The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 — 3A

ACTIVISTS
From Page 1A

SAAN
From Page 1A

UNITY
From Page 1A

PROTEST
From Page 1A

A 
Michigan 
congressional 
delegation 
introduced 
a 
bipartisan 
bill 
to 
designate 
per- 
and 
polyfluoroalkyl 
substances, known as PFAS, 
detected across the state as 
hazardous substances, allowing 
the Environmental Protection 
Agency 
to 
direct 
funds 
to 
cleaning up polluted sites.
The 
so-called 
“forever 
chemicals” have been found 
in water sources throughout 
Michigan, 
including 
in 
Ann 
Arbor. Consumption of PFAS 
compounds, even in low levels, 
can lead to health problems, 
affecting the immune system 
and increasing the risk of cancer, 
among other things.
The 
PFAS 
Action 
Act, 

written by U.S. Reps. Debbie 
Dingell, 
D-Ann 
Arbor, 
Dan 
Kildee, D-Flint, and U.S. Rep. 
Fred 
Upton, 
R-St. 
Joseph, 
would allow the EPA to clean 
up sites contaminated by all 
PFAS chemicals as part of the 
Superfund program, a federal 
effort to address pollutants that 
pose a risk to human health or 
the environment.
In 
a 
press 
release, 
the 
lawmakers noted an “urgency 
and need to act” to address PFAS. 
Dingell, whose district includes 
Ann Arbor, said the chemicals 
were a growing problem.
“Michigan has been hit hard 
by PFAS,” Dingell said. “It’s clear 
it’s a threat to human health and 
our environment. It’s been found 
in our drinking water, air, food 
and consumer products. Our 
bipartisan legislation will list all 
PFAS as the hazardous chemicals 
we know they are and give the 
EPA the tools it needs to clean up 

contaminated sites.”
Currently, 
the 
EPA 
does 
not list PFAS as hazardous 
substances 
— 
only 
as 
an 
“emerging 
contaminant.” 
For 
several decades, the chemicals 
in the PFAS family were used 
in 
industrial 
and 
consumer 
products, such as waterproof 
clothing, food wrappers, Teflon 
pans and fire-fighting foam.
According to the Michigan 
Environmental Council, there 
are 36 confirmed PFAS sites in 
the state. However, the Michigan 
Department of Environmental 
Quality estimates more than 
11,300 locations statewide may 
be contaminated.
Brian Steglitz, the manager 
of Ann Arbor’s water treatment 
plant, said part of the problem is 
the compounds are durable and 
do not break down naturally.
“Many, many products that we 
use every day, these chemicals are 
in, and because they’re so stable 

they get into the environment 
when you wash your pots and pans 
and clothes, and the firefighting 
foam can get into a storm sewer,” 
Steglitz 
said. 
“They’re 
very 
persistent. They don’t break down 
very easily, and because of that 
they’re in the watershed, and in 
our particular case they’re in the 
Huron River watershed.”
Ann Arbor has recently seen 
a spike in PFAS levels in its 
drinking water, but Steglitz said 
there were systems in place to 
closely monitor and remove the 
compounds.
“For meeting what the current 
water quality standards are, we 
are doing that,” Steglitz said. 
“We’re actually well exceeding 
what the current standards or 
guidance is for addressing it and 
we’re using the best available 
technology that’s currently on 
the market to remove these 
compounds in the municipal 
drinking water facility.”

The 
EPA 
set 
the 
health 
advisory level for two harmful 
PFAS compounds — PFOA and 
PFOS — at 70 parts-per-trillion 
in 
2016. 
However, 
in 
May, 
Politico reported on a study from 
the Department of Health and 
Human Services that would have 
recommended making the safety 
level for PFAS in drinking water 
six times lower than the existing 
standard that was being held up 
by the Trump administration.
In 
November, 
lab 
tests 
showed a combined PFOS and 
PFOA level of 56.40 ppt in Ann 
Arbor. The next month, tests 
said none of the compounds 
were found. However, because 
of an administrative error at 
the lab contracted to examine 
the samples, the analysis used 
a method with higher limits for 
detection and tested for fewer 
compounds 
than 
requested, 
and failed to meet the city’s 
parameters.

