Issuu

Alyssa Pajarillo, editor

VIEWPOINTS

Nov 17, 2016 — Vol. 60, Issue 3

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: viewpoints@theswcsun.com

Athletes have the right to speak out By Chariti Niccole A perspective

“I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong,” said Mohammed Ali in 1967 when he refused to be drafted into the armed forces. “No Vietcong ever called me a nigger. Lots of Americans have.” Athletes are normal people with some superior abilities. In the U.S., athletes are often looked at as idols because of their abilities and are held up as role models. Some deserve to be, some do not. Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers quarterback is a role model and a hero. His protest of the ongoing police brutality that minorities endure is noble and powerful. “We have a lot of issues in this country that we need to deal with,” he said. “There are issues that need to be talked about and need to be brought to life. We need to fix those issues.” Kaepernick has been accused of being antiAmerican and is being targeted by racial slurs. Videos of angered Americans burning his jersey flooded social media, but those same people were not burning the jerseys of Ray Rice when he brutally knocked out his girlfriend in an elevator or Ben Roethlisberger when he was accused of rape. Kaepernick is not the first African-American athlete to stand up for the rights of others. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier then became a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. “I cannot stand and sing the anthem,” Robinson said. “I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world.” Kaepernick agreed.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said. Robinson endured terrible hatred and Kaepernick is feeling similar wrath. Both overcame hatred with courage. Robinson and Kaepernick are role models for me, an African-American student athlete at Southwestern College. I have decided to join them in standing up by kneeling down. I encourage other SWC athletes to join us. There may be blow back. During the Summer Olympics, African-American gold medal gymnast Gabby Douglas did not put her hand over her heart during the national anthem. “I’m so overwhelmed at what our team accomplished today and overjoyed that we were able to bring home another gold for our county,” said Douglas who insisted that she was not

protesting. Regardless of what she said, some people praised her for standing up on the two-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, while others spewed hatred at the 19 year old for not being patriotic enough. In 1968, Olympic sprint medalist Tommie Smith and John Carlos took a fusillade of hate when they raised their fist in conjunction with the Black Power Movement that was sweeping the U.S. Smith was on the podium for a gold medal, Carlos a bronze. Both were sent home blacklisted by the U.S. Olympic Committee. “We are just human beings who see a need to bring attention to Stephanie Garrido/staff the inequality in our country,” said Smith in an HBO documentary on the Mexico City Olympics. Kaepernick has been called un-patriotic because he refuses to follow an unwritten custom and place his right hand over his heart during the national anthem, or in other words practicing his First Amendment rights. Kaepernick has influenced athletes across the nation to stand, or sit down, for what they believe in. Professional athletes are free to voice their opinion on important topics, and should. Student athletes too. I think most rational people of all races see the same problems with the mistreatment of African-Americans that I do. Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

Trump’s hateful rhetoric has opened Pandora’s Box

Thinking Out

Loud

How is President Trump going to affect your life?

“Trump is going to affect my life in every aspect. I’m Latino, gay and a resident. I feel very fragile. I don’t know what will happen to my community.” Arturo Gongora, 22, Business

“I want him to do good. I didn’t want him to win, but I want him to prove everyone wrong. Here in California I don’t think he will have much of an impact.” Daniel Maldonado, 20, Hospitality

“What if people can’t have an abortion or get help? Who knows what is going to happen? He’s going to make this country more corrupt.” Hailey Coty, 21, Psychology

“Since he was elected I’ve experienced racism on my commute from TJ. I feel like I’m being pushed at. I’ve had people brushing me off since I’m not white.” Nick Munguia, 21, Graphic Design

Stephanie Garrido/staff

By Katy Stegall A perspective

Donald Trump has poisoned our national discourse, scapegoated Latinos and degenerated women. No matter, Americans still made him president. Seems no one was listening. In the final debate Trump reiterated his racist screed that migrants are rapists and drug dealers. He will likely continue to say whatever racially incendiary slur comes to mind in order to keep the redneck favor throughout his presidency. Our nation has become divided by talk of Trump’s infamous wall, a tiresome drumbeat heard whenever he is in a right-wing rally. His racist rhetoric has plagued Southwestern College, too, as South Bay racists now feel empowered to show their hatred of Latinos, Muslims and African-Americans. Copies of The SWC Sun and El Sol magazine have been defaced with racial slurs several times since the Republican Convention in June. Malicious words against African-Americans and Muslims were scribbled across the covers in bold black ink. Magazine covers featuring our talented Muslim ASO President were torn off. These hate crimes all

have Trump in common as the vandals wrote his name across the faces of Mona Dibas and an African-American man photographed at an El Cajon rally. “Vote for Trump” the assailant said to a witness after he was photographed holding the newspaper with a Black Lives Matter cover that he had written on. “Blacks need to take responsibility for their actions,” he said to the witness, as he tried to not take responsibility for his actions. He also said that were he not on company time, he would show why it is essential that society take over and reform the Republican Party, which he said is too liberal. Copies of El Sol magazine have been vandalized with pro-Trump propaganda or stolen. Nearly $3,000 worth of our ambitious and expensive July publication of El Sol were stolen at the same time others were destroyed or vandalized. Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at CSU San Bernardino, wrote that hate crimes against Muslims have increased 78 percent within the last year. “Additional data also revealed a severe increase in hate crime homicides in 2015, a level not seen in well over a decade, as fatal armed attacks by lonewolf extremists become more deadly,”

he wrote. “What all these offenders share is a reliance on a ‘printed circuit of stereotypes’ that label certain groups as inferior, violent, morally deficient, or a threat.” He also said that the frequency of anti-Muslim violence appears to have increased immediately following racist Trump comments. Racism from one old man is conquerable, but Trump’s racially-inflaming behavior has yoked together a right-wing army of wing nuts who scapegoat everyone outside of their Anglo-Evangelical communities and threatened a fascist revolution if Secretary Hillary Clinton had won the presidency. This disease is spreading to children. “The Trump Effect” is a phenomenon recently coined by The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project, an association which works to remove prejudice from schools. Ethnic tensions have increased. Bullying has become more frequent. “It’s producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color,” said Maureen Costello of the Teaching Tolerance Project. “Many students worry about being deported.” Children of color are living in fear

because of Donald Trump. This is a man who is going to preside over America for four years. Transgender hate crimes have increased 40 percent within the last 12 months, which adds another faction of discrimination alongside ethnicity and religion. Trump said he supports HB2, a North Carolina House bill that discriminates against the LGBTQ community. Conservatives, Trump supporters included, railed about transgenderfriendly bathrooms by saying they were afraid women would be assaulted. When the Trump tapes were released, the same posse ironically brushed off the actual sexual assault he boasted of. Sexual assault was downgraded to “locker-room talk” by the The Donald and his minions. Trump supporters say that his sexism, racism and xenophobia are “just words.” But words matter. They are the result of thought and the precursors of action. Trump has given voice to the cowardly, the hateful and the racists. His team of deplorables will not fit in any basket. Trump has crisscrossed America turning over every rock and log he could find. May God help us all, because our president is not going to.

“I’m not so much afraid of Trump, but the culture he’s created. They don’t think my life matters.” Dan Cordero, 22, LGBT Studies

@theswcsun

Theswcsun