Thursday, 22 January Issue 6 Volume XCI. Charlie Hebdo Feature Inside. A Year Without God Exclusive Interview with Ryan Bell

Transcription

1 Thursday, 22 January 2014 Issue 6 Volume XCI Charlie Hebdo Feature Inside A Year Without God Exclusive Interview with Ryan Bell

2 2 Campus Chronicle no.6 Letter From The Editor By David O'Hair This letter will be truncated because the articles speak for themselves. Simply, this issue focuses on the critical problem of human rights violation. Human rights violation is inherently a broad topic, because everyone has a unique view on the definition of rights and what constitutes violations. The array of articles compiled here reflects the diversity of human rights issues currently plaguing our society. These might not be the most discussed violations, but they are crucial nevertheless. From the entire staff at the Campus Chronicle, we hope this issue expands your understanding on some of the most recent and glaring human rights violations, and provides an idea on how you can become part of the global conversation. Questions or comments? dcohair@puc.edu Editor-in-Chief David O Hair Assistant Editor Nic Miller Layout Editor Taylor Smith Features Editor Taylor Pittenger News Editor Tara Hattendorf Sports Editor Trent Broeckel Opinion Editor Carlo Pean Backpage Editor Amanda Navarrete Copy Editors Emily Mathe Jayson Paw Jessica Winters Laura Helms Pascale Pean Faculty Advisers Lynne Thew Michelle Rai Charlie Hebdo By Pascale Pean Twelve people were killed in Paris on Jan. 7th in an attack on a satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. This is the deadliest attack in France since Cherif and Said Kouachi, both French citizens, are suspected to be the gunmen. The attackers wielded automatic rifles, killing 10 journalists and two police officers. Among the journalists killed was Stéphane Charb Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo. Charlie Hebdo writers and cartoonists mock everything and everyone, priding themselves on treating nothing as off limits. This attitude has resulted in repeated threats for their drawings of the Prophet Muhammad naked in degrading poses. This recent attack is not the first violent incident involving Charlie Hebdo however. In 2011, the Charlie Hebdo offices were firebombed after releasing an issue with a drawing of Muhammad on the cover, stating that he was the guest editor. French President François Hollande described the attack as a terrorist operation against a newspaper that has been threatened several times. He continued to say that the whole French Republic had been attacked since the gunmen tried to attack the idea of peace and justice. On Jan. 9th, French police officers found Cherif and Said Kouachi hiding in a printing plant 25 miles northeast of Paris. They were killed in a shootout. Amedy Coulibaly, another gunman who killed a police officer on Jan. 8th, held a Paris grocery store hostage that same day in what officials consider to be a linked event. Four hostages were killed, bringing the total number of fatalities in these attacks to 17. As a response to the terrorist attacks, people around the world came together in solidarity for the slain victims. Je suis Charlie ( I am Charlie in French) was written on posters in rallies and hashtagged online, along with signs stating not afraid. Pencils and pens were raised in memory of the slain journalists, as French flags were held high.

3 vol. xci Thursday, 22 January On Sunday, Jan. 11, more than one million people, including both current and former European presidents and prime ministers, came together in Central Paris in unity as a country and in defiance of the terrorist acts. President François Hollande stated that this type of unity is the best weapon against terrorism. Cartoonists around the world have come together in solidarity by drawing compelling, solemn cartoons in memory of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists killed. This attack has come at a time of rising Islamophobia in Europe. In late 2014, thousands of people in several German cities gathered to protest Muslim immigration. France, with 5 million Muslim immigrants, has the largest Muslim population in Europe. Although the gunmen claimed to be avenging the Prophet Muhammad, true Islam condemns such violent, barbaric acts. Political analysts fear that these events will be used by the French political far-right as a way to justify antiimmigrant, specifically anti-islam, sentiments. Alain Gresh, editor of the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique said that this incident can strengthen Islamophobia and make people see all Muslims as the same as a threat to our civilization and values. Daniel Benisty, a Jewish singer present at the Jan. 8th rally in Paris, said, We can live together. It s the idea of living together because we share the same values liberty, fraternity, equality, to live in peace and respect each other despite our differences. Do you believe that Charlie Hebdo's cartoons cross the line of acceptable satire? NO 60 % YES 40 % * out of 56 PUC students Amnesty International & PUC By Jonathan Chow Halfway through our interview in his office, Greg Schneider, Ph.D., professor of religion and social science, comes alive. He has not yet abandoned his customary recline to which, as much as anything else, he is ardently committed but he s begun to point and gesture; to move with energy, purpose: This [human rights] is not an add-on or an afterthought, because the Gospel is the gospel of the new order of things. It s the gospel of the kingdom. It s the gospel of commonwealth. What is secondary, and kind of off to the side, is the fact that I get saved. The longtime professor is talking about