Other Michigan lawmakers 
have 
voiced 
concern 
about 
the chemicals as well. In late 
December, Sen. Gary Peters, 
D-Mich., sent a letter to Andrew 
Wheeler, the acting director 
of the EPA, urging the agency 
to craft a plan for dealing with 
PFAS. Peters asked for swift 
action to address the problem.
“In my state of Michigan, the 
more we look for PFAS the more 
we find,” Peters wrote. “… To 
date, chemicals have been found 
at some level in the drinking 
water serving more than two 
million people around the state, 
and I fully expect that number 
to continue to climb. Dozens of 
contaminated sites are found 
in both the Upper and Lower 
peninsulas, in both urban and 
rural areas.”

Bipartisan bill calls for use of EPA funds to clean up 
sites contaminated with manufacturing chemicals

Michigan’s Congressional delegation proposes legislation to combat PFAS, classify material as hazardous substances

LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor

EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

on campus dedicated to “spreading 
happiness through harmonies.”
After taking part in song and 
dance, the audience had the 
opportunity to publicly express 
their dreams for the future of 
society.

Taubman freshman Demetrius 
Ford discussed how events like the 
Circle of Unity allow individuals to 
come together to celebrate King on 
this memorial holiday.
“MLK was such a pivotal figure 
in our history and in the civil rights 
movement,” Ford said. “His work 
and his contributions expand 
into today. I wanted to be here 
to show my appreciation for him 
and his work, and I also wanted 

to see everybody here together to 
celebrate him.”
Engineering 
freshman 
Sage 
Paris commented on how Mrtin 
Luther King Jr. Day serves as an 
opportunity to reflect on injustice 
in this nation at large.
“It’s still important to come 
to events like this so we can 
acknowledge the significance of 
the day that is Martin Luther King 
Day, and reflect, particularly on 

this day, on the rich history that 
has to do with all of the injustices 
in this country and think about the 
modern relevance of all of the issues 
that we are faced with,” Paris said.
The event concluded with a 
performance of gospel folk song 
“We Shall Overcome,” during 
which audience members came 
together in harmony as a testament 
to their dedication to positive social 
change.

individual experiences within 
the South Asian community and 
social justice issues as a whole. 
In addition to a lecture by the 
keynote speaker, Trisha Sakhuja-
Walia, CEO and co-founder of 
Brown Girl Magazine, other 
guest speakers presented in 
smaller workshops throughout 
the day.
During her keynote speech, 
Sakhuja-Walia highlighted the 
efforts of Brown Girl Magazine, 
an online publication created by 
and for South Asian women that 
uses stories to build community 
and 
empower 
South 
Asian 
women. The magazine, created 
in 2008, has published more 
than 4,000 original stories, 
reaching more than 5 million 
readers 
spanning 
the 
U.S., 
United Kingdom, India, Pakistan 
and South Africa.
Sakhuja-Walia named topics 
the 
magazine 
has 
covered, 
including 
the 
struggle 
of 
immigration, pursuit of creative 
passions, stigmas surrounding 
mental health and domestic 
violence, coming to terms with 
gender identity and women’s 
rights.
Sakhuja-Walia 
left 
her 
previous 
job 
one 
year 
ago 
to work full-time at Brown 
Girl. Her passion to achieve 
representation for the South 
Asian community has been the 
driving force behind her work at 
the magazine.
“Representation 
is 
more 
than just seeing ourselves on 
television or in movies or in 

gigantic 
ad 
campaigns 
and 
billboards,” 
Sakhuja-Walia 
said. “Representation matters 
because 
it 
directly 
impacts 
how minority communities see 
themselves and how others in 
society view them.”
Sakhuja-Walia played clips 
of different media that have 
either portrayed South Asians 
positively or negatively. Sakhuja-
Walia explained, while Anik 
Kahn’s uplifting music video 
“Big Fax,” containing the lyrics 
“damn it feels good to be an 
immigrant,” shed a positive 
light on cultural pride, Apu, the 
cartoon character from “The 
Simpsons,” instilled damaging 
stereotypes in society through 
its offensive portrayal of an 
Indian 
immigrant 
character 
voiced by a white man.
On the topic of the stereotypes 
of minorities in media, LSA 
freshman Emily Wu said the 
underrepresentation of South 
Asians is relatable for other 
minority groups.
“I really liked the media that 
was in (the presentation) … 
because I actually feel that too,” 
Wu said. “I’m Asian but I still 
feel that. It’s very relevant across 
all ethnicities that aren’t white.” 
 
