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Issue 24, Volume 83
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No relief in sight An elbow injury forced junior pitcher Aaron Fletcher to redshirt. After an 11-month recovery and returning as a reliever, he’s adjusting to the new pace of starting. | PG. 9
NEWS
Understanding the Black diaspora
People of African heritage collectively form the Black diaspora: a group as diverse as it is wildly varied, and a nuanced concept often overlooked in favor of nationality. | PG. 4
OPINION
Councilwoman’s death ignites protests
Black LGBT feminist and activist Marielle Franco was killed this month, but her death has sparked a movement demanding justice for the poor and colored population in Rio. | PG. 11
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Dana C. Jones & Drew Jones, Editors
student government
Zhang's tenure as president ends, but she's just getting started Drew jones
Making strides In hindsight, Zhang said it’s easy to identify what she could have done differently, but she feels accomplished in that her administration was able to address all of its main and secondary initiatives. Time was an ever-present factor in limiting what she could do, but she wishes only that she was able to start campus-wide conversations on sexual assault sooner. Former SGA President Shane Smith said Zhang’s tenure is marked with accomplishments. He believes Zhang made many strides, especially in her work surrounding mental health and sexual assault. Smith is sympathetic to Zhang’s role as the face of the organization and said much of what the president does is behind the scenes with little recognition. He said her most lasting impact will be the role she played in making UH the director school of the Texas Student Government Coalition, which oversees all the student governments in the state and helps lobby state legislators. Zhang is also on the Steering Committee for the National Campus Leadership Council and
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campus editor @drwszn
Outgoing Student Government Association President Winni Zhang will leave her post as head of the 54th Administration this week in much the same way as she entered her tenure — optimistic and determined, with her eyes set on the future. Cameron Barrett’s administration will take over April 4, and with Zhang's time in SGA behind her, she looks back on her achievements for the students she served and the relationships she cultivated over the past year in office. “Our students are so incredible,” Zhang said. “(During my time), I felt a sense of pride in the (UH) community as a whole.” Zhang said she doesn’t feel as though any single issue she’s worked on in the past year bears more importance than any other. She’s proud of the role she played in mental health advocacy and expanding mental health services on campus through improvements to CAPS.
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Emily Burleson Jasmine Davis copy editing
Morgan Horst
In the year since Winni Zhang assumed her role as president of the Student Government Association, she has advocated for change throughout campus. Despite her tenure coming to an end this week, Zhang said she, and her efforts, aren't going anywhere. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
was named the 2017 Conference of Student Government Association Outstanding Student Government Leader of the Year for her work. “She’s put her life into (student government),” Smith said, “and she has a lot to show for it.” Speaker of the Senate Chelsea Cheung said this past year suffered from a lack of continuity because nearly half of the Senate left SGA at some point, but she doesn’t fault any one person for those difficulties. She said she supported Zhang taking a hands-off approach when it came to balancing the needs of the presidency and the Senate because as speaker, she felt called to that role. Cheung said Zhang and her administration will be remembered for being proactive in pushing the University forward on pressing national and social issues. “(She was) perceptive to a lot of national problems, such as climate issues, sexual assault and the DACA resolution,” Cheung said. “(She dealt) with issues that were not just University issues, but were broader and definitely impacted and affected University students.”
Changing her perspective Zhang said her view of the presidency has radically changed since her time as a freshman senator. Back then, she said, she believed something was fundamentally wrong if the president and Senate disagreed
on certain issues. Now, she intimately understands that the office of the president “comes with a certain sense of opposition.” But she said divide is necessary for cooperation, and she laments that some members of the organization may have taken cues from the political climate in Washington and felt they had to challenge her for appearance’s sake. Zhang said there are many moments that stand out from her time in the organization. As an example, she points to an interaction she had with a student as deputy chief of staff for the 53rd Administration. She said after meeting with the student and hearing about the challenges they had with CAPS, she had to act to make mental health services more accessible. After creating a mental health task force, Zhang said hearing stories of the struggle students faced with mental health motivated her in the push to expand services. But Zhang was also inspired by student triumphs. When Hurricane Harvey left the city in turmoil, she watched students step up to become community leaders and volunteers.
Moving forward Hardworking is the word Smith said he would use to describe Zhang. When spending time with Zhang, he said, it's easy to see her work ethic shine through in the time and passion she puts into the things she cares about.
