NUBIANMESSAGE NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY | RALEIGH, NC | THENUBIANMESSAGE.COM | THURSDAY, October 11, 2018
new study on nc state
diversity
THURSDAY, October 11, 2018 | 2
Letter from the editor
3 KWANZAA STAMP REVEAL
NC State chosen to welcome Kwanzaa Forever stamp.
4 BLACK REPORT CARD
Hey y’all, This is the time of year where everyone usually starts getting sick and extra stressed. I hope that you’re all recognizing your limits and honoring them. Go to sleep 30 minutes earlier than you planned, eat breakfast, and take a 5 minute walk around campus to get some fresh air. Our bodies need us to take care of them! are easy.”
THISISSUE
Here’s this week’s proverb: “All things are difficult before they
It may be difficult to face the reality of NC State’s diversity and accessibility lack of progress, but we must face them anyway. It may be difficult to hear critiques of our communities, but we must listen anyway. It’s even more difficult to change the institutions, communities and practices being critiqued, but we must do so anyway.
NC State earns F in diversity.
5 “SHIFTING OUR FRAMEWORK”
How to make your classroom inclusive.
6 HURRICANE RESPONSES
The US is neglecting Puerto Rico.
6 FAKE LOVE
My hope is that in the midst of current events like Supreme Court Justice confirmations, ICE arrests, and officer-involved shootings, student journalists, activists and advocates will continue—in their own ways—to create a more just world.
A critique on African Americans preBlack Panther.
As always, we welcome your feedback, guest opinion columns and letters to the editor at nubian-editor@ncsu.edu.
7 NCCU SHOOTING
I am because we are,
Do black lives matter to our society?
Keilah
The Sentinel of the African -American Community at N.C. State Since 1992. Keilah Davis
Editor-in-Chief
Kennysha Woods
Managing editor
Only with the permission of our elders do we proudly produce each edition of the Nubian Message: cover graphic by anna lee
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.
news
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 | 3
AACC hosts new USPS kwanzaa stamp reveal
Photo courtesy of nc state university
From Left to Right: Achaia Dent, Jordan Bullock, Sandra Dubose, Reed Shannon, Dr. Mike Mullen, Dr. Iyailu Moses, Kevin Howell, Stephanie Childs, Floyd Cooper, a distinguished guest, Sheri L. Schwab, Moses Greene, and Dr. Blair LM Kelley reveal the US Postal Service’s newest Kwanzaa Forever Stamp.
anna carlson Correspondent
N
C State’s African American Cultural Center (AACC) joined the United States Postal Service in dedicating the newest Kwanzaa Forever stamp. The dedication commenced in the Sankofa room of Witherspoon Student Center on October 10. The dedication kicked off with a greeting from the AACC’s director, Moses T. Alexander Greene. The ceremony reflected the celebratory subject of Kwanzaa by honoring past NC State faculty and alum for laying the foundation of the AACC’s work. Greene credited the significance of having such a momentous event take place on our campus to the accomplishments of the AACC. “The honor of this first day of issue ceremony being held here belongs to our alum and our current scholars,” Greene said. Kwanzaa is a seven day holiday observed every year between December 26th and January 1st. Since its creation between 1966 and 1967, Kwanzaa has celebrated family,
unity and culture within the African-American community. Over the years, Kwanzaa has come to mean a lot to those who consider themselves a part of the African-American diaspora, and the AACC strove to reflect this importance through the event. “It’s been a true pleasure putting this together,” said John Miller IV, the program coordinator of the AACC and NC State alum. “Not only [are we] celebrating the Kwanzaa stamp, but we’re also bringing the spirit of Kwanzaa and what Kwanzaa means to folks of color, to black folks, [and] to the diaspora.” In addition to the reveal of the stamp and its official dedication by Stephanie Childs, the executive director of Government Relations and Public Policy for the United States Postal Service, the event featured remarks from distinguished guests and performances from renowned artists coming from all over the country. These speakers included Toni Thorpe,
now-retired first program coordinator of the AACC, Kevin Howell, NC State’s vice chancellor for External Affairs, Partnerships, and Economic Development and Dr. Blair LM Kelley, assistant dean of Interdisciplinary Studies and International Programs. Each person spoke on the various ways this event was important to themselves as individuals, to the community impacted by the AACC and to the general NC State community. Dr. Kelly is also an associate professor of history and chose to highlight how the ideals of Kwanzaa reflect the efforts of slaves brought to the Americas many decades ago to create unity and community. “In spite of that intention [to strip the enslaved of their identity],” said Dr. Kelly, “Africans, who became African Americans, could not lose that sense of who they were. They continued to make community. They continued to make families. Even in the awful bellies of those slave ships, they reconnected with one another.
