Spartan Daily Vol. 160 No. 3

SJ mourns mass shooting victims

By Alina Ta STAFF WRITER

Community members lit candles and huddled together in a circle outside San Jose City Hall to grieve for mass shootings victims in Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay, East Oakland and Los Angeles.

Therese Santiago and Leika La Roque, two of the vigil organizers and outreach coordinators for Asian Law Alliance, said they held the vigil in response to the violence occurring recently.

Asian Law Alliance is a non-profit organization that provides equal access to the justice system for Asian Pacific Islander and low-income populations in Silicon Valley, according to their webpage

“We want to have a moment where we can have a bit of a peace from all that violence and take a moment to stand in solidarity with each other across all our communities and minorities, and stand with each other,” Santiago said.

Since Jan. 23, three mass shootings have occurred.

On Jan. 23, a gunman killed 11 people at Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio during a Lunar New Year celebration near Monterey Park, Los Angeles according to a Jan. 24 article by the East Bay Times.

Two days later, another gunman, Chunli Zhao, 66 years old, killed seven people at California Terra Gardens and Concords Farm in Half Moon Bay, according to a Jan. 26 East Bay Times article.

The same source also reported that during the same evening, another gunman killed one person and injured four others at a Valero gas

SJSU provides on campus medical abortions

By Jillian Darnell STAFF WRITER

As of Jan. 1, Senate Bill No. 24 mandates medical abortions be available in all University of California and California State University campuses across California.

Kayla Lam, vice president of the Public Health Student Association at San Jose State, said the implementation of medical abortions on campus will have a positive impact on students.

“Imagine you’re in a period of time and stress, essentially when you find out that you are pregnant you are in a time crunch,” Lam said. “By allowing students to be reassured that they have that plan at the Wellness Center, and it’s known to be cheaper than a drug store or a department store, it is just a lot more accessible all around.”

Catherine Voss Plaxton, associate vice president of the Health, Wellness and Student Services, said the medical abortion pill is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the termination of pregnancies within the first ten weeks of gestation.

The bill represents an expansion of healthcare options for students who test positive for pregnancy at the Student Wellness Center.

“Now, as part of typical pregnancy-options counseling, students will have the option of receiving medication abortion from trusted SJSU healthcare providers,”

Plaxton said.

Medical abortions consist of a pregnant patient taking two abortion pills called mifepristone and misoprostol, according to Planned Parenthood’s website.

SB 24 also requires the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls to allocate $200,000 worth of funding to each campus to help health centers provide the best care for medical abortions.

The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls is an organization that works towards eliminating inequities in state laws, practices and conditions affecting women living in California according to its website.

Over 6,000 students may seek medical abortions or other related services each year, according to a Dec. 2017 study done by the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health from the University of California, San Francisco.

Lam said by allowing students to access medical abortions on campus, it can reduce the emotional stress and offer a safer environment for patients to get the treatment they need.

“It is a safe space for women or pregnant people in general,” Lam said. “Some women are victims of clinics that pressure you into keeping the baby, putting their own advice onto the poor patient who can be 16 or 17 or even younger. With the Wellness Center, there won’t be any

Community provides supplies to farmers

By Alessio Cavalca MANAGING EDITOR

The San Jose non-profit organization Farmworker Caravan and local volunteers met at the San Jose Woman’s Club on Jan. 25 to gather food and supplies intended for farmworker families who have been displaced from their lands over the past weeks.

One of the causes behind the displacement these families face is the California Terra Gardens farm shooting in Half Moon Bay, where 66-year-old farmworker Chunli Zhao killed seven people, on January 23, according to a Thursday New York Times article.

Darlene Tenes, the founder of Farmworker Caravan and director of diversity and inclusion at San Jose Woman’s Club, said they collected

different products and supplies to meet the farmworker families’ needs.

“There were a lot of families that lived on that farm,” Tenes said. “So there have been about 40 families that have been displaced at this moment, and they have not been able to return to their homes . . . because of the police investigation.”

She said those people do not have access to their food, clothes and money.

“We do have some people who have stepped up to provide some warm meals for them,” Tenes said. “We’re collecting other goods for them where they don’t have to cook or heat it up, and then, we’re collecting clothing as well.”

