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.