“They started that process of becoming a new people in a new place, drawn from all the cultures from which they had come… Kwanzaa represents one of those rebuildings of community.” With many schools competing to host this event, faculty at NC State shared their excitement for being chosen by the US Postal Service. “The unveiling of the Kwanzaa stamp is really something that schools all across the country competed for,” said Dr. Mullen, “so it was an honor for NC State to be chosen as the site for the dedication.” Dr. Mullen also expressed his hope for the future of the stamps and their impact. “I hope … folks learn more about [Kwanzaa] and go out and buy the stamps,” Mullen said. The US Postal Services’ newest Kwanzaa Forever Stamp can now be purchased at your local post office and participating retailers.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 | 4
features
Study Reveals State “Failing” in Diversity keilah davis Editor-in-Chief
T
he University of Southern California Race and Equity Center recently published a report card that in which NC State received an “F” in representation equity and a “B” in completion equity. The study analyzed 506 public four-year institutions across 50 states and used black student demographics to assign a letter grade based on relative performance in four areas: representation equity, gender equity, completion equity, and black student-toblack faculty ratio. The letter grades were converted to an “Equity Index Score,” or grade point average on a 4-point scale. NC State earned an overall 2.75 equity index, UNC-Chapel Hill earned a 2.00, and the state of North Carolina earned a 2.23 statewide score. According to the study, “no campus earned above 3.50. Two hundred colleges and universities earned scores below 2.00.” Additionally, 44 percent had 10 or fewer full-time black faculty and 40 institutions had none. “These kind of efforts help us collect information and see it in it’s reality,” said Sheri Schwab, interim vice provost for institutional equity and diversity. “It’s startling. It’s certainly not where we want to be but it gives a chance to reevaluate, recommit.”
Student Recruitment
According to Mike Mullen, vice chancellor and dean of academic and student affairs, “NC State is more diverse than it has ever been. Approximately 30% of our students are non-white or international, and most groups of underrepresented students have been increasing over the past few years.” While this is true for most underrepresented racial groups, it is not true for black students. Between Fall 2006 and Fall 2016, the percentage of black undergraduates at NC State decreased from 9.3 percent to 6 percent. “Most, if not all, of our recruitment activities are done in the hopes of increasing the diversity of the student body on campus,” said Jon Westover, associate vice provost and director of admissions. He also emphasized that diversity is defined broadly at NC State to include culture, ethnicity, geography, socioeconomic status and first generation college students. Programs like TRIO, Emerging Scholars Program, Native Education Forum, Gear Up NC and Juntos connect with pre-college students to inform them about preparing for
Anna lee/Graphic Designer A USC Race and Equity Center released a 50-state report card that rated NC State an F in representation equity, B in completion equity and A in black student-to-black faculty ratio.
college and encourage them to consider NC State.
Student Retention
NC State’s black undergraduate graduation rate—or the average percent of black undergraduates that graduate within 6 years—is 69.1 percent while NC State’s overall graduation rate is 75.9 percent. That 6.8 percent difference gave NC State a “B” in completion equity. This means the majority of black students who enter NC State stay and graduate. Yet, these numbers may not tell the whole story. Erin Elliot is a second-year graduate student in educational psychology and a graduate assistant for Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) and Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences. “Representation doesn’t mean that those students feel like they belong,” Elliot said. “Just because you’re creating the space for students doesn’t necessarily mean they are welcomed there. Just because they’re not not-graduating doesn’t mean they feel welcome there. People are persisting and graduating for other factors besides the fact of feeling welcome in their classes. They have other motivators.”
MSA hosts many retention programs, including the annual Symposium for Multicultural Scholars, which is held during the week before classes start to build community, and Freshman Honors Convocation, which is held at the end of every spring semester to recognize academic performance. According to Elliot, “MSA specifically is trying to target those underserved populations through programs [held throughout the year].”
Faculty Diversity
NC State earned an “A” in black studentto-black faculty ratio, but as the report explains, an “A” or “B” is not necessarily a sign of performing well. According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, NC State had 67 full-time black instructional faculty and 1,732 total full-time instructional faculty in 2016—that’s 3.9 percent. “NC State is committed to hiring exceptional faculty and staff from all backgrounds,” Mullen said. “We actively work during our search processes to identify candidates from underrepresented populations.” The Recruiting Diverse Faculty Program
offers workshops and a semester-long process for deans, search committees and department heads to create plans for developing a more diverse faculty. The Building Future Faculty Program is a workshop that assists graduate and postdoctoral students in pursuing academic careers.
