smc votes event discusses politics

By CATHY DOHERTY news writer

o n wednesday evening, smc votes hosted the first meeting of their “ p olitics and p retzels” series. This series will consist of three meetings in r eignbeaux l ounge of l e m ans h all, where students can gather to discuss the current political climate with other students and professors.

l ibbey d etcher, a senior political science major and host of the event, explained who was sponsoring the three-part series.

“This event is mainly sponsored by smc votes, which i co-lead with sophomore Jean o choa.” d etcher said. “ we decided to collaborate with the political science club to have a broader reach with students.” w hen asked what she was hoping students would take away from the event, d etcher said she “hope[s] we can facilitate good discussion so our campus community members can learn about recent political events.”

For the first meeting, d etcher invited s aint m ary’s political science professor s ean s avage to speak with students on gerrymandering and the newly elected 118th u s c ongress.

To the same question, s avage said: “ i hope that, regardless of their majors, students will develop a stronger interest in and awareness of a merican politics. … e veryone is affected by what happens in politics and government.” d etcher began the meeting by speaking on district lines that are drawn for elections in each state.

“ m y big focus on voting rights, in a roundabout way, is redistricting,” d etcher said. h e explained that redistricting occurs every 10 years following the national c ensus. “ w hen politicians are drawing these lines, they purposely include or exclude certain communities, often communities of color and marginalized see smc PAGE 4 future steps towards diversity and inclusion while reflecting on the legacy of martin luther k ing Jr., Johnson made a different point during his keynote address.

To begin, he joked to the audience about the pitfalls of the “preach and sleep” method, saying that he was not a fan of a speech format where he spoke about issues unrelatable to the listeners. Johnson urged the audience to both listen and participate in the dialogue during the event and beyond.

“From our perspective, as naacp, we see that our democracy is on a shoestring,” he explained. “being able to pursue see eXcellence PAGE 3