OneWorld Spring 2012 - Rights and Freedoms

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ONEWORLD ISSUE #11

Dear Readers, We have chosen to address the topic of Rights and Freedoms in our special issue because of the number of often invisible, intangible liberties we enjoy. Many of the rights we take for granted are being denied to marginalized and underserved populations. We have also chosen to inform on issues where freedoms and the law appear to come into conflict. These issues are charged on both sides, but we hope that by properly informing each side, compromise can be achieved.

Awareness alone will not solve these issues. The solution lies in commitment and action. At the end of this magazine, you will find a listing of ways to get involved in the topics presented. We urge you to find an issue you are passionate about and dedicate some time to working in that field even if it is only a couple of hours a week.

In this effort, we would like to thank the Center for Service and Community Engagement team and Dr. Bryan Sokol, our advisor, for their guidance and support. We would also like to thank our departmental sponsors, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Student Development and the Cross Cultural Center, and our grant provider, the Interfaith Challenge Grant, without whose support the publication of this magazine would be impossible. liveOneWorld, The Editorial Team

EDITORIAL TE AM

ED I TOR - I N- C HIE F NEEL AYSH V U K K ADAL A MA N AGI N G ED ITOR J U LI A BRUC KS OU T R EAC H COOR D I N ATOR J OSEP H WOTAWA , S .J.

LOC AL SECT I ON ED ITOR ER I NN MC K UNE

I NTE R N ATION A L SECT I ON ED ITOR L AU R A C AS E Y

PHOTOGRAPHY E DITOR SANJAN A S HAH RE S E ARC H E DITOR SARAH AL L ABAS TRO COPY & CONTE NT E DITORS SWATHI C HIDAMBARAM MARY S HANN ON DE S IGN/ L AYOUT E DITOR TONY TRABON L AYOUT CONTRIBUTOR MADE L INE HE NDRE N

F OU NDE R AND VIS ION ARY J ES S E S UL L IVAN Co n t a c t u s a t o newor ldmagazine@gmail.com 1

TABLE OF CON T EN TS 3

Pover ty

5

Ko ny

7

It ’ s a Gi r l

9

Wo men ’ s Hea l t h

11

Refugee D ua l i ty

13

Wa r i n t he N a me o f Rel i gi o n

15

Int er f a i t h Pho t o S p rea d

19

Vo t el ess, Vo i cel ess, Ho mel ess

21

T he Ri ght To Ed uca ti o n

A S tr uctural Perspective

Oppor tunity and C hallenges in Ame r i ca

Facilit ating a Positive Public S c hoo l S y s t e m R IG H TS & F R EED OMS SPECIAL EDITION

23

LGBT T i mel i ne

25

T he Co ntrover sy o f Co ntra cep tion

27

Freed o m o f Rel i gi o n

29

How t o Ge t Invo l ved

Foreign L a w in t he U nit ed S t at es

2

Pho t o by N eela ysh Vukkadala

POVERT Y 3

a structural perspective

k at e e s s i g sophomore majoring in english

What does poverty look like? In America, the poor are easily pigeon-holed to the homeless man outside the ballpark or the unshaven faces on social-justice periodicals. Poverty exists in the lines outside of food pantries, at the checkout counter at Goodwill, or in the cold hands of the Salvation Army bell-ringer.

Poverty, unlike issues of race and gender, is not easily identifiable and is therefore easy to ignore. People do not wear their incomes blazoned across their chests and people do not discuss paychecks in polite company. It is easy to put poverty in hardto see places, but in reality, poverty exists in plain view.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2010 15.1% of Americans and 22% of American children were living in poverty.

That means almost one in every five American children is currently living in poverty, and one in every six Americans is impoverished. As Americans, it is impossible to believe that we do not interact regularly with this sizable portion of our population. Whether we notice or not, poverty is present.

The root causes of poverty are not easily understood and are not easy to fix, but one woman who looks to understand the causes of poverty is Saint Louis University professor Gretchen Arnold.

Arnold is a Sociology professor with a joint appointment in Women’s Studies.

Her areas of concentration are social movements, political sociology, gender, and social theory. This semester, she teaches a class on the structures of poverty.

This class attempts to educate students on how poverty is perceived, what the ramifications of those perceptions are, and the truth behind the root causes of poverty.

When asked how most Americans view poverty, Arnold’s answer was a resolute, “Most Americans think that people are poor because of some individual failing, they’re lazy or they’re stupid.” America, as a country founded on freedom and centered around individuality, has the tendency to see those who are unable to rise out of poverty as socially incapable, as a drain on our nation’s resources and as individuals who are unwilling to work hard enough to make a good wage.

This viewpoint did not evolve overnight but is grounded in the history of our nation. America, as a nation of immigrants, grew from people who left behind their homes to create a better life for themselves. Americans travelled

westward to seek the lawless frontier as a programming. It states that “almost half refuge where they might be able to rely on of all Americans lived in households that themselves, where they might be able to received government benefits in 2010.” In carve a homestead out of the wilderness addition to this, the article explains that and create their own success. Americans benefit programs provided an average of of the past and of the present are drawn to $6,583 for every man, woman, and child stories like those of Oprah and Steve Jobs, in the United States in 2009. This means where success is possible through unlikely that it is not only those living in poverty circumstances and personal drive, not who are reliant on a more robust social net, through collective effort or birth with but those who are middle-class as well. privilege. However, because of this highly These deep-rooted structural problems individualistic mind-set, Americans often will not solve themselves overnight, but stigmatize those living in poverty because they are not impossible to solve. Possible of their inability to pull themselves out of paths to changing the plight of the poor their dire situations. include a number of different plans -In 2011 alone over 2.6 million people philanthropic ventures, advocacy, and slipped into poverty which brought changing political discourse are just a the percentage of few of them. Each of Americans living in these path roads is poverty to 15.1%. This attainable, especially to high number reflects the students, but tackling largest percentage since the problem of poverty 1993. If Americans are can seem intimidating. justified in their alleged When asked why view that poverty is students sometimes the plight of the lazy seem unwilling to and stupid, that would tackle the problem mean over one-eighth of poverty, one SLU of the United States student responded, “As population is made up students in an urban of unmotivated people. environment, we become However, Gretchen immune to seeing people Arnold believes poverty experiencing poverty.” to be caused by “two It is this immunity that intersecting structural causes students to stop PROFESSOR ARNOLD characteristics of the talking about the things US.” These two structural characteristics they are seeing, sensing and experiencing, are a lack of good paying jobs, and a social and, therefore, stops students from acting security net that is unable to boost people on behalf of those living in poverty. But out of poverty. action is necessary, and the first step Arnold explains the problems always begins with something as simple associated with a lack of good paying jobs, as a shifting perspective. saying, “We try to fix the poor so they Solutions to how we view those get good paying jobs and support their living in poverty cannot easily be found families, and if we do that they’ll knock in textbooks appendixes or political the people who now have those jobs out formulas, they need to come from a of their jobs, and where are those jobs cultural shift that recognizes that poverty going to come from?” She explained that is a reality that many Americans are America has a shortage of good jobs, and struggling with. They struggle with it not because of that shortage, it is difficult for because of personal failing, but because of those living in poverty to rise out of their inherent structural problems. current state.

When it comes to issues like poverty, it The second structural characteristic is difficult to identify the problem and even is how the United States’ social support more difficult to identify the cause. As a net, manifested in programs like Social nation that emphasizes individualism, it is Security and Medicare, is not robust hard to understand that oftentimes these enough to sufficiently aid those with seemingly personal situations can be real need. These programs benefit not results of greater social problems. A large only those who are living in poverty, but share of Americans is currently living in Americans from all different backgrounds poverty. In order to help them, we must and circumstances. do our share as individuals to ensure that A February 11 New York Times article our perspectives towards poverty change. discussed how middle class Americans are increasingly reliant on social

“MOST AMERICANS THINK THAT PEOPLE ARE POOR BECAUSE OF SOME INDIVIDUAL FAILING, THEY’RE LAZY OR THEY’RE STUPID.”

