NUBIANMESSAGE NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY | RALEIGH, NC | THENUBIANMESSAGE.COM | THURSDAY, november 29, 2018
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THISISSUE 5 “CULTURE IS A STRONGHOLD”
Listening to indigenous voices
8 SEASONAL DEPRESSION A Q&A with Dr. Monica Zozone Osburn
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” –Audre Lorde
12 BE YOUR OWN PEACE
Dealing with problematic family members
13 STOP THE BIGOTRY
Homophobia in the black community
14 STAFF EDITORIAL Self-care is not self-indulgence
15 RACISM: BACK IN STOCK Takeaways from midterm elections
15 SHAWN’S SOAPBOX RETURNS America’s False Democracy
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 photo 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
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Tanaya Winder Delivers NAHM Keynote
KENNYSHA WOODS Managing Editor
jay bATE /Staff Photographer
Tanaya Winder, performance poet, writer, musician, educator and author gave the keynote for Native American Heritage Month (NAHM) on Nov. 28 in Talley Student Union. Concurring with the theme of NAHM— “Our Fire Still Burns”—Winder’s keynote, titled “Remember Her: We Are Still Singing,” discussed how lessons passed down from ancestors can serve as methods of personal and interpersonal development and healing. “I’m here to talk about heart work, and about this fire that I think each of us has inside of us,” Winder said. Winder began the keynote with an acknowledgement of ancestors and said, “Whatever background you have, we all have ancestors. We all have people in our family or bloodline who’ve passed on before
us, that I believe are watching out for us all the time.” “For me, as an indigenous person,” Winder continued, “everything our ancestors have done have purpose and meaning, and we can help that meaning live on in a continual practice of the lessons we’ve been taught.” These lessons included stories, songs and ceremonies, and Winder structured each topic around lessons she had learned from her own family. As Winder told stories of her own life and that of family members, she encouraged the audience to think about their own stories—like where they take root, which ones they remember and hold onto and how outer spaces and narratives came into play. “When I think about the seeds—the stories we carry,” said Winder, “I like to think, ‘Well what do I want my impact to be in this
world, given where I come from, given what I know, given what I want to do.’” Ultimately, all of the lessons Winder has learned shape her voice and fuel the work she does in spoken word, music and support for Native students today. “Part of me wanting to light my fire is honoring where my voice comes from,” she said. Winder implored to audience to understand how individuals are shaped by their stories and how individuals define their impact on the earth. “Where does your fire come from? Where does your light come from?” she asked. Many of the students in attendance were part of the University Scholars program. Tyana Thorne, a first-year studying psychology, said, “I knew that Native Americans struggled. They kind of have the same struggles as African Americans in America—it
might even be worse.” Samuel Mosby, a second-year studying mechanical engineering, was particularly taken by Winder’s personality and delivery. “She wanted people to know,” Mosby said. “She was telling personal stories because she wanted people to understand what they go through. They want people to have open minds about everything they face. Even though we heard just one story of one person, it’s shared amongst so many people of Native American heritage.” Mosby continued, “With a college that promotes diversity and prides itself on the diversity of its students, having these events is priceless. Being able to share these stories with students is invaluable.”
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features
nahm 2018 playlist by Kennysha Woods, managing editor
photo by Amrita Malur
We can’t let this Native American Heritage Month pass without recognizing some of the biggest Native American artists of modern American music. From rock to folk to blues and beyond, these songs all remind us of the fire that still burns within the Native peoples of this country.
