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Tuesday, January 19, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 54
©2016 The Michigan Daily
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OPINION.....................4A
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A
SUDOKU..................... 2A
CL ASSIFIEDS............... 5A
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 22
LO: 8
University hosts
30th annual
campus-wide
symposium
By BRANDON SUMMERS-
MILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
The University hosted a
series of events across campus
for the annual Martin Luther
King
Jr.
Day
symposium
Monday to honor the life and
social
activism
of
Martin
Luther King Jr. Monday. In its
30th year, the 2015 symposium
was titled “#WhoWillBeNext,”
and focused on addressing
modern day racism, generating
proactive social attitudes and
encouraging racial inclusion.
The symposium featured
a variety of events outside of
the annual keynote memorial
speech in Hill Auditorium,
including the annual Youth Day,
campus-wide watch parties,
the Circle of Unity, West Quad’s
Connector Forum and the Law
School’s symposium event titled
“#YourLifeMatters.” While the
events were unique in what
they offered their audiences,
each
posed
questions
of
modern incarnations of racism
and shared sentiments of social
justice, collective responsibility
and community awareness.
Beginning Monday’s events
was the 18th Annual Children
and Youth Day, hosted by
the University of Michigan
School of Education as a part
of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Symposium.
In
an
interview,
Molly
Green, a graduate student in
the School of Public Health
and an event organizer, said the
event aims to educate about the
legacy of Martin Luther King
Jr.
“This is a day of service
and to come together as a
community,” Green said. “It’s
a chance to think more about
civil rights and equality.”
Throughout the day, local
youth
from
schools
and
churches in the Washtenaw
County area participated in
small group activities and
workshops, such as musical
chairs to teach inclusion and
fairness, civil rights poetry
readings,
open
discussions
about equality and justice and
a viewing of King’s “I Have a
Dream” speech.
The event included remarks
from
Elizabeth
James,
program
assistant
for
the
Department of Afroamerican
and African Studies, as well
as performances from the
Detroit School of Arts’ Ladies
Achievers Ensemble, Detroit’s
Reverend Jones, acapella group
58 Greene and more.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Shermin Kruse, author of Butterfly Stitching, discusses why
the public is less responsive to mass killings than individual
ones in South Hall Monday.
An open letter to my
mother about why my
natural hair is beautiful
DAVID SONG/Daily
Naomi Tutu, race activist and daughter of Desmond Tutu, speaks at the Keynote
Memorial lecture for the MLK Symposium Monday at Hill Auditorium.
STINA PERKINS/Daily
Jim Toy, UM alum and co-founder of the UM Spectrum Center, reflects on the legacy of community activist
Grace Lee Boggs in a panel hosted by the School of Social Work and the Multicultural and Gender Affairs
Committee on Monday.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Protestors chant outside Gov. Rick Synder’s Main Street condo at a march on Monday. Demonstrators
marched from Rackham Auditorium calling for the arrest of Gov. Snyder in response to the Flint water crisis.
See EVENTS, Page 5A
By KRISTEN SWOPE
Michigan
in
Color
Contributor
I will be completely
honest in saying that
this is one of the hardest
things I’ve had to write
— mainly because I know
that, as my mother, you
are my biggest supporter
and encourager. I can
always count on you to
be my number one fan
— except when it comes
to my natural curls.
From the age of 10, I can
remember only negative
comments
from
you
when I tried to wear my
hair in its natural state —
without any chemicals,
heat or manipulation.
I
admire
your
simplicity when it comes
to beauty, which is why I
wonder why there seems
to be so much distaste
toward
my
natural
hair. But as I’ve grown
to recognize that the
negativity surrounding
Black
women
and
natural hair has to do
with race and many
underlying
historical
reasons, I have gained
a better understanding
of the inherent racism
that drives us as Black
women to desire the
universal standard of
beauty — which is that of
the European aesthetic.
I wonder, though, if
you understand that? I
wonder if you understand
the underlying teachings
of self-hate toward our
own race that have been
inflicted on both you and
me growing up. Because
this is what America
teaches us — that we
must conform to the
ideal image of the white
race or else we are not
considered “beautiful.”
I
remember
when
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
At Hill Auditorium,
activist challenges
audience to become
involved
By ALYSSA BRANODN and
LARA MOEHLMAN
Daily News Editor and Daily Staff
Reporter
Nontombi Naomi Tutu, South
African race and gender activist
and daughter of archbishop
Desmond Tutu, joined the ranks
of renowned social activists who
have delivered the University’s
annual Martin Luther King Jr.
Symposium keynote memorial
lecture
Monday
afternoon.
Addressing a packed audience at
Hill Auditorium, Tutu charged
the audience to hold themselves
individually
responsible
for
taking
action
against
the
injustices they see in the world.