4

Kony 2012

Central African Republic

A Deeper Examination of a Complex Situation Democratic Republic of Congo

n e e l ay s h v u k k a d a l a

Republic of the Congo

Gabon

senior majoring in neuroscience

On March 5, Twitter and Facebook were abuzz. Invisible Children had released their Kony 2012 video and kicked off the start of their new campaign against Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The video quickly made rounds through people’s statuses as individuals all over the world urged others to view the video and join the campaign.

In 24 hours, there were around 30 million views of the video and by the end of the work week, there were approximately 70 million views recorded. “Inspirational,” “Eye-opening,” and “Shocking” seemed to occupy every other Facebook post.

Invisible Children was founded in 2004 with the specific goal of raising awareness about the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony. The organization rapidly gained national and international prominence with the release of its first video entitled “Invisible Children: The Rough Cut” and has since used video and technology to bring information about the conflict to its audience in Western countries.

John Gallagher, the former President of Students United for Africa (SUFA) who has worked with Invisible Children in the past, attributes Invisible Children’s popularity to the fact that it “advocate[s] in a very approachable, understandable way [that] flows well and it speaks to our generation, our youth group.”

The recent Kony 2012 video was no different. Produced by Jason Russell, one of the founders of Invisible Children, the slick video promotes the power of social media in creating change in the world.

Much of the video is devoted to convincing viewers that their voice is necessary for a resolution to the conflict. By harnessing the power of the share button, Invisible Children quickly made Joseph Kony a household name.

However, almost as soon as the video was released, a pushback began.

Activists, journalists, aid workers and others familiar with the situation began to criticize the film and the Invisible Children organization for superficially summarizing the complex situation

5

and for its advocacy of U.S. military deployment to capture Kony. In Foreign Policy, Michael Wilkerson, a freelance journalist who has lived in Uganda, wrote, “[I]n the new film, Invisible Children has made virtually no effort to inform.”

Emmanuel Uwalaka, Associate Professor of Political Science at Saint Louis University who teaches courses on the international relations of Africa, expressed a concurring opinion and said the video was “simplistic in the way it was put together. There were some aspects of disinformation about it.” Only about five minutes of the video are spent strictly outlining the facts of the situation.

Uwalaka explained, “This issue is not as simple as what you saw on TV and on Youtube. […]Each government, each political leader has used one insurgent group or another to destabilize its neighbor.” In the broader context of Central African politics, the LRA is one of many rebel groups active in the region. Relations between Uganda and neighboring Rwanda, Congo and Sudan have been tense at times, with each country attempting to destabilize its neighbors.

Sudan is alleged to have supported the LRA at one time in an effort to overthrow the Ugandan government. In 1998, Uganda invaded and occupied the Democratic Republic of Congo – a war which had 5.4 million casualties and caused a staggering number of civilian deaths even after the war ended due to displacement and destruction. Relations between the two nations have been sour ever since.

With Kony having fled from Northern Uganda into neighboring countries, true intergovernmental cooperation will be essential to capturing him.

Further complicating the situation may be Uganda’s own political history.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who came to power in 1986 through an earlier military coup, has been accused of suppressing opposition voices and of disrespecting the democratic process.

His 25 yearlong presidency has been seen as bordering on a dictatorship. Due to

Museveni’s political position, Professor Uwalaka believes that he may not really be focused on capturing Joseph Kony.

Uwalaka explained, “Can another theory be that we haven’t been able to hunt this guy [Kony], get rid of him, because Museveni would want this war, would want this crisis, would want this Joseph Kony? Each leader in Africa who has come into office through a military coup is always afraid. There could be a counter coup. And to avoid that what do you do? Get your soldiers involved […] in another part of the country. Keep them busy. Because if you keep them at the capital idle, [there is] potential for a counter coup.”

The video principally advocates for the maintenance of 100 United States military advisors in Central Africa. Authorized in May 2010 by President Obama, the U.S. troops are on hand to provide logistical and technical assistance to the Ugandan military to track Joseph Kony. However, given the complex regional politics, not all are convinced that a military solution is the best method to pursue.

Robert Caruso, Treasurer of SUFA, worried, “we have a bad history of going in to get rid of people.” Uwalaka said, “We are good at tearing countries apart, but we are not able to do what? To put those countries back together.” Megan McCray echoed Caruso’s statements and said, “It doesn’t make much sense to start another war and get more countries and people involved.” Megan added that many of the soldiers fighting for Kony are children or were drafted into his army forcibly; killing them would essentially involve killing innocents.

While the current U.S. presence is just 100 military advisors, Wilkerson wrote that the discussion may quickly turn to those of “Navy Seals or drone strikes […] when patience runs out with Ugandan-led efforts.” Such direct military action would place civilians and the child soldiers conscripted in Kony’s army in the line of fire. Greater military intervention can also have unintended consequences.

Uwalaka points to Libya where U.S. military support in overthrowing Ghaddafi is now causing conflict in the neighboring country of Mali. Rebel groups in Libya have used the weaponry seized from the overthrow of Ghaddafi as well as U.S. weapons to invade regions of Northern Mali, thereby destabilizing the democratic government there.

Uwalaka believes that a more holistic approach implemented by African states through bodies like the African Union is a more effective pathway. He said, “Since the birth of the African Union, it has been the policy of African countries that African

issues have to be dealt with by Africans.”

Invisible Children’s follow up video, Kony 2012: Part II – Beyond Famous, brings up sustainable solutions such as education and rehabilitation for children in the affected regions. McCray said, “The way to promote sustainable change is through empowering people.” Such efforts will in the long run be more effective at maintaining the peace rather than the unidirectional solution of military deployment proposed in the first video.

Most importantly, Uwalaka said, “The only thing I ask students is, to read between the lines. […] Be a scholar,

someone who is informed, who is educated on the issues. I don’t believe in a one way, straightforward way of looking at issues.

Because political social issues are what?

Complex. And no single factor by itself can explain any political or social issue.”

In any humanitarian crisis, it is essential to learn about the complex factors surrounding an issue. A poorly planned intervention can often do more harm than no intervention at all.

Ethiopia

Co n f lic t T im e lin e Kenya

Jos eph Kony f or ms t h e Lor d’s 19 87 Re sist ance Ar my (LRA ) Uganda

T o protect ag ainst LRA at t ack s, the Uga ndan g ove r nme nt move s Achol i vil l ag e r s int o camps. 19 9 6 However poor condit ions l e ad t o t h ou sands of de at h s.

Rwanda

19 91 Ko n y la u n c h e s a vio le n t c a m p a i gn i n No r th e r n U g a n da th a t is c ha r a c t e r i z e d by c h ild a bdu ctio n s, r a p e , m ut i l a t i o n , a n d m u r de r .

19 9 6 - 2 0 0 2 P e o p le co n tin u e to f ill di s p l a c e m e n t ca m ps; h o w e v e r , po o r co n d i t i o n s le a d to th o u sa n ds o f de at hs .

2 0 04 F a ce - to - f a ce p e a ce ta lks w i t h t he LR A f a il.

T he LRA sh if t s t o nor t h e ast e r n 2 0 0 5 Democra t ic Re pu bl ic of Cong o.

O i l is found in Nor t h e r n Ug anda. 2 0 0 6 Burundi

LR A es ta b lish e s a pr e se nce in t h e C en t r al Af r ican Re pu bl ic.

19 8 6 P r e side n t Y o w e r i M u se v en i , a so u th e r n e r , o v e r th r o w s t he A c ho l i le a d g o ve r n m e n t a n d P r es i d e n t M ilto n Obo te . H e be g in s a c a m p a ig n a g a in st th e Ac ho l i gr o up o f No r th e r n U g a n da .

2 0 0 5 Th e In te r n a tio n a l Cr im in a l C o ur t de c la r e s a r r e st w a r r a n ts fo r K o n y a n d o th e r L R A le a de r s.