Come and Get Your Love
Redbone
Something On Your Mind
Karen Dalton
Idle No More
Pura Fé
Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Jimi Hendrix
Wildfires
John Trudell
You Got To Run Fire and Brimstone
Buffy Sainte-Marie Link Wray
Make A Joyful Noise
Jesse Ed Davis
Don’t Be Afraid to Fly
Mickie James
The Fight
Taboo
features
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 5
Native Voices: Keeping Hope Alive against Adversity jalen Rose Correspondent
“W
hen I was a kid,” said Ryan Emmanuel, Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, “there was point where I believed my immediate family were the only Natives in the world. “Growing up, I had no context for how Native people were treated until high school when you really start to learn about the true history of the United States going beyond the textbook,” Emmanuel said. “The treatment of indigenous peoples has kept me in a constant state of worry pertaining to what the government could possibly do next.” Indigenous peoples’ voices and experiences are uplifted throughout November in recognition of Native American Heritage Month. One topic that tends to be overshadowed when referring to indigenous peoples’ experiences is mental health. Being subjected to the hardships of neglect can impact mental health significantly. Native Americans have long endured the
political turmoil of the United States. From constant persecution to blatant neglect, the ongoing turmoil can be mentally and emotionally taxing. During the 2018 midterm elections, Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids were the first two Native American women elected to serve in Congress. “The results were exciting at first but it’s challenging to always be on the back burner,” said April Hammonds, the assistant director for intercultural initiatives in Multicultural Student Affairs. “Recently, there were some laws passed that restrict tribal identification to qualify as a voter id. It definitely has its pluses and minuses.” Hammonds is referring to the law that was passed in North Dakota during the last midterm election. According to Katie Reilly in her article for TIME, the law “requires voters to present identification that displays a street address and disproportionately affects Native Americans on reservations, where street addresses are not common.” Amberlina Alston, a fourth-year studying
psychology and the president of the Native American Student Association, said, “The election of two Native women is a great step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go.” Many of the Native American students at NC State are from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, which has been fighting to be federally recognized as an American Indian tribe for over a century. The fight continues today. “The government’s attitude towards my tribe in particular (Lumbee) and towards indigenous peoples in general has caused a low-level stress that stays in the back of my mind,” Emmanuel said. Beyond systemic issues, interpersonal interactions can also impact indigenous people. Hammonds’ coping methods for this treatment involve understanding and attempting to educate the misinformed. “People ask these very stereotypical things and I had to learn as a young college student how to answer these questions,” said Hammonds. “It’s one of those things where I have
to decide if I’m going to come off as angry or am I going to take these questions as a moment to turn them around and educate. I try to cope by helping navigate the conversation.” Alston has a very similar coping method, as she believes in spreading awareness to those around her. “I feel like my job is to bring awareness to the people who have never met or interacted with Native Americans and remind them that we still exist,” she said. Alston also believes that staying prideful in her identity is very important. “Culture is a stronghold for us. Keeping that alive and starting that fire can be enough,” Alston said. Emmanuel believes that recognizing his ancestor’s struggles can be very helpful. “Our ancestors were treated terribly but they survived,” Emmanuel. “They were able to give rise to people like you and me. They were forward-looking and didn’t give up. They focused on mental and emotional sustainability. We get to do the same.”
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features
learning from failure anna carlson Correspondent
With finals season here, it may be dawning on some of us that we might not be finishing our classes with the grades we want or need. Whether you’re struggling to get past a C-wall or you just need to pass a challenging prerequisite, there’s a chance you may fail— and that’s okay. It’s hard to accept failure, though. In academic settings like NC State, where we’re constantly faced with academic challenges and competition with our peers, it’s hard not to beat yourself up when you’re not as successful as those around you seem. Despite the social perceptions that exist around failure, everyone around you experiences it in one way or another. Your professors have failed. Your friends have failed. I have failed—and you will, too. Though once you learn to look at these losses in a positive light, your ability to learn from them grows immensely. I came into NC State as a first-year engineering student and unsure of what I wanted to get out of my degree at all. All I knew was that I was pretty good at math and science and I loved design, so engineering was the direction I headed towards. Throughout my first semester, though, I struggled beyond what I had expected. I had to learn how to study and manage my time in a completely different way from what I was used to in high school, and it was one of my hardest semesters because of that. I was discouraged when I looked around myself and saw other freshman thrive in their courses while I remained overwhelmed by the same classes. When I came out of my calculus class with a D+, just short of the C- I needed to move on, I felt extremely defeated. It was hard to pick myself back up after that semester. Feeling like a terrible student, I wasn’t sure I would be successful in any of the classes that were most important to me. Looking back on those first few months of college, however, though I failed in many aspects, I was able to learn more about myself. I better understood my learning style, and my perspective on what interested me degree-wise shifted significantly as well. I learned how to grow from setbacks like these and to see failure in a more positive light. Daniel Soos, a second-year studying mechanical engineering, expressed his