He said the obligations of the presidency take away from the energy that each office holder can put into their personal passions, so he thinks losing the election for the 55th Administration will free Zhang up to pursue the causes she cares about most. In the future, Smith said, he sees Zhang continuing to be a tireless advocate for her community and the people around her. He knows Zhang's perspective firsthand — looking at the world and considering the best way to help — and he believes that in the future, in whatever career she pursues, she will be a dedicated vehicle for change. Stepping away from office, Zhang said there’s naturally a feeling of relief because the president has to juggle so many responsibilities. She said effective past presidents had to make personal sacrifices, which takes a toll. She joked that she can’t remember having so much free time, but said in the weeks to come, she’ll remain focused on pushing for further change — such as continuing the fight for mental health advocacy in higher education and expanding sexual assault awareness on campus. “I don’t think that fire or energy will be dying in me any time soon,” she said. Michael Slaten contributed reporting. news@thedailycougar.com
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WOMEN
Gender, sexuality studies program pushing for greater enrollment MICHAEL SLATEN
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @MICHAELSLATEN
It may not have the enrollment numbers of the biology or political science departments, but the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program combines teachings from multiple disciplines to take a deep look at its subject matter. “In terms of why the (courses) are important — they reflect the identity and diverse students on campus,” said Ayanna Mccloud, program director of the Friends of Women’s Studies, the community arm of the program. “What happens is you have a classroom that is very diverse.” The 26-year-old WGSS program consists of a major
Housed on the 6th floor of Agnes Arnold Hall, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program brings together faculty from a wide variety of liberal arts disciplines. The 41 WGSS majors study feminist and queer theory, among other subjects, in a context that values feedback from UH's diverse population. | Michael Slaten/The Cougar
and two minors. The major was approved in January 2015
by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and
launched November of that year.
The program relies on more than 70 faculty affiliates who teach courses for the major in WGSS, history, communication, English and other disciplines. Mccloud said the program has been growing steadily since the major was added, and the spirit of the program has always been to reflect the demographics of the campus. “The program was very responsive to the students that we serve. Our courses reflect the diversity of what the campus looks like,” Mccloud said. “So you may not find these sorts of courses at other universities, because we make sure we have responsive courses.” Academic adviser to
WOMEN'S STUDIES
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IN FOCUS CULTURE
Cultural misunderstandings often stem from Black diaspora DANA C. JONES
FEATURES EDITOR @DANACJONES_
The definitions of race, ethnicity and everything in between are often misunderstood, particularly the idea of being black. Black is often used — in the United States — to describe Americans of African ancestry. This is accurate, but only in part because it leaves out large groups of the population. People of African ancestry who live in different regions of the world, namely and South and Central America, the Caribbean, America, and — of course — Africa, make up the collective black diaspora. This concept, which describes
the diffusion of all people of African heritage across the world, may be new or confusing to some. Nationality often trumps heritage in mainstream conversations of identity, but the term pertains only to the place where someone is born, not their ethnic background. Merriam-Webster defines race as “any one of the groups that human beings can be divided into based on shared distinctive physical traits.” In the context of the black diaspora, that physical trait is skin color. A lot of scholars agree that race is made man-made concept first mainly introduced around American slavery with the transatlantic slave trade. Most of these
Victor Blanco, Cheral Byron, Shannon Smith and Nhyira Addai all identify as Black despite their different cultural backgrounds. | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
slaves came from western Africa. The Caribbean islands and South America lie in the path of slave trade to America from Africa, so it makes sense that there are black people in this part of the world.
How they got here
The African people were dispersed through different parts of the world mainly through slavery. The transatlantic slave trade alone was responsible for the transport of more than 12.5 to 13 million slaves. “European enslavement transported people out of Africa and created a black presence in the world buy doing so,” said Keith McCall, a Rice University doctoral candidate in history, with a concentration in slave history. In America, the first introduction to slavery from the transatlantic slave trade usually begins with the mention of slaves from west Africa being shipped to America in 1619. But as early as 1446, Portugal began erecting slaving forts on the African coast. In the 1530s, Portugal began colonizing Brazil and sent slaves to the territory. According to the CIA’s World Fact Book, Brazil has a 43.1 percent mulatto (white and black) and 7.6 black population. This is because more than 4 million Africans were delivered to Brazil to work in coffee fields. In 1502, Spain shipped African slaves to Hispaniola, which comprises present day Haiti and Dominican Republic. “The demographic trends that came out of the slave trade were highly differentiated--some places, like Saint Domingue,” McCall said. Almost 36 thousand African slaves disembarked in Hispaniola between 1501 and 1600 alone, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. According to the CIA’s World Fact Book, Haiti and Dominican Republic are both overwhelmingly black. Haiti’s population is 95 percent black and 5 percent mulatto. Dominican Republic is more than 70 percent mixed and most of that group is comprised of two subgroups: mestizo/ indio and mulatto. Indio, according to the CIA World Fact Book, is described as a person from mixed ancestry or one
who has a skin color between light and dark. Another 15.8 percent is black. In 1562 Britain entered the slave trade, shipping slaves from Africa to Hispaniola. By the end of the English slave trade in 1807, Britain had made 12,000 voyages transporting 2.6 million slaves across their territories. Almost 200 years after some of the earliest records of slave trade, the first 20 black slaves step on American soil in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia. The arrival of slaves to North America would soon create one of the most complex parts of the diaspora now that we are over 150 years postbellum. After slavery, the roots to Africa where lost to the new Black Americans that is still prevalent today. Black Americans still don’t know where in Africa their specific heritage originates. In other parts of the world, like the Caribbean and South and Central America, a cultural identity was prevalent before slavery. There was no American culture — as created by European settlers — in which African slaves could comfortably participate. The strategy employed by slave owners in the region involved both stripping slaves of their African ties and denying the ability for slaves to assimilate into American culture. The abolition of slavery began in the 1800s, though it progress
(Note: Slavery did not end in Texas until two years later on June 19 1865 which created the Juneteenth holiday.) After more than 50,000 voyages between participating slave trade countries like Portugal, Spain, Britain, and the United States, more than 11 million slaves landed in different parts of the world across the Atlantic. In 1800 America, blacks made up almost a fifth of the American population. From 1800 1860, the black population went from 1 million to almost 4.5 million. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2016, black people make up 13.3 percent of the population. That equates to roughly 43.3 million people. This population was grown from only 500,000 slaves imported from Africa. The 13.3 percent does not include people of mixed races and could possibly factor in naturalized citizens.
