And 
to 
my 

unpleasant 
surprise, 
this 

is often the exact response I get 
when I tell people. Don’t mistake 
my reaction for being unapprecia-
tive. I’m thankful for every ounce 
of sympathy that comes my way, 
from friends and strangers alike. I 
understand the underlying senti-
ment; it might come off as cold, if 
not inconsiderate, to ignore the fact 
that my status as a Syrian American 
means things have been tough for 
me recently (to say the least).

But there’s something so heart-

breaking, so unsettlingly bizarre, 
about 
evoking 
sympathy 
from 

something that is an integral part 
of your identity. Substitute “Syr-
ian” for any other adjective and the 
absurdity becomes clear. Imagine if 
the next time you introduced your-
self as a Wolverine, you heard, “My 
thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Perhaps sympathy is something 

best expressed more subtly.

This small observation is part of 

a bigger theme: people often have 
the right intentions, but go about 
things in the wrong way. To me, 
the most significant example of this 
comes up after the introductions 
end and the conversation begins. 
There’s a tendency, especially in 
such a politically 
 conscious campus 

as ours, to engage in political 
discussion with people who are 
directly affected by current events. 
After all, they’re nothing short of 

primary sources. But all too often, 
these discussions are prompted and 
guided by ideas that oversimplify 
an incredibly complicated situation.

The 
government 
you 
keep 

referring to as bloodthirsty and 
fascistic may be the only thing 
separating a family from living in 
a hellish Islamic dystopia. On the 
other hand, that terrorist group 
you’re reproaching may be another 
family’s last semblance of law 
and order in the face of complete 
anarchy. These nuances do not 
make for good headlines, but they 
are the harsh realities for many 
people who are personally affected 
by this conflict.

Author and physician Michael 

Crichton 
has 
coined 
the 
term 

“Gell 
 Mann Amnesia” to describe 

something he believes is pervasive in 
our society. Simply put, we’re hyper 
aware of factual errors when a news 
source reports on something we 
know very well. But when the next, 
perhaps 
more 

obscure 
news 

story 
comes 

on, we tend to 
submit fully to 
its 
narrative, 

seeming to forget 
that these now-
obscure 
stories 

could eventually 
become 
ones 

we’ll be able to 
fact-check later. 
I believe this phenomenon applies 
to oversimplifications as well. When 
the news reports on systemic racism 
in police departments, we know the 
reality is much more complicated 
than “all cops are racist.” Yet, when 
the same news outlet reports on 
foreign conflicts, we see only as far as 
the headlines let us.

I’ve been guilty of this myself. 

A couple of years ago, a Ukrainian 
family moved into our neighbor-
hood. Whenever they were outside, 
I’d take the opportunity to chat 
them up, both in the interest of 

being a good neighbor and because 
I wanted to hear about the conflict 
right from the source. Since I knew 
they were from the eastern part of 
Ukraine, I tailored my remarks to 
be pro-Russian and peppered them 
with a hint of Euroscepticism.

Statistically, this was probably the 

right move. But that’s the point: Sta-
tistics are numbers, and people are 
people. Every individual has a unique 
experience — an experience that is 
undermined every time we cloud the 
conversation with generalities. Inter-
net comments give enough room to 
flex our knowledge of global affairs. 
If our goal is to learn, we should 
make listening our priority.

That being said, engaging in 

a political conversation requires 
more than listening. And there are 
certainly political truths that indi-
vidual circumstances cannot speak 
to. So, what’s really needed here is 
some respect and patience. Avoid 
making claims about anything you 

haven’t 
spent 

a good deal of 
time 
research-

ing. 
If 
some-

one’s experience 
doesn’t 
match 

the 
politi-

cal 
narrative 

you’ve 
heard, 

try to learn from 
them 
rather 

than speak over 
them. Don’t cat-

egorize anyone as “pro 
” or “anti 
”; to 

do so would betray the complexities 
of the situation. Be prepared to hear 
a lot less about politics and a lot 
more about people — aunts, uncles 
and cousins, rather than stats and 
figures. Because at the end of the 
day, that’s what matters the most.

A news story to you can be a life 

event for someone else. Remember 
to treat these situations with all the 
sensitivities they afford.

— Farid Alsabeh can be reached 

at falsabeh@umich.edu

A

t 
the 
Detroit 
Department 
of 

Transportation 
headquarters 
on 

September 17, U.S. Vice President Joe 

Biden and Detroit Mayor 
Mike Duggan announced 
the implementation of an 
improved bus system in 
Detroit. Instead of the bus 
sign behind them blinking 
a destination, as is usual 
with buses, it flashed, one 
by one, “Welcome — Joe 
Biden — Detroit.” 

