Opinion
SHOHAM GEVA
EDITOR IN CHIEF
CLAIRE BRYAN
AND REGAN DETWILER
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LAURA SCHINAGLE
MANAGING EDITOR
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
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 — Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan,
Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala,
Kit Maher, Madeline Nowicki, Anna Polumbo-Levy,
Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke,
Kevin Sweitzer, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung,
Stephanie Trierweiler, Hunter Zhao
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
FROM THE DAILY
Support Families for Flint Act
FOFA would appropriate money toward
four focus areas: repairing and replacing water
service lines, servicing the needs of family
and communities affected by lead exposure,
expanding economic development (especially
for the youth of Flint) and health monitoring
provided by the new Center for Excellence
on Lead Exposure. Most importantly, the bill
requires the replacement of old pipes and the
inspection of new water pipes to ensure that
Flint residents can once again obtain clean tap
water in their homes.
For infrastructure repairs deemed necessary
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the city of Flint would receive $770 million
in funds. To help provide services to families
and children exposed to lead in Flint, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
would receive $270 million in funding, the U.S.
Department of Education would receive $180
million, the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development would receive $10 million
and the U.S. Department of Justice would
receive $10 million. For economic development,
the U.S. Department of Labor would receive
$40 million and the U.S. Department of
Commerce would receive $25 million. Finally,
to monitor ongoing health of residents in Flint,
the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services would also recieve $200 million to
create a Center of Excellence on Lead Exposure
in Flint.
Another crucial aspect of Kildee’s legislation
is that it would require the Michigan state
government to match every federal grant dollar
Flint receives. In this way, Michigan’s state
government and the federal government take
equal financial responsibility for resolving the
crisis in Flint. The total amount that would be
appropriated, roughly $765 million (about $1.5
billion with Michigan’s matched funds), would
be split roughly equally between infrastructure
fixes and mitigating the consequences of the
crisis.
In addition to FOFA, other legislation has
been introduced that would also help Flint.
Recently, Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D)
and Gary Peters (D) introduced provisions into
a bipartisan energy bill that designates certain
funds toward Flint. In addition, Gov. Rick
Snyder (R) recently signed a $28 million aid bill
for Flint, one of many allocating state resources
to Flint.
The Flint water crisis also highlighted
the need for legislation to better monitor
water contamination nationwide. On Feb.
10, the U.S. House passed the Safe Drinking
Water Act Improved Compliance Awareness
Act, which is an ammendment that Kildee
supported to strengthen regulations on the
U.S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency’s
notification of communities in instances of
water contamination. The intent of the bill is
to inform the public in crises similar to Flint’s,
so the muddled and tragic mishandling of
Flint’s situation can be avoided in the future.
Although these are small steps in the right
direction, FOFA, as of now, is the most effective
legislation to deal with this crisis and it must be
passed immediately.
Kildee said in a press release that he was
pleased that the aforementioned amendments
to the Safe Drinking Water Act passed, and that
continued legislation is on the table. Ultimately,
though, Kildee said he “hope(s) it is only a first
step in addressing this crisis.”
The government has an obligation to protect
the many citizens who have been effectively
poisoned by neglect and misinformation, and
Kildee’s bill is a positive step toward fulfilling
this obligation.
Flint must not be just a talking point for
politicians and presidential hopefuls. It is
crucial
to
provide
continued,
consistent
attention to the needs of Flint residents. The
health of thousands of people is at stake, not
simply political capital for the campaign
season. Bringing justice and aid to the people
of Flint, as Kildee proposes in the FOFA bill,
and as other legislation is working to do, is a
foundational step in the right direction. FOFA
provides a substantial amount of financial aid
to Flint and to its community agencies with
specific goals and means to ensure the targets
are being met. Congress should act quickly and
vote yes on this bill. The federal government,
as well as Michigan’s state government, is
accountable to the needs of its citizens — Flint
should be no exception.
Classes on class
On the very first day of my intro-
ductory political science class, the
professor posed a question to the
packed
lecture
hall,
“Is
the
American Dream
attainable
for
everyone?”
