LeBron James

Case For:

What’s there left to be said about The Chosen One? He is what many believe to be the greatest basketball player in the world, but that’s not enough to win the MVP. By the numbers, LeBron has posted 26 ppg, 8 rebounds, and nearly 9 assists a night. He does all of this while managing to maintain a 54 FG%. He has a 26.6 PER, which while amazing, would be the fifth lowest of his career. What speaks more than his numbers when he’s

on the court are his numbers when he’s off it. Even though the Cavs are 0-4 when LeBron doesn’t play, he has still led them to the best record in the East.

Case Against: Other players average better numbers than LeBron, but that’s not the real concern when it comes to why LeBron shouldn’t win the MVP. The team he has around him hurts how good he is viewed. He has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on his team. Not to mention, who wouldn’t average 9 assists when there are 7 other  3-point shooters who hit from 38% or better from deep. LeBron is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever, but his excellent team might stop him from getting his fifth MVP.

Russell Westbrook

Case For: Russell Westbrook has been on a mission ever since July Fourth. He is looking to join historic company by averaging a triple-double for an entire season with 32 ppg, 10 assists, and 10.5 rebounds. The only other player to ever accomplish this feat was Oscar Robertson. Doing all of this while having a 30.2 PER, which would be the 20th highest PER in history, makes it all the more spectacular. Having this season after losing Kevin Durant is a testament to the warrior that is Russell Westbrook.

Case Against: Trying to do so much for his team ends up hurting his team. He has averaged 5.5 turnovers per game. Even though he has a 30.2 PER, he seems inefficient with a mediocre 43% from the field and 34% from the 3-point line. The las t time a MVP was from a team that didn’t finish in the top 3 in their division is 1982 when Moses Malone won it with the fifth seeded Rockets.

James Harden

Case For: James Harden has flourished in his new role as the full time PG, catapulting him into MVP talks around the league. He has helped the Rockets average the second most points in the league while averaging 29 ppg, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds. James Harden is leading the NBA in assists in his first true year of being a PG. For a player who used to sit in the shadow of Russ and KD, it may be their turn to revel in Harden’s greatness.

Case Against: Like Russell Westbrook, Harden commits a lot of turnovers with almost 6 a game. This only hurts the Rockets, but it’s necessary to have Harden handle the ball in their offense. He is also only shooting 44% on the season while more than 75 other players shoot a better percentage from the field.

Kawhi Leonard

Case For: After winning the past two Defensive MVP’s, Kawhi is undoubtedly one of the best defenders in the entire league. He has improved his ppg each year in the league. So far, he is averaging 26 ppg, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals a game. He may be the most complete player in the NBA right now. This was on display more than ever

when the Spurs played the Rockets most recently. Kawhi drains a 3 to put the Spurs up 2 with 25 seconds left. Next possession, Kawhi swats Harden to guarantee the victory.

Case Against: Popovich is like Bill Belichik, he always gets more credit than his players. Popovich certainly is one of the greatest coaches ever, but he will end up stealing some of Kawhi’s credit. He also does not create as much for his teammates as the other candidates. He is only averaging 3.4 assists per game. Kawhi is also on a very good team, which, like LeBron, will take away from his personal impact. A team with LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker, Danny Green, Manu Ginobli and others will certainly perform well.

The NBA MVP award is tough one, because deciding which criteria to judge the award by is nearly impossible. If it should go to the best player, give it to LeBron. Want to give it to the player with the best season? Hand the award to Westbrook or Harden then. If being the best all-around player on of the best teams is looked for, then Kawhi deserves the award.

The post Front Runners for NBA MVP appeared first on KRUI Radio.

What’s more American than corn flakes?

The Fourth of July and Uncle Sam.

What’s more American than baseball?

I am, I am, I am!

I cried very hard and told my mother that I couldn’t sing the song because I wasn’t American. My mother told me I was American and that there was no reason I couldn’t sing the song. I knew that there was a legal document that proved my citizenship, but I couldn’t comprehend that I was an American. I told her I didn’t look like one, that I was an Asian. And this sort of thinking has stayed with me throughout my entire life.

And it wasn’t until recently that I had to think of what it meant to be “Asian” here in America. You see, I am from the continent of Asia, and my parents were Asian (Korean, to be more accurate), but I was adopted when I was less that six months old. But before I could speak I had an American citizenship, and the only thing setting me apart from any other American is that I can never run for presidency. I grew up fishing in Nebraska and petting cattle at 4-H shows. I watch fireworks and wear red white and blue every July. I remember putting my hand over my heart every morning at my Catholic school to say the Pledge of Allegiance. So I am an American, but for some reason I’ve always resorted to calling myself Asian.