kaydee gawlik /Staff Photographer
perspective on the value of experiencing failures of various kinds. “Whenever I got a test back that wasn’t satisfactory, not doing well just made me want to do better,” Soos said. “[This] got me into the mindset of ‘if something [isn’t successful], you can always do better on the next try.’” Describing academic setbacks throughout high school and college as inspiration to persevere, Soos turns failures into the motivation needed to improve. “You’re going to fail a lot of times in life,” Soos said, “but you can’t let that stop you.” Maddy Giles, a third-year studying psychology, discussed her experience with moving on from failure, describing her first year of college at another institution in
North Carolina as one of the most challenging years of her life. Coming in as an out-of-state student, Giles felt unwelcomed and out of place. Even though she did very well academically, she expressed that she had failed because she did not fit in socially. “No one liked me, because I was not from there,” Giles said. “I was different and they didn’t like that. They could tell by the way I talked, the way I dressed - they didn’t really accept that. So I socially failed [there]. I was by myself 95 percent of the day, the other five percent was my two classes per day.” Once she realized that something needed to change, she transferred here to NC State, and things got a lot better. From this
experience, she came to the understanding that how you react to failure significantly impacts how much you grow from it. “You kind of have to figure out what defines coming back from failure,” Giles said. Accepting failure as a reality that doesn’t decide your future or who you are allows you to grow from these setbacks. This growth isn’t possible, however, if you don’t make the continuous choice to see failure as a positive. Once you do this, you allow yourself to fully learn from your mistakes, opening up your future to more success than previously possible.
features
study ‘N chill
dance break playlist by jalen rose, correspondent
graphic by anna lee
Crazy In Love
When you’re feeling worn down and need to forget about your work for a while, take a break and throw your own private dance party with this playlist! Get the blood flowing, get loose, and get refreshed!
Beyoncé
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playlist by Shawn fredericks, staff writer
graphic by kyle howe
b song
A playlist for you to study ‘n chill, kick back ‘n relax, and let these tunes take you to another point of relaxation as your worklife balance is torn asunder from finals.
San Holo
Lost Control
Missy Elliot
Asia
SICKO MODE
Travis Scott
Egyptian Luvr
Rejjie Snow
Galaxy
Retrovision
REEL IT IN
Aminé
TAICO
Love on Top
Beyoncé
Soul Food
Taliwhoah & Arin Ray
Crew
GoldLink
Both of Us
Idealism
Better With You In It
MAJOR
Finesse
Bruno Mars
BOOGIE
Brockhampton
Drip Too Hard
Lil Baby & Gunna
Nice For What
Drake
Motor City 17 Again swag on
J Dilla Wun Two Kazam
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 8
features
q&a with dr. monica zozone osburn Nubian Message sat with Dr. Monica Zozone Osburn, licensed professional counselor and executive director of NC State’s Counseling Center, to discuss seasonal affective disorder and its effect on college students. brandon loyd Correspondent Brandon Loyd: What does seasonal depression look like for a college student?
Dr. Monica Zozone Osburn: So, seasonal affective disorder [SAD]—it looks very similar to depression. Sadness, changes in appetite, difference in motivation, increased sleep, sometimes not being able to sleep. Those are the primary factors.
Loyd: How is this going to affect a student’s work and social life compared to somebody who may not be a student at a university? Osburn: I think the impact for college students is [that] it’s a summative impact, meaning you have the semester and it is such a short period of time. For someone to be out for a week can have great implications in this kind of environment compared to if they were just on the
features job or something like that, because in college, a week is a long time and you can get behind and grades can start to stack up. If you miss some of the fundamental components of that week, it might be hard to catch up, and with seasonal affective disorder and different kinds of depressive disorder—the strong underpinnings of that are lack of motivation, fatigue, sadness. When you are struggling with all of that and then you are behind in your work, it’s a cycle.
Loyd: Is SAD something that the counseling center sees often during this time of year?
Osburn: Not particularly. This time of year, we see some of it, but it’s not as prevalent in NC because of the access to sunlight as we see in other areas. When I used to work in New Jersey, I saw a lot more of it there than in North Carolina.
Loyd: What is the difference between SAD and major depressive disorder (MDD)?
