Opinion

JENNIFER CALFAS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

AARICA MARSH 

and DEREK WOLFE 

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

LEV FACHER

MANAGING EDITOR

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

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the University of Michigan since 1890.

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.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Friday, October 9, 2015

Re-creating my roots

T

here’s a new unfamiliar 
sight in the Motor City 
amid all the usual con-

struction 
sites: 

train tracks.

They 
sit 

unfinished and 
in pieces, as they 
will for at least 
another 
year 

and a half. It’s 
supposed to be 
a sign of the new 
Detroit, a city 
finally emerging 
from its toils and 
recessions. 
For 

now, it’ll just be 
the familiar site of the unofficial 
state flower — the orange construc-
tion cones — but at least anything is 
better than the “People Mover” and 
the couple dozen people it moves 
each day.

It’s not the first time in Detroit’s 

history when the streets were 
shared between cars and trains. 
Streetcars used to carry passen-
gers around the city up until the 
mid-1950s, with major lines on 
Michigan Avenue, Gratiot Avenue, 
Jefferson Avenue and Woodward 
Avenue, exactly where the M-1 Rail 
will run. They might have been 
replaced by buses and taxis, but 
here we are, coming full circle back 
to the train era.

Some places in Detroit, you can 

see remnants of the tracks. They 
never took them out of the streets, 
just paved over them. They peek 
through cracks in the concrete 
in spots, a reminder of a differ-
ent past. Along Michigan Avenue 
in Corktown, the uneven brick 
road remains except for a strip of 
messy asphalt in the middle lane, 
covering where streetcars used to 
shuttle passengers from the now-
abandoned Michigan Central Sta-
tion to Downtown. The past is 
still there, unable to be removed, 
instead just poorly covered.

Such is the way of Detroit. For 

every person who hails the city’s 
rebuilding process as a successful 
blueprint for American cities, there 
is someone in a Detroit neighbor-

hood who claims to be forgotten. 
It’s still there, underneath all of the 
new development, poorly covered 
and only seen through the cracks in 
the surface.

There’s no doubt that much of 

Detroit is different. It’s visibly 
different with filled storefronts, 
offices and apartments. It’s eco-
nomically different as it emerges 
from its bankrupt past. The Spirit 
of Detroit statue may have never 
left, but the spirit itself is noticeably 
different throughout.

Yet, as I take my shortcuts 

through city outskirts to play in 
this rebirthing city or eat at anoth-
er new restaurant that just opened, 
the areas where so 
much of the inner-
city Detroiters live 
— outside of the 
Downtown 
and 

Midtown 
bustle 

— hardly look dif-
ferent 
than 
they 

were before. The 
burned-out houses 
and 
boarded-up 

windows remain. The highways 
are newly paved for suburbanites 
to commute, but city-street pot-
holes turn into fishing holes. The 
closed schools still sit abandoned, a 
reminder that the foundation of the 
future, the education of the youth 
in the city, remains perilously inad-
equate.

The leaders of these efforts say 

the city will benefit from addition-
al jobs and taxes, results that will 
trickle down into better services 
for residents. And sure, recent city 
plans like District Detroit show 
ideas for a newly revitalized city 
that’s far better than the previous 
iterations. But it would be naïve 
to believe that a new sports arena, 
shopping district and business 
offices are anything but more for 
those outside the city limits with 
money. Upwards of $280 million 
in Detroit taxpayer funds is being 
used to subsidize the costs and tax-
payer-funded efforts rarely provide 
any measurable positive, economic 
impact on a city (instead often neg-
ative impact). Detroit is forgetting 

its own residents who were forced 
to deal with the worst years of the 
downturn and are left behind, the 
city reforming without them. 

The stadiums do little for them. 

A new Whole Foods doesn’t solve 
inner-city problems. The problems 
aren’t bottom lines and business 
economics. The problems are no 
different than the problems of any 
inner city for the last half century. 
Those in the suburbs can get what 
they want with such developments, 
but the forgotten residents of the 
city need developments for the 
issues they want fixed as well.