But I won’t say I’m Asian-American either; I think that label has a connotation of immigrant parents who sacrificed everything, of a hybrid culture and second generation children who have each foot in two different worlds. I feel like I have my feet, my whole self, in an American bubble looking out to a place everyone assumes I should be in just because of my physical characteristics.

The way we look is so crucial to our identities. If I didn’t have yellow-toned skin, if I didn’t have monolids, if I didn’t have a small frame and “flat face”… I would feel like a tried and true American. But what sets me apart every time I have to distinguish my identity in terms of my nationality, I revert to this idea that I’m just “Asian”, that I can never be an American.

So what can I do? It won’t matter if I change my perception; it won’t matter if I forget everything “Asian” about myself because I would still have people do that weird squinty thing where they pull their eyes. I would still have people ask my why I don’t use chopsticks, or if I really am into tentacle porn.

But there are very small things I can control.

I can change my hair – cut it, dye it, shave it off. I can pierce my nose. I started wearing really weird clothes. And though this doesn’t change any way my race and nationality is perceived, I can feel at least a little more comfortable when I catch a glance of myself in a window. This is the least I can do for myself.

It wasn’t until very recently that I understood the power of clothing, accessories, hair, makeup, styling… I fell in love with clothes because for me, they are more than something for protection or function. For a while, I saw clothing as a costume, but I realized I’ve never been playing dress-up. My outfits aren’t a suit of armor to soften any racist blows against me; It’s not like I’m trying to hide.

If anything, I’m trying not to take myself too seriously anymore. I wouldn’t have shaved half of my head if I was so concerned.

The post Stylized: An American Girl appeared first on KRUI Radio.

In my very first article of this column, I wrote a story. That story asked you, the reader, to imagine yourself as a child of illegal immigrants who had just gotten deported.

The story wasn’t false.

It has happened to many people over the years and currently, it’s about to get worse. President Donald Trump made it a campaign promise to deport illegal immigrants and many people cheered. They thought it was a good idea and they agreed with his plans for both deportation and the wall.

What these people forget is that the people they are against are human beings, many of whom are trying to escape Mexico. Trump said that Mexico was smart for sending their people to the US. Mexico isn’t sending anyone anywhere directly.

The corrupt government, the drug wars, kidnappings, and a poor community drive people away. My cousin makes about 17 US dollars in one day. I make more than that in two hours.

There isn’t a plan to make the US the next Mexico. Mexicans aren’t here to “take over.” We’re just trying to survive. Yes, there are “bad guys.”

Newsflash: EVERY SINGLE RACE HAS BAD PEOPLE.

It was a white man that charged into a movie theater and a white man that ran into an elementary school and killed innocent adults, teenagers, and children. It was a white man who walked into a church and killed NINE innocent people.

There is no such thing as a perfect race no matter how hard society wants to believe there is.

“Mexicans are bringing drugs…” Okay, but do you know what supply and demand is? Drug cartels bring the drugs because there is a demand for them. And who is a part of the group doing the demanding? White people. So Mexicans could be/are bringing the drugs but white people and others are consuming them.

It’s important to realize that throwing blame at one race doesn’t excuse another. I’m not saying Mexicans are perfect and I’m not saying every single Mexican even wants to come to the U.S.

It’s important to understand that the U.S. is closing its doors to human beings who wish for a better life not only for themselves but for their children. It’s important to remember that not one race is better than the other.

When the Black Lives Matter movement started, All Lives Matter was created in response to that. Most people said that race shouldn’t be a factor. (Yes, it shouldn’t be. But it is.) They also said that every life was important.

So why is it that the people who supported the All Lives Matter movement are, mainly, the ones who are telling Mexicans, Muslims, and Syrian refugees that they don’t matter and that they aren’t welcome?

The answer to the question, “Who Matters?” is simple. Everybody does. Even if certain people don’t believe that to be true.

The post Living in White America: Who Matters? appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The leader of the workshop, Tabitha Wiggins played Chance the Rapper and danced around the stage with a contagious smile, inviting attendees to join her up there. She looked at some of the workshop participants and asked “you don’t wanna dance?” as “No Problem” played in the background.

