Wednesday, October 7, 2020 — 7
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan In Color
The very existence of the United
States of America presents itself
as perhaps one of the most con-
founding paradoxes. A country that
claims a perfectly veneered founda-
tion of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness, interstate highways
tarred with gold and a guarantee of
the ever-fleeting American dream.
This is a country that is simultane-
ously founded on the backs of Indig-
enous peoples, immigrants and
Black Americans — on marginal-
ized communities whose contribu-
tions constitute the leather binding
that establishes this nation’s nar-
rative. While the pages of this nar-
rative are slick with their blood,
sweat, and tears, I’ve found that the
complexities and intricacies of their
history are consistently excluded
from the story that has come to
define All-Americana. Nonethe-
less, the majority of U.S. History
courses I’ve taken seem to accept
this account as a baseline standard
in the classroom. This begs the
question of whether neglecting to
rawly and honestly teach said com-
munities the jarring truth that this
nation was once a colonizer state
— deriving its power from ethnic
cleansing, the bloody bondages of
slavery, and widespread imperial-
ism — is a product of pure altruistic
intent, an attempt to shield our chil-
dren from the harshness of reality.
Or rather, is this ahistoric failure a
tragic and deliberate miseducation
of the masses; a strategic maneu-
ver bred from the knowledge that
a thorough education serves as the
unofficial language of revolution,
capable of deteriorating the power
that characterizes a modern day
portrait of America
At the forefront of a growing
movement towards rectifying the
falsities that countless Boards of
Education have deemed a proper
recollection of American history is
the African American Integration
Initiative (AAII), a new student
organization at the University of
Michigan. AAII aims to draft state
legislation that would require
increased hiring of educators of
color, an unreserved and forthright
teaching of African American his-
tory, and racial ethics in order to
emphasize an essential truth: that
there is simply no American history
without African American history.
I spoke with LSA freshman AAII
founder, Shelbie Taylor, and LSA
freshmen team leaders Vicky Wang
and Monica Khalique to gain a full
understanding of what led to the
conception of AAII, its organiza-
tional hierarchy, and how such a
student organization fits within the
complex framework of a predomi-
nantly white institution.
In the wake of George Floyd’s
murder,riots soon followed. Taylor
spoke to me about activism fatigue
and a summer of America on fire.
Taylor tells me she was compelled
to make a tangible change, to
drive a new sort of racial reckon-
ing. Much more deeply though, for
Taylor, the genesis of AAII was not
only a testament to the reality that
racism is an early product of igno-
rance and the manifestation of an
education gone wrong. It was also
an amendment to a childhood of
gritted teeth, clenched fists, and
inky blue lonelinessbecause more
often than not, Taylor had lived a
grating existence of being the only
Black student on any given day in
any given room.
AAII is a well-oiled, complex
machine, consisting of three parts:
Data Gathering, Networking and
Allyship, and Marketing and Public
Image. Taylor leads Data Gathering,
in which members collect budding
statistical data, surveying students
on the extent of their knowledge
surrounding
African
American
history. The goal is to build an all
encompassing curriculum tailored
to their responses. Taylor tells me
she expects these results to serve
as tangible proof of an education
system in need of dire reform.
Monica Khalique is team leader of
Networking and Allyship, the sec-
tor of AAII dedicated to reaching
out to professors and administra-
tors at the university with the intent
of establishing a presence and
gaining endorsement and mentor-
ship opportunities. Vicky Wang is
co-leader of the Marketing/Public
Image team, which aims to amplify
AAII’s presence as a student orga-
nization on campus through social
media and campaign initiatives. A
typical AAII meeting consists not
only of brute groundwork through
data gathering and analysis, it also
serves as a safe haven for many of
those shunned by the dividing lines
of America. It is a space to discuss
the disturbing stratifications of
race and occurences of racism that
have been shoved in the backs of
filing cabinets and under yellowed
manila folders. Moreover, Wang
and Khalique speak of a life riddled
with microaggressions and a lack of
representation. Both describe grap-
pling with the difficult task of defin-
ing what it means to be a woman
of color amid the perils of a world
that seemingly wasn’t designed
for them. Wang tells me that even
in Ann Arbor, a community that
lauds itself as one of the epicenters
of social change and progression
in the midwest, her run-ins with
prejudice are still potent. Only here,
though, they are slyly leveled under
the table, presenting themselves in
shifty eyes, altered body language
and ultimately a crippling sense of
discomfort in every corner of the
city.
Looking forward, AAII aims to
go beyond drafting a new curricu-
lum and passing state legislation,
solidifying its place at the Uni-
versity of Michigan as a student
organization that serves as the
next generation’s counselor, men-
tor and teacher that Taylor, Wang,
Khalique, and young kids like them
had never had. AAII and similar
alliances are crucial in rearing the
broken and racially skewed Ameri-
can education system.
Help! My name is gone
and I can’t breathe
Let me stand, please!
Shh…
Let us stand
Now that he is dead let’s degrade
His only human mistakes
Let’s put him on a pedestal
And play God
Recount his sins
Tattoo his broken neck
He shall not see the sacred kingdom
Of white Jesus
If I have anything to do with it
He resisted nearly 500 years of damnation
and police badges
Let me remind you that law is in my hands
And I ruled the death penalty
But please
don’t praise me yet
There’s only so much I can do
To protect white America
From being taken by slaves.
They’ll be dead before
judgement day
Or imprisoned for their Black crime.