Detroit will always have to face 

the economic and racial tensions 

that plague every 
big 
city 
in 
this 

country. 
Detroit 

News 
columnist 

Nolan Finley wrote 
a striking column 
about the business-
centered 
trans-

formation 
that 

has been the new 
Detroit rage in the 

news, a piece titled “Where are 
the black people?” In the article, 
Finley discussed the demographic 
differences between the city resi-
dents and those leading the revival. 
Though it may not be literal gen-
trification in the real estate of the 
city quite yet, these residents are 
already at risk of being pushed out 
of the city. Detroit must remember 
it’s far more than a trendy center 
of revitalization, but a city with 
hundreds of thousands of residents 
in need of the rewards of a turn-
around as well.

So, Detroit moves forward build-

ing new train tracks, paving over 
the old city, forgetting its struggles. 
Like the old tracks, the people the 
new Detroit paves over, the resi-
dents who struggled with the city 
for so long, will peek through the 
cracks where the cover breaks. The 
city can’t let them meet the fate 
of the old streetcars if it wishes to 
move forward.

— David Harris can be reached 

at daharr@umich.edu.

Remembering the tracks

DAVID 
HARRIS

I 

stepped out of the airport, 
inhaling the smell I had been 
craving for a decade: Hyder-

abad, India.

I soaked up 

the sounds of the 
rickshaws 
and 

cars in one of 
the most densely 
populated cities 
in the world. I 
drove by people 
bargaining over 
sweet 
man-

goes 
dressed 

in 
shalwar 

kameez in all 
colors, T-shirts 
and jeans, or covered head to toe. 
I passed the old mosque and the 
Hindu temple, and stared up at 
the new railway being built to run 
through the city. I saw the old and 
the new of the place where I had 
spread my roots.

Hyderabad is a city in India 

where there’s approximately one 
Muslim family for every Hindu 
family. The streets are filled with 
people living peacefully in a place 
with a rich history involving both 
religions that overlap in Hyder-
abadi culture. Instead of saying 
the Hindu “namaste” or the Mus-
lim greeting “asalamu alaykum,” 
Hyderabadis say “adaab” as a sign 
of respect for both. 

Hyderabad is special for me, as 

it is the place my Dadi, my paternal 
grandmother, still lives and where 
my maternal grandparents lived 
before moving to Pakistan. For the 
people who know the political his-
tory of India and Pakistan, that may 
seem like a striking combination. 
But it’s not as dramatic as a Bolly-
wood movie; it’s simply a part of my 
family’s cultural background.

When I arrived at my Dadi’s 

house this summer, I felt at home 
walking along the green concrete 
walls, passing a sign on the door 
welcoming people in to pray and 
break their fasts at the end of each 
day during Ramadan. Watching my 
Dadi, a retired English professor, 
tend to these people who came to 
stop and rest reminded me of where 
I got some of my best traits; finding 
joy in the simplicity of family and 
serving others is a familial trait. I 
remembered my late grandfather, 
who started the tradition of letting 
the community gather in his home.

I found the same compassion in 

Dadi’s eyes that I see in my par-
ents and in the people of Hyder-
abad, a community that feels close 
and small, even though it’s a large, 
densely 
populated 

city. The city’s inhab-
itants, most of whom 
have never met me, 
welcomed me as if 
I had always been 
there. People in the 
community act like 
they are my Dadi’s 
children themselves, 
as they bring over home-cooked 
meals and ask about her well-being. 
They see her as a resource and ask 
her for advice, whether it be about 
their family or even marriage. 
Though my father, four uncles and 
aunt are dispersed throughout 
America and England, they still 
live by the principle they learned in 
Hyderabad: caring for their mother 
and their community. They take 
turns going to visit her, so that she 
is always taken care of.

In my culture, the concept of 

family is central to the way people 
interact with one another, regard-
less of their relation, and the elder-

ly are treated with great care and 
esteem by the community. In Amer-
ican culture, as anthropologist 
Jared Diamond discussed, the “cult 
of youth” and emphasis on indi-
vidualism take precedence over the 
family structure. Though there’s 
value in youth and individualism, I 
have a difficult time grasping some 
of the attitudes toward family in 
American culture. Even after com-
ing to the University, I still go back 
to my parents’ home every week-
end, as do my brothers even though 
they are married with their own 
families. Often when I tell people 
this, they’re shocked at the idea, as 
many people only go home for the 
holidays even if they live nearby.

My Indian-Pakistani commu-

nity still holds some of these prin-

ciples 
as 
well. 