Although the workshop had an intense name, she seemed so carefree and happy. Maybe this surprised me because I felt nervous; I’ve had tons of negative experiences at workshops and settings like these where white liberals hijack the conversation for self-congratulatory purposes. She seemed like she was pretty confident, though. #goals.

She began the workshop by asking us to call her “Tab” since her mother calls her Tabitha when she’s in trouble. She clarified her pronouns and explained her position at the University of Iowa. At this school, she serves as the assistant director of equity and inclusion, and the project director of Being Black at Iowa.

Tab introduced the content of the workshop by explaining the importance of working together to dismantle oppressive institutions and narratives because “I can’t be free until you are free. Our liberation is interconnected.” Then she explained the main subject we’d discuss today: the ally-industrial complex.

After she discussed the commodification of social justice movements, Tab explained the important difference between an ally and an accomplice. An ally has become someone who only superficially oppose certain issues of injustice, and seek to become the heroes of the oppressed.

For allies, struggle becomes a commodity on which they can profit somehow where “allyship is a currency.” Tab brilliantly articulated, “an ally is disembodied from any real mutual understanding of support.” However, an accomplice works together with people at their sides without seeking additional “cookies.” Accomplices become complicit in the struggle without dehumanizing the people who suffer.

Before she proceeded, Tab explained that she found most of the content and framing for her workshop based on an article by an indigenous woman who did not disclose her name.

The rest of the workshop reminded me of a really substantive, illuminating and radical Buzzfeed article (which is arguably the opposite of everything Buzzfeed). Tab began to categorize the kinds of allies.

Salvation/Missionary Ally

This kind of ally has romanticized notions of oppression, and treats oppressed people like victims and tokens instead of humans. They engage in things like exoticization, whitesplaining/mansplaining/etc., and other microaggressive (sometimes macroaggressive) commentary.

Exploitive/Co-opting Ally

These kinds of people seek to impose their own agenda through acts of condescension. They attend rallies and attempt to change the focus from the group’s work to their own personal projects and their own sadness about systemic racism or something. This ally truly engages in another form of liberalism.

Self-proclaiming/Confessional Ally

This ally is mostly concerned about getting “ally points” or as Tab calls them, cookies. They have no intention of actually abolishing entitlement. Tab says that “anti-oppression values are like drapes in their home.”

Parachuter Ally

These people/organizations rush to the front lines of sexy movements to stay trendy and relevant. They essentially serve as missionaries with more funding, and often overlap with the savior ally. They engage in structural patronization.

Academic and Intellectual Ally

These kinds of people remind me a lot of myself a while ago (and sometimes still today). These allies use a lot of academic jargon and big words to talk about issues. They use knowledge and skills to patronize people who may not use complex language to talk about oppression. Academics are “fixated on unlearning oppression” instead of dismantling it. An academic ACCOMPLICE would use their resources and betray the institutions they previously belonged to.

Gatekeeper Ally

Gatekeepers seek to have power over others instead of with other people. They want powerful positions within organizations and make the work about their own resume-building and ego. They are known for withholding information and they have a tendency to create a dependency on themselves, such that a movement or organization lives and dies with them.

Navigator/Floater Ally

These allies familiarize themselves with the jargon and language surrounding anti-oppression, but have no meaningful dialogue about lived experiences and people who suffer from these systems. Other peoples’ oppression becomes their own personal projects. They fail to take responsibility for their own actions and are quick to be authoritarian figures about other peoples’ privilege. They dismiss confrontation and fail to see flaws in their own work.

After explaining a type of ally, Tab gave the participants some time to speak to their neighbors about experiences with these kinds of people and ways to intervene. She took a few minutes to ask people to share with the large group. The format of the workshop allowed the audience time to think for themselves and also connect with people around them.

Out of about 30 participants, only about a third were non-white passing people of color. I always feel a little disappointed when I find myself surrounded by mostly white people in a setting like that, but I have to remind myself of two things: I live in Iowa City, and white people will probably benefit from work like that.

Tab ended the workshop with ways to become an anti-colonial accomplice, but also reminded us that “no matter how free you are, we occupy indigenous land and we are still colonizers.”

Finally, Tab asked us to repeat after her as she chanted the famous Assata Shakur quote:

For more information on the ally-industrial complex, read the article from which Tab found her inspiration.

The post Witching Hour: You Ain’t Gettin’ No Cookies for Doing What Is Racially Just @ The Englert 11/5/16 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

For this month’s article, I thought I’d include an email I recently sent to a professor in regards to her problematic class culture. This is an example of a message I wish I had the energy to send to each person who has fucked with me: professors, students, community members and all.