Systemic similarities
When mentioning groups of people in relation to crime and poverty, Black and Latino populations get linked together. The similarity in the societal structure of the diaspora as a whole is prevalent. One of the easiest disparities you can see is in how punishment of crime is dealt to people who are in the diaspora and those who are European. According to the NAACP’s
“(Americans) look at me and see black, and that’s that. They don’t say, ‘Oh, you must be from the islands.’” Cheral Byron, Half Trinidadian, Half Vincie
differently between regions. Within the first decade of the 17th Century, slavery was outlawed in modern Haiti and Dominican Republic as a result of the Haitian war in 1801. Great Britain and the United States stopped importing slaves to their respective nations in 1808. Throughout the rest of the 1800s, other countries outlaw slavery and slave results happen in America like Nat Turner in Virginia until then end of slavery in America in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, the United States makes up 21 percent of the world’s prisoners while only comprising five percent of the world’s population. The percentage of Black and Latino populations incarcerated in the United States is further inflated. In the same study, African Americans accounted for 34 percent of the 5.8 million people in the correctional population. Together, Blacks and Latinos make up 32 percent of the of the U.S. population, but account for 56 percent of
Y
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those incarcerated. uate student at Texas Southern People in the Caribbean deal University. with crime differently than in Smith’s parents are from United States. Jamaica, making her a first-genera“(Jamaican police) don’t have tion American. as menacing authority as Amer“My dad was in Caribbean law 10-11209_Cougar News March_2_PRINT.pdf 1 3/23/18 2:16 PM ican cops,” said Shannon Smith, enforcement [in Kingston] in the a health communications grad80’s and 90’s,” Smith said. “They
mostly focused on scammers, even though there were homicide cases they were working on.” There are no statistical differences between being a Black American or a black-skinned Caribbean individual with regard to crime.
“(Americans) look at me and see black, and that’s that,” said half-Trinidadian half-Vincie Brooklyn-native Cheral ‘Chay” Byron. “They don’t say ‘oh you must be from the islands.’” According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice
Statistics, black men have a higher incarceration percent than white men in 2016 by about two points, even though the black population is smaller by comparison.
BLACK DIASPORA
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BLACK DIASPORA
Continued from page 5 Outside of shear numbers of incarceration — which deal with all types of crimes — rate of arrests for similar crimes are disproportionate. In New York City, 86 percent of marijuana arrests were of Black and Latinos, despite these groups making up only 51 percent of the population between 2014 and 2016, according to drugpolicy. org. In the same study, 30 years of marijuana charges an average of 67 percent where between Black and Latino arrests and White and other arrests. Of the 61,040 marijuana-related arrests between 2014 and 2016 in New York City, 52,730 were of Black and Latino people. Other circumstances like poverty show disparity of Black and Latino people as well. According to the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Black and Hispanic races are first and third, respectively, in highest poverty in both non-metro and metro areas.