Sakhuja-Walia also used a 
disclaimer in her presentation, 
explaining that doing something 
out of the ordinary or engaging 
in certain actions as a member of 
the South Asian community does 
not make the action right. She 
said the actions of an individual 
belonging to the South Asian 
community don’t represent the 
actions of the whole population.
“Before I dive into some of 
the 
positive 
affirmations 
of 
media representation, I want to 

acknowledge that we are finally 
in a time where doing something 
cool or out of the ordinary just 
because you are South Asian or 
brown doesn’t mean it’s always 
going to be right,” Sakhuja-Walia 
said. “Your actions speak for 
themselves, and the color of your 
skin and cultural affiliation can 
only do so much.”
Sakhuja-Walia 
emphasized 
the importance of continuing 
to share stories to create a more 
inclusive narrative for the South 
Asian community.
“No matter how far we have 
come living as South Asian 
people living in the diaspora, no 
matter how many times we have 
told our story, we will always be 
in the pursuit of storytelling,” 
Sakhuja-Walia said. 
During 
one 
workshop, 
Amit 
Patel, 
a 
dancer 
and 
choreographer based in Los 
Angeles, 
spoke 
about 
his 
personal storytelling through 
dance. 
Patel 
discussed 
his 
experience as a first-generation 
Indian American and his journey 
discovering his identity through 
pioneering a new discipline of 
fusion dance called “Indian 
contemporary”: 
dance 
which 
combines elements of ballet, 
contemporary, modern, jazz and 
traditional Indian movements.
Patel explained the confusion 
he 
experienced 
in 
college 
regarding his identity.
“I was still very confused 
about 
my 
identity,” 
Patel 
said. “Who I was in terms of, 
‘Should I be a little bit more 
Indian? Should I be a little more 
American? What does that even 
mean? What does that entail?’”
In an exploration of his 
identity, Patel said he turned to 

different forms of movement for 
individual expression.
“I was trying to learn more 
about movement and how it 
was more than just a way of 
expression, but a mind, body and 
soul connection,” Patel said. “I 
was able to express all aspects of 
my being through that.”
Patel’s discovery of his identity 
through movement was only one 
of the experiences explored in 
the SAAN conference. Other 
workshop 
speakers 
included 
Jordan Alam, a Bangladeshi-
American writer, performer and 
social change educator; Alicia 
Virani, associate director of 
the criminal justice program at 
the UCLA School of Law; Hiba 
Khan, 
a 
Pakistani-Canadian 
artist; 
Neeraja 
Aravamudan, 
a social justice educator and 
associate director for teaching 
and research at the University’s 
Ginsberg 
Center 
and 
Tazin 
Daniels, an anthropologist and 
advocate for immigration and 
other issues relevant to the 
South Asian experience.
LSA 
junior 
Nikita 
Bazaj, 
small groups chair for the 
SAAN Central Planning Team, 
explained the relevance of SAAN 
at the University of Michigan.
“I think that SAAN is a great 
starting point for a lot of people 
who are looking to start engaging 
with social justice because a lot 
of people hear the term, ‘social 
justice’ and they’re afraid of it,” 
Bazaj said. “And I think that 
SAAN creates an opportunity 
for people to get introduced to 
what it is all about and listen to 
major speakers from minority 
categories that we don’t really 
see represented on this campus 
as often.”