the moral imperative of the Christian to concern himself with the rights of people. Since 2002, Dr. Schneider has been the faculty advisor for the PUC chapter of Amnesty International (AI- PUC) a human rights organization that claims nearly 3 million supporters worldwide, yours truly included. I joined Amnesty s leadership core my sophomore year, inspired in large part by Schneider s involvement in AI-PUC, but also by the organization s long and distinguished history as a defender of human rights. The origins of Amnesty International can be traced back to a British lawyer named Peter Benenson. As the story goes, in 1961 Benenson was outraged to learn of the imprisonment of two Portuguese students, detained for apparently having a toast to freedom in a tavern. Benenson would pen an article for the London-based newspaper The Observer, asking public opinion to rally around six prisoners of conscience from across the globe. The result of that article was an outpouring of public support and the formation of Amnesty International. Amnesty would eventually grow into one of the world s largest and most prominent human rights advocacy groups its unmistakable highpoint was in 1977, when the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize. Four decades after the organization s inception, coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11 devastated the U.S. and ushered in the War on Terror. By 2002, Amnesty vigilant as ever had already begun documenting possible human rights abuses in Afghanistan. Calls urging world governments to be mindful of the human rights of the local Afghan population were largely ignored or dismissed. In a report published in May of 2002, Irene Khan, at the time the Secretary General of Amnesty International, lamented the growing view that human rights were an obstacle to security. It was in this atmosphere that at the urging of Gregory Schneider then student Nickolas Fouladpour decided to open a chapter of Amnesty International at PUC. Fouladpour, a biology major, wanted to open up different lines of dialogue that would consider the role human rights played during the war. I reached out to Fouladpour, now a fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, over Facebook to ask him about the early days of AI-PUC. Dr. Schneider was at nearly all of the early meetings and was pivotal at adding his learned voice/opinion on many topics, Fouladpour writes to me. His early advocacy and support was really indispensable to the organization and fostering of the group. Fouladpour describes early meetings as loose, conversational and informative. Each meeting was a real lesson in history and political science of the area we were focusing on, he writes. Fouladpour influenced in part by the guidance of Dr. Schneider went on to become the president of his medical school chapter of Physicians for Human Rights. The hope, Schneider tells me, is that students

4 4 Campus Chronicle no.6 like Fouladpour leave as changed people as a result of their involvement in AI-PUC. He views Amnesty s role at PUC as largely educational. I understand my sponsorship of Amnesty International as very much an extension of my calling as a teacher, says Schneider. He characterizes Adventism s approach to human rights as ambivalent. All the more important then, that he be involved in Amnesty, and that students at Adventist universities be involved in organizations like Amnesty. I would like to think that Amnesty s presence on PUC s campus that s an expression of some of the best aspirations of Seventh-day Adventism, he tells me aspirations informed by the gospel. He s careful to point out to me that although his faith informs his concern and advocacy on behalf of human rights, Amnesty International itself is a non-sectarian organization. Nevertheless, Schneider notes that many of the aims and concerns of the organization are concordant with his own understanding of the gospel. Letter writing campaigns Amnesty s flagship protest, its history reaching back to the days of Peter Benenson is, as Schneider characterizes it, an almost spiritual exercise, especially when those letters can offer encouragement and support to those suffering under the yolk of oppression. He quotes a passage from Zechariah 4:6: Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord. It s a delusion, he says to me, of the opposite of the Kingdom of God to think that real power grows out of the barrel of the gun, or real power grows out of your control of money and economic resources. Those are secondary to the power of the spirit the human spirit and the divine spirit. Bob Goff On Spreading Love By David O'Hair An office building located on top of a bakery in downtown San Diego may not inspire visions of grandeur, but the individuals within the tiny beige-colored cubicles have a global impact. I entered the office doors and was immediately greeted by the towering frame of New York Times bestselling author and Restore International Founder, Bob Goff. After Goff led me into a small room filled only with reclining chairs and bookshelves, I tried to appear nonchalant as I led our conversation onto the topic of Restore International s progress since its inception in I knew this would not be your run-of-the-mill interview when Goff started to talk about his organization by saying, I don t have an organization. I quickly decided the only adequate response was to sit there for ten seconds and then nod my head so I sat and nodded. Goff clearly realized his answer had shot miles over my head and graciously explained that Jesus did not have an organization, so I don t want to have an organization. Now that we had decided on our interview s terminology, I asked Goff to elaborate on his nonexistent organization, which led to a much more fruitful answer. Goff founded Restore International after a trip to India gave him firsthand exposure to extreme human rights violations. These violations revolved around the sex trafficking markets and brothel operations. Since 2003, Restore International has established ongoing operations in India, Uganda, Somalia, Iraq and Nepal. Restore International goes into these locations and conducts raids on brothels to rescue women and children who are being sexually exploited. Once these victims are rescued, Restore International enrolls them in schools in their respective home countries to improve their lives. There is one more crucial step done by the attorneys of Restore International: Goff, who is an attorney and law professor, takes the brothel owners to court in their respective countries charging them with crimes against humanity. Goff and his legal team prosecute the criminals abroad, only allowed because Restore International has been granted access to the legal systems in the countries. When I asked Goff how Restore International got its start abroad, Goff gave a simple answer with saying, We just started going into brothels asking for young girls, then we would set up raids to free them. After that we would take the bad guys to court. Goff s philosophy with taking the brothel owners to court is love and justice go hand-in-hand. You cannot enforce your love if you don t enforce justice. Three weeks prior to our interview, Goff made a trip to Iraq in order to tour the school that Restore International established. The other reason for the trip was to practice what he preached: loving extravagantly. We went to the school because they [the students] were afraid, so I figured let s go be afraid together. Goff revealed that he is often criticized because the way Restore International works is not the most efficient or cost-effective. Once on this topic, Goff was visibly more energetic about defending himself against this accusation. Goff leaned forward in his chair and placed his hand on my arm while saying, I don t try to be the smartest guy in the room, I try to be the most loving. At Restore International we don t love efficiently, we love extravagantly. Goff is an example of loving people extravagantly. On the last page of his book, Love Does, Goff lists his cell phone number. Yes, his actual cell phone number. During our interview Goff took a call from a reader in Oklahoma City who wanted to express his love for Goff s book. Once he was off the phone, Goff explained that his goal is to never let anyone go to voic . I was visibly surprised and blurted out, Never to voic ? with a tone of disbelief accompanied with reservations about this policy. Goff simply laughed, grabbed me by the shoulders and exclaimed, That s

5 vol. xci Thursday, 22 January what I've been telling you! Love extravagantly, not efficiently. The importance of showing love to those around you is a perfect summation of what I learned from my interview with Goff. After our interview ended, Goff and I continued to talk. At one point, he scooted his chair closer with a look in his eye that foreshadowed a deep thought. With almost tangible emotion in Goff s voice, he quietly said, Don t ask how your life is working for you. Ask how your life is working for those around you. The result of our last exchange of words had me leaving Restore International s office with a quote that had implanted itself in my consciousness with earnest. Not all of us can begin our humanitarian efforts by raiding brothels and pressing charges, but we all can implement Goff s infectious drive for spreading love. The most applicable lesson presented by Goff is simple and easily adaptable: love extravagantly. Book Review By Melissa May For those who are in the know, most women live in an unexpectedly old-fashioned world that is full of unjust oddities. It is no surprise that feminism is a huge topic and has undoubtedly risen to the top of the cultural climate this past year. Before the eye rolling begins, consider that there are many advocates like Roxane Gay who understand the contradictive and inaccurate noise that the term feminist now provokes. Gay is a self-proclaimed bad feminist because her stereotype is far from a mainstream label. Gay is the child of Haitian immigrants, with tattoo sleeves and whose favorite color is pink. In her writing, Gay boastfully expands, I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all. Presented in this book are the failures of female representation in a way that is thought provoking, smart, and irresistibly clever. Gay s uses of examples from pop culture, including The Hunger Games and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, to illustrate her thoughts are delightfully unexpected. Revealed in all the included essays is an audible longing to bring enlightenment to people of all backgrounds, races and genders. Mental fist pumping was involved as I examined each page of this book. Bad Feminist gives an accurate portrayal of feminism included in our flawed generation that we give consent to through silence on the topic. Exclusive Interview With The Pastor Who Went "A Year Without God" By Gabriel Riojas & Josh Mendez On January 1, 2014, former Seventh-day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell announced that for his New Year s resolution he would live a year without God. A year passed, and Bell has concluded that there is no evidence for the existence of God, leading him to classify himself as agnostic-atheist and humanist. His journey has resonated with countless religious and non-religious people, and given a voice to those caught in between, who are not satisfied with the labels theist or atheist. Although he is widely popular for his transition out of religious beliefs, Josh and I decided to understand his journey through the lens of his activism and human rights work. Q: When in your life did humanitarian causes become important, or something you wanted to be involved in? A: It s difficult to nail down an exact time, but I definitely remember that I became very sensitized after 9/11. Initially it wasn t humanitarian things. It was more about the complicated relationship between the church and the state in America, and how religion had been co-opted by power. As a pastor, I d always been interested in alleviating the suffering of the poor. However, after 9/11, I became interested in justice and systemic injustice. I realized that social systems are constructed in such a way that excludes and marginalizes certain groups of people. And then I started reading some theologians who really helped me connect my feelings after 9/11 to this new way of being Christian: people like Stanley Hauerwas and Walter Brueggemann. Q: Christians adhere to a religious authority for moral knowledge; in your view, what sources outside of religious authority exist that can lead one to ethical choices? A: Yeah, this always comes up, and it s good that you asked. I m not an ethicist, so I tread a little lightly in this area. Here s where I am at this moment. There s an evolutionary approach to ethics which basically is pointing out that our impulse toward altruism, our desire to help, empathy, compassion, these things that are the first impulses to be ethical people, come from our sophisticated evolution in ways like group

6 6 Campus Chronicle no.6 behavior, survival, and formations of societies that can cooperate together to achieve larger objectives and survive together against the odds. There are always outliers we might think of them as psychopaths, sociopaths, people that can t, for whatever reason, manage to get along with anyone else. But in general healthy, emotional human beings have this innate desire to be good people. Even the most, we might say greedy, have an impulse to give back. Q: How did you get into working with PATH? Can you tell us a little bit about the organization for those of us who do not know? A: PATH stands for People Assisting The Homeless. It s a 30-year-old organization, and is a nonprofit agency that assists the homeless in becoming housed. Our mission is to end homelessness for individuals, and also for communities. It s a very multi-faceted organization, but we work with clients one by one with case management services; we connect them to whatever services they need individually to help them overcome whatever barriers they are facing to being housed. I got involved when I was a pastor. It started in Los Angeles, but now it s in 22 locations, from San Diego to San Luis Obispo and possibly soon in San Jose. To my knowledge, we are the largest nonprofit homeless service agency in the state of California. When I started Year Without God in January, someone in PATH ed me that they had some openings and I applied. I started out in one of our job centers in West LA helping individuals work on their resumes and interviewing skills. Then in August I moved over to be the director of community engagement. I get to interface on behalf of PATH government, other nonprofits, and, ironically, faith-based organizations as well. You can volunteer, and if people have MSWs we seem to always be hiring social workers. Q: What is next for you after this Year Without God journey? What other projects are on your radar? A: One of the most interesting things that I discovered this year is that there are thousands of people who are somewhere in between; they are uncomfortable giving up the idea of God. They recognize the problems with religion and with faith, and they are stuck in between. So I, for a year, put myself in this in-between space in a public way and what s happened is that, without exaggeration, about a thousand people have written to me over the course of the year who have said, I m somewhere along this spectrum. I m not comfortable saying that I m a Christian but I m not comfortable saying that I m an atheist. I feel stuck. There s no framework, venue, or forum in which people can process that. So I m interested in creating spaces for people who are in this liminal space where they can deal with, struggle with and come to whatever conclusion they like. Q: Do you have any last advice for PUC students regarding humanitarian work? A: I think I m always reminded that we have this one planet and this one life. The planet is a lot smaller than we think and we need to share it. We need to zoom out to see the big picture, and realize that when you take heaven or the earth made new out of the equation, this is not like Mario Bros. where you get to have seven lives. We have this one opportunity to make an impression on our families, our children and our society, and I just think that you have to make the best of it. Transgender Suicide Raises Awareness With the world poised to discuss social issues, transgender teen Leelah, born Josh, Alcorn committed suicide on December 28 in her home state of Ohio, causing shockwaves around the country. Her death on the highway was planned, as a post on her blog explained. In the post Alcorn, who was 17, cites the reason for committing suicide as depression rooted in her parents inability to accept her as transgender. While her blog has since been deleted, the suicide note has received over 200,000 notes on the website and is still in circulation. Alcorn s blog explains that she had felt like a girl trapped in a boy s body since she was 4 and at 14 learned the term transgender. Alcorn