Osburn: Seasonal cycle. So, SAD tends to come at the end of fall through winter, and there is an automatic uplift that comes spring and sometimes summer. You can actually have it in spring and summer, but it’s far more prominent in fall and winter. Major depression can come anytime of the year. It doesn’t have a seasonal or cyclical cycle. The symptoms tend to be greater with MDD. There is no automatic way for it to come out, and the timing it occurs is the impact of the sunlight. If it’s true SAD, then light therapy is going to show improvement.
Loyd: What does diagnosis look like for SAD?
Osburn: Well, it always starts with a clinical assessment—just finding out what the cyclical nature of the symptoms are, how long they’ve been present, when they started, the duration of the symptoms, where the impact is felt most. Just gathering a lot of information, making
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sure the criteria is met, and we are definitely going to want to do what we call a differential diagnosis to determine if it is truly SAD or MDD, and we can do that by just measuring the severity and timing of the symptoms.
Loyd: So what exactly is the cause of SAD?
Osburn: I don’t really know. It’s not clear, but we do know that the absence of sunlight is a contributing factor.
Loyd: What does treatment look like for someone with SAD?
Osburn: If someone truly has SAD, one of the best treatments is actually sunlight. It’s to be able to get outside on a sunny day, even if it’s cold, because what you are trying to do is increase serotonin levels and dopamine. Something as simple as sunlight can impact that. There is actually light therapy that is prescribed. We don’t do that as much here, because in NC, the sun is out a lot. But in places that don’t get a lot of sun—New York, Rochester, Ohio—they’re going without sunlight for multiple days. You see the impact, so they have these portable light lamps that students can just spend time in front of and get some support.
Loyd: What are some other important things you think people should know about SAD?
Osburn: Wellness is a holistic concept, whether it’s dealing with SAD or anything else. It’s thinking about taking care of yourself in all areas of your life. So, going out and sitting in the sun—that is absolutely going to help—and so is going on a walk and moving your body… how are you feeding your body—so paying attention to your nutrition—and physical exercise. Are you spending time with friends and family as well as others? All of those factors. If we look at wellness from a holistic perspective, that is how we are going to take care of ourselves the best.
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features
the semester in review Keilah Davis Editor-in-Chief
AUGUST
kennysha woods Managing Editor
OCTOBER
AACC gets renovated
African American Cultural Center renovations began during the summer and were completed in August.
ICE incident: October 1
Campus police turned a non-student in to ICE after discovering them in the construction site behind Alpha Delta Pi. Student Body President Jess Errico released a statement saying campus police had “no abnormal partnership with ICE.”
US Postal Service debuts Kwanzaa Forever Stamp: October 10
The African American Cultural Center was chosen to host the reveal of U.S. Postal Service’s new Kwanzaa stamp.
courtesy of NC State university David Tracey/Staff Photographer
Michael Arceneaux visits NC State: October 11
Nubian Message launches new website
Michael Arceneaux, author of New York Times bestseller “I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé,” came to campus for a discussion about topics such as race, sexuality, intersectionality, and Beyoncé.
We ditched the black yellow for the green and white. Finally! A website that matched our brand!
SEPTEMBER
NC State fails diversity report card: September 26
University of Southern California Race and Equity Center published a report card that rated NC State an “F” in representation equity and a “B” in completion equity.
Curly delivers Latinx Heritage Month keynote: September 27
Curly Velasquez of Buzzfeed’s Pero Like, spoke about his journey to becoming a video producer, the fruition of Pero Like, and the importance of supporting each other in our artistic endeavors.
Erin Cody/Staff Photographer
NOVEMBER
University Commons becomes Holmes Hall: November 1
University Commons was renamed Holmes Hall to honor Irwin Holmes Jr., NC State’s first black graduate. Holmes was also the first black athlete of the Atlantic Coast Conference and co-captain of a varsity team, as well as the first black varsity letter winner.
Sara Trudan/Staff Photographer
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 12
opinion
DE-STRESS playlist by Ugonna Ezuma-Igwe and Elikem Dodor
Graphic by Kyle howe
This cultural mix spanning multiple continents will help you get through the stressful week before finals. Whether you need to wind down after a long paper or begin preparing for a final exam, this is the playlist for you!