Here’s the email in quotes, and added GIFs for your viewing pleasure.

“Dear Professor XXXXX

As you know, I dropped your class. I think it’s important you know the reasons why I left the class, because these experiences fall into a similar pattern of instances I’ve experienced in the English department, and the university as a whole (not to mention my daily life).

Your last email to me posed a question: “How can we make discussions more engaging?”

Although I am not in your class anymore, the reasons why I dropped answer this question. I don’t think it’s necessarily my responsibility to figure out ways to make class more engaging as a student, and moreover as a student of color at a predominantly white institution, but here are some suggestions nonetheless.

1) Take the time to learn the correct pronunciations of your students’ names

You asked me at least three times within the first two weeks of class how to pronounce my name my name, and each time I told you how, and you proceeded to pronounce my name in a completely different Americanized way.

The unmistakable difference between the pronunciations confused me. I didn’t understand how you seemingly did not notice the difference, even though I frequently said “that’s not what I said,” after you incorrectly said my name. I never introduced myself to you as “tan-vee” and didn’t understand why you couldn’t hear a difference in the way I said my name and you said my name.

Perhaps I would have felt more engaged in discussion if you had given me a base level of respect by saying my name correctly, or at least asking me to repeat my name so you could learn to say it properly.

2) Acknowledge difference

When I included in my discussion post that I felt tired of unrecognizable bible references, and you began class the next day with a passive aggressive “look it up,” I interpreted that response as a signal that you think my unfamiliarity with the bible is a coincidence, like not knowing French, or not knowing ballet: as if my brownness has nothing to do with my frustration and unfamiliarity with a Judeo-Christian dominated canon that your class perpetuated.

Telling a nonwhite non-Christian student to just “look up” bible references completely ignores that obviously this country prioritizes narratives by and about Judeo-Christian followers in such a diverse place.

Also, calling your class “American Literature” and only including 2 authors of color is a serious misrepresentation of America, and the art its citizens create. Multiple times, you communicated the difficulty of travel arrangements, and while I understand that, the reality is that we ended up with a syllabus dominated by the same kinds of people and that values stories written and focused on white Americans.

You continually used the phrase “left out” to describe my feelings about Christianity references and the content of my post, which trivializes and minimalizes the systemic erasure of stories by and about people of color and non-Christian folks. I didn’t just feel “left out.” I felt alienated by your syllabus and by your comments. I felt the toll of the institutional racism in your class.

3) Stop silencing race critical commentary

I sent you a discussion post that centered on race representation (or lack thereof) and you asked me why I didn’t discuss something I “really want to examine,” and something that would enable a “shrewd” essay in the future. You implied that I am not passionate about the topics I discussed and that questioning a class syllabus’s whiteness is not worth probing.

Your tone in the email indicated to me that you didn’t value the content of my post, you don’t seem to value critiques of your syllabus choices based on race. This clear devaluing of this topic did not motivate me to participate in class; after all, you pretty much indicated that what I wanted to discuss was a waste of everyone’s time.

4) Don’t tokenize your students: in this case, your students of color.

During a discussion about the second book when you defended your syllabus choices and explained the difficulty of travel arrangements, you articulated a situation in which you communicated with a black writer, but she wasn’t able to find a ride from the airport. You called me out and said, “Tanvi!” once again, mispronouncing my name, “I should have volunteered you to pick up [black writer’s name] at the airport!”

I don’t know if this was a defensive comment on your part, or you simply didn’t understand what you were saying, but this was hurtful. This instance represents one of the clearest instances of targeted racism I’ve ever experienced in a classroom. It is inappropriate to single out one of your only students of color who has raised questions about your syllabus and volunteer her for a task for which she’s not responsible.

I’m not sure how else to explain the extremely problematic nature of this instance. You may have been trying to “include” me in a class discussion, but I interpreted and experienced you tokenizing me for my brownness and my radical perspective.

I could not bear thinking about spending another day in that class. You humiliated me in front of my peers. Your comments contributed to the trauma of racism that I experience every day. While you seemed unaware, the emotional toll what you said in class overwhelmed me and forced me to leave class in order to recuperate, and eventually, leave your class permanently.

I’m sharing this with you so that you understand the problem that plagues the department, the school, and this whole country. This class is NOT the first class in which I’ve somehow felt tokenized and erased at the same time, not even the only one this semester.