Moving Forward
The authors of the study hope that college administrators will “respond by swiftly engaging in rigorous, strategic, and collaborative work to improve the status of Black undergraduates at their institution.” However, as Governors State University President Elaine Maimon states in a message published with the report card, “it is necessary to remember that real, long-term change is often recursive, even messy. Transformation requires investment, strategy, patience, accountability, consistency measurement, determination, and courage.” At NC State, institutional change can occur at a pace that seems instant or infinitely slow. “When certain people want change to occur it, happens very quickly, but when failing continued on page 5
features
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 | 5
how to overcome barriers and make our classrooms more accessible kennysha woods Managing Editor
“Shifting Our Framework for Supporting Students with Disabilities in the Classroom” is a workshop that focuses on the creation of more inclusive spaces for students with disabilities. NC State’s GLBT Center facilitates the workshop, which is open to faculty, staff, students and members of the local community. The main goals of “Shifting Our Framework” are to educate attendees about four things: “the barriers that limit access for students with disabilities,” “the impact of barriers on students with disabilities,” the social model of disability, and ways people can develop a more inclusive classroom. Here are five types of barriers that limit access for and impact students with disabilities, how they’re present in the classroom and possible solutions you can use work through them and increase your classroom’s inclusion.
Architectural & Physical
Students who use wheelchairs, scooters and walkers may have difficulty navigating narrow spaces and using desks without customizable heights. Spaces without adequate lighting can make it difficult for lip readers and people with low vision to understand what’s being said during lecture. What Are Some Solutions? Configure the seating arrangements in the classroom to accommodate students with transportations aids and lighting needs.
Communication & Information
Lectures that are hard to follow and use language that’s difficult to understand present challenges for some students, as well as videos without transcriptions or captions, and class materials that use confusing and/ or too-small fonts. What Are Some Solutions? Provide clear
failing continued from page 4 things may not be in everyone’s best interest, things tend to happen very slowly,” said Elliot. “Because I think there’s a lack of transparency between administration and the students, when things do take longer and there’s not an explanation why, students feel like they’re not cared about and what’s
learning objectives and/or organized notes at each lecture, archive class materials online that students can access at any time, and ensure that students who need text in Braille or large print receive course materials with those accommodations.
Technological
Some software and electronic course materials are not accessible to screen readers or Alt Text. What Are Some Solutions? Ensure that your electronic course materials are accessible to screen readers, Alt Text, and other similar programs.
Organizational & Systemic
Actions such as limiting the ways students can express their understanding of the course objectives and holding only in-person office hours can be problematic for students that have difficulty communicating their thoughts effectively. This particular barrier is often enforced unintentionally via grading rubrics. What Are Some Solutions? Make sure the grading rubrics are clear, understandable and provided ahead of time, diversify the methods you use to engage and assess students, and provide options for individual assessments.
Attitudinal
Students with disabilities can feel singled-out when people make assumptions about them based on their disabilities and misconstrue their needed accommodations as advantages or favors. What Are Some Solutions? Communicate with your classes about disabilities to raise awareness and understanding of what accessibility is and why it’s important for an inclusive classroom.
Sara Trudan/Staff Photographer There are multiple reserved parking spaces for individuals with disabilities all around NC State campus.
happening to them or around them is not important.” “We need to do a better job of chronicling the actions we are taking,” Schwab said. The report notes that colleges often return to the same few high schools to recruit black undergraduates, which is “unlikely to produce different results from one year to the next. Admission officers must substantively engage a wider array of high schools to find talented prospective Black students.” Moreover, solutions must not “rest mostly on a chief diversity officer, black culture
center staff, or a few Black faculty members.” Instead, the report recommends establishing partnerships across campus units and collaborations between faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and black undergraduates. The report also states it would be a “waste of institutional resources” to recruit black full-time faculty “without addressing racial climate and workload imbalance issues and ensuring that White faculty colleagues respect their scholarship.” How does NC State plan to move forward in light of these findings?
According to Schwab, NC State’s shortcomings are likely a combination of recruitment, yield, and student experience. “We have a culture to work on, what it’s like to be at NC State, how people experience NC State,” Schwab said. “There’s certainly a culture aspect to it—what’s it like to experience your college years on this campus as a person of color and how do we continue to make this a much more inclusive and welcoming place?”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 | 6
opinion
Do We Perpetuate the Cycle of Neglect Towards Puerto Rico? Last month, the Carolinas were hit by Hurricane Florence. Many student groups have been supplying aid and organizing relief efforts for the victims of the storm. Along with Federal Emergency Manjalen rose agement Agency (FEMA), Correspondent several government agencies pitched in to aid the relief efforts for the aftermath of the storm. The most recently recorded death toll is 42. This time last year, student groups on campus were providing aid to Texas and Puerto Rico as they were both hit by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria, respectively. Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria were both category 4 storms when they touched land. Texas and Puerto Rico were both affected at the same time, but faced a significant gap in the amount of aid each received. The death toll in Texas, after Hurricane Harvey hit, is recorded to be 82 casualties. The death toll in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria hit, is recorded to be roughly 3,000 casualties.
