I
t’s 2017 and, according to
White House counselor
Kellyanne
Conway,
it’s
finally the dawn of
a new day. Wanna
know why?
The
American
reality
is
finally
getting a facelift. You
may not think there’s
anything
wrong
with, oh, you know,
actual
reality,
but
that’s only because
the
mainstream
media indoctrinated
you into liking it. And
trust me, this current reality
really
pales
in
comparison
with Chief Strategist Steven
Bannon’s — er, I mean President
Donald
Trump’s
—
new
American reality. Believe me,
it’s gonna be “yuge.”
Imagine
a
world
where
pigs fly, border walls are cost-
free
and
hair
plug
comb-
overs are deeply attractive.
Thanks to alternative facts,
the
new
administration’s
recent innovation in political
communication, you don’t have
to imagine anymore!
And really, if you think
about it, we as college students
are well-poised to capitalize
on
this
new
impressive
innovation. Say goodbye to
days spent poring over library
books,
LexisNexis
search
results and statistical analysis
software.
With
alternative
facts, these little annoyances
can become things of the past
… well, at least in the social and
natural sciences.
Disclaimer:
Unfortunately,
engineers aren’t quite off the
hook. We still need them to
use actual knowledge to design
things for American workers
to manufacture. In Trump’s
America, that is very important.
(Unless they want to design
parts for folks in the growing
clean
energy
industries
to
manufacture. That’s a waste of
time, because climate change
isn’t real.)
Now I know a lot of you have
been pretty stressed lately by one
or more of the many executive
orders
Trump
has
signed
since his inauguration. (Hey,
remember when Republicans
frowned on the extensive use of
executive orders?)
Granted, reality in Trump’s
America hasn’t been all that great.
One
of
Trump’s
first
executive
orders
banned
individuals from seven Muslim-
majority
countries
(notably
not the ones that the majority
of 9/11 terrorists came from.
Those
countries
have
the
desirable
feature
of being home to
several
Trump
Organization
properties)
from
entering the United
States.
The
ban
even
excluded
translators
and
others who risked
their lives to assist
the
Department
of
Defense.
Apparently, “Support
Our Troops” actually means
“Support Our Troops*.”
(*But don’t expect the United
States to compensate you for
your service, because they may
renege on their promises if and
when it becomes politically
expedient to do so.)
The executive order even
had implications for students
at the University of Michigan.
One student on campus, LSA
senior Tina Al-khersan, told of
her sister’s detainment at the
Canadian border while U.S.
officials struggled to interpret
and implement the notoriously
vague executive order. Her
sister is a citizen of the United
States, New Zealand and Iraq.
You
could
follow
the
news
surrounding
this
injustice,
angering
yourself
in the process. But this might
tempt you to exercise your
First
Amendment
right
to
#resist and join one of the
many protests set to become
permanent features of Trump’s
presidency
or
otherwise
behave in ways Tomi Lahren
might deride as liberal crybaby
whining. Now, some people
might say you’d be doing your
civic duty to engage in the
democratic process by making
your voice heard and holding
the president accountable.
If all that sounds like it may
pose too big a risk of worry
lines, grey hair or peptic ulcers,
then boy, are you going to
appreciate
alternative
facts.
Alternative facts will ensure
that you, the voter, will have
absolutely nothing to worry
about under President Trump
(that you know of).
With
alternative
facts,
Trump’s
highly
unjust,
un-American ban on some of
the people most in need of a new
start to life in the United States
becomes a humane, necessary
and wholly Constitutional way
of keeping Americans safe and
putting Americans first. It’s
the only way to protect good,
hardworking American families
from malicious terrorists who
wish to do them harm. This is
supported by the alternative
fact that 99.8 percent of all
acts of terrorism and crime are
perpetrated by Syrian terrorists
disguised as refugee children.
Obviously, this article has
been more or less satirical so far.
But let’s get real for a second.
The right to free speech —which
includes the rights of journalists
to report information on our
political leaders and their actions
and disseminate to the public —
is one of the most fundamental
American rights, and it’s a crucial
feature of our democracy.
But for the first time in
my
memory,
the
president
and the officials within his
administration have publicly
lambasted honest, hardworking
reporters for simply doing their
jobs and reporting on his actions
as president-elect and president.
On Wednesday, Trump even
used a Black History Month
event as a platform to condemn
CNN as “fake news” and praise
conservative-leaning
network
Fox
News.