While I don’t want to speak for others, I can say that instances like these affect students and their ability to excel, or even feel motivated in their academic environments. I’m tired of paying thousands of dollars every year to feel victimized and alienated in classrooms.”

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Exhibit “Screw You” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month’s featured artist wrote my favorite poetry book “salt.” and describes the piece as a “journey through warmth and sharpness.” The book discusses a wide array of issues ranging from the diaspora to colonialism to misogyny, which conveys the fierce interconnectedness of identities. Painful and poignant, raging and gentle, Nayyirah Waheed encourages self-examination, gives readers reason to be critical, and leaves them with hopeful words that keep us pondering the complexity and depth of her writing.

The US-based artist began writing at age 11. As a self-identified “quiet poet,” the internet offers little information on her background and childhood, which conveys something about Waheed’s personality. In one poem, she writes “listen to my poems./but/do not look for me./look for you.” In another, she positions herself “a bridge” between “what you may feel but cannot say.” She doesn’t seem to seek fame or attention; Waheed simply shares.

Endlessly.

Since she has shared little information about herself, and I’m not even sure what she looks like, I’d like to share how her words help my decolonization.

The poem on above forced me to consider the psychic and physical violence that I have inflicted on my body since childhood. From internalized eurocentric beauty standards to self-harm, I constantly brutalize myself and the image of myself. Mentally and physically we damage ourselves in order to conform to an idea of physical beauty imposed upon us through brainwashing and colonization. Waheed softly but powerfully suggests a starting point to be gentler towards ourselves: an apology.

Her emphasis on self-compassion and love, while seemingly simple, revolutionizes the way many societies in our world dictate the way we treat ourselves. In the poem on the right, Waheed writes of the potential of self-love, and the weight of its absence on her mental health.

At some point, I just began copying down parts from the book in my own diary to consult on bad days.

Aside from self-love, I appreciate her theme of strength, especially woman-strength in her poetry. She often writes about the resilience built through her experiences as an immigrant in the USA, as a woman embedded in capitalist patriarchy, as a black woman in institutions of systematic racism. Waheed writes about the energy necessary to bloom in a toxic environment, and appreciates her own power.

These themes represent only a few of the many issues Waheed writes about in “salt.” Although the poems are mostly short and the book has fewer than 200 pages, I took my time in reading each page to absorb every deliberate word; I still haven’t fully processed each poem. I will continue decolonizing as I re-read her book and recite her gentle words to myself each day.

“salt.” is available for purchase on Amazon, but thankfully, many of her readers have photographed pages of her book or posted quotes on the Internet. Googling her name yields many search results which display her poetry, if you’re interested in reading more.

Nayyirah Waheed has active profiles on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and her own website. She shares pieces of her work and showcases other artists who decolonize our minds.

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is discussed in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Read Nayyirah Waheed appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month, like every other month, has brought a whole new set of experiences regarding microaggressions, racism, discrimination and tokenism in my life. However, I feel like people have been exceptionally passive lately. The more I converse with the people around me about the necessity of a revolution in the way we think and act, the more I realize that people speak such empty words about activism.

I’m being very vague. Let me provide you with some sobering, concrete examples.

Recently, I started reading a book for a class that CLAIMS to be “postcolonial,” despite assigning 5/6 novels by white women. So I’m reading this book, and the writer starts making really problematic comparisons between animals and people. She literally calls prairie dogs “the untouchables,” and she compares their existence to “fists raised to the sky,” unmistakable black power movement imagery. Before I got to page 100, I had marked ten instances that made included racist/problematic rhetoric.

I went to my professor’s office hours, and I explained to her why I didn’t want to finish the book. She acted very concerned but ended up saying really condescending things like “maybe you’ll get to the point where you can read this book in the future,” as if I wasn’t mature enough to read racist literature.

The most frustrating part of our meeting happened when I expressed frustration about problematic comments made in class that went unchecked, and she told me that she heard them too.

The gif accurately mirrors my reaction to her statement.

This is almost worse, now. You hear the comments. You understand the issues with them. Then, in a classic ignorant-white-person fashion, you decide on silence, passivity, and inaction. GREAT.

She even went as far as saying she didn’t want to be “confrontational” when responding to these ignorant comments.

I understand choosing the methods of communication carefully in order to maximize effectiveness. However, she has sacrificed a safe classroom and prioritized her own methods. Fine. If that’s the decision she has made, I suppose I’ll have to deal with it. But I won’t stay quiet in her class.

