SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2021
VOLUME CLVI, ISSUE VIII
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Campus creatives start businesses on social media Student artists venture into entrepreneurship, use Instagram, TikTok as platforms BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER From Dalgona coffee and sourdough starters to crocheting and rug making, creative trends have found new life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have lent these trends unprecedented access to the national mainstream and have helped to alleviate some of the darkness that comes with a nation in lockdown. But creativity during the pandemic hasn’t been limited to one-off crafts for members of the Brown community. Many student artists have created and sustained small businesses, honing in on passions discovered both before and after COVID-19 struck and using social media to turn a profit off their work. @bintousbeauty For Bintou Diarra ’23 MD ’27, braid-
ing hair has always been a part of life. When her mother first immigrated to the United States, she began doing protective hairstyles in salons “to make money and survive.” “As I got older, she would ask for help” doing hair to get out of the salon faster, Diarra said. “So, I would help her finish braids and things like that. That’s kind of how I learned — out of necessity.” When Diarra arrived at Brown her freshman year, she did her own hair to save time and money. She gradually expanded to doing braids for her friends and, eventually, for students across campus. Today, Diarra has created a business doing hair for members of the Brown community. Filled with pictures of her own work, Diarra’s Instagram account helps create exposure with potential clients. Generally, students message her on Instagram, and then she refers them to an online calendar showing her availability to book appointments, she said. While due to public health concerns, Diarra is currently only serving
SEE CREATIVES PAGE 3
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
METRO
PPSD teachers, staff displaced from jobs Staffing changes, new requirements made by district in attempt to increase school BY SAMEER SINHA CONTRIBUTING WRITER Last Friday, the Providence Public School District notified 270 teachers and staff that they may not have their job next year as a part of an annual union notice. Teachers who received a displacement notice may be moved to different positions within the district or may be forced to find a new job elsewhere. Multilingual learning coaches are being integrated into the math and reading departments, leading to displacements. This consolidation aims to improve teaching for multilingual learners, who make up 34 percent of students in the district, according to PPSD spokesperson Audrey Lucas. Not all of the displacements were due to consolidations. Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said that the staffing changes are meant to “realign … with the needs of our school communities” and that
METRO
NICOLE KIM / HERALD
The PPSD said the displacements this year are partly a result of teacher failure to meet ESL certification requirements. they “will allow us to make significant progress in improving teaching and learning in the coming school year,” according to the district’s press release on the subject. Superintendent Harrison Peters added in the press release that the consolidations are part of a plan to create more efficient staffing models for the schools. According to a March 19 PPSD news release, the district announced more teacher displacements for this year than it had made in the past two years as a result of “more effective
class scheduling, projected reductions in middle and high school enrollment and the district’s strategic decision to prioritize positions most critical to overall improvement.” The district also said the displacements this year are partly a result of teacher failure to meet ESL certification requirements. The district is under orders from the Department of Justice to hire more ESL teachers after a report found poor quality ESL instruction in Providence schools. As
SEE PPSD PAGE 2
METRO
PVD sex workers struggle amid COVID-19 Local sex industry faces stigma, unique challenges amid critical public health conditions
R.I. to open vaccine eligibility to adults 16+ Eligibility to open up April 19, appointments for COVID-19 vaccine still limited
BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
BY VICTORIA YIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As the pandemic wreaked havoc on communities across the nation and locally, Bella Robinson found herself mailing out hundreds of dollars of local funding to sex workers in the form of Stop and Shop gift cards. Robinson has served as the executive director of Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics RI, an organization committed to fighting for the rights and safety of local sex workers, since founding the chapter in 2009. Because Robinson is at high-risk for COVID-19, she had to think of creative ways to maintain her outreach to local sex workers in spite of public health conditions. This led her to pursue funding from local charity organizations to subsidize the grocery bills of Providence sex workers. Like most of the nation’s commercial sectors, the sex industry has faced an uphill battle since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The large-
ly in-person nature of the industry’s services places sex workers at the crossroads of facing unemployment or putting their health at risk to make an income. Studies also suggest that increased rates of preexisting health conditions among sex workers make them predisposed to greater health risks, should they contract the virus. After weighing the costs of returning to work, not all sex workers have been able to maintain their jobs. Widespread closure of bars, clubs and
in-person events nationwide has led to an increase in unemployment in the industry, leaving sex workers to contend with the challenges of joblessness and the thorny legal territory of seeking government assistance that follows. As an online escort with more than 30 years of industry experience, Robinson witnessed firsthand the challenges the process to obtain government aid poses for sex workers within the com-
Sports
News
Commentary
Bruno’s winter athletes share thoughts on lost season as NCAA competition continues. Page 3
Adults in “hardest-hit” PVD, Pawtucket ZIP codes now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Page 6
House ’20: Steven Pinker, columnist Andrew Reed oversimplify examples in cancel culture case. Page 7
COURTESY OF MARCBELA
Like most of the nation’s commercial sectors, the sex industry has faced an uphill battle since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEE SEX WORK PAGE 2
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee announced March 18 that residents age 16 and older will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccination April 19. The announcement, which would allow the state to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of making all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1, is a significant shift in the Rhode Island Department of Health’s previous timeline for vaccinations, which predicted that all adults would become eligible in June. RIDOH Spokesperson Joseph Wendelken told The Herald that people aged 16 to 39 will not be able to begin registering for appointments on the state’s website until they become eligible April 19. “It doesn’t mean that (this group is) gonna get vaccinated on the 19th or the 20th,” Wendelken said. “It’ll
mean that they will be able to start registering. We’re usually booking two weeks out.” People in the youngest age bracket will likely start to get vaccinated in early May. Demand is one limiting factor on how soon young people can get appointments after April 19, he added, “but there will be vaccines for every person who wants to get vaccinated in Rhode Island.” The two most important variables for vaccine rollout are how many vaccines are shipped to the state and how many people sign up to get it, Wendelken said. More vaccine supply and lower uptake could accelerate distribution and make it easier to get an appointment. RIDOH will send out announcements about how to sign up, he added, but “ultimately people will be able to go to vaccinateri.org to make an appointment.” People can also sign up to be vaccinated at pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens, Stop & Shop and Walmart, he said. There are also clinics designated specifically for harder-hit commu-
