Parkland shooting, and the
sheer disbelief she felt when
she heard gunshots inside of
her own school.
“We
live
in
a
very
privileged
community,”
Whitney said. “So I was
in denial, I was in shock.
I obviously ran back into
the classroom, and in my
head the entire time I was
thinking, ‘This isn’t real.
This would never happen to
us. This is our school.’”
Whitney
described
the sadness felt by her
community the day after the
shooting, and she said she
knew in that moment that
something had to change.
“We woke up the next
day and we went to a vigil,”
Whitney said. “More people
than I have literally ever
seen, I think the entire city
of Parkland was there, and
that’s a lot of people. And
it was just so sad. Like, I’ve
never
experienced
such
sadness, and it was just,
there was so much of it, and
we needed to do something.”
Following
the
introductions,
the
panel
took questions from the
audience,
and
audience
members asked what they
could do to help.
Panelists stressed the need
for well-placed support from
adults, and the challenges
they face when adults don’t
listen
to
them.
Holmon
expressed
disappointment
in the coverage she felt the
B.R.A.V.E organization has
received from the media.
“Being heard is a big
challenge for us, because
they don’t listen to a bunch
of
Black
kids
that
are
advocating for themselves,”
Holmon
said.
“With
Parkland, they’re passionate
about their movement and
what
they’re
doing.
But
media, they look at us and
we’re just angry Black kids.”
Overall,
the
panelists
pleaded with the audience to
put pressure on their elected
officials and use their voices
to the best of their ability.
“Everyone is realizing that
change-making doesn’t have
an age limit,” Whitney said.
“As long as you’re passionate
about something, and as
long as you truly believe that
you’re doing the right thing,
then quite literally anything
is possible.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, November 15, 2018 — 3
THE BIG CHAIR
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Former Los Angeles Dogers General Manager Ned Colletti Jr. discusses his book, “The Big Chair,” and current policy challenges in
professional and collegiate athletics at Ford Wednesday afternoon.
place like Ann Arbor where
our
days
are
really
short
during our long winters, which
means sunlight will not help
illuminate that crosswalk for as
much of the day as we need.”
Patel has witnessed near
collisions between pedestrians
and drivers because of the
crosswalk’s lack of indication.
“Just this weekend, I saw a
pedestrian and a student on
a skateboard almost get hit
because one car coming from
one
direction
stopped
but
another car from the other
direction didn’t,” Patel said.
One
of
the
anonymous
complaints to the city came
from a blind student, who noted
their
additional
difficulty
associated
with
using
the
crossing.
“The new crosswalk on the
north side of the T-intersection
where Madison meets State
Street. has created unintended
hazards. This is particularly
concerning for me, as a blind
individual,
because
I
stop
at the crosswalk, wait, and,
hearing no cars, expect and
begin to cross,” the complaint
read. “A problem arises if I
am crossing and there are no
lights to indicate to cars that a
crosswalk exists. I cannot see
the cars because I am blind;
but, the cars should see me.”
According to an Aug. 30
report Councilmember Kathy
Griswold, D-Ward 2, sent to The
Daily, the city’s prioritization
process
for
determining
construction funding considers
vehicle crash incidents within
the past five years, public
requests
and
proximity
to
heavily trafficked areas, such
as schools and government
offices.
The
report
ranks
the
crosswalk at E. Madison and
State
streets
a
“mid-level”
priority.
Griswold says the crosswalk
is not well marked compared
to others on the same street,
many crosswalks on campus
include pedestrian signs and
flashing lights on both sides of
the street.
“I noticed on State Street
that the other crosswalks were
well marked,” Griswold said.
“Drivers are expecting to see
signage. Engineers from the
city should also look at the
traffic pattern because I saw
many more students crossing
on the south side of State Street
where there isn’t a crosswalk.”
Griswold also thinks the
width of the road is a safety
concern.
“I was amazed at the number
of students crossing and the
volume,” Griswold said. “I got
out of my car and I think there
was maybe six inches between
me and the vehicles because the
road doesn’t seem really wide
there.”
Griswold
noted
the
University’s
pedestrian-level
streetlights, which are globe
shaped,
are
more
energy
efficient but do not illuminate
the crosswalk. She hopes to
see the City Council highlight
mobility concerns throughout
the city once she begins her
term later this month.
“I would like to get more
emphasis on it (mobility issues)
because things are changing so
quickly and the technology is
changing so quickly,” Griswold
said. “In Ann Arbor, we’ve
struggled
with
inconsistent
marks on our crosswalks for
years now.”