A few days later, I was sitting in my class about Renaissance literature, and my teacher insisted on analyzing the minute differences in each printing of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” I asked my professor if these differences had any meaning, since printing in the 1600s was a process prone to error. He admitted I was right. Victory.

Wrong. A girl sitting behind me said something about how it’s fair to critique the literary canon, but “don’t you read Shakespeare and think that he perfectly sums up the human experience?”

Shakespeare is a white man, and can only discuss his own experiences. He will never know what it’s like to be any other person in the whole world. When I explained this, some white guy shot back “it’s not about ra-”

“It’s not about race, it’s about being human.” I explained to him that the intention of eurocentric, patriarchal discourse is to make people think that the white man’s experience can extend to all; in reality, this ignores the nuance of nonwhite people and other diverse groups. I realized at one point in the “discussion,” I was sitting in the middle of the classroom with people from all corners of the room throwing shit towards me, discounting my words, invalidating my message.

I looked to my professor for affirmation, and he decided to change the fucking subject.

He didn’t even address anything I said, and just moved the fuck on.

His reaction was honestly worse than arguing against anything I had to say, because he gave me the impression that he could not care less. My words meant nothing, and he clearly did not want to waste time responding to me.

So I no longer participate in class.

Since April is Sexual Assault Activism Month, let’s talk about this school’s “activism.”

I’m tired of the “It’s On Us” campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. The empty slogan places the responsibility of prevention on bystander intervention, when most sexual assaults on our campus (and in general) happened in a residence hall or private housing situation, and by an acquaintance. Realistically, bystander intervention is not the most effective way to prevent these assaults.

It’s not on “us,” it’s on rapists and predators to NOT assault people. The university’s approach reflects an avoidance and misunderstanding of the nature of the problem, and they seem to just want students to take care of it themselves.

I’m done with people who knowingly hang out with rapists.

I’m so sick of the people around me choosing inaction.

I’m so frustrated with people who approach me after class to tell me they agreed with me, but didn’t actually speak up in class to support my ideas.

I’m tired of people who claim to understand racism and other forms of discrimination, and don’t speak out when they hear or see acts of prejudice.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT. BE PROACTIVE. MAKE THE CHOICE TO RESIST. 

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Passivity is NOT an Option appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Adia Victoria, who performed at The Yacht Club on Wednesday night, was born and raised in South Carolina and discussed the effects of growing up around white people. She explained that she creates art to “fight against the narrative pushed on me” and how she used to associated blackness with only shame. Growing up around white kids led her to constantly compare herself to them, which created a “deficit” in her mind.

She explained that after realizing this in her 20’s, she has spent a lot of time “unpacking my internalized racism” which is an issue that many people of color share when they grow up with the indoctrination of Eurocentric ideas.

Victoria describes her feelings about blackness now to be “a liberation” from her previous ideas. She hesitantly confessed to a crowd of mostly nonwhite people that she “feels blessed” she wasn’t born white, because of the vantage point that has helped her to understand the world better.

After her answer, the audience looked back at Martin, lead singer of PHOX, whose eyes brimmed with tears. Adigweme asked her about her feelings, and Martin disclosed an important moment in the decolonization process: “I feel behind in many ways.” She elaborated, saying that because she hadn’t critically examined her blackness the way that Victoria has, she feels that it’s not her place to comment on black experiences until she has “thoroughly educated” herself.

This represents a feeling that I have definitely experienced, earlier in the learning process. I felt like my friends had so much more knowledge than me, and they had read theoretical arguments and feminist literature that I hadn’t heard of, and I invalidated my own position as a brown woman living in a white space.

However, Adigweme responded with my exact thoughts. “It is your place, though.” As a black woman living in America, as a musician creating art in a white space–her experiences are just as valid and she deserves a voice.

The panel continued, as Martin brought up issues of colorism in the black community. Victoria spoke against the limiting definitions of blackness. Both artists discussed their frustrations with wanting to create art meaningful to them, but the white music industry expecting them to make pandering music that appealed to “the NPR crowd” (otherwise known as white hipsters).

Victoria explained how she has learned to deal with those people: learning to say no. When people try to change her creative process or her political activism, or tell her she isolates herself by creating a certain kind of art, she reminds them, “you work for me.” She finished her answer by defiantly declaring “I’m not going to take a position of subservience in my art.”

