12 minute read
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
While the voices of racial and ethnic minorities in Georgia are essential, current Georgia representatives do not reflect the make up or interests of these communities.
On March 26, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Georgia Senate Bill 202 into law. Along with other provisions, this law makes obtaining absentee ballots more difficult, limits certain voters to certain polling locations and even prevents people from offering food and drink to voters waiting in line. This is a law made by White lawmakers for the White population.
Advertisement
According to an article published by the Georgia Broadcasting Service on May 19, seven lawsuits have been filed against Kemp's law, and most of the cases argue that it discrimminates against nonwhite voters.
What is wrong in the Georgia state government that laws threatening minority populations and interests can come to pass?
The root of the issue is governmental representation. According to the U.S. 2019 Census, Georgia’s population stands at 52% White, 32% Black, 10% Hispanic and 4% Asian. The membership of the Georgia legislature, however, is 71% White, 27% Black, 1% Hispanic and 1% Asian, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
While Georgia has the second highest Black population of any U.S. state, according to the 2019 U.S. Census, Georgia has also historically disenfranchised Black voters.
Georgia was founded on the ideals of democracy. However, democracy is subverted when the opinions of significant populations are suppressed.
According to a Jan. 4 article in the Regulatory Review, Georgia has obstructed Black and other
BY DANIEL GARCIA-POZO Viewpoints Staffer
minority voters by moving voting locations or even removing voters from registration.
Actions such as these limit opportunities for minority voters, which leads to less minority leaders.
Issues of underrepresentation become more important when considering the recent increase in ethnic and racial diversity within Georgia. In fact, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, it is estimated that in the next three decades, people of color could make up 85% of new Georgians.
We are clearly not a negligible part of our state.
As long as the ethnic and racial diversity of Georgia residents trends upward, representation in our state's government must also rise to reflect the changes.
Above: REAL REPRESENTATION: An illustration of officials of various racial and ethnic backgrounds stand before the capitol building. Similarly broad representation should make up the Georgia government in order to reflect the identities and voices of the Georgian people. Illustration by Lillian Sams
If the state is unable to reflect the interests of its high minority population, then it cannot serve its people effectively.
On a variety of occasions, minority leaders within Georgia have proven their capacity to understand the needs of and provide for their respective communities. One recent example is seen with Stacey Abrams, a Black politician who worked to mobilize Georgia voters during the 2020 presidential election.
Abrams showed that minorities are capable of making great change when politicians support and accurately represent them by leading efforts to swing the historically Republican Georgia electoral vote to Democrat.
Abrams’ work was effective because she mobilized both underrepresented Georgians and residents of more privileged communities to register voters and collectively combat voter suppression.
Change such as this can occur if people work together, starting small. Georgians can support minority leaders during elections like the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement did during the 2020 presidential elections, participate in clubs such as the Clarke Central High School Young Democrats and canvas in minority communities.
The voices and power of minorities cannot be ignored in Georgia. Laws that benefit the few, like Georgia Senate Bill 202, go against the will of the people and ideals of democracy.
If Georgians have the privilege to, they must use their positions to ensure minority perspectives are heard and understood in their local government.
Representation in the government is an end goal, but change begins with the people of Georgia themselves. O
SCHOOL STATE OF MIND
Due to the pandemic, many mental health experts expect depression and anxiety rates in teens to rise. Now is the time to make structural changes in the U.S. government that will improve access to care.
BY KALLIOPE SAMALTANOS Viewpoints Staffer
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the likelihood that teenagers will develop depression and other mental health disorders due to increased amounts of isolation and a lack of
social interaction. “People are starting to find notable increases in depression and anxiety for teens. Some estimates suggest about a 20% increase in symptoms over the last year,” University of Georgia assistant professor of psychology Dr. Katie Ehrlich said. “If you were just a little bit depressed pre-COVID, you're more likely to be moderately depressed during this phase.”
In 1946, President Harry Truman passed the National Mental Health Act, which created the National Institute of Mental Health and put government funds into research and treatment for those deemed mentally “ill.”
The original intention behind the act was to help veterans suffering from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) effects of World War II, but it was later modified to reach a broader spectrum of patients. This was the first time mental health in the United States was treated as a serious issue.
Although this was a step in the right direction for the United States, the issue should be revisited as teenage mental health has become a growing topic of discussion throughout the pandemic.
Currently, the CDC suggests that depression could affect one in two people following the pandemic, which would be a major spike from the currently reported one in six.
This dramatic change requires action from the government to provide support to its citizens struggling with mental health disorders.
The first step to improving teenagers' access to mental health care is by making support more readily available through public schools. Additionally, schools should find new ways to target students who are not seeking the help they need on their own.
While the government already supports struggling teenagers through the availability of school counselors, a 2016 study from the University of New Hampshire reports that only 17.8% of public schools meet the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1 student-to-counselor ratio. Each public school in the United States should be required to meet this recommendation. Furthermore, schools should reimagine the role of mental health access, urging students to seek help not only for school conflicts, but for issues at home, as well. School counselors are already strained in the responsibilities they have, from counseling students with academics, college admissions, and scheduling classes. Schools should prioritize the hiring of more counselors that focus solely on meeting the mental health needs of all students.
To aid students who require more help, schools should partner with mental health organizations that are able to pair students with professionals. Due to issues at home or financial need, their school may be a student's only way to access the resources they need.
Though emotional health care for teenagers is an ever-evolving field, especially throughout the pandemic, there are steps that schools across the nation can take to ensure that each individual has Oaccess to a safe and secure mental health outlet.