Baila Esta Cumbia Mango Aben Woha Carry Life is a Highway Master Groove Askamaya
Selena Bilal Shahid Daddy Lumba Mic O Rascal Flatts Wizkid Teni
Katchua
Ya Levis
Ace (feat. Smino & Saba)
Noname
practicing self care with problematic family members Winter break comes with its perks. It’s the holiday season, it’s an extended break and if you celebrate Christmas, then it’s a time to give and receive gifts. One of the cons of winter break and the holiday season is that Yesenia Jones you are forced to spend Staff Writer time with your problematic uncles, aunties and cousins as your family comes together for this joyous time of year. My family contains people from across the political spectrum—ranging from super liberal to hardcore Republican. I identify as a liberal Democrat, so hearing my conservative family members bring up issues like Colin Kaepernick, immigration and gun control causes a two-sided debate that becomes so intense, you’d think we were in a courtroom and not at the dinner table. These arguments seem to never end and create tension in the household that lasts throughout the holiday season. It’s exhausting and no one ever wins. On the other hand, you have relatives who want to bring up all of your bad decisions and tell you everything that you’ve done wrong while neglecting to look at the man in the mirror. In order to deal with these problematic family members, it’s essential that you practice self-care. Practicing self-care doesn’t always have to mean pulling out a face mask and all of the bath bombs that you own. It must be tailored to each situation and can sometimes be more impactful than you think. In cases of dealing with stubborn family members who can build cases as strong as Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian, your self-care needs to be intentional and unique to the situation. I often find myself to practicing self-care in these situations by simply walking away. This is difficult for me since I have a hard time submitting to someone who agrees
with conservative ideologies and lacks knowledge of basic human rights. I too often believe that morality and having a basic conceptualization of human rights should be common sense but I have learned in my 20 years of life that it’s not. While this may seem submissive, it’s important to recognize that you cannot ‘teach an old dog new tricks,’ and by this I mean it’s important to understand that sometimes you cannot change a person. You may simply express your truth and hope that they understand it. If they don’t accept your truth, then you must move on. Don’t waste your energy on those who are only attempting to waste your time with argumentative claims that can never be agreed upon. You must either accept the person for who they are or simply expel them from your life. Choosing to expel someone from your life or keep them in it may also mean that you need to create a strict set of boundaries to make clear to your family members. Let them know what you feel comfortable discussing and things that you believe should be avoided. You should specifically meet with the problematic family member and let them know the boundaries you would like to set. Your family members may blow you off or they might listen to you—either way, if you stick to your boundaries and remove yourself when those boundaries are crossed, your family members will begin to understand how serious you are. And if they don’t take into consideration your desires and don’t value quality time with you over the protection of their ego, then it may be time to consider cutting them off. Their issues and racist ways are not your fault, and in order to maintain your own mental sanity, you need to recognize that sometimes practicing self-care means simply doing what allows you to maintain your happiness and peace. During your winter break, make your peace and happiness a priority by setting boundaries with problematic family members or choosing to remove them from your life.