2 0 0 8 J u ba P e a c e ta lks f a il a f te r K o n y fa i l s to sig n th e f in a l a g r e e m e n t .

2009 2 010

T he US de pl oys 1 00 ar me d Oct o ber 2 011 mi lita ry advisor s t o Ug anda.

P r e side n t Oba m a sig n s the LR A D isa r m a m e n t a n d No r th e r n U ga n d a R e c o v e r y Ac t.

Tanzania

6

Because I’m a Girl? sanjana shah

s o p h o m o r e m a j o r i n g i n p u b l i c h e a lt h

No one ever thinks of “it’s a girl” as a harmful phrase, but for millions of girls around the world “it’s a girl” could very well be a death sentence. The following is part of a story in Agence FrancePresse published in February of 2012: “As the only girl in her noisy classroom of 22 boys, Padma Kanwar Bhatti is one defiant symbol of the toll exacted by India’s deadly preference for male children. Padma, 15, lives with her parents and two elder brothers in Devda, a village of 2,500 residents in the Rajasthan state district of Jaisalmer, which has one of the worst female sex ratios in the country. ‘There is no other girl in my class and there are very few girls in our village,’ she says hesitantly. Padma chooses to stare at her social science textbook when asked why there are fewer girls and more boys in her village set in the barren lands of the Thar Desert. ‘Girls die,’ she says in Marwari, the main language of Rajasthan.”

Photo by Sanjana Shah

7

The lethal practice of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion are serious problems in many parts of the world.

Female infanticide is the intentional killing of infant girls by suffocation, starvation, abandonment, drowning or other methods. The sex-selective abortion is a process that starts with a sonogram that determines the gender of the baby. If the baby is found to be female, the baby is aborted. While sex-selective abortion is commonly seen in the urban regions of India and China where the needed technology is more readily available, female infanticide is more often found in the rural communities of India and China where access to sonograms and the medical instruments needed for abortion is significantly limited.

Padma’s story is by no means unique.

In fact, the United Nations estimates that almost 200 million girls are “missing” from the world today. In 1994, 180 countries, including India and China, signed the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). As part of the undertaking the countries agreed to, “eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the root causes of son preference, which result in harmful and unethical practices regarding female

selective abortion continue. Generally, when gender is decided by nature itself approximately 105 boys are born for every 100 girls and since women tend to live longer, the ratio of men to women will eventually even out. This balance of nature, however, has steadily shifted in Asia over the last few decades. In 1981, the ratio of boys to girls in India was only 104:100. In 1980, the ratio of boys to girls in China was 106:100. However, after more than 30 years of China’s one-child policy, the ratio of boys to girls is almost 125:100. In some rural regions of China, the ratio of boys to girls is almost 146:100.

In comparison, in recent times in India the overall ratio of boys to girls is 115:100, however, in some rural areas of India the ratio can reach almost 132:100.

Before we assume that female preference is limited to developing nations, such as India and China, we must acknowledge the common notion that boys are still the primary preference in the developed nations, such as the United States. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, if American men between the ages of 1849 were only able to have one child, 54% would want a boy, 26% had no preference and only 19% would want a girl. According to that same poll, though, women did not have a preference. While it may not

India for sonograms reasons, “Spend 500 rupees now or 500,000 rupees later.” As Vicky Banks, Direct of Outreach for All Girls Allowed, a non-profit organization that focuses on revealing the injustice of China’s one-child policy, put it, “There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says having a girl is like watering a neighbor’s garden, essentially it will not do you any good and is a waste.”

In an effort to combat female infanticide and sex-selective abortion both the Indian and Chinese governments have enacted new policies to help alleviate the financial burden girls are thought to place on families. In India there are several scholarships available for young girls interested in pursuing a higher education. Additionally, in an effort to appeal to families and prevent them from pursuing a sex-selective abortion, the Indian government is offering trust funds for all female children, to be accessed when they turn 18. Similarly, in 2004 the Chinese government announced the creation of the Care for Girls program, with the purpose of correcting China’s longstanding bias towards boys. The program offered families with girls many financial incentives and additional housing, employment and cash and welfare privileges. However, over time the

infanticide and prenatal sex selection” (United Nations (1994); paragraph 4.16).

In spite of this, each year, people in India and China elect to eliminate more girls than the number of girls born in the United States. As one advocate put it, “we are realizing that this is not an issue of daughters versus sons, it’s an issue of the self-perpetuating and devastating belief that women have little value.”

The practices of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion are most prevalent in patriarchal societies where a woman’s value is considerably lower and a distinct preference for sons is deeply embedded into the cultural ideology. In rural and poverty-stricken areas, lack of education, economic resources and access to healthcare are factors that lead to the killing of infant girls. In urban areas, sexselective abortion is commonly employed by individuals because of increased access to modern medical technology that allows for early detection of the child’s sex.

Unfortunately, although government programs and human rights organizations strive to put an end to these practices with education, financial incentives and threat of punishment, female infanticide and sex-

be culturally acceptable to reject a child based on gender in nations such as the United States, there is still a lingering fear of a daughter being treated as a secondclass citizen and having her potential value questioned. The difference, however, is that while boys may be preferred over girls in these countries, the practice of eliminating the unwanted female child like in India and China does not exist In India and China, the preference for sons not only stems from both countries’ longstanding patriarchal culture but is also seen as pragmatic from an economic standpoint. Cultures with a definite bias towards sons, such as in China, have a deeply rooted tradition where daughters go to live with their husband’s family, while sons stay at home and inherit any land or property belonging to the family. In India, sons are often not only seen as able to bring in a steady income but they will also eventually bring in a dowry through their marriage. Many families with girls, on the other hand, do not expect them to be earning members of the family and must start saving for the daughter’s dowry almost from the second she is born. One newspaper ad in

program tapered off, having not had much of an impact on the gender imbalance in China. Likewise, the policies in India have had very little impact on gender inequality. Thus, the brutal practices of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion still prevail at astounding rates.

Padma Kanwar Bhatti’s story leaves us with a compelling image of what it means to have 200 million girls “missing” in the world today. When asked why there are so many more boys than girls in her village, Padma’s solemn but telling proclamation, “Girls die,” reveals the unfortunate fate of millions of girls in India and China today.

As Vicky Banks said, “Chai Ling, Founder of All Girls Allowed, was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square Massacre and saw just how many students lost their life. When she uncovered the issue of female infanticide, she realized that there is essentially a Tiananmen Square Massacre happening every day, that’s the scale of the loss of life.” This is an issue that can no longer be ignored. With time and great human effort through activism, we must end the discrimination against female children and openly recognize the value of all human beings.

The United Nations estimates that almost 200 million girls are “missing” from the world today.

8

W ME N ’ S HE A LT H

The Need for Improved Pre and Postnatal Care

m o l ly l o u g h r a n freshman majoring in public health

&

political science

At age fifteen, Ayehu labored for seven days before finally giving birth to a tiny baby. The child was dead within the first twenty-four hours of delivery and tore a hole 2 centimeters in diameter in Ayehu’s uterine wall. For ten years, Ayehu has continuously and uncontrollably leaked urine. Her husband has left her to marry another women and she currently lives in a hut in her mother’s backyard. Ayehu is shunned from society because of the unmistakable stench that accompanies her. “I thought about drinking poison,” Ayehu admits in the documentary A Walk to Beautiful by Mary Olive Smith, “but my family told me not to because my soul would burn in hell.”

A Walk to Beautiful, the documentary that tells Ayehu’s story, is used as a tool to raise awareness for women affected by obstetric fistula, a medical condition in which a hole forms between either the rectum and vagina or the bladder and the vagina. The documentary was produced to raise support for the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. The hospital offers women affected by obstetric fistula access to correctional surgery and resources that help them rejoin society as selfsupporting individuals. Addis Ababa also offers classes that teach women how to be effective midwives to attempt to lessen the number of fistula cases.

It is estimated by the World Health Organization that 2 million women live with this condition worldwide.

