by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief
Depending on where you get your news from, you may have heard a lot of different things about gun control. It’s easy to get lost in facts, opinions, and statistics, so we were hoping to make it easier on you. Here’s Just the Facts on Gun Control.
Find out more information here: https://lawcenter.giffords.org/facts/statistics/
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by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief
“Every day that Congress fails to pass a clean Dream Act, 122 young immigrants lose their DACA and become exposed to deportation,” according to the United We Dream website. To summarize, in January 2017, a federal district judge in California ruled that Trump’s decision to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that shields recipients from deportation and allows them to receive work permits) was unlawful and ordered USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, to accept DACA renewals. Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice appealed the decision and called the Supreme Court to immediately consider the DACA case. The Eastern District of New York also reaffirmed that the decision to end DACA is unlawful. The Supreme Court decided hear the DACA case following the normal appeals process. There are currently UTC students rallying in Washington D.C. with United We Dream, an organization currently fighting for a clean Dream Act. United We Dream has four key areas that they are fighting for: winning protections for immigrants, defending against deportation, education access for immigrants, and justice and liberation for lgbtq immigrants. It’s current campaign for a clean Dream Act has a goal of winning “citizenship, permanent protections and dignity for immigrants in the U.S. and to defeat racist, anti-immigrant policies.” Nearly 800,000 people are protected under DACA, and there’s a current risk of families of the recipients being torn apart, and people being forced to a country that they might not even know. Before raising money to go to Washington D.C., organizers, through United We Dream, held a rally downtown in Chattanooga. The rally led to students and Chattanoogans learning about DACA, what it’s like in America right now for DACA recipients, and allowed people to come together and protest the removal of DACA and, additionally, the rights of DACA recipients. Alondra Gomez, a student, was a lead organizer for the rally in Chattanooga. People came together in support of their friends, family, and the thousands of other DACA recipients who need their support. “The people united, will never be divided” was one of the phrases chanted during the march. United We Dream, Alondra Gomez, and countless others in the city are uniting this city, and so many others, for a clean Dream Act, and to ensure that DACA recipients aren’t forced to leave their homes. If you want to get more involved, here’s the website for United We Dream. Even if you can’t be in Washington D.C., or attend every rally, you can help get the word out or volunteer. You can help unite people in a time where everyone seems to be divided. https://unitedwedream.org/our-work/protecting-immigrants/ by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief On February 7th, 2018, the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga woke up to flyers on top of Freshman Senate’s Black History Month posters. The posters featured quotes by famous African Americans. There were three flyers posted on top of the posters from a group called Vanguard America. The stickers featured words such as “Hitler was right,” “Death to Black Families,” “White Power” as well as information about the group. Someone alerted the Dean of Students Office about the situation by bringing one of the vandalized posters to the office, the second poster was taken down, near the UC like the first one, by the Dean of Students Office, and the third poster, situated near the Alumni House and the Honors College House, by a faculty member of the Honors College. The Dean of Students Office spoke with Freshman Senate at their weekly meeting that occurred after the vandalism about the nature of the event and security. Emails were sent out from Chancellor Angle, SGA President Emond, and allegedly, another one from the UT system as well.
by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief Once the week ends, and Friday night begins, people start looking for ways to entertain themselves. Sometimes you find a party, or you may have planned to go to a concert downtown. But that takes a few hours doesn’t it? If you don’t manage to find some interesting and different way to entertain yourself, what do you do then?