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 13
opinion
The Black Community’s Love for Homophobia The black community is notoriously known for uplifting one another with an intense amount of passion. We tend to treat the accomplishments of individuals as an accomplishment for the community. It’s apparent that the constant Jalen rose support and validation Correspondant we show for each other bring us closer together. Yet, even with this level of support, we still tend to neglect the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. The blatant homophobia within the black community has persisted for many decades. It begs these questions: how can a community that cherishes each other so much display such an intense ignorance towards the LGBTQ+ community? And how are black members of the LGBTQ+ community supposed to feel validated and secure within their identity? As a bisexual black man, I am constantly forced to question my identity. I find myself asking if I should prioritize my blackness or my sexual orientation. The idea that both identities share a polarizing relationship should be seen as problematic. It’s as if being black restricts one from being gay, and vice versa. As a community we need to recognize the environment we established to let a complex like this come to fruition. It took me years to come to terms with my sexuality because I believed it to be morally wrong to be bisexual. Growing up, the people around me treated homosexuality as a sin. To be gay was to betray “God himself.” The religious persecution influenced my perception of sexual identities. Along with religion, the hypermasculinity within the black community forced me to hide anything that may make me appear gay. Even factors not as big as religion or masculinity influenced my perception, such as people calling anything they don’t like, “gay,” and ending their sentences with “no homo.” Being black in America is already a constant struggle. Being subjected to things like police brutality, stereotypes, mass incar-
ceration and microaggressions can become very taxing for any individual. Not only can it affect your livelihood, but it affects your mental health as well. Many black people suffer from mental illness because of their condition in America. Members of the LGBTQ+ community also face many facets of discrimination and intolerance. Adding the effects of racism with the effects of homophobia can cause a very negative impact on one’s mental health. I suffer from both depression and anxiety and a lot of it roots from my identity and everything that comes with it. A common theme in black families is treating sexual orientation as a taboo subject. Not talking about homosexuality causes eventual ignorance. Many people in the black community are uneducated and never attempt to educate themselves on the experiences that come with belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. You can frequently encounter homophobia on Twitter. You often run into tweets that state some form of the following: “I’m not homophobic or anything. I just don’t agree with that kind of lifestyle.” These people are unaware how invalidating saying something like that can be. To “not agree with the lifestyle” is to reject it, and rejecting it undermines the validity of one’s identity. The black community on twitter is quick to defend each other when facing racism but somehow can’t keep that same energy when defending black queer folks. It’s as if we only combat discrimination when it comes pertains to ourselves. The irony here is that most pro-black programs are organized and led by queer black folk. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, was co-founded by Alicia Garza, a queer black woman. Even while facing bigotry from their own people, LGBTQ+ members are still able to defend them. It should be clear that as a community, we need to do better. The fact that black queer people are expected to prioritize their blackness over their sexual orientation is unacceptable. The intersection of both identities is very real and needs to be discussed more. We can’t claim to be an uplifting community while simultaneously neglecting members within it.
INSTUMENTAL PLAYLIST playlist by Anna Carlson
Graphic by kyle howe
Intro Definitive Breaks
For those of you who can’t study well when your music has a lot of lyrics, this playlist is for you. Filled with some of the best instrumentals and interludes, this set of songs will be sure to help you enjoy your studying—without pulling you out of focus. Enjoy!
The xx Phoenix
School
Calvin Harris
Nangs
Tame Impala
YesPlease
Tane
Sleepwalk
Santo & Johnny
Anji White Ebb//flo
Simon & Garfunkel Frank Ocean, John Mayer Invention_
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 14
opinion
Staff Editorial: Self-care is not self-indulgence Nubian message staff
Self-care has recently become the public’s automatic response to any stressor; the endless results of articles that pop up when you google “self-care” shows this. Had a bad day at work? Take a bath with a bath bomb. Overwhelmed with a project? Do a face mask! Is your calendar too full with brunch meetings and you can’t possibly make your hot yoga appointment this week? Go to yoga anyway! It’s what makes you happy and you deserve it! This is a highly commercialized, watered-down form of self-care. Self-care is more than doing a one-day social media detox or going outside to watch clouds. It’s more than indulgence. In the words of Audre Lorde, it’s a form of literal self-preservation and a radical political act. Dealing with discrimination and the effects of systemic racism on a daily basis has been linked to higher stress levels and health disparities among minorities. According to the American Psychological Association, even the anticipation of a discriminatory act has been reported to cause stressors in black and Hispanic people. This can significantly affect the health and quality of life for marginalized people living in America. Taking a moment to practice self-care can ultimately mean life or death for some of us. Self-care—choosing to care for ourselves—is clearly a necessity. Yet between work, school, family life and surviving under the oppressive forces of society—racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia and transphobia—we, as marginalized people, don’t have the luxury of taking personal time or funds to practice mainstream self-care. For many of us, virtually every waking moment is dedicated to merely making ends meet, and it’s simply easier to ignore very real mental health concerns. Furthermore, many of our communities treat mental health as a taboo subject. For example, in the black
community, we’ve often been told that religion is the sole answer. Perhaps if we prayed more then we’d find peace. Perhaps our lack of religion is the only reason we find ourselves needing to tend to our mental health at all. These beliefs are dangerous and rooted in misinformed ideals.