Ann
Arbor
Mayor
Christopher Taylor said the
city is committed to pedestrian
safety, but did not say whether
there were plans to address the
problems at the crosswalk at
State and E. Madison.
“It’s important to the city
that
pedestrians
be
safe,”
Taylor said.
CROSSWALK
From Page 1
conversation by expressing how
the current government is using
the separation of families and
fear as a policy strategy.
“President
Donald
Trump
…
made
it
clear
that
the
separation
of
families
was
in fact a negotiating tool to
get Democrats to cave on his
immigration demands,” she said.
Kossoudji
continued
to
illuminate the conditions of the
children in detention. She said
despite adults and children in
detention having defined rights,
the reports about the detention
conditions reflect neglect, abuse
and widespread indifference to
the well-being of the children,
families and adults.
Children
were
kept
in
customs, border control and
detention for longer than the
allowed 72 hours, and they
“often had no oversight, they
often had little in the way of
reasonable food, blankets, toys,
books, anything you might think
of as something reasonable.”
Kossoudji further described
the conditions in which the
children were held.
“The
eyewitness
accounts
were that hundreds of immigrant
children wait in series of cages
created by metal fencing … One
cage had 20 children inside,” she
said. “Scattered about are bottles
of water, bags of chips and large
foil sheets intended to serve as
blankets.”
Kossoudji described how the
staff is not allowed to touch
the children and neither are
children allowed to touch each
other, resulting in a lack of
human contact when a child
is crying or frightened. The
detainment for the children,
according to Kossoudji, can
result in social and emotional
distress, mental and physical
health
consequences,
poor
education outcomes, short and
long term family disruption, and
mistrust in law enforcement.
Lin continued the discussion,
focusing on how the “zero-
tolerance” policy came to be,
and questioning whether the
U.S. is actually in a crisis that
warrants this policy. She pointed
to a long term decline in border
apprehensions.
Furthermore,
Lin
pointed
to
the
murder
rate
and
governmental
issues
in
the
Northern
Triangle,
an
area
in
Central
America
that
encompasses
Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador and
is known for its heightened rate
of violence, as the motivation for
refugees coming to the U.S.
“People are living in a stage
of crisis,” she said. “So it is
not
surprising
under
those
conditions, as we see across the
world, if people are living in a
state of crisis, they will try to
leave.”
Lin said the effect of the
“zero-tolerance” policy is that
refugees are charged with the
crime of crossing the border,
which means, unless they can
provide bail, they are placed in
detention until they can come
before a judge, after which they
usually receive a longer ban for
returning to the U.S.
Moreover, Lin said, since
children are not allowed to be
detained in adult jails, they are
separated from the adults.
Hathaway also weighed on the
legal implications of the policy,
criticizing how the new policy
and conditions for refugees do
not act in accordance with the
law.
“The mess that we are seeing
reflects a failure by the United
States, not just by the Trump
administration but long standing
by both democratic and republic
administration,” he said.
He stated that despite signing
a treaty that states no one shall
be subjected to arbitrary arrest
or detention, the U.S. routinely
detains asylum seekers, and
that the U.S. are not honoring
the legal system nor the treaty
the U.S. helped draft and design
itself.
He further said refugees are
entitled to arrive wherever to
seek protection, as long as they
claim
protection.
Refugees
are not doing anything illegal,
Hathaway explained, yet they
are still penalized.
Hathaway said even if refugees
meet all of the requirements
set by the U.S. domestically, the
government is still not required
to give them refuge, despite this
going against the international
laws under which the U.S. is
bound.
LSA senior Arooshe Giroti
said she and fellow LSA senior
Josh Greenberg attended the
event to learn more about the
legality of the refugee situation.
“We
are
both
interested
in the rights of refugees and
international law, specifically
how it relates to what’s going
on at the southern border, so we
just wanted to learn more about
legally what’s happening and
not just get a more superficial
understanding of it through
news outlets or social media.”
Sociology professor Kiyoteru
Tsutsui, director of the Donia
Human
Rights
Center
and
Center for Japanese Studies,
also remarked the issue of
the
detainment
of
refugee
children, despite its importance,
has somewhat faded in the
background in the debate.
“The main purpose is to
inform
the
public
and
the
university constituents about
this
particular
topic
that
attracted a lot of attention but
kind of subsided, but I bet the
issue will come back,” Tsutsui
said.
REFUGEE
From Page 1
WALLENBERG
From Page 1
you have to find your niches.”