Culture mixing Culture is probably the most
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noticeable similarity and difference you can spot across the black diaspora. You can see it in music, food and physical traits. Smith was born in America, but she stayed close to her roots. “I didn’t really assimilate to American culture, I had a different lifestyle,” Smith. “But I do see things slowly changing.” Smith has had people ask her to do a Jamaican accent. This was not to prove her culture but more
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so just to hear it. Smith does see herself proving herself to people when she goes back to Jamaica. “I still bathe with a bucket in America,” Smith said. President of UH's African Student Union Nhyira Addai is from Ghana. The sophomore marketing student noted that hospitality and optimism are big commonalities between Black Americans and Africans. “We give love, even though we’ve
Shannon Smith is a first generation college student at Texas Southern University of Black Caribbean descent. Despite her American nationality she is true to her Jamaican roots | Courtesy of Shannon Smith
been through so much,” Addai said. Byron remembers the first time she saw a Black American person who was not Caribbean. Being from Brooklyn, New York City has such a large representation of the entire black diaspora throughout the boroughs. “You know that you can just be regular black,” Byron said. “You might not be able to talk about (Caribbean) culture even though they (other New Yorkers) are around it they didn’t grow up that way.” The black community as a whole also deals with colorism, the idea that someone may be superior or receive privileges because of the hue of their skin even though they are of the same race or ethnic background. Victor Blanco is a fourth-year psychology student of half-Cuban and half-Black ethnicity at the University of Virginia. He sees the effects of colorism in his personal life. “There are situations where I feel like I don’t fit into either (group),” Blanco said. “I try to join with a black group and it’s ‘No, he’s Hispanic,’ and you try to join with a Latino group, and it’s ‘No, he’s
black.’” Each person interviewed for this story identifies as Black along with their other cultural roots, whether it be African, Caribbean or Hispanic. Each can identify an instance when they realized the similarity in the duality. In the beginning of the interview, Smith identified herself as Black, not Jamaican. Brooklyn-native Byron saw the similarities in music with artists using reggaetón sounds in modern rap. And Blanco saw it as early as grade school every time his hair changed. “My hair now that it’s short people will guess that I’m Hispanic,” Blanco said. “When I grow it out, it goes into an afro, so people will guess that I’m mixed.” The diaspora is a wide-ranging idea with cultural and historical relevance. Now, the nuances of race and ethnicity are entering into mainstream discussion, but some still confuse others’ identities. “One joke I got constantly is, my last name is Blanco, meaning white. People would say, ‘Your last name means white, but you’re not white,’” Blanco said, chuckling. features@thedailycougar.
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Don't Tell 'Em singer told Frontier he wasn't coming... an hour before his set Thousands of students filled lots 20A , 21B and 20C Saturday night in anticipation of the annual Frontier Fiesta concert, expecting to see a performance by Jeremih, most notable for his hits "Don't Tell 'Em" and "Oui" at 10 p.m. However just after 8:30 p.m., the Student Program Board, responsible for securing each year's Fiesta performance, announced via Twitter that Jeremih would not be performing. Much to student dismay, his band and DJ went on in his place. | Kathryn Leniah/The Cougar
WOMEN'S STUDIES
Continued from page 3
the WGSS program Tanya Campos said most students tend to have a second major along with WGSS. If they are enrolled in one of the minors, the students tend to have many different career desires. “Current students mention wanting to work with nonprofits. I also have students who’ve said they would like to go into human resources,” Campos said. “So it’s very far-ranging." More than 100 students are enrolled in a WGSS minor, major or certificate program, according to the WGSS website. Forty-one students are WGSS majors, 34 students are in the Women’s Studies minor and 15 students are enrolled in the GLBT minor. “People are interested in layering and having multiple points of entry to really understand their career and also how they navigate the world,” Mccloud said. “That’s why you have increased minors and increased double majors.” Mccloud said one student with a sports background majoring in WGSS hopes to become a gym coach. He picked WGSS as a major to help break down and
understand masculinity, she said. That's a topic the program has started talking about more often. “So that really demystifies how people think about women’s studies,” Mccloud said. The program has been growing steadily, but those at the department are still trying to increase it further, Campos said. She said they are trying to start a student group to promote WGSS. The program also hosts movie screenings and promotes the program to freshmen who possibly have not declared a major or minor yet or are looking to add another major. “One big thing is while our program is still growing, the majority of our students are minors,” Campos said. "So our students are able to take courses that might also count toward their major.” Wednesday, the WGSS program will have its 21st annual Table Talk Luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hilton Americas. The event, which features dozens of women entrepreneurs, writers, executives and academics, is the program's largest fundraiser of the year. news@thedailycougar.com
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
Senior sprinter Elijah Hall will be running in the 200m invitational and the men's 4x100m relay as the Cougars look to continue their tear through the track and field hierarchy. | Peter Scamardo/The Cougar
TRACK & FIELD
Historic Texas Relays act as test run for national championships PETER SCAMARDO
SPORTS EDITOR @PLSCAMARDO2
Every first weekend of April, what seems like the whole of the track and field community descends on Austin for the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. It's dubbed "the Circus." Originally started in 1925, the Texas Relays is one of the oldest track and field meets in the country. Athletes from high school, collegiate and professional ranks all compete together over the four days. For the collegiate athletes, Texas acts as a test run for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, as many of the same teams appear at both. The Texas Relays is the first real test for the Cougars of UH track & field for that very reason. For instance, Olympic gold medalists Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell both won the long jump competitions in 1980 and 1989 respectively. The two would go on to win national titles in the long jump those same years.