The
president
has
also
publically
agreed
with
Bannon’s
statement
characterizing the media as the
“opposition party.”
It doesn’t matter who is in
the White House, Republican
or Democrat. Transparency and
democratic oversight require
ardent free speech protection
and journalists who can do their
job of relaying important, if
inconvenient, facts to the public
without the White House trying
to delegitimize entire networks
perceived as unfriendly.
My real suggestion? Support
journalists
who
do
the
difficult — and increasingly
dangerous — work of holding
our leaders accountable. If you
can, subscribe to reputable
news sources and follow their
content in your free time. If
nothing else, do your own
research before buying into
Trump & Company’s fiery
claims that reputable news
networks
are
“fake
news”
whenever
they
publish
an
unflattering story.
But hey, if none of that sounds
appealing, you could always
believe the information that
the administration wants you to
have: its alternative facts.
I
think we can all agree that
the world is currently in
the midst of a great deal
of upheaval. There
are few times when
it does not seem
as
if
the
world
is
changing,
of
course
(we
can
maybe
assume
there
wasn’t
too
much societal shift
in
the
pre-multi-
cellular
organism
stage of the Earth
for
instance).
Still, the intensity of societal
change that took place while
humanity figured out crop
rotation agricultural systems
compared with the amount of
societal change in the last ten
years (or ten days even) is not
even close.
It can be challenging during this
time of transition and uncertainty
to feel safe, think clearly or keep
up with political changes. To
help, I sometimes try to rely on
the things that don’t change, the
things that make me feel safer:
humanity’s penchant for helping.
There’s a quote from Mr.
Rogers I’ve seen quite a bit
recently that’s fairly in line
with this thinking. It states,
“When I was a boy and I would
see scary things in the news, my
mother would say to me, ‘Look
for the helpers. You will always
find people who are helping.’”
To illustrate this, while
working and traveling abroad
this summer, there were a
handful of times when I didn’t
feel completely comfortable.
That just comes with the
territory when your language
skills are spotty and you
constantly look like you’re
wearing a hat that reads,
“I’m very American and very
gullible! Please confuse or rob
me!” However, even when I
was feeling nervous, I often
found
help
from
random
people willing to step in.
One specific instance I can
point to is when I used a week
off work to visit Morocco. My
travel partner and I had set
up a tour of the palm groves
on the outskirts of
the city as a day
trip. Unfortunately,
we had some mixed
messages with the
tour guide and ended
up in the wrong place
with no quick way to
contact him. I was
left
to
frantically
Google his contact
information
while
taxi drivers came by
repeatedly to ask us where we
were going and if we needed a
ride. This did not do wonders
for my anxiety.
I was ready to give up or
have a small panic attack on
the street (both equally likely)
when another man approached
us to ask about giving us a
taxi ride somewhere. I started
waving him off, already telling
him that we were just waiting
on our ride when he asked for
more details.
I
was
immediately
distrustful, but when I gave
a quick explanation of our
situation, he waved over the
other taxi drivers. He relayed
the information about our issue,
and they immediately started
collaborating with me about
how to figure this out together.
I was ridiculously touched
and
grateful.
These
men
definitely had better things
to do than help — including
making a living — yet they were
seriously involved in helping
us, and we all celebrated when
I got in touch with our guide.
In this instance, the stakes
for not receiving help were
relatively
low.
We
would
have missed our tour and I,
incidentally, would not have
experienced being thrown off a
camel later that day. (Actually,
maybe it would have been
better if we didn’t receive help
after all.) It would have been
disappointing, but not harmful
in a long-term or serious way.
I really can’t say the same for
immigrants and other at-risk
populations
in
the
United
States right now though.
There are serious, long-term
repercussions on a personal and
a societal level when families and
individuals are being threatened
with deportation, being barred
from entry into the country or
losing health care. Families are
being indiscriminately kept from
their homes and being denied
access to doctors, which many
would consider a human right.
With the scale of these issues,
making a positive difference, even
on an individual level, can seem
too complicated to even attempt.
To deal with these heightened
challenges, people need legal help
and financial security — things
that many of us can’t offer.
With this in mind, it can be
challenging to know how to
be the helpers here. We have
to work within our means,
and sometimes when we can’t
throw money at a problem to
make them go away, donating
time and attention might not
feel like enough — it can be
hard to see the payoff when it
seems that nothing changes,
especially
when
you’re
challenging
something
on
the institutional and societal
level, like sexism or racism.