Challenging the audience
further,
Ortiz
reminded
everyone though there has
been
much
progress,
it’s
crucial to acknowledge the
trans activists of the past —
many of them being trans
women of color — such as
Sylvia Rivera. The work of
these women in the 1960s and
’70s, she highlighted, set the
foundation for all work being
done today.
“Pay
homage
to
the
queens,” Ortiz said. “To think
about being trans-identified
women of color in the ’60s and
the ’70s, it just blows my mind
the level of survival these
women had to go through. So
when you think about gender
fluidity in 2018 and how open
everyone is, it’s wonderful,
it is progress, but sometimes
we do have to pay homage
to the queens. They laid the
foundation for gender fluidity
in this country.”
This idea resonated with
Kari Nilsen, a Social Work
and Public Health student
who
came
to
the
event
because of their non-binary
trans-masculine identity and
because of their desire to
work in Ortiz’s field. Nilsen
talked of the significance
of recognizing the different
racial identities within the
trans community and repeated
Ortiz’s message of paying
homage to the “queens.”
“It’s
really
important
that we make sure to have
an intersectional lens and
recognize that the people that
have done the work are trans
women of color,” Nilsen said.
Nilsen further emphasized
another
of
Ortiz’s
points,
which was to always ask about
someone’s gender identity and
never assume.
“One thing you all can
do to be an ally is in every
single introduction ask what
someone’s
pronouns
are,”
Nilsen said. “Because it’s just
like your name, it’s just how
you’re referred to. It’s the
exact same thing and there’s
no way you can know without
asking.”
Social Work student Erica
Watson said she came to
learn about the challenges of
the trans community face —
something
especially
close
to home because of her queer
identity and her partner’s
trans identity.
“I came because I identify
as queer and my partner is
trans, and I’m always trying
to learn as much as I can about
the community and really
engage with the community
and I think the best way to do
that is to really listen to the
people who are experiencing
these things,” Watson said.
Watson
expressed
her
appreciation
of
Ortiz’s
discussion of the positives
happening
in
the
trans
community and in trans social
work. This type of discussion
is especially imperative in a
time full of negative news and
policies.
“I get lost often in the idea
that everything seems bad and
it’s only getting worse, and
it feels overwhelming, like
there’s nothing you can do and
I think it’s really good to take
time and look at the work that
people have been doing and
will continue to do,” Watson
said.
Ortiz left the audience with
words empowering the trans
community.
“This
society
needs
to
understand that trans people
are here, we have been here
and we will always be here,”
Ortiz said.
AWARENESS
From Page 1
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
as you’d like, and I feel like
people aren’t open about it and
there’s a lot of shame.”
LSA junior Sumrah Jilani
agreed
sexual
education
in both South Asia and the
United States is a difficult
topic for educators. She said it
is important to eliminate the
stigma against sex education
in these places so people will
be able to have comfortable
conversations about the issue.
“I think one of the biggest
things we highlighted was a lot
of the misconceptions that are
out there,” Jilani said. “There’s
such a big stigma associated
with anything related to sex,
and getting rid of that stigma
and making it so that it’s not
a super taboo topic, so that
people are able to talk about it
and learn about it in a healthy
way and know what all of the
risks are and consider all of the
factors. I feel like that’s really
important.”
LSA junior Liliana Pfeifer,
co-president of WORTH, an
organization
that
promotes
activism for women’s health
rights, said inclusivity should
be emphasized when learning
about sexual health. This would
produce a more well-rounded
sexual education.
“I learned the importance of a
comprehensive sex education,”
Pfeifer
said.
“Including
genders, races, cultures and
the LGBTQ community is very
important, and making sure the
people who are doing the sex
educating are trained in that
intersectional perspective.”
Participants
also
shared
their own personal experiences
with sex education in these
countries. Talluru said she
wishes her sexual education
was more comprehensive.
“I had a very biology-focused
sex ed. My own parents never
really talked to me about sex
ed,” Talluru said. “Definitely
not comprehensive. Definitely
would have liked to learn more
growing up.”
Jilani said the multitude of
perspectives present made the
discussion more valuable.
“I
think
this
discussion
was really interesting because
we got to kind of hear a lot of
different perspectives,” Jilani
said. “While a lot of people here
were South Asian, they all grew
up in different backgrounds
and a lot of people had different
experiences … There were also
a few people here who weren’t
South Asian but still were
able to relate to a lot of the
experiences or shed light on
their own experiences as well.”
CURRICULUM
From Page 1