Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018
IDS
Vine is dead. LONG LIVE VINE. Read about our fallen friend on page 7.
Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
Citizens debate new armored vehicle By Caroline Anders anders6@umail.iu.edu | @clineands
Michelle speaks in Indianapolis Former first lady discusses representation, speaking up on Tuesday By Sarah Verschoor sverscho@iu.edu | @SarahVerschoor
INDIANAPOLIS — The start is being at the table, the place where the decisions are made. Then, you have to learn to disagree and to insert your opinion. Speak up, former first lady Michelle Obama cautioned, or eventually you will be overlooked. “Have the courage of your convictions and have the confidence in your experience, the confidence that the life you’ve lived, and what you’ve seen has value at the table,” Obama said. Obama spoke Tuesday evening at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to a crowd of more than 12,000. The thousands of people included nearly 300 girls and chaperones from Indianapolis Public Schools who received free tickets from the event’s organizer, the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana. “Hey y’all,” Obama greeted a section of young girls to the side of the stage. “I’m so glad they’re here. Love you guys.” “I was never trying to They responded with be a first lady that I shrieks. Obama, who has been read about somewhere. out of the White House for When you know who just over a year, has made you are, nobody can take few public appearances since that from you.” her exit. She appeared in an interview earlier this month Michelle Obama, former first lady with Ellen DeGeneres on her afternoon talk show. She also presented the 2018 School Counselor of the Year Award at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts the week before her Indianapolis talk. On Monday, her and former President Barack Obama’s portraits were unveiled at the National Por-
trait Gallery. The former first lady, an advocate for women and families, is known for initiating policies to help children while in office. Her Let's Move! campaign aimed to reduce childhood obesity. The Reach Higher and Let Girls Learn movements championed greater access to education, both for U.S. students and young girls globally. Obama said she is working on a memoir. Part of her writing process she said includes her reflecting on how her upbringing influences the way she acts today. She grew up on the south side of Chicago in a working class family. While her parents couldn’t give her many material things, they were present in her life. “There was so much support just in the small things, listening, valuing our voices, letting us talk and complain and argue and ask questions and push,” Obama said. She said she shared stories from her childhood because she wants young people to know that anyone who’s been successful, especially women of color, grow up with doubts. Sometimes those are other's perceptions or subconscious messages woven into society. It’s really a drumbeat of doubt, she said. “You grow up knowing that there are people that just decide not to like you because you’re brown,” Obama said. “So you always wonder, what are they thinking about me? I’m just a kid walking around, but that person is afraid of me, and they don’t even know me.” You have to practice ignoring it, Obama said. You have to practice pushing through it and achieving be-
WOMEN’S TENNIS
COURTESY PHOTO
Michelle Obama, the former first lady, talked about the representation of women and minorities, fashion and more Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
yond people’s expectations. She entered her adulthood with a sense of self, she said. Obama advised young people to pick a career where they can be themselves. “I was never trying to be a first lady that I read about somewhere,” she said. “When you know who you are, nobody can take that from you.” Junior Naomi Byrdo came from IU to hear Obama’s speech. Byrdo said she liked Obama’s emphasis on being yourself and being comfortable with yourself. “It was absolutely inspirational,” she said. In college, Byrdo has taken time to find herself by studying abroad in places like London and France. Her admiration for Obama also includes the initiatives she started in office. Brydo is a human development major with a minor in education policy, so Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign and her push for healthier eating in schools are things Brydo is also passionate about. “I’m really interested in starting from the beginning,” she said. Byrdo was also at the talk with two other friends from IU, including senior Maya Caine. She said before Obama, there were no role models like her. Michelle Obama was in office while Caine was in high school and for part of college. “If she can do it, I can, too,” she said.
New record label 1212 Records showcases Bloomington music By Robert Mack rsmack@umail.iu.edu
SAM HOUSE | IDS
Junior Madison Appel swings through a backhand during her 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 singles win over the University of Tennessee. Appel and the Hoosiers go on the road for the first time this season to take on Notre Dame.
