B
lack History Month, for
me, is by far the most
meaningful
month
of
the year. A time to reflect on the
triumphs, tragedies and teachable
moments of the past, while
celebrating the influential people,
institutions and events of today. It
is also a time to look to the future
and imagine a society greater
than the one we currently inhabit.
Since
President
Gerald
Ford
commissioned February as Black
History Month in 1976 as a part of
the United States’s bicentennial,
students in schools all over the
country have read books on the
civil rights movement, written
reports on some of our most
remembered pioneers and seen
such programs as the biographic
cartoon “Our Friend, Martin.”
Today, the entire month of
February is Black History Month.
However, prior to 1976, just the
second week of the month was
known as Negro History Week.
It was established in 1926 by
prominent Black historian Carter
G. Woodson and others within
the Association for the Study
of African American Life and
History, an organization Woodson
co-founded. ASALH thought the
many contributions of African
Americans to our society, both past
and present, should be remembered
and celebrated. I concur.
I personally feel a certain
affirmation of my own existence,
and of my ancestors, during the
month of February. Living in a
country that does not always value
Black lives, I find it somewhat
heartening that people will at
least pretend to for these 28
days. Every year the president
will issue a proclamation on the
first day of February, declaring it
Black History Month. Television
stations will run documentaries,
radio show hosts will interview
historians
and
experts,
and
politicians will selectively quote
activists. For this one month, it is
not controversial to be Black.
Black
History
Month
is
not without its critics. There
has always been a chorus of
uninformed bigots repeating the
line: “Why isn’t there a white
history month?” This inquiry is
extremely problematic, and in
my opinion, not at all genuine.
The history of this nation has
been
whitewashed
for
the
appeasement of the masses. We
celebrate Christopher Columbus,
Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses
Grant for their contributions to
the advancement of exploration,
the establishment of individual
liberties and the reunification of
our nation, but we often forget
the enslaved Black Europeans
and Americans who helped
them succeed.
Black history is being made —
by our leaders — right before our
eyes. It was monumental for us to
see the United States’s first Black
chief executive take the oath of
office eight years ago, and former
President Barack Obama’s name
is guaranteed to grace the pages
of textbooks for centuries to come.
However, after his election had
been contextualized as being
within a political climate that
was “post-racial,” it was just as
monumental
when
then-First
Lady Michelle Obama noted that
she wakes up “every morning in
a house that was built by slaves”
during her Democratic National
Convention speech last summer.
Black history is being made
by athletes. This year, Serena
Williams cemented her legacy as
the greatest tennis player of all
time by winning her 23rd Grand
Slam title. She has won more Grand
Slam single titles than any other
person in the Open era — male or
female. At the 2016 Olympics in
Rio De Janeiro, gymnast Simone
Biles stunned the world when she
took home four gold medals and
one bronze medal.
Black history is being made by
creators. Viola Davis made history
this year when she garnered her
third Academy Award nomination
for her role in “Fences.” TV shows
with majority-Black casts such
as ABC’s “Scandal,” “Blackish”
and “How to Get Away with
Murder” and Fox’s “Empire”
are
dominating
primetime
viewership. Beyoncé, with the
release of her album “Lemonade,”
became the only artist in history to
have her first six efforts go number
one on the Billboard Hot 100.
This, after controversy over her
unapologetically pro-Black single
“Formation” and Super Bowl
performance to match. To top it all
off, last year Beyoncé became the
most Grammy-nominated woman
in the award show’s history.
While accepting her daughter’s
BET award for video of the year
last
summer,
Tina
Knowles
reflected on the deaths of some
of
our
community’s
greatest
artists such as Prince and Michael
Jackson by saying, “I’m hoping
that we will celebrate them while
we are alive.” She added, “Let’s
give our flowers to our artists
who give so much … Let’s let them
smell the flowers while they’re
alive.” In other words, it is always
appropriate to honor the legacy of
fallen influences, but it is just as
important to praise them while
they are alive and still effecting
change. Black History Month is
our time to do just that.
History that is not remembered
repeats itself. America, if for no
other reason, owes it to its Black
citizens to remain educated on this
nation’s ugly past of enslavement,
disenfranchisement
and
legal
subjugation. This country has
resolved to “never forget” the
horror of the Sept. 11 attacks,
the Holocaust or the attack on
Pearl Harbor, yet slavery is not
universally regarded in the same
way. As long as there is Black
History Month, our objective
should be to remember the
injustices committed against Black
people, and work diligently so that
those types of injustices never
happen
again.
Unfortunately,
we now have a president who
is not quite clear of this history.
President Donald Trump, during
remarks
commemorating
the
beginning of Black History Month,
seemed to suggest that Frederick
Douglass was somehow still alive,
saying that he is “being recognized
more and more” today. This, just
days after claiming that renowned
civil rights activist and current
congressman John Lewis was “all
talk.” In 1965, while protesting
voting rights violations as the
chair of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating
Committee
in
Selma, Ala., Lewis was brutalized
by police. He sustained a fractured
skull on the day that was eventually
known as Bloody Sunday.
Black History Month should
evoke joy, pain, laughter, tears,
celebration and condemnation.
This time of year is so important
to me because it is a time to
remember the past, savor the
present
and
look
toward
a
promising and united future.
There is no doubt as to whether
Black History Month should be a
permanent fixture of our society.
My hope is that all Americans
would make a commitment to
celebrate this special time with
myself and others.
The Senate bills allocate
funds to providers to cover
the costs of hospital room
fees, rape test kits and other
medical testing provided to
survivors of sexual assault,
while prohibiting providers
from charging patients for care
after an assault not covered by
insurance or not authorized
by a patient. The bills also
incentivize
providers
to
ensure that survivors of sexual
assault receive proper medical
treatment, regardless of the
costs they might incur. This
particularly helps survivors
of
lower
socioeconomic
status, who might not have
health insurance to cover the
costs of treatment.
Furthermore,
the
bills,
if
passed,
would
allocate
funding
toward
training
medical personnel to tend to
survivors of sexual assault.
Since this training is highly
specific, health care providers
may have very few — if any
— personnel available to aid
survivors. By allocating funds
toward this training, health
care providers can increase
the
number
of
personnel
able to help surviviors, thus
improving the efficiency of
their treatment.
The
House
bill,
which
allows the use of a defendant’s
history
as
evidence,
will
help survivors defend their
cases if they choose to bring
them to court. A 2015 study
of college men published in
JAMA Pediatrics estimated
that 25 percent of sexual
assailants
are
repeat
offenders,
a
phenomenon
especially
prevalent
on
college
campuses.
The
criminal justice system faces
difficulties
in
prosecuting
sexual
assailants
because,
in many cases, the state
prosecutors
do
not
have
enough
evidence
to
meet
criminal cases’ standards of
proof. The private nature of
sexual assault reduces many
cases to one person’s word
against another’s. Allowing
the
use
of
past
history
as
evidence
would
help
survivors build cases against
sexual assailants. Pertinent
information
such
as
an
assailant’s motives, patterns
or methods would be used to
help prosecute an offender in
a court of law.
While
these
bills
are
crucial, much needed steps
toward ensuring survivors of
sexual assault obtain care and
justice, we hope that passing
these bills will open up more
important conversations about
Michigan state law regarding
sexual assault, such as further
clarifying the definition of
consent
within
the
laws.
Currently, state law does not
have an explicit definition
of
consent,
which
often
complicates
the
survivor’s
case because of the evidentiary
difficulties the crime presents.
In
order
to
best
respect,
protect and support survivors,
the state must define consent
more explicitly.
The
University’s
sexual
misconduct
policy
defines
consent
as
“a
clear
and
unambiguous
agreement,
expressed outwardly through
mutually
understandable
words or actions, to engage
in
a
particular
activity.
Consent must be voluntarily
given and cannot be obtained
through coercion or force,”
which recognizes the need
for both parties’ agreement
before engaging in sexual
activity. Other states, such as
California and New York, have
affirmative consent laws that
explicitly define the criteria
needed for consent.
We call upon the state of
Michigan to pass these bills,
as even these small steps
help
survivors
immensely.
However,
state
legislators
must keep in mind the issue of
sexual assault is much larger
than the ability to receive
proper and affordable medical
treatment and resources to
build court cases. Due justice
for all parties will only come
when the state laws themselves
are clarified — a good start
being for the state to pass
meaningful consent standards.
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, February 24, 2017
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.
Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns
Samantha Goldstein
Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan
Max Lubell
Alexis Megdanoff
Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy
Jason Rowland
Ali Safawi
Kevin Sweitzer
Rebecca Tarnopol
Ashley Tjhung
Stephanie Trierweiler
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Black History Month, Through My Eyes
M
y
heart
sank
as
the
unthinkable
happened.
I
felt
the life drain from my body as
Aroldis Chapman, the Chicago
Cubs’ dominant closer, gave up
a game-tying home run to Rajai
Davis in the bottom of the eighth
inning in the deciding game of the
World Series. Memories of trips
to Wrigley Field in the mid-2000s
with my dad ran through my brain
— losing was ingrained in my mind
so much that I considered myself a
bad luck charm for the Cubs, only
to realize that my presence at the
ballpark didn’t count much toward
their 108-year drought. It was as
simple as that; the Cubs can’t win,
they would never win and game
seven of the World Series would be
no different.
Sociologists
have
debated
sports, and their role in society,
since the emergence of modern
organized sports in the mid-19th
century. Facing criticism from
Marxist theorists, sports have
been viewed as a manifestation of
the elite in society, socializing and
manipulating athletes to unique
dietary, behavioral and educational
norms in pursuit of profit. Some
renowned thinkers, such as Noam
Chomsky, have gone so far as to
say that “sports keep people from
worrying about things that matter.”
But putting aside sociological
theory and institutional analysis of
modern athletics, sports provide us
with something we often can’t find
in other areas of our lives: hope.
No year better illustrates the
value of sports than 2016. Sports,
although profit-driven and media-
controlled, speak to the masses in
an almost religious manner. The
underdog in sports is not merely a
small-market team or a historically
poorly performing franchise. The
underdog is a symbol of hope,
the spirit of a community and a
metaphor for social change.
Overcoming
5,000-1
odds,
Leicester City won the Premier
League title in a performance
that rocked the global soccer
community.
The
Cleveland
Cavaliers, down three games to
one, took down the Golden State
Warriors in the NBA Finals —
giving Cleveland its first major
championship
in
its
46-year
history. And recently, the New
England Patriots came back from a
seemingly lethal deficit to win the
Super Bowl, to the chagrin of much
of the western United States.
This same year has been
characterized
by
political
controversy and change. Sports,
as a microcosm of society, reflect
meaning
that
transcends
far
beyond the boundaries of the foul
pole or end zone.
On Nov. 9, our campus was quiet.
To the credit of conservatives,
Republicans pulled off a comeback
of sorts in a fair, yet shocking,
sweep of the nation. Nevertheless,
the
funeral-esque
proceedings
the day after the 2016 presidential
election were almost too solemn.
But for many, it seemed as if the
rights of minorities, women and
other disadvantaged groups had
died with the election results.
That day, sitting thoughtfully
in the Mary Markley Residence
Hall lounge with a few of my
friends from Chicago, a friend
asked me, “Does it even matter
anymore that the Cubs won the
World Series?” I took a moment
to collect my thoughts. “Yes,
yes it does,” I responded. The
Cubs, like all the underdogs of
2016, represent a hope, binding
together common wounds and
bringing together a community.
Baseball, “America’s pastime,”
was
born
with
a
national
connotation of optimism. I argue
that it remains a platform from
which people can derive hope and
inspiration to make changes.
I said yes because it reminds us
that nothing is permanent, that
norms and rules can be changed
and rewritten, that no deficit or
adversity is too much to overcome.
One hundred eight years? Water
under the bridge. Just as the Cubs
put behind a history of curses
and billy goats — omens signaling
the perpetual nature of the Cubs’
failure — those distraught after the
election could do the same, finding
within themselves a message of
hope echoed by sports and political
heroes alike: Yes we can.
As the year moves forward,
there will undoubtedly be ongoing
battles both within and outside the
U.S. government over political and
social issues. As we have already
seen, policies may be put in place
that align with the fears of many
in this country, subjugating and
targeting minority groups on the
basis of crass, often incorrect,
generalizations. However, sports
serve to remind us that in times of
fear and defeat, there is much ground
to be made up (108 years worth, for
example) and change to be made.
So, as I watched distraught
New England fans desperately
root for the Patriots down 25 in
the third quarter of the Super
Bowl, I remembered the Cubs,
and how I was sure they would
lose. I remembered the crack
of Ben Zobrist’s bat as he shot a
double down the left field line to
score the eventual game-winning
run. I remembered Anthony
Rizzo’s face as he screamed
when Kris Bryant made the
final out. And I remembered
the voices of protesters on the
Diag outside my classroom the
week after. Indeed, the Patriots
came back to win, in yet another
example of resilience, something
from which the American people
should draw inspiration.
Ben Charlson is an LSA freshman.
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
MICHAEL HEYWARD
EMILY WOLFE | CONTACT EMILY AT ELWOLFE@UMICH.EDU
FROM THE DAILY
State should pass sexual assault bills
A
s the future of many nationwide policies that aim to combat
sexual assault hang in the balance, a bipartisan group of Michigan
legislators has introduced a package of three bills to assist sexual
assault survivors. Two of the bills, introduced in the state Senate, aim to
increase the number of survivors receiving medical treatment and testing
after an assault by lessening the charges to their insurance agencies and
increasing funding to health care providers that provide these services.
Separately, the state House bill allows for the inclusion of evidence that an
accused assailant previously may have committed another sexual crime.
These bills, while by no means fixing all the ills that face survivors in the
aftermath of a sexual assault, go a long way in improving the care and
justice they would receive in the state of Michigan. The Michigan Daily
Editorial Board implores the Michigan State Legislature to pass these
bills because they act in the best interest of survivors of sexual assault.
Why sports matter
BEN CHARLSON | OP-ED
Michael Heyward is a Michigan in
Color columnist.