In addition to the Half Moon Bay shooting,

A demonstrator at the Candlelight Vigil for victims of the Half Moon Bay shooting lights a candle in front of San Jose City Hall.

Darlene Tenes, founder of the Farmworker Caravan, speaks to the media Thursday at the San Jose Women’s Club. Tenes said 40 families were displaced after the Half Moon Bay shooting on Jan. 25.

MASS SHOOTINGS

Continued from page 1

station in Oakland, according to a Jan. 23 East Bay Times article.

“Yeah, it’s pretty complicated hearing so many things happen recently,” said Yifan Yang, one of the attendees at the vigil. “And the sadness, I don’t know how to deal with it.”

These were not the only events that Santiago and La Roque acknowledged during the vigil.

As visitors stood with one another outside the doors of City Hall, both coordinators reminded everyone to remember the victims from the shooting in Los Angeles and to remember Tyre Nichols.

Three people were killed and four injured in a houseshooting in Beverly Crest, Los Angeles, according to a Jan. 28 Mercury News article.

Three weeks earlier, on Jan. 7, Nichols was killed after being beaten by police officers, according to a Jan. 28 article by NPR.

“In addition to this, there’s the stuff going on in Memphis you know… I don’t know, it seems never ending,” said Diane Lee, another attendee at the vigil. “It’s relentless but then you don’t want to give up I guess. You don’t want to just give in to despair,”

Jinni Pradhan, San Jose State’s program director of Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment, said the recent shootings are a reminder that gun violence is a real issue in the U.S.

HEALTHCARE

Continued from page 1

biases, if you need the pill, you can just get the pill, no one is going to force you.”

Lam said there are also other support systems on campus that can also help an individual through this process.

“It should be recommended to students who are pregnant to go to Counseling and Psychological Services if they need it,” Lam said. “I have friends who have gone through an abortion and it made a traumatic mark on them because it is a painful experience and sometimes they went through the process alone.”

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, which protected the right to an abortion nationally, many women and other individuals are concerned about having their medical privacy threatened with illegal abortions

FARMERS

Continued from page 1

the storms hitting the Bay Area during the first half of January caused flooding to occur in the region with significant impact to farmworker families and their land.

“They’re going through this traumatic experience with not just the shootings, but also with the floods that have taken away many of their livelihoods right now,” Tenes said.

Costanza Rampini, environmental studies assistant professor said California has always had atmospheric reverse events alternating cycles of dry and wet weather.

“The concern recently was that we were in a constant dry cycle, and we weren’t really getting any big rain events since, you know, the main the mega drought that really started in 2011 or 2012 and was like broken a little bit in winter 2016,” Rampini said.

She said when the soil has already absorbed all its water capacity, it can’t absorb any more water.

“So the water is just flowing into streams. It’s flowing down cement driveways, it’s creating new pathways into rivers and eventually into the Pacific Ocean,” Rampini said.

Environmental studies graduate student Jamsheed Mistry said starting in the 20th century, throughout the processes of urbanization and industrialization, the numbers of farmers significantly decreased.

“Farmers have basically become less than less, but they’re expected to produce more and more, because the population is just growing,” he said. “So, although the population of farmers is going down, the global population is going up.”

GRAPHIC BY BRYANNA BARTLETT

Pradhan is a second generation immigrant who’s family immigrated to the United States before she was born.

She said that people will need time to process these events. According to Pradhan, without spending time to process these tragedies, some may hold on to these events creating emotional baggage.

Pradhan acknowledges that these issues may be very difficult to discuss because of how stigmatized mental health is in the Asian American community. She said that stigma makes discussing mental health issues difficult for immigrant families.

“Families who immigrate are just trying to work really hard to find a place and to survive and become successful. And so sometimes that doesn’t make space for mental health. And then if you don’t have space for it, then where are you going to find the words for it too, right?” said Pradhan.

She said most immigrant families have a difficult time speaking up about mental health issues..

Pradhan admits that immigrant families have “difficulty accepting therapy, talking about it, admitting it, saying that ‘it exists?’ ”

Santiago said the community needs the vigil to take a step back and to stand together in solidarity.

“For tonight, we just wanted a space for everyone to grieve together because reading about news like this alone in your room can be particularly isolating,” said La Roque.

in many states being investigated according to a June 29 CNN article.

Plaxton said that students’ medical privacy is guaranteed.

