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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
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Race promotes social diversity, equality YWCA of Knoxville holds event to start movement Deborah Ince Staff Writer As over 300 runners took off from the starting line Saturday afternoon at the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center, all knew that what they were participating in was so much more than just a race. They were starting a movement. YWCA Knoxville held its annual Race Against Racism Jan. 14, advocating the spread of diversity and the fight against racism throughout Knoxville and beyond. Hundreds of men, women and children from various ages and ethnic backgrounds joined together at the Phyllis Wheatley Center in East Knoxville to participate in the event that for over 15 years has raised awareness for the racism still prominent in today’s society. “This is a record-breaking turnout,” Race Against Racism co-chair Janet Jungclaus said Saturday. “We are absolutely thrilled. We lost a major group that historically gave us usually about a hundred racers, and we lost them this year, and we are still over what we did last year. So we are absolutely thrilled ... I think this says a lot about the community and their support of the YWCA.” In addition to holding a 5K race for the more competitive runners, the YWCA also offered a one-mile walk for the race’s older participants and for those with infants. “We are thrilled this year that we are having strollers and that the younger ones are joining us and starting to learn about this fight against racism, this awareness against racism,” Jungclaus said.
The race also proved to be a very popular family and organizational event. The Thompson family, consisting of wife Marlene, husband Tim, daughter Lauren and son Aaron, were all present to support the cause. “This is the first time (Tim) has run this race ... TVA actually provided a team and wanted people to run,” Marlene said. “And we believe in fighting against racism.” Roberta Brock and her family were also eager to participate in the race, not only as a devoted running family, but as an advocate of combating racism. “This is the first time we’ve run this race,” Brock said. “I think it’s a good thing for kids to learn, especially with Martin Luther King (Day) coming up Monday.” A silent auction, a group performance by community choir Praise, Honor and Glory and a Zumba pre-race warm up routine were also available to all participants. John Johnson, another Praise, Honor and Glory member who has repeatedly performed at the event, also commented on the significance of the cause. “(It’s important) because it still exists — racism,” Johnson said. “And I think it helps bring more awareness.” The sunny, clear-skied atmosphere on race day was reflected further by the camaraderie among the runners. No matter the size, gender, age or ethnicity of any individual runner, everyone cheered each other on as fervently as the next person, knowing that they moved for so much more than just themselves. Twenty-five teams participated in the race this year, as well as quite a few UT teams — including LGBT and Vols
Against Racism. Joel Kramer of LGBT emphasized the importance of other groups joining the fight against racism. “Well, I think it’s important that different groups that are oppressed and different minority groups all work together for the same goals,” Kramer said. “So when one group has an event, it’s important for other groups to come out and show support and to see that support reciprocated.” Co-workers Ken Brown and Dave Asmaus from the UT-Battelle National Laboratory also saw an opportunity to become a part of a cause bigger than themselves. “I saw an opportunity to participate in a community event that sends a strong message,” Brown said. “Never going to solve the problem if people don’t portray or have an effort, or participate in efforts to solve the problem. People who don’t want to change got to see that as a movement for people who want to change. So I just want to be a part of that change vehicle. Always have been, always will be.” Asmaus also expressed his enthusiasm for the race’s message. “It’s a great cause and community awareness of the issue,” Asmaus said. “It’s a huge problem in this country. People don’t pay enough attention to it or do enough about it. Ken and I are coworkers. He said, ‘Let’s go do it,’ so we’re here.” Young and old alike, the hundreds of runners who participated in Saturday’s race were joined together by three common goals — to combat racism, to spread equality and to inspire change.
Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon
Participants run through Circle Park during a race Saturday, Nov. 12. The YWCA hosted Race Against Racism, which drew over 300 runners on Saturday, Jan. 14, helping to raise both money for many YWCA programs and awareness of the ongoing issue of racism in the community.