SEE VACCINE PAGE 6
TODAY
TOMORROW
64 / 45
63/ 39
2
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
Friday, March 26, 2021
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Professor publishes essay collection on Black political thought Rogers, Turner aim to fill gap of African American voices in scholarly field
In an effort to expand and nuance the literary canon of political theory, Associate Professor of Political Science Melvin Rogers published an essay collection last month titled “African American Political Thought: A Collected History.” The book, which Rogers co-edited with Jack Turner III, associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, features 30 essays written by modern academic scholars about
these essays are “James Baldwin: Democracy between Nihilism and Hope” and “Langston Hughes’s Ambivalent Political Expressivism.” The 30 thinkers featured in the book were chosen on the basis of being “central to the tradition of African American thought” and making “substantive contributions to (the) development” of the discipline, Rogers told The Herald. Other figures featured in the book include Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Davis and Martin Luther King Jr., according to Rogers. Turner added that a common pattern between the thinkers is that they “address the core concerns of Black political thought” while also being “attuned to other axes of exclusion.” Still, the thinkers vary in both their approach of how to respond to these
While “Black political thought is overall left-leaning,” there are “conservative thinkers” in the same scholarly tradition featured in the book, he told The Herald. “It occurred to me that within just political science … there wasn’t really a book that … did justice to the breadth and depth of the tradition of African American political thought,” Turner said. Rogers and Turner asked the writers of the essays to keep undergraduate and graduate students in mind while writing. Rogers said they both wanted students to “find an entryway” into African American political thought or “be introduced to new arguments” about the featured thinkers. Turner hopes that readers will return to the primary texts and their orig-
also further discussion among scholars. “American political thought is … fundamentally shaped by these African American figures,” Professor of Political Science Juliet Hooker said, adding that contemporary conversations about democracy, justice and freedom should take these figures and their ideologies into crucial consideration. A historical failure to do so, she added, can be attributed to “default Eurocentrism (and) default whiteness in many fields” where “Black scholars (and) scholars of color (are not) necessarily recognized.” Looking to the future of the scholarly field, Hooker said that she hopes further works on African American political thought will view Black thinkers “in more transnational terms” and how they drew from “ideas and sources from
publication, Rogers said he was more emotional than he had anticipated. He feels grateful that he and Turner were able “to offer something up to a discipline” where there have been “missed opportunities.” “The book is really a product of friendship,” Rogers said. Both of the scholars met as undergraduates at Amherst College and were influenced by scholars in the school’s Black Studies Department. Despite later studying at different graduate schools, they both agreed to eventually collaborate on a project related to Black history and Black political thought. Rogers added that he would incorporate the book in his future classes at Brown and hopes that professors of the subject will do the same. Likewise, Turner said he hopes that the book will
African American political thinkers throughout American history. Among
concerns and in their placement on the political spectrum.
inal authors to “see what these texts mean to them.” He hopes the book will
outside the United States.” After the book’s recent official
become “a very useful teaching text” in his academic work.
PPSD FROM PAGE 1
“makes little to no sense” to displace people crucial to students’ development. The sudden ESL requirement creates a financial burden for recently hired teachers who are still paying off student loans, and a practical burden for teachers approaching retirement who would likely be unwilling to participate in a two-year certification process, she said. The district is in the process of planning to build an on-site ESL certification pathway to better prepare teachers and reduce certification costs, according to a press statement from the district. Regarding ESL teacher shortages, PPSD plans to create new positions, including instructional coaches to meet the specialized needs of individual students, to provide more support to multilingual learners. Additionally, the district plans to hire 22 guidance counselors for elementary students and 36 community liaisons for secondary students to support student achievement and ensure “equity in all aspects of school life,” according to a district press release.
The Teachers’ Union on Monday took a vote of no confidence on Rhode Island Education Commissioner Infante-Green. Although the vote will not legally change anything, it is the union’s way of “sending (Infante-Green) a clear message that she made an error,” Calabro said. While she noted that the vote came after the displacement notices were sent out, Calabro said the vote “wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction,” but instead the result of many issues that had occurred throughout the year. The vote of no confidence should not be “dismissed as a negotiation tactic,” she said. “That is absolutely not what it is.” Lisa Vincent, a reading coach at Webster Elementary, was “quite shocked” when she got the notice. “This is my 35th year teaching in Providence, and I’m being asked to re-apply for the position with a new certification,” she said. “I’ve been a reading coach for 20 years, and suddenly it’s ‘you’re not qualified.’” Despite her other credentials, Vincent noted that while she could re-apply for the job she currently holds if she were
in the process of getting the certification, she does not think it is worth it at this point. Nearing retirement, she said it does not make sense for her to seek a new certification, and resignation or early retirement both cause a significant financial burden. “It’s a rough year anyways with COVID, and now to be thinking about this — I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Amed Torres, a chemistry teacher at Mount Pleasant High School, also received the notice, but he said he is still unsure of why. “The district says they want people who are homegrown, people of color, people who speak multiple languages — literally everything, I check off,” he said. “And I’m STEM. They couldn’t find anybody to teach STEM,” he added, calling his position’s consolidation “totally hypocritical.” Torres, who wants to continue working in the district, was told by his principal that his department was overstaffed — but Torres said he was the only one in his department told that they might
not have a job next year. “It makes no sense,” Torres said. “I try to draw arrows in my head, but I can’t come up with a rationale.” He said the majority of his students are beginner English-language learners, and that his fluency in English and Spanish is necessary for the students’ learning. “Who is going to teach them? Only one other chemistry teacher speaks Spanish,” he said. But despite being bilingual, a skill that helped him assist other teachers in communicating with parents, Torres does not possess an ESL certification. He is now trying to receive one. “I wish the district knew the people they are cutting,” Torres said, adding that he felt “thrown away as a number.” He said that if he has to move to another district he will do so, but being born and raised in Providence, he has a strong connection to the city’s public schools and feels that he can relate to students in a way that is invaluable. “It’s my home,” he said.