Black Art/White Space Pt. II was the most powerful Mission Creek event I have attended so far, and I applaud the organizers for including this in the festival.

Check out my review of Adia Victoria’s show here, and PHOX’s show here!

Keep updated on Mission Creek events at missionfreak.com.

The post Mission Creek: Black Art / White Space pt. 2 @ ICPL 4/7/16 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

However, based on my experiences this past semester, I think we should reevaluate.

Regular readers of this column will recall my TA who felt inconvenienced by my request that he call out racist comments in the classroom. That’s just one example of people around me who choose passivity instead of action.

Last month, I sat through an entire lecture about the Harlem Renaissance for an English class and my professor (who has been published and received awards for her work) did not use the words race, racism, black, or African-American the whole time.

Her lecture erased history. Her decision to use call the Harlem Renaissance “a distinctly American movement” represents an unwillingness to factually describing the time period as a movement to demonstrate black excellence. She intentionally avoided using any words that related to race! She’s complicit in a larger problem that plagues our world: historical revisionism. This issue has become apparent in Texas, Japan, South Korea, and so many other places. In this country, this problem usually happens with nonwhite history, like my English professor propagating lies about black history. So much for progressive.

Several other experiences revealed to me the saddening truth about academia.

I recently turned in a final paper for a class in which I researched and explained how our usage of language always already privileges a male viewpoint, and provided ample support from reliable sources, but I still lost points for “absolutism.” I also cited a scholar’s interpretation of a poem, and wrote that I thought it was flawed and misguided. Then I lost points for claiming that a scholar could make such a mistake.

Because of my status as an undergraduate student, my professor seems to indicate that I am barred from criticizing scholarly work and drawing conclusions that disrupt the status quo. If we claim that certain people’s opinions are inviolable or invulnerable to criticism, how exactly are we supposed to evolve and better the world?

Apparently, we’re not.

The fact that academia is still dominated by older white men displays the unwillingness of people to accept other viewpoints that don’t comply with heteronormative expectations. If people were truly invested in the narratives of people of color, non-heterosexual people, and other groups, then the population of scholars would not be so homogeneous.

This graphic displays the lack of diversity in college faculty. Even in schools where nonwhite students hold the majority, the faculty remains mostly white.

These inequalities extend to gender, too. The graph below displays the imbalance between men and women in various faculty ranks nationwide.

Why do I and so many other marginalized people often feel alone in raising these issues in classrooms and academic spaces?

The idleness and passivity of my peers reflects a deeply-rooted privileged mindset that allows people to watch these injustices happen instead of fight back.

Police kill innocent black children and are not punished, much of congress wants to defund programs for women’s health, white men who terrorize the world still evade the label terrorists, and this dumpster fire of a human being is leading in the polls for president.

That’s why I become so angry when the school I attend and the people in authority take every opportunity to shut down my small acts of resistance. People say college is about learning to change the world, and even in the smallest instances, my attempts were denied. My experiences and those of so many other people of color and marginalized populations demonstrate the clear illusion of progress in academia.

Let’s work together to change that.

Refuse to be content with our society.

Voice your opinions and debate your superiors.

Write provocative papers and ask pressing questions.

Be critical of yourself, your peers, your relationships, and communities.

Work to decolonize your mind in every instance.

Let’s transform academia from a stifling atmosphere into a space that fosters revolutionary thought.

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” comes from writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This monthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Resist Every Day appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Within three consecutive days this month on campus, I heard some of the most prejudiced bullshit by ignorant, white people that I’ve ever heard.

I can’t say I’m very surprised. Although Iowa City has touted its ranking on many lists as a liberal haven in the Midwest, prejudiced attitudes pervade our society, especially on a college campus with so many people from different parts of the world.

Wednesday, October 7th: While eating my sub-par pizza at Burge, I heard two kids next to me talking about international students, specifically those from China. They both agreed that Chinese students insisted on remaining anti-social and only hanging out with other Chinese students, making them “kinda racist.” I whipped my head around and squinted my eyes as if to say “Seriously?” and that seemed to shut them up.

Firstly, nonwhite people cannot be racist to white people because only the latter group occupies a privileged place in society benefiting from institutional structures. Only white people can be racist.

Watch this short, blunt for more information.

Secondly, people don’t owe you shit! The individuals you’re referring to probably knew that you’re an unfriendly, prejudiced ass-hat with whom spending time would not be enjoyable!

Refer to the graphic below for more information.

