NUBIANMESSAGE NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY | RALEIGH, NC | THENUBIANMESSAGE.COM | wednesday, OCTOBER 4, 2017
RESISTANCE THROUGH EXISTENCE
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Letter from the editor Hello wonderful people! October has just begun and already there’s a lot happening. Not only does Latinx Heritage Month continue until the 15th, but October is also Domestic Violence Awareness month, and LGBT History Month. Instead of previewing what you guys are already going to read this week, I want to talk about something these two things, domestic violence and LGBTQ identities have in common: Silence. For this issue, we reached out and asked for people to come forward and share their stories, dealing with either theme, similar to how we did last issue for DACA recipients. The only responses we got were from out faculty and staff. Now I want to say first and foremost that you don’t owe anyone your story. It is not, nor will it ever be, your job to expose yourself for the entertainment or education of others, not through an essay, a speech, a conversation or a news article. This is in no way an attempt to call people out for not sharing their life stories with us. This is a call to attention. There is a reason so few people wanted to share. There is still so much stigma surrounding identifying as LGBTQ or being affected by domestic violence. People have every right to want to keep their situations close to home, but they also have every right to feel safe speaking out and seeking healing.
THISISSUE 3 MAYORAL CANDIDATES
Mayoral candidates visit NC State
4 GLBT HISTORY MONTH Resistance through existence
4 DV AWARENESS MONTH
Domestic violence awareness events
5 PASS THE MIC
GLBT faculty and staff
6 SUPPORT FOR DV SURVIVORS The importance of community
6 KENTON’S CORNER #TakeAKnee
Take pride in the fact that you exist. Whether you fit somewhere under the LGBTQ flag, you’re a survivor of domestic violence, or, like me, you’re the product of someone who survived or maybe even someone who didn’t, this is your month. Be fearlessly, unapologetically present because you are here for a reason. Love always, Anahzsa
The Sentinel of the African -American Community at N.C. State Since 1992. Anahzsa Jones
Editor-in-Chief
Keilah Davis
Managing editor
Allona Wilkerson
LAYOUT DESIGNER
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GLENN WAGSTAFF
Only with the permission of our elders do we proudly produce each edition of the Nubian Message:
Dr. Yosef ben-Yochannan, Dr. John Henrik Clark, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, The Black Panther Party, Mumia A. Jamal, Geronimo Pratt, Tony Williamson, Dr. Lawrence Clark, Dr. Augustus McIver Witherspoon, Dr. Wandra P. Hill, Mr. Kyran Anderson, Dr. Lathan Turner, Dr. M. Iyailu Moses, Dokta Toni Thorpe and all those who accompany us as we are still on the journey to true consciousness.
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news
Meeting of the Mayoral Candidates CARL HINTZ Correspondent On October 10 Raleigh residents will vote for Raleigh mayor, City Council and a $206.7 million transportation bond. On September 25 the community service organization Queen In You, in collaboration with Society of African American Culture, hosted two of the three Raleigh mayoral candidates on campus. Blaike Bibbs, a fourth-year studying political science, is the event coordinator for the NC State chapter of Queen In You, a community service organization that was founded at NC A&T University and provides mentorship, primarily to minority girls and young women. “The people that are elected locally, they are the ones who decide everyday decisions, they decide how things go in regards to transit, and in regards to affordable housing, the availability for some people to even have food,” Bibbs said. Nancy McFarlane, the current mayor of Raleigh who is not affiliated with a political party but has been endorsed by the Democratic Party in previous elections, is running for reelection against Charles Francis, a Democrat, and Republican candidate Paul Fitts, who was not at the event. McFarlane was first elected mayor of Raleigh in 2011 and won reelection in 2013 and 2015. At the mayoral candidates’ event, both McFarlane and Francis discussed the importance of affordable housing, transportation and jobs. Francis arrived to the event after McFarlane left so the candidates were not able to respond to each other’s comments. “I felt like a lot of the issues they were dealing with were pretty similar, especially with housing. It was a major [issue] for both of them,” Bibbs said. McFarlane discussed her efforts to increase affordable housing by having the city buy up land that becomes available and by working with developers. “We are very focused on the integration of transit and affordable housing,” McFarlane said. She also discussed how the issue of affordable housing is about the overall cost of living. Khadija Parker, a third-year student studying psychology, said, “The issue is not only [the affordability of hous-
