TUESDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2019
Rise in incarceration discussed at MNSU
United States judicial system fills jails faster than they can be emptied CARLEY SONJU STAFF WRITER The Wiecking Center auditorium was packed Thursday afternoon for speaker Emily Baxter’s talk entitled “We are all criminals”. Baxter has a professional background in law and is the executive director and developer of We are all Criminals. She has also been featured in a TEDx talk and Talks at Google. WAAC is an organization focusing on advocating for reason and mercy in the U.S. criminal and juvenile justice systems. Baxter started her talk with a powerful statistic - one in four people in the U.S. have a criminal record. But Baxter is a firm believer that four in four people have a criminal history, meaning everyone has taken something that isn’t theirs. Someone has drunk underage or done illegal drugs. Someone has broken even the smallest of laws, and the only reason they are not in the criminal justice system is because they “have the luxury to forget,” as stated by Baxter.
Emily Baxter speaks to students about the rising number of incarcerated individuals in America during her “We are Criminals” event at Wiecking Center Auditorium Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 at Minnesota State University, Mankato. (Andrew Bravo/MSU Reporter)
The talk was accompanied by photographs taken by Baxter with strangers’ own examples of how they are criminals written on chalkboards held in their hands. One read “Every saint has a past” and another read “I learned my lesson without
learning it the hard way.” WAAC shines a light on the inequity in the criminal and juvenile justice systems that treat minorities unfairly. Black males have a one in three chance of serving jail time in their lifetime, while white females have a one in
111 chance. Baxter emphasized that people of color are put in jail at a frighteningly higher rate than whites. Even the strangers that Baxter interviewed for her chalkboard photography pick up on this. Messages on the chalkboards “DRUG USER (but it’s
cool, I’m white)” and “Privilege is hard to confront” are just two examples that show that the prejudice is not hard to notice.
CRIMINAL page 3
Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship hosts pitch competition MARIA LY STAFF WRITER Students battled in a pitch competition where they tried to convince a panel of judges to choose their business as the winner of a $500 cash prize at the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Nov. 21. The pitch competition was a part of Global Entrepreneurship Week to help Minnesota State University, Mankato students network and gain insight about their business ideas. Yvonne Cariveau, the director of the CIE, personally
donated the prize money for the competition as she wanted to inspire young entrepreneurs. Cariveau said, “I asked a couple of my friends in the business community if they will consider sponsoring the competition and they weren’t willing to do that, so I thought about it and I said you know I should put my money where my mouth is. I’m a member of the business community, I have my own business, I believe in young entrepreneurs, why don’t I just put my own /
COMPETITION page 6
Boluwatife Gbadebo pitches her business idea during the Global Entrepreneurship Week Pitch Competition at the Hubbard Building Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 in Downtown Mankato, Minn. (Samuel Oluwadoromi/MSU Reporter)
IN THIS ISSUE: Hmong Culture Night................................. Page 5 Fast Fashion Threatens Environment....... Page 10 2019 Poetry Recital................................... Page 14 Women’s Soccer Advances....................... Page 19
WEATHER OUTLOOK: TUESDAY (11/26)
WEDNESDAY (11/27)
THURSDAY (11/28)
FRIDAY (11/29)
SATURDAY (11/30)
PRECIP. CHANCE: 55%
PRECIP. CHANCE: 55%
PRECIP. CHANCE: 55%
PRECIP. CHANCE: 75%
PRECIP. CHANCE: 55%
Colder, a bit of P.M. snow.
Snow early in the morning.
Bit of afternoon snow.
A little snow, rain late.
Snow and rain, windy.
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H 31 L 16
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Email News Editor Michael McShane
michael.mcshane@mnsu.edu