“Between work, school, family life and surviving under the oppressive forces of society... we, as marginalized people, don’t have the luxury of taking personal time or funds to practice mainstream self-care.” Growing up in these environments, without the education on the complexities of mental health, makes it even more difficult to prioritize our own mental health and be honest about our needs. We should also consider the general lack of access to mental health education. It’s much harder for us to acknowledge something in ourselves or in others when we don’t really understand what “it” is. Even when given the resources to understand our
bodies and advocate for our needs, we may not be believed. In a Vogue cover story published in January, tennis star Serena Williams detailed the complications she experienced after giving birth to her daughter. Serena, who has a history of blood clots, knew that she was experiencing one and alerted doctors and nurses that she needed a CT scan. According to Vogue, “The nurse thought her pain medicine might be making her confused.” Serena’s insistence on receiving the CT scan literally saved her life. Not even someone with the wealth, success and fame of Serena Williams is guaranteed to be believed. Now we—as young adults coming of age in a society that continues to degrade and devalue people of color, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, women and other marginalized groups—are tasked with finding proper ways to care for ourselves. Self-care is learning about ourselves and the specific mental health issues we face. If there’s a particular issue that is causing mental or physical harm, we can do more than announce it or identify; we can look into the deeper meaning on why it is important and how it is detrimental to our health. Self-care is acknowledging and discussing mental health within our social circles, even with people who don’t “believe” in it, because that could lead to more awareness and acceptance in the future. Self-care is processing and unpacking, expressing your identity regularly through any medium and going to therapy if needed. Self-care, then, cannot be purely defined by face masks, spa treatments or even vacation days. For us, self-care is literally self-preservation in the face of a society that perpetuates our oppression, that enforces the rules designed to ensure our failures, to invalidate our rights to exist. In such a society, to practice to self-care and ensure our survival is, within itself, a radical political act.
opinion
THURSDAY, november 29, 2018 | 15
Race-based Politics are Back in Vogue Two years after the disastrous 2016 elections, America at-large is still reeling from the effects of that election. The far-right, prejudiced politics have eschewed in a familiar type of politicking across the country. It is the politics of Kevin moye overt racism that we have Staff Writer not quite seen since the 1960s. This frightening style of politics is something that can be witnessed all over the country in all types of races. In Florida, we saw racist dog whistling on the gubernatorial level with now the elected governor, Ron DeSantis, saying that voters should not elect his opponent, Andrew Gillum, for they “monkey this up” in Florida. While some viewed this as a harmless euphemism, many took this comment as nothing more than an attempt to subtly attack Gillum based on his race. More recently, news outlets have found that the incumbent senator of Mississippi,
Cindy Hyde-Smith, has unsavory ties to the Confederacy. This comes after the senator made a “joke” about being willing to attend a “public hanging” if one of her supporters invited her to one. What is most troubling about these politicians is that both of them won their respective races despite using such abhorrent rhetoric on their campaign trails. One of the most striking examples of racism seen during the election cycle was the circulation of political advertisements that played on the xenophobia and racism of the American public. What has become known as the “caravan ad” depicted Hispanic immigrants that come to our southern border as lawless, dangerous criminals that must be kept out of the country at all costs. The ad attempted to compare immigrants to a murderous undocumented immigrant, Luis Bracamontes. It gained nationwide visibility after the President retweeted the advertisement to his following of 56 million people. Perhaps the most alarming example is the one that hits the most at home. Earlier
this year, a candidate for the North Carolina General Assembly, Russell Walker, made headlines as a result of him vocalizing his incendiary ideology. Walker’s website questioned why it was wrong to be a white supremacist because “God is a racist and a white supremacist.” What makes these types of politicians so frightening is the fact that these people were supported by significant portions of their respective constituencies. Even worse, some candidates still managed to win their races after running on such a repugnant platform. The backing behind these politicians shows us that these types of mindsets are not just fringe ideologies; they are ideologies rooted in mainstream American political thought. Even though Walker was defeated in his bid for the General Assembly, Walker still won his primary by a margin of about 65% of the vote. In the general election, Walker managed to pull about 36% of the vote which comprised around 8,000 people. It is difficult to feel comforted by the results of our midterm elections when 8,000 people in one district alone voted for a white suprem-
acist to be their representative. Already we can witness the policy manifestations of this era of racist politics playing out within our country. In our state’s midterm election, this toxic ideology was put on full display with the addition of voter ID laws being placed into our state constitution after being put to vote on the ballot. Voter ID laws are broadly considered to be racist and discriminatory by policy experts including a federal circuit panel of judges. With racist elected officials now being so emboldened, voter ID laws may be just the beginning of the discriminatory policy that we see take place. Though many law experts are calling it unfeasible, President Trump’s proposal to get rid of birthright citizenship is the kind of policy proposals we will see in this age of overtly racist policy. If the message wasn’t clear before, it certainly is now: racism is back on the menu for political campaigns. We must continue to fight against this regression in our politics, or else policies such as voter ID laws and birthright citizenships restrictions will only become more normalized.