ing] but also, jobs, healthcare, education, feeding your kids, taking care of yourself, maintaining your house.” McFarlane also discussed some of her environmental initiatives, including converting Raleigh vehicles to natural gas that is produced in the process of wastewater treatment. She said she is especially proud of her work on the new Dorothea Dix Park. “My goal is to make sure that this is a place that has economic opportunity for you and for everybody to make this a place where you want to live with a great quality of life,” McFarlane said. Charles Francis, who is originally from Raleigh, is a lawyer by training. “We need to create a platform where poor people and low-income people and people of color can succeed and rise also,” Francis said. “There is nothing more important to me than social mobility. In the hundred years that my family has been in Raleigh we have had that rise in our family. And what I’m looking to see is that rise in other people’s family. And not over a hundred years, but over a much shorter period of time.” Francis said he thinks McFarlane is not doing enough for affordable housing. He said that he would focus on using tax credits as a mechanism to get developers to put affordable housing in place. “The city needs to be more aggressive in organizing tax credit development,” Francis said. McFarlane did not discuss using tax credits to finance affordable housing, but she described how the city works with multiple partners to maximize the units they can build with their funds. “We also do a lot of work in southeast Raleigh especially with the elderly, with home renovation. we go in we work on people’s homes so they can stay there,” McFarlane said. “We work with the county to get taxes deferred for the elderly that are lower income so they can stay in their houses as property values rise and property taxes go up.” On the more general topics of poverty and child hunger
October 10 Municipal Election October 7: Last day of early voting (ends at 1 p.m.) October 10: Election day for Raleigh (6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.) November 7: Runoff election for Raleigh if no mayoral candidate receives a majority of the votes The closest one-stop early voting location is Method Road Community Center near Meredith College. For a full list of voting sites in Wake County, visit www.wakegov. com/elections. Method Road Community Center, 514 Method Rd., Raleigh 27607 October 4, 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, October 7 from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
in Raleigh, McFarlane discussed her work with Wake County, which is responsible for health and human services. “We are opening a center in conjunction with wake county, that is Oak City Services,” McFarlane said. “It’s sort of a one stop place that people that need help can go. All of your city county state, all the services are in this one spot.” McFarlane also described how she worked to get food stamps approved by as payment at the Raleigh Downtown Farmer’s Market, and her concern about getting food into food deserts. Malik Zeigler, the president of SAAC and a fourth-year studying political science, helped make the questions for the candidates and coordinate the logistics of the event. “We should be paying attention to how these mayors are going to handle racial situations now, because racial tensions are high in America, nationwide,” Zeigler said. In response to questions about Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist killed a counter protester, McFarlane described how Raleigh has a well-developed capacity to respond to protests or issues of public safety. She also discussed how after Akiel Denkins was killed by police in southeast Raleigh, the response of the faith community was very important and that she developed a series of community conversations between community members and police officers. Francis said that he thinks McFarlane does not represent the whole Raleigh community and that the mayor should do more to engage with the public and to listen to the responses of advisory committees. “The city needs to include and respect more people in the way that it operates,” Francis said. Parker said, “Definitely get to know the candidates, definitely get to know what they stand for. North Carolina has a very big poverty population and it’s very important to keep them in mind when looking at mayors and what they want to do and how it’s going affect the poor because they already have it hard enough day to day.”
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news
GLBT History Month Preview KEILAH DAVIS MANAGING EDITOR In honor of National LGBT History Month, the GLBT Center and its campus partners will host events throughout the month of October. This year’s theme is “Resistance Through Existence.” Preston Keith, GLBT Center assistant director, coordinated the event calendar. “Pride month really commemorates the Stonewall Riots and marks that as the beginning of the LGBTQ Rights Movement,” Keith said. “GLBT History Month examines some of that movement, some of the current struggles that are happening and ways that we as a community can rally together to support one another, be part of the larger conversation.” LGBT History Month was founded as Gay and Lesbian History Month in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school teacher. Wilson chose October because of the popularity of National Coming Out Day, which has been observed on October 11 since 1988.
