ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
Momentary relief Recovering from a blowout loss to Illinois, the Michigan men’s basketball team defeated Nebraska, 91-85, Saturday at Crisler Center.
» Page 1B CAMPUS LIFE
Poet speaks on racism in US at MLK Day lecture MAX KUANG/Daily
Journalist Amy Goodman interviews TV producer Issa Rae at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium at Hill Auditorium on Monday.
Amy Goodman, Issa Rae deliver speech on social justice, journalism
Curent political climate, media significance outlined to over 3,000 attendees RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter
Over 3,000 people gathered Monday morning in Hill Auditorium to listen to the University of Michigan Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium keynote memorial lecture given
by renowned investigative journalist Amy Goodman and filmmaker Issa Rae. Amy Goodman — also the host of Democracy Now!, a news organization that focuses on various aspects of world news and investigative journalism — has covered a wide range of topics from the Dakota Access
Pipeline protests to the Santa Cruz massacre. Issa Rae, a writer, producer and star of the HBO series “Insecure,” who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe, participated in a sitdown interview-style discussion following Goodman’s remarks. University President Mark Schlissel introduced the event,
talking about the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan proposed last fall. He mentioned diversity as a key to excellence, noting its importance in light of the University’s upcoming bicentennial and in relation to the goals of Martin Luther King, Jr. See KEYNOTE, Page 3A
Claudia Rankine interprets exerpts of bestseller “Citizen: An American Lyric” KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
According to author Claudia Rankine, the inception of her book-length poem, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” began with the question: “How did that happen?” Something of an investigation, the poem opens with secondhand prose poetry cataloguing the lived experience of racism among Rankine’s friends and colleagues. “I just wanted to see if people were sensitive to the fact that every day in small ways, they were themselves engaged in actions that were annihilating other people’s human rights, their rights to be here as a
citizen and as a person in the world,” Rankine said in a phone interview with the Michigan Daily. As part of the Martin Luther King Day Symposium, Claudia Rankine, poet, professor and MacArthur fellow, will present on “Citizen” published in 2014. The event will take place in Rackham auditorium, hosted by the U-M Racism Lab. “Citizen” is the first and only book of poetry to ever be named on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list as well as the recipient of the NAACP award and PEN Open Book Award. The poem explores the brutal lived experience of structural racism against Black See AUTHOR, Page 3A
Michigan Community Scholars host Protestors Sanders, march in 11th annual “Circle of Unity” gathering Schumer
CAMPUS LIFE
GOVERNMENT
support of DACA laws
Event honors legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with student performances, speeches
Students, locals express concern for immigration reform under Trump
More than 100 people gathered in the freezing rain Monday afternoon on the Diag for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Symposium’s 11th annual Circle of Unity, an event intended to celebrate Dr. King’s dedicated to racial justice, nonviolence, and unity. The Circle of Unity consisted of several performances, from a dance circle led by Detroit native Julie Beutel and Joe Reilly, a University of Michigan alum, to renditions of “Lean on Me” and “We Shall Overcome” led by the Smile Bringer Singers, a University club, all designed to get the audience to participate. Event organizer Amani Echols, an LSA sophomore, was encouraged by the number of people that attended the event despite the rain. “On a smaller level, within our learning community, we sometimes don’t always have the best turnout to all of our events, and I really think this shows that people really are interested,” she said. “So I just hope this on a small scale will trickle down into bigger things, people just going out of their way to help out unexpectedly.” Reilly, has performed at the Circle of Unity for the past five years, agrees that the event has grown over the years. Referring to the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump,
JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
In conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities and lectures, approximately 25 students and community members marched through Ann Arbor to protest the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The protest, organized by the University of Michigan chapter of BAMN — the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary — predominantly opposed Trump’s plans to change immigration reform. BAMN frequently hosts protests on campus. Most recently, BAMN held a protest in response to ethnic intimidation attacks on campus since Trump was elected president. Additionally, in early 2014 and again in 2015, eight BAMN protesters were arrested at a University Board of Regents meeting after demanding the University exercise on-site admissions at Detroit schools. According to Art & Design See MARCH, Page 3A
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ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
Reilly noted that this Circle of Unity felt different from past ones. “The circle has gotten bigger,” he said. “And I think this year it’s in a new context with the political changes happening in this country. It takes on a new meaning, a deeper sense of urgency and importance that we recognize and celebrate diversity, that we are inclusive and that we support one another.” Echols also lauded the ability of the event to forge connections between different University organizations and within groups such as the Michigan Community Scholars Program. “A lot of times the people we reach out to have connections
within our program, so it’s always been a way for us to come together through our different organizations,” she said. “And I know David Schoem, the director of our learning community, is really big on unifying events and inclusion, so it seems a little cheesy, but the whole in-acircle-holding-hands-dancing is something he really likes.” She added despite the novelty of the event, she still preferred it to a lecture or another event that did not include audience involvement. “There are so many events, but I like this one especially with the theme this year being sounds of change, and all of our
performances are music and dance,” she said. “It’s different because we’re in a circle, moving around, and most of the other events are in an auditorium listening to a speaker.” Engineering sophomore Audrey Henry attended the performance and agreed the unique format of the event fit well with Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. “I think that Martin Luther King Day is about people realizing that we’re all one unified group of Americans, and of just people in the world,” she said. “So all coming together in one circle kind of represents what Martin Luther King stood for.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Gatherers stand in the Diag during the 11th Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rally on Monday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVii, No. 9 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
host health care rally
Thousands unite in one of nationwide rallies against appeal of Obamacare CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite freezing temperatures, thousands attended U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I–Vt.) rally Sunday held outside Macomb Community College to hear him speak alongside both Michigan senators, several Michigan representatives and Senate minority leader, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.). Sanders called upon Americans to fight the repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care plan in one of multiple Democratic rallies across the country held to encourage opposition. President-elect Donald Trump vowed to repeal and replace Obama’s health care law throughout his campaign. This week, Congress took its first steps in dissolving “Obamacare” by approving a budget resolution that would cut down large parts of the health care law. Sanders, like many other congressional Democrats, said he intends to fight for the law to remain intact. “If you think you’re simply See SANDERS, Page 3A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . B S EC T I O N