“Only the staff directly involved in a student’s care will be aware of the services that student has received.

Those staff and the whole Student Wellness Center operate under the same health-records privacy regulations and standards as offcampus healthcare clinics,” Plaxton said in an email.

Public health junior Jessica Ong said she believes medical abortions on campus are a beneficial service for students.

“For students it’s good for their college to provide them with another plan in case something does go wrong and give them the support they need,” Ong said.

Plaxton said in order to receive a medical abortion, the patient must go through a consultation to see if the abortion would be best fit for their situation, medical abortions are not common knowledge so it is best

to do research beforehand.

“I don’t think that every girl out there just knows the process of an abortion, all the steps, the aftercare, how your body will feel after and during the procedure, so I feel like that information should be provided,” Ong said.

The cost of the medical abortion pill is $50 but some students may not be able to afford this price, Plaxton said.

“College students are known to be notoriously broke,” Ong said.

“Some of them can fork over $50 or $60, just for something that might not necessarily be their fault, and all sorts of circumstances that go into needing an abortion pill. I feel like a cost shouldn’t hinder someone from getting what they need.”

Mistry said farmers are stationary, and they belong to their lands because they cannot move their crops, making floods a significant problem for them.

Tenes said some of those farmers’ fields may not be dried out for three months.

“When a farm worker doesn’t work, a farm worker doesn’t get paid, and they can’t feed their children,” Tenes said.

However, this was not the first time Farmworker Caravan supported farmworkers and their families.

Starting from April 2020, the organization has provided emergency supplies to California farmworkers while they were working during heatwaves, wildfire smoke and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Farmworker Caravan webpage.

Tenes said beside the current problematic situation, farmworkers face a significant amount of daily stress, because of their documentation status and working conditions.

“They’re working full time – 40 to 70 hours a week, and they’re living in poverty,” Tenes said.

She said despite the difficulties farmworkers face, they play a fundamental role in today’s society.

“There’s not a single person in America that does not benefit from a farm worker,” Tenes said. “All, every single product that you have in your home, no matter how packaged in plastic it has over it, at some point was touched by a farm worker.”

They’re going through this traumatic experience with not just the shootings, but also with the floods that have taken away many of their livelihoods right now

Darlene Tenes

Farmworker Caravan founder

OPINION

I have officially given up on the 49ers

By Oscar Frias-Rivera STAFF WRITER

The San Francisco 49ers lost another NFC Championship this past weekend and have not gotten a taste of the Super Bowl win the fan base has been craving since 1995.

With the loss, the 49ers have made 3 appearances in the NFC title game in the last four years. San Francisco has only won one of the title games and punched their ticket into the Super Bowl once in 2020.

Unfortunately, the team has not walked away with a victory at the big game. The 49ers will not be successful in the near future.

I don’t believe they ever will. No matter how successful the team has been over the years, the 49ers got beat when it mattered most.

They lost their third string quarterback Brock Purdy due to injury on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles which basically flushed our hopes down the toilet.

Purdy’s injury sucked, it truly did. However, it’s time to start putting the blame on the coaching staff as well as the players for these losses.

In last year’s NFC title game, the 49ers were up against division rival Los Angeles Rams, who before they met them for the third matchup in the NFC Championship game, beat them twice in the regular season. The 49ers had all the momentum going into that game even with it being held at SoFi Stadium in LA.

Even with the crowd on their side, the Rams managed to pull a game-winning final drive in the last three minutes to score a winning field goal. Even with the number one defense, the 49ers couldn’t finish the game to head back to the Super Bowl.

The offense led them to not score in their final drive losing 20-17.

With back-to-back losses in the NFC Championship game, the Niners have

had something go wrong for them on each occasion.

We can go back to the 2012 season and say the same thing. The 49ers have been nothing but failures that have become the modern day Buffalo Bills.

The Bills went to four super bowls in four years are what the 49ers are slowly becoming.

Between the 2012-2014 seasons, San Francisco was as dominant as they are right now. They made it to three backto-back-to-back NFC Championship games led by former San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Not only did the 49ers have the most complete defense like they do now, but they had all-pro players like NaVorro

Bowman, Patrick Willis, and Aldon Smith.

Some say the Niners are cursed. In a 10-year span, the 49ers made it to six NFC Championship Title games and had Super Bowl appearances and have walked away with no rings since 1994.