writes, After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively. Her parents, conservative Christians, sent her to therapists, but Alcorn writes that they only advised her to look to God for help while ignoring her psychological needs. Eventually Alcorn s parents removed her from public school and cut off her communication from her friends, worsening her depression and loneliness. Even after her parents allowed her to talk to her friends again she still felt alone, and she explains multiple times in the blog post how she hates herself. In committing suicide Alcorn writes of her hopes that society would fix itself. The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren t treated the way I was, they re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human By Tara Hattendorf rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something. Alcorn s wish is in the process of being granted, as within hours of her suicide her blog post had spread far around the Internet and to all forms of social and news media. Celebrities shared their condolences and Internet communities came together to mourn Alcorn s death. In the weeks following her suicide, people shared inspiring stories on Twitter with the hashtag #RealLifeTransAdult explaining that it really does get better and encouraging transgender youth not to give up hope. A petition to ban transgender conversion therapy was created on Change.org on December 31 and has received over 300,000 signatures.

7 vol. xci Thursday, 22 January The writers of the petition cite the unethical nature of conversion therapy and request that the United States put in place legislation to outlaw it. The petition quotes the National Association of Social Workers, which says there is an environment in which lesbians and gay men often are pressured to seek reparative or conversion therapies, which cannot and will not change sexual orientation. In an article for Time magazine, transgender athlete Fallon Fox writes in opposition to conversion therapy saying, We cannot allow religious beliefs to cross the line of medicine and abuse our youth. For anyone dealing with depression or who simply needs someone to talk to, PUC s chaplains and the counseling center are available. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: TALK (8255) Trevor Project Lifeline: The Tragedies of Qatar 2022 By Trent Broeckel Since the 2010 announcement awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, the country has been surrounded by ethical controversy. The primary human rights issue in Qatar has been the use of slave labor to build the necessary infrastructure. Migrant workers from Nepal, India and Sri Lanka have traveled to Qatar seeking work. These laborers typically work 12 hour days, seven days a week in temperatures that usually exceed 110 F. This occurs despite Qatar s labor laws, which stipulate a 10 hour maximum work day with a stoppage from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Safety conditions have been so awful that a report released by The Guardian showed that there is a worker mortality rate of 12 deaths per week. This means that before kickoff in 2022, there will have been around 4,000 deaths in the construction of infrastructure if the pattern continues. In 2013, Amnesty International released a 124 page report on the situation in Qatar. Here are just a few highlights: There are estimated 1.35 million foreign workers in Qatar Migrant workers make up 94% of the country s total workforce 90% of these workers have their passports held by their employers 21% rarely receive their salary on time 20% received a different salary than promised Amnesty s Secretary General, Salil Shetty, has stated, It is simply inexcusable in one of the richest countries in the world that so many migrant workers are being ruthlessly exploited, deprived of their pay and left struggling to survive. The human rights violations, along with bribery accusations made to FIFA by Qatar, have led to many calling for Qatar to be stripped of the World Cup. It is a shame that major international sporting events are being marred by tragedies of human rights violations. The mounting issues without proper response have given further traction to those who believe there is mass corruption within FIFA. The discomforting trend of nations with poor infrastructure being awarded major international sporting events must stop or there will be more human right violations as Qatar scrambles to appear ready to host the 2022 World Cup. Local Organizations Making A Difference By Jessica Winters Napa Emergency Women s Services Provides women and children living in an abusive environment with a safe place to seek help and escape. Volunteers connected to the group often take these women and children into their own homes, providing them with a place to stay while they start their new lives. NEWS counseling and help services are available to anyone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has been serving the community since 1981, and helps approximately 1,200 women and children each year. Napa CASA, A Voice for Children Works directly with children who, for various reasons, have been made dependents of the court. Many of the children come from abusive, unsettled homes, and Napa CASA provides them with mentorship and advocacy to help them work through their situations and try to live a normal life. Calistoga Affordable Housing, Calistoga A housing advocate and development organization that seeks to provide homes for moderate to low-income families in Calistoga. Through funding, they have been able to raise funds to build many houses and apartments since 2001, providing countless low-income families with a place to live in the process.

