ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 148 No. 16
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Through injustice, Black Miami students prevail
Three candidates toss their hats in the ASG presidential ring RACHEL BERRY ALEX COX ERIN GLYNN
THE MIAMI STUDENT After a deadline extension, three tickets are now in the race for student body president (SBP) and vice president (VP). Elections will be held March 17-18 on the Hub. Cameron Hunter (SBP) and Keresa Murray (VP)
JERRY WILLIAMS AND MYLDRED BOSTON BROKE BARRIERS. CONTRIBUTED BY MIAMI UNIVERSITY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
SARA BEY BRIAH LUMPKINS
THE MIAMI STUDENT Throughout history, many black students have experienced racial discrimination during their time on Miami University’s campus. From people wearing blackface at fraternity parties to white students pretending to be stereotypically black to racist rhetoric in group chats, black students have seen their fair share of injustice.
Yet, with each uprising of hatred, black students have banded together. In 1998, black students formed the original Black Action Movement (BAM), seeking to eradicate Miami’s racist culture. And again, in spring 2018, black students established BAM 2.0 to stand up for equality for themselves and other students of color on Miami’s campus. Since the era of Nellie Craig, the first black student to enroll at Miami in 1903, black students have been fighting for equality while also making history.
Jerry Williams ’39 and Myldred Boston Howell ’49, two of Miami’s earliest black students, are no exception. Though they faced many obstacles, both prevailed and created a lasting impact on the Miami community. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Cameron Hunter and Keresa Murray met this past summer while working as Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs). During their SOUL training, they realized there were many more resources available to Miami University students than they had previously thought, so they set to work together on a packet that could be distributed to all students during orientation. They eventually came to the conclusion that a packet for each student wouldn’t be the most efficient way to connect students with the services available to them, but the idea stayed with the two until Monday, when they decided to run together. “Keresa, [an RA in Presidents Hall], brought up that she tells all her residents about SafeRide,” Hunter said. “But I’ve noticed that it’s something that is really underutilized, so something that we’ve talked about a lot is putting resources [together] in a way that is a lot more effective and easy to access.” To that end, Hunter, a sophomore accounting major, and Murray, a junior education studies major, hope to rework the MyMiami webpage to better display information students need. Beyond resource availability for students, Hunter and Murray’s platform has two other main facets: diversity and inclusion and student wellness. Both Hunter and Murray are friends with current Student Body President Jaylen Perkins and Vice President Dante Rossi. They met with Perkins and Rossi on Monday morning, after deciding to run, to discuss how to further the work Perkins and Rossi did for diversity and inclusion, like the Freedom Summer initiative. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
LYRIC:
A local artist with an otherworldly presence
DAVID KWIATKOWSKI ASST. CULTURE EDITOR
“I promise you I didn’t do this on purpose.” Sophomore psychology major and independent musician Lyric Rains-Bury, also known mononymously as Lyric, says to me in reference to his outfit — a red-tinted shirt plastered with a baby picture of himself with his name on the sleeves. “I really just wanted to match with the rest of the red vibe I was feeling today,” he said. He also makes a point to call out how his anime-decorated walls are “weird,” and how I should divert my attention elsewhere. My eyes jumped to an endless mound of caffeinated beverages that seemed to have accumulated on the floor. As braggadocious and larger-than-life as Lyric presents himself in both his fashion choices and music stylings, he could not be more different in person. The musician and Miami University student hails from Goshen, Ohio, a small town an hour outside of Oxford. “We have corn,” Lyric said. “If you’re feeling crazy, you can go to a McDonald’s.” Goshen is also predominantly white, and Lyric has struggled growing up there and being “triracial.” He is of Korean, Cherokee and Norwegian descent and struggled to feel like he belonged in a place where he dealt with racist jokes from peers. “I’ve been told I look like just a different-looking white person,” Lyric said. “You could count the people of color [in Goshen]
on one hand.” Lyric’s fashion choices are best described as bold — a marked difference from the style trends in Goshen. He detailed a time when he wore a golden-glittery leopard tracksuit, a fur hat and sunglasses in high school. Some kids came up to him and made fun of his “lame excuse” for facial hair. “Of all the things [they saw],” Lyric said, “it was almost endearing to me.” This frustration with his surroundings caused Lyric to turn to artistic expression at an early age, something he’d been surrounded by his whole life. His father is primarily an auto body artist that works on motorcycles and his mother is a cartoonist. Third grade is the earliest memory Lyric has of being recognized for writing poetry. His teachers and parents encouraged him to develop his skills. However, once he reached high school, he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) which prevented him from totally focusing on art over his academics. “It helped that [my OCD] forced me to focus on my work,” Lyric said. “But it got to the point where I couldn’t really focus on my art.” He kept his musical aspirations alive by joining the pep band where he played the drum. It was his time performing for the pep band when he first experimented writing ‘poetry’ for the sheet music he had to practice. “Poetry wasn’t a medium that was salient,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 LYRIC IS FAR MORE MILD-MANNERED IN PERSON THAN MOST PEOPLE ASSUME. ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK
This Issue NEWS
CULTURE
SPORTS
Where do all the lonely books go?
Leap into this story about a unique birthday.
Hartwig did what?
page 4
(she's turning 5 going on 20) page 6
Five innings on a torn-up elbow. page 10
OPINION
Cookies and capitalism. Get outta here, Bezos. page 12