The Joe Montana and Jerry Rice era was the peak that the 49ers are still looking to reach.

No matter how good the Niners are doing, they just can’t get where they want to be. With the different coaches, teams, location and management, San Francisco has had no luck since closing down Candlestick Park.

I’m afraid that the 49ers have become the Sauron of the NFL: Always chasing a

ring, but never getting it.

Yes we can always bring up the history, but will this modern age 49er faithful fans ever get to experience a Super Bowl win?

The Bay Area has been spoiled with the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants in the last 15 years with multiple championships.

But for the 49ers, it’s looking like they will rely on their past for their future now.

Either something needs to change or the 49er faithful will continue to taste disappointment that they felt on Sunday.

Follow Oscar on Twitter @oscar_frias408

GRAPHIC BY NATHAN CANILAO

‘You People’ shows new take on rom-coms

By Nathan Canilao EXECUTIVE EDITOR

After watching the trailer for Kenya Barris’ debut film “You People,” which was released on Netflix Friday, I rolled my eyes.

Barris was a writer for one of the most iconic Black-led films this decade, “Barbershop: The Next Cut.” This was not his first time writing a comedy, however I was skeptical that he could direct something funny with a cast like this.

I thought this was going to be another one of those lame rom-coms with a bunch of stereotypical “Black guy vs. white guy” jokes that have been done so many times before.

But after sitting down and watching the movie, I was impressed.

“You People” stars writer and actor Jonah Hill as Ezra, a white Jewish financial analyst who aspires to be a podcaster who talks about Black culture.

He falls in love with Amira, played by actress Lauren London, a Black Muslim painter who is trying to find stability in her relationships.

Ezra and Amira eventually move in together, but come to the realization that they have to eventually introduce each other to their parents who couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.

Ezra’s mother Shelley, played by iconic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, tries too hard to relate to Amira and comes off as racist.

Amira’s father Akbar, played by legendary actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, doesn’t approve of Ezra because he believes he needs to protect his daughter from white men.

Many comedy movies in the past have poked fun at stereotypes that go with interracial relationships such as “Romeo Must Die,” “Guess Who” and “Our Family Wedding.” But what makes “You People” different is that the characters were genuine.

In other films, the characters seemed like caricatures rather than actual people who have to deal with the ramifications of dating outside their race.

The audiences often see the stereotypical angry Black dad from the south who tries to intimidate and scare away their child’s interest, or the accepting mother who tries to rally all the families together to accept their kids’ new found love.

“You People’’ is more realistic than that. The disapproval of the marriage was more subtle and the racism that Ezra and Amira went through was more indirect which is representative of the type of racism we commonly see today.

ALBUM REVIEW

Though the movie has a serious undertone, there were still a plethora of jokes that made me question if I should have gone to the bathroom before turning on the movie.

Hill’s “matter of fact” attitude blended well with Murphy’s more indirect personality. I had doubts that their chemistry would actually work in a film like this, but they meshed well throughout the film.

Historically, Hill has made comedy for the millennial stoner who still lives at their parent’s house in their mid-30’s.

Murphy, one of the true greatest of all time, or “G.O.A.T.” in comedy, has historically starred in either super edgy dark comedy like “Tower Heist” or funny family flicks like “Shrek” and “Daddy Daycare.”

Louis-Dreyfus plays the role of the “too woke” white liberal woman perfectly. The concept of woke has changed over the years, but conservative media has coined the term to mean someone who cares so much about social issues that they come off as racist according to a Jan. 20 ABC article.

One of the best comedic elements of the movie is how it’s evident to viewers that she’s not trying to be racist, but comes off even more racist than she wants to be.

What I liked most about the movie was that it wasn’t a generic Black vs white movie

where the plot line could be seen in the trailer leading up to the film. The story touched on the intersections of race, religion and class very well.

Serious topics like those were joked about in a creative way that I think people born in Generation Z would appreciate.

The only knock that I had on the movie was that for a rom-com, there wasn’t much romance between the two main characters.

I counted about six times Ezra and Amira actually kissed in the film and I was even counting casual pecks on the cheek.

I’ll be the first to say that Jonah Hill making love to Lauren London wasn’t an image I ever imagined to see in a film. It was hinted several times in the trailer, but didn’t happen, making it seem as if they didn’t really show affection to each other in the first place.