MLK Day encourages protests in SC, community service elsewhere The Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hundreds of people rallied Monday outside the South Carolina capitol to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and protest the state’s voter identification law. While rallies in previous years have often been focused on protesting the Confederate flag that flies outside the Statehouse near a memorial for Confederate soldiers, the attention this year has turned to the voter ID law. The U.S. Justice Department has rejected the law. The Obama administration said it didn’t pass muster under the 1965 voting rights act, which outlawed discriminatory practices that prevented blacks from voting. On Monday, marchers carried signs that read: “Voter ID(equals)Poll Tax.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was among those slated to speak. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, spoke during a morning prayer service and left little doubt that the law would be the day’s focus. He spoke of the many black pioneers who gave their lives so their children and grandchildren could vote, referring to civil rights icons like Medgar Evers. He also referred to three South Carolina State George Richardson • The Daily Beacon University students gunned down by police durDesiree Seay, senior in mathematics, plays the drums during a performance by the ing a civil rights protest in 1968. Love United Gospel Choir at the MLK Day of Celebration event in the UC Monday, Barber said it was a critical time to make sure Jan. 16. The event featured songs, readings and memorials highlighting the pro- hard-fought voting rights are not lost. found impact and importance of the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “We are here to stand up, not to back down,”
Barber said. Several other states have enacted laws similar to the one passed in South Carolina, which requires voters to show a photo ID before casting ballots. Texas, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin are among them. Such laws already were on the books in Georgia and Indiana, and they were approved by President George W. Bush's Justice Department. Indiana’s law, passed in 2005, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. Critics have likened the laws to the poll taxes and tests used to prevent blacks from voting during the civil rights era. Supporters, many of whom are Republicans, say such laws are needed to prevent fraud. In Holder’s prepared remarks Monday, which were released by his office before he spoke, the nation’s top attorney pledged to make the nation’s elections system more accessible to U.S. citizens. Holder disagreed with those who say parts of the Voting Rights Act are no longer necessary. “I wish this were the case. But the reality is that — in jurisdictions across the country — both overt and subtle forms of discrimination remain all too common,” he said. “And though nearly five decades have passed since Dr. King shared his vision from the mountaintop — despite all the progress we’ve made, the barriers we’ve broken down, and the divisions we've healed — as a nation, we have not yet reached the Promised Land.”
Competition finalist, family given housing The Associated Press BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — Samantha Garvey and her family had been living in a shelter for several days when they got word the 17-year-old aspiring marine biologist had made it to the semifinals of the prestigious national Intel science competition. Now, with donations coming in and the county finding them rent-subsidized housing, she’ll again be able to do her homework in a home. “This is just the most amazing thing you could ask for,” the diminutive Garvey said at a news conference Friday, surrounded by her parents, brother, sister and a cadre of politicians and school officials. “We’re all in tears here,” she said after Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced that the Department of Social Services had located a nearby three-bedroom house where the family could live. “This is what we’ve always wanted.” Garvey is one of 300 teenagers nationwide named this week as semifinalists in the prestigious Intel science competition;
finalists will be announced at the end of January. She spent more than two years researching the effects of the Asian short crab on the mussel population in a salt marsh on Long Island, east of New York City. “What Sam found was that, like after anyone, after being attacked you develop a tough skin of shell,” said her science research teacher, Rebecca Grella. “These mussels were able to increase their thickness and protect themselves against their predator.” Grella noted the link between Garvey’s challenges and those of the mollusks she studied. “I do believe that is an amazing metaphor,” Grella said, “and I do see Sam as a strong mussel.” The Brentwood High School senior, who has applied to Yale and Brown universities, was evicted along with her family from their home on New Year’s Eve. Her mother, Olga, a nurse’s assistant, was out of work for eight months following a car accident in February, and her father, Leo, could not keep up with the bills alone on his salary as a cab driver. Housing prices on Long Island are among the highest in the country, even in Brentwood, which has struggled with gang violence in recent years. A three-bedroom home there recently
sold for $291,000, according to Lisa Kennedy, a broker with Eric G. Ramsay Associates. A three-bedroom ranch is renting for $1,800 a month, she said. The Garveys will pay 30 percent of their monthly income to rent the county-owned property, officials said. Gregory Blass, the county commissioner of Social Services, said the family was already known to officials because they were staying in a shelter, making them eligible to move into the house. He said the county works to place about 30 to 40 homeless families a month from shelters into apartments or homes. He insisted the Garveys received no preferential treatment because of Samantha’s celebrity. The house is undergoing renovations and should be ready for the Garveys in about 10 days, Bellone said. Leo Garvey, Samantha’s father, said that after the eviction he took his family to a hotel for a week because he did not want them spending New Year’s in a homeless shelter. But he finally had to contact Suffolk County Social Services for help last week; they were then placed in a shelter. This week came the accolades for Samantha’s scientific feat and the offer for the family to live in a home of their own. Her story has gotten coverage nationwide.