Talk discusses 

current movement, 

cites need for 

progressive agenda

By EMILY DAVIES

Daily Staff Reporter

About 30 people gathered 

Friday to listen to and engage 
with Matthew Platt, assistant 
professor of political science at 
Morehouse College, on the state 
of Black politics in the modern 
world.

The event emphasized what 

Platt described as a need to con-
tinue to think critically about 
the strategy the Black commu-
nity employs to fight for change.

Throughout his lecture, Platt 

argued that holding protests and 
drawing on Black representation 
in politics both fail to effectively 
advance the “Black-issue agen-
da,” which he defined as matters 
pertaining to anti-racism, cul-
ture and social welfare.

As part of a research project, 

Platt examined every bill intro-
duced in Congress from 1947 to 
1998 and concluded that the vast 

majority of Black-issue bills have 
been introduced by non-Black 
representatives. At the highest 
point, he said, only five Black 
members of Congress chaired 
committees. He said due to this 
statistic, among other factors, 
the power of change falls to non-
Black representatives.

Platt also touched on two 

popular strategies the black 
community has used to gain rec-
ognition from non-Black mem-
bers of Congress: protests and 
politics. Since the passage of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965, Platt 
said there has been an inverse 
relationship between the num-
ber of protests and legislative 
impact.

“Representation has become 

weaker post-political empower-
ment in terms of getting Black 
issues recognized by Congress,” 
Platt said. “After Black enfran-
chisement, both protests and 
politics are less effective tools 
for gaining white recognition of 
Black issues. This is what I call 
the normalization of Black poli-
tics.”

Platt added this lack of con-

gressional impact has little to do 
with the Black candidates elect-
ed. Even those Black members 

of Congress who Platt labeled 
as “ambitious” in his research, 
meaning those who formed 
an exploratory committee for 
higher office or ran for a higher 
office, are no more likely to fur-
ther a Black-issue agenda.

In a similar vein, Platt said 

the most important part of pro-
gressive politics is not about the 
votes, but rather about pushing 
an agenda to make change.

“If you are defining Black pol-

itics by how many white people 
you can get to vote for you, I fail 
to realize what is Black about 
that,” Platt said. “Instead we 
need to think about Black poli-
tics in terms of how you move 
forward a Black policy agenda.”

Platt did acknowledge, how-

ever, that even if race does not 
matter in Congress, it does mat-
ter in terms of ideology — his 
research demonstrates that in 
general, Black people in Con-
gress are extremely liberal.

After his remarks, Platt’s 

audience, a mixture of under-
graduate students, graduate stu-
dents and professors, engaged 
critically with him on several 
points.

Audience 
members 
chal-

Lecturers talk civil 
rights, activism in 
hopes of exploring 
diverse identities 

By BRANDON SUMMERS-

MILLER

Daily Staff Reporter

On Saturday, the South Asian 

Awareness 
Network’s 
annual 

conference hosted two keynote 
speakers and held multiple semi-
nars to discuss activism, inter-
sectionality and civil rights.

While 
the 
first 
keynote 

focused on South Asian heritage 
and its links to the Civil Rights 
Movement, the second empha-
sized the importance of the 
intersectionality of racial and 
cultural identities. Both lectur-
ers aimed to shed light on social 
entrepreneurship.

LSA senior Fatema Chamak, 

co-director of SAAN, said the 

group’s main aim wasn’t just to 
create a conference that acted 
as a singular event, but rather to 
create one that acted as an exten-
sion of all the events the organi-
zation hosts throughout the year.

Of the conference’s many 

goals, Chamak said she hoped 
participants learned how to 
explore the intersectionality and 
fluidity of their identities. Inter-
sectionality refers to the way 
different identities connect and 
overlap. 

“I want them to walk away 

with the idea that activism isn’t 
over,” Chamak said. “And that 
social identity is something that 
always needs to be reflective and 
explored.”

American 
Culture 
prof. 

Manan Desai, who gave the first 
keynote speech, focused on the 
relationships 
between 
South 

Asian identities and the U.S. 
Civil Rights Movement of the 
1960s.

Desai said African American 

social activists influenced anti-

imperialist activists in Southern 
Asia, exploring the history of 
South Asia and subsequently to 
activism.

“It was not only the case that 

South Asians who came to the 
U.S. were often drawn to the 
conflict fighting injustice,” said 
Desai. “But the history of Afri-
can American struggle had long 
influenced activists back home.”

Desai also told the crowd 

that he wanted to speak at the 
SAAN conference because dur-
ing his time as an undergraduate 
at the University, there wasn’t a 
space for students of South Asian 
descent to discuss the issues that 
faced their community.

Overall, he said he hoped 

participants could learn where 
South Asians fit into the nation’s 
history from his keynote.

“I was trying to say something 

inspiring about people before 
who showed solidarity towards 
African Americans or civil rights 
movements,” Desai said. “I also 
wanted us to think about where 
South Asians fit historically in 
the larger picture.”

Naya 
Jeevan 
CEO 
Asher 

Hasan presented the second 
keynote speech, focusing on his 
own racial and social identities. 
Using his own life as an example, 
he noted how participants could 
make a positive impact on the 
world.

Hasan’s company, Naya Jee-

van, is based in Pakistan and is 
dedicated to empowering mar-
ginalized communities by giving 
them access to health care, edu-
cation and financial inclusion.

While Hasan spoke specifi-

cally to his South Asian heritage, 
he explained he was more com-
fortable now as a person who 
views himself as all his identi-
ties simultaneously, whereas he 
used to think of himself in terms 
of only one or another at a single 
time.

“We can all have multiple iden-

tities,” he said. “It’s just trying to 
get them to converge together 
into an integrated whole.”

Hasan said he wanted to speak 

at SAAN’s conference because he 

3-News
2-News

THREE THINGS YOU 
SHOULD KNOW TODAY

The 
Michigan 

women’s 
basketball 

team fell to Nebraska, 

93-81, at Crisler Center on 
Sunday.

>> SEE SPORTSMONDAY ON 1B
2

1

3

TUESDAY:

Campus Voices

THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk

FRIDAY:

Photos of the Week

WEDNESDAY:

In Other Ivory Towers

MONDAY:

This Week in History

See LECTURE, Page 3A
See PROFESSOR, Page 3A

2A — Monday, January 25, 2016
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Faculty recital

WHAT: Jeffrey Lyman 
and colleagues will 
perform high baroque 
by Vivaldi, Rameau and 
Handel. 
WHO: School of Music, 
Theatre and Dance
WHEN: 8 p.m. 
WHERE: Earl V. Moore 
Building, McIntosh 
Theatre

SPSS 
workshop

WHAT: Instructor 
Corey Powell will 
conduct a workshop on 
SPSS for Windows.
WHO: OSCAR Workshops
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
WHERE: Modern 
Languages Build-
ing, room 2001A

Stories on 
Islamophobia

WHAT: Prof. Evelyn 
Alsultany and Dr. Adrienne 
Dessel will facilitate 
a space for students 
affected by Islamophobia 
to share their stories.
WHO: Arab and Muslim 
American Studies Program
WHEN: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan 
Union, Pendleton Room

Cities on the East Coast 
are working hard on 
clean-up 
and 
flood 

mitigation in the aftermath 
of 
winter 
storm 
Jonas. 

Record snowfalls occured 
at New York’s JFK Airport, 
delaying flights, the New 
York Times reported. 