8 8 Campus Chronicle no.6 Why Feminism is Important By Amanda Navarrete Feminism is defined as, "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." For those not quite sure about the movement, or do not fully understand its cause, here are some quotes explaining what it means to be a feminist. I have realized that fighting for women s rights has too often become synonymous with manhating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop. - Emma Watson "Sometimes women say they are not feminist in order to be closer to men, to side with men, to be one of the guys, but I think being feminist, and therefore calling yourself equal to men is the truer, more sincere way of being closer to men, because you are telling men that they don t have to do everything anymore, that you will gladly split the burden of the earth, which weighs on us all, regardless of how our bodies are made." - Margaret Cho "But today we live in a vastly different world. The person more likely to lead is not the physically stronger person, it is the more creative person, the more intelligent person, the more innovative person, and there are no hormones for those attributes. A man is as likely as a woman to be intelligent, to be creative, to be innovative. We have evolved, but it seems to me that our ideas of gender have not evolved." - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Feminism has fought no wars. It has killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practiced no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions, for safety on the streets, for child care, for social welfare, for rape crisis centers, women s refuges, reforms in the law. If someone says, Oh, I m not a feminist, I ask, Why, what s your problem? - Dale Spender #BlackLivesStillMatter 2014 was a pretty terrible year. I don t think many people would disagree with that. You know, unless you got married or had a kid, in which case, Mazel Tov. But a lot of awful things happened, mostly during this summer and again this winter when all of the racists exposed themselves on Facebook. A boy by the name of Mike Brown was shot six times by a police officer and his body was left for dead in the middle of the street. The funny thing is that this didn t happen in an uncivilized country like Syria or a corrupt country like Boliva. This was The United States of America in the year Then, in December, a grand jury decided not to indict police officer, Daniel Pantaleo who was caught on film choking and killing a man named Eric Garner. Of course, reactions were fierce. Mike Brown had apparently stolen some cigarillos and Eric Garner was resisting arrest. These crimes were enough for them to be murdered by officials who represent the government. People defending the police stated that the deceased should have listened to the police. They said that they should have been more respectful, they should have done so many things but they didn t and that made it okay for them to be murdered by the cops. Open racism has crept upon America again. But why am I telling you all of this? You all were there. Well, not literally, but you can tell your kids that you were alive when that happened. You can tell them of the Facebook fights, #BlackLivesMatter and the protests out in the streets of America while Ferguson burned. You can tell them how the only person who was indicted in the Eric Garner case was the guy who caught the police on tape. You can tell them about how America looked more and more like a war zone when tanks roamed our streets and police wore military gear, pointing guns at Americans, frightened in the streets. Tell your kids the story of how a cop caught national By Carlo Péan attention when Last Week Tonight with John Oliver showed a tape of him telling protesters in Ferguson, MO, Bring it! All you f king animals. Bring it. Tell them of the time they rained rubber bullets on journalists, as if this was the terror of reporting in Iraq, and it all felt like an eerie 1960s flashback. So after such a bad year, maybe Americans learned that regardless of race, people should not feel like they re being invaded by their own country when SWAT teams have tanks, and police get off free for killing non-violent, citizens. Maybe conversations about white privilege and its effects started to take place. Maybe. In the mean time, our attention is diverted, often by worthy causes, and we forget that just because a problem isn t in our face any longer, doesn t mean that it went away. Black lives still matter. Yes, I know, all lives matter, but historically, Americans have had a hard time remembering that black lives matter, so this is a reminder. This is a reminder to all of us who are passionate about the doing the right when the moment comes along but then lose steam when the news reports about something else to frighten us. This is a reminder to persevere when fighting injustice; to remember that just because we don t experience injustices doesn t mean that it s not out there, and to remember the story that s growing around you. BUY ONE DRINK GET ONE FREE WITH STUDENT ID. EXPIRES 2/3/15 * cover artwork by Jennifer Buyco