While some teams from the northeast will compete at Texas, the majority will be from the south central region. In addition to the hosting Texas Longhorns, the Texas A&M Aggies, Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders will also be in attendance. Those teams are No. 2, No. 5 and No. 8 in the country, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Last year, coaches heavily emphasized the 4x100m relay event, hoping to prepare the team for the NCAA Championships. One year later, the focus is now on the men’s team as a whole. The Cougars are sending 15 athletes and five relay teams to Texas. If they score well, they can get a head start on building their national championship squad. Of course, failure to win at Texas is not the end of the world. Failure to pass the baton in time resulted in the 4x1 receiving a DNF in the final, and senior sprinter Cameron Burrell
was scrapped from the men’s 100m invitational for unknown reasons. But the relay team went on to win the NCAA title, and Burrell took silver in the 100m. However, winning at Texas sends a statement to the track & field community. Several media outlets are already predicting a top three finish for the Cougars, something reflected in their No. 3 ranking by USTFCCCA.
Getting the stick around Three of the four sprinters who took gold at the NCAA Championships last summer returned and seem to be ready to defend their title. The team of juniors Mario Burke and John Lewis III and senior Elijah Hall and Burrell won the 4x100m relay at the Prairie View A&M Relays on Saturday, posting a time of 38.95s and beating Team USA. Their time is No. 3 in the country. If they can put it together at Texas, it will be their fifth 4x100m title at the Texas Relays,
their first since 1994. In addition, the Cougars own the world’s fastest time in the men’s 4x200m relay (1:21.19), which they also ran at Prairie View. Plus they are the defending champions in the men’s 4x400m relay. All three sprinting relays will be in action at Texas. Individually, Lewis III is No. 2 in the men’s 100m at 10.13s. He will be competing in the collegiate 100m at Texas alongside Burke, while Burrell will be running against professional sprinters in the 100m invitational. Hall, hot off his dual championships at NCAA Indoors, will be competing in the 200m invitational. This will be his first individual race of the outdoor season.
Rounding out the squad But the Cougars are more than just sprinters. Field and distance athletes that complement the sprinters round out the squad and contribute heavily to the squad's
top rating. The return of senior thrower Jack Thomas and senior distance runner Brian Barraza is a testament to that depth. After missing last season due to injury, Thomas returned at the Cougar Spring Break Invitational to throw 71.58m in the javelin, the No. 5 mark in the NCAA. Barraza redshirted the outdoor season last year and returned to focus on the 3000m steeplechase. In his first race at the Victor Lopez Classic, he won the event in eight minutes, 41.57s, breaking the school record and setting the No. 1 time in the country. The UH track & field team has never won an NCAA team title in its nearly 70-year history. The Texas Relays are just the first step toward that. Texas Relays starts at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin and goes through Saturday. sports@thedailycougar.com
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SPORTS
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
BASEBALL
Junior pitcher's arm better than ever, leads team in ERA ANDRES CHIO
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @CHIOANDRES
"Strike one," the umpire says as the ball sails inside the strike zone. It's a pitch that junior Aaron Fletcher has thrown hundreds of times throughout his college and high school careers. Fletcher's next pitch is again inside, but the batter is ready. He hits it toward the shortstop, who promptly throws the batter out at first. It is a fine start to a historic day in Fletcher's young career as a starter. Two and a half hours and 106 pitches later, Fletcher finishes the first complete game of his career. "It's felt pretty good, the last couple outings I've gone up there. I haven't thrown that many pitches since high school, so it feels pretty good," Fletcher said after the game. It's a position he may not have imagined himself in two years ago, when an injury shelved him for nearly a year.
Setback and return Fletcher suffered an elbow injury in 2016 that required Tommy John surgery, a surgery that replaces a ligament in the arm. "I've put in a lot of work. Everyday rehab for months on end after surgery. I was out 11 months,"
Fletcher said. "It felt really good to be back on the field for the last two seasons." Recovery from a Tommy John surgery can take more than a year for some people, but the aftermath has left Fletcher and head coach Todd Whitting feeling better than before. "He's done great, he has no signs of any arm trouble at all," Whitting said. "That surgery was a great thing for him, and he's better now than before he got it." When Fletcher returned from the injury last season, he was slotted as a reliever and was the best pitcher out of the bullpen. Fletcher threw in 21 games, earning eight saves, a 2-1 record and 2.40 ERA — better than any other reliever by a run. As a result of his performance and continued recovery, Fletcher won himself a starting spot in the fall while the Cougars were preparing for this season.