Alternatively, every time you get on social media you see someone trying to sell something or start their new creative venture. You may want to listen to this person’s song, but there are so many different mixtapes to listen to. It can get easy to promise to listen to it, and then manage to forget because the link can only be found on someone’s twitter that you can’t find. What if there was a way to merge both of these ideas? What if you wanted to get on one source and get connected to artists and various shows in your area? What if you wanted to kickstart your career as an artist, and get connected with other artists? The solution lies in Opus, the hub for creativity and connection. According to the founder of Opus, Jeremy Jones, the inspiration for the company came two years ago at a UTC leadership institute, LeaderShape. The participants of the institute were given the challenge of coming up with an idea and imagining if said idea actually happened. Jones was met with enthusiasm to his idea, which, after working on it, designing and asking a graphic designer to help with the initial sketch, became Opus. Jones described the process of coming up with Opus as trial and error. He had to narrow the idea down to what it is today. So what is it? Opus is a hub where artists of different forms have the opportunity to connect. The company philosophy states that, “it is our job to give exposure to artistic acts in hopes that those who visit this page may be inspired to go out and create works themselves.” At the moment, it is a website, listed below, although Jones described that eventually, he wants it to be a place where all artists will be able to go to create their art form and find out about other artists and their projects. On the website, under the ‘Creative Content’ tab, there will be up-and-coming artists’ information and interviews so that you can learn more about them and contact them. Jones described an ideal situation where a poet gets connected with a band for an event that they may be planning through this tab. Under the ‘News’ tab, you can find information about upcoming events and shows in Tennessee and surrounding states. Jones encourages any and every one that he knows to subscribe to the website to be notified about updates. Additionally, he suggests following the company on social media through the tag: @worldofopus. There’s currently an Instagram, Twitter, and a Facebook. By subscribing, you not only have the opportunity to find out about various artistic endeavors, but you’ll also find out about different ways to join Opus in giving back to the community. Jones is hoping to donate to charities and different schools, and there are also particular fundraising events that are in the works. Jones has had this dream for awhile, and now, it’s a reality. He’s hoping to continue working on it after he attends graduate school. With the help of Terry Hervery, Opus’ Chief Financial Officer, and Zachary Lee, Opus' Creative Director, he hopes to expand his dream to become a physical company for all who want to connect with artists, become an artist, or appreciate an artists’ work. This is exactly the solution for an evolving, artist-filled city like Chattanooga, and any other city full of citizens who want to get more involved in the arts. For more information, visit https://www.worldofopus.com/. Subscribe and follow the company on social media so that you’ll finally be able to find something to do on that Friday night, or find out about that artist that you promised to listen to. by Dominique M., Assistant Editor-in-Chief We all have ideas. We all have plans. We all struggle to find time. We live in a world where we are constantly moving and our society is constantly changing, so it is fitting that our thoughts would do the same. But the problem that happens when we let go of these ideas is we are letting go of the reason why we wanted to fix the problem in the first place.
On November 1, UTC Honors College was able to secure speaker Jonathan Kubakundimana, a program assistant from the Equal Justice Initiative founded by Bryan Stevenson. Kubakundimana discussed how, in America, we have many interracial issues that stem from slavery and our history of lynchings. This topic is often uncomfortable, but our speaker was able to take the issue by the reigns and discuss why it is important that we don’t just talk about the ideas and forget them. Rather, he encouraged us to carry the discussion with us in everything we do. The Equal Justice Initiative is creating a museum to commemorate all those who were lynched in the time from slavery to the post-Civil Right era. The museum will hold over 800 columns with over 4,000 names to signify all those who were slaughtered in each county. They plan to have duplicate columns surround the museum in the hopes that each county will choose to take and post their column in their county. The goal is to bring more awareness to our history of terrorism towards African-Americans, because we can’t move forward until we face what has always been a problem. Moreover, Kubakundimana told us about this incredible project, not to scare us, but to heighten our knowledge. The center of his speech was about our history as a nation and how we may be great, but we are only as strong as our weaknesses. No matter how we look at it, our weaknesses stem from the history that we constantly choose to ignore. We can not disregard an entire century of meaningless and senseless killings with the rationale that “all of those terrible things are in the past.” For that precise reason, we need to bring this issue to the forefront of our thinking and the forefront of why we want to improve the nation of America. The Equal Justice Initiative revolves around increasing knowledge on these problems and not just discussing them, but doing something about them. If you would like to learn more about the Equal Justice Initiative or you would like to help, then please feel free to visit https://www.eji.org/ or contact Dominique Malone at [email protected]. by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief I can’t be the only one that thinks of hot air balloons as a romantic date idea in a whimsical scene not unlike those seen in “La La Land.” While I’ve never actually seen the movie, the commercials showed a couple being whimsical and cute, singing and floating, and those are all associated in my mind with hot air balloons.