There are multiple shortcomings on FEMA’s part that produced the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria. FEMA’s biggest mistake was delaying authorization of full reconstruction aid to Puerto Rico. Full reconstruction aid is often operated by FEMA “to help a community repair and rebuild its public infrastructure after a natural disaster,” according to seven Democratic senators who urged FEMA to authorize the help Puerto Rico desperately needed. Another mistake made by FEMA was failing to deliver millions of emergency meals to the citizens of Puerto Rico. There were clear and noticeable differences between how FEMA reacted to both Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria. In Danny Vivik’s article for Politico, he points out the disparities in FEMA’s reaction to the Hurricanes: “During the first nine days after Harvey, FEMA provided 5.1 million meals, 4.5 million liters of water and over 20,000 tarps to Houston; but in the same period, it delivered just 1.6 million meals, 2.8 million liters of water and roughly 5,000 tarps to Puerto Rico.” Houston’s population is roughly 2.3 million while Puerto Rico’s is around 3.3 million. This displays a wildly dispropor-
tionate amount of aid received in Houston when compared to Puerto Rico. This level of negligence is not an unfamiliar phenomenon for Puerto Ricans. The Puerto Rican economy was already facing an immense debt due to the U.S.’s failure to value Puerto Rican citizens as U.S. citizens. This debt forced Puerto Rico to cut funding to the public university in an attempt to resolve the issue. Being subjected to such high levels of disregard is an unfortunate reality for the citizens of Puerto Rico. Last month, President Trump commented on the relief efforts after Hurricane Maria and said, “I actually think it’s one of the best jobs that’s ever been done.” To be clear, our president believes that 3,000 deaths and a year without power is deserving of an “A+” score. Not only did the Trump administration underestimate the severity or Hurricane Maria, but they also accused the relief efforts in Puerto Rico of being too expensive. According to Vivik’s Politico article, “FEMA had approved $141.8 million in individual assistance to Harvey victims, versus just $6.2 million for Maria victims.” It is clear that the relief efforts for Puerto Rico were not as prevalent as the ones for
states on mainland. This blatant negligence speaks to the view of Puerto Rican citizens in the eyes of an average mainlander. Although Puerto Ricans are classified as U.S. citizens, they are repeatedly treated as if they’re not. Additionally, it would be irresponsible for any of us to disregard the racial bias that plays a factor here. Not only is Puerto Rico geographically separated from the U.S. mainland, but the majority of the citizens are Latinx. Even on our own campus, there were disparities between the aid for Puerto Rico and the aid for Texas and the Carolinas. Relief efforts for Florence victims were more prevalent and vocalized than the efforts for Maria victims last year. Although it is understandable that our proximity to Hurricane Florence resulted in more student-led relief efforts, is it morally responsible to let the adjacency of a storm affect our sympathy? Why can’t we keep the same energy for all U.S. citizens and not just the ones on the mainland?
Fake Love: African Americans After Black Panther “Wakanda Forever” is a popular phrase that has been repeated over and over again by fans of “Black Panther” (2018), the groundbreaking movie about a fictional African country that undergoes oluwajoba the threat of losing their ogun prized possession that hapCorrespondent pens to supply everything they need. This movie brought the African-American community together, mainly because of the all-black cast and the meticulous portrayal of the continent Africa. However, before this era of “Black Panther” emerged, the continent of Africa was often misunderstood. There were—and still are—misconceptions and stereotypes of what Africa looks like, how African people live, what they eat and wear, and so on. Stereotypes like Africans share the same cul-
ture, all Africans depend on aid, Africa lacks technology, Africa is a desert, to name a few. The ever most popular one? Africa is a country. In society, it’s assumed that African Americans have an inherent “African-ness” by the virtue of their connection to slavery. As a result, African Americans claimed Africa as their “home.” They traced their lineage to see where their ancestors are from and how they struggled to survive. However, that’s all they really did. African Americans only saw what Africa was—the starting point of slavery—and based their opinions solely on that. They never looked back and saw what Africa could have become—a continent filled with its own cities, infrastructures and professionals. Although not all African Americans had this mentality, a majority of them did. It was pure ignorance. Ever since I could remember, Africa has received a lot of hate for no reason at all.