The 30th annual Martin
Luther King Jr. symposium,
which featured multiple events
across
campus
including
Tutu’s keynote address, aimed
to
engage
the
University
community in dialogues about
King’s legacy. This year’s theme
is
#WhoWillBeNext,
which
seeks to prompt the campus
community to consider both
who will fall victim to and who
will lead the escape from hatred
in the world, according to the
sympoisum’s website.
For Tutu however, this theme
was problematic. She began
her remarks by challenging the
University’s theme, criticizing
the theme for highlighting the
negative associated with Martin
Luther King Jr. She said she was
told by the University the theme
would be in the context of both
“who would be the next to
lead?” in addition to “who would
be the next to suffer the injustice
of racism by being killed?”
Tutu said she prefers to focus
on the positive potential of the
future,
instead
encouraging
audience members to take a
more proactive approach to
injustice, challenging them to
consider themselves the next
generation of social activist
leaders.
“Maybe what we should be
saying is ‘We are all next, and we
refuse to allow anyone else to be
next,” Tutu said.
Veering from praising only
Martin Luther King Jr., she
emphasized instead that like
all great leaders, King was no
different from any person sitting
in the audience.
See KEYNOTE, Page 3A
Students and
faculty reflect
on legacy of local
activist
By JACKIE CHARNIGA
Daily News Editor
At the School of Social Work
Building
Monday
afternoon,
more than 100 students and
faculty convene to discuss one
of the most influential activists
of the 20th century, Grace Lee
Boggs.
Boggs, who died last year, was
an activist, writer and speaker
with seven decades of experience
advocating for civil and women’s
rights. The event was part of the
University’s Martin Luther King
Jr. symposium.
Stephen
Ward,
professor
of Afroamerican and African
Studies,
is
writing
a
dual
biography of Boggs and her
husband James, titled “In Love
and Struggle: The Revolutionary
Lives of James and Grace Lee
Boggs,” is a board member of
the James and Grace Lee Boggs
Center to Nurture Community
Leadership
and
helped
to
organize the event.
Ward said the language used
to
describe
Boggs’
activism
doesn’t give a full picture of her
work because she doesn’t fit into
traditional classifications of an
activist.
“In some ways most of those
are only partially accurate, or
there’s some ambiguity there,”
Ward said. “Grace doesn’t seem to
fit our own categories.”
In particular, Ward said an
Asian American woman was
anomalous in the civil rights
movement when Boggs began
her work, and it would be more
fitting to refer to her as a human
rights activist. He said those who
call Boggs a revolutionary would
hit closer to the truth, but are no
closer to identifying her.
“I think in the use of ‘civil
rights’
we
sometimes
lazily
use to describe Black people or
other types of struggles without
properly recognizing what it
takes to make a movement,” Ward
said.
Raina LaGrand, a School of
Social Work alum, is a member of
their People of Color Collective,
a group which aims to create a
See BOGGS, Page 3A
State residents hold
governer responsible
for Flint water crisis
By MARLEE BREAKSTONE
Daily Staff Reporter
A group of Michigan residents
from across the state gathered in
Ann Arbor on Monday to call for
the arrest of Gov. Rick Snyder, one
of wave of Monday protests held
in past weeks over the Flint water
crisis.
In April 2014, the state of
Michigan decided to temporarily
switch the supply of Flint’s water
from Lake Uron to the Flint River
as a way to save money. However,
lead from the service lines in
Flint began to leak into the water
supply. As a result of the switch,
researchers warned city and state
officials of the toxic lead in the
water, when the city changed
the water source in October 2015
— 18 months later — and Snyder
declared a state of emergency on
Jan. 5.
President
Barack
Obama
also issued a federal emergency
declaration in response to the
Flint
water
crisis
Saturday,
allocating $5 million in federal
aid to immediately assist the city.
Several democratic canidates for
president highlighted Flint during
Sunday night’s debate, calling the
situation deplorable.
Novi resident Colleen Crossey,
alum of the University School of
Social Work and co-organizer
of the protest, said she chose to
hold the march on Martin Luther
King Jr. Day to coincide with the
University’s annual symposium
aimed at highlighting modern-day
social justice.
“Many of the speakers on
this day will encourage their
audience members to organize
and
fight
back
against
the
unethical activities that oppress
others,” Crossey said. “This rally
and march will give them the
opportunity to do just that.”
Protesters
marched
from
See SNYDER, Page 3A
See MIC, Page 3A
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Artist Walter Lacy leads a creative expression workshop
with local children during the MLK Children and Youth
Program in the Modern Languages Building Monday.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
Dr. Martin
Luther King
Jr. honored
with events
CAMPUS LIFE
KEYNOTE
Naomi Tutu
talks social
awareness
in address
Grace Boggs
remembered
in discussion
DETROIT
Protesters hold
rally in A2 calling
for Snyder’s arrest
FLINT