ing crisis. To access federal rent relief assistance, renters need their landlords to sign a W-9. In the meantime, they may have to barter for extra time to pay rent. To Robinson, this is no small task for sex workers across the city. “When I’m not able to access the federal rent (relief), and I have my unemployment statement (and bank account statements prepared) and am a little bit more together and empowered than other people — it did make me question” the validity and accessibility of federal COVID-19 relief for sex workers, Robinson said. Dancers at one gentlemen’s club in Providence have also had to navigate emotional turmoil during the pandemic, including “frustration, depression (and) anxiety,” according to a house mother at the club who requested anonymity for fear of personal repercussions. In her position, the house mother serves as a manager for the club, working directly with the dancers. She recruits them, prepares them for shows and is their first contact when issues arise with their job — making her keenly aware of the challenges of the occupation. Among the changes the gentlemen’s club has seen during the pandemic, all customers and employees have to record their temperatures and maintain
social distancing while inside of the club. De-densified operations limit the number of patrons who can come in at once. Additionally, the store is filled with plexiglass separating both individual workers and customers, which has significantly changed the dancers’ work, the house mother said. The emotional issues dancers face are linked to financial instability within the industry, the house mother said. If they contract COVID-19, dancers and staff members alike are unable to work for at least two weeks, she said, meaning that they won’t receive any income until they can produce proof of a negative test result. This has led to widespread fear relating to job insecurity. The dancers ask themselves, “‘Are we going to close again? Is this ever going to go away?’” fearing that, if the club closes due to health concerns, they will “fall behind (financially)” and nobody (will be) making money,” the house mother added. Financial instability for the city’s sex industry is not exclusively tied to the pandemic, either. In February, Providence legislators lobbied for stricter licensing policies for dance clubs and the removal of all private performance areas, including “VIP rooms,” within the city — which, according to Robinson, are a major source of revenue for the
state’s sex industry. Dancers have turned to a number of different solutions in order to gain financial security. Many have created OnlyFans accounts, taking part in the rapid growth of subscription-based online sex work seen since the onset of the pandemic. Others rely on “a sugar daddy to pay their rent … (or just) for survival,” the house mother said. Some have left Providence entirely. Many dancers have either returned home to live with their families or moved south to states with less rigid public health restrictions, such as Texas or Florida, according to the house mother. But the house mother emphasized that there were also glimpses of hope since the start of the pandemic. “We appreciate each other more (now),” she said, “human beings missing each other, coming together” and being “more appreciative” of one another instead of being “bitter” about the challenges posed during this time. One issue that continues to plague local sex workers, though, is a reluctance to seek help from local aid institutions, she said. When the club first shut down, dancers faced financial adversity, the house mother said. But they were hesitant to seek help because “trust doesn’t come easy for them, at all.”
This hesitancy arises within the context of a city that polices the sex industry. Sex work is criminalized within the Ocean State’s borders, despite studies showing that, in Rhode Island’s own history, the legalization of sex work has created economic growth, a decrease in the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases and lower rates of reported sexual violence. For Robinson, creating a bridge for sex workers to get the help they need is a fundamental part of her activism. All too often, police “arrest … the women” they are claiming to protect, she said, referring to the city’s policing of sex workers. Instead, through advocacy and community-focused outreach with COYOTE RI, Robinson hopes that sex workers can access important resources that they would otherwise be unable to find. “This really comes down to federal funding,” she said, emphasizing that a lack of direct financial support for sex workers from the national government continues to leave the industry vulnerable. “I don’t have a solution, I don’t have a magic wand, I can’t make Congress do what I want,” Robinson said. But “we (are) really proud” of what COYOTE RI continues to provide: some alleviation to the financial hardship sex workers face, during this time and beyond.
BY KAITLYN TORRES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
a result, displaced teachers may be required to obtain an ESL certificate in order to reapply to their current roles. President of the Providence Teachers’ Union Maribeth Calabro said the timing of the notice blindsided many teachers. Had there been conversations earlier in the year, she said, the union would have been better prepared and more teachers would have attempted to receive an ESL certificate. Consolidations happen every year due to program reorganization or decreased enrollment, she added. But, unlike other years when the union was notified prior to the release of the consolidation notices, this year it was unaware that academic coaches would also be displaced, leading it to be unprepared to help staff through the process. Calabro also voiced concern over many of the consolidations that took place. Seeing elementary school coaches and middle school deans cut was “extremely concerning,” she said, and it
SEX WORK FROM PAGE 1 munity. For example, many exotic dancers are not formally employed by the clubs they work at, which makes filing for governmental assistance especially difficult, Robinson said. “Everyone’s an employee but the dancers,” she said. Among the dancers she works with, “most of them didn’t even know what a W-9 or a 1099 was,” having little to no experience filing taxes. Alongside helping dancers file taxes and attempt to claim unemployment benefits, COYOTE RI also plans on creating webinars to teach members of the sex industry about “how to do taxes and be financially responsible,” Robinson added. With staggering unemployment rates across the state, unemployed sex workers also face a compounding hous-
Friday, March 26, 2021
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
3
SPORTS
Winter athletes reflect on lost season amid NCAA winter championships Four student-athletes share thoughts on not being able to compete, plans for the future
Across the NCAA, winter seasons are coming to a close — and though the season has been anything but typical, an element of normalcy has returned for most conferences. The NCAA championship for men’s and women’s indoor track and field concluded March 13, and the championship for men’s wrestling ended March 20. The NCAA basketball championships, also known as March Madness, are well underway; 68 men’s and 64 women’s teams are competing for their respective national titles. But this sense of normalcy in college sports comes with an asterisk: The Ivy League is not participating. Many Brown athletes were critical of the Ivy League’s decision to cancel their winter and spring seasons well before the seasons would have started. Part of this criticism stemmed from the fact that all other Division I conferences are participating in winter and spring sports. The Ivy League officially announced the cancellation of the winter season
Nov. 12, and the spring season Feb. 18. “Personally, I think the Ivy League cancelled too early,” said wrestler Ricky Cabanillas ’23. “All the other (conferences) did it, so why couldn’t we have at least tried?” “Seeing the other leagues still playing, and how they still made it work, and how they handled COVID, I feel like the Ivy League could have done something like that to keep everybody in high spirits,” said basketball player Jaylan Gainey ’22. “Cancelling a whole season is kind of unheard of.” Gainey added that he felt the Ivy League had been “giving (athletes) a sense of false hope, telling (them) that things should be better” by the time their seasons rolled around. But “out of the blue, they scheduled this meeting (to announce the cancellation of the winter season). When a meeting’s scheduled out of the blue, you know it’s not gonna be good news.” The tone of the meeting was a somber one, Gainey said. “We logged on and everybody was frowning, there was no happiness. We already knew the news was not gonna be good.” “It was a sad day, a sad night,” said basketball player Tamenang Choh ’21. “Initially, I know a lot of students weren’t happy about the way they found out,” he added, noting that many athletes found out through posts on social media before the official announce-
ment. For Choh, the ongoing NCAA tournament has reopened old wounds regarding the cancelled season. “At the beginning of (the season) it sucked seeing all those guys playing when you’re not playing or even practicing,” Choh said. “By the middle of the season, we kinda got used to it. (With) March Madness, now, it hurts even more.” Nevertheless, Choh’s love of the game has not diminished and he has still fervently followed March Madness. “I’ve been able to watch (games) and enjoy them,” Choh said. “A lot of my friends are on a couple teams, too, so I’ve been able to support them.” Gainey expressed similar feelings about the March Madness games. “I enjoy them because I have a lot of friends playing,” he said. “But it’s tough, knowing that we could have been playing too.” As Cabanillas watched the wrestling national championships, he was struck by the feeling that a tournament without its full field of athletes was wrong. “This doesn’t seem right,” he said. “This doesn’t seem like the NCAA Championship. You have good wrestlers in the Ivy League that could have changed the outcome of the tournament.” For Kendra Ezeama ’24, a thrower on the indoor and outdoor track and field teams, losing the end of her high school career made the Ivy League’s
cancellation of both the winter and spring seasons all the more difficult. “I was really looking forward to this new season,” she said. “Although I lost my finish, I could potentially have a good start at Brown.” Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Ezeama was surprised that the seasons were cancelled. “I was really expecting to have a season, I’m not gonna lie,” Ezeama said. “That disappointment still lingers on.” The fact that the men’s basketball team had Ivy League championship aspirations made the loss of this season even tougher, according to Choh. “We’ve got great guys on the team. I was extremely excited and was really hoping to win the Ivy League regular season championship,” he said. “That’s the goal we would have achieved this year.” Still, Gainey remains motivated to push through his disappointment and work even harder in preparation for next year. “I’m in the gym every day and (the team is) practicing about three times a day,” he said. “The plan is to have a great season.” Winter athletes are doing what they can to move forward and position themselves for success in the future. For Gainey, Cabanillas and Ezeama, this means preparing for future seasons at Brown — which Cabanillas is doing remotely, from home. “I’m making the best of it, training hard, still working,”
he said. For Choh, a senior, this marks the end of his career at Brown. He is still training with the Brown coaches and is still able to make use of the Brown weightroom, which he is thankful for. He plans to play a year as a graduate transfer at another institution before trying to play professionally. Choh declared for the NBA draft last year but ultimately elected to return to Brown. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of other Ivy League alumni in the NBA. “A lot of Ivy League guys are in the G-League and the NBA,” he said. “I’ve been able to watch those guys, support those guys and even talk to some of those guys.” When the difficulty of the lost season weighs on her, Ezeama finds solace in training. “I try to get myself out of that thinking, pick up my shot put (and) throw it as far as I can with all my might, even just for myself,” she said. While this season was undoubtedly difficult for Brown’s winter athletes, Ezeama was still able to glean important lessons from it. Going forward, she knows she will appreciate the chances she does have to throw even more. “I will give it my all because you never know when that opportunity is going to be taken away from you,” she said. “This whole entire situation really showcases how much we take for granted.”