These kinds of racist conversations probably happen thousands of times a day all across campus, but the more surprising and in my opinion, important, interactions occur in the classroom.

Thursday, October 8th: One of my classes required that students perform speeches regarding food advertisements’ strategies effectiveness. Because my TA showed examples critiquing the unhealthy nature of fast food and connecting that to weight gain, 75% of my class read speeches that drew a direct connection between unhealthy eating habits and all fat people, and denounced those body types.

This argument relies on a post hoc fallacy, and more importantly, makes certain assumptions about fat people that enforce western beauty standards and through fat-shaming. As someone whose body does not conform to western beauty standards, I sat through 13 speeches that expressed disgust with my body type, and also connected the shape of my body to poor eating habits.

I do not eat fast food. I will mooch a fry from my friends or get a cookie from McDonald’s, but my diet does not consist of regular trips to Burger King, Wendy’s or any other fast food place. I am also healthy, and the fact that all of these people including my teacher correlated my appearance which does not appeal to Eurocentric beauty expectations to my dietary choices pisses me the fuck off.

How dare you police my body and impose your arbitrary, oppressive expectations on me? How dare you judge a person’s life choices based on physical appearances you have been brainwashed to value over other ones? Fat people do not exist to make you feel better or act as a threatening example for you. There is no wrong way to have a body.

My teacher, the only person with authority in the room, failed to say anything. I did not expect her to interrupt a speech to highlight the offensive nature of the topic, but she didn’t say ANYTHING! Not even after the whole unit ended! When I wrote about my frustration in my project feedback, she finally acknowledged how upsetting the content of the speeches may have felt to students in the class and simply said she “wondered how we can do better.”

Passivity seems to be the primary approach that TAs use to deal with difficult issues like these, since the same kind of situation happened in another one of my classes.

Friday, October 9th: The most incredulous example of racism I experienced that week happened in the classroom, again. During a discussion about postcolonial criticism, one white guy in my English class described the mass murder of indigenous people with European diseases as biologically “upgrading the Native Americans.” Another white guy immediately called him on his racist rhetoric, which I appreciated, but I wasn’t satisfied for long. The second white guy proceeded to pride himself on the number of nonwhite authors he has read, but when I asked him which authors he liked, he said the names were too long and confusing, so he “didn’t bother learning them.”

In ten minutes, one white man erased thousands of years of the slaughter of indigenous people and somehow managed to frame it into the idea of American exceptionalism: the idea that this country has no colonial past and was founded on pure intentions. Then, another white man single-handedly disrespected all nonwhite author whose name had an unfamiliar sequence of letters, thereby disregarding the creators of literature which markedly reduces the influences of the texts. How fucking rude.

I impatiently waited for my TA to say something and ask people to choose their words more carefully, acknowledging the problematic discourse. However, he basically coddled the two men and told them mistakes were acceptable and to learn from them. That’s not enough for me.

I understand that a fine line exists between attacking a student and educating someone on their prejudiced ideas, but as an educator, he had a responsibility to figure out his role in those kind of situations and carry it the fuck out. As a woman of color in a predominantly white male class, I do not and cannot have the sole responsibility of being the spokesperson for all people of color and calling out racism, especially in an environment where I am outnumbered.

I met with my TA about my uncomfortable feelings during the discussion section, and told him that if that was how he would deal with slightly difficult interactions between students, I did not want to attend class anymore. He sympathized with my feelings and told me he wished he had been more prepared of what to say at the time. He also expressed apprehension about policing that sort of speech in the classroom, and worried about imposing his political beliefs on his students.

I’m pretty skeptical of that concern, but he does beg the question about how to separate the two. In my mind, the comments those two white guys made conveyed racist ideas and they offended me. They are objectively wrong. Others may not share this idea, so where does that leave us? This is a question that requires the attention of academia immediately.

According to this Guardian article by Rachel Williams, less than 10% of university professors are nonwhite which means that white professors dominate almost all conversations regarding race.

If they cannot distinguish the forcing of their political beliefs from preventing prejudiced comments among their own community, college campuses won’t have this ability either, and nor will college classrooms: a place where students’ minds should stretch and expand and become educated.

Racism and prejudices still exist; that’s pretty much common sense. However, when supposedly educated people with authority allow these attitudes to pervade a setting like a classroom, the problem becomes systematic and arguably state-sanctioned. We must work to decolonize classrooms, where students and teachers should engage in productive, educational conversations. This task lies with academia, and needs their attention now.

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