The condition is most commonly caused by prolonged labor or births involving young mothers with underdeveloped birth canals. Obstetric fistula is almost entirely preventable when mothers are provided with a doctor and medical facilities that are able to intervene when labor complications arise. In the United States, the number of reported new obstetric fistula cases resulting from childbirth each

9

year is zero and the last hospital treating fistula patients closed its doors in 1895.

The problem is that in many developing countries around the world women are being used solely for their reproductive capacity and are denied the right to basic health care.

In regions such as Asia and subSaharan Africa women are often brought into marriage solely for their reproductive capacities and are expected to produce offspring without proper medical care.

Governments of developing nations are not only failing to provide health care to their country’s poor but are failing on a greater scale to protect women. In Ethiopia, a country of 77 million people,

“WHAT WE ARE LEARNING AROUND THE WORLD IS THAT IF WOMEN ARE HEALTHY AND EDUCATED, THEIR FAMILIES WILL FLOURISH.” HILARY CLINTON only 59 OB/GYNs and 1,000 midwives exist to provide prenatal and birthing help. The only assistance provided to women in labor comes from other women of their community.

A lack of female reproductive health care does not end with obstetric fistula.

Women denied health care during their pregnancies are suffering in a multitude of different ways. According to the World Bank, in developing countries, one-third of the illnesses present among women ages 15 to 44 are related to pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, reproductive tract infections, human immunodeficiency

virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Women are suffering during all stages of their pregnancies, living with the effects of these pregnancies for the rest of their lives and bringing unhealthy babies into the world that are also denied basic health care.

Because the governments of some nations are failing to provide support, it is important for women and men around the world to stand up against the injustices that exist in the right to women’s health care. In 1994 the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo addressed the lack of sexual and reproductive health care and came to the conclusion that people around the world have “the right to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice” and “the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth.” The definition of these rights included in the Cairo Programme of Action were outlined to raise awareness of issues like obstetric fistula amongst the governments of developed countries and to allocate funds from these countries to implement programs that would support suffering women.

Dr. Nafts Sadik, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, explains that, “Women have been trapped.

Reproduction is used, consciously or not, as a means to control women, to their options and to make them subordinate to men. In many societies a serious approach of reproductive health has to have this perspective in mind. We must seek to liberate women.” Sadik highlights a “perspective” change but more than this is needed to create equality for women in health care on an international level.

Concrete actions, such as the production and playing of A Walk to Beautiful are necessary. Organizations such as Una, the feminist voice on SLU’s campus, are bringing this issue to light. During ATLAS week, A Walk to Beautiful was

shown by the School of Medicine and the Global Health Learning Community to initiate a discussion about the effects of obstetric fistula.

In an attempt to shine new light on the issue, Hilary Clinton has also taken a stand against the injustices associated with the denial of women’s health care.

She pointed out the importance of protecting the health of women stating, “What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish.”

Organizations such as Addis Ababa are helping to lessen the problems that women without access to health care are

suffering. However, millions of women continue to suffer. Data compiled by Addis Ababa claims that one woman dies from pregnancy-related complications every minute worldwide. Not surprisingly, 95% of them live in Africa and Asia. For every woman who dies from pregnancyrelated complications, 20 women survive but experience terrible injuries and disabilities.

The effects of a lack of reproductive health care for women are more noticeable in underdeveloped countries because of a general lack of resources; however, the repercussions can be seen internationally.

Organizations such as the Worldwide Fistula Fund, Family Care International and Center for Reproductive Rights advocate for change both internationally and in the United States. They provide a plethora of resources, information and opportunities to join their fight against

the injustices that exist. Women and men across the nation are bringing these inequities to headlines and web sites, outlining the issues at hand and calling for others to take action.

A recent article in New York Times Magazine displayed the title “Saving the World’s Women: How Changing the Lives of Women and Girls in the Developing World Can Change Everything.” The truth in this statement is clear: women and their reproductive capacity create and maintain the future of life. Obstetric fistula is merely a single example of the repercussions that a lack of reproductive health care for women is causing around the global. Social action funded by advocacy and hope for change is necessary to protect women, their babies and the future.

Pho t o by Shivani Singh

10

m o l ly c a l d w e l l freshman majoring in international business & international studies

Possible solutions for refugees: repatriation, local integration or resettlement. These three solutions, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), are the potential outcomes of individuals who have been displaced from their country of origin.

The UNHCR was established in 1951 in an effort to help the individuals who were displaced due to World War II. Since this time, the UNHCR has assisted the millions of individuals and groups who have been displaced due to various causes, especially wars and political regression. According to Refugees International, there are 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide.

A refugee is legally defined as any

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person who is outside their country of nationality and is unable or unwilling to return for fear of persecution on account of race, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The issues that cause a person to become a displaced are typically ones of economic and political strife. Today the top four countries from which refugees are displaced are Afghanistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Myanmar.

While there are various specific ideas and programs proposed to assist individuals seeking refuge, they all seem to stem from this concept of resettlement.

One reason for this tendency is that there are many agencies and organizations that are located in hot spots for individuals fleeing their country of origin. These organizations have made significant

efforts to assist individuals in their transition to a new culture while working to maintain their own sense of personal and cultural identity.

Each country’s refugees encounter challenges characteristic of that location, however, universally, all refugees are in need of welfare, education, employment and advocacy. Many believe refugees need the most assistance when physically escaping their country, but another obstacle comes when the refugees relocate to a new home. Additionally, many refugees must cope with issues relating to xenophobia or violence against foreigners.

This xenophobia is often rooted in the issue of the utilization of jobs and services by the refugee population and can fuel resentment and violence from native citizens.

Blessing was 55, blind and a refugee

Refugee Duality O p p o r t u nit ies a nd C h a l l e n g e s

from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

With his family still in the DRC, Blessing struggled to find work, and being a native French speaker, communication served as a significant challenge. In the DRC, Blessing was a well-educated financial advisor, but in South Africa he struggled to find a job.

When he came to South Africa, his education and long-standing career were no longer perceived or valued as they were before. His physical disability only contributed to the prejudice against him.

Through the assistance of a refugee center he was able to create a new resume, learn English and receive a number of social services that allowed him to become a fully integrated citizen.

While the UNHCR is a large-scale organization providing humanitarian aid to refugees world wide, there are

UN Pho t o by Da vid Ohana

many organizations, such as the one Blessing utilized that provide services and assistance on a local level.

An organization assisting refugees in St. Louis is the International Institute.

This institute offers services to refugees in St. Louis who are from Iraq, Burma and Bhutan. The Institute functions upon three pillars: immersion, investment and inclusion.

Immersion involves teaching refugees English, job search assistance, legal paperwork and counseling services.

Through investment, the organization provides refugees with the resources and skills for business development and utilization of microloans. Finally, the refugees are encouraged to attend and take part in the Festival of Nations. The festival works to facilitate awareness about local refugee issues.

Kate Howell, member of the International Institute, explains that the best way to become involved in this issue and advocate on behalf of this population through volunteer opportunities in St. Louis.

Refugee issues are extremely diverse and do not illicit an easy solution.

However, education, welfare and advocacy are three ways in which these issues can begin to be remedied. Across the world, non-profit organizations such as the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town in South Africa and the International Institute of St. Louis are working tirelessly to dissolve these issues. While there may always be refugees displaced by economic strife and political instability, there will also always be individuals, groups and large-scale organizations willingly to provide services for those in transition.

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“I A M

MUSLIM, A N D I LOV E MY C H RI S T I A N S IB L IN G S .“

Wa r i n t he N ame of Religio n laura casey

senior majoring in political science , international s t u d i e s ,

&

french

For decades, periodic violence has characterized the landscape of Nigeria, a country in Eastern Africa. Nigeria is made up of roughly 150 million people, mostly Muslims and Christians. This religious divide coincides with a geographic divide called the “middle belt,” a tumultuous fault line where the Muslims from the north and the Christians in the south meet. Continuing down, within each of these divides are people representing over 250 tribal groups. That being said, periodic violence is seen as inevitable.