I’ve also never, not one time, pictured black people floating on the hot air balloon. I don’t know if that’s because it’s not a typical thing for black people, at least the ones I know, to go that high in the air, or if I’m associating hot air balloons with Jim Crow laws and systematic oppression. Either way, when I found out that it was possible for me to go, I figured I’d give it a shot. Am I afraid of heights? Yes. Did I have any idea what I was getting myself into? No. That’s why I brought a friend (thanks, Ryenne). I was asked to attend a “free hot air balloon ride” from a friend, Abbie Wheeler, who I’m in a club with. I figured it would be something fun to do over Fall Break and since it was free (and she mentioned free food), I couldn’t find anything that I could lose from attending. I told her that I was interested and she said all I had to do was “help set up.” I said yes, thinking that I’d have to help pump up the balloon or something and then maybe plug in a few things. There are times where I’ve been wrong, and then there are times where I’ve been really wrong, and this was one of those times that I was really wrong and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I ended up at the Reflection Riding Nature Center, which is where Wheeler’s family’s business was going to set up their hot air balloon for the Wild and Scenic Film Festival. There were about four people that looked like myself at the festival, and I’m including myself and my friend Ryenne. There were also a few food, wine and beer vendors, and at 7:30, “Revival of the Red Wolf,” a film, was set to premiere. I’d never been to a festival like it (and that was probably the last), but it was nice out. It was the perfect scene for a secluded murder, but it was still nice out. So, the setup of the hot air balloon was very interesting. We first had to untie the ropes, then there was a burner test, which is where they test the burner that (I’m no scientist) is used to lift the balloon in the air. After the burner test, we had to open the balloon. This consisted of blowing air into the balloon to inflate it, then using the burner, which was a huge flame that used propane gas, to lift the balloon into the air. It sounds simple enough, but not only was the fan not working for a solid 20 minutes, but while I was holding the balloon to allow for the flame of the burner to enter, the intense heat of the flame was upwards of 210℉, and was what I’d imagine would be akin to first entering the gates of Hell. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact of the matter is: it was very hot. However, once we got the hot air balloon in the air, it was smooth sailing. Literally. Something I didn’t know about hot air balloons: weight is an issue. When one person got off, another person had to get on immediately in order to keep the weight steady so that the balloon wouldn’t suddenly rise without warning. One more fact: it’s almost impossible to have a romantic date of some sort on the balloon. The basket was not large enough for that and there had to be an “engineer” in the basket in order to make sure it stayed afloat and that it didn’t suddenly malfunction or run out of gas. You basically have a foot between you and a man who’s constantly lighting fire above your head in order to keep the balloon in the air. Despite all this, and despite my fear of heights, I had a lot of fun in the balloon. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was a smooth ride and definitely an experience I had to write about. I know you all are itching to ride a hot air balloon yourself. Tickets are never more than $10, at least for the company I was with, and they come to Chattanooga all the time. You can also help out, like I did, to get the full experience for free! Find more information about Smoky Mountain Air Hot Air Ballons at smokymtnair.com. Get on their website to find out where they’re going to be flying next! My advice after my experience: get out and explore. Try new things. Everybody says that, but I had fun with people I still don’t know while doing something that I never thought I would be doing. And I lived to tell about it. by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief When you think of fall, do you think of cold weather and pumpkins? Halloween and Fall Break?