As a person who is an interracial relationship, I immediately related to all the awkward family gatherings and conversations that were shown in the movie.

I found all the little cringe-worthy moments where Amira and Ezra’s family had an awkward silence around the dinner table relatable to some of the experiences I had in my relationship.

I didn’t know what I was going to get from this movie, but in a weird way, I did like it. The

chemistry between the characters surprisingly worked in a way that made me think to watch it a second time.

Secretly, I’m hoping a sequel is on the way, but I’d settle for another comedy flick with Hill and Murphy.

movie review

“You

People”

Rating:

Directed by: Kenya Barris

Starring: Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy Genre: Romantic Comedy

Follow Nathan Canilao on Twitter @nathancanilao

Yachty’s comeback is exhilarating

By Vanessa Tran A&E EDITOR

American Rapper Lil Yachty’s fifth studio album “Let’s Start Here.” made me feel like I came out of a shroom trip as a completely different person.

After its release on Friday, this has quickly become my favorite work of his. The trippy and psychedelic sound takes listeners on a journey in Yachty’s shoes.

When listening to albums, I often get bored if each track sounds similar. But “Let’s Start Here.” is cohesive in telling different stories while using similar expansive guitars and looping basslines.

I have admiration for Yachty’s decision to deviate from his typical rap sound, it’s not often popular rappers take the risk of experimenting outside of their usual sound. This was definitely a risky decision and he absolutely nailed it.

“:(failure(:” is a spoken-word song in which Yachty tells listeners he’s often misunderstood, but he accepts that not everyone has faced the same struggles he has.

I was able to hear Yachty’s frustration in the lyrics, “You know, one man’s rich to the next can be a step from poverty and it’s hard to explain that when you’re so narrow-minded, seeing the world with two eyes shut, and I realize that now some people can’t feel what they haven’t seen, so there’s no point in me trying to explain my troubles.”

He delivers his message in a calm tone throughout the track, emphasizing how crucial it is to be understanding with others because

not everyone can immediately see eye to eye.

“drive ME crazy!” is my favorite track of the album because of how vulnerable the rapper is expressing how much he needs his partner.

Listeners can visualize the excitement his lover brings into his life and how much he needs the lover to stay, or else his life would be dull.

Yachty describes their love as an overwhelming and intense bond in the lyrics, “Imagine me/ Circling through life without a piеce of you/ Seven out of seven days I’m needin’ you/ You bring life to the party/ Good, love feels like butterflies suffocating your insides.”

“paint THE sky” is an emotionally charged piece in which Yachty conveys his deep devotion to his lover, but he needs to know whether or not they feel the same way.

The chorus, “Fiending, falling, crawling, I’m stalling for your love/ You got me drinking, smoking, I might, overdose on your love,” implies his willingness to die for them, which gives the song its name.

The lyrics, “I need to chill/ Emotionally scarred, I cannot feel/ Am I not the one? Am I not the one?/ Not the one, one for you?/ You can keep it real,” suggests that the artist has been through enough turmoil in the past and needs honesty to prevent the cycle from continuing.

I love this song because of how repetitive the lyrics are, embracing how much he needs his dying question to be answered to feel reassured.

Yachty’s fearless experimentation is evident in every track, as he skillfully blends elements of

hip-hop, R&B and pop to create a truly unique listening experience. His bold choices in production, vocals and lyrics make this album a standout in his discography and a testament to his artistic growth.

“Let’s Start Here.”

Rating:

Artist: Lil Yachty Release Date: Jan. 27, 2023

ILLUSTRATION BY MYENN RAHNOMA

Community celebrates Lunar New Year

Top: The Hội Xuân San Jose festival welcome sign outside the west entrance of the Eastridge Mall in San Jose, California.

Left: A festival visitor holds lamb skewers and sugar cane juice in the festival parking lot.

Right: Two performers sing a traditional Vietnamese folk song during the concert portion of the festival.

Middle: Festival participants performed the traditional Chinese Lion Dance at the center stage of the festival.

Bottom right: A festival performer sings the Vietnamese National Anthem.

Correction

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Spartan Daily published a story titled, “Landon Conrath talks career and life” in which we misidentified Windser. The Spartan Daily regrets this error.