Recently, violence has again been on the rise. Despite the media’s propensity to characterize the conflict as being religiously fueled, many would argue that religion is just a guise to give it legitimacy. It serves as an outlet and a rallying point for each of the groups to go about their goals. In reality, as Professor David Oughton, who teaches the popular course called World Religions at Saint Louis University, explains these conflicts stem from injustice and resource scarcity.

Oughton also talks about some possible

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solutions that might help to curb the violence before it gets even more dire, most notably the idea that it will take a global effort to stop this type of violence.

In addition to the religious divide between the north and south, there is also a significant wealth gap. Despite the vast resources in the country, the wealth is unevenly distributed. While the South displays a more developed and wealthier society, the North remains largely entrenched in poverty, illiteracy, and disarray.

Violence between the two groups was largely mitigated until 1999 when a civilian run government replaced the military regimes. As TIME Magazine explained in an article from 2010, “while democracy permits greater freedom of religious expression in Nigeria, it also intensifies the political and economic friction between ethnic groups.”

In 2002, a group called Boko Haram came into the picture and has remained a key actor in the conflict since. According to the BBC, Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group that is influenced by the phrase from the Quran, “Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed

is among the transgressors.” Boko Haram contends that it is illegal for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with western society. To Boko Haram, the Nigerian state is made up of non-believers. Using this as the underlying motivation for their attacks, Boko Haram set about killing police and attacking their stations. They also bombed political events, churches, and other symbols of state power. The media frames the violent interactions as those between the Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, and Nigeria’s Christian population. Muslim clerics and others who live in Northern Nigeria have also been targeted as part of Boko Harams campaign to show their presence. With their violence, Boko Haram hopes to overthrow the national government and replace it with an Islamic state.

Beginning in 2010, recent manifestations of the divide have proliferated into a struggle that continues today. Jos, a city in the middle belt has been the epicenter of violence, pitting the Christian Berom group against the Muslim Hausa. The largely Christian middle belt views the Hausa as a threat and an unwanted presence in a region with already scare

Pho t o by Gigi Ibrahim

resources. To help themselves against the Christian majority in the area, Boko Haram has been aiding the Hausa. This collaboration coupled with church burning and other acts of violence from both sides, have allowed the situation to perpetuate into the continuing conflict we have today.

Similar to other acts of religious violence, the initial catalyst is ambiguous yet its results are strong manifestations of violence and disorder as Muslims and Christians continue to fight each other. Again, many are quick to stress that religion is not the issue here; rather it is social and economic conditions that are at the heart.

According to the BBC, resolving this conflict will depend on the Nigerian government’s ability to reduce the nation’s “chronic poverty and build an education system which would gain the support of local Muslims.” Initiating a dialogue with Boko Haram would not be seen as a sign of weakness by the current government, as some have feared. For example, Britain opened up a dialogue with the IRA and the conflict was largely solved. Even Nigeria has a history of dialogue as was seen a

couple of years ago when the Nigerian government sat down with Niger Delta militants. Those opposed argue that by initiating a dialogue, the government will be rewarding the militants for their violence because they would have gotten what they wanted, attention.

Members of the religious community need to step in and discuss the true teachings on the use of force and condemn those who commit violence in the name of their religion. Professor Oughton especially emphasizes that violence against civilians is not justified by any religion. Religions have strict guidelines on the use of violence and warfare, if they even allow it all. In the case of Christianity and Islam, for example, wars are rarely considered just. Depending on the religion, the guidelines will vary, but the overwhelming theme is that the benefits must outweigh the costs and that civilians are not to be harmed.

In addition, another solution might involve the international community.

As Professor Oughton noted, “until you change the international system so it can deal with these problems we

“ WARS IN THE N AME OF RELIGION , AS HIS TORY HAS SHOWN , ARE MESSY AND DIFFICULT.”

are just going to continue on with the problems we’ve had in the past.” There are many ways to work toward a solution including international collaboration and dialogues. One vehicle for collaboration would be what Oughton describes as a “World federation with the authority to not only democratically create world laws but enforce them so that individuals involved in terrorism or genocide would be apprehended by world police and then prosecuted by world courts”. Oughton emphasizes the importance of a worldwide initiative rather than just an undertaking by a single state.

Wars in the name of religion, as history has shown, are messy and difficult. For the solution in Nigeria, the roles of the international community and the local religious groups will need to be prominent. More importantly, followers of all religions involved must begin to speak out and condemn these acts of violence and work towards creating a more peaceful and stable nation. While Nigeria is one case, are many more wars in the name of religion. Religious wars are nothing new and nothing that seems to be subsiding. By understanding their background contexts and reasoning, we might be able to draft a strategy that could help alleviate the problems that these types of conflicts cause.

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we all Uni t y A mong s t t h e wor ld’s m ajor r elig ions Between the major world religions, significant variations exist in both beliefs and practices, yet the commonalities between faith traditions far outnumber the differences. Although each religion has its own rituals, places of worship and traditions, there is a striking unity to be seen when people engage in worship.

Turning our heads upward and seeking answers from a higher power is an almost instinctive phenomenon that is found in almost every culture. This pull towards a belief in a power or ideals greater than ourselves highlights yet another common thread that binds us. While we all have different terms for a higher power, Allah, Dios, Jesus, Vishnu, God and so on, we are united by our common humanity. Even for those of us who do not believe in a higher power, the belief in common values and moral principles transcends any differences in our faith backgrounds.

This photo essay depicts people of various religions in worship or reflection. The serenity in each person’s face is telling. Were these people isolated from their backgrounds, it would be nearly impossible to tell which religion they belong to. The language they worship in, the name by which they address God or the rituals they participate in are invisible in these images. In these snapshots in time, each person exists in union, each surrendering to a higher ideal.

An initial glance at the world’s major religions would not identify significant commonalities amongst them.

Yet, looking at their styles of worship and the beliefs that inspire them reveals common traits that make dialogue possible amongst them. People belonging to these religions have the basic belief in the transcendent and have the ensuing desire to commune with the God or power that supports it. Likewise, this desire brings mystical experience, which believers in turn share with one another. The similar desire for moral behavior, based on belief, expands this practice of community beyond individual sects, denominations and religions to those who may not share their beliefs. Yet, given these similarities, recognition of differences is essential to fostering respectful dialogue. These traditions do have different beliefs and do differ in their practice of them. Knowledge and respect of differences and shared traits among these religions have made this collection possible.

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pr ay U  Z  

Christianity began as a sect within Judaism, but split into its own religion because of belief in Jesus, whom the tradition maintains as God made flesh. This belief in Jesus also reveals the belief in a Triune God, or that God is three Persons but one Being.

Judaism is the oldest religion in the Abrahamic Tradition. Its scriptures and tradition emphasize the enduring covenant between God and God’s people – the descendants of Abraham who form the Jewish community.

Islam is also a part of the Abrahamic tradition. Chronicling the revelations of Allah to Mohammed, the Qur’an is Islam’s sacred text. Among the fastest growing world religions, Islam holds the belief that Mohammed has been the medium for the fullest revelation of God and holds final status in the line of prophets.

Hinduism is the oldest of the five major world religions. It is a monotheistic religion with followers often worshiping different manifestations, such as Krishna or Vishnu, of the Supreme Being or Brahman.

Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha or the awakened one. It is both a religion and a philosophy. While the different sects differ on the existence of God, Buddha, himself, is not viewed as a God but rather a teacher or guide. Buddha shows the way to enlightenment.

Photo Credits Left Page: (Top Left) Flickr user/Wonderlane, (Middle Left) Eaton Tal, (Middle Right) Flickr user/SpecialOperations, (Bottom) Anu Gorukanti.

Right Page: (Top Left) Neelaysh Vukkadala,(Top Right) Sanjana Shah, (Bottom Left) Anu Gorunkanti, (Bottom Right) Tevaprapas Makklay.

