2020-06-11

Thursday, June 11, 2020

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

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Twitter page posts about sexual assault

NEWS

International Students Students losing jobs causes visa concerns.

Account shares anonymous messages, receives mixed reactions from students

>> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION

Frontline workers

JASMIN LEE & VARSHA VEDAPUDI

Impact of high stress and personal turmoil on healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Summer Managing News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter

>> SEE PAGE 4

‘When one of us hurts, we all hurt’: Tens of thousands protest racism

Paulina Rajski/Daily

ARTS

Sport as Art Sports broadcasters employ all sorts of creative techniques to enliven their coverage. >> SEE PAGE 6

MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Mass incarceration and Black American health

Analysis of U.S. prisons & detriments to the Black community. >> SEE PAGE 8

SPORTS

Champions

An oral history of the 2005 Michigan softball team’s title-winning season. >> SEE PAGE 10

INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 117 © 2020 The Michigan Daily

NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS..........................6 MiC......................................... 8 SPORTS................................ 10

CLAIRE HAO & CALDER LEWIS

Daily News Editor and Summer News Editor

Last weekend, The Michigan Daily reporters went to 11 different protests, driving 269 miles and speaking to almost 100 people in 10 cities about why they came out. Some said it was their first time protesting. Many more said they were used to protests in big cities, but they never expected protests of this magnitude — or even protests in general — in their suburban hometowns. When asked if not before, why now, almost everyone had the same answer: People are tired, and they want change.

This article is the first installment of a four-part series on police brutality protests across Metro Detroit over the weekend of June 6 and 7. Check back at michigandaily.com this week for parts two, three and four.

It was a sight many said they thought they’d never see.

Ulysses Wright and Charlie Evans were working at the Hungry Howie’s in Ferndale on Saturday afternoon when thousands started flooding past their

storefront window, marching in protest of police brutality.

The two went outside to take in the sight, which left them speechless and nearly moved Wright to tears. Wright said the crowd meant so much to him because he is a Black man in America, but also because he has never seen people come together like this.

“It makes me want to cry, like you don’t really care about anything else in the world,” Wright said. “I think the world kind of stopped for me, and I’ve never had that feeling. There was no existence except taking it all in. It’s hard to put it in words, because that’s just cheapening it. It was like literally if God himself came to show us he was God, that was it.”

Over the weekend, tens of thousands wore masks to march in suburbs throughout Metro Detroit against police brutality, joining millions across the country and around the world in wave after wave of protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

Throughout the latter half of the 1900s, the growth of the suburbs often came at Detroit’s expense, as capital and white residents moved out of the city in droves while Black residents

were prevented from following.

To this day, Detroit is unique among other metropolitan hubs across the country in that much of the wealth is concentrated in its outlying suburbs rather than in the city itself.

The majority of those arrested in the first several days of Detroit’s protests lived in the suburbs. Through the week, protests began spreading to Detroit’s suburbs, many of which are predominantly white.

According to Sterling Heights resident Megan Williams, her ancestors had been slaves and her mother had walked with Martin Luther King Jr. She marched in her very first protest in Ferndale on Saturday afternoon.

“We don’t want to repeat cycles,” Williams said. “I refuse to birth a child into a world where they have to do any more than us.”

Below are some of the protesters from Saturday on their experiences with racism and what this current moment means to them. You can read more from protesters on Saturday in Part Two of this series coming soon.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Content Warning: Sexual assault, sexual abuse.

A Twitter account created Wednesday called “Assaulters at UMich” posted a series of tweets calling out alleged sexual assaulters on the University of Michigan campus, including a professor. The account asked for direct messages from students with claims of sexual assault and posted these submissions to their page with the name and picture of the alleged assaulter along with any fraternity or athletic team affiliation.

The Daily reached out to the creator of the account via direct message, whose identity cannot be verified and asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns. The creator told The Daily via Twitter direct messages that they wanted to help survivors because the University has failed to protect survivors from their abusers.

“At first I wasn’t sure if people would send in their stories, but once individuals started sharing their stories I was shocked at the sheer amount of individuals who have gone through these (traumas),” they said. “It just shows how prevalent sexual assaults (are) and that UMich needs to do a better job taking action.”

The creator said though they are not able to verify the submissions of alleged abuse that they are receiving, they are vigilant about deleting posts that are proven to be untrue.

Read more at michigandaily.com

2 NEWS

Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘U’ hosts discussion on societal change Community reflects virtually on protests, law enforcement and racism NAVYA GUPTA

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan hosted a virtual town hall titled “Constructive Conversations for Societal Change” on Friday, in solidarity with the protests that have erupted across the nation against racism and police brutality. The town hall was moderated by Robert M. Sellers, vice provost of equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, and focused on providing a platform for the University of Michigan community to come together.

“Our conversation today marks our collective recommitment as individuals and as a university to ending systemic racism in our society and within our institution,” Sellers said. “In doing so, we affirm that Black lives matter. We recognize that this conversation is not the solution, nor can it be our response, our only response, to the senseless killing of George Floyd and far too many other African Americans. It’s only a necessary start to acknowledging our collective pain and outrage.”

LSA senior Darlena York shared her experiences with racism on campus, citing a survey from a political science class she took and the effect of the survey on students’ mental health.

“It makes students not want to participate in class, not want to go to class, because it’s very detrimental to our mental health, detrimental to how we want to perform in class and it’s detrimental to our overall well-being as students,” York said. “A lot of my experiences aren’t that positive when reflecting on racial inequality on campus. It’s very exhausting as a student leader sometimes, having to constantly combat those things.”

Rackham student Naomi Mae Wilson, who has been a community organizer for the past 10 years, spoke about her involvement in fighting systemic racism at the University of California at Berkeley, New York University and in her communities at the University

of Michigan. She emphasized that fighting for change can be exhausting and traumatic.

“Having been in the work for 10 years, it’s not really, really long but it’s a lot for me. My experience and my feelings are both exhaustion and also a deep, deep fire in my spirit to fight for justice and to make sure that we have change,” Wilson said.

“Young people are out there and they are dedicating their childhoods for justice which in some ways, in a lot of ways, is beautiful and in a lot of ways is incredibly sad that we lift up these young folks who are out there, to march and demand for their lives to matter.”

Riana Anderson, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health, spoke about the link between systemic racism and the disparate impact of COVID-19 on the Black community and the effects of the protests on mental and physical health, making people more susceptible to the dangers of COVID-19.

“My work shows how racial acts exact a toll on psychological outcomes like anxiety, depression and trauma, even if it’s not personally happening to us, as is the case with so many of the virtual experiences we viewed online,” Anderson said.

“Our bodies also react through physiological processes, like increased blood pressure, quickened heart rate and heightened production of stress hormones, eroding our physical health and wreaking havoc on our normal stress responses including regulated breathing, which of course ties back to COVID.” Eddie L. Washington Jr., the executive director of the Division of Public Safety and Security, shared his emotional reaction to the video of George Floyd’s murder.

“When I saw the video, the first thing I thought about was just the loss of life. And I think about the loss of life and the impacts that that has directly on (Floyd’s) family, on the community, on Blacks specifically,” Washington Jr. said. “It causes a spark of images that I think about for most of my life, images from the 60s and the 70s. I think about the loss of trust for some, but the increase of distrust for others.”

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Int’l students face uncertain future Academic and career dilemmas emerge as COVID-19 rages on

MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA Daily Staff Reporter

The challenges that international students face in attending American universities are plentiful, ranging from intense culture shock to rising tuition fees. Add the COVID-19 pandemic, which comes with strict travel restrictions, troublesome flights home and visa issues, and those challenges double.

The University’s International Center Director Judith Pennywell told the Daily that over the past few months, the center has received numerous requests for help regarding the pandemic and uncertainty for the fall semester.

“Students are wondering about the availability of remote learning opportunities for fall and whether there are visa or immigration related implications,” Pennywell said.

“Some students have expressed concerns about internship offers being revoked in light of COVID-19.”

Second-year Information student Chengyue Qiu, an international student from China and the secretary for Graduate Rackham International (GRIN), a studentrun organization at the University meant to support graduate students on campus, mentioned how since the pandemic hit, her peers have faced both academic and career obstacles.

“I have a lot of friends who had their internships canceled because

of COVID,” Qiu said. “That’s a really common thing.”

Engineering alum Mohammed Majid had his offer as an upcoming software engineer at Uber rescinded due to the pandemic. Majid, an international student from India, shared his story on a LinkedIn post that spread widely throughout the University community.

“Hi Everyone!” the post begins.

“Yesterday, I received a phone call from my recruiter: my new grad SWE offer from Uber was rescinded due to COVID-19, with 90 days left to find employment or risk deportation.”

Upon graduation, international students who do not want to return home usually apply for Optional Practice Training, which allows students to stay in the U.S. for a maximum of 12 months for employment-related training in their field of study. But not all companies choose to sponsor international students and some organizations related to defense or national security seldom hire or interview non-U.S. citizens. Students who are granted OPT are only allotted 90 days of unemployment.

In an interview with The Daily, Majid spoke about the grueling fall job recruitment process and how difficult it was to do it all over again last month. Back in September, he said he applied to as many as 100 jobs and by November had a couple of offers — three months of applications, phone calls and interviews.

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Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS 3

Housing updates generate concerns ‘Hold Harmless’ clause added to CLAM contract is ‘disturbing’ to students JULIANNA MORANO Daily Staff Reporter

Silent Bike Ride fills A 2 streets with protesters

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily

Over 700 participants support the Black Lives Matter movement JASMIN LEE

Summer Managing News Editor

Over 700 people went to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market on their bikes to join the Silent Bike Ride for Black Lives Matter Friday afternoon. Adults, elderly and children of all races were present while wearing masks to the protest hosted by Survivors Speak, an interfaith council for peace and justice, and Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw, among other local organizations.

Not everyone had bikes: Some people wore roller skates or used skateboards to participate. Many signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement were attached to bikes, some of which wrote “Fight racism,” “I’ll teach my kids. You train your cops,” or simply “Black Lives Matter.” Loud music blasted through the farmers market before the protest started.

Sha’Teina Grady El was recently victim to police brutality in Ypsilanti when a police officer punched her in the face and arrested her while her husband was tased.

Grady El spent four days in jail before she was released. Since the incident, state Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, drafted a bill that

requires more training for police in Michigan. The family is also currently seeking assault charges against the deputy who punched her.

Grady El spoke to the crowd about her appreciation of peaceful protests occurring in Michigan and around the nation to contest police brutality. She said in order for those who commit police brutality to be held accountable, people need to be aware of everything the city is doing to support the police department.

“We have to let these legislators know that enough is enough,” Grady El said. “We’re holding them accountable. They need to do what we want them to do because we put them in office. So we need to make sure that we keep them accountable, but everything that they pass underneath our noses. (A) lot of times things (are) passing –– we don’t know –– but we have to stay involved.”

William Amadeo, Grady El’s lawyer, shared his disappointment in the sheriff’s response to the incident. Amadeo said defending the officer is a sign of weakness because the police officer is not a victim — Grady El is.

“Jerry Clayton, we watched in horror when you gave your press conference on Friday,” Amadeo said. “What you did a week ago was you defended that monster for 45 minutes. I understand you have

a job to do. I understand there’s pressures but being a man is not an easy task and you are not doing the right thing by Sha’Teina and Dan and their family. Let me be real clear to you, Sherriff Clayton, I know you’re watching this. You are not the victim. They are. At some point, lip service gets old. We need action.”

Trovious Starr, co-counsel to Sha’Teina Grady El’s lawyer Amadeo, shared his experience learning about police brutality as a child.

He expressed his frustration for having to pass on that lesson to his children, which is something he wishes he did not have to teach.

“I thought about the time when I was in middle school, seventh grade,” Starr said. “At the Bible study in my grandma’s house and the talking, not to talk about the birds and bees, but the talk. This kind of talk is like ‘Hey, this is what you do if you’re ever in a situation where law enforcement has you detained’ … It is unfortunate because it’s 2020 and I still have to have that talk with my kids.”

Desiraé Simmons, co-director of Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, shared with the crowd about a conversation with her daughter, emphasizing the presence that police brutality has on young children.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Rackham student Aya M. WallerBey was sitting in her room in Munger Graduate Residences when she heard someone else moving around in her suite. She got up to find a maintenance man, who told her that work would be done on two rooms inside her suite. Two new residents were expected to move in in a few weeks.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, there’s two rooms here we’re going to work on today and also tomorrow,’” WallerBey said. “‘We might be getting two new people here on June 1.’”

Waller-Bey said this was the first she was hearing of it, and thought it was odd in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was actually the maintenance guy who told me I should expect to see two new people on June 1,” Waller-Bey said. “Not even, you know, the building (administration).”

The following week, on May 26, Waller-Bey received an email from University Housing, confirming that new suitemates would be arriving soon. The email also detailed the updated move-in procedures for incoming Munger residents, specifying that students would have to make appointments for arrival and check-in. Additionally, the email specified only one person would be allowed to help residents move in and required all personnel involved with move-in to wear masks and face protections.

University Housing later expanded to include additional protocols regarding health screenings for incoming residents and sanitation of assistive move-in bins and other “common touchpoints” in another email to residents on May 28. But Waller-Bey’s concerns started a few weeks before any communication regarding incoming suitemates, when, on May 12, University Housing sent her an updated contract.

A “Hold Harmless” clause was updated in the Community Living

at Michigan contract with specific language regarding COVID-19.

“You agree to release the University, its agents, and employees from any and all damages, liability, claims, expenses, or loss (collectively, “Claims”) resulting from or arising out of your use of space within University Housing, including those related to the potential exposure to contagious viruses like the coronavirus,” the clause reads.

Waller-Bey called the clause “disturbing” and described how this clause seems to clash with University Housing’s commitments to their residents.

“I’m no lawyer, but it just doesn’t make sense to … on one hand talk about equity and safety and promoting … a safe environment for your students, and then on the other hand, say, ‘Nevertheless, if you get sick, we are not liable or responsible,’” Waller-Bey said.

“And again, meanwhile, you are exposing residences, to new people in the places where they live.”

Residents were asked to return the contract within a week, but Waller-Bey has yet to do so, stating that she did not feel like she had enough information to make an informed decision.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization has also taken issue with updated provisions in the contract.

GEO president Sumeet Patwardhan, a Rackham student pursuing a doctorate in philosophy, discussed GEO’s response to the contract updates in an interview with The Daily.

“So GEO, as you know, is a labor union for graduate employees on campus, but our mission is to protect all graduate students on campus,” Patwardhan said. “The reason this (updated contract) relates to …

GEO’s purpose in its organizing as a whole is because these concerns of graduate housing directly affect our members who reside in housing, or who might reside in housing in the future.”

Read more at michigandaily.com

4 OPINION

Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ELIZABETH COOK | OP-ED

The mental health of frontline workers

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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.

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EASHETA SHAH | COLUMNIST

W

Recognize your ‘Karen’

e all know Karen. She is the minority of 30 to 40-year-old white women whose voice is loud despite how misguided and misinformed she is.

She exudes entitlement and a superior “Can I speak to the manager?” attitude.

She is unafraid to use her privilege as a weapon. In today’s context, she is audibly doubtful of any new COVID-19 research and public-health protocols, especially when her long-overdue salon appointment is at stake. And according to Heather Suzanne Woods, a meme researcher and professor at Kansas State University, Karen “demands the world exist according to her standards with little regard for others, and she is willing to risk or demean others to achieve her ends.” This definition continues to evolve.

The controversial stereotype of a woman named Karen has roots in African American Vernacular English as well as a tirading subreddit, and it has taken over internet culture in the form of a meme. Karen’s notorious behavior is best depicted in viral TikTok videos, acting as a social commentary towards absurd and indecent behavior rooted in white supremacy.

However, the use of this meme was quick to receive criticism on accounts of sexism, racism, ageism and classism. While writer Julie Blindel went so far as to call the meme a “slur” that is “woman hating” in a tweet, others even likened it to “the n-word for white women.” In the name of reverse racism and other baseless accusations, the meme continues to be attacked.

And once again, the perfectly legitimate message this politicized joke was

meant to express was underwhelmed by another fruitless debate.

The meme is simple: Karen-like behavior is problematic. It is problematic because it is a direct result of white supremacist sentiments that have long been deeply embedded within the current system. It is problematic because when authority gets involved, Karen is initially never at fault and is never doubted. And it is problematic because Karen knows this when she picks up the phone to dial 911 at the slightest inconvenience. In fact, just this past Memorial day, a Twitter video went viral revealing a similar incident in Central Park regarding a white woman calling the police on an African-American man who simply asked her to put a leash on her dog, telling them he was threatening her life. These kinds of false accusations to the police against Black people are extremely dangerous and have dire consequences as history has revealed time and time again, like in the case of Emmett Till. But Karen won’t think twice before racial profiling.

Defending any similar behavior is problematic — especially on the account of reverse racism. This fictional term assumes that racism exists on a level playing field and that there exists a level of power and authority the Karen meme has to affect the white person’s privileges. But there is no systemic relationship with power here and, if anything, excessive use of the joke contributes to racial prejudice among white women, leaving all their privileges intact. To liken Karen to the “n-word for white women” is completely inappropriate, especially when

no word carries the same weight of violent, systemic racism. To use sexism as a victimizing justification for taking advantage of someone’s historical oppression is nothing short of white feminism, using feminism so long as it’s comfortable and self-rewarding and continues to further a white agenda.

As commissioning editor Kuba ShandBaptiste suggests in her column for Independent, “getting to the Karen equals discrimination conclusion requires an enormous leap: Entirely ignoring the racist behaviours the nickname originally intended to personify.”

The Karen debate is not one worth having. Her behavior is explicit and wrong, and it is justifiably called out by internet culture. But it’s not the only type of conduct that is unacceptable. It’s easy to point out other people’s wrongs and to criticize their absurd behavior, especially when it’s trending. Subtle racial profiling and implicit prejudice may be quieter, but it is just as influential. Complicit silence is just as loud. As protests for the countless Black lives unlawfully lost to systemic racism and police violence continue to take over the streets across the country, claiming you are not racist is no longer sufficient.

Our role as machines against injustice continues to evolve. And it’s more than likely that there exists a sliver of Karen in all of us that we must constantly keep in check. We must recognize our own entitled tendencies towards any race, class and gender.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Easheta Shah can be reached at shaheash@umich.edu.

T

here is a massive mental health crisis brewing as COVID-19 sweeps across our communities. While many of us are trying to follow ever-changing protocols at home, thousands of frontline workers are perpetually immersed in the pandemic, unable to escape the constant threat of exposure. The number of cases and deaths have overwhelmed our current healthcare infrastructure — but the depth of this unpreparedness goes far beyond not having enough masks.

Healthcare workers must deal with a high daily influx of COVID-19 cases coming into hospitals with composure while patients and families are suffering. Their workload has skyrocketed, alongside a constant uncertainty of ever-changing protocols. Burnout is typical in the medical field even when there isn’t a crisis at hand, and with the added stress COVID-19 and government failures put on frontline medical workers, the emotional toll is going to be unprecedented. Since the sharp increase of cases in the United States in mid-March, these workers have had no time to process the emotional weight of the crisis, and have no time to seek psychiatric support.

Facing continuous, inescapable stress both in the workplace and interpersonally is having a devastating impact on healthcare workers. There are three critical psychological impacts: acute stress response, moral injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress reactions range from physical symptoms like headaches to behavioral changes like drug and alcohol abuse.

If these reactions are not recognized and confronted, feelings of guilt and shame can accumulate below the surface. Moral injury occurs when there is a betrayal of what is considered right — during this pandemic, healthcare workers have to consistently go against their own beliefs to uphold hospital protocol. Healthcare workers cannot touch, comfort or support their patients in ways they used to, and they must act as the liaison between families and patients that are separated at the door.

While no family was allowed to enter the room of a dying 75-year-old COVID-19 patient, one nurse remained by his side. She held his hand and moistened his lips to help comfort him. Ultimately, “she held an iPad close to him, so he could see the face and hear the voice of a grief-stricken relative Skyping from the hospital corridor.” After he passed away, she wept in the secluded hallway. Coping with a moral injury takes time that frontline workers do not have. Finally, the unavoidable stress and moral injury they experience can lead to PTSD, a mental health disorder with symptoms similar to a traumatic brain injury, that severely alters how

someone experiences stress.

When someone experiences trauma and does not have the social or psychological support needed to process and manage the weight of its emotional impact, they can develop coping mechanisms to help relieve temporary frustration. However, the trauma can ultimately rewire the brain, leaving the nervous system on constant high alert for the next stressor. The residual effects of suppressing the impact of trauma does not aid healing, but rather creates a cacophony of physical and psychological symptoms that can be debilitating. PTSD is a mental health disorder that alters the function of the amygdala, which regulates emotions and stress responses. The hippocampus, critical for verbal declarative memory, is also highly sensitive to trauma. Additionally, PTSD can permanently alter the medial prefrontal cortex, which helps regulate emotions and behavior.

It is critical that we take the time to educate ourselves about PTSD, anxiety disorders and the impact of trauma on one’s well being while the rapidly churning news cycle buries the threat of the mental health crisis. Thanking the medical frontline heroes for their tireless work is a good first step, but we must effectively support these workers by actively listening to their struggles and addressing the structural failures of psychiatric care.

In order to appropriately address the crisis at hand, we must provide ongoing and wide-scope care. According to Dr. Jessica Gold, an assistant professor psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, that includes “preventive measures (stress reduction, mindfulness, and educational materials), inthe-moment measures (hotlines, crisis support), and treatment (telepsychiatry for therapy, and medication if needed).”

As a community, we must collectively work to destigmatize mental illness and seeking treatment and choose to be supportive rather than dismissive.

We need to check in and be prepared to actively listen to the struggles and traumas these workers are willing to share, even when it is painful. Keeping a strong support system is difficult during this time of social distancing, but it is critical for the successful recovery of frontline medical workers.

In the United States, mental illness is slowly becoming less stigmatized. However, the progress toward acknowledging and confronting mental illness is not urgent enough.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Elizabeth Cook is an Opinion Senior Editor and junior in the College of Literature, Science & the Arts and can be reached at elizcook@umich.edu.

Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TUHIN CHAKRABORTY | COLUMNIST

Identifying and eliminating implicit bias

F

ollowing George Floyd’s killing late last month, the news that former police officer Derek Chauvin had been arrested and recently charged with second-degree murder was no doubt a positive development. Many prominent national figures, including former presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have seen it as a sign of progress and a “first step towards justice.” Even though many, including Mr. Floyd’s family, believe the charges to be too minor and instead favor firstdegree murder charges for the accused, this is a major improvement from previous cases of police brutality. For example, a grand jury refused to even indict former police officer Darren Wilson for murder in the infamous 2014 shooting of Michael Brown.

However, even if Chauvin is convicted of all counts and imprisoned for as long as possible, which is currently 40 years, there is no further indication that the senseless police violence that claimed the lives of not only Mr. Brown and Mr. Floyd, but many others, will end. In 2017 alone, the police killed 19 unarmed Black men. In 2015, they killed 36 human beings. Delivering justice alone is not enough. Protesting and looting in the streets alone is not enough. For there to be real change, America’s justice system must enact institutional reforms, specifically reforms on how police departments train officers on how to treat Black Americans.

In 2015, after Freddie Gray died of fatal spinal cord injuries that the media attributed to a ‘rough ride’ in a police van, the comedy talk show The Daily Show with Trevor Noah released a segment entitled “Are All Cops Racist?” where correspondents Jordan Klepper and Roy Wood Jr. interviewed multiple law enforcement officials and scholars to inquire about the source of incessant police violence against Black Ameri-

cans. One person they spoke to, Dr. Phillip Goff, University of California at Los Angeles Associate Professor and criminal justice reform expert, stood out in his assessment of the sources of police brutality by attributing the violence to “implicit biases” held by police officers. These implicit biases cause the inability for police officers to distinguish between Black Americans as victims, perpetrators or bystanders at a potential crime scene and the ubiquitous harmful stereotypes suggesting that Black people are more likely to engage in violence or crime. In other words, police officers are aware of the same stereotypes that, according to Dr. Goff, “almost all people” have, and may know that they are incorrect and morally wrong. However, being active in high-stress settings exacerbates these biases to the point where they become an automatic, and often deadly, assumption of aggression that overrides better judgment.

Dr. Goff is not the only scholar to make this argument. An earlier study at the University of Colorado in 2002, where participating undergraduate students had to identify the object white and Black people were holding in their hands and then decide whether or not to shoot, backed Dr. Goff’s statements. University of Colorado researchers found that participants shot armed Black people quicker and took longer intervals of time to decide not to shoot unarmed Black subjects. Subsequent studies verified these results and suggested that “bias crept in when officers were subject to mental stress.” Even studies dating back to as early as 2001 found that both “police officers and civilians are consistently more likely to associate black faces with criminality.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Tuhin Chakraborty can be reached at tchakra@umich.edu

CASEY RHEAULT | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT CRHEAULT@UMICH.EDU

OP OPIINION 5

RAY AJEMIAN | COLUMNIST

I

t seems that every time we see another display of police brutality, people argue about what the appropriate response to unprovoked killing should be. One man is killed, and a hundred people who never met him are quick to tell you that an eye for an eye makes the world go blind, but it’s easy to say that when you’re not the blind one to begin with. Riots are easy to write off as ill-meaning chaos if you don’t understand how or why they happen, and in a country built by riots, that should not be the case.

Many have made up their minds about the “why” — anger and poor morals. This reductive view of the Minneapolis riots isn’t a new explanation, but it’s widespread to the point that even the mayor, Jacob Frey, claims the protest is no longer about protesting, but violence. Instead, critics focus their arguments on “why not” to riot, citing three major reasons I’ve seen other than simple moral outrage: the destruction of a community, increase in crime and a lack of relevance to the supposed subject of protest. Here’s why they don’t make much sense.

The “destroying your own community” argument is probably the most common in the discussion about Minneapolis. Fortunately for the rioters, a community is not a series of buildings.

It is a population of people. This report showcases the economic impact of the 1960s race riots showing a decline in Black-owned property values. This loss in property value doesn’t account for the leaps made in civil rights during this decade that made life more liveable for said property owners.

And, if we are to consider economic destruction, what are we to make of the white flight from cities to suburbs that helped create the climate for those riots? Certainly, the white families who took commerce out of cities en masse and left them destitute played a role in harming their former communities.

The truth is that Minneapolis rioters have no intention to destroy their own community. The buildings being looted are in the vein of AutoZone and Target, massive chains that aren’t specific to the city at all, while small local businesses remain intact — while they may have suffered some residual damage — were not directly targeted. And, as it turns out, that particular Target has a long history with the Minneapolis police, the very subject of the riot.

Another reason this point falls apart is that many rioters aren’t part of the community. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claims 80 percent of the rioters aren’t from the area, though there isn’t any way to verify the steep statistic; with protests happening all over

Why we riot

the country right now, including here in Ann Arbor, it seems unlikely that people would need to travel far to find one. More likely is the presence of agent provocateurs, people who try to provoke others to commit a crime so that they can be punished. Police are known to go undercover at protests and escalate things — at the 2008 Democratic National Convention protest, undercover detectives staged an altercation with the police commander which resulted in the liberal use of pepper spray by a cop who wasn’t in the loop and who thought the commander was being attacked. A similar staged arrest led to a fight between bystanders and police in riot gear at the 2004 Republican National Convention protest. Sure enough, police have repeatedly incited unprovoked violence at the recent protests, even against who they know to be journalists rather than protesters.

Next, riots do not lead to more crime. Long-term changes in crime rates are more easily tied to changes in police behavior, and those trends aren’t in favor of the police. For example, Baltimore police noticed fewer crimes after one of their officers killed Freddie Gray and the number of shootings spiked drastically within the area. This could mean that, as the article puts it, Baltimore police “stopped noticing” crime after the murder by one of their own, or it could mean that their misconduct caused the increase in violent crime; neither option is flattering. After a string of events starting with the death of Eric Garner, the New York Police Department staged a strike, and rather than seeing more crime, they saw less.

The authors of the report pointed not to deterrence by police violence or a drop in how many crimes were reported, but that “aggressively enforcing minor legal statutes incites more severe criminal acts.” In other words, an overbearing police department created the climate for violent crime — without them, there were fewer instances of all but the most severe offenses.

The final condemnation of riots is that they are irrelevant to protests because they’re either only about opportunistic crime or they don’t successfully prompt change. As the National Review author I cited puts it, “People don’t commit arson to make a political statement. What does burning an AutoZone even communicate if it could be translated into politics?”

However, there is no form of protest more profound under a capitalist economy than the redistribution of goods, especially when unemployment rates are reaching close to 20 percent alongside billionaires’ profits. Legitimate protesters use looted supplies to sup-

port the cause and their communities, like the Minneapolis protesters taking milk to help those who had been tear-gassed (the subsequent theft of expensive goods was carried out by people unrelated to the movement).

On top of this, peaceful protestors are also among those cleaning up after demonstrations in their community.

Meanwhile, police officers have been seen destroying the property of others to impede protestors. The most pressing issue today is how capitalism interacts with and often jeopardizes human rights — of the dying poor in a nation with billionaires, of sweatshops overseas, of the pollution produced by mass production of goods. I can think of nothing more emblematic of the injustice at hand than juxtaposing those outraged by a burning AutoZone with those outraged by the murder of their neighbors.

As for success, there is no universal outcome, but as a queer American, I can promise you that riots against police were the single most effective tool for LGBTQ+ people in this country. If people hadn’t thrown bricks at cops at Stonewall the movement would never have taken off; San Francisco drag queens who destroyed police cars and broke windows in 1966 were finally granted social services and dignity. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington got laws passed peacefully, but the majority of Americans disapproved of him despite his nonviolence, even if we like to believe he was successful because he “won hearts by conveying respectability,” as one civil rights activist wrote. King was assassinated regardless of his peaceful tactics, just like Black men are shot whether they’re unarmed, handcuffed or running away. The clear message is that protest of any kind will be met with violence and death; to derogate protesters for breaking windows borders on cruelty.

We in Michigan should be sympathetic. The 1967 Detroit Riots were some of the biggest in American history, and yet we forget. White protesters storm our capitol with guns to scream in the face of police — in a time where distance can save lives — and leave untouched so the same stay-at-home order protesters can call the unarmed people of Minneapolis “violent and unlawful” a month later. How would you feel if it was your brother being arrested on live television for doing his job, or your father choking under someone’s knee? Would you sign a petition, or would you riot?

Ray Ajemian can be reached at rajemian@umich.edu

6 ARTS

Thursday, June 11 , 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SUMMER SERIES

BOOK REVIEW

‘Girl, Serpent, Thorn’ is fresh LIZZY YOON

Daily Arts Writer

On ‘Creole Giselle’, a reimagined classic ballet ZOE PHILLIPS Daily Arts Writer

Many ballet stories are weird.

Swans falling in love, dolls being mistaken for humans and the Christmastime obsession with a nut-cracking device all pass as normal. We accept their quirks because their music and choreography are about more than their stories. Adolphe Adam’s “Giselle” is different. “Giselle” has an awesome story. Arthur Mitchell might have known this more than anyone.

Albrecht is a womanizing prince who pretends to love Giselle, a peasant, while he is actually engaged to be married. When she learns of his trickery she dies of heartbreak and swiftly joins an army of female ghosts, here called willis, dedicated to the destruction of all men who cross their path. When Albrecht comes looking for Giselle’s grave (a little too late, don’t you think?), the kingdom of female afterlife forces him to dance until his own death — it’s a delicious ending to a beautiful show. Originally premiered in Paris in 1841, the ballet enjoyed immediate success, eventually travelling across Europe and into America in 1846.

The show is easily one of the mostperformed productions in ballet today, but it’s also quite symbolic of a racially oppressive past. The willis dance in white dresses that match a historically white skin uniform that excluded any dancers of color long past its 19th century premiere.

Arthur Mitchell’s “Giselle” is different. First created in 1984 for his all-black company Dance Theatre of

Harlem, the production eventually won a Laurence Olivier Award for its ingenious handling of history, ballet and American art. Mitchell enlisted Frederic Franklin to restage the classic story using his cast of all-black dancers. Franklin abandoned the show’s original Rhineland setting and moved his production to the American South on a farm in Louisiana. He kept the choreography true to the 1841 original and maintained Adolphe Adam’s masterful music. They named their new show “Creole Giselle.”

This past weekend, DTH streamed a 1987 recording of “Creole Giselle” on YouTube. The New York Times named the show one of “Six things to do at home this weekend,” and the recording accrued over 7,000 views in one day. Though blurry and at times darkly lit, the show boasted crisp technique from its dancers and its refreshing design shone as an artistic tour de force.

Watching the video, I wondered: Why haven’t more companies taken Mitchell as an example for themselves? Marketing departments often complain of audiences who feel disconnected from classical ballet stories — what do we have in common with a German peasant, a Russian swan or a lifelike dancing doll? These feelings of separation can be even greater for people of color who have been excluded from such shows on the basis of historically white casting and in some ballets, problematic portrayals of Eastern cultures. Mitchell knew this because he and his dancers had lived it, but he did not allow the outer image of “Giselle” to push him away. Stripped of costumes and cast-

ing choices, every ballet to have survived so many years tells omnipresent stories of love and loss. Often referred to as the Hamlet of ballet, “Giselle”’s dazzling music and dreamy dancing sets a golden standard of such emotions, and there is power and intention in DTH’s choice to perform the work in full: Black dancers, and all dancers of color, are equally able to display the universal facets of the human condition that “Giselle” and every one of its 19th century counterparts explore. Such themes do not belong to one era or one people, yet their current packaging can sometimes make it seem to be so.

What’s stopping other major ballet companies from reconsidering their 19th century reproductions?

Could “Swan Lake” happen on the shores of Lake Michigan? Wouldn’t “Le Corsaire” work well on a Navy ship? Perhaps “Coppelia”’s doll factory could be set in industrial-age America. More recently than Mitchell, “Final Bow for Yellowface” author Phil Chan told Megan Fairchild in an interview in May that he’s been working on a new version of “La Bayadere” set in 1930s Hollywood rather than an ill-represented India. The new approach, Chan said, “makes that story about us instead of them. When Mitchell moved DTH’s “Giselle” to the Antebellum South in 1984, he was doing just that: Through a simple set change, his show could tell the stories that belonged to his dancers and not the all-white group from 150 years prior.

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A sign of a compelling book is the inability to look away from the page.

When reading Melissa Bashardoust’s “Girl, Serpent, Thorn,” my nose stayed glued to the e-book screen. Despite the questionable pacing and unfulfilled storylines, I chugged her book down like a gloriously cold bottle of water on a scorching summer day.

I was immersed in Melissa Bashardoust’s fictionalized Persian empire.

Her mythic world documents sprawling palaces, dangerous ladies and looming demonic forces. In that vast world, a young princess, Soraya, is isolated from the rest of the population. Her poisonous touch makes her a threat to the kingdom. While her twin brother rules the realm, she is touchstarved and relegated to her bedroom, and can only travel through the palace’s secret passageways.

To change her fate, she is tempted by the mythic demons whose power she has been gifted. That temptation leads her and her kingdom to their destruction and ultimate resolution.

Soraya stands for every reader unaware of their potential and power.

She is a poster child for internalized self-loathing but lacks the vocabulary to identify her insecurities. She’s lonely and afraid of her own abilities.

She wants friends but fears for their safety. She fundamentally wants some permanence in a world determined to obscure and deny her existence. Very few novels represent internalized selfloathing and confusion as clearly as Bashardoust’s.

Bashardoust’s ancient Persian setting functions more as a vague aesthetic stage for magical plot devices than as an immersive world. Bashardoust’s primary focus is her character-driven drama. There is very little within the novel grounded in history. Furthermore, the broader war between Soraya’s civilization and the demonic forces that plague them goes unexplored and unquestioned. The greater in-world conflict is a watery backdrop for Soraya’s struggle to identify her wants within a cacophony of conflict-

ing opinions and expectations.

Though “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” is not compelling in setting, its strengths lie in its willingness to focus on individual autonomy. In many respects, Bashardoust’s protagonist is atypical.

Soraya’s backstory and actions code her as an antihero but while she questions morality, her greatest sin is out of her power. She’s too powerful and influential to make childish mistakes.

Soraya does not mean harm but all her actions have consequences. While confused and hurting, Soraya cripples her kingdom’s defenses, allowing a hoard of demons to overtake the land.

Soraya’s mistakes and selfish desire sets her apart from others in the YA literary canon. Bashardoust allows Soraya to impart devastating destruction on those around her, then forces her to clean up her mess. But despite her selfishness, you can’t help but empathize with her character. Soraya has not only been deprived of human company but also the ability to make mistakes. That tragedy drives Soraya’s desire for restitution and foretells her kingdom’s doom.

Soraya’s atypical character construction is one example of how Bashardoust’s novel plays Russian roulette with expectations. Veteran YA readers are trained to pick up on genre tropes and plotlines. Soraya has two love interests. Early hints flag each character as a contender for her heart. But unlike other YA novels, ultimately neither love interest is fighting for Soraya’s heart. They are vying to influence her worldview and self-perception. Through minute framing differences, Bashardoust flaunts romantic expectations while never straying beyond the bounds of YA convention. Her novel features the YA hallmarks, such as: The powerful magic woman who doesn’t know she’s special, dark and mysterious boys and looming existential threats. However, the novel does not attempt to subvert the genre conventions. Instead, Bashardoust rearranges the tropes by compressing the novel’s timeline.

Common YA tropes act as temporary red herrings for seasoned readers.

“Girl, Serpent, Thorn” Melissa Bashardoust Flatiron Books July 7, 2020

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Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TV NOTEBOOK

The complicated link between sport and art SEJJAD ALKHALBY Daily Arts Writer

Pop culture would have us believe that the Venn diagram between sports fans and art nerds is more or less two separate circles. As a humble representative of the tiny sliver in the middle, I want to introduce my friends on both sides to the world of their culturally prescribed adversary. There are some similarities between the two that few would expect to find — similarities that, I argue, allow us to view sport as art. Let’s set the scene. Our protagonist is NFL analyst Adam Schefter, who stakes his reputation on his straight-shooter, no-nonsense reporting. Schefter’s Twitter feed is the Associated Press of the NFL world; if he says something, it’s true. A few weeks ago, Schefter put on his best suit, set up his webcam in front of his well-stocked bookcase, and joined an ESPN broadcast held over Zoom, complete with all the aggressive rock music, flashy graphics and artificial urgency we’ve come to expect from the network. The occasion?

The announcement of the order in which next season’s NFL games will be played in.

One might think the order of games isn’t particularly interesting news, perhaps worthy of a short segment highlighting interesting matchups, but ESPN had other thoughts. They instead hosted a three-hour show breaking down each team’s schedule with such pressing commentary as “X team won’t be able to handle so many games in cold cities in December,” or, “Y rookie quarterback will be demoralized by difficult opponents early on.” This was stated with a baffling level of confidence, despite being months away from a season whose fate is already uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Schefter desperately tries to do the impossible and fill the home stretch of this painfully long production with anything resembling objective analysis.

How did Schefter find himself in this position? The ESPN show is an extreme example of the increasing role of narrative in professional sports. A three-hour show for a schedule release is a bit excessive, but the stories that the media constructs around games are a large part of what makes them so exciting. Each NFL team plays 16 regular-season games. Though the average broadcast is over three hours long, the ball is only in play for about 11 minutes per game. To make these short bursts of action feel consequential, the media sets up elaborate storylines in the hours and days leading up to games. They do so by creating characters out of athletes and framing games such that they follow a traditional narrative arc, putting their characters in situations where they have to overcome obstacles larger than the game itself. The week one matchup between the Saints and the Buccaneers, for instance, becomes not just a potentially good game, but a battle between veterans Drew Brees and Tom Brady to solidify their legacy as the best

quarterback in the league and to push the limits of how many years they can play at a high level.

Analysts will routinely praise the determination and perseverance required of Brees and Brady to play through their 40s.

Each play thus carries far more weight, as it’s not just the game on the line, but also a whole host of abstract values and principles. In this light, analysts can be considered analogous to storytellers — more so than regular journalists, as they add far more narrative to their subject matter than a reporter covering a “real” news story. That is to say, the difference between the actual events and their portrayal in the media is greater in sports journalism than it is in other branches of journalism. Athletes are, in a sense, analogous to performers, coaches to directors, referees to stage managers and so on. The result is a coherent “show” so to speak, a circular system consisting of the game and the media’s commentary about the game. The tendency to narrativize games can be found in other sports, but the NFL and its media apparatus have used these techniques the most. It pays off for them too. The NFL has for some time been the most watched sports league in the United States. One might argue that this phenomenon is just a way to sensationalize the game and increase profits.

Though I’m inclined to agree, the narrativization of sport has nonetheless created the conditions by which sport can — and I think should — be considered art.

Coinciding with the rise of narrativized sport, we’ve seen athletes and sports journalists broaden the scope of the issues that they’re willing to discuss. Whereas sports media in the past generally had a narrow focus on the sport itself (e.g. play-by-play recaps, statistics, trade and contract negotiations, etc.), it now doesn’t shy away players’ personalities, drama and even broader social issues that don’t directly relate to sports.

This is mostly an organic process, without any motivation outside of generating more content for its own sake. People in sports media are probably not intentionally making sport like art, and if they are, it is only for the practical concern of making games more entertaining. There are, however, real stakes to these conversations.

Sports media, especially NFL media, often uses rhetoric that praises athletes’ toughness, determination, grit and other similar attributes.

This traditionally masculine rhetoric is often channelled to destructive ends. Athletes’ toughness is used to justify and downplay the serious health risks associated with playing a contact sport like football. Countless football players have suffered from CTE, and though the NFL has made some small gestures to player safety, the problem remains largely unaddressed. Violence by athletes is routinely swept under the rug. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, for example, was accused of sexual assault twice in 2010. One case ended in a settlement and another

was dropped by the accuser while stressing that she was not recanting her story. Roethlisberger received only a six-week suspension and no jail time, and he still plays for the Steelers to this day.

These are just a few of the ways that the cultural and political conflicts of the world are reflected in sport. These issues pertain mostly to football, but there are undoubtedly problems that other sports leagues need to reckon with, like the racism against black athletes in European soccer leagues, or the pay gap between male and female athletes. Most players and sports journalists see themselves as passive observers of these issues with no recourse in the face of the large enterprises that are the sports leagues and news organizations. This serves to only strengthen the apathy of people involved in the sports world, preventing any grassroots corrective measures outside of the minor reforms from above.

One attempt to solve a serious issue in the context of sport is Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protest against police brutality in 2016. Many argued that Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem was somehow disrespecting the flag and the troops, despite getting the suggestion to kneel from a military veteran. These arguments were clearly weak at the time, and are even more ridiculous in the context of the ongoing protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, yet they still persist. Saints quarterback Drew Brees came under fire just last week for saying that he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America” in a conversation about the current protests and Kaepernick’s anthem protest. This prompted impassioned responses from journalists, athletes and even Brees’s own teammates condemning his stance. Conversations like these could have never taken in sports media of the past. Coverage of player personalities and the drama of the day has unintentionally paved the way for the serious conversations athletes and sports journalists are increasingly having. Kaepernick and his supporters had a sense of pride in themselves and their values that outweighed the pressure from their institutions to conform to the status quo.

We can see that the increasingly artistic qualities of sport have, in a limited sense, enabled athletes to be more outspoken and to feel a sense of agency over themselves. Does this mean that sports are, in fact, art?

I won’t try to identify an essential quality to art and shoehorn sport into a vague definition or sneak it in on an obscure technicality (though vague, obscure and technical rules are certainly on brand for football). Instead I’ll go the other direction, and suggest that there is value in viewing sport as art regardless of whether it fits some prescriptive definition. Contentious debates around what is and isn’t art are common among art critics. Art critic David Novitz discusses this issue in his article “Disputes about Art,” published in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. He focuses on pieces that are seen as test cases in the art world, pieces that incite particularly heated debate, like “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp, an ordinary porcelain urinal submitted for an exhibition with the intent of mocking the superficiality of European high culture post-WWI. When it comes to more subversive or unconventional pieces, the debates around their validity as art have less to do with particular

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SUMMER SERIES

ways we decide to define art (e.g. essentialism, functionalism, artist’s intent, etc.), but rather are “part of a larger dispute about whose values and beliefs are worthy of serious attention, and whose cultural interests should prevail in a given society,” according to Novitz.

Novitz suggests that by considering an object art, we grant it a certain kind of privilege. The status of art functions as a legitimizing force that works in two directions. On one hand, traditional and established pieces and art forms reinforce the existing set of cultural values. On the other, subversive pieces and forms that are successful in attaining artistic status can grant legitimacy to ideas and values that have previously been marginalized. People who make or talk about art are generally aware of this tension in one way or another. It is common among artists to have conversations about how a given piece subverts or conforms to standards, and what implications that has on art and culture. Artists themselves are often keenly aware of the cultural work that their art performs and make this an explicit focus of their pieces.

A common refrain from Kaepernick’s critics is that politics don’t belong in sports, that sports are a place where we can relax and tune out from the world. This attitude is clearly harmful to people like Kaepernick who are politically active and don’t have much power compared to the NFL as an institution. It prevents people involved in sports from being critical of either sports institutions or broader society. Narrativized sport has empowered athletes and journalists to be vocal about these issues and many have taken advantage of it. This is where art comes in: If athletes and journalists internalize their roles as performers and storytellers respectively, they can claim a certain agency. In the same way artists’ values are reflected in their art, what if athletes and journalists saw themselves as reflecting the same values in their dedication to their sport as they do when speaking out against injustice? In the same way an artist who sells out, panders or otherwise compromises their values isn’t taken seriously, what if an athlete or journalist who maintains the integrity of their values both on and off the field is commended? An artistic approach to sport humanizes athletes by encouraging them to untether themselves from the interests of those in power. It allows those involved in sport to be active participants in shaping the structures that they are a part of, so that fixing issues like CTE and violence among athletes becomes within the scope of the average athlete or journalist and not left at the mercy of faceless institutions. This reorientation will have to come from the ground up. Athletes and journalists must be willing to break from the views of owners, leagues and news networks and be vocal critics of the world around them. Perhaps if we consider sports art — and athletes and journalists artists — they can grant themselves a sense of legitimacy that hasn’t been afforded to them by the “keep politics out of sports” crowd. At the very least we can recognize that sports’ increasing similarities to art has empowered athletes and journalists. And if an artistic ethos can be beneficial to those in the sports world, maybe the rest of us can see where in our own lives we can be artists, where we can see ourselves as legitimate and empowered actors.

8 MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Mass incarceration and Black American health

The undocumented, incarcerated and homeless

MAYA MOKH

ELLIOTT BROOKS

The criminal justice system is one of the chief systems affecting Black American health. The country’s prison system and overpolicing strategy is not just a way to keep criminals off the streets, it is a large, for-profit institution that gains strength by perpetuating an endless cycle that is almost impossible to break. The prison industrial complex of this country is particularly compelling as a challenge to Black American wellness because it so disproportionately and intentionally affects Black people above any other group. Especially now, as there is a nationwide push to abolish the police, it is crucial to understand why police brutality and racism are public health issues. Because the U.S. incarcerates many more of its citizens than other developed democracies, many researchers have cited it as partly responsible for the widening gap between health of the U.S. and other countries.

The ratio of white to Black imprisonment rates is 1 to 7, largely a result of the War on Drugs and its targeting of young, disadvantaged, inner-city members of minority groups. Michael Tonry and Matthew Melewski highlight the role of racist crime control policies on subjugating Black Americans in their article, stating that had incarceration rates remained at 1970 levels (around 130 per 100,000) or at 1980 levels around 200 per 100,000], “fewer black men would have suffered the pains of impris-

A new moment in history is being lived in every community, within every country; unlimited to any age, race, socioeconomic class or sex. It has canceled music festivals and rallies, graduations and weddings, a fun taco Tuesday with friends or our beloved Skeeps Saturdays. Within the blink of an eye, life as we knew it was turned upside down. Everything that made months and years feel like seconds disappeared, and space and time have never felt slower. Throughout the semester, prior understandings of community, space, time and history have been challenged and unveiled, having various layers and dimensions. Particularly with time/history, years like 1991 have become more than just a date. 1991 symbolized the new wave of Black migration, the precursor to many of the “hot summer riots,” the death of Latasha Harlins and beating of Rodney King, as well as the release of A Tribe Called Quest’s second album: “The Low End Theory.”

Multiple layers come with each year and at times, what is realized is that these layers not only reveal multidimensional plotlines, but could, potentially, serve as a means of distraction from what is inherently at risk and threatened.

COVID-19 serves as a distraction from the U.S.’s perception and categorization of race and opportunity. As universal as this virus has been broadcasted to be, there is an inherent racial disparity at play, particularly seen within big cities

MiC Staff Writer

MiC Guest Writer

Design by Hibah Chughtai

onment, resulting stigma, and reduced employment prospects,” and there would be “many fewer broken black families, fewer negative role models for black boys, more marriageable black men,” and “less deterioration in poor black communities.” The prison industrial complex can be seen as an extension of the plantation and acts of racial violence, fostering normalization of violence against Black bodies, inhumane servitude and normalization of Black deaths .These are only a few of the effects of mass incarceration on Black people, Black men and boys in particular. While other young men are out building their futures, Black men are at odds with a racist system.

Prisons do not only affect the individual, but families and communities as a whole. Aside from obvious health barriers including lack of proper food, hygiene, health care and the fact that prisons and jails are overcrowded with people in poor health receiving inadequate care, being in such an environment has the capacity to breed extreme and irreversible psychological damage. Nearly one in three Black men will be imprisoned in their life, and nearly half of

Black women have an immediate or extended family member in prison.

Research has found very harmful effects on physical and mental health of inmates after release, as well as negative health impacts on the partners and children of incarcerated men. Incarceration contributes to familial and community fractures and gives no opportunity for rehabilitation. Furthermore, prominent health disparities faced

by Black Americans, including HIV risk and preterm birth/maternal health problems, can be linked to mass incarceration, highlighting not only the intersectionality but also the pervasiveness of the issue.

A study on mass incarceration and public health revealed a significant positive association between Louisiana jails’ Black individuals incarcerated and estimated risk of preterm birth, suggesting that mass incarceration may be an underlying factor of the inequities in reproductive health outcomes of Black women in Louisiana.

In order to address the health issues plaguing Black Americans both inside prison and as a catalytic effect of it...

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and places of wealth gaps. The two cities that may help to best understand the relationship between the virus and racial categorization amongst the data are San Francisco and Seattle who were hit early on by the virus and continue to be affected and drastically changed by its presence. Through the analysis of the various measures taken within these two cities, the perception of the virus as a universal phenomenon may dissipate and instead demonstrate another event in time that has been taken as an opportunity to disempower marginalized communities and disguise biases against the same demographics.

There are two moments of urban crisis that have been acknowledged. The first in the late 60s, following the civil rights movement and joining alongside the Black power movement. The second was during the early 90s with the emergence of riots and political unrest amongst marginalized communities, particularly that of the Black community. Currently, there seems to be another period of urban crisis that some may say is a continuation from that of the 90s, but may also be seen as something new. As time has progressed, marginalized communities have gotten better at adjusting to what society “offers” and extracting what they can from it. In the 60s, it was rights, liberties and more opportunity in the North and West, thus the reason why many families migrated across the country.

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My skin is minacious Open letter from U-M alumni JEREMIAH BONNET MiC Guest Writer

An American tradition It’s been imprinted in our fate Another Black man slain Prematurely sent to Heaven’s gates

I often think to myself The next could very well be me Another statistic in the book, right?

Another innocent life wrongfully taken away Then we grieve, the pain fades And we play the waiting game

Why? Why is it they resent my dark skin?

It seems this country deems my complexion As the most egregious sin

It truly is a “hard knock’s life” Jay said it best Each day we walk Not knowing if we’ll get to see the next

From Till to Floyd And the hundreds in between

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SIDNEY ARRINGTON-ASHFORD & TIMBERLEE WHITEUS MiC Guest Writers

Dear Dean Massey, Dean DeRue, Dean McCauley, Dean Gallimore, Dean Finholt, Dean West, Dean Runge, Dean Gier, Dean Hurn, Dean Dalton, Dean Bowman, Dean Videka, As graduate students, it is disheartening to write this because it means little has changed. Some may say at an educational institution such as the University of Michigan, it is fair to assume students share their experiences when injustices occur, allowing

(but usually having to force by creating space in a room) other students to learn our true narrative, but when will you? When will you realize students should not have to be the first to address racial disparities and injustices that occur both on campus, and in the world?

I’m disappointed we pride ourselves on being a top-ranked public university, and yet the same students you so happily market to the world are suffering. We continue to devote our time, money and health — physically, mentally and emotionally — to an institution which continues to fail us. We continue to commit to an institution

that our families believed would aid us during this cycle of growth, yet we’re left to empower and curate spaces for ourselves, with what feels like no support from administration. This institution has a history of privileging “whiteness,” while other communities are dismissed until we begin to disturb the “peace” this University has created. In a world where our existence is deemed to be resistance, that “peace” was not created for our community. It is nothing more than a lie to hide a system that conforms to...

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MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9

Protesting racism: A first-person perspective AAKASH RAY MiC Staff Writer

A letter to our South Asian community

Graphic by Hibah ChughtaiI

SUNITHA PALAT & PRISHA GROVER MiC Staff Writers

Black Lives Matter is a peaceful organization — created after the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013 — that fights to support Black innovation and excellence and combat acts of violence, which are the result of systemic racism. While the recent protests are certainly sparked by George Floyd’s killing, this is not what the fight is about nor does it end with the conviction of his killers — Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung and Tou Thao. And Black Lives Matter doesn’t end with Breonna Taylor or Ahmaud Arbery either. Activists are seeking a disruption of the system that has been working to appease the white supremacist narrative and society. Black Lives Matter is seeking freedom, an end to police brutality and the inequalities in the justice system, brought about by the violence against Black people on the basis of their skin color.

According to a study conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the USA, Black men and women are 2.5 and 1.4 times respectively more likely to be killed by police over the course of their life than white men and women. Additionally, several white police officers and white perpetrators, in general, have gotten away with killing black men and women despite the existence of evidence that could convict them. For example, Philando Castile was killed at a traffic stop and his killer was caught on tape, and instead of his killer being convicted, the city paid Castile’s family a large settlement. Terence Crutcher was experiencing car trouble, and officer Betty Shelby said she shot him because she “feared for her life.” A video showed he had his hands in the air and made no threats towards her.

Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun when an officer shot him for allegedly pointing his pistol at people. The officer was simply fired.

The Black Lives Matter movement is a peaceful and legal movement, currently pushing for change in our policy about excessive use

of force in law enforcement on the basis of race. This also points to outrage over the overcriminalization of Black people and the decriminalization of caucasian people by the justice system, as according to the United States Sentencing Commission, “Black male offenders received sentences on average 19.1 percent longer than similarly situated White male offenders.” Additionally, a study conducted by the Sentencing Project shows how implicit bias has led people to associate criminality with Black and Hispanic people.

We want to express how we, as South Asian Americans, can help, because being South Asian or any other NBPOC [COPY: maybe spell out] is not an excuse to dismiss this discussion. We, as a community, benefit from this oppression and if we do not inform ourselves and our peers to create change, we remain a perpetrator of the problem. Being brown can sometimes feel like a get out of jail free card — I’m not white, I’m brown, how could I be racist to black people? You’d be surprised; a lot of this is due to the “model minority” myth.

For those who are unfamiliar, the “model minority” myth is the idea that certain POC groups (like East Asian and South Asian Americans) are the ideal immigrant group.

If you have parents with the immigrant success story, you’ve probably heard the age-old tale: “We came to America with so little, we worked hard, climbed the ladders, ignored discrimination and are now well-off in the land of dreams.” But some who tell this tale do so by putting down other POC: “If I did it, why can’t they?”

The success of minority groups in America is largely a result of Black activism in the 1960s, but also the stark difference in treatment in this country in the modern day. Yes, Asian Americans and South Asian Americans have faced horrible discrimination in this country — the Chinese Exclusion Act, internment camps and the fears of...

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With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining momentum in the last couple weeks, it has become routine to wake up to social media feeds brimming with infographics on “the history of racism in America,” “defunding the police” and other ways to support the cause. We scroll away on our phones, reading relevant articles and casually sharing sensational stories of police brutality as regularly as we once broadcasted our weekends at the lake. What was once the outcry from primarily Black Americans has transformed into a nationwide pursuit for systematic racial justice. Yet, as with any movement, I predict media attention will subside, people will stop posting and other news will take greater precedence.

The backdrop of “quarantine life” present within our daily lives, has left people with the easy excuse to digress from in-person activism. Reading experiences from behind a screen and having conversations within the comfort of our homes is far less engaging than hearing the voices of those in pain amplified in person. I decided to attend a protest in Detroit this past weekend to empathize, to grieve and to fight alongside Black Americans.

As a non-Black POC, I have always shied away from discussing anti-Blackness within my own South Asian community. As an individual with few Black friends, it has been difficult for me to confront the racial prejudices within my own social circles and feel confident that I was being the best ally that I could be. Trying to overcome this doubt, I felt a pit in my stomach as I traveled to Detroit knowing this will be the first time I face this discomfort in-person.

Arriving at Eastern Market, I felt the thick heat in the air as I positioned my mask. I felt a bit disoriented and lost at first not knowing where to begin. I was met with hundreds

of other individuals ready to march down to the riverfront, carrying all types of signs, from “Black Lives Matter” posters to ones donned with the names of dozens of Black Americans who died at the hands of police brutality. One sign in particular relayed the words of human rights activist Malcolm X who said, “I don’t see an American dream; I see an American nightmare.”

As the words circled in my head, I was overcome with deep sadness. Why is it that thousands needed to gather together to prove ending racism isn’t controversial? Why must it take outcries from across the world for the systems in power to pay attention? Is there any American dream at all for marginalized communities in this nation?

With these thoughts lingering in my mind, we slowly began to march. Initially, we walked in silence and spread out far apart from others; however, as time went on, we began to draw closer together. With this cohesion came synchronization, and the once muffled chanting became strong and melodic.

“No justice” was quickly followed by a powerful punch, “no peace.”

“Hands up!” “Don’t shoot” “Say their names?” “Which one?”

The sun was beating down and I could feel my voice being strained from chanting through my mask for hours. Sweat had begun to drip down the side of my face along with tears, racing towards the sides of my mouth where I could taste a faint saltiness. The efforts were largely led by Black Americans whose voices echoed the pain and injustice of the past 400 years — reminding myself and other protestors to continue pushing through the heat and fatigue. Alongside the pathway, volunteers of all ages, including young boys and girls, hung “BLM” signs off the side of their coolers as they lugged...

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10 SPORTS ‘We were going to win a national championship. That’s what we were gonna do’: An oral history of the 2005 Michigan softball championship Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

JARED GREENSPAN AND NICHOLAS STOLL Daily Sports Writers

The Michigan softball team was tired of simply making it.

Entering 2005, the program had been to the Women’s College World Series seven times in the last 10 seasons, yet never finished above fifth place. In a West Coast-dominated sport, the Midwestern Wolverines were viewed as a respected competitor, not a viable threat to win the championship.

From the very beginning, the 2005 team set out to change that perception. Undeterred by the burden of a No. 1 ranking, slight from the national media and bouts with the brink of elimination, the Wolverines proved they were more than competitors. They were champions.

“It was Michigan softball’s moment,” Jessica Merchant, a 2005 senior shortstop and team captain, said. “And it was just an exciting moment for Michigan softball to be able to finally get to the top.”

Fifteen years later, the team’s remarkable victory continues to be felt in the confines of Alumni Field and across the softball landscape. The Daily spoke with players and coaches to reminisce on the legendary season.

Michigan began the 2005 season ranked eighth nationally, pairing an auspicious freshman class with a core nucleus of players returning from a 2004 trip to the Women’s College World Series.

Early on, it was apparent that last year’s letdown in Oklahoma City hung over the team — the Wolverines fell to LSU, 3-2, in 13 innings and then to Stanford, 5-4, to close their season.

Merchant: Every year we had a goal setting activity. We talked about what goals we’re gonna set for ourselves as a team throughout the year.

Stephanie Bercaw, Michigan outfielder, 2003-2006: Every year, it was always “Let’s make it to the World Series.” For that year, that came up again, and there was a big debate on why we keep saying “Make it” to the World Series.

Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics

Tiffany Haas, Michigan second baseman, 2003-2006: (Merchant) stood up and she was loud and said, “I want to win this. This is what I want.” She just made a decision, said it out loud, and from that moment, we all bought in.

Bonnie Tholl, Michigan associate head coach, 19942020: Someone in the room needed to say it, and Jessie Merchant had enough courage to say it.

Jennie Ritter, Michigan pitcher, 2003-2006: When it was finally said, (Michigan coach Carol Hutchins) was just like, “Okay, let’s do it.” It was so matter of fact. If that’s what we’re gonna do then let’s do it.

It was more of a mission than a lofty goal.

It didn’t take long for Michigan to hit its first bump in the road — a season-opening 7-6 loss to No. 17 Baylor.

Ritter: We lost that first game, it was like what the heck are we doing? Then we went on the win streak.

Rebekah Milian, Michigan outfielder, 2004-2007: We just kept knocking teams off. And we just sort of knew. We lost our first game and after that, we just never lost.

Michigan rode a 21-game win streak into the opening game of the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, California (March 17 - March 20).

Ranked fifth in the country, the Wolverines had already toppled eight ranked opponents on the season, yet matchups with No. 11 Texas and No. 1 Arizona loomed.

Tholl: The Judi Garman tournament was typically a mini Women’s College World Series with the caliber of teams that were entered in that tournament year in and year out.

Grace Leutele, Michigan third baseman, 2003-2006: You either survive or die that weekend in my opinion — you either win them all or lose them all.

Carol Hutchins, Michigan head coach, 1985-2020: We beat Arizona in the finals.

Leutele: It proved to us that what we already knew to be true was true. That we were capable of beating anybody.

Nicole Motycka, Michigan designated player, 2002-2005: And it gave us the confidence a national championship team needs to win. A lot of teams are really talented, but I think it takes a certain level of that confidence.

Hutchins: They didn’t care if I believed in them or not. They had an innate swag that, as many good teams as I’ve had, I have never had a team with that kind of internal belief.

Hutchins: So we got back and somebody said you’re probably gonna be ranked number one, and I was like “Oh, greeeeat.”

Because you know, I know as well as anyone, I’m trying to get back to the World Series and have a chance to win it, but just to get to it, how hard it is.

Samantha Findlay, Michigan first baseman, 20052008: All I have drilled in my head still is “We’re gonna play one-pitch softball, we’re gonna play one game at a time until we get to the World Series until we win the national championship.”

Merchant: Hutch sent a message loud and clear that nobody cares who’s number one in the middle of the season and that all that matters is who’s number one at the end.

Hutchins: The team wasn’t rattled by it. We just did a really good job. Those kids had been to the World Series and had their heart broken. They knew that this wasn’t over until the end.

Merchant: I think it was a stepping stone for us. Maybe not to ourselves so much, but to the rest of the country that we were here to compete with the best.

Michigan breezed into Big Ten play on a school-record 32-game-winning streak, setting up a much-anticipated home opener against No. 24 Iowa.

The Hawkeyes shocked the Wolverines, 5-2.

Becky Marx, Michigan catcher, 2005-2006: We just had this expectation that we were going to blow through everyone. That made us regroup a little.

Tholl: It turned out to be the very best thing that could have happened to us because we weren’t afraid of losing anymore.

Motycka: The losses that we experienced kind of humbled us to reset and focus on what was important. Because I think that we knew that we could do it, we just had to maintain composure.

Hutchins: In the entire Big Ten season until the last day we were number two in the Big Ten. Northwestern had a one game lead on us all year. And you know what? Our kids still valued winning the Big Ten season, probably more than I did.

Merchant: We needed Michigan State to beat Northwestern to give us a shot the next weekend, so a lot of things fell into place.

Hutchins: They only had to beat us once, we had to beat them twice.

Michigan State edged out Northwestern, creating a dramatic final weekend of the Big Ten season between Michigan (13-2 Big Ten) and the Wildcats (15-1 Big Ten). Buoyed by a dominant performance from Ritter, the Wolverines took the first game, 3-0. In the second matchup, Michigan erased a 4-2 deficit with a six-run sixth inning, holding on to a 8-7 win. The Big Ten Championship was theirs.

Leutele: Anything less than a championship would’ve felt like a disappointment.

Merchant: I think that’s what you play for. You play for championships.

Marx: You can’t go into the World Series and not be battle tested. You have to learn how to battle, and (Northwestern and Iowa) taught us how to do it.

No. 1 Michigan swept through its three-game regional slate effortlessly, setting up a super regional matchup against No. 21 Washington, where the teams split the first two games to force a decisive third meeting.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, the Wolverines responded emphatically, scoring 11 unanswered runs.

They were headed back to the World Series, their mission far from complete.

Merchant: Michigan softball

in the past, you know, they hadn’t shown up in the World Series. They didn’t have great finishes there.

Leutele: They weren’t known for their success at the World Series. They were known to make it.

Hutchins: We were 2-14 in World Series history as a program when we got there.

Merchant: We hadn’t proven ourselves on that stage.

Ritter: They talked about the powerhouses, and we weren’t one of them.

Bercaw: And it was always, can Michigan do it, can Michigan do it? It was never expected, the way that in other years teams are expected to win when they’re ranked number one. It still felt like we were the underdogs.

Ritter: Nobody seemed to care too much about us.

Hutchins: Our kids were mad, and I loved it.

Haas: Hutch said something like, “Well you guys are underdogs. But so what? Go and prove yourselves.”

Milian: But I think we liked being the underdogs. We knew that we weren’t expected to win and I think we liked that.

Hutchins: They had a chip on their shoulder and they played it up big time. Cause everywhere we go, everybody’s talking about everybody but us.

Tholl: We used it as our fuel.

Merchant: The rest of the country doesn’t believe in us.

We’ll show you what Michigan softball is about.

Michigan blanked DePaul, 3-0, and Texas, 4-0, to begin their World Series campaign. Against Tennessee, the Wolverines suffered a crushing 11 inning loss that ended on a 2-run walkoff home run. A second loss to the Volunteers and their season would end the same as it had the past 7 trips.

Hutchins: And we come back less than twelve hours later. We got off the field at 2 a.m. We had a noon game. I’m like, noon?

Tholl: We had had rain delays in the series that pushed the whole schedule back.

Milian: We barely got any sleep that night.

Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ORAL HISTORY From Page 10A Ritter: We were all exhausted.

Marx: I remember being pretty crushed. I cried on the way back to the hotel.

Leutele: We were like there’s no way that can happen again.

Leutele: I just remember the grit in Jenny Ritter’s face. We were all like, “If she’s gonna do that, who can stop her?” I really think we rallied around that belief.

Marx: We just decided the next game that this was going to be our shot, if it was going to be our last game then we were going to give it everything that we can.

Milian: I remember we watched so much film on the other pitcher, Tennessee’s Monica Abbott.

Hutchins: The other big dog.

Tholl: A really intimidating presence on the mound. And we just didn’t have our offense in sync like we did 60 games earlier.

Marx: You don’t go up against Monica Abbott and think you’ve got anything in the bag.

Bercaw: I remember Monica Abbott. … You hear the stats and how good they are. But the thing is, we prepped for all of that.

Ritter: What’s amazing about this team, though, was that when you feel like we’re hitting a dead end and there’s nothing we can do, somebody comes through and that’s how it’s been the entire season.

Ritter: Bercaw came through.

Marx: Bercaw hits the home run — our first home run of the series — it just gave us life. Oh yeah, this is who we are, we can do this.

Ritter: All of a sudden there’s this adrenaline in our veins.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Michigan was up 1-0 with two outs and a runner on second. Bercaw sent Abbott’s pitch over the fence for a tworun home run. The blast proved to be game-winning, as the Wolverines won 3-2.

Later that day, Michigan returned to action, battling UCLA — the twotime defending champions — in Game 1 of the World Series final.

Ritter: We went back to the hotel, the idea was to rest and recover and try to figure out what the heck we were gonna do, because we had never been in the World Series championship before.

Hutchins: UCLA, they had been sitting around for a day watching us, and they got Ritter out early in the game - as soon as we got behind we took her out. She was tired.

Marx: We had nothing left in the tank.

Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics

Milian: They scored right out of the gate.

Ritter: To me, there was a little bit of a let down, at least on my part, that we made it, to be satisfied that we just made it to the World Series final. That was just a mental lapse in my judgement of feeling like we’ve done enough.

Milian: And we knew we could beat them, it was just I think the Tennessee games took something out of us. We just needed to get some rest and come back.

Michigan dropped the opening game to UCLA, 5-0.

Hutchins: Game 2 we rested up and told them, “Just play, don’t worry about it, you’re rested now.”

Haas: We just kept doing what we’ve been doing. We just wanted to win a game.

Hutchins: We got behind in game 2, 2-0, in the fifth inning. I’m like, “Wow, we’re not gonna score a run in the championship series.” We were the leading hitting team in the country.

Merchant: Even when we were down we didn’t panic, we didn’t give up.

Findlay: When we got down we didn’t get down on each other, we picked each other up.

Merchant: Maybe it was being a little bit naïve, a little bit young, and a little bit too cocky, but no matter who we were facing or what the situation was, we thought we were going to win.

The Wolverines were staring elimination in its face. With one out and a runner on first, Marx stood in the batters’ box.

Hutchins: And Becky Marx hit her famous homer to tie it up.

Marx: When I hit it I didn’t even know it went over. When Bonnie told me at first it was over the fence … I knew we were back in the game.

Bolstered by a Merchant two-run double in the same inning, Michigan went on to win Game 2, 5-2, setting up a winner-take-all game the next night.

UCLA struck first with a solo home run from first baseman Lisa Dodd. In the sixth inning, the Wolverines finally broke through when Findlay knocked an RBI single into right field. The two teams remained deadlocked into the bottom of the ninth, when the Bruins threatened to take the championship.

Designated player Kristen Dedmon blooped a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, putting the winning run at third with just one out.

Ritter, the ace, stood in the circle.

Ritter: UCLA, all they have to do is score that run. So I guarantee, they were feeling pretty dang good.

Tholl: I only allowed myself to

do this for about 10-15 seconds, but I remember looking out into right field … and I was like “Wow, we were so close. We came so close.”

Ritter: (Hutch) tells me to walk the next two batters. … I hated it. I still hate it, to this day.

Marx: It was not one of those moments that I needed to calm her down. I just needed to let her go.

Ritter: This is a moment where we are 60 feet away from losing the World Series and we want to win so badly, so I just said, “OK, I’m going to do this.’

Milian: It was just that mental switch of “No, we’re going to do this.

We’re going to get out of this and get to the next inning.”

Marx: She just would not let anyone take this away from her. She was gonna be the pitcher that got up there and did it.

With the bases loaded, Ritter induced an inning-ending ground out from UCLA left fielder Ashley Herrera to retire the threat, keeping the season alive.

Tholl: That’s a huge momentum shift. And it’s more of a momentum shift for the team that just squandered the opportunity.

Ritter: But the game’s still going.

The Wolverines wasted little time threatening in the top of the tenth, as Haas reached on a fielding error and freshman outfielder Alessandra Giampaolo recorded an infield single.

The stage was set for Findlay, who strode to the dish with the go-ahead run in scoring position and two outs.

Ritter: The fact that they pitched to Sam Findlay is still baffling to me.

Bercaw: Anytime that Sam would go up, you’d just kinda wait for the big hit to happen.

Leutele: We all believed in Sam so much in that moment. She’s gonna do this.

Motycka: Do you think it’s going to be a home run and something so glorious? No, but you knew she would make something happen.

Findlay: I liked pressure. … I knew I wanted to be in that position and I was confident.

Haas: I just kept on trying to make eye contact with her, to give her my energy.

Ritter: The whole team is up at the railing, I’m in the back corner literally focusing on nothing, just hoping somebody gets a hit.

Findlay: I saw a good pitch and I took a good swing and as soon as I hit it, you just kinda knew.

Ritter: All of a sudden I hear the crack of the bat, the team screaming, the ball going over the fence and I’m trying to figure out what just happened.

Hutchins: I was just wishing it over the fence. Get out, get out, get out.

Merchant: I was praying that it was going to go out.

Haas: I knew it was a bomb.

Tholl: I knew the moment it came off the bat, it was going out of the park.

Bercaw: It was a laser.

Marx: I just remember being like, “I can’t believe they just pitched to Sam Findlay. Of all the players in the whole country, you just pitched to Sam Findlay?” She just did what she does.

Findlay: The feeling I felt rounding third base heading home to see my teammates and seeing their faces, that’s something I’ll never forget.

Bercaw: It felt like a sealed-deal. … The emotion of that was just indescribable.

Findlay: To see how happy they were, it gave us the confidence to finish the bottom of that inning knowing we would bring Michigan the first softball championship.

Findlay: It’s a hit that forever changed my life.

Hutchins: I immediately went into, okay gotta keep them calm. You know, we hadn’t won yet.

Ritter: I remember just talking to myself, this isn’t over yet. You’ve got to go out the same way you did every inning and you’ve got to get three more outs.

Tholl: Jennie Ritter was the bulldog we needed in the circle. Not once in that season had she fallen apart, and I knew she wasn’t going to do that in the brightest moment.

Tholl: In the biggest moment of the season, she was going to be our rock.

Hutchins: It worked out, it all worked out.

In charge of preserving the threerun cushion, Ritter retired two of the first three batters she faced, the lone baserunner reaching on a fielding error. With Michigan one out away, Dedmon lifted a towering fly ball to the left-side of the infield.

Ritter: When that pop up came and I saw Merchant catch it, my first reaction … was thank god it’s over.

Bercaw: I was out in right field, so I was always the last to get in.

Everybody else is already celebrating by the time I reach the infield.

Just heart-pumping, raw emotions everywhere.

Marx: Everyone was crying.

Bercaw: I just wanted to run in and hug somebody, jump and celebrate together. It was awesome.

Haas: It’s the best day of our lives.

And the celebration, it didn’t end.

SPORTS 11

The 2005 team became the first program located east of the Mississippi River to win the women’s softball College World Series, which began in 1982. It’s the only national title in Michigan softball’s 42-year history.

Hutchins: A championship, it’s something that no (other) Michigan team has.

Tholl: Michigan winning the national championship gave hope to the rest of the country.

Leutele: I think it changed everything.

Tholl: It legitimized every athlete who played softball outside of the West Coast, and so I think that was our legacy.

Ritter: It’s no longer a West Coast sport. We’re a cold weather school, up in the north playing on the road and practicing inside for our first 35 games or so, yet we can still compete at that level.

Hutchins: I think it did open up the doors for a lot of people to say we can do this.

Merchant: It gave sixth graders in Michigan hope that they could compete at the highest level, whether it be at the University of Michigan or for any cold weather team.

Ritter: Make kids everywhere believe that this is possible, that they don’t just have to be in the West or in Florida and have a chance to play all the time to win. It’s a big deal for our sport.

Bercaw: I’m from a small town in Ohio. There was a family of kids from my hometown, they drove up to the World Series. … Situations like that, you could just see how it inspired girls. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or where you go, you can reach any level that you set out to reach.

Leutele: I was from Arizona, so as a child who had softball aspiration, I should have wanted to stay in the Pac10. ... I think other student athletes really realized that, wait a minute, I can go to another university and we can create a culture of that and really believe in it and not be afraid.

Hutchins: There’s no question that people have always noted to me how (the championship) changed the landscape. But we were never out to change the landscape. We were out to put Michigan on the map.

Ritter: This is a team that you find once in a lifetime. You want me to rank the teams that I’ve been on, USA and everything, the chemistry that energy that we had, nothing compares to this team. I don’t think anybody could’ve beaten us that year. ... I truly in my heart believe that we were unbeatable.

12 SPORTS Another year, same result against OSU Thursday, June 11, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

BRENDAN ROOSE Daily Sports Editor

November.

In college football, it’s the month where opportunities are missed, heroes are made and hearts are broken. Two months of success are nullified by catastrophic late-season failures. A season of mediocrity can be forgotten by a Rivalry Week upset.

Or, in those rare and special years, a great team can be immortalized as legendary.

In his first season in our NCAA 14 simulation of Michigan football, fictional coach Stanford Lipsey can do just that. Entering the regular season’s home stretch with a 10-0 record, the upcoming fateful showdown with Ohio State looms large.

But first, a trip to Iowa City presents a smaller, more remote hurdle: Overcome the notorious “Kinnick Curse” and clinch the Wolverines’ first-ever berth in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Game 11: No. 1 Michigan at Iowa Big Ten football fans know that if your team still has national championship hopes in November, the last place you want to be is Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium. The fearsome venue made victims of perfect seasons from Penn State and Michigan in November 2008 and 2016, respectively, before dashing Ohio State’s College Football

playoff hopes with a crushing upset in 2017. And, because NCAA 14 still uses the old BCS system to determine who plays for the national championship, a loss at this stage could completely derail Lipsey’s honeymoon season.

But the Hawkeyes’ late-season voodoo held no match for the Wolverines’ diverse passing attack.

In the game’s first minute, a 62-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Dylan McCaffrey to junior wide receiver Ronnie Bell set the tone for a 35-19 Michigan victory.

Iowa could do little to stop McCaffrey, whose 18 completions for 253 yards and two touchdowns demonstrated why the Wolverines boast the nation’s top passing offense. A punt return touchdown from sophomore safety Daxton Hill put the butter on the cornbread.

With the win, Michigan booked its trip to the Big Ten Championship Game. Still, the achievement is but background noise to the monumental task directly ahead.

Game 12: No. 1 Michigan vs No. 15 Ohio State Ohio State is in the midst of an identity crisis as losses to Cincinnati, No. 24 Michigan State, and No. 7 Indiana secured the Buckeyes’ worst record since 2011. As a result, the Wolverines entered Rivalry Week as heavy favorites.

Given the recent history of The Game, it was the perfect scenario for

a heartbreak. Again.

With two minutes remaining, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields stepped under center with the chance to complete that heartbreak.

Michigan had just scored its second touchdown of the game to cut the Buckeyes’ lead to six, but a couple first downs would render that score irrelevant, sending the Wolverines home, tail between legs.

Fields took the first down snap, faked to his running back and bounced outside on the read option.

What little daylight he saw was quickly swallowed up by junior cornerback Gemon Green. Fields had trouble with the tuck, the ball hit the

turf, and Green fell on it.

Three plays later, the Wolverines took the lead. A Big House that had been emptying out moments earlier suddenly pulsed at the thought that the most brutal stretch in the history of the rivalry could finally be ending.

But then, as if the game itself realized the absurdity of a first-year coach ending two decades of sheer dominance, Justin Fields rose like a demon summoned from the depths of Columbus. He had been given 1:33 to save Ohio State’s season, and he used every second of it. Five straight completions set up the easiest gamewinning field goal in the history of the rivalry and kicker Blake Haubeil buried it. Final score: 23-21, Ohio State. Even the simulation knows.

Imperfect.

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

Junior wide receiver Nico Collins dominated down the stretch of virtual games.

Around the country Michigan’s Rivalry Week loss dropped it to No. 5 in the country, behind the two remaining undefeated teams — Alabama and Louisville — and two fellow one-loss teams, Clemson and … Indiana. This means there is a slim, but real, chance we see Tom Allen coaching in a National Championship. Unsettling.

The Wolverines will take on Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship, setting the stage for more corn jokes. In the SEC, top-ranked Alabama will face No. 6 Florida, while the Pac-12 Championship features No. 25 California and No. 16 UCLA. No. 3 Clemson will, shockingly, face a somewhat formidable opponent in No. 10 Virginia Tech for this year’s ACC Championship. The Big 12, meanwhile, did not have a championship game when NCAA 14 was released, but Oklahoma would win anyway.

Despite the heartbreak against the Buckeyes, Michigan’s season is not over. It has a chance to win its first Big Ten title since 2004, and, although there’s almost no chance of a national championship berth, the Rose Bowl is a hell of a consolation prize.

Still, this Wolverines team — like many that came before it — will be left wondering, “what if?” The numbers say this team is elite, but in Ann Arbor, performance against Ohio State is one of the most important measures of success.

And this year, Michigan failed.

FOOTBALL

‘M’ rebounds, secures virtual Rose Bowl victory BRENDAN ROOSE Daily Sports Editor

In the last part of The Daily’s NCAA 14 simulation of Michigan football, the Wolverines saw their national championship hopes erased by Ohio State.

Despite almost unprecedented levels of success in his first season, coach Stanford Lipsey’s first matchup against the Buckeyes ended in the same way as the previous eight renditions of The Game.

But the season isn’t over.

Thanks to some early-season struggles from Ohio State, Michigan still has the Big Ten Championship Game and a potential Rose Bowl berth to end the year on a strong note. The

Wolverines haven’t even been to a Rose Bowl since 2007, so the famously patient Michigan faithful would surely deem a 2-0 finish to the season an unmitigated success.

Right?

Big Ten Championship Game: No. 5 Michigan vs Nebraska Do you remember that scene from Interstellar where Cooper’s driving his kids to school and quickly abandons the road when he sees a rogue drone f lying overhead? His truck cops a f lat tire and there’s no road for him to follow to get to the drone, so he plows right through a cornfield and eventually reaches his goal.

That’s essentially the story of this game, a 90’s football fan’s wet dream. The Wolverines

had their goal in sight — the program’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 2007 — and ran right through the Cornhuskers to reach it. Led by an outstanding 168 yards and two touchdown catches from senior wide receiver Nico Collins, Michigan harvested a 38-17 blowout over Nebraska. Sophomore defensive tackle Christopher Hinton led the defense with ten tackles, and junior linebacker Cam McGrone tallied two sacks and a fumble recovery.

With Nebraska out of the way, Lipsey’s Wolverines move on to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl and a chance to salvage some joy at the end of an imperfect season.

Rose Bowl: No. 3 Michigan vs No. 20 California What better way for a team to

bid farewell to its seniors than a game at the most historic and picturesque venue in college football?

I guess virtually all players would prefer a national championship, but even so, the sun setting over the Rose Bowl is just more poetic than the roof retracting over the Mercedes Benz™ Tostitos™ Coke Zero™ National Championship Game presented by Bass Pro Shops™.

Plus, the open air helps prevent the spread of disease as the Cal and Michigan alumni in the stands take every chance they can to mention where they went to school.

For the Wolverines’ seniors, it was a goodbye for the ages. In a 38-13 Michigan victory, Collins capped off his illustrious career

with six receptions for 106 yards and a touchdown. McCaffrey’s other two touchdown passes went to senior tight end Nick Eubanks, and senior safety Brad Hawkins pulled in an interception for good measure.

Even the special teams got involved — senior kicker Quinn Nordin finished a career full of hits and misses with a 53-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Like many Wolverine senior classes in recent memory, this one will leave with questions about what could have been. It isn’t easy to stick with a program through a coaching change — especially when the new guy has never coached football in his life — but in the end, they will certainly be remembered fondly in Michigan lore.

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