It’s respectful to 
greet elders as 
soon as you see 
them. If anyone 
we know is ill, 
everyone 
and 

their family goes 
to the hospital 
to see them and 

ensure they are getting the best 
care. That’s how the community 
functions as a large family and a 
support system that is always there 
when you need it most. Recreating 
that feeling even in America may 
be difficult, especially as consid-
ering that each succeeding gen-
eration has a weaker attachment 
to Hyderabad both in space and 
time, but having the support of 
my Hyderabadi cultural ideals is 
invaluable and worth the work it 
takes to recreate.

— Rabab Jafri can be reached 

at rfjafri@umich.edu.

RABAB 
JAFRI

I found the same 

compassion in Dadi’s 

eyes that I see in 

my parents and the 
people of Hyderabad.

FROM THE DAILY

A

ccording to the U.S. Census Burea data released last month, 
women in Michigan make approximately 75 cents for every 
dollar earned by their male counterparts; nationally, women 

make 79 cents for each dollar. Though this statistic is startling on its 
own, it fails to take into account the additional income discrepancies of 
African-American and Hispanic women: 64 and 53 cents to the dollar, 
respectively. Experts predict that if this trend continues, women will 
not achieve full pay equity until the year 2086. The wage gap stems from 
a complex cultural problem that won’t be solved overnight, but that 
doesn’t mean proactive steps can’t be taken today. Michigan legislators 
need to adopt legislation that will support both mothers and fathers 
taking time off to care for their children. Simultaneously, parents, 
educators and other leaders must strongly encourage both sexes, not 
just males, to explore corporate and STEM fields where interest exists.

Bridging the gap

The state must take proactive steps to decrease the wage gap

In the crossfire of the 2016 election season, 

the infamous gender wage gap has made its 
way to the forefront. Democratic presidential 
candidates Hillary Clinton, who sponsored 
the Paycheck Fairness Act to address income 
disparity, and Bernie Sanders, who voted in 
favor of the act, have been at the helm of this 
issue from the beginning, forcing their fellow 
candidates to follow suit. While the debate 
surges on at the national level, its effects are 
taking their toll right here at home. Michigan 
is currently ranked 42nd in the country on the 
issue of gender-based income equality.

While there is no quick fix for this truly con-

voluted problem, there are several measures 
the state can take to prevent the wage gap from 
becoming an insurmountable gorge. The first 
of these solutions that should be considered 
is the FAMILY Act, which would partially 
compensate workers for up to 12 weeks for an 
absence due to birth, death or a medical emer-
gency in their immediate family. As of right 
now, the bill is a low priority, but its passage 
is guaranteed to significantly benefit women, 
who are statistically less likely than men to 
pursue full-time work in favor of managing 
their household affairs. So far, a few states — 
including California, New Jersey and Rhode 
Island — have passed this legislation, and the 
University itself has even implemented a com-
parable worker compensation policy, yet the 
state of Michigan has not actively promoted 
any major regulations that resemble the pro-
posed bill.

According to the 2009 census, despite 

comprising approximately 48 percent of the 
workforce, women occupy just 24 percent of 
jobs in STEM fields — which is unfortunate, 
because women in STEM earn an average of 

33 percent more than women in non-STEM 
occupations and consequently experience a 
smaller wage gap. While programs with cam-
paigns to recruit girls and young women into 
the STEM fields, such as Women in the Sci-
ences and Engineering, have gained traction 
in recent years, and some colleges and orga-
nizations have even offered scholarships that 
can fund the tuition for female students who 
pursue STEM majors, cultural barriers that 
deter women from this occupational sector are 
undoubtedly still present.

The social norms that govern our behavior 

have inevitably carried over into the work-
force; female scientists, in particular, bear the 
brunt of this stereotyping, marginalization 
and discouragement, which could explain why 
women constitute just 25 percent of computer 
scientists and a mere 13 percent of engineers. 
Amending this imbalance requires educa-
tors to encourage boys and girls equally from 
a young age to pursue their passions without 
fear of ridicule or discrimination, which can 
be achieved through modification of our state-
wide approach to STEM education.

The wage gap is the symptom of our own 

deep-seated prejudices and severely gendered 
culture. Nearly a century after women began 
entering the workforce, we still have not 
learned to regard them as our equals in terms 
of both capability and talent. Making accom-
modations for workers with families, as well as 
supporting women who pursue corporate and 
STEM positions, is a step in the right direction 
for a country with a long history of workplace 
inequality. Now with a handful of presidential 
candidates shedding light on the issue, per-
haps we will not have to wait 71 years for jus-
tice that is long overdue.