Sunday, October 8
Thursday, October 19
Wednesday, October 25
Painting the Free Expression Tunnel
Ungendering Language: Examining the Impact of Language in the Construction of Gender
Evolution of Legal Protections for the GLBT Community
Free Expression Tunnel | 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. The GLBT Community Alliance is celebrating National Coming Out Day by painting the tunnel. Paint supplies will be provided. Tuesday, October 10 Navigating the Coming Out Process
GLBT Center | 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. The GLBT Center will host a workshop on navigating the coming out process. Wednesday, October 11 Creating Accomplices: Supporting Queer and Transgender Students of Color
Talley 3222 | 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. This workshop will unpack the intersections of race and ethnicity with gender and sexuality. This is open to all NC State students, faculty, staff and community members.
Talley 3222 | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Hosted by the GLBT Center and Language Diversity Ambassadors, this event will explore how language contributes to the constructions and definitions of gender. Thursday, October 19 “Moonlight” Film Screening and Discussion
Witherspoon 126 | 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. This event is co-hosted by the GLBT Center and African American Cultural Center.
Talley 3222 | 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Hosted by the GLBT Center, this event will explore the successes and losses in legal protections for the GLBT community within the United States of America. Thursday, October 26 Mapping Queer History at NC State: A Live Archiving Event
Park Shops 200 | 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. The GLBT Center is collecting the stories and memories of current and former students, faculty and staff to map the recent queer history of NC State.
For the full calendar, visit go.ncsu.edu/glbthm.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Awareness Month Preview YESENIA JONES CORRESPONDENT The Women’s Center will commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month by hosting numerous events during October to raise awareness and create engaging conversations around domestic violence. Here are some of their featured events: Wednesday, October 18 Lunch and Learn: Domestic Violence in the South Asian Community
Women’s Center | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Kiran Inc., a nonprofit that provides resources to South Asian survivors of domestic violence, will be in the Women’s Center discussing the impacts of domestic violence on the South Asian community. Wednesday, October 18 Faces In the Crowd: A Narrative Inquiry Into the Relationship Violence Experienced By Four Black College Women
Talley Ballroom | 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Dr. Lorraine Acker, the keynote speak-
er, will focus on the intersection of race, gender, and relationship violence within higher education. Dr. Acker will address how Black college women experience relationship violence, make meaning of their relationship violence experience and navigate campus resources related to relationship violence. The Women’s Center welcomes students from all colleges and all identities to join in on their events for this month. The goal is to provide an intersectional and supportive environment for those who have endured domestic violence and people who would like to learn more about domestic violence. “When we say that we want everyone to come we know that intersectionality is not just about marginalized identity groups,” said Angela Gay, graduate assistant at the Women’s Center. “It’s really about every single one of us because we all have a single piece of the oppressor in us. And so when we talk about domestic violence
on college campuses, we also have to talk about what that looks like as far as what it means to be a person, and who holds dominant identities on a university campus that is also situated and historically created for those dominant identities. We want those dominant identities to be able to come in and express and be able to participate”. According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, there were 110 domestic violence related homicides in 2016. Of those, 73 of the victims were women and 37 were men. The D.C. Coalition of Domestic violence states that African American women are most likely to be affected by situations of domestic violence. Leslie Barajas, a third-year studying accounting, said, “I think it’s important to have a Domestic Violence Awareness Month at NC State just so that we know that it does exist and we are not oblivious to the fact that it is very relevant. It doesn’t just happen to older married people but to
people around our age as well.” College students are one of the demographics that experience high rates of domestic violence. According to the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in 2014 over 40 percent of LGBTQ+ college students and 43 percent of heterosexual students reported that they had experienced interpersonal violence in their current relationships. NC State and the greater Raleigh area offer a multitude of resources to support survivors of domestic violence. The Women’s Center offers a 24/7 sexual assault hotline and the Counseling Center offers on-call confidential counseling services. Student are encouraged to contact University Police in the case of an emergency. In the Raleigh area, InterAct is a nonprofit organization that provides support and refuge for women and children experiencing domestic violence. For more information on resources, visit https://vptm.ehps. ncsu.edu/home/resources/.