RESOURCES:
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio: 1-800-628-9454
SAMHSA Hotline for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
NAMI Hotline for Mental Health: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)
CAREFUL WITH CANCEL CULTURE
The act of holding public figures accountable is important, but its purpose is lost when celebrities and social media influencers are canceled for trivial reasons.
The primary purpose of canceling should be to combat abusive behavior and wrongdoings of influencers and celebrities in order to stop them from perpetuating harmful actions, but the culture that often surrounds it can completely miss the mark by targeting the wrong people.
Shunning has been a powerful mechanism throughout human evolution to enforce behavioral norms and limit harm, as the fear of being shunned is meant to be a deterrent to harmful behavior. For example, a caveman who ate all of his tribe’s food would have been cast out from the group without any resources to survive.
For social media influencers, the loss of reputation can be just as significant. Canceling -- the modern-day, widespread form of shunning -- takes away an influencer’s connection to their audience, which for many supports their livelihood. This is intended to force them to change their poor behavior for the better.
YouTuber Shane Dawson experienced one of the highest-profile cancellations of 2020. According to a June 2020 article in The Washington Post, the controversies included sexualizing children and animals, wearing blackface and using racial slurs in his videos.
The Washington Post also reported that YouTube demonetized his content following the cancellation. According to Social Blade, which shows social media analytics for creators, Dawson's subscriber count also declined between June and November 2020, from 23.3 to 21.2 million people.
After an extensive break from social media, Dawson continues to limit his internet presence in order to reflect on his decisions and ensure they are not repeated.
This is an example of cancel culture doing its job. Dawson’s behavior was problematic and severely harmful to his large audience,
BY NICOLAS WILLMAN Viewpoints Staffer
thus he was immediately condemned, restraining his impact on the public and minimizing his platform online.
Canceling only serves its purpose when used intentionally and against someone who is causing harm to the public, but it has spun into a toxic culture.
Instead of serving as a means to end a career, it has instead become the end itself.
Singer-songwriter Demi Lovato has been canceled time and time again, even meriting her very own semi-permanent Twitter hashtag, #DemiIsOverParty. In March 2020, Instagram users shunned Lovato for posting foul comments about singer-songwriter Selena Gomez on a private account.
While Lovato’s remarks were certainly in poor taste, this issue did not affect the public enough to warrant another cancellation.
Similarly, social media users went after singer-songwriter Taylor Swift on Twitter in
March 2021 for a situation she had virtually no control over. Fans flooded the comments of one of her ex-boyfriend’s social media posts with negative comments on his and Swift’s breakup, which prompted the ex’s fans to use the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty to call out the singer for her toxic behavior.
Audiences should recognize the difference between Swift’s situation and Lovato and
Dawson’s behavior. People should be called out for disrespectful actions, like Lovato, but true shunning should be reserved for the small number of extreme cases, like Dawson, lest canceling loses all meaning.
Social media platforms attempt to ward against harmful behavior by screening for the most dangerous messages and suppressing them. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok implement automatic filters that identify and block content deemed to be harmful, such as drugs or weapons.
However, the collective responsibility of holding people accountable for their actions cannot be offloaded to an algorithm. Audiences must call out influencers for their behavior when it causes public harm, and that means reserving canceling for when it’s necessary. O
BOILING POINT
Managing Editor Elena Webber shares her experience as a musician and the impact it has had on her growth as a person.
BY ELENA WEBBER Managing Editor
Growing up, I would often find myself messing with the slightly out-oftune keys on the 1896 Kranich and Bach grand piano that sits in my living room -- a faint tint of yellow and cracks on the F and A keys directly in the middle defined them.
I didn’t click with the instrument at first. Howev-
er, as I began to take piano lessons, playing music became my haven of self-expression and freedom. My fingers gently traced the keys, producing sounds I never imagined were possible.
I had infinite ways to exhibit creativity and imagination at my fingertips.
My music career expanded in the six years following my first piano lesson to include clarinet, percussion and guitar. I spent hours switching between instruments to test my abilities. For fun, I fiddled around with the notes to play songs by ear.
Over time, music had become more than my outlet for self-expression, but a breakthrough in who I was as a person and who I was to become.
Music is about more than just playing an instrument. Music has taught me discipline, confidence, resilience and so much more. My beloved late high school band director once told me it’s nearly impossible to play the same piece of music the exact same way every single time.
Music is shaped by circumstance. Every single movement determines the outcome, and it’s never perfect -- it’s perfectly flawed.
Music is fluid -- a journey where the future is shaped by the past, very much like life.
When I find myself at a low point, completely overwhelmed by my schoolwork or personal battles, I pick up an instrument and play.
I think about how every note, every run, every musical piece as a whole is conquerable with time and patience.
There are days where I cannot play my best. Maybe it’s that my fingers aren’t cooperating with me, or maybe I don’t have the mental power to focus on the piece at hand.
On days like these, I’m not infuriated with myself. I simply do what I can and pick it back up the next day. Even with a piece that I have been playing for years, a piece I can play with my eyes closed, I will still press a wrong key or strum a wrong string.
That’s the beauty of it.
Applying this mindset towards life has taught me to persevere and carry resilience through the challenges I face.
The skills I’ve obtained through playing music have shaped who I am as a person and taught me that although I may not be in control of exterior factors that affect me, I’m in control of the outcome and how I persist and respond to these challenges.
Like the slightly out-of-tune keys on my yellowed 1896 piano, with cracks on the F and A key, life is perfectly flawed -- and nonetheless, I will still play. O