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elections in Florida, where Freundlich participated in the 2008 voter registry, commonly gave people a hard time at the polls and sophomore majoring in theology & once even told Freundlich she was not allowed to vote. nutrition/dietetics “I had registered as a Florida voter, but because I had a Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that basic, fundamental Missouri license, they wouldn’t let me vote,” said Freundlich, needs of a person must be met before higher needs of safety or who knew that she was capable of voting in Florida since she had self-actualization can be satisfied. For the homeless population, been fully registered and followed all voting requirements. the struggle to attain basic needs restricts their growth. This Considering the barriers faced by someone knowledgeable of restriction not only makes them financially impoverished, but the voting process, one can only imagine the struggles that the often times unable to exercise their right to vote. As marginalized homeless face. Because of the barriers she faced, Freundlich is members in society, the homeless population’s day to day a strong supporter of vote-by-mail ballots. Vote-by-mail gets struggle to meet basic needs prevents them from fully exercising more people involved in voting, because they only have to send a their freedoms and rights within democratic process. request in the mail. Groups such as the disabled or elderly do not While the Constitution forbids discrimination at the poll have to worry about being excluded. booths, recent legislative trends have placed the homeless Freunchlich explained, “In Florida, police were sent to turn population at risk of voter disenfranchisement. people away from the polls. Disenfranchisement is obvious Addressing these issues involves dialogue with the homeless to there [Florida], but the great thing about 2008 was the voter address not only their basic needs but also to establish their rights protection program. We had volunteer lawyers preventing as members of a democracy. Sophomore Connor Berry, studying disenfranchisement at the polls. It was definitely effective in aerospace engineering at SLU, leads a group of lowering these kinds of issues.” students interested in creating relationships To solve this issue in Missouri, Berry with St. Louis’s homeless population. The club believes that volunteers with social work and is called Labre, a Cleveland-based organization, business experience can help alleviate the available on many Jesuit high school and college political pressures on the homeless. By holding campuses throughout the country. temporary, free consults at homeless shelters, “A friend of mine and I wanted SLU to have people could come to understand their rights something like this,” Berry said. “At first, it and be prepared to defend themselves at the was just four of us, driving around handing out polls. “If a politician doesn’t want them to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We started vote, then they probably aren’t going to be in the Sparta and Dignity Harbor tent cities. We concerned to get them off the street, so creating have been buildings relationships ever since.” these social programs is important,” Berry TOM BURNHAM What started out as a small group of friends said. “They are all citizens, and shouldn’t be working with the homeless has now expanded into a discriminated against, just because they don’t community of about fifteen volunteers. Much of the dialogue have the documentation.” between the members of Labre and the homeless individuals Voter protection programs, mail-in votes and early voting are they serve focuses on the day-to-day struggles of the homeless. just some of the ways to get those underrepresented to be aware “The only dealings I have had with issues of voting is that of their ability to vote and to affect change. Moreover, many of people do struggle to vote,” Berry stated. “A lot of people do the homeless are disenfranchised because they do not know their not have social security or birth certificates. Being homeless, you rights, they do not know what current issues are being voted don’t have the money and the power to get those documents. It upon and they do not know the candidates’ positions. took one guy six to eight months to finally get his paperwork.”

Tom Burnham, director of St. Peter and Paul Homeless Berry noted that Campus Ministry offers licensing for the Shelter in Soulard, states that they are often made aware of their homeless through Xavier’s Winter Inn. However, even with these voting rights through yearly service fairs. “Much of the rural systems in place, fewer homeless voters will vote because it is an parts of Missouri, some 40%, are on some assistance from the increasingly long, laborious process. A recent college graduate government and become a targeted population.” in political communications at George Washington University, Burnham believes volunteer organizations are one way raise Christiana Freundlich saw firsthand the discriminative and voter turnout. Volunteers trying to promote voter registration are unlawful behavior occurring at the polls. The supervisor of directly involved in providing registration within the homeless

gretchen landgraf

“THE IDEA OF VOTING, THAT IS UP TOWARDS SELFACTUALIZATION.”

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rights and freedoms

Pho t o by Gre tc hen Landgraf An individual experiencing homelessness stands on the Vandeventer median asking for money. Many like him are underrepresented in this country because of their social and financial situation. network. “League of Women Voters and other groups really encourage voter registration, across the board, and not just in this population,” Burnham said, “MoveOn.org and ACORN of course are also available [...] often because these people see no tangible differences by voting, they just won’t take the time and most don’t understand the politics if they do vote,” Burnham states, “Numbers are still low even after these organizations have done their job.”

Kerry, a homeless individual waiting outside the shelter, stated, “They [The government] send me $60 in food stamps for a month. I can’t live off that. So I come here, and then they expect me to register to vote? That doesn’t make much sense.”

Often times, the homeless are asked to vote on issues that will directly impact their lifestyles. In 2002, a St. Louis city initiative to create an affordable housing trust fund began. A voter drive in shelters started at that time, because shelters like St. Peter and Paul had an interest in seeing the legislation get passed. “I certainly wish, on every level, that voter turnout could be more real for this population,” says Burnham. “Their basic

fundamental skill set to respond to crisis is well advanced from our own, but beyond that becomes too esoteric.” Even though their abilities are limited, they are still citizens who deserve a vote and a representative voice.

“Their lives’ are spent on that bottom tier—where am I going to go to the bathroom? Where am I going to sleep? Where is my next meal coming from? The idea of voting, that is up towards self-actualization. The skill set they develop, allowing them to live day-to-day, hand to mouth, absolutely works against them in terms voting and exercising their rights,” states Burnham.

Voter disenfranchisement raises concerns of how to protect marginalized voters’ rights. When people are turned away from the polls, an imbalance in the voting power of the homeless and similar populations develops. Due to their situation, the homeless struggle to meet those basic human needs seen in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Whether or not they have a home or have legal documentation, every U.S. citizen should be at liberty to vote freely for candidates and policies that will best represent them and affect change in their communities and country.

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FA N N ING MIDDL E S CHOOL | T ow er G r ov e S out h, S t . Loui s

RIGHT TO

EDU C ATION Facilitating A Positive Public School Education

Pho t o by Shivani Singh

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rights and freedoms

s h i va n i s i n g h s o p h o m o r e m a j o r i n g i n h e a lt h i n f o r m at i c s

&

i n f o r m at i o n m a n a g e m e n t

It is 4:30 p.m. and chaos reigns as students, tutors, and administrators rush past one another to take up residence in the classrooms of Fanning Middle School in South St. Louis City.

Within minutes, the frantic activity ceases as students bow their heads over the trademark Breakaway workbooks and tutors begin the task of explaining a wide range of concepts, from apostrophes and semicolons to decimals and algebraic expressions.

Welcome to the UrbanFUTURE IMPACT tutoring program. The tutoring program is a part of UrbanFUTURE’s comprehensive approach to tutoring and mentoring students in specific middle and elementary schools in the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) district. The goal is to not focus on just the students’ academic potential, but also build personal character while forging new relationships between families and the community as a whole.

UrbanFuture found its niche at FMS when the school was on the verge of being shut down by the district. The school was given one last chance and UrbanFUTURE became a part of that rebirth.

Fanning is one of few SLPS schools that has found backing in the surrounding community as it seeks to bridge the gap between the actual and target academic performance of the students. Other schools in the SLPS district are also being threatened with closure, but are unable to muster the same level of support.

Blame for the current state of the district has been placed on administrators, teachers, parents, and students alike. However, to move forward, the struggling district must first acknowledge that responsibility for the district does not lie with one party alone, but the St. Louis community as a whole.

A system expected to educate more than 30,000 students annually, the SLPS district was once overseen by a seven person elected board. Between 2003 and 2006, the board cycled through six different superintendents until, in 2007, the State Appointed Board took over. Despite this change in management, in an article entitled “St. Louis public schools to stay under state’s eye,” stltoday.com reported that in 2009, fewer than 30% of students in any grade level achieved benchmark scores on standardized exams, though test scores, attendance levels, and graduation rates increased marginally. Beyond management, funding to SLPS has also long been in question.