Shifting gears "Back in the fall, we kind of had him pegged as a starter. He came here as a starter and we thought it would be best to get him in that role, and I think he's done really well," Whitting said. Fletcher was a standout pitcher at Langham Creek High School,
With a 4-0 record and an earned run average of less than one, junior Aaron Fletcher is making the most of his first year in the starting rotation. Giving the baseball team a 1-2 punch with him and Trey Cumbie. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
where he went undefeated with a 1.54 ERA during his senior year. During his freshman year at UH, Fletcher was one of the most called upon relievers and played in 21 games, with one save, a 2-1 record, and a 1.37 ERA. The injury slowed Fletcher down, but he is now facing new challenges as a starter, with one of the biggest being internal. "I just need to get myself calm in between starts because I'm so used to (as a reliever) going every other day and throwing. I'm just learning the routine and learning to calm down," Fletcher said. Fletcher's approach has been
successful this season, and he leads the starting pitchers with a .95 ERA, 4-0 record and zero allowed home runs so far. On the field, the expectations of being a starter have come with more responsibility and accountability.
Learning new tricks "I've learned how to work out of certain situations. As a reliever, when you get stuck on those, you kind of just get pulled so just learning to grind through tough situations," Fletcher said. An example of such tricky situations was when Houston faced
the fifth inning against Memphis. The Tigers had a man on second and third, with two outs, while Houston had a two run lead. It was a chance for Memphis to tie the game, but Fletcher stayed composed and struck out the batter to secure Houston's 2-0 lead. "I work on my mindset as we go along. Coach really helps me, if he sees something, he lets me know and I just try to build week to week," Fletcher said. Houston's next conference series starts Thursday against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Cincinnati, sports@thedailycougar.com
ATHLETICS
Across programs, class of 2020 making a name for itself TRENTON WHITING
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
@ TRENTONWHITING
Of all the classifications, sophomores gets forgotten the most in college sports. Prolific freshmen and redshirts get much attention due to their inexperience, and upperclassmen are often the top performers on their teams. Unless a sophomore has a huge year or lingering interest from freshman year, they will likely be forgotten. UH’s class of 2020 refuses to be looked over. First, let’s start with the most high-profile of all the sophomores: football defensive tackle Ed Oliver. His résumé speaks for itself. In two years he has recorded 10.5 sacks, 12 pass defenses and 139 tackles. He has been a top five defensive lineman in both seasons, and for his sophomore campaign he was awarded the Outland Trophy, presented to the best interior lineman in college football. Oliver is the first sophomore
to win the Outland Trophy. Given the success he has had in two years with the Cougars, Oliver announced he plans on declaring for the NFL Draft after his junior season, with many analysts predicting he will go in the first round. While the class 2020 was pushing things on the field, it was also pushing things on the court. Armoni Brooks was an integral part of the men’s basketball team’s NCAA Tournament run. He was No. 5 in the American Athletic Conference for threepoint field goal percentage (.419) and he was named the AAC 6th Man of the Year. Jasmyne Harris was also putting in work for the women’s basketball team. She averaged 19.6 points per game and led the team in total assists (115). This season she had career highs in points, rebounds, steals and assists in a game. She was often called upon to carry the offense as she led the team in points in nearly every game.