Do you think of “diversity”? Probably not. I’m sure some of you are tired of hearing the words “diversity” or “inclusive,” but there was a diversity conference over fall break that worked to question your definitions, and, most definitely, helped you check your privilege. Moving Our Campus (MOC) Forward Diversity Conference, an Inclusive Excellence Conference, took place over Fall Break on Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 with a motto of “Exploring Inclusion as a Path to Excellence.” The conference signified a milestone on UTC’s campus as, according to co-chairs Dr. Valerie Rutledge and Dr. Bryan Samuel, “It [brought] students, faculty, staff and key community partners together in our first diversity-themed forum of this kind.” They wanted the conference to provoke each and every participant to reflect on their part in Moving Our Campus Forward. Now, what differentiated this conference from any other conference, and why would you want to go to a conference over your Fall Break? Short answer: good food. Long answer: the sessions were not only vast in number (there were 24) and were presented by different people from both the community and campus, but they were all so interesting and unique that choosing only three for the conference was very difficult for many of the participants. Some of the sessions included discussions about socioeconomic diversity in, “The Have’s and The Have More’s,” a session presented by Kimberly Brooks, assistant director of financial aid on campus, or discussions about religion and disbelief in “Yours, Mine and Ours,” a session by Deborah Levine, award-winning author and cross-cultural coach. Another session defined islamophobia, presented by student Warda Kahlot, or discussed advocacy and how it could be used to “Elevate the Status of Women in Tennessee,” a session by Emily O’Donnell, the Executive Director of the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga. These are just a few of the sessions and presenters, but the moral of the story is: if you missed the conference, then you missed out on a great experience to not only learn something you may not have learned, but to interact with professionals who may have had potential connections for your future. Opinions On The Conference According to Dr. Bryan Samuel, this conference “was one of the few times in [his] 24 years of experience where [he’s] seen students, faculty, and staff speak on one accord on diversity and inclusion.” He expressed that the conversations that were being had at the conference were very important--especially when thinking about competing for jobs in the global market. He stated that, “You can’t expect to be marketable if you’re not educated.” Tyrone Smiley, a former UTC Resident Director who presented on the utilization of social change in organizations, said that, “It’s a different campus from when I worked here, but if students implement what they’re learning in the sessions, it’ll definitely benefit the campus.” Levar Smith, a Morehouse professor who presented on cultural differences here and abroad, expressed that, “Impact happens after you leave the conference. Right now, everyone’s processing what’s going on. I’m very glad to have been a part of this phenomenal conference.” Alondra Gomez, a student attendee, expressed that she often doesn’t “feel like UTC is explicit about things like [diversity and inclusion]. It feels like they’re taking initiative to change things. [She did] wish more students attended though.” Dr. Richard Brown, in a closing speech that was very Dr. King-esque stated that, “We must be willing to have these types of conversations, not just annually, but all year long.” The first time Dr. Brown heard a racial slur was actually on this campus when he was 8 or 9 years old and living in the area. Dr. Brown has experienced the forward motion of the University towards embracing diversity and inclusion from all people of all “ethnicities, thoughts, and scholarly ideologies” and he wants to ensure that the MOC Forward conference becomes an annual event. Even if you decide that you don’t want to attend the conference next year, Dr. Brown wants us all to remember the word “intentional”: “Diversity and inclusion doesn’t just happen. You have to be intentional. We must continue a dialogue regarding respect and civility.” To close his speech, he implored, “Can’t we all just get along? Can we not all share a common dream?” Be on the lookout for information about the MOC Forward Diversity Conference next year, and be sure to attend. by Adeola I., Staff Writer Colorful flags representing dozens of countries around the globe waved graciously and proudly at Culture Fest this past weekend at the Chattanooga Market. Local vendors sold authentic clothing and jewelry from Central American, South American, Asian, and African countries, and food trucks specialized in cuisines such as Southern Creole Cuisine.
