OPINION & EDITORIAL
Los Angeles Collegian — Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Appropriation Hurts, Get Your Own Hashtag
Drop Stitch
BY MICHELLE LAGEMANN
ILLUSTRATION BY LUIS FERNANDEZ/COLLEGIAN
Say No Moore BY ANDE RICHARDS
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@ANDECOLLEGIAN
n my next life I want to be very, very lucky and live in a world where men and women enjoy coexisting with parity on, and off the tennis court. Unfortunately, the chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and director of its tournament, the BNP Paribas Open, Raymond Moore thinks differently. The final Sunday of the Indian Wells tennis tournament is usually reserved for casual recaps and updates about future plans. However, the conversation took a turn into provocative territory with the following comment: “In my next life, when I come back, I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattail of the men,” Moore said. “They don’t make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.” As a long-time fan of tennis, I remember many stars of the game who drew me in with their talent and attention-grabbing personalities. Icons Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe stand out because they surpassed their roles as athletes and shed light on prejudice. I’ve watched the antics of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, and the supreme rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Everett. Tennis had the up, then down, then up again Andre Agassi saga and the multiple grand slam winning Steffi Graf to marvel at, but otherwise the tennis landscape was lackluster. Then the Williams sisters arrived on the scene. Their arrival brought top-notch ability and charisma to the game. Tennis was back, bigger and brighter than it had been for some time. Now men’s tennis is enjoying the talents of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Federer, to name a few. What makes the sport popular and profitable is the international, cross gender, mix of personalities that play the game. So much of tennis’s popularity is built around the joint events. Yet women don’t get equal time on main courts. They don’t always get equal prize money, nor do they get the marquee billing men receive. Men’s matches are the top billed, final acts in tournaments. Equality in tennis strengthens the sport. It ushers in diversity, thereby increasing the fan base, and invites more
sponsors and increased media coverage. In 2006, the year before Wimbledon offered equal prize money to its players, the women’s champion was paid $72,000 less than the men’s champion. In the world of tennis, women are second to men in all things except one. Excitement over Serena Williams’ Grand Slam bid last year caused tickets for the U.S. Open Women’s Final to sell out before the men’s for the first time in the history of the sport. Furthermore, Indian Wells spent the last 15 years trying to get Williams to return to the desert after an incident years ago. They did this not because they were sorry, but because she is one of the biggest draws in tennis. Moore’s comments drew an array of remarks that reflect the attitudes prevalent in tennis today. Many are clear in their position for equality while other comments represent old-school sexism. “That was completely unacceptable, I’m absolutely livid,” ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe said during a broadcast. After the Indian Wells men’s final the reporter called on Moore to step down. “I think there’ll be a couple of people who probably woke up the next morning and wished they had thought a bit more about what they said before they said it,” said Judy Murray, former Great Britain Fed Cup captain, and mother of British number one Andy Murray, to BBC Radio 5 Live. Tennis’ number one singles champion, Novak Djokovic said women had “fought for what they deserve and they got it,” but claimed prize money should be “fairly distributed” based on “who attracts more attention, spectators and who sells more tickets.” Moore also described players such as Eugenie Bouchard and Garbine Muguruza as “physically attractive and competitively attractive.” hile Djokovic also said the following, “I have tremendous respect for what women in global sport are doing and achieving. Their bodies are much different to men’s bodies. They have to go through a lot of different things that we don’t have to go through. You know, the hormones and different stuff, we don’t need to go into details.” Needless to say, both Moore and Djokovic were, at a minimum, inappropriate, but more importantly they put a lens on old ways of thinking that still permeate our cultural landscape. Clearly, women will not be on their knees thanking men, and men that respect women will stand with them side by side. The United States Tennis Association said player equality is a “bedrock” principle and there was no place for Moore’s “antiquated, sexist or uninformed ideologies.” Just one day after his derogatory remarks about women in the sport of tennis, Raymond Moore resigned.
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Drop stitch is a knitting term. It happens when a stitch falls from the needle and creates a run in the fabric – it’s a mistake. However, sometimes stitches are dropped on purpose to create a new design. Ande Richards is an L.A.-based artist who does not know how to knit, but knows a lot about mistakes and reinvention.
Uber Nightmare Instills Fear BY KALI GOODMAN I am terrified to use Uber because of Jason Brian Dalton’s shooting spree last month in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I take advantage of the app on late nights out, when I have no intention of driving, but I never thought about who was driving me until recently. I am afraid to use the service because Uber is failing to provide thorough background checks on their drivers. After the announcement that Dalton would be charged for six counts of murder and ordered held without bail, the worry remains on whether or not Uber will make any changes to
their security procedures. Uber has been under constant fire in the past for their lack of safety for its passengers. However, the company’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan says that “no background check would have flagged this driver,” as the suspect passed the company’s background check to become a driver and has picked up around 100 fares before the mass shootings. Customers have voiced their concern with background checks happening from a third party, rather than a more logical option such as Live Scan, which runs fingerprints through the FBI. Uber’s unreliable third party company, Checkr can only go as far back as seven years on certain criminal records. It has come forward that drivers have been convicted of charges as serious as second-degree murder, molestation of children, rape, and manslaughter. None of these charges were re-
vealed by Checkr’s searches. Uber has also indicated that it does not intend to introduce a suggested ‘panic button” on its app because customers have the ability to contact 911 directly. Claiming that 911 will respond faster than any Uber technology. Gary Buffo, president of the National Limousine Association says that Dalton’s case still “highlights how the current operating procedures of ride hailing services fail to protect passengers, drivers and the public at large.” Bringing up the question as to how the shooter was able to still pick up fares during the wide time frame of shooting sprees. Unfortunately, Uber does not intend to review its security procedures with the intent to make any changes. The charges listed earlier are not minor, and these are only a few that we know about. Uber is not trustworthy in their hiring process and I don’t feel safe.
#AllLivesMatter irks my soul. I cringe each time I read it or hear it. Uttered as a filter by naive well-wishers and racists alike. Those who think they are being supportive use it as the equivalent of “all men are created equal” therefore all lives matter. If this were true, there would be no reason to point it out. No one is hash-tagging “the sky is blue” because it is a fact and globally accepted. Hence, if all lives mattered it wouldn’t be a “thing.” Alternatively, racists use it as a means of discounting the black plight. For me, #AllLivesMatter is a pacifier to the outcry of #BlackLivesMatter. There is a current outcry for justice. A rumble not heard since the civil rights movement. A roar of millions screaming “we matter!” #BlackLivesMatter! But sadly, they don’t. Black lives do not matter and will not matter, until the movement is met with the kind of support the LGBT community receives. Thousands of heterosexuals stood up and said “love is love.” Although, they didn’t share the same experiences, they were able to stand beside the LGBT community and say “You deserve to be treated as everyone else does.” #BlackLivesMatter needs that same embrace from other nationalities. One that should say, we may not share the same experiences as you, but we are here for you and we support you. Many have said that #BlackLives-
Matter seeks to isolate other nationalities in a black supremacist manner. This is usually met by the overgeneralized #AllLivesMatter. Not only is this not true, but counterproductive to a movement that should not be necessary in the first place. The hashtag is insulting, it’s a band-aid to a gaping wound. All lives should matter. This is obvious, but this statement does nothing to resolve the issue. It sweeps the issue aside. When seeking to raise awareness, one typically seeks a focal point. If a cause is too broad, then the recognition to the main subject is diminished. For instance, when asked your favorite color. A reply of “Red!’ Is a bold statement letting your audience know your passion for said hue. If you were however to add “...and yellow and blue …” The fervor is lost. This is what #AllLivesMatter does to #BlackLivesMatter. It deprives the movement of its power. I hope that one day all lives will matter. I pray African Americans, Africans, Afro-Latinos and other individuals possessing darker pigmented skin will live comfortably in our world. I dream of an end to the injustices of both past and recent years. Contrary to popular belief, the civil rights movement did not end in the 1960s. It continues today, and will continue as long as we have tragedies like Oscar Grant,Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Sandra Bland. To accept #AllLivesMatter is to accept the ideology that slavery and the black experience are things of the past. It is to resign to the notion that we as a people need to “get over it.” Never mind, the fact that we continue to be discriminated against. All lives matters negates the push for equality that black lives seek.
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Editors-in-Chief Sorina Szakacs Tomas Rodriguez Opinion/Editorial Ande Richards Sports Hector Lopez Cheyenne Finch Layout Editor Richard Martinez Graphic Designers Jimmy Martinez Photographers Curtis Sabir Erika Almanza Reporters Jason Piskopus Clinton Cameron Beatrice Anoh Naomi L. Johnson Emmanuella Durogene Rebecca Klinesmith Multimedia Producers Dave Martin Frank Vidrio Advertising Staff Mike Frenes Adviser Rhonda Guess
Why I’ll Never Vote for Donald Trump BY REBECCA KLINESMITH The 2016 presidential election is a joke. When I first heard Donald Trump was running for president, I thought it was funny. I thought, no one in his or her right mind would actually vote for this guy to be our president. As time goes by, I see the media reporting on him daily, and all the people who support him. I start to worry that people are so disappointed in our politicians that they will elect someone into office who will do nothing but bring us down. Our President is supposed to be someone who leads our country, someone who wants to do the best for us. Not someone who wants to divide us. I’ve watched some of Trump’s rallies on YouTube. All he does is mock people and malign Muslims and Mexicans, and disabled people. It’s a hate fest. When the GOP has one of its debates, all he does is insult the other candidates. He never talks about his plan, except that he is going to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants and Mexico will pay for it. This guy filed for bankruptcy four times, has been fined over a million dollars for using illegal Polish work-
ers in his hotels, and created an online university for people interested in selling real estate. He charged people $35,000 a year only to have his students get a certificate, and a picture with a cardboard box of Donald Trump. What is going to happen when he needs to deal with North Korea, or Russia, or anything to do with the Middle East? Is he going to make those country’s leaders mad by insulting them, and starting another world war? He hasn’t held any political office, and with his harsh and direct personality he would end up making people like Kim Jong-un want to nuke us. He talks about his penis size during a presidential debate, and bullies the other candidates when what they should be talking about are the issues and what they are going to do if they are elected president. All they do is call each other names and talk about each other instead of what’s important. I believe this is what Donald Trump wants. Donald Trump loves the drama, and the attention, and I believe he wants the title of president more than he actually wants to be president. What I want is a presidential candidate who is serious, someone who will take care of the American people, and not try to divide us. By the time the election rolls around, and it’s time to vote for president, I hope that Americans will choose the right person for the job and not someone like Trump. I can only hope.
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