Editor’s Letter

After last November’s presidential victory, people understandably breathed a sigh of relief. Some felt that they could happily turn off the news and unplug from politics, no longer feeling responsible for keeping up with the latest Republican scandal or criticizing blatant political corruption on Twitter. Now, Biden’s America would herald in a new era of progress, and we could all move on with our lives. Unsurprisingly, that’s just not true. Being truly progressive will always be an aspirational project that we have to constantly work towards. Progressive views can’t be static or unyielding to change—they have to perennially evolve in order to reflect society’s most urgent needs. Progress is not a given and it’s not linear. The passage of time does not equate to the betterment of our society, just like the removal of an ignorant and despotic president does not immediately solve our problems. As students, we are in a unique position to mobilize our youthful idealism and spur progress. We’re frequently told by older adults that our liberal convictions won’t last once we enter the “real world,” but that’s exactly what qualifies us to be at the forefront of progressive movements. We are equipped with relentless purpose and optimism, what some may consider a naive refusal to accept the status quo, and a bold willingness to take risks. We don’t need a dose of moral realism, we need a reminder of the power of student movements. Students at UC Berkeley don’t need to look further than the anti-apartheid movement which began on our campus in 1984 and resulted in the UC Regents divesting $3.1 billion from South Africa, the largest university divestment in the country. Still, as UC Berkeley students, we can’t take our simple attendance at a university with a storied legacy of student activism to mean we are absolved of constantly reevaluating our prejudices and our long-held beliefs. Being a student in a politically charged environment like today’s requires us to remain open to changing our mind when presented with new information, to critically question the institutions that we benefit from, and to actively engage in grassroots politics that strengthens the communities we live in. National politics can be distracting and entertaining, but let’s not forget that student movements have been the most successful when they localized national issues. Antiwar protests were most effective not when students marched against U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but when they boycotted their campus ROTC chapters. Anti-apartheid campaigns were most effective not when students marched against the U.S. government’s support of racist policies in South Africa, but when they demanded their universities divest. Students have had success within the Black Lives Matter movement when they addressed incidents of police brutality and racism on their own campuses; for example, in 2015, protesters at the University of Missouri and Claremont McKenna College forced their president and dean, respectively, to resign over their mishandling of racist incidents.

Throughout this semester’s edition of The Smart Ass, you will find an array of perspectives on our new era of politics and perhaps an issue or two that you can localize on campus. There are those who remain skeptical about the future, and others who believe we can allow ourselves to be cautiously optimistic. Regardless of which camp you find yourself in, we can all agree that now is not the time for political apathy, and it is certainly not the time to become ambivalent towards progress. This is my last semester as Editor of The Smart Ass and I would like to thank every staff member that has contributed to my wonderful experience at the helm of this magazine. While I feel bittersweet to be handing it off to the next year of writers, editors, and designers, I have full confidence that The Smart Ass will continue pushing the needle of progress at UC Berkeley.

Onwards and upwards, Meher Mann