The 
protesters’ 
location 
proved 
to 
be 
strategically 
chosen, as gala invitees strolled 
in black-tie garb and were 
face-to-face with protesters 
who could possibly be laid off 
by GM.
Before the march began, 
U.S. 
Rep. 
Rashida 
Tlaib, 
D-Mich., gave a speech about 
her family’s automotive roots 
and the injustice of the plant 
closure. She urged protesters 
to keep steady in their efforts 
to shed light on one of the GM 
closures.
“Understand 
we 
are 
here 
not 
alone 
with 
the 
Poletown 
workers, 
we 
are 
here to pushback against the 
shutdown of our government,” 
Tlaib said. “We constantly see 
that the CEOs are making 200, 
300, 400 times more than their 
workers. Guess who subsidizes 
it? We do … so we are here to 

stand in solidarity with every 
single worker.”
Later, she told The Michigan 
Daily about the intersection 
between the closure of the GM 
plants and the importance of 
the Green New Deal.
“Know 
that 
even 
GM’s 
closures 
show 
you 
the 
importance of the Green New 
Deal —the fact that we need to 
start looking at creating jobs 
beyond the traditional jobs 
that we’ve seen throughout the 
years,” Tlaib said. “In Detroit 
and around the nation, there 
needs to be real accountability, 
oversight and co-ownership 
when it comes to creating new 
jobs in our country. And the 
Green New Deal provides that 
structure to be able to have 
that.”
Once 
participants 
heard 
Tlaib’s speech, the marchers 
started heading toward the 
entrance, equipped with a 
small marching band. The 
most 
common 
tune 
sung 
during the demonstration was 
a repetitive question: “Which 

side are you on? Which side 
are you on?”
The 
Green 
New 
Deal 
resonates with many young 
activists. 
The 
Sunrise 
Movement has been a popular 
and growing movement in 
the 
United 
States 
and 
is 
particularly aimed at youth 
membership 
to 
prioritize 
climate change action in the 
national 
agenda. 
Members 
support the Green New Deal 
and are heavily involved in 
activism such as sit-ins outside 
of 
government 
officials’ 
offices.
Students 
who 
are 
not 
involved 
in 
the 
Sunrise 
Movement also said they see 
the 
benefits 
of 
large-scale 
environmental policy change. 
LSA sophomore Matt Peracchi, 
who studies in the University 
of Michigan’s Program in the 
Environment, did not attend 
the protest, but said he wants 
more investment in new forms 
of energy.
“Investing 
in 
renewable 
energy is an important first 

step 
towards 
mitigating 
climate change. It isn’t the 
only thing the United States 
and the world needs to focus 
on, 
but 
GHG 
(greenhouse 
gas) emissions from energy 
production is a huge factor 
causing 
climate 
change,” 
Peracchi said.
Many 
protesters 
said 
unionized 
demonstrations 
are 
critical 
to 
creating 
change in workers’ rights. 
Norma 
Jean 
Haynes, 
a 
member of the Democratic 
Socialists 
of 
America, 
talked about the importance 
of getting the workers of 
Detroit to participate in this 
demonstration outside of the 
auto show.
“People talk in Detroit about 
the revitalization, about the 
reclaiming of the city,” Haynes 
said. “And people who have 
lived here want to prioritize 
the workers, so getting people 
on the ground showing the 
vitality of that interest is 
exactly what we are out here 
to do.”

legacy and remembering the 
civil rights movement’s fight 
for racial justice. Other events 
included an MLK Day Circle 
of Unity and a screening of 
the documentary “Race: The 
Power of an Illusion.”
Through gospel songs and 
conversation, 
the 
panelists 
told their individual stories 
and recounted their years of 
nonviolent activism to a crowd 
of more than 100 students, 
faculty 
and 
community 
members.
Countryman said the goal 
of the discussion was to tell a 
more “complicated” story of 
the civil rights movement that 
included women and lesser-
known narratives.
“There is a gap between 
general 
knowledge 
and 
what we can teach in the 
classroom,” 
Countryman 
said. “This is why events like 
this are important: because 
they tell these larger stories 
and present the story of a 
movement that is not coming 
from a few people at the top, 
but only happened because 
there was a larger movement 
at the bottom.”
Noonan, 
who 
graduated 
from 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan 
in 
1964, 
began 
the talk by noting how her 
involvement in SNCC was 
born both out of necessity 
and personal conviction. She 
said the widespread belief the 
civil rights movement was a 
struggle for increased rights 
for African Americans is not 
entirely truthful.
“We 
were 
fighting 
for 

survival,” Noonan said. “We 
were 
fighting 
against 
the 
white terrorist structure in 
the South, which somehow is 
not captured by the notion of 
fighting for our rights.”
Max 
Grahl, 
an 
LSA 
sophomore 
who 
attended 
the event, said afterwards 
that Noonan’s point made 
him realize the civil rights 
movement was not only about 
ensuring civil rights for all 
Americans, but was vital to the 
future of African Americans.
“I think it’s hard sometimes 
to visualize that this wasn’t 
just a crisis over rights, it 
was a crisis over these people 
trying to live their lives,” 
Grahl said. “It’s something 
that you can forget once you 
become disconnected and it 
becomes history.”
Fikes 
echoed 
Noonan’s 
argument 
by 
mentioning 
how members of SNCC and 
other civil rights activists 
were fully aware that they 
could lose their jobs, homes 
or lives by participating in 
the movement. Fikes, who 
began singing gospel music 
when she was 4 years old 
and 
performed 
with 
the 
SNCC Freedom Singers, said 
singing gave her strength 
to endure mistreatment and 
suffering.
“Can 
you 
believe 
that 
all those old songs that I 
despised so much then, I 
travel the country teaching 
today?” Fikes said. “You must 

understand why I do the 
things I do, why singing is so 
important to me. One of the 
reasons is that it releases me. 
When I have a problem that 
I can’t talk about, I can sing 
about it, whether it’s the blues, 
gospel or whatever.”
Fikes 
urged 
audience 
members to join her in singing 
traditional gospel and folk 
songs that were influential 
during 
the 
civil 
rights 
movement, such as “Keep 
Your Eyes on the Prize” and 
“This Little Light of Mine.” 
She said these songs embodied 
her commitment to fighting 
against 
injustice 
through 
nonviolent protest.
“When I see police coming 
today, 
people 
think 
I’m 
scared of police — no, I’m not 
afraid of police,” Fikes said. 
“I am afraid of the injustice. 
Being a Black woman, I was 
taught in Selma, Alabama, 
what freedom really meant. 
And when we got together, 
our energy was so high that 
when someone asked you a 
question, they said, ‘Whatcha 
want?’ and we would holler, 
‘Freedom!’”
Lowen 
discussed 
her 
involvement 
with 
SNCC 
in addition to her family’s 
personal 
struggles 
as 
European 
Jews 
in 
the 
early 20th century. As an 
undergraduate at Bennington 
College in the 1960s, Lowen 
joined a civil rights group 
and later joined the 1966 
March Against Fear in the 
South. Referencing a photo 
of a Nazi police dog, Lowen 
noted the similarities between 
European anti-Semitism and 
American racism.
“It really struck me that 
this is not a cartoon — this is 
a real dog wearing a real Nazi 
swastika and he was used 
in the same way over there 
that these dogs were used on 
us here,” Lowen said. “This 
picture for me symbolizes the 
powerful connection between 
the situations then and now.”
Noonan noted how many 
women involved in the civil 
rights 
movement 
diverged 
from the typical female ideal 
and took a radical approach 
to 
fighting 
injustice 
by 
embracing the strength of 
other female activists. She 
referred 
to 
Bob 
Dylan’s 
“Maggie’s Farm,” a popular 
protest song, when describing 
her motivation for working 
with SNCC.
“The notion that somehow 
has crept into some of the 
literature 
that 
we 
were 
weaklings, 
oppressed 
by men — it’s not in my 
experience,” 
Noonan 
said. 
“Being a ’60s activist taught 
me to say, ‘I ain’t gonna 
work on Maggie’s farm no 
more.’ In the movement, in 
my school, in my home, the 
movement strengthened me 
and set me free. Like those 
sharecroppers who formed 
tent cities in Haywood and 
Fayette, and later in Lowndes 
County, Alabama, whatever 
happens in the future, I ain’t 
gonna work on Maggie’s farm 
no more. No one and nothing 
is going to keep me from 
letting this little light I have 
shine, shine and shine.”

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