Jasmyne’s partner in crime, Angela Harris, also helped carry the burdens on the team. She was only one assist behind Jasmyne for the season with 114. Angela and Jasmyne were 1-2 in scoring, with Angela averaging 14.9 per game. She was also the main defensive presence for the team, leading the conference in steals per game with 2.9. She and Jasmyne shined in a good UH women’s basketball team and led to its first winning season in eight years. The sophomores not only dominate on the field and the court, but also on the diamond. Trystan Melancon has pitched her way into relevance at UH. The softball team has been playing at a high level recently, and it has been helped by Melancon’s performances. As a freshman she went 12-7 with nine complete games and struck out 93 opponents. Her performance earned her a spot on the conference all-rookie team. Already she has 47 strikeouts
Sophomore guard Armoni Brooks won the Conference 6th Man of the Year for his ability to come off the bench and score. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
on the year and will be a key tool if the softball team wants to get back to the conference championship game. Laura Laderoute is making waves, too. A standout performer for the women’s swimming team, Laderoute holds the school record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.38s. Her performances in the medley relays were crucial in the team’s back-to-back
conference championships. The class of 2020 has been integral to all teams on campus. It may became the most influential class in UH athletics in recent history. If these athletes continue the success they've enjoyed until this point, their names will be etched into this school’s history. sports@thedailycougar.com
10 | Wednesday, March 28, 2018
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
STAFF EDITORIAL
Jeremih's Frontier flake-out was disappointing, but expected Jeremih has proven once again how unprofessional he can be. Not only was he disrespectful enough to send a stunt double as his replacement for the Jeremih and Party Next Door’s Summer’s Over tour in Houston a few years ago, but he wasted the time and money of every single student last Saturday night at the Frontier Fiesta. Frontier Fiesta was established at UH in 1939 as a three-day western-themed festival free for students to enjoy, filled with rides, booths, and a concert. Last year's headline performer was D.R.A.M., which wasn’t too bad, but definitely not as exciting as Big Sean or Schoolboy Q’s past Fiesta performances. Jeremih wasn’t the greatest pick to begin with, but he was good enough for people to anticipate the
performance and show up early. While students filled the crowd, waiting for the clock to strike 10 p.m., an official tweet from the Student Program Board, tasked with arranging the Fiesta concert, broke the news that Jeremih was sick and wouldn’t be able to perform, but his band would. Disappointing, but not surprising. What’s tacky and annoying is the fact that Jeremih didn’t even bother informing his fans at UH about his sudden so-called sickness, and left SPB to scramble at the very last minute to fix the problem he caused. Thrown under the bus and at the mercy of coogs, SPB and Frontier Fiesta couldn’t do anything about their lack of entertainment for the night despite having
already signed a contract with the singer that stated his agreement to perform. Frontier Fiesta had the largest attendance when Schoolboy Q performed back in 2015, with 30,000 people showing up, but attendance has fallen in the past 2 years. In 2016, FFA created a survey pertaining to what style of music genre and what artist students wanted to see at Frontier Fiesta, including what they enjoyed about the event in the past, and how the event could be improved. More than 7 percent of the respondents stated they had never heard of the event and 47.64 percent of the 474 respondents stated they had heard of Frontier Fiesta, but hadn't been before. One thing is for certain, if you
agreed to perform and signed as an artist at the University of Houston, take our student body seriously — don't be a hoe and don’t take advantage of the fact that we are students. Frontier Fiesta is run each year by a board of students, funded by student fees, who spend months preparing for the event. Money from fans and non-fans alike is taken out in the form of student fees to fund the Frontier Fiesta performance itself — a historic and memorable event for students that happens only once each year. So, falling through on your commitment is unprofessional and distasteful, especially if people can count the number of hits you’ve had with one hand.
CARTOON
Muslim Women's Day sends empowering message on feminism in Islam
EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018 | 11
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OPINION
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
WORLD
The assasination of Marielle Franco will be the spark of revolution
B
eing a black woman is to resist and survive all the time.” These were the words of activist and Rio de Janeiro city council member Marielle Franco, who was shot to death by an assassin last week just 18 months after her election. She was 38 years old. A black, gay, BETHEL BIRU single mother ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR who stood up for the poor and advocated for the LGBT, feminist and black community, Franco was an extraordinarily brave soul. In many poverty-stricken places, criticizing the police or government is a crime punishable by death, yet Franco constantly fought against the injustice and inequality that plague Rio’s slums. She spoke up against police brutality despite the dangers that lingered. “How many more must die for this war to end?” Franco tweeted after the death of Matheus Melo, a 23-year-old black man who was killed by military officers on his way back from church. She was killed the next day. Franco’s car was hit by nine bullets -- four straight to her head which killed her instantly. She was on her way home after an event about black women empowerment. Her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, was also killed. Speaking up about your beliefs and having your voice heard is just as endangering and scary as it is challenging. It’s even more difficult when you’re a colored woman in a sea of conservative white men. Although the majority of Brazil is black or mixed, black homicide has risen to 40%, with black boys being 12 times more likely to be murdered than his white counterpart and black men being murdered every 23 minutes. Women shouldn’t be punished for wanting a better life for themselves and their people. The violence that follows women when they say no or voice their concerns, demanding something be done and refusing to stay silent, is so overwhelmingly common. It’s devastating. Enough is enough. Franco’s death is being mourned not only in Rio but
internationally. Tens of thousands turned out across Brazil to protest her murder, demanding for justice to be served for the only one who called for it on behalf of the poor and colored of Rio. Supporters are also remembering her online: Twitter is buzzing with Say Her Name: #MariellaFranco and #MarielleFrancoPresente. Hundreds of thousands have pledged their refusal to forget in more than 30 languages using the hashtag, from citizens to actresses such as Viola Davis. If the assassination was an attempt to silence a black woman politician who continuously challenged corrupt military head-on, her murder did the exact opposite. Franco’s ability to shake up a room and get people to finally wake up and invoke change is what drew her so many supporters from all over Brazil. She valiantly showed it is no longer enough to sit back quietly and accept the tragedies happening to women, especially women of color, and has reminded us to speak louder and demand for more to be done so we can maybe one day live in a world where everyone is treated with equality and humanity. Long lives Marielle Franco’s impact, and may her cause inspire more women to stand up against the ugly face of repression. #MarielleFrancoPresente.