CREATIVES FROM PAGE 1
ested in something I made.”
the Brown community, she hopes to eventually expand beyond campus. In the meantime, getting to do hair on Brown’s campus has also meant “meeting new people,” she said. “I target specific students on Brown’s campus, and that is Black people,” Diarra said. “The thing that I’m noticing most since I started is I do have more of a sense of community … because (braiding hair) is our art form.”
@thingsalliemade With the surge of Black Lives Matter protests across the country in 2020, Allie Lee ’23 thought that selling her handmade clothes could be a good way to raise money for organizations supporting the movement for Black lives. “I’ve been making clothes since I was little, so it’s always been a hobby of mine,” Lee said. “Because of the
I wouldn’t have known before,” Lee said. “It’s shown me exactly why we pay so much for clothes; it’s not because of the materials … you’re paying for the labor cost.” “Paying a lot of money for clothes is not necessarily bad if you know what you’re paying for, but I think the problem in the fast fashion industry is the money is not going where you think it is,” she added. All in all, experience in managing
friends, giving earrings away as gifts with “no intentions of even running a business.” But as her friends continued to encourage her to explore her art, she began sharing her creations on social media. Receiving support from a virtual audience, Bryan then got the idea to turn her work into a business. Social media “plays a really big role” in her business, Bryan said. She takes orders from Instagram direct messages and depends on traffic from social media. “I learned that it’s not only about selling my products, but also content creating,” Bryan said. “When people would ... post a picture of (themself) wearing my earrings onto their story, that would really have an impact on the amount of (orders) that we’d get the next day.” The COVID-19 pandemic has only furthered the importance of a social media presence for Bryan’s business. During quarantine, “there wasn’t much to do, so I got a lot of orders,” she said. “Plus, during the summer we were all very active on social media,” which helped her gain a new platform for clients. COVID-19 “definitely had a positive impact, interestingly, on the business,” Bryan said. Navigating business ownership alongside a rigorous school schedule, Bryan has put her business on pause until the summer. But she has learned a lot from running her business so far, she said. “It reminds me that I have a really good support system,” Bryan said, including “people I know and love and then people that I also don’t really know.” “I think the best thing for me has been seeing people wear my creations and post it on Instagram,” she added. “It just makes me super happy.”
On her mother’s side, Miriam Rice ’23 is the descendant of artists; on her father’s, she comes from a lineage of writers. Rice credits her passion for art to her family, and draws inspiration from an identity of “in-betweenness” she has inherited from them. “So many aspects of identity — my name, my culture, my nationality — embody convergence. Perhaps it is by nature of existing between two countries, two languages, two histories, that my art is a blend of two disciplines,” Rice wrote in an email to The Herald. Rice creates a variety of art forms, recently taking on “an exploration of the complexity of modern identity and a deconstruction of dualism through a fusion of painting and poems.” Rice’s artwork has long been entrepreneurial. In middle school, she sold things in school like silk-screen t-shirts and portraits of her peers drawn in colored pencil. Today, Rice sells her artwork online. She primarily does freelance work through Instagram, including ideas for commissioned collaborative projects such as tattoos and murals. Additionally, she draws a “passive income” from other artistic ventures, including a self-published poetry book. She has “had a range of clientele, from restaurant owners to indie bands,” she wrote. “My most recent project was a collaboration with Mellowpunk, a band from Boulder, CO, to design an album cover for their latest release” that comes out on Friday, March 26. Rice works with fellow Brown students, as well. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to sell my art online and generate a little income doing something I love,” Rice wrote. “Engaging and creating art, after all, is not only a mode of self-expression, but a practice of humanizing one another and bettering our communities.” — With additional reporting by Lívia Gimenes
BY PETER SWOPE STAFF WRITER
@bykeelsies In the early stages of the pandemic, Keely Thompson ’23 found herself scrolling through Instagram watching craft videos when she stumbled upon an art form that caught her eye — resin art. A naturally-gifted artist, Thompson knew she had to try it out for herself, buying her first resin kit off of the internet and using it late one night in her boyfriend’s garage. The kits Thompson uses come in two parts: the liquid resin and the hardener. She mixes these with paints or glitter to create sleek designs that solidify and burst with vibrant colors. “I started out doing trays,” Thompson said. “You can really do this on any surface that will hold” the resin. Lately, Thompson has been experimenting with molds, creating new shapes for products, including coasters. Studying remotely from Hawai’i this semester, Thompson has primarily served a local clientele through Instagram direct messages, while sending the occasional package of art to the mainland United States. “At first I wasn’t really thinking of selling it,” Thompson said. “But then I realized I have these trays, I have the opportunity to (make a business), so why not?” “Honestly, it’s taught me a lot more about business than it’s taught me about art-making,” she added. “It’s just been super cool to see people even be inter-
EMILY TENG / HERALD
Student creators took to social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to share their passions from before and during the pandemic. pandemic, I had a lot more time to get into it.” Lee began to share her work on social media and found a “surprising amount of people were interested in buying” her items, she said. From there, she began to sell her products and donate her money to organizations serving the Black community and working toward racial justice. “I figured that there was a good way to combine this interest in my products with what’s going on in the world,” she said. Since then, Lee’s business has only grown. Currently taking orders through Instagram direct messages, she hopes to eventually create her own website to sell products. “Making my own clothes has taught me a lot about the fashion industry that
