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Thursday, September 29, 2016
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Israeli journalist discusses reform NYT best-selling author shares take B y L ily Abrahams Collegian Correspondent
SAM ANDERSON/COLLEGIAN
Harold Hodge and Zack Manyak play basketball at the bike-a-thon to raise money for The Ability Experience on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
Author, poet and ex-convict gives lecture on criminal justice reform Speaks about the flaws in the system By Olivia Jones Collegian Correspondent Author, poet and exconvict Reginald Dwayne Betts came to the Cape Cod Lounge at the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday evening to speak about reforming the criminal justice system and to sign copies of his memoir and poetry collections. Betts visited UMass as part of the Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, which will host lectures, exhibits and panels that focus on mass incarceration in America for the remainder of the academic year. “I think [my conviction] motivated me to know that I was set up to fail and I was woefully unequipped to survive prison,” said Betts. At 16 years old, Betts plead guilty to six felony charges after he carjacked a man
while holding him at gunpoint, and served over eight years in prison. Betts said, “It is easy to talk about innocence, it’s not easy to talk about guilt.” He said he wants to be an example for other ex-convicts who want to make a life for themselves. Since his release, Betts has received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, a master of fine arts from Warren Wilson College and a law degree from Yale Law School. Betts is best known for his two books of poetry, his memoir and for being appointed as a member of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention by President Obama. His memoir is titled “A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison” and his books of poetry are “Shahid Reads His Own Palm” and “Bastards of the Reagan Era.” Director of the Holyoke
Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (HSSYI) Jacqueline Lozada said, “I saw the people I work with in [Betts], it is so important to show someone who still succeeded.” The HSSYI attended the lecture, titled “Youth, Race and the Failures of the American Justice System” along with UMass students, members of the Pa’Lante restorative justice group at Holyoke High School, Holyoke residents and members from Gateway to College, a program dedicated to guiding high school dropouts into college. “The fact that he went to prison when he was 16, and then went to Yale, how many people can say that?” said Hectsy Robles, a student with Gateway to College. “[It was] riveting and motivating, it makes me want to go to law school even more now,” said Rusheika Gordon, a junior sociology and political science major at UMass with aspirations to be a public defender. Jessica Johnson, the out-
reach director for the history department said that a combination of professors from across the Five College (who specialize in the history of mass incarceration in America) as well as community members came together to choose Betts as a speaker. Christopher Tinson, an associate professor of Africana studies and history at Hampshire College, said that he is currently using Betts’ memoir in his class Warfare in the American Homeland. The class aims to educate students about incarceration and policing in the U.S. Nat Herold, a co-owner of Amherst Books downtown, was selling copies of Betts’ books at the lecture. There are ten more events scheduled this fall for the Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series that are free and open to the public. Olivia Jones can be reached at oliviajones@umass.edu.
Senate passes stopgap spending bill By Lisa Mascaro Tribune Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — Congress was poised to avert a government shutdown after the Senate approved a stopgap spending bill Wednesday, following a tentative deal on emergency funds for victims of the water crisis in Flint, Mich. Final votes are expected in the House before funds for the government expire Friday. “Is it perfect? No. Is it acceptable? Yes. Is it necessary? Absolutely,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “I look forward to keeping our government open.” The funding bill is among the last items of business before Congress recesses for
the November election. The temporary measure, which includes more than $1 billion to fight the Zika virus, would extend government funding until Dec. 9. It pushes the next spending battle to the lame-duck session of Congress after the presidential election. Overall funding levels already had been agreed to under previous budget deals, but the hold-up had been money for Flint, where lead contamination has made water undrinkable. Democrats wanted to include the Flint aid, especially after Republicans tucked in money for flooding victims in Louisiana. But Republicans balked and wanted Flint to be handled separately. Late Tuesday, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis.,
and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., struck a deal to include $170 million in emergency Flint funds in a separate water-resources bill. It was poised to pass the House on Wednesday. “We have a path forward to getting our work done,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Wednesday. The Senate had already approved Flint money, including $100 million for infrastructure repairs and other funds, in its own water bill. The two versions will need to be reconciled after the November election during the lame-duck session. “I’m convinced there’s going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate minority leader.
Congress has routinely pushed its funding deadlines to the brink amid partisan disputes over money matters, but few lawmakers wanted a repeat of the 2013 government shutdown so close to the fall election. Lawmakers edged toward a stalemate at the start of the week, and an earlier effort to pass the funding bill failed amid partisan disagreements over the emergency aid. Other provisions also complicated passage, but were ultimately sidelined as congressional leaders pushed for resolution. A longstanding “dark money” provision backed by McConnell that keeps publicly traded companies from having to disclose their donations to campaign-related groups remained intact.
“to facilitate a somewhat better conversation about Israel than what you’re used to.” His focus was on honest and fearless conversation. Shavit claimed “I’m no pessimist,” but he warned that if no changes in action were made, in 10 years the hope for a peaceful two-state solution will be lost and “Israel will be tyrannical.” The necessary change he outlined was threefold. According to Shavit, Israel needs a new concept of peace, a more unified national identity, and a stronger relationship between Israeli Jews and Jews of the diaspora. His last point was the most stressed and the reason for his tour to American universities. He said he sees the difference in the orthodox and reform, the Israeli and the diaspora, and the young and the old as incredible and dangerous. “I’ve become obsessed with millennials,” he admitted, and recognized the large gap in thought between the older generation of Jews and the younger. He said the weight of the future of Israel rests on the young generation. Shavit ended on a positive note, describing Israel as full of “warmth, sensuality, and invigorating culture.” He called for the flowing of Israel’s positivity into the broken political system and left the audience with hope.
Ari Shavit, a senior editorial correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, visited the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday evening to discuss the movements that have shaped Israel and consider Israel’s survival today and in the future. Shavit was born in Israel, served as a paratrooper in the IDF and studied philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jersualem. He began his career as a journalist in the 1980s. In 2013 he published a book titled, “My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel” which became a New York Times bestseller. UMass Hillel set up the “accidental ambassador for a different Israel,” as Shavit described himself, to speak to a room in the Integrative Learning Center predominately filled with Jewish adults and students. “I make a point of making everybody angry, not just right, but people on the left” Shavit said before he began his speech, setting up the room for his ideas that he classified as universal. Shavit spoke about how many talks on Israel become “so polarized, so aggressive and so uncivi- Lily Abrahams can be reached at lized” and that he strived labrahams@umass.edu.
Tropical Storm turned hurricane By Jenny Staletovich Miami Herald
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Matthew will likely become a hurricane by Friday as it pushes across the Caribbean Sea, posing a serious threat to vulnerable islands in a region prone to deadly flooding and mudslides. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, National Hurricane Center forecasters said Matthew was located about 90 miles west of St. Lucia and had slowed to about 15 mph as it continued moving west. Sustained winds increased to 65 mph. The storm was expected to move away from the Windward Islands Wednesday night and keep slowing down. Tropical storm force winds, which extend about 205 miles from the center of Matthew, should continue pummeling the islands as well as the southern end of the Leeward chain. The islands could also see between 4 and 8 inches of rain. The storm’s worst winds were blowing on its northeast side, which could spell trouble for Haiti as the storm rolls west, where rains are
expected to begin Saturday. The country has been hit with devastating floods this year after an unusually wet winter. In February, flooding killed at least one person and damaged 10,000 homes. Computer models keep Matthew rolling west for the next two to three days, then begin to turn as the storm nears the edge of a steering ridge. Where that turn happens depends on how intense the storm becomes. Forecasters warned that most models can be off by as much as 240 miles five days out. Over the day Wednesday, the storm became better defined, forecasters said. But a hurricane hunter plane reported finding no drop in pressure, leading forecasters to project little strengthening as the storm lingers over the Windward Islands. The plane was scheduled to return Wednesday evening. Forecasters have issued a tropical storm warning for Guadeloupe and Martinique, St. Lucia, Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent, and the Grenadine Islands. A watch is in effect for Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba.