The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 — 3A
Broderick Johnson talks engagement
progress which still needs to
be made toward social justice,
especially at the University.
“(The symposium) reflects
a desire to do good in the
world and help create a better,
more just and more equitable
society,” he said. “We know
there is so much more for us
to do, because while talent
is equally distributed in our
society,
opportunity
most
certainly is not.”
According to Harper, it is
“shameful” that today’s society
and activists are still facing the
same issues of social and racial
injustice Martin Luther King
Jr. worked to address 50 years
ago.
“It’s a shame for me to stand
here, next to this podium,
talking about the exact same
things that he was talking
about,” he said. “We have to
hold a mirror up to that and
realize that that is shameful.
And you know where that falls?
That falls on us.”
This
symposium
holds
special
significance
in
the
wake of a year of bias incidents
and hatred directed against
communities
of
color
and
other marginalized groups —
ranging from racist vandalism
in West Quad Residence Hall
to racist slurs being painted on
downtown buildings.
In an earlier interview with
The Daily, E. Royster Harper,
vice president of Student Life,
expressed
the
importance
of working towards a more
inclusive campus community in
light of the divisive narratives
being expressed in the national
news media.
“Students don’t come here
in a vacuum, so they’ve been
watching and listening to the
national
narrative,
all
the
divisiveness and the vileness,
and they’ve seen it on television,
they’ve seen it on social media,
and you think ‘I’m going off
to school, and I’m all excited
about that, and I’ve got to come
here?’” she said. “Particularly
when we promote and advertise
something different. So we
talk about our aspirations, the
kind of community we want
to be — it’s not the community
we are yet, but it’s the kind of
community we want to be.”
LSA
freshman
Jazmine
Johnson thought this message
of responsibility was especially
relevant
and
powerful
for
today’s
social
and
political
climate.
“I thought it was really
inspiring seeing (Harper) talk
about (those struggles) and how
they are still happening today,”
she said.
Harper spoke of the power
individual
actions
play
in
making the changes Martin
Luther
King
Jr.
dedicated
his life to. Following with
his message of “power is the
people,” he emphasized the
difference that can be made by
each individual, especially by
participating in elections at all
levels of government. He also
encouraged the audience to
consider what they are willing
to do to make the world a better
place and to act on that intuition
by refusing to let anything hold
them back from standing up for
justice.
“Elections matter,” Harper
said.
“Solidarity
matters
…
Everyone here who has an
intuition or a notion, we need
you. We need your greatness,
we need your inspiration. We
need you to step out and step
in.”
Harper said this potential for
positive change comes down to
the strength of positive energy.
“We can turn our potential
energy into kinetic energy,” he
said. “And as we turn our kinetic
energy on, we start to feel a
fire. You start to feel something
happening in your spirit … And
you start to say ‘We can do this,
and we will do this, and this is
how we are going to get there’
… We are all we need, because
the power is the people. And
so as we think about that, own
the power. Own your greatness.
We need you. The legacy of Dr.
King calls for you, pleads for
you to come out.”
Music,
Theatre
&
Dance
freshman
Sarah
Morgan
said she believed the central
message of the symposium was
inspiring and impactful.
“I think the quote ‘power is
the people’ will really resonate
(with) me and I’ll take that
wherever I go,” she said.
Harper concluded his speech
by leading the audience in a
pledge to always harness their
energy and their power to stand
up for what is right.
“I will not allow fear to stop
me from taking actions that I
already know I should take,”
he said. “Instead, I will act,
encourage, with heart. I will
fight and I will change the
world. I will help humanity. I
will fight for social justice. The
power is the people. The power
is the us. The power is me.”
because talent is ubiquitous in our
society, but opportunity is not.”
Jackson and Schlissel last
crossed paths in public last
November during a symposium
in Jackson’s honor. Following
President
Donald
Trump’s
election last November, Jackson
spoke on campus in support of
an anti-racist walkout that drew
more than a thousand students.
Organized by Students4Justice
in the aftermath of not just the
election, but a spate of racist
incidents on campus, the walkout
aimed to “hold President Schlissel
and our Regents at the University
of Michigan accountable for their
claims of valuing diversity and
student safety and well-being.”
Student protesters also birthed
the viral #schlisselwyahashtag
last fall, asking “Schlissel, where
you
at?”
after
inconclusive
investigations and a strategic plan
many deemed too far-sighted.
Jackson received a standing
ovation as he described current
political
movements
and
encouraged
those
who
feel
marginalized not to adjust, but
to take action and rise above the
maltreatment that may be felt
from those in positions of power.
“It’s dangerous to be ignorant
in a high place,” Jackson said.
“Beyond culture and color is
something called character.”
The Guarantee — a historic
pledge of four years of waived
tuition for Michigan residents
with a family income of $65,000
or less — has achieved preliminary
success in encouraging more
applications from lower-income
students.
Still,
socioeconomic
diversity at the University is sorely
lacking. The University ranked
last in socioeconomic mobility
amongst peer institutions in a
study by the Equality Opportunity
Project — one in ten students
are in the one percent of income
distribution.
In a previous interview, Kedra
Ishop, vice provost for enrollment
management, said the Guarantee
needs further work to make sure
the program doesn’t ignore the
needs of new students from lower
socioeconomic strata.
“We all have a responsibility
to make sure that we help our
students become part of the
U-M experience,” she said. “It’s a
challenging endeavor for us and
we don’t always get it right the first
time but I think we’ve put a great
deal of effort … into identifying
students, identifying their needs,
to make sure they’re supported by
the University.”
Other recipients of the award
included Bankole Thompson of
The Detroit News, Flint mayor
Karen Weaver and Archbishop
Desmond
Tutu,
humanitarian
leader and civil rights activist.
Before awards were presented,
audience members heard from
several
speakers,
including
U.S. Reps. Brenda Lawrence,
D-Detroit, and Debbie Dingell,
D-Ann Arbor, as well as Rev. Jesse
Jackson, who accepted the award
on behalf of Tutu in his absence.
When addressing the audience,
Lawrence
highlighted
the
importance
of
remembrance
on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
explaining that taking action in
the face of oppression would allow
King’s dream to be furthered
within a democracy.
“While we stand here today
and reflect on the history of a great
man … Will they be able to say that
we stood up and fought when they
tried to roll back our rights and
freedoms?” Lawrence said. “We
talk about a dream but this is about
action.”
Though Schlissel was selected
as an honoree, many students felt
that his actions this past semester
— specifically toward students of
color — did not warrant an award.
LSA senior LaKyrra Magee, a
co-founder
of
S4J,
criticized
Schlissel for his insensitivity
toward members of the Black
community.
“Mark Schlissel is the same
University president that pulled
Black students at every level from
the University of Michigan into
a room and told them he wanted
to ‘learn’ to be a more sensitive
person,” Magee wrote in an email
interview. “Someone who tries
to exploit Black students for their
labor doesn’t deserve an award but
(instead) a course to learn how to
deconstruct white supremacy.”
LSA senior Jamie Thompson,
also an S4J founding organizer,
echoed
Magee’s
sentiment.
This semester, she wrote in
an email interview, Schlissel’s
consideration of granting white
supremacist Richard Spencer’s
request to speak on campus
contradicts the principles of DEI.
“Allowing Richard Spencer to
come to campus works against
every tenant of DEI and goes
against what he says are values
of ‘education, social justice and
equality,’” Thompson wrote. “Not
only is (Schlissel) co-opting the
work of black student activists
and faculty by taking credit for
these achievements, he is actively
participating in white supremacy
on this campus and stripping away
the small sense of safety and voice
that students of color have.”
KEYNOTE
From Page 1A
AWARD
From Page 1A
As we enter into our new
editorial
positions
at
The
Michigan Daily, we find ourselves
at the crossroads of campus, on
the cusp of moments interrogating
sexual harassment, racism at the
University of Michigan and the
intersections of inequity. Getting
the news right has never been
more important. And more than
ever, our readers are at the heart
of what we do.
It’s a new year at the news desk.
Allow us to reintroduce ourselves.
EQUITY
We live and work on a campus
that is 65 percent white, and
where two-thirds of students
are in the top 20 percent of the
income bracket. Ann Arbor wears
the mask of a liberal bubble, but
students and administrators with
privilege create all sorts of unfair
playing fields across campus.
We also acknowledge The Daily
has reproduced this inequity. The
list of repeated mistakes goes
on, from inaccurate headlines to
racist cartoons to misgendering
to sometimes overlooking stories
altogether. In order to move
forward, we must acknowledge
our past.
The same stale demographics
that
plague
the
University
pervade our staff as well. Eighty-
five percent of news reporters
are white, and nearly 45 percent
hail from household incomes of
$200,000 a year or more.
We can’t listen, read and report
accurately through homogeneity.
Which is why we’re investing in
reporters from underrepresented
backgrounds, closing gaps in
financial aid opportunities and
training our current editors to
own their privilege. We commit
to leveling the playing field in
reporting and recruiting this year.
We commit to equity.
ACCOUNTABILITY
As
we
write
this
letter,
administrators limit the release of
information on Richard Spencer’s
request to speak on campus. Greek
life chapters refer to action plans
in response to patterns of hazing
and sexual assault. Tuition rates
and yearly budgets tick up every
year. Important details get lost in
the moving parts of tense politics
at the University, in Ann Arbor
and across the country.
The Daily is positioned to hold
all of these players accountable
and amplify those speaking truth
to power. We recognize the role
we play as the only daily print
publication in the county. This
year, we’re increasing the number
of FOIAs we file, getting more
public officials on the record
(and live streamed!) and sourcing
information from our readers.
(Do you have an issue you think
needs investigating? Send a tip via
this live form.)
We commit to not just keeping
track of those in power, but
keeping them in check, too. We
commit to accountability.
More than anything else, we
commit to you, the reader. There
is no one more important to this
work than you, your tips and your
trust.
We know trust must be earned.
We ask you to hold us to the
promises and goals we’ve laid
out here, and to call us on our
mistakes.
We have a duty to serve the
contract between ourselves and
our readers — the student body
and Ann Arbor community— as
best as we can. “Best” has meant
different things in the last few
years:
efficiency,
speediness
or being digitally-minded. For
the students of color and first-
generation students, the survivors
and the undocumented, for all
those underserved by our paper
in years past: this year, we won’t
forget equity and accountability
along the way.
Broderick Johnson, a former
member of the Obama and
Clinton administrations, along
with University of Michigan
professors and directors, spoke
on engaging with students of
color and promoting greater
access to education and job
placements at the “Innovative
programs for youth and young
adults”
panel,
part
of
the
University’s Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Symposium.
During his time in the Obama
administration, Johnson served
as Cabinet Secretary and the
chair of the White House’s My
Brother’s Keeper Task Force,
which
addressed
persistent
opportunity gaps faced by young
men of color by connecting them
to mentoring, support networks
and the skills they need to find a
good job or attend college. As of
Monday evening, Johnson is also
the newest member of the Ford
school’s faculty. Public policy
dean Michael Barr announced
Johnson’s appointment as a
Policy Maker in Residence in an
email to students.
At
the
panel,
Johnson
discussed how his motivation to
create My Brother’s Keeper was
strengthened by the shooting
death of Trayvon Martin. He said
the president wanted to create
a strong program for African-
American youth with the backing
of the federal government.
“I had the opportunity to
speak to the president right after
the 2012 election campaign,”
Johnson said. “He talked about
how he really wanted to go big,
to use the power and the reach of
his presidency to better organize
how the federal government
established programs and use
his power as a convener to bring
people together across the public
and private sectors in the United
States.”
According to Johnson, Obama
wanted the task force to produce
evidence-based results and to
assess the problems and the
solutions with the same level
of rigor that he demanded in
everything else from the White
House.
Within the last three years of
Obama’s second term in office,
Johnson, with the My Brother’s
Keeper Task Force, was able to
identify six milestones in the
lives of young adults that impact
their levels of success and adopt
an expansive and comprehensive
approach to examine the data.
The initiative also created the
Second Chance Pell Grant, which
was a collaboration between
the Department of Justice and
the Department of Education
granting 12,000 Pell Grants to
people incarcerated across the
United States.
Johnson
said
the
Second
Chance Pell Grant initiative
helps
incarcerated
people
across the country start their
educational career while serving
their court-mandated sentence.
“The route to jail and to prison
is often times about economic
and educational deprivation so
an important way to stay out … is
to help people get an education in
prison,” Johnson said.