However, given that according to a 2010 article by Rachel Lippmann on St. Louis Public Radio, the district spends $15,635 per student and still underperforms districts spending far less, the district’s finances seem to only detract from underlying issues. This assessment suggests that the problems originate from within the community surrounding the students.

Ashley Krominga, site coordinator for UrbanFUTURE at Fanning Middle school, agrees with this appraisal, noting that the primary problem is infrastructural. When asked to identify what she thought was the main issue in this struggling district, Krominga states, “There’s not a unified vision between the city and the community as a whole. Everybody’s working for something different.” Krominga is not the first of this opinion.

In November of last year, PBS invited teachers from the St. Louis area to discuss the daily issues they faced in the classroom.

Several were quick to point out a lack of involvement on the

parts of families and the surrounding community, while other teachers expressed dismay over being held solely responsible for the students’ halting progress.

Accountability of faculty has frequently been a point of contention in the district. As a former member of Teach for America at Fanning, Krominga noted that while holding teachers accountable for students’ academic success is understandable, the blame does not only lie with the teachers. “City students don’t say, ‘I’m going to sit down and do this homework because this will get me somewhere in the future.’ They don’t have real role models, just the people [they see] on TV, so they all want to be rappers, movie stars, and sports players,” Krominga explains.

St. Louis students do not have a community-based support structure that allows them to see all of the potential career opportunities available to them, making them less inclined to reach their academic potential, she emphasizes. UrbanFUTURE, she adds, seeks to remedy this problem by pairing students with mentors from a variety of careers, thereby aligning family, school and the community to help students realize their full potential.

Instead of directly investing money, community-based organizations like UrbanFUTURE are pooling local resources to work with the students. By building a community sense of accountability for the students’ success rather than simply pointing fingers, St. Louis can help the district begin the slow process of restructuring itself and refocusing on the needs of its students.

Saint Louis University’s own Alpha Epsilon Delta’s Collegiate Honors Preparatory Program (CHPP) is a part of this movement.

Founded in the fall of 2009, CHPP brings Vashon and Roosevelt High School students to the university, where SLU students help them prepare to take the ACT, a benchmark collegiate entrance exam. Former executive board member Amanie Salem comments that the program’s ultimate goal is to help students realize that college can be a reality for them. “We bring them to SLU for another reason. Here, we can expose them to a different environment,” she explains. By providing this level of community outreach, students are given a chance to see beyond the confines of high school.

SLU senior and psychology major Tyler Josephs can vouch for the program’s success. He observed that the students he tutored had great academic potential but simply needed the extra support to help them succeed. “I’m just a firm believer that things can be done if you’re motivated and you show a certain level of interest. If you show the students that you have a vested interest in them, that’s when we’ve seen the best results,” the current executive board member says.

These community efforts have not been in vain.

UrbanFUTURE reports that more than 60% of parents now attend parent-teacher conferences, thrice the rate of parents not involved with the program. Students enrolled in the program have moved up two grade levels in reading and a letter grade in GPA. Since then, UrbanFuture has expanded into four new schools and several others are requesting the company’s services.

The success of community-based programs has proven to be rewarding for both the students and the coordinators. Krominga agrees, “I wasn’t planning on going into education. I thought I’d teach for two years and go into medical school... But knowing that what you do can make a difference in even one kid’s life is completely worth it.”

“STUDENTS ENROLLED IN THE PROGRAM HAVE MOVED UP TWO GRADE LEVELS IN READING AND A LETTER GRADE IN GPA.”

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1948

1966

America’s first known gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights, is founded in Chicago.

1924

Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male; a book that demonstrated that homosexuality was not limited as was believed.

The Unitarian Universalist Association recognizes LGB clergy and laity becoming the first major U.S. religious organization to do so.

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1970

74

The first gay community center, headed by the Society for Individual Rights, opens in San Francisco.

Elaine Noble wins seat in Massachusetts State House of Representatives and becomes the first openly gay person elected to office.

The first “March on Washington for Gay Rights.”

1982

1979

1992

Wisconsin becomes first state to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

World Health Organization takes off homosexuality from its class of illnesses.

1993

Massachusetts is the first state to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in public school against students.

r e s e a r c h b y k av ya t h ya g a r a j a n

19 9

3

sophomore majoring in psychology

President Clinton signs and enacts the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy forbade military personnel from discriminating against closeted homosexuals, but banned openly gay, bisexual or lesbian people from serving in the military.

Vermont is first state to legalize same-sex civil unions.

2009

Obama approves referendum allowing same-sex partners of federal employees to receive benefits, but not full health coverage.

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2012

2004

2000

Massachusetts becomes first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Within the next six years, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Washington D.C. did the same.

California’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

Pho t o by Benson Kua

rights and freedoms San Francisco’s Daughters of Bilitis national convention is the first U.S. public assembly of lesbians.

1950

Harry Hay forms The Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization.

1969

1975

1960

June: Patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, retaliate during a police raid sparking a widespread campaign for equal rights. “Gay Pride Marches” begin in cities to oppose oppression of Gays.

U.S. Civil Service Commission lifts ban and allows gay men and lesbians to hold federal jobs.

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Homosexuality removed from list of illnesses by American Psychiatric Association.

Harvey Milk attracts media attention when he runs for city supervisor of San Francisco on a socially liberal policy challenging the government’s involvement in personal sexual matters.

1988

National Education Association calls for school districts to offer counseling to students struggling with their sexual orientation.

October 11: First annual National Coming Out Day.

1993

1990

The March on Washington expands to include Bisexual rights as well.

First National Bisexual Conference held.

1995

President Clinton ends ban on security clearances for gays.

1996

2008

California allows for same-sex marriage, but California voters decide to ban same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8.

2010

2007

House of Representatives passes a bill guaranteeing equal rights in the workplace for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals.

2011

Obama repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

California passes a domestic partnership law allowing samesex partners the legal rights of married couples.

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The first time a gay and lesbian civil rights bill comes before the Senate. Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would have forbidden discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace. It failed in the Senate, 50-49.

New York allows same-sex marriage by passing the Marriage Equity Act and becomes the largest state to legalize gay marriage.

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The C o n t rove r s y of Co nt ra c e p t i on cancers. According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, only 42 percent of women use the pill solely for pregnancy prevention. freshman majoring in studio art & psychology Regardless, as the name implies, birth control prevents fertilization. This is the objection of the Catholic Church, which In a country characterized by strong personal and religious does not condone any method of artificial birth control as it beliefs, a dysfunctional health care system, and an apprehension interferes with the creation of life. According to Bridget Rush, towards discussing sex, a new law about birth control is causing a Saint Louis University theology professor, “The Catholic quite a stir. In January 2012, President Obama mandated that hierarchy sees use of birth control as absolutely wrong, against all employers, including religiously-affiliated institutions, must their consciences, so they wouldn’t see it as health care.” provide insurance plans that cover birth control and other According to Jessica Stukel, president of SLU’s Students for reproductive services. Some religious organizations objected to Life, the problem is a matter of rights to life and not to health care. such a mandate, while other organizations praised the access to “Everyone has the fundamental right to life. Ending the life of an free contraceptives. Unsurprisingly, the view of Congress, the unborn child undermines this right and does not bring about a media, and the general public are highly polarized. healthy community. Contraception and abortion-inducing drugs In response to these grievances, Obama released a have negative consequences on the dignity of the child, the man, compromise on February 10th, which places the responsibility and the woman.” This point is central to Catholic doctrine. Stukel of providing free contraception on the states, “The Church is a victim because insurance companies of religiously-affiliated providing contraception and inducing drugs “THE CATHOLIC institutions and not on the institutions violates our conscience.” themselves. This compromise, however, has Compromise is the only solution to this HIERARCHY SEES USE issue, failed to assuage all religious organizations. yet it is difficult for both sides to find For institutions that are not self-insured and common ground. According to a student at OF BIRTH CONTROL AS contract through an insurance company, an a SLU feminist group discussion, “If you increase in premium may be implemented; ABSOLUTELY WRONG, expect someone to be abstinent if they want therefore the employers would ultimately to avoid pregnancy, it is putting your own be responsible for the cost. This raises the beliefs and morals on them, which is unfair AGAINST THEIR question of whether religious institutions to impose on someone. This bill does not such as schools, charities, and hospitals CONSCIENCES, SO force anyone to use contraception, merely should be forced to provide these services make it available to those who wish to use despite their religious objections.