orders and selling her products has given Lee insight into the work required to run a business. “I have a greater appreciation for small businesses and how they run their livelihoods, and I have a lot of respect for small business owners that I maybe wouldn’t have” had before selling products of her own, she said. @shaunyshoops “I’ve always really liked hoop earrings,” Shauny Bryan ’23 said. “I’d see my mom wearing them, and they just seemed like a staple in our community.” Then, one day, she asked herself: “‘Why not start making them?’” Nearly two years ago, Bryan first began experimenting with wire, a material commonly used in hoop earrings. She made new shapes and designs for
@miriams.art
4
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
Friday, March 26, 2021
METRO
R.I. groups provide healthcare to underserved communities Providers emphasize importance of trust, accessibility in providing healthcare BY INJY EL-DIB CONTRIBUTING WRITER During the COVID-19 pandemic, when resources are low across the board, vulnerable communities around Rhode Island are finding access to health resources even more difficult. The Herald spoke with three organizations dedicated to increasing health care access for underserved communities. The Ocean State’s “vulnerable neighbors” as Director of Lifespan Community Health Institute Carrie Bridges Felize puts it, mostly consist of Rhode Islanders who are undocumented, uninsured or do not primarily speak English. These populations, who were already at greater health risk before the pandemic, are some of the “hardest hit by COVID” both locally and nationally, according to Director of Strategic Partnerships and Grants at the Rhode Island Free Clinic Marvin Ronning. There are “so many small things that you or I may take for granted that we don’t think of that these families have to deal with on a day-to-day basis,” says Associate Clinical Director and Registered Nurse at Clinica Esperanza Lauren Greene. All three of these organizations — Lifespan Community Health Institute, R.I. Free Clinic and Clinica Esperanza — offer free care to underserved populations around the state. They all go beyond medical care to offer what Ronning describes as a “patient-centered medical home,” providing everything from health-based education and medical screenings to COVID-19 tests and vaccines. The pandemic presents another layer of challenges for these populations.
In a time filled with misinformation, Ronning says, “there’s so much information and, because it’s changing very rapidly, it’s very difficult to access information. And it’s even more difficult to access that information in Spanish.” Bridges Felize concurs that “it’s an ongoing challenge to get the right information and the right service at the right time in the right place to people, and delivered by trusted messengers.” Most of the patient population at these organizations is Spanish speaking, with about frronningand a similarly high percent at the other organizations, so offering services in Spanish is a necessity for increasing accessibility to care. For example, instead of requiring patients who primarily speak Spanish to navigate a potentially confusing English website, each of the three organizations offer phone lines for appointments and to provide assistance navigating the online portal. Accessing vaccine appointments through the web “brings a great convenience to a lot of people, but it also leaves a lot of people out,” Bridges Felize said. “So I’m concerned about seniors or folks who may not be as web savvy or may not have access to or the time to constantly refresh and look for appointments and search.” For Ronning, this work requires a “level of respect and dignity and care that is reciprocal with our patients. We’re not just giving health care, we’re giving equitable health care with dignity and respect, and that’s about trust. That’s about building long-term relationships.” In terms of reluctance toward receiving the vaccine, Ronning said the people they’re “seeing may have some slight hesitation, but they’re very excited to get it, and grateful to get it and are spreading the news to their families and community members.” Cesar Orduña ’20, a COVID testing site/vaccine clinic coordinator at R.I. Free Clinic who is on leave from the
University indefinitely, agreed that “trust is definitely a really huge part especially, especially with vaccines. There’s a lot of mistrust and a lot of concern from the community, so trying to break down those barriers is a huge part of being able to get everyone vaccinated.” The need to accommodate child care and work can complicate the ability to get to vaccine appointments, even if they are already booked, Bridges Felize said. “When folks are working multiple shifts or are working jobs that don’t
tion status,” Joseph Wendelken, public information officer for RIDOH, wrote in an email to The Herald. “All testing and vaccination services are open to all people, no matter their immigration status. You do not have to demonstrate citizenship.” Despite RIDOH’s efforts toward increasing accessibility, underserved populations still face tall barriers to accessing health care. These organizations “just really try to break down a lot of those barriers and make things easier for patients,” Orduña said.
social disparities, social determinants of health,” Ronning said. COVID-19 “just exacerbated and really brought into sharp relief the inequities that already existed in the health care system in the United States.” Some community members may have reservations about going to state-run testing facilities due to their undocumented status, demonstrating the need for trust between provider and patient. “I was a little ignorant to ... the fear that would be brought along with
KATHERINE OK / HERALD
allow flexibility, it’s not easy to make a last minute appointment to go for a vaccine in the middle of the day.” All three organizations receive their vaccine supplies from the Rhode Island Department of Health. “They’ve been really good with communicating with us,” Greene says. “We are doing everything we can to make all COVID-19 services accessible to everyone, regardless of immuniza-
Volunteers who donate their time make these organizations possible, and help to provide crucial care for those who would otherwise not have any, according to Ronning. “It’s important for everyone to do their best to help others with everything that’s going on right now,” said Orduña, himself a former volunteer. “Typically, urban minorities are already suffering disproportionately from
just coming to a doctor’s office to get care,” Greene said. “But when they walk through these doors, they’re not scared. They know that they’re getting good quality care.”