She instructed
us to discuss our
answers
with
those around us
before
sharing
with the class.
Immediately, the
room
erupted
with
excited
chatter as hands shot sporadically
into the air.
“I think the American Dream is
attainable for everyone,” one kid
replied. “Because if you work hard
enough, you can achieve success.”
I watched incredulously as the
other students nodded in agreement,
my head swimming with counterar-
guments. What if your school district
is underfunded? What if you live in a
neighborhood where you constantly
fear for your safety? What if you
have to work during high school to
help your family make ends meet?
As the conversation adhered to
this theme for the remainder of the
90-minute lecture, I felt completely
and utterly alone in my objections. I
could not comprehend why my class-
mates did not take into account the
potential roadblocks people could
face while pursuing an education
or a career — unless, of course, they
have never encountered those road-
blocks themselves.
At the University, I have found
that this is usually the case. Most
students here come from dispropor-
tionately privileged backgrounds;
they attended exceptional schools
and lived in safe, affluent neighbor-
hoods — and there is absolutely noth-
ing wrong with that. However, this
undeniably
advantaged
upbring-
ing has the tendency to serve as a
partition, sheltering those who live
behind it from the realities of the
world around them. Some of these
kids are so engrossed in their fortu-
nate lifestyles they forget that they
rank among the numbered few who
can actually afford to have them.
For students hailing from more
modest backgrounds, these divi-
sions can be painfully obvious, and
pervade every aspect of their col-
lege experience. Some consider their
socioeconomic status to be a pivotal
component of their identity, though
the inconspicuous nature of it means
their peers usually do not detect any
difference between themselves and
their less affluent constituents, as
it is assumed that most college stu-
dents are relatively well-off.
I understand the option of blend-
ing in is a privilege that most margin-
alized people cannot claim to have,
and I recognize it as such. However,
when an aspect of one’s identity slips
so easily under the radar, it can both
isolate and alienate them from their
peers.
As far as I can tell, there is no
open dialogue on campus that
addresses socioeconomic discrep-
ancies, and because the issue is not
always observable, most people do
not consider it compelling enough
to explore. Popular political science
or economics courses tend to brush
over the subject in favor of general-
izing concepts to make them more
digestible — which would be fine if
there were a breadth of classes that
delved deeper into it. Though there
are a few here and there that analyze
the implications of class structure,
unless you are searching the course
guide with very specific results in
mind, most of these courses are only
discovered through word of mouth.
Furthermore, while the Univer-
sity currently has a Race and Eth-
nicity requirement that focuses
on “comparisons of discrimina-
tion based on race, ethnicity, reli-
gion, social class, or gender” there
are only a handful of courses that
emphasize the role of class in their
curricula.
While
these
cours-
es don’t necessarily need to be
required with the same stringen-
cy as Race and Ethnicity courses,
increasing the availability of these
classes
and
highlighting
their
importance in a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary education will
engage students more often in con-
versations pertaining to socioeco-
nomic status.
For some people, the “Ameri-
can Dream” is a straight shot to
success. However, there is merit
in realizing the conditions that
facilitate this success do not apply
to everyone. That day in lecture,
I learned that not everyone is as
acutely aware of this phenomenon
as I am, and, frankly, it alarmed me.
College students, particularly those
at prestigious universities, wield
an influence that a select few can
claim: They will undoubtedly play
a major role in shaping the future
of society. Raising awareness about
the myriad identities and back-
grounds that make up this society
is something we cannot neglect.
Lauren Schandevel can be
reached at schandla@umich.edu.
LAUREN
SCHANDEVEL
When you think of Syrians, think of Anne Frank
I
f you are a Jewish woman,
like myself, you are required,
by some unspoken rule, to
read two books
around
the
time of your bat
mitzvah:
“The
Diary of a Young
Girl”
by
Anne
Frank and “Are You There God? It’s
me, Margaret” by Judy Blume.