THEY WOULDN’T SEE it.”

Interestingly, the White House has said Compromise, made difficult by lack that self-insured institutions like Saint Louis IT AS HEALTHCARE.” of desire for it, is further complicated by University would not be required to provide misinformation on both sides. Just as BRIDGET RUSH free contraception as the 2010 Patient many opponents have misunderstood Protection and Affordable Care Act did not contraception’s varied uses and accessibility, provide the legal authority to mandate such a measure. A self- the oft-quoted statistic that 98% of Catholic women have used insured institution is one where members’ premiums pay into birth control is also incorrect. As the author of the study by a collective pool that is then allocated by the institution itself to the Guttmacher Institute, Rachel K. Jones later clarified in pay for health care costs. As a result, SLU will not be required the Washington Post, “Data shows that 98 percent of sexually to provide contraception without co-payment to its students. experienced women of child-bearing age and who identify Approximately 200,000 students across the United States themselves as Catholic have used a method of contraception participate in this type of self-insured plan. other than natural family planning at some point in their lives.”

Some in opposition to the mandate question whether women This included one-time use of a contraceptive method and have trouble affording contraception. Georgia Representative excluded women who have not engaged in sexual intercourse.

Tom Price demanded, “Bring me one woman who has been With strong voices on both sides of the debate, it is clear left behind. Bring me one. There’s not one.” Yet, many women that there will not be an easy resolution. Many adherents to the cannot afford their prescription birth control. According to a opposing positions have remained obstinate throughout the Hart Research survey, 1 in 3 women voters have struggled to pay discourse. Yet, the dialogue does have the potential to work from for it. Because of the high cost of birth control, the Institute of a place of mutual respect. This dialogue would have to recognize Medicine recommended to the Obama Administration that birth differing, and highly valued, beliefs, while also recognizing those control be covered without co-payment. places in which they can come together. Religion is tightly wound Proponents of the bill argue that the trouble lies in into American culture, and such issues need to be discussed in misconceptions of contraception and its wide range of uses a calm manner that promotes understanding between opposing in health care. It is used in many treatment protocols ranging groups. Lawmakers and by extension the voting population have from reducing menstrual cramps and acne to lowering the risk the responsibility of striking the balance between respect for for pelvic inflammatory disease and endometrial and ovarian religious and personal beliefs and access to essential health care.

marissa naggi

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rights and freedoms

Pho t o by Paig e Muniz

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Rel ig i o us Fr e e do m F or ei g n La w i n the Un ited St ates

a n g e l a g u p ta s o p h o m o r e m a j o r i n g i n p u b l i c h e a lt h

From dawn to dusk, a set of beliefs and rituals guide one’s existence. A Muslim man, his Muslim wife and their young son lead life by following values central to their religion. These religious principles and regulations define their life. Known as sharia law, such religious law has now entered the debates of United States legislation.

Faizan Syed, a Muslim, defines sharia law as, “not just law, but as all actions Muslims perform in their daily life.” Sharia, or Islamic law, stems from the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.

It describes a Muslim’s relationship with Allah. Sharia law outlines principles related to marriage, divorce, inheritance and dress. It also defines family and financial obligations.

Syed further elaborates, “The way we interact with our parents, friends and businesses is all part of the sharia.” Syed is the executive director of the Counsel of American and Islamic Relations in St. Louis (CAIR-St. Louis), the largest civil rights organization for Muslims in America. The organization promotes the understanding of Islam and aims to eradicate bigotry. Syed believes that the anti-sharia movement has instigated unnecessary consequences: division and debate within the nation. The following are examples of two cases that have sparked the debate surrounding sharia law.

A Muslim man was imprisoned for a crime. Though ready to serve his sentence, he had one request: he felt entitled to religious paraphernalia while in prison. He cited sharia law as justification

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for his appeal, and his wish was granted.

Proponents of the anti-sharia movement quoted this case as an unfair utilization of foreign law. Others protested that sharia law was mentioned in the context of religious liberty—the verdict, they say, was awarded based upon the freedom of religion, not sharia law.

In New Jersey, an Islamic man was accused of domestic violence. He cited sharia law as his defense for disciplining his wife, and a lower court judge ruled in his favor. Yet this judge’s decision was met with resistance. On appeal, the verdict was overruled and this Islamic man’s reasoning was not credited.

These two instances are testaments to the strength of the United States court system. Although sharia law could have been abused in this situation, ultimately, it was not a factor in the outcome.

Today, the use of foreign law in United States courts is being challenged. In Missouri, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposes all bills banning judicial consideration of sharia law. Their mission is to protect the Bill of Rights. John Chasnoff, the program director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, speaks for the cause. He says, “These bills endeavor to solve a problem that does not exist.” Chasnoff believes a wave of Islamophobia is sweeping the nation, and certain legislatures are exploiting this fear for political reasons.

Syed also mentions, “In the entire United States, over the last ten years, there have only been around thirty cases where Islamic law has actually been applied in courts.” Moreover, Chasnoff spoke of changes in the movement. Last year, the movement

rights and freedoms

Photo by Sanjana Shah

in Missouri solely focused on barring sharia law. Since this singled out a specific religion, violating the First Amendment, proponents of the movement shifted their focus. Now, foreign law, as opposed to sharia law is being targeted. However, Chasnoff revealed that seventeen cited cases still involve sharia law, making their bias transparent.

Modifying the cause has implications: if this legislation is passed in Missouri, no foreign law can be recognized in the state.

This also applies to Jewish religious law and Catholic canon law, and it will trigger difficulties in these communities as well. Due to this modification, problems could arise in marriage, adoption, and international business relations.

Envision a young couple on their wedding day in Israel. If they wed under Jewish law, their marriage would be recognized in the United States, but not in Missouri. Now, years later, this couple seeks a divorce. If they settled in Missouri, this divorce could not be granted. Why? Because their marriage was never legitimate, they wed under a foreign law.

In terms of adoption, if a family is seeking to adopt a newborn overseas, the process must be conducted using the laws of the respective nation. After enduring an arduous adoption process, and finally being able to cradle their child in the United States, this family could face custody issues.

Envision a bright-eyed entrepreneur in the United States, crafting a business contract with his partner in England. If they decided to settle their business disputes under English law, this contract could not be enforced in the United States.

What happens to these ambitious businessmen? International business relations would crumble. Proponents of the movement did attempt to mend this issue; they exempt corporations and limited partnerships from the jurisdiction, but not individuals.

Meaning, corporations could create contracts using English law, but individuals were forbidden. John Chasnoff believes this “violates the constitutional right for equal protection under the law, as corporations are being treated differently than people.”

Proponents of the movement believe the distinction between sharia law and secular law is too prominent and that they cannot coexist within democracy. But critics of the movement are fervent—they say that passage of such legislation breaches the First Amendment.

The second constitutional issue deals with the separation of powers. Chasnoff explains, “The legislature cannot tell the judges which laws they can, and cannot, consider. One branch cannot control the function of another branch.” Finally, disputes also arise from business contracting—the right to contract remains a constitutional right for an individual.

It is important to recognize that these issues are real, they are alive and thriving in today’s society and in St. Louis. The movement against the implementation of foreign law in United States courts has become more vehement within the past year.

Both its proponents and its critics back their stance with zeal. If both sides are able to meet at the negotiating table, hopefully an agreeable compromise can be reached — one that recognizes the voices of the people, their religion and their way of life.

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