IU hopes to avenge last year’s loss to Notre Dame this weekend By Lauralys Shallow lshallow@umail.iu.edu | @ShallowLauralys
IU gets its first road test this weekend and Notre Dame gets its first gut check. IU hasn’t played on the road this season, and Notre Dame hasn’t played a doubleheader yet. The Hoosiers, 8-1, have played
four doubleheaders, one each weekend since the dual season started, and they have won all of them. IU’s sole loss of the season came last Sunday against Tennessee 4-3. Notre Dame, 2-2, will have its SEE TENNIS, PAGE 6
Collin Thomas and Brian Berger's first step toward becoming music producers was turning their small college home, 1212 East Atwater Avenue, into a music venue called Doce Doce. That very address is now the name of their new record label — 1212 Records. Run by three recent IU graduates, 1212 Records is dedicated to exposing listeners to underrepresented music. Berger and Thomas met as audio engineering students at the Jacobs School of Music, and their partner Annie Skertic was an arts management major. When Berger began performing in Bloomington, he asked Thomas to be a drummer. They connected with numerous local bands and were highly involved with WIUX, IU’s student-run radio station. Thomas served as an on-air host, chief engineer, programming director, production direc-
tor and as a member of the station's board of directors, according to his website. Thomas said they began to fall in love with the music in Bloomington, and Berger said they were inspired to expose more people to what local music groups had to offer. When Thomas, Berger and Skertic graduated from IU in spring 2017, their careers took them on different tracks. Berger moved to California where he took a job in a post-production film facility in Beverly Hills, Thomas as for a broadcast consultation firm in Chicago, and Skertic works at a public relations firm in New York. In September, Skertic suggested she and Berger start their own label. Soon, Thomas was aboard. Berger said he and Thomas run the music side while Annie manages the press relations side of the business. SEE 1212, PAGE 6
The City of Bloomington has signed the contracts for a controversial purchase: a new $225,000 armored vehicle for the Bloomington Police Department. The announcement came from BPD Police Chief Mike Diekhoff last week during a news conference and has raised concerns of police militarization from some members of the community. BPD sent out a press release Monday and organized a public discussion of the Critical Incident Response Team, or CIRT, vehicle Tuesday trying to address some of these worries. Every chair in the BPD Headquarters training room was full Tuesday, and many more people stood in its entrance. The crowd was a mix of media, government representatives and community members. As the cameras focused on Diekhoff, the first question came: has this vehicle already been purchased? The answer: yes. It will be delivered in 2018. The deal will not be renegotiated. “I’m just really disappointed that this wasn’t more of a community process,” Bloomington resident Vauhxx Booker, 34, said. The primary focus of the questions were concerns about what many called the militarization of police. One woman suggested the vehicle be painted pink to be less intimidating. Monroe County Commissioner Amanda Barge agreed. “It’s Bloomington,” she said. “Let’s make it weird. Let’s make it funky.” Diekhoff said the department is aware of the perception that it is militarizing, and told the gathered crowd that isn’t what the vehicle is for. “This is a piece of equipment,” he said. “It’s not our mentality.” He said BPD could have bought a retired military vehicle for much less, but chose to buy this model because it is less militaristic. The vehicle will not be used in standard protest situations. It will only be used in critical situations, he said. There were 17 incidents CIRT responded to in 2017, Diekhoff said. There were 15 in 2016. BPD had an armored car for over ten years until it was retired in 2012, and has since relied on those of other police departments. The previous vehicle, a retired bank truck, responded to situations outside of Bloomington in Greene and Owen County, and according to the press release the new one would be an asset to the region. Diekhoff said the old vehicle hasn’t been replaced until now because the city couldn’t afford it. The city’s public safety local income tax will pay for the new vehicle. The vehicle is an armored Lenco BearCat which is based on a Ford F-550 truck and will be used for highrisk crises, such as armed suspects, and should last about 20 years. It will be custom-made and designed to stop high-powered rifle rounds. Diekhoff said the department does not currently own any vehicles which can do that. This kind of vehicle can make situations like these less dangerous, according to the press release, which cited six specific crimes in Bloomington where the lack of a CIRT vehicle reportedly added to the “danger level.” These include a standoff with an armed, suicidal man, a confrontation with an armed suspect, a group of home-invasion robbery suspects who barricaded themselves in an attic and a hostage situation ending with police using lethal force. In a 2000 shooting, it took an armored vehicle from Indianapolis 90 minutes to arrive. “It was clear that BPD had no effective way to deal with the situation or provide immediate aid to the victim who ultimately died,” the release said. Capt. Steve Kellams said it is unclear whether they could have saved the woman who died if they could have entered the home immediately with the help of an armored vehicle.