Submissions: The Brown Daily Herald publishes submissions in the form of op-eds and letters to the editor. Op-eds are typically between 750 and 1000 words, though we will consider submissions between 500 and 1200 words. Letters to the editor should be around 250 words. While letters to the editor respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, op-eds usually prompt new discussions on campus or frame new arguments about current discourse. All submissions to The Herald cannot have been previously published elsewhere (in print or online — including personal blogs and social media), and they must be exclusive to The Herald. Submissions must include no more than two individual authors. If there are more than two original authors, The Herald can acknowledge the authors in a statement at the end of the letter or op-ed, but the byline can only include up to two names. The Herald will not publish submissions authored by groups. The Herald does not publish anonymous submissions. If you feel your circumstances prevent you from submitting an op-ed or letter with your name, please email herald@browndailyherald.com to explain your situation. You can submit op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com and letters to letters@browndailyherald. com. When you email your submission, please include (1) your full name, (2) an evening or mobile phone number in case your submission is chosen for publication and (3) any affiliation with Brown University or any institution or organization relevant to the content of your submission. Please send in submissions at least 24 hours in advance of your desired publication date. The Herald only publishes submissions while it is in print. The Herald reserves the right to edit all submissions. If your piece is considered for publication, an editor will contact you to discuss potential changes to your submission. Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. is a financially independent, nonprofit media organization bringing you The Brown Daily Herald and Post- Magazine. The Brown Daily Herald has served the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $200 one year daily, $100 one semester daily. Copyright 2020 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
post-
MAR 26 — VOL 27 — ISSUE 8
FEATURE
See Full Issue: POST.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
NARRATIVE
Piecing Her Together
on not losing family stories By Jordan Hartzell
Navigating Nerdiness
Sophie’s father invented the chocolate-covered frozen banana. I’ve heard the story at so many Thanksgiving dinners that I don’t believe it anymore. He had a sundry, a shop that sold candy and ice cream, on a street corner in Strawberry Mansion, a neighborhood in Philadelphia. I’m told that at the end of the Second World War, he stood outside with a box of tin whistles and handed them out to neighbors celebrating in the street. I like to imagine jars of licorice and chocolate pretzels, kids on bicycles who didn’t know what the war was about, really. Root beer floats and arm-round-the-waist kisses like a Time magazine cover.
Last August, my best friend and I took our usual loop around the neighborhood. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we talked about our hopes for college. She would be leaving in a few weeks. I, like
around being unabashedly bookish and geeky. I joined the debate team, ran the school’s Harry Potter club, and waxed poetic about educational song parodies. Though my classmates cared about grades, self-proclaimed “nerds” were rare. If I slapped that label onto myself, people usually wouldn’t ask too many questions. I’d heard from older friends and various well-meaning family members that cliquey distinctions like “nerd” didn’t apply in college. Though I know this was meant to reassure me, it worried me instead. Without the comfort of that persona, it looked like I would have to acquire— gasp—a real personality.
other Brown first-years, would be at home for the fall. But we spoke about the future like it was close enough to touch. “I just don’t know who I want to be in college,” I told her. “I mean, it’s not exactly like the nerd angle is super unique at Brown.” She laughed. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Early on in high school, I decided I wouldn’t try to be conventionally “cool,” so I built my identity
Over the fall semester, I spent countless hours wondering what sort of persona I should embrace. The edgy philosophy major pontificating about nihilism? The social butterfly who seemed to balance it all effortlessly? The law school-bound go-getter? Obviously, some options were out of the question. Anna the jock or Anna the engineer were just…not happening. But the transition to college seemed like a rare opportunity for radical self-definition...
who am i in college? by Anna Brodsky
illustrated by Mika Ando
ARTS & CULTURE
On Minari
love in the korean diaspora By Nicole Kim Idly scrolling through Instagram last December, I came across a post by the novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen sharing an article he had written for the Washington Post. The title read, “‘Minari’ is about immigrants who speak Korean. That doesn’t make it ‘foreign.’” I rapidly scrolled past the post, already feeling a swell of anxiety blossoming in my chest cavity. A quick Google search confirmed my suspicions. A film about a Korean American family in the Ozarks in the 1980s? Even that felt much too close for comfort. For the next few months, Minari floated about the edge of my consciousness. I would catch its scent in passing conversations with Asian American classmates and on social media, but I avoided following the news around the Golden Globes controversy or watching the trailer...
LIFESTYLE “Please, Mr. Protection was my father, call me Helmet.” “I guess that’s what it feels like to vape milk.”
Things to Come Back As After You Die
1. A dog on the Main Green being lavished with attention 2. Harry Styles’ microphone 3. A little worm in the damp soil 4. A song played at people’s weddings 5. A cute rock with moss on top (the moss is your friend reincarnated)
6. The little plastic table on top of pizzas that kids fight over 7. A tree 8. A heart-shaped cake tin 9. A tapioca plant so you can become boba and make so many people happy 10. A drop of water rolling down a strawberry and hanging off the tip of it
Worth It @ Brown by Eashan Das With things coming to some minuscule semblance of normalcy and as Providence springs into the gorgeous spring weather, you might find yourself venturing out into the real world (in a safe way ofc!). Among the many things Providence is known for, great food is probably somewhere at the very top of the list. As you venture out onto Thayer––or, if you’re feeling especially adventurous, outside the Brown bubble!—you’ll notice that there are so many great options for whatever it is you’re in the mood for. Of course, this then entails making difficult choices. So post- is here with our very own version of Worth It, the Brown edition. Where we (well, my friends and I) are taking a look at three* different options for everyone’s favorite indulgences at three drastically (well, not really, being broke is part of the college experience after all) different price points to see which Providence restaurants are the most Worth It at its price.
post–
Want to be involved? Email: olivia_howe@brown.edu!
March 26, 2021
5
6
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
Friday, March 26, 2021
METRO
Adults in “hardest-hit” PVD, Pawtucket ZIP codes now vaccine eligible City legislators prioritize at-risk neighborhoods in vaccine distribution BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER Providence has expanded vaccine eligibility to all residents ages 18 or older in “some of the neighborhoods hardest-hit by COVID-19,” Providence City Hall announced March 22. Pawtucket also expanded its vaccine eligibility to all adult residents of the city, according to a March 22 announcement from Pawtucket City Hall. “We are continuing to work with the State through the High Density Community initiatives in order to continuously get vaccines in the arms of Pawtucket residents,” Donald R. Grebien, mayor of Pawtucket, said in the press release. With the expansion of eligibility this week, adult residents in Pawtucket and those residing in zip codes of 02904, 02905, 02907, 02908 and 02909 in Providence are now eligible to receive vaccines on a first-come-first-serve basis at clinics managed by the Providence Emergency Management Agency and other community partners. All three currently available vaccines — made by Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna — will be used. “In the seven hardest-hit zip codes throughout the state, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate for people as young as 25 is higher than the hospitaliza-
VACCINE FROM PAGE 1 nities — Providence and Pawtucket recently expanded vaccine eligibility to include residents ages 18 and older of ZIP codes hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Around 4,000 appointments are released all at once on Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons, Wendelken said. As supply increases, the number of available appointments will increase as well. A pre-registration system that will ask for personal information and notify individuals if there is an open appointment will become available soon and should cut down traffic on the site, he added. Another factor in the availability of vaccine appointments is the proportion of first and second doses that are being scheduled, according to Wendelken. For example, the state is currently ad-
tion rate in the rest of Rhode Island for people over 60 years old,” Jorge Elorza, mayor of Providence, said in the press release, emphasizing the importance of focusing distribution efforts “where the risks are most severe.” For Providence, the decision was made in collaboration between the Rhode Island Department of Health and multiple partners including City Hall, according to Philip Chan, medical director at RIDOH and associate professor of medicine and behavioral and social sciences at the University. “In addition to our age-based factoring … we have also prioritized geography, and what we’ve learned during the pandemic, of course, is that some areas are harder-hit than others,” Chan told The Herald. Chan emphasized that the city determined which neighborhoods are at risk using data-driven research, and that selected neighborhoods with expanded eligibility have “had a really high burden of COVID cases throughout the pandemic.” Individuals in these zip codes “were hospitalized at much higher rates and at much younger ages,” Ben Smith, director of communications and media relations for the City of Providence, wrote in an email to The Herald. Currently, all residents of Rhode Island over 60 years of age are eligible for vaccination, largely due to the high rates of COVID-related hospitalization within these populations. Per 100,000 people ages 60 to 69 in Rhode Island outside of the high density communities there have been 657 hospitalizations, according to Smith.
ministering a large number of second doses, which reduces the number of first dose appointments available, he explained. There are currently three operating vaccine clinics run by the state in Middletown, at the Dunkin’ Donuts center in downtown Providence and in Cranston, Wendelken said. Two more vaccination clinics will be opening in the coming weeks as supply increases, including one in Woonsocket and one in West Kingston, he added. Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA ’06 said that the University is “strongly encouraging” community members to receive the vaccine, The Herald previously reported. Additionally, Carey does not expect the University to host a vaccine site by April. The University expects COVID-19 guidelines to remain mostly the same
But in the regions designated as “hardest-hit,” there were 2,679 such hospitalizations — more than quadruple the rate outside of these areas. Likewise, in the designated zip codes, for residents ages 19 to 24 there were 583 hospitalizations per 100,000 people, and for residents ages 25 to 29 there were 702, Smith wrote. Racial disparities also played into the designation of the “hardest-hit” zip codes, as Black and Latinx communities have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
he added. “That’s what we’re trying to address in terms of making sure that we have (an) equitable distribution of these vaccines.” Part of outreach to these vulnerable communities has involved breaking down structural barriers, including working to improve transportation to the clinics and increasing overall accessibility, Chan said. “We try to make sure to have culturally competent staff” that “speak multiple languages,” he added. Providence organizations have also done outreach to minimize reluctance
While predominantly Black and Latinx communities in Providence are generally more densely populated, “they have (a) lack of access to health care in general” due to “long-standing infrastructure (and) structural barriers,” Chan said. “All of that leads to increased cases of COVID and makes these communities disproportionately impacted,”
toward vaccination within the city, The Herald previously reported. The recent expansion of vaccine eligibility is part of an ongoing initiative from the cities to widen vaccine eligibility in “high density communities.” The March 22 decision was an increase in the number of participating neighborhoods following an earlier March 2 announcement that all residents ages
50 or older in certain “hardest hit” neighborhoods were eligible to receive the vaccine. James Notzen, a resident of the 02909 zip code, received his first vaccination soon after the March 2 announcement, given that he is over 50 years of age. He noted that the process for signing up was quick and accessible. “It was really easy,” Notzen said. “I would say within six minutes of finding out I was eligible I signed up for a vaccine.” Notzen was then able to make an appointment that was “pretty immediate, within a couple of days,” he added. Although Notzen is not a member of the low-income, Black or Latinx communities targeted specifically by the eligibility expansion, he emphasized that he sees the increase in vaccine eligibility as a good way to support other community members. “You have a lot of multi-family, intergenerational households” and “service workers” in the area, for whom “the risk of transmission is much greater,” he said. For Notzen, this makes it important to prioritize these areas. In its initial stages of planning for vaccine distribution, Providence sought to “prioritize equity, lowered death rate (and the) economy” with its limited supply, The Herald previously reported. The city has also prioritized certain occupations in vaccine eligibility, namely health care workers and, more recently, educators. “We obviously want everyone to get a vaccine,” Chan said. “In the meantime, while we have such limited (supply), we have to prioritize them to communities who are the hardest hit.”
over the summer semester, but hopes to see “incremental improvements” this fall. Community members who submit a vaccination record and are asymptomatic are exempted from quarantining after exposure to the COVID-19 virus, he added. Gabe Merkel ’23 said that when he found out that the eligibility timeline had moved up to April 19, he was “just really happy, but I do know it will be a challenge to get (an appointment) right when it opens up.” “What I’m hoping about the vaccine as a whole is that Brown will play some role in facilitating (distribution) for students this summer,” Merkel said. He hopes that states will give colleges vaccines to distribute to allow campuses to “open more fully.” Merkel said that providing incentives for getting the vaccine — such
as allowing larger gatherings on the University level once students have been vaccinated — could be helpful in encouraging takeup when the vaccine becomes available to all populations. Benjamin Hokenson ’24 said that when the news broke he “was pretty excited because I thought that it meant that the future of people at Brown being vaccinated is pretty close.” “I’m most excited for the possibility or potential of clubs and classes being in person, and I’m also happy that we’re going to be able to keep our community safer,” he said. Paige Martin ’22 said she was “really excited because I’ve been waiting for so long.” Martin said that getting an appointment is still uncertain and that she is slightly worried about the process of signing up, but added that the vaccine is a big deal for her because she has
strictly adhered to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. “I’ve taken COVID super seriously basically since lockdown,” Martin said. She said that she decided to study remotely this fall because of the pandemic and saw only immediate family until her return to campus this year. Additionally, Martin said that being a public health concentrator adds to her concern and feeling of responsibility. “This pandemic is the epitome of everything I’ve learned about. Epidemics, pandemics, widespread illness and the effects of really disproportionate health outcomes — and COVID has really impacted people disproportionately, specifically minority groups,” Martin said. “As an African American, I felt like it was important for me to be safe and keep my community safe.”
COURTESY OF US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Adults living in Providence’s more densely-populated neighborhoods are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination as of March 22.