We are all doing our parts
Take up your MAGA hats
To praise Trump for refusing
To put that n*****’s portrait in our history
And let us race over Black Lives Matter
Leave it sprawled on the streets like roadkill
For Justice is only a white man’s affordance
And our system proves that they
Never belonged here in the first place
ATAIA TEMPLETON
MiC Contributor
The Deliberate Miseducation of America
SARAH AKAABOUNE
MiC Columnist
‘500 years of damnation,
let me stand’
By now, the death of 87-year-
old Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept.
18
has
reverberated
across
hundreds of millions of Ameri-
can homes, leaving many filled
with anguish, uncertainty and
concern about the state of the
highest court in the nation.
Inducted in 1993 by President
Bill Clinton, Ginsburg was the
first Jewish female, and sec-
ond female ever, to serve on
the Supreme Court. With Gins-
burg’s death and lifetime terms
for Justices, the Supreme Court
is at risk of having a partisan
and ideological unbalance for
generations to come. Judge
Amy Coney Barett, President
Trump’s nomination to replace
Justice Ginsburg, is almost
entirely noted to be conserva-
tive on immigration, abortion,
racial equity and a host of other
interrelated issues.
While confirmation hearings
for Judge Barett are set to be
held in October, today, we can
mourn the loss of an incredible
activist. In Jewish tradition,
the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer
recited during Jewish prayer
services and associated with
death and mourning, is tradi-
tionally recited by immediate
family members, yet an out-
pouring of grief for Ginsburg
led to a recitation by hundreds
on the steps of the Supreme
Court the Friday of her passing.
In a similar vein, we can all
take a moment to remember
Justice Ginsburg, most power-
fully by looking at three of her
most notable impacts in her
time on the bench.
A mere three years after
Ginsburg joined the Supreme
Court, a 1996 case challenged
the all-male admissions policy
at the Virginia Military Insti-
tute, which was at the time one
of the last remaining all-male
public undergraduate colleges
in the country. This all changed
when Ginsburg came. With her
leadership, Ginsberg wrote a
majority opinion ensuring that
the Equal Protection Clause
of the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution was constitution-
ally practiced and the abolish-
ment of the gender-exclusive
policy at Virginia Military
Institute. The impact of this
ruling continues to stand today,
allowing opportunities for per-
sons of all genders to enter pub-
lic institutions without the fear
of de jure gender discrimina-
tion on their heels.
The court, led by Ginsburg,
would require the state-fund-
ed school to accept women
for admission as well as an
enforcement of equal consid-
erations of all genders. In the
opinion of United States v. Vir-
ginia, Ginsburg wrote “neither
the goal of producing citizen
soldiers nor VMI’s implement-
ing methodology is inherently
unsuitable to women,” leading
the way for women across the
country to apply to universities
they would have never been
able to in the past.
Three years after this case
came the landmark case that
focused on a strict violation
of the “integration mandate,”
which, under the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990
(ADA), requires state and local
governments to “administer
services, programs, and activi-
ties in the most integrated set-
ting appropriate to the needs
of qualified individuals with
disabilities.” In this situation,
two women plaintiffs with
mental illnesses and develop-
mental disabilities were kept
confined in the state-run Geor-
gia Regional Hospital for years
even after being deemed medi-
cally ready to move to a com-
munity-based program.
Ginsburg penned a fiery
majority opinion that ruled
in favor of the two women
and emphasized the extreme
importance of rights for all per-
sons with disabilities, includ-
ing but not limited to mental,
developmental
and
physical
disabilities. In her words, Gins-
burg noted that the isolation of
the two plaintiffs unjustifying-
ly “perpetuates assumptions
that persons so isolated are
incapable or unworthy of par-
ticipating in community life.”
This adherence of the ADA, led
by Ginsburg, allowed persons
with disabilities to continue
living integrated lives in a soci-
ety that is so conditioned to the
able-bodied individual.
More
recently,
in
2015,
another landmark case put
Ginsburg in the history books
as same-sex marriage became
a right across all 50 states.
Ginsburg all her life had been
a major advocate for LGBTQ+
rights
and
even
officiated
same-sex weddings here and
there, making this case in par-
ticular of special importance in
her illustrious career. The case
revolved again around the 14th
Amendment and its ability to
ensure persons rights to equal
protection and due process, in
light of state bans in Michi-
gan, Kentucky, Ohio and Ten-
nessee which denied marriage
between people of the same
sex.
Though she did not write the
majority opinion this time, Jus-
tice Anthony Kennedy noted in
his own majority opinion, “the
limitation of marriage to oppo-
site-sex couples may long have
seemed natural and just, but its
inconsistency with the central
meaning of the fundamental
right to marry is now mani-
fest.” This ruling was especial-
ly notable because Ginsburg
directly called out the regres-
sive attitude of John Bursuch,
the lawyer representing the
states, and was able to con-
vince Justice Kennedy to flip,
overturning his questioning
of marital tradition. In doing
so, hundreds of thousands of
LGBTQ+ Americans are able to
be married today.
While these cases are three
out of dozens of cases Justice
Ginsburg had a positive role
in, Ginburgs stands for more
than just her decisions in the
legal realm. Her long career
stands as a reminder that quali-
ties that were once deemed as
undeserving of equal treat-
ment are truly valuable. From
fighting for gender equality
and marginalized communities
whose voices often aren’t heard
to battling against anti-Sem-
itism, Ginsburg has inspired
a generation of activists for
decades to come.
Remembering RBG
1933 -
2020
AAKASH RAY
MiC Columnist
JUSTICE GINSBURG VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS