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New rom-com underwhelms PG. 6
Wednesday, February 10, 2021 – Volume 33 • Issue 17 News
Feature
Entertainment
Opinion
Editorial
SEEKING OPPORTUNITIES TCC provides students with a variety of scholarships. PG. 2
SOUTH’S NEW GATE Students take on a new welding project. PG. 3
STRAIGHT FROM THE ‘90s A look back at Placebo’s sophomore album. PG. 6
FEELING TIRED? Get some sleep to boost your academic ability. PG. 7
DARK LEGACY Bezos hasn’t set a prime example. PG. 7
Alessandro Biascioli/Adobe Stock
In 2020, about 15 to 26 million people gathered around the U. S., participating together in Black Lives Matter protests, according to The New York Times.
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Discovering history of Black-led protests LOGAN EVANS
campus editor/photographer
In 1961, Black-led activists fought segregation by sitting together in mixed racial groups on interstate buses. When they reached the Deep South, these activists — known as Freedom Riders — were met with a violent backlash that turned civil rights into a national issue. Sixty years later, that issue remains an exposed nerve to millions of Americans — and Black activists are still gathering to make their voices heard. “The Freedom Rides represented a major evolution in the tactics of the civil rights movement,” TR government instructor Stacey Muse said to a virtual audience on Feb. 6. “They were able to engage the
media and gain a sympathetic national audience.” Muse spoke as part of TCC’s Protests in American History series, a look back at landmark demonstrations and their lasting impacts. This month traced Black-led protests from the Freedom Rides to Black Lives Matter — and drew several parallels along the way. Early news coverage of the Freedom Rides was mixed, similar to what we see in regards to BLM, Muse said. Many accounts criticized extremists on both sides, equating civil rights activists with their segregationist opposition. On May 14, 1961, a bus carrying Freedom Riders through rural Alabama was attacked and bombed by a white mob. Photos of the charred bus circulated in the news, an image Muse said “changed the country’s consciousness altogether.”
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“The resistance of African Americans showed much less toleration for the harassment of the past.”
Meredith May
Connect history proefessor
Although The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial discrimination thanks in large part to protests like the Freedom Rides, it was ignored in many pockets of the south, Connect history professor Meredith May said. In 1970, students at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas marched against a decades-long regime of racism by Chief of Police MC Roebuck. Roebuck fought back, arresting protesters and attacking them with mace,
but was eventually charged with the killing of a Black man. Although he was found not guilty, Roebuck’s indictment alone was a sign of progress, May said. “The resistance of African Americans showed much less toleration for the harassment of the past, showing exactly what can happen when students get together and organize,” she said. Elaborating on the power of organization, NE chair of government and paralegal studies Joan Johnson stressed the difference that one idea can make in the hands of many. Johnson said that BLM — now a global movement — began as a Twitter hashtag after the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. Her voice sank as she recalled the strain Martin’s death put on the nation. “I remember when I saw the
story,” she said. “I looked at Trayvon and I could see my children." Notably, the Feb. 6 presentation took place on what would have been Martin’s 26th birthday. In 2013, Martin’s killer was acquitted after a two day trial. The BLM hashtag gained popularity and three women — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi — founded the organization Black Lives Matter. “It should be jarring to all of us that this statement has to be made and that this organization has to be formed,” Johnson said. In the years following Martin’s death, BLM became a mantra to be chanted with anger and passion in the wake of similar killings. The phrase — and the movement behind it — culminated in worldwide protests after the 2020 death of George See Protests, page 5
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Toxicity in gaming Celebrating Black poets’ work has personal impact Poetry workshop encourages students to find their voices with TCC students ALYSON OLIVER campus ca mpus editor
JOSE ROMERO campus editor
Online gaming’s rising popularity has made its toxicity prevalent. A toxic player is one who unpleasantly interacts with others in a game by swearing or directing slurs towards them, according to Cyber Definitions. In any given match, players interact with multiple anonymous users, sometimes leading to a negative interaction. “I used to play ‘World of Warcraft’ and have experienced toxicity in raiding guilds,” student Christopher Anglin said. “You would join a large group of players to fight the games’ hardest bosses and dungeons. Some guilds take raiding so seriously that the guild leaders would scream and berate players during the
game.” The toxicity Anglin experienced in these groups made him leave the guild, looking for something more casual. His experience with “League of Legends” — a popular teambased game — was so negative he ended up quitting it entirely. A survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League discovered 81% of overall multiplayer gamers have had experience with harassment. A reason it’s simple to experience harassment in an online video game is because of voice and text chat. Depending on the game, some have microphone or keyboard enabled communication, allowing players to speak directly to each other. On top of direct communication in matches, messages can be See Gaming, page 5
One’s voice has the power to speak their truth and share their light, published poet and English professor Darius Frasure said in his Voices of the Past: A Journey of Identity Through Poetry event for TCC students. It was a part of Lift Every Voice, an initiative centered on sharing and encouraging students to engage with African American poetry. Frasure shared his poems and several other works by Black poets and encouraged attendees to find their own voices. He opened with his “Ode to Hip Hop.” “‘Poetry has gone through the stages of purity, oppression, expression, is now undergoing transformation through a spiritual reformation,’” he read. “‘Poetry in the eyes of the sublime has become a
forgotten medium of expression.’” Even when he was not reading, his words would occasionally pour out to a rhythm. “I believe my poetry is how I connect with myself and with others,” Frasure said when an attendee asked what his poetry means to him. Next, he picked up the book “African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song.” He described it as an anthology and a collection of voices. Before reading, he asked the audience to think about where they find their own voices, power and identity. He paused, took a breath and then began reading “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Afterward, he encouraged the audience to examine how the poem made them feel, to take off their own masks and to find their own voices through music, art or any other passions. Frasure also sang James
“I listen for emotion, I listen for feeling, I listen for that that is beyond the words.”
Darius Frasure SE english professor
Wheldon Johnson’s “The Black National Anthem” to show how the melody of the song added an extra layer of meaning. When an attendee asked him what he feels when he reads poetry, Frasure said there is a disconnect at first. He has to make a transition to convey what the narrator intended. He uses the punctuation and the rhythm of the words as a guide. He read works by Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes to demonstrate this. “I listen for emotion, I listen See Voice, page 5