1

Discussion on 
State of the 
State address
WHAT: Rick Pluta and Zoe 
Clark from the Michigan 
Public Radio Network will 
discuss Gov. Snyder’s sixth 
State of the State address. 
WHO: Center for Local, 
State, and Urban Policy 
WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 1 
p.m. 
WHERE: Weill Hall, 
Betty Ford Classroom, 
room 1110

Following the lack of 
diversity in the 2016 
Oscar 
nominations, 

three 
new 
seats 

will 
be 
added 
to 

the Academy’s Board of 
Governors to improve 
diversity, Slate reported. 
Many artists including Matt 
Damon and Don Cheadle 
have commended the move. 

3

GRANT HARDY/Dailly

Anthesiology Prof. Dinesh Pal protests caste system dis-
crimination in India, prompted by the suicide of Rohith Ver-
mula, a PhD student at Hyderabad Central University, on the 
Diag Saturday.

Film on 
Latino 
migration
WHAT: Dr. Jesse 
Hoffnung-Garskof will 
host a screening and 
discsussion of the film 
“Empire of Dreams.”
WHO: Latina/o Studies
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. 
to 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Ann Arbor 
Downtown District 
Library, Multi-
Purpose Room 

Football film 
and dialogue

WHAT: Trotter 
Multicultural Center 
will screen “In Football 
We Trust,” followed by a 
talk on sports and social 
change. 
WHO: Trotter 
Multicultural Center
WHEN: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
WHERE: Trotter 
Multicultural Center
Digitalizing 
health data

WHAT: Prof. Alexandra 
Stern will give a lecture on 
creating digital platforms 
with Mapquest and Scalar 
to uncover histories of 
eugenics and sterilizations. 
WHO: Department of 
American Culture 
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 11:30 
a.m.
WHERE: Hatcher 
Graduate Library, Gallery 
(room 100)

Exploratory 
Ph.D. process 
group
WHAT: The Career 
Center will facilitate 
a process group on 
career planning for 
Ph.D. students.
WHO: The Career Center
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
WHERE: Rackham 
Graduate School
Please report any 
error in the Daily 
to corrections@
michigandaily.com.

36 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (JAN. 24, 1980)

Greek life loses pet policy

After five former members 

of fraternity Alpha Delta Phi 
were involved in killing their 
house cat, the local chapter of 
the Humane Society decided 
to temporarily stop giving 
house pets to University fra-
ternities.

At the time, fraternities 

could put in a request for a 
house pet at the Humane 
Society of Huron Valley. 
Although the Humane Soci-
ety would not grant the 
majority of the requests, sev-
eral fraternities had house 
pets they adopted from the 
organization. After the cat 
killing occurred in early 
December and the five stu-
dents had been expelled from 
Alpha Delta Phi after their 

plea on January 17.

Diane 
Allevato, 
then-

director of the Humane Soci-
ety of Huron Valley, said at 
the time the brutal killing of 
the cat served as a catalyst for 
reviewing the organization’s 
policy.

The 
Humane 
Society 

would 
be 
“committing 

organizational suicide” if it 
allowed fraternities to adopt 
animals so soon after the cat-
killing incident, Allevato said.

Mark Nehmer, non-act-

ing fraternity president of 
Delta Chi, said his fraternity 
sought to adopt an animal 
but though they had a good 
record of taking care of house 
pets and had a recommenda-
tion from an LSA assistant 

dean with their request for a 
new dog, the request wasn’t 
granted. According to Nehm-
er, a Humane Society worker 
said his fraternity would not 
be able to adopt a dog right 
away but may be able to adopt 
one in two months.

Nehmer was disappointed 

that all of the fraternities 
were being punished for the 
actions of a few members.

Nehman claimed that his 

fraternity could appeal to 
the state level of the Humane 
Society and receive a more 
sympathetic response, but 
he did not think it would be 
appropriate to go over the 
local chapter’s head. 

— RACHEL COHEN

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Dailly

Matthew Platt, assistant professor in the Political Science Department at Morehouse College speaks about the history 
of black voting rights as part of his presentation during Political Scientists of Color in Haven Hall on Friday. 

Speakers highlight South Asian 
culture and heritage at conference

Professor challenges traditional 
norms in Black political action

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