STAY UP-TO-DATE. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK. FACEBOOK.COM/BROWNDAILYHERALD
Friday, March 26, 2021
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
7
House ’20: Steven Pinker and who decides how campus culture should be repaired ANNA HOUSE OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
I am not the target audience for this. I found this thought echoing around my head as I read Andrew Reed’s March 12 column “Steven Pinker Wants to Repair Campus Culture.” The piece has a pretty veneer and frames itself as hopeful, but concerned. I am not convinced its true purpose is quite so positive. The essay is a discussion with Steven Pinker, focusing primarily on the recent “wave of illiberalism, particularly on college campuses.” A full and nuanced rebuttal of the article would be the length of a novel, which I’m sure is by design. It is riddled with over-simplifications, misrepresentations and conservative buzzwords that mean very little but have loaded connotations. Anyone familiar with these rhetorical strategies, or indeed with the content Reed discusses, will immediately recognize how the focus of the argument skews reality. This is why I was quickly convinced that the article wasn’t written with my fellow Brown students and me in mind. Instead, it seems aimed at those who already believe that there is an epidemic of political correctness and cancel culture ruining our institutions of higher learning. It says to these people: “You are right, this is an issue you should be focused on, and I can give you more evidence to confirm it.” Reed opens with an introduction of Pinker, a “Harvard professor turned celebrity intellectual.” Pinker’s work argues that society is improving on the whole, but he has recently become concerned about cancel culture and censorship. Reed, a staff columnist at an Ivy League newspaper, does not note the irony of his discussion of this topic with a tenured professor who has published 16 books. Clearly, both are able to broadcast their views on prestigious platforms — despite Pinker receiving criticism from members of the Linguistics Society of America, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the general public; as well as becoming embroiled in controversy over connections with Jeffrey Epstein. Pinker claims that illiberalism on college campuses is not new, but that it originated in the ’70s and has gotten steadily worse since. Reed cites several recent examples of cancellation: He writes that “In 2017, Evergreen College in Washington State descended into chaos when a white professor refused to leave campus after a group of activists organized a day without white students and faculty.” Interested to learn more about this clearly outrageous occurrence, I looked at the source he provided. As
it turns out, the issue is not quite as Reed has presented it; Evergreen’s “Day of Absence” is an event that has been held for decades, and usually involves students and faculty of color leaving campus while white community members stay behind. In light of Trump’s election and incidents of harassment at Evergreen (including a police officer shooting two Black students in 2015), organizers proposed a reversal of tradition. Of course, controversy followed and one professor publicly opposed white students and faculty being encouraged to leave campus. A video of student protestors later engaging with the professor and calling for him to be fired went viral, and he went on Tucker Carlson’s
the Lisa Littman case is far from an example of illiberalism in academia, but rather an incident of rigorous academic critique and revision to create better scholarship. Littman retained her position at the University and her work is still published. These tactics continue throughout the rest of the piece, where Pinker goes on to claim that college administrators are now part of the problem. He invokes “postmodernism” and “Marxist critical theory,” academic terms which have been co-opted and muddied to the point of uselessness by conservative talking heads, and manages to define the ideologies behind them in a way that is painfully dishonest. These are
“When I see discussions about who deserves a platform, I think about how hard my fellow students with marginalized identities have had — and continue to have — to fight for their voices to be heard.”
show on Fox News to talk about being silenced. The school, student activists and a Black professor were then targeted by the alt-right and were doxxed and threatened. Not only was the event canceled the next year, but so were classes after an anonymous caller claimed he had a weapon and was “going to execute as many people on that campus as I can get a hold of.” Even this description is a simplification, but Reed summarizing the incident as “chaos” conveniently ignores that the people who suffered most were students and activists who already felt unheard and unrecognized. The other examples Reed employs are similarly not quite as supportive of his argument as they appear: the Middlebury College incident was also complex and student protesters who did not participate in the violence were disproportionately punished. Rather than quashing debate, the incident sparked fierce discussion on the campus; rather than de-platforming Charles Murray, he became the topic of national conversation and was actually invited back to the school for the third time last year. Finally,
umbrella terms for complicated and diverse schools of thought, which often contradict each other and cannot be distilled down to statements like “history is a struggle.” In one particularly amusing quote, Pinker says that nowadays, “the radical student protesters bring in the campus bureaucracy to multiply their own power, something they wouldn’t have been caught dead doing” when he was an undergraduate. Pinker studied for his Bachelor of Arts at McGill from 1973 to 1976 and he may be partially correct — the relationship between student activists and university administrations was certainly strained in the late ’60s and early ’70s. There could be shocking, disproportionate consequences for disruptive advocacy. McGill fired a professor in 1969 for leading protests, and in 1970, four student activists were killed by the Ohio National Guard in what is now referred to as the Kent State Massacre. I hardly think that students and university administrators are allied now (the Middlebury case that Reed references illustrates this), but surely improvements from the antagonistic relationship
CA L E N DA R
of 50 years ago make students and faculty safer and therefore benefit open debate. Though I find Reed’s piece to be a disingenuous representation of the culture in higher education, I share his and Pinker’s concerns about narrow viewpoints, and I agree that there is a lot at stake. Who controls the conversation in academia? What are the best ways to make sure that there are diverse viewpoints? In answering these questions, Pinker’s emphasis on cancel culture overblows the issue and distracts from the more pressing problem of accessibility in academia — especially at elite universities like Brown and Harvard — a problem that far more directly restricts campus discourse and narrows the range of acceptable viewpoints. Around 29 percent of Brown students come from private schools — suspiciously higher than the two percent of American students at large who are in the private school system. Almost 20 percent of Brown students are from the top one percent of incomes in the United States, with a whopping 70 percent of students coming from the top 20 percent. When Pinker started his Bachelor of Arts at McGill, Brown had only been fully co-educational for two years. Progress was made during the ’70s because of lawsuits and student activism that forced the school to be more accessible to and supportive of its underrepresented faculty and students. My time at Brown exposed me to a huge range of ideas and perspectives. These changed how I see the world and taught me how to communicate productively with people who hold different views from mine. It’s clear, however, that there is more work to be done. Though I never felt silenced by my peers, I often felt out of place and insignificant beside the vast wealth and power of the administration. The University was built to serve the needs of white men from private schools. When I see discussions about who deserves a platform, I think about how hard my fellow students with marginalized identities have had — and continue to have — to fight for their voices to be heard. In order to convince their audience to fear the perils of censoring other viewpoints, Pinker and Reed inaccurately describe and fail to contextualize the people and views they critique. The essay is emblematic of how lamentations of cancel culture often work, more effectively than any protest, to silence others.
Anna House ’20 can be reached at anna_house@alumni.brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
COVID -19 AT BROWN LAST 7 DAYS*
MARCH S
7
Completed Tests
People Tested
M
Tu
W
Th
F
S
14,654
8,451
1
2
3
4
5
6
Confirmed Positives
Positivity Rates
33
0.2 %
8
9
10
11
12
13 SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Completed Tests
People Tested
314,250
10,556
Total Cases
Prevalence
499
4.7 %
*AS OF AUG. 24
8
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
Friday, March 26, 2021
The Lemley Family Leadership lecture series
F E AT U R I N G
Isabel Wilkerson Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author Reflections on “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” Thursday, April 1, 2021 | 4 p.m. A virtual conversation moderated by Amanda Anderson, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities and English, Director of the Cogut Institute for the Humanities Welcome by Provost Richard M. Locke Registration required → For more information, please visit lemley-lecture.brown.edu Closed captioning will be provided. To request additional accommodations or assistance for this event, please contact the Office of University Event and Conference Services at universityevents@brown.edu. For more information on this speaker, please visit prhspeakers.com.
BROWN UNIVERSITY 2021