features
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Pass the Mic: GLBT Faculty and Staff Speak
TAYLOR sPRAUGE
I am a Residence Director in Wolf Village Apartments for University Housing and also a graduate student in the Higher Education Administration Master’s Program. Interacting with out faculty and staff members during my undergraduate career at George Mason University helped to challenge the stigma and fear of being out. When I was able to see staff that shared my story doing amazing work and living meaningful lives, I realized that being queer did not detract from my abilities, but emboldened them. The more LGBT staff I met, the more empowered I felt to be myself. As we consider the present and future of LGBT students, staff, and faculty in higher education, we must be willing to reflect and learn from the past. LGBT History Month reminds us that we are standing on the shoulders of giants as we continue to advocate for greater inclusion and justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students, faculty, and staff. It reminds us that we are not alone, but that we must join together to continually challenge the systems that oppress and harm the most marginalized of our community. It requires us to reflect on who has been left out of our movements, and demonstrates the need to place queer and trans people of color at the center of our movements. And, perhaps most importantly, LGBT history month gives us an opportunity to celebrate our existence and the lives that we have begun to live openly and without fear.
SETH SULLIVANT
I am a professor of mathematics at NCSU. I have been at State for about 10 years. I teach a combination of graduate classes and senior-level undergraduate classes in mathematics. My area of specialty is applications of algebra, specifically in biology and statistics. I went to the University of California at Berkeley for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. While Berkeley is an extremely liberal and accepting place, I still found the coming out process to be stressful. Each year during LGBT history month, the school newspaper would publish an “Out List” of professors and students who openly identified at LGBT. I always found it thrilling to see that there were so many people on campus who were comfortable being out, and this really helped me in my coming out process. That’s part of the reason I participate in the GLBT Faculty and Staff Network and the GLBT Advocate Program at NCSU: to repay the favor of those who did the hard work of coming out before me.
HAILEY QUEEN
My name is Hailey Queen and I am the Coordinator of Engineering First Year programs in the College of Engineering. I am also an NCSU College of Engineering, College of Textile, and Power Sound of the South - Marching Band alumni. Additionally, I am an aunt, an arts & music enthusiast, a kitten-foster mom, a vegetarian, a fledgling gardener, and a lesbian. I was not aware of any out professors, faculty or staff when I was in college. Being aware of out faculty and staff may have allowed me more comfort and confidence to be out during that time in my life. I joined the GLBT Faculty and Staff Network to connect and build community with other faculty and staff. I also wanted to be visible and out on campus, and to make sure I was aware of opportunities to support students on campus who are out or those who are still in a phase of self-discovery or those that might feel different or are unrepresented in some other way.
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opinion
Supporting Survivors Community is meant to facilitate an environment for growth of the individuals that are part of that community. This month is Domestic Violence awareness month and I want everyone to look shawn into the mirror. Look FREDERICKS into that reflection, take CORRESPONDENT a very deep breath and reflect on what more we can do as an NC State community to protect and care for survivors of domestic violence. Domestic violence affects both men and women, however the frequency is skewed more towards women. I say that because we have to grow more conscious of the fact that women are exposed to more violence, ridicule and other trauma that comes from their partners. The N.C. Department of Public Safety reported 110 domestic violence related homicides in 2016. The report also included gender, with 80% percent of the perpetrators being men and 65% of the victims
being women. Women of color especially are even more exposed to such trauma as domestic violence related crimes go under reported. Domestic violence is domestic. It is around us. It involves the people closest to us, and it hurts not just because our loved ones are harmed, but also their trust and personhood is violated on a fundamental level. To be violated on that level leaves emotional and mental scars. It makes it hard to even function throughout the day because trauma follows you like a shadow. I should know. I grew up in it. Domestic violence occurred so much in my household that it traumatized me to the point where I became numb, and not single punch was inflicted on me. Seeing two people who express that they care about each other so eager to tear each other apart left me emotionally hollow. It was not that I could not feel emotion. It was that I did not want to feel anything. Happiness, pain, joy, nor sorrow. I wanted none of it because to feel meant I had to deal with my issues, and I had no desire to. Survivors of domestic violence in my
own social circles have similar sentiments. Some survivors are still suffering from the trauma and just want it to be over, but have been so violated to their core that they can never heal. Here at NC State we are community that supposedly values integrity. How can we as an campus hold integrity as a core value and not follow through? What I mean is DV happens on college campuses. It happens here at State. And when we as the wolfpack community refuse to howl, refuse to raise our voices as a community, and fail to create a dialogue, we fail on what it means to be a pack, a community that has integrity in action and intention. Let’s be clear: while it is important to go to workshops and have discussions on domestic violence, we need to bring these conversations into our everyday lives -discuss them with our colleagues, peers, close friends, not so close friends and associates. When we reserve a conversation to be had only in specific spaces, the conversation literally dies in that space because it doesn’t exist outside of it. When conversa-
tion is had, it helps remove the stigma that keeps survivors from coming forward and reporting the people who violated them. Men, we as a whole need to stop being so dismissive and apathetic to the trauma inflicted on women. Women are an essential part of this community. They’re a valuable part of the Wolfpack and we must create a campus environment that is both accepting of them and conscious of the fact that they are exposed to many more detrimental experiences. As I said before, women of color are more exposed to domestic violence. Black men have to be more conscious of this because of the simple fact that black women, inside and outside of the wolfpack community, are the foundation in which the black community builds itself on. Domestic violence is a painful topic and during this month, I can only pray for healing for the survivors and call the wolfpack community into action on this issue. We howl hard at the football games. Now we have to howl even harder at this issue.