The
Task
Force’s
recommendations
also
influenced President Obama’s
executive order to remove the
mandatory yes-or-no question
regarding whether an applicant
has been previously incarcerated.
This practice of asking about
a criminal record at the first
step in the application process
takes a particularly increased
toll on applicants of color, who
are disproportionately arrested,
convicted
and
sentenced,
according to Johnson.
Following
Johnson,
Brian
Jacob, the Walter H. Annenberg
professor of education policy
at the University, discussed the
regional programs created by
Grow Detroit’s Young Talent,
a
city-wide
summer
jobs
program that employs young
adults in Detroit between the
ages of 14 and 24. The program
includes several hours per week
of training on topics such as
financial literacy and workplaces
readiness.
The
younger
participants work approximately
20 hours per week for six weeks.
Jacob noted GDYT is different
from other summer employment
programs as it not only provides
opportunities
in
community-
based
nongovernmental
organizations, but also in the
private sector. Private sector
companies which partner with
GDYT include Quicken Loans,
Touchpoint
Support
Services
and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
In reporting the effects of
summer
youth
employment
programs
(SYEPs),
Johnson
admitted
there
were
mixed
results. A positive result was
the large reduction of criminal
arrests.
In
Chicago,
violent
crime arrests were reduced
by 43 percent; however, these
results cannot be attributed
solely to SYEPs because the
percentage also decreased in the
winter. Similar decreases and
limitations were seen in New
York City, according to Jacob.
Luke
Shaefer,
director
of Poverty Solutions at the
University, discussed the SYEP
created
by
the
University
to
address
socioeconomic
inequality in the larger Ann
Arbor community. One of the
ways the University is seeking to
address this is with the Go Blue
Guarantee, a scholarship that
promises
Michigan
residents
with a family income less than
$65,000 who are admitted to the
University full cost of four-year
in-state tuition covered.
Shaefer
noted
initially,
students
from
low-income
families were disproportionately
opting out of applying to the
University as they felt they
couldn’t afford the tuition prior
to the Guarantee.
While the effort to attract
more students of color from low-
income families to the University
is appreciated, some students feel
that the effort doesn’t continue
once students arrive at school.
On Monday, as a part of the
University of Michigan’s Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Symposium,
more
than
300
students and faculty attended a
lecture by guest speaker James
Forman Jr., a Yale University
professor who drew his dialogue
largely from his career as a public
defender and his book, “Locking Up
Our Own: Crime and Punishment
in Black America.”
Bayrex Martí, assistant dean
for Student Life at the Law
School, opened the event and
provided several words on King’s
life, emphasizing the need for
continuous action.
“This is a day that we challenge
instead of congratulate ourselves,”
Martí said. “As others have stated,
this is also a week in which the
University celebrates the successes
of African descendants for equality,
while acknowledging the progress
we still have to make to reach full
equality and respect for all.”
Forman opened the discussion
by highlighting his background
and
childhood
in
Georgia,
explaining
his
experiences
watching the growth of prisons
and the increasing statistics that
illustrate the high correlation
between African American males
and incarceration. He explained
that
mass
incarceration
has
become a human rights crisis in the
U.S., which led him to realize his
calling as a public defender.
“That reality showed me the
unfinished business of the civil
rights movement,” Forman said.
Forman
outlined
the
tumultuous relationship between
Black
communities
and
the
government, reaffirming that the
U.S. is still a country that has lived
with slavery longer than it hasn’t.
He said this institutionalized
racism still shapes our government
and,
combined
with
limited
allocation
of
resources,
these
factors have acted as detriments
to socioeconomic development in
Black communities.
He continued to point out, while
African Americans have garnered
more
political
representation,
their power is mainly concentrated
at a local level. Furthermore, in
response to the many community
issues
presented
by
these
representatives, a stronger stance
on prosecution and police force
has always been elected over the
implementation of education policy
or
community
revitalization.
Forman provided a hypothetical
scenario
of
a
representative’s
experience
with
crafting
legislation to fight drug addiction
as an example of this favoring of
prosecution over education.
From the news desk: A recommitment to readers
SOPHIE SHERRY &
RIYAH BASHA
JULIA FARENZES
For The Daily
KATHERINE SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Law school hosts
lecture on crime
Managing News Editors