Counselwoman Marielle Franco's March 14 assassination left Brazil in turmoil. | Fiona Legesse/The Cougar
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Assistant opinion editor Bethel Biru is a broadcast journalism senior and can be reached at opinion@ thedailycougar.com.
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12 | Wednesday, March 28, 2018
OPINION 713-743-5304
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
WOMEN
Fiona Legesse/The Cougar
It's hard to celebrate women's history when it's all attributed to men Men may write history but women live it
T
here is a common tendency, that is ubiquitous throughout our history books, of men easing the burden of fame off the shoulders of remarkable women whose contributions advanced the work of science, math, art, civil rights and social change. Women's ANUSHEH History Month SIDDIQUE is quickly OPINION EDITOR coming to an end but progress toward equality should not. While growing awareness of the wage gap and gender inequality has convinced us we can take a breath from protesting for change, there is a more equitable reality to strive for. The landscape of history continues to erode the accomplishments of remarkable women, and we must correct our past before expecting anything of our future. Women across every age, race, ethnic and religious background have been slighted by history, which is told by the victor, statistically most probably a white male victor. Not only are their stories left
untold in the course of events, it is not uncommon for their successes to be reassigned to the men around them. An example is the case of Rosalind Franklin, who made the initial observation of the double helix but died without any attribution on the Nobel Peace Prize won by James Watson and Francis Crick, despite her work being the foundation of their discovery of the DNA model. This is not an uncommon trend. Nuclear physicist on The Manhattan Project, Chien-Shiung Wu, experienced a similar narrative. She developed and conducted experiments to disprove the law of parity. Wu was compensated for her contribution to the development of the atomic bomb through her work with a simple thanks. Her male colleagues, TsungDao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, were obviously more fitting for recognition and received Nobel Prizes for disproving the law of parity. Films like Hidden Figures and Big Eyes have exposed this culture of society stripping women of their accomplishments and attributing them to men. These films showcase how prevalent and recent these instances are. Whether this phenomena originates from purposeful attempts
by men to steal the credit or if these attributions come as a result of the gender biased environment is case dependent, but this erasure is perpetuated throughout all of history. According to the Women in Literary Arts VIDA Count project, out of 614 popular history texts, 75.8 percent have male authors. This means the voices and narratives that will dominate the understanding of future generations of what it was like to live in some transformative times will be overwhelmingly male. Women who create art that accurately reflects the world around them in a nonmale perspective are often hushed. The first female director and studio owner, Alice Guy, made hundreds of movies, including one which imagined a world where women flourished in traditionally male roles while men writhed under oppression. She produced the world's first narrative fiction film, "La fée aux choux." She opened her studio in 1910, challenging gender norms before they were even a term. The forgotten female filmmaker was not immortalized, like the other pioneer male filmmakers of her time. Herbert Blache, her husband,
received the credit for her iconic vision. Our culture has experienced a recent transformation that has opened the doorway to not only an inpouring of different perspectives but a demand for them. Yet the discrepancy between male and female historians will unequivocally make it easy to silence the voices of women once again. Young females have to read between the lines of their textbooks and erect their role models from brief and sparse descriptions of the few women that managed to make it into the final draft of history This scrutinized view of history finds instance after instance of men sidelining women from their own discoveries. Whether it be Lise Meitner, the woman who lost her Nobel Peace Prize for developing nuclear fusion to her coworker Otto Hahn simply because of her minority status as a Jewish and female refugee, or Henrietta Lacks, whose stem cells were stolen without her consent and paved the way to modern medicine but never saw a sliver of financial compensation, women are forced into the shadowy backgrounds of these endeavors simply because of this back-
wards mentality that gender dictates potential. Being a woman in leadership comes with the unfortunate reality of correction emails from Mr. to Ms. and frequent and disrespectful questions about your leadership and authority. Over time, this erodes the confidence of pioneer women on the frontlines of activism, medicine, business, politics, any industry. These feelings of instability are only exacerbated due to the lack of historical role models we have. It took me far longer than it should have to develop a voice strong enough to fight the stereotypes thrust upon me and now that I have it, I can continue to let other women be silenced. Women are held to a higher standard because of their gender alone. Every failure I suffer will be ascribed to my gender and every success I have will be identified as an outlier. The responsibility lies on the shoulders of our generation to prevent this intentional bias which blinds history. Men may be the ones writing our history, but women live it. Opinion Editor Anusheh Siddique is a finance freshman and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com