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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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