Unlike stories of survival such
as Elie Wiesel’s “Night” or fictions
such as Markus Zusak’s “The Book
Thief,” Anne Frank’s diary is not
a Holocaust story. Frank’s story
is actually much more similar to
Blume’s “Margaret” than it is to
“The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.”
Like Margaret, Anne Frank writes
about her future and boys and frets
over puberty. Anne Frank’s diary is
almost more tragic than stories of
death camps and torturous Nazis
because it is relatable. Anne Frank
was a girl trying to grow and learn
the way all young women should,
but her story was cut short. When I
first read her diary, I was struck by
how much I related to Frank and her
desire to experience a first kiss on the
lips. For me, it would not come for two
more years, and for her, it would not
come at all.
You may not know that Anne
Frank’s father, Otto, had tried to get
an American visa for his whole family
to immigrate to the United States. As
The Washington Post so chillingly put
it, “Anne Frank could be a 77-year-old
woman living in Boston today.” I read
this line as tears well up in my eyes.
I feel an intense sadness. I am sad
because I, as a 13-year-old girl, like so
many other 13-year-olds, Jewish or
not, feel a strong connection to Anne
Frank.
This is not the only reason I am
sad. I am sad that Anne Frank never
made it to the United States, because
there are hundreds of thousands
of young girls out there now, both
Syrian and otherwise, who may
never make it to the United States.
The United States government could
not have known that Anne Frank was
being taken to an early death in the
Bergen-Belson concentration camp
in Germany. But today is different.
Today, with 20-20 hindsight, the
United States can save young girls,
like Frank, from death by a brutal,
racist government.
You may, like many others, fear
that taking in Syrian refugees is
taking in potential terrorists. In
the 1940s, Jews were also seen as
a threat to the United States. They
were viewed as dirty communists
trying to corrupt a struggling
capitalist economy. The United
States currently plans to let 10,000
Syrian refugees in over the next
year. It is not clear how many Jewish
refugees the United States took
in during the World War II era.
However, one thing is clear: Jewish
people were not often welcomed.
Many were turned away because
the United States government feared
they were spies for the Germans
or radical anarchists. There are
large collections online of photos
of Jewish refugees on boats being
turned away from the United States
and Cuba. The Jewish refugees who
did not make it to the U.S., Canada
or Palestine faced an almost certain
death at the hands of the Nazis.
While the situation in Syria
does not involve gas chambers and
giant crematoriums, it involves
other horrors. Syrian refugees face
displacement
and
threats
from
their own government, much like
the Jews did in Europe. The truth
is, Anne Frank did not die from
a gunshot or a gas chamber, she
died from typhus alongside her
younger sister. Her mother died of
starvation. Today Syrian refugees in
camps around the world face similar
problems: food shortages, diseases
and extremely low quality of life.
If stories of Jews in the Holocaust
break your heart, then so will stories
of Syrian refugees.
When you think of Syrians, rather
than picture a threatening man
with a gun, picture a young woman.
Picture an Anne Frank. We need
to give Syrian refugees the kind of
chance we never gave Jews.
Alison Schalop can be reached
at aschalop@umich.edu.
ALISON
SCHALOP
E-mail michEllE at shEngmi@umich.Edu
MICHELLE SHENG
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“Some of these kids are
so engrossed in their
fortunate lifestyles they
forget that they rank
among the numbered
few who can actually
afford to have them.”
—Sen. Marco Rubio (R) during a presidential campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich .
“
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Because if you want to be president of the U.S.A. you
have to love the American people, even the ones who
don’t love you back
“While the situation in
Syria does not involve
gas chambers and
giant crematoriums, it
involves other horrors.
Syrian refugees face
displacement and
threats from their own
government, much like
the Jews did in Europe.”
Over the last few months, the events that led to the Flint
water crisis have come to light. The need for legislation to
deal with its aftermath and to prevent similar disasters from
becoming commonplace nationwide is urgent. On Feb. 4, 2016,
Congressman Dan Kildee (D–Flint) introduced an essential bill
called the Families of Flint Act. This bill is an important step in
the process of helping Flint get back on its feet and supporting
those most affected by the crisis.