Though the initiative to 

bring new buses to Detroit 
may not be flashy, it has the 
real needs of Detroiters in 
mind to help them in their 
day-to-day lives and to bring them into a more 
stable standard of living. In the past, people 
have had to stand in the frigid Michigan cold 
for long hours in the winter waiting for buses 
that may have already 
been full. It impacts the 
lives of so many Detroiters 
who, 
with 
this 
new 

system, can get to work 
or school on time, safely 
 

and effectively.

Biden 
has 
been 
a 

supporter of Detroit in 
the past. He, alongside 
the rest of the Obama 
administration, invested 
$40 
million 
from 

the Institute for Advanced Composites 
Manufacturing Innovation funds to create a 
research and development project in Detroit’s 
Corktown neighborhood. 

As Biden spoke of how “Detroit is off its 

back, off its knees, standing up again,” I felt 
a hope welling up inside that there’s potential 
for real change, but I also began to feel 
uneasy. His words echoed in my head: “We 
would never abandon the people of Detroit. 
It’s like abandoning the heart of America.”

Though I believe in this effort and the 

work that Biden has done for Detroit in the 
past, I couldn’t stomach the idea that Detroit 
has never been neglected, to say the least.

This isn’t to say progress in Detroit is 

not being made, but there are substantial 
problems in the city that have been 
overlooked. Every minute we avoid talking 
about the big picture and the complexities of 
the problems in Detroit is another person’s 
life negatively affected. So, instead, let’s talk 
about the good and the bad in Detroit, so that 
we are able to move forward together.

Let’s start a real conversation about 

Detroit.

At DDOT, as Biden talked about bringing 

in the brightest young people to Detroit, 
I couldn’t stop thinking about the young 
minds growing up in the city. Children in 
Detroit are suspended in an education system 
where teachers and faculty do most of the 
groundwork to improve their schools.

I spent some time volunteering at Detroit 

Achievement Academy, a charter school in 
Detroit for children in kindergarten to third 

grade, where the teachers truly care about 
their students and spend time encouraging 
them. While volunteering, I watched the 
children become excited to learn and to spend 
time with the volunteers. However, a looming 
reality hangs over them, as premature birth 
and violence are the top reasons for the death 
of children in Detroit in January 2014. Almost 
500 children have been killed by homicide 
since 2010, and Detroit has had a higher 
homicide rate for children and adolescents 
than any U.S. city of equivalent or larger size. 
These are Detroit’s bright minds that need to 
be nurtured and kept in a safe environment, 
yet they’re often not.

Though some people may want to make 

progress in the city, others are discouraged by 
high property taxes that cripple entrepreneurs 
while making it difficult for people to get 
out of homelessness, as suggested by the 
Detroit News in 2013. It also creates an extra 
burden on those that already reside in Detroit 

homes, and though the 
city may be in need of 
this money, high property 
taxes may not be the best 
alternative, as they push 
people away, hurting the 
 

Detroit economy.

While listening to Biden 

speak about Detroit and its 
transportation system, my 
heart hurt the most when 
I thought about the recent 
Detroit 
water 
shutoff, 

which went without enough attention from 
the public, media or politicians. The city’s 
leaders gave out 3,000 notices to people that 
their water would be shut off if they didn’t pay 
their bill in 10 days. Furthermore, Duggan 
went against the Detroit City Council’s 
resolution to temporarily freeze the shutoff. 
Although delinquent water bills were a large 
problem that cost the city money, it ignored 
the public health issues this created for 
people who legitimately couldn’t afford to pay 
their water bills. This financial situation and 
health crisis shouldn’t have become so severe, 
with the United Nations speaking about the 
shutoff as a human rights violation before our 
nation’s federal government. But it did.

I couldn’t fathom that something right in 

my backyard would be so terrible, but the 
situation is just a symptom of the attitudes 
and neglect Detroit has been through.

Trying to instill hope in the people of 

Detroit, reminding them they’re not being 
abandoned and that Detroit is back is a 
valiant effort. A lot of progress is being made 
with this new bus system; it brings the people 
of Detroit something they need that is long 
overdue. But there’s still a lot of work to be 
done in order to bring Detroit back on its feet.

My hope is that this really is a step to 

rethinking Detroit in terms of the most basic 
and urgent needs of the people.

As Biden said “This isn’t an investment 

in buses, this is an investment in the people 
 

of Detroit.” 

— Rabab Jafri can be reached at rfjafri@umich.edu. 