Surprisingly, it was not coming from just white people. When I was growing up, I had a hard time making friends. Nobody—including African-American classmates— wanted to hang out with me simply because I had a “weird name.” Even teachers had trouble pronouncing my name, and when they made a mistake, my classmates would laugh and snicker. I had to shorten my name to “Joba” in elementary school because I was tired of people messing up it up on purpose. Once I shortened my name, people started talking to me and I started making “friends.” I felt like I was hiding a part of my identity just to fit their worldview of what was considered normal. I’ve stuck with the shortened version of my name since then. But this just didn’t just happen to me; many of my African friends experienced this growing up too. One of my friends, Ugonna Igwe, a firstyear studying biochemistry, said, “In my
high school classes, teachers would mispronounce my name. Instead of calling me Ugonna, they called me Uganda.” But then “Black Panther” came out, and people that I hadn’t spoken to in years suddenly started asking if I understood the language that they were speaking and saying that they finally understood my culture and where I’m from. Although “Black Panther” was a great movie and succeeded in showcasing the underlying beauty of Africa and what it could have been without slavery, it shouldn’t have been the reason why people started realizing the value of the continent. At NC State, there are many students that come from different backgrounds, cultures, and religions. We should do our own research about different cultures and not solely depend on what we’ve been told or taught by the media.
opinion
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 | 7
the omen of injustice in durham, nc
In today’s America of police brutality and mass incarceration, we are prompted to ask ourselves, “Just how much does society think black lives matter?” It’s a question no person should ever have Kevin Moye to ask, yet time and time Staff Writer again, we as black people must do so. This question has reared its ugly head once again, but for many of us, this time the incident that stirred the question happened closer than ever: only 25 miles away in Durham. On September 17th, a student of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), DeAndre Marquise Ballard, was shot and killed by a security guard of the NC Detective Agency. As of October 11th, minimal details about the shooting have been released. That is to say, it’s been around 3 weeks since Ballard was killed and we still have no idea who the security officer involved in the incident is or a reason why the officer resorted to shooting Ballard.
The most information we have regarding the incident are two 9-1-1 dispatch calls that were released to the public on October 5th. In one of the calls, a person alleged to be the shooter gave his account of what happened with Ballard. He says that Ballard attempted to “jump” in his car after failing to break into a parked car. If the officer is to be believed, then this appears to be another case of excessive violence used to subdue a black man; however, we still have no idea if these details are truly accurate. The NCCU student body has rightfully expressed their outrage towards the situation, demanding that details be released. Their anguish and despair, however, appears to be falling on deaf ears. Students have orchestrated protests and walk-outs to pressure the university or Durham Police Department into investigating the situation, but no additional information outside of the dispatch calls has been granted to the public. While there can’t be a clear-cut answer, it’s worthwhile to pose the question, “Would this be different if this was an NC State student?” Perhaps not. It’s very possible that the defining reason for the mistreatment of this
murder case is the blackness of the victim. It could be that regardless of the institution he attended, an officer would’ve still perceived him as a threat based on the color of his skin. And in the proceeding weeks of the event, the same silence still would’ve enveloped this case. The tragedy forces us once again to contemplate if black lives matter to officers as much as they should. The way in which this case is being conducted clearly shows that they don’t. The fact that it took 3 weeks just for us to receive the dispatch calls is already shameful, but even what’s more shameful is that we still don’t have the name of the officer that killed Ballard. In nearly every instance of officers shooting unarmed victims, the least we’re given is the name of the office. The NC Detective Agency has chosen to shroud the situation with anonymity. The dubious treatment of this case matches the already suspect history of the North Carolina Detective Agency. In 2010, the CEO of the NC Detective Agency, Roger Ladd, was reprimanded for falsifying information on guard training certificates. The
following year, an employee of the agency was also found to have provided false information for either a license registration or license renewal. And again in 2012, Ladd was found to have improperly registered armed guards. With a history as shaky as this, are we really expected to take the word of the NC Detective Agency? Some may say that Ballard’s blackness is an irrelevant aspect in this situation because the officer who shot him is reportedly a black man. This is simply a reductionist view of the larger problem of police brutality. Because we live in a society that criminalizes the image of black men, it’s much easier for police to justify their shootings of unarmed black men. From the accounts of his friends and family, Ballard was as far from being a criminal as one can get. Ballard has been described as a “happy-go-lucky” type of man who was “always upbeat.” Regardless of whether he did or didn’t fit the narrative for what he’s alleged to have done, one thing is indisputable: DeAndre Ballard didn’t deserve to be killed.
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