It may not feel immediately
rewarding, but that doesn’t
make it any less valuable.
The payoff of these small
actions
is
cumulative
and
can have a massive impact
on the whole. Showing up to
protest, finding contacts and
resources to get involved with
and reaching out to those who
might need your help are all
worthwhile, every time, even if
you feel you have little to offer.
Every bit counts, even if it’s as
small as taking a break from
your work to translate some
contact information for some
confused foreigners.
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, February 3, 2017
L
ast Friday, President
Donald
Trump
issued
an
executive
order inappropriately titled,
“Protecting the Nation from
Foreign Terrorist Entry into the
United States.” Ostensibly, the
goal was to limit immigration
from countries that the Trump
administration deemed high-
risk for terrorism in the United
States. We, along with millions
of
other
Americans
and
concerned people around the
world, denounce the move as
inhumane, devoid of empathy
and simply un-American. By
closing our doors to people
from
Iran,
Iraq,
Libya,
Somalia, Sudan, Syria and
Yemen — a group of nations
that tens of millions of people
call home — Trump is signing
into law a message that is as
misguided as it is powerful:
The United States’ fear of
terrorism is stronger than its
commitment to humanity. In
addition, by suspending the
Refugee Admission Program,
the Trump administration’s
executive
order
is
openly
and brashly neglecting the
humanitarian
ideals
that
we as a nation should be
striving toward. It is our
unwavering stance that the
United States should utilize
its
international
privilege
and influence by accepting
the world’s most vulnerable
citizens. By condoning the
creation
of
physical
and
psychological borders, we are
only distancing ourselves from
the benefits that come with
building
an
internationally
diverse community. As long
as Donald Trump and his
administration
continue
to
abandon these principles that
we hold dear, we at Michigan
in Color will continue to speak
up and uplift the voices of
those affected. Advocating for
the safety of our fellow human
beings is not, and cannot, be
reduced to a bipartisan issue.
Rather, it is an active choice
that we should all be willing
to embrace — regardless of
political allegiance.
In
response
to
this
executive
order,
the
University
of
Michigan
President
Mark
Schlissel
issued a statement outlining
their refusal to release the
immigration
status
of
its
students and other community
members. In the statement,
the
University
reaffirmed
its commitment to diversity,
non-discrimination,
privacy
and public safety. Notably, the
University’s refusal to disclose
the
immigration
status
of
its students and community
members does not violate any
existing state or federal laws.
While
we
are
encouraged
by the its commitment to
protecting its students and
faculty, we are unnerved that
the
University’s
response
was motivated by the desire
to “identify, recruit, support
and retain academic talent.”
We reject the idea that an
individual’s worth is solely
determined by their ability
to contribute to the academic
community.
We
want
to
remind everyone that those
affected by the ban are, first
and foremost, human beings
— individuals whose rights
and civil liberties have been
wrongfully denied.
While we wrecognize that
many students have been and
will continue to be affected
by the legal unfoldings of the
Trump
administration,
we
acknowledge that those whose
roots lie in the nations affected
by the recent executive order
may feel particularly isolated.
Our
platform
has
always
existed as a space for students
of color to affirm, acknowledge
and express love toward one
another, and this mission will
only become more salient as
we navigate the uncertainties
of this new political climate.
Writing,
along
with
other
forms of art, are particularly
potent forms of healing and
recognition of our existence,
and we invite those who
are affected to share their
stories. Right now, we must
exist together, because our
livelihood as people of color
relies on building solidarity
with
one
another.
Our
liberation from oppression has
always been connected. We
must elevate one another and
speak for those who cannot —
the invisible, resilient people
who have historically been left
out of the dominant narrative.
We must continue to articulate
our experiences, issues, and
suffering as people of color.
There is power in speaking
the unspeakable, and we will
continue to amplify our voices
and condemn those who try to
silence us.
REBECCA LERNER
Managing Editor
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
EMMA KINERY
Editor in Chief
ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY
and REBECCA TARNOPOL
Editorial Page Editors
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.
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SARAH LEESON | COLUMN
An alternative column
VICTORIA NOBLE | COLUMN
Victoria Noble can be reached at
vjnoble@umich.edu.
Sarah Leeson can be reached at
sleeson@umich.edu.
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NOBLE
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SARAH
LEESON
No Bans in this Land
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