A

fter the painfully awkward years of 
middle school, when making oth-
ers uncomfortable wasn’t a voluntary 

activity, I’ve learned how 
fun it is to make people 
feel just a little awkward 
themselves. My favorite is 
buying a box of tampons, a 
box of tissues and a box of 
chocolate at the same time, 
then making sure I go to a 
male cashier. Another fun 
one is being frank with 
people. For example, tell-
ing someone you’re “talking 
to” (whatever that means), 
“Hey, I’m getting mixed sig-
nals. Rather than playing this game with you, 
I’m going to ask you what you want from me. So 
here I am, please tell me what is on your mind 
so that there’s no misunderstanding between us 
and I can move on with my life.” That one really 
makes people uncomfortable.

However, my new favorite is going to the 

weight room at the gym.

I’m usually one of the only girls in there, 

if not the only one, and I’m not surprised. 
Almost immediately, I feel like a giant ele-
phant in the room. Let’s just run with this 
theme, because it also makes me feel like an 
animal at the zoo. It’s almost as if there is an 
informational sign on my ass, reading, “While 
you might hold some preconceived notion 
that this species is usually found in its natu-
ral habitat of elliptical machines and Pilates 
classes, we have placed a rare breed in this 

specially constructed room with you so that 
you can lose your shit while she deconstructs 
your standards.”

Yes, it’s possible to be a little less blatant 

with your disbelief. Is it that insane to you 
that a girl could possibly be strong enough 
to bench press? Is it that foreign to you that a 
girl has every right to use the pull-up bar, no 
matter how desperately unsuccessful she is at 
actually pulling herself up? Is this your space 
that I am somehow invading?

Maybe I’m like an animal that has escaped 

at the zoo. Yeah, elephants are majestic as 
fuck, but you wouldn’t want one running 
toward you. You wouldn’t want a girl who has 
enough physical strength to be in your sweaty, 
grunting, clanging, manly room of mirrors. 
You wouldn’t want a girl who doesn’t give two 
shits about how disgustingly sweaty she is. 
(Oh, did I say disgustingly? I meant impres-
sively.) You wouldn’t want a girl who can lift 
her fists to the sky with a dumbbell in each 
hand because goodness, girls are supposed to 
have slim shoulders that don’t threaten your 
masculinity. You wouldn’t want a girl who 
does push-ups instead of letting people push 
her down; who gives new meaning to “curls 
for the girls”; who doesn’t need you to spot 
her, in either sense of the word, because she 
came to the gym to become stronger, not to 
get your attention.

Yes, as much as it may startle you, I’m there 

because I like to work out. That’s it.

At first, I hated it. Walking into that room 

was intimidating and uncomfortable, and 
I spent way too much time trying to find 

Gymtimidation

RACHAEL
LACEY

the most inconspicuous corners 
of the room to work out in. And 
I know I’m not alone. One of my 
friends has even taken the step of 
purchasing her own dumbbells to 
use at home because she doesn’t 
want to deal with the unrelenting 
stares and the pervasive sense 
of hostility. Some of my friends 
have even given up on the idea of 
weightlifting because of this. But 
once I felt like I actually knew 
what I was doing (thanks, brothers, 
for teaching me how to properly get 
shredded), it became clear who was 
really uncomfortable.

Now, I just like to watch them 

squirm. Sometimes they stare with-
out even noticing, 
until I look them 
in the eye and they 
freeze like I’m some 
sort of basilisk. I’m 
focusing on me, and 
if you also want to 
focus on me, fine. 
I’ll just make more 
gains than you. You 
won’t find me in the zoo. You’ll find 
me doing Tough Mudders, mov-
ing out of apartments by myself, 
and eating lots of peanut butter 

for that “extra protein.” You’ll 
find me unabashedly wiping my 

body-shaped layer 
of sweat from the 
bench press. Maybe 
one day you’ll find 
me actually suc-
ceeding at doing 
a pull-up. You can 
stare at me all you 
want, but you can’t 
cage me. And I love 

how uncomfortable that makes you. 

— Rachael Lacey can be reached 

at rachaelk@umich.edu.

Detroit must 
remember it’s 
far more than a 
trendy center of 
revitalization.

You can stare 
at me all you 
want, but you 
can’t cage me.

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

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