Culture Fest made it possible to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich and gator tail in the same sitting. The smell of authentic empanadas and burritos flooded the market. Traditional Peruvian dance was at one side of the fest, while at the booth featuring Japanese culture, market-goers completed origami structures, and learned about Yucatas, a casual form of a kimono. Whether you're interested in Japanese kimonos, beautiful Mexican embroidered dresses, Peruvian dances, or vibrant Guatemalan jewelry, be sure to check out Culture Fest next year. The Chattanooga Market has various themed Sundays, such as the Culture Fest, so be sure to check out their website to find out more information: http://chattanooga.events/organizer/chattanooga-market/ The Chattanooga Market is open from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. every Sunday. by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief Here’s your update on what’s going on in the United States with coveted dead memorials:
If you haven’t heard of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA: there was a statue of Robert E. Lee (top army commander of Confederate States of America), the city of Charlottesville decided to remove said statue, white nationalists then banded together over this and during the rally, proceeded to say racially controversial statements that included, but is not limited to, various chants that paid homage to Hitler. One day after that rally, the Mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh, in the “best interest of [the] city,” (Fandos, Goldman & Bidgood, 2017) decided to remove Confederate monuments “under the cloak of darkness,” (at night). Mayor Pugh’s decision may have prevented a nationalist rally, such as the one in Virginia, but how does this affect you, a student at UTC? It turns out that we are being directly affected by this white nationalist “movement,” if you will. All over the South, confederate monuments and statues are being removed. While Chattanooga may not have any confederate statues or monuments, Mayor Andy Berke decided to renounce Chattanooga’s confederate cemetery: a cemetery that is technically on campus. If you go to the UC at all throughout the week, you’d be less than a block away from a cemetery memorializing people who didn’t fight for the rights of those with a little extra melanin. Chattanooga is currently moving to renounce its position as a trustee of the cemetery. Mayor Berke stated: “While we honor our dead, we do not honor the principle for which they fought. Our city should be invested in our future, not a discredited past. Confederates fought against America to preserve slavery. That is the truth, and we should no longer subsidize any myths to the contrary" (Times Free Press Staff Report, 2017). I think that this is the most important thing to remember. Yes, we should honor our dead. People died, and that’s not something that should be taken lightly, but we don’t have to honor everything that they fought for. Yes, we should be proud of our heritage; however, the heritage that is often celebrated in the South, is a heritage that was more hurtful than not. What do you do now? What can you do about this? How does this affect you? The first thing that you can do is educate yourself. Don’t just read this article and take my word for it. If you want more information, look it up. For bi-partisan news, my World Politics professor recommends the New York Times and BBC. The Chattanooga Times Free Press is great for Chattanooga News. This affects you because the cemetery is directly across the street from you when you’re on campus. This affects you because you go to class with people who may feel threatened by this issue. This affects you because you never know who you’ll encounter tomorrow or even in the far future. Once you figure out that this does affect you, either directly or indirectly, you can show your support in various ways. You can attend rallies, you can show your support online, or in person. Write a letter or maybe start a conversation. Don’t let this be the only time that you think about this issue. If it was important enough for white nationalists to shout “heil Hitler,” then it’s important enough for you to get educated on it. References: Sheryl Stolberg and Brian Rosenthal. (2017, August 12). Man Charged After White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville Ends in Deadly Violence. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-protest-white-nationalist.html?mcubz=0 Nicholas Fandos, Russell Goldman and Jess Bidgood. (2017, August 16). Baltimore Mayor Had Statues Removed in ‘Best Interest of My City’. Retrieved September 19, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/baltimore-confederate-statues.html?mcubz=0 N/A. (2017, August 18). Chattanooga seeks to renounce Confederate cemetery. Retrieved September 19, 2017, from http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2017/aug/18/chattanooga-seeks-renounce-confederate-cemetery/444290/ |
Author's Note:Welcome to The Torch: Reborn, your multicultural newspaper. Archives
December 2018
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