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, 
Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Adam 

Morton, Victoria Noble, Anna Polumbo-Levy, 
Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Stephanie 

Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

RABAB

JAFRI

FARID
ALSABEH

 
 

— U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday evening in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White 

House after a mass shooting that left 10 dead at a small community college in Oregon. 
“

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

I hope and pray that I don’t have to 
come out again during my tenure as 
president to offer my condolences to 
families in similar circumstances.”

Often, we naturally look inward 

to our own problems and con-
flicts, forgetting that out in this 
vast world there are inconceivable 
challenges our fellow humans are 
facing. By virtue of being flanked 
by two oceans, many Americans 
tend not to focus on foreign issues. 
However, from time to time, a crisis 
of extreme enormity requires our 
attention and requires our action. 
As the self-proclaimed greatest 
nation on Earth, it is our duty as a 
virtuous citizenry to play a key role 
in these conflicts.

The greatest migration since 

World War II is happening cur-
rently, and several Western gov-
ernments seem simply not to care 
about the lives of millions. Already, 
nations such as Hungary, Slove-
nia and Croatia have shut their 
borders to asylum seekers, Den-
mark has taken out newspaper 
advertisements in Lebanon to dis-
courage potential refugees from 
seeking hope there, a Hungarian 
news camerawoman was caught 
tripping refugees as they sprinted 
from a camp, and a Polish par-
liamentarian is facing criticism 
after openly describing migrants 
as “human garbage” on the floor 
of the European Parliament. In a 
classic case of xenophobia, entire 
nations and many observers would 
rather see their land and culture 
stay untouched by a new influx of 
humanity, for fears of burdening 
social systems and encroaching 
on established cultures. Unfor-
tunately, this view is ignorant to 
the facts of immigration. Multiple 

studies cited by The Washington 
Post have shown that immigration, 
more often than not, improves the 
economy. Though the initial cost of 
accepting refugees may be steep, in 
the long run, according to research, 
migrants tend to lift wages for the 
entire community and can have 
lasting positive effects on local 
economies. Moreover, in several 
European nations, the birth rate is 
not on par with what’s necessary 
for the population to remain steady. 
These nations may not realize it, 
but they may actually need new 
citizens, increasingly so in the next 
few decades.

Beyond the logic that underpins 

the benefits of the act, accepting 
refugees is simply the right thing 
to do. Fear mongering related to 
immigrants has always existed, 
and there are those who would say 
these refugees pose a threat to our 
way of life, our institutions and 
even our national security. These 
opinions will always exist, and even 
if they are correct in the smallest of 
cases, there are systems such as the 
Department of Homeland Security, 
Immigration and Customs Enforce-
ment and the entire federal bureau-
cracy in place for a vetting process 
of new migrants.

Those 
scenarios 
notwith-

standing, it’s our duty as a part of 
humanity to do more to alleviate 
this situation. Think what a great 
accomplishment it would be for 
this nation to lead in this crisis, but 
more importantly, think about how 
much good we can do for this world 
if we help save the lives of millions.

As I write this today, there are 

hundreds of thousands of men, 
women and children risking their 
lives to find hope anywhere pos-
sible. Sympathy and compassion 
can only go so far; the only way to 
positively affect this crisis would be 
to take action.

That isn’t to say the United States 

should do all the work and take in 
an unrealistic amount of refugees 
or foot the entire bill for aid pack-
ages, but it does mean that as the 
leaders of the “free world,” we need 
to be at the forefront of a multilat-
eral mission to both take in more 
refugees and help improve the situ-
ation for those who are making the 
journey as well as the vast amounts 
of individuals and families who feel 
migration is the only option left.

This issue shouldn’t be politi-

cized; it isn’t a matter of left or 
right, Republican or Democrat. It 
boils down to the challenge of liv-
ing up to the creeds and values that 
guide this world of ours. As the 
Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights — a document the United 
States voted in favor of — states in 
its preamble, “Whereas recogni-
tion … of the equal and inalienable 
rights of all members of the human 
family is the foundation of freedom, 
justice and peace in the world.”

It’s our responsibility to at least 

try and help these migrants achieve 
the same freedoms and happiness 
as we enjoy, for they’re in dire need 
of a helping hand.

Ben Keller is an LSA sophomore 

and an assistant editorial page editor.

A crisis for the whole world

 I felt a hope welling 
up inside that there’s 

potential for real 
change, but I also 

began to feel uneasy.

Engaging in 
a political 

conversation 

requires more than 

just listening.

BEN KELLER | VIEWPOINT

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