Shawn’s Soapbox: America’s False Democracy The midterm elections are over, and the blue wave turned out to be a blue splash with Democrats getting the House (an expected result), and Republicans keeping the Senate. While the promised blue wave did not sweep the naShawn tion, it did break through fredericks many barriers, especially Staff Writer for women of color, who showed out. For example, this election saw the first Native American women Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland being elected to the House of Representatives. Somali-American Ilhan Omar—who, two decades ago, had come to the US as a refugee—was the first Muslim woman to be elected into the House. These are notable breakthroughs of progress that should be praised. The success of women of color in the political system, if it continues, can lead to positive foundational changes to America’s political leadership. This victory was great news for everyone the midterm elections, but it also showcased the sinister flaws in the current political system that violates the core ideals of America’s
professed value of democracy. Voter suppression, an ever-frustrating issue for people of color for the last century, reared its ugly head again to the surprise of no one who knows anything about politics. In Vann R. Newkirk II’s article for The Atlantic, “Voter Suppression Is the New Old Normal,” Newkirk writes: “In reality, the country has always been defined as much by whom it’s kept from voting as by who is allowed to participate, and the ideal of democracy has always been limited by institutions designed to disenfranchise. Put another way: The great majority of all elections in American history would have been entirely illegitimate under modern law.” Gerrymandering that targets black and brown voting rights in communities of color and voter ID laws in other states that disproportionately affect people of color—amongst other instances of voter suppression—has undermined the very principle of democracy. Again, for people of color, American democracy has been an unfilled promise that seems to be only for white middle-class Americans. I recently wrote an article on why black people should vote where I took a very harsh tone to encourage black people to
vote. Upon reflection, I wished I’d taken a more empathetic and understanding tone. As a black man, I know all too well the frustrations with the American political system and how, more often than not, the system does not reflect the interest of black people nor people of color. It often antagonizes us. As people of color, there are very few options to make headway into American politics through traditional methods like voting because of both voter suppression and the destructive two-party system. The Democratic Party touts itself as the progressive political party, yet it has repeatedly failed to provide a political platform for people of color. Its political ineptitudes and lack of a clear progressive vision constantly let us down. The Republican Party is even worse, as it’s the white man’s political party and it’s running amuck with a base of neo-Nazis and white identity politics. Additionally, the Republican Party is the fear-mongering party that is chasing after the nonexistent specter of voter fraud as a cover up for their voter disenfranchisement tactics. You know, good ol’ boy business as usual. There’s a reason why people of color
predominantly don’t vote for the Republican Party and would rather sit out elections than participate. That’s exactly what the party’s aimed goal is—create fear and apathy to cover up subpar vision and policy. With all these factors in consideration (and people can slander me for saying this), why would people of color vote? The white man’s party wants to suppress our vote and the so-called progressive party acts as if it doesn’t want to be bothered with our interests but expects your vote at the same time. Look here at the state of North Carolina—a state where the Republican-dominated General Assembly is at work to incorporate voter ID laws to disenfranchise voters for their benefit. This is especially relevant to the next generation of NC State students of color, who may be affected by these new voter ID initiatives. Is this the democracy my ancestors bled to be a part of? As the younger generation of Americans of color are coming of age, what do they have to look forward to? These questions need answers. I don’t have the answers to these questions, but the future will unfold nonetheless. I just pray better times are coming.
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