KENTON’S CORNER: #TakeAKnee I am sick of so many aspects of the kneeling protest. If you have been under a rock for the last year and a half or so, I’ll catch you up. The NFL protests began last year when Colin Kaepernick sat during kENTON GIBBS the national anthem to STAFF WRITER protest the mistreatment of black people in America by law enforcement officers. After being told that many saw his protest as disrespectful to the armed forces, Kaepernick talked to Army Green Beret veteran Nate Boyer to discuss how to enhance the quality and “respectfulness” of the protest. He began kneeling instead of sitting and was joined by a handful of players who agreed with his message. Boom. Fast forward to today. Those who were already kneeling remain doing so, as police have killed more than 730 civilians so far this year. Kaepernick is unemployed, despite having a better 2016 Quarterback Rating (55.2) than starters like Ryan Tannehill, Cam Newton, Carson Wentz, Eli Manning, Blake Bortles, Ryan Fitzpatrick
and Case Keenum. Kaepernick himself has been the focus, rather than the actual protest or the injustices that were being protested. Then y’all, President Donald Trump saw NFL players kneeling and felt the need to comment. He said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b**** off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’” I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. As owner after owner and coach after coach repudiated Trump’s comments, the feeling only got worse. Not because he called for the firing of private citizens for exercising their first amendment rights, and not because he was paying attention to a source of entertainment instead of the millions of people displaced by hurricanes, but because he provided a direct path to derailing Colin Kaepernick’s protest. I knew that plenty of teams would protest, and their protests would be based around Trump’s attack on them. Resistance based around Trump is the hot thing
right now. It’s cute to go against whatever he says. However, the original point of Kaepernick’s protest was to protest the treatment of black people in America. When Trump made his statement, the pressure was taken off of the conscience of NFL owners, coaches and players to address the issue. Now it’s become being a part of an already trendy resistance. This protest is a microcosm of every resistance against white supremacy. The aim is taken at the system; however, people refuse to address anything besides the method. Some white-dominated cause takes the method and uses it to overshadow the original point. This becomes apparent when we realize that very few of the players and owners who have knelt over the past few weeks have also come out to speak on behalf of Colin Kaepernick. In fact, the exact opposite has been true. Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker, and future Hall of Famer, Ray Lewis was one of Kaepernick’s loudest critics. From his view on Kaep’s “disrespect of the flag,” to what Kaep’s girlfriend posts, all the way down to whether or not he’s tenured enough to be the face of a movement, Lewis has been very outspoken on the
situation. On the Fox Sports morning show Undisputed, he said, “I understand what Colin is trying to do, but take the flag out of it.” He has also said multiple times that he’d never protest the flag. Yet before the Ravens game in London, Lewis got down on both knees. He said it was for prayer, not protest, but that in and of itself is different from what national anthem protocol calls for, so it was a de facto protest. The worst thing about Lewis’ comments is that his reasoning for never protesting the flag is that he has family in the military and has worked too closely with veterans and law enforcement officers to protest the flag. But what about the poor black men and women you claim to be a champion for? What about the black men and women who will never have the status to be embraced by law enforcement? In closing, I would like to say a protest should be for a purpose, not a trend. And to Ray Lewis, you didn’t even backpedal this quick in your playing days, so stop it.
features
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