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Academics set Glory Johnson apart

Thursday, April 12, 2012

PAGE 10 T H E

E D I T O R I A L L Y

Issue 59

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 119

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

N E W S P A P E R

O F

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

PAGE 6 O F

T E N N E S S E E

Shooting inspires campus rally Steele Gamble Staff Writer The controversial shooting of 17-year-old black teen Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. has been receiving national attention as many Americans consider the investigation of his death to be an act of racial injustice. A group of concerned students from various organizations has put together a march at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in front of the Black Cultural Center in honor of Martin’s death. Akoma-Cosby Onwuzuruigbo, senior in jazz studies, said that he is looking for change. “It’s also a march that highlights the cycle of racial injustice currently in our legal system,” Onwuzuruigbo said. “I feel like it’s definitely an issue that we need to cover and an issue that we need to really take seriously.” Onwuzuruigbo encourages everyone, regardless of racial background, who agrees that this is an act of injustice, to wear a hoodie, make a sign and participate in the march. “This is not a black issue at all,” Onwuzuruigbo said. “This is a people issue, and the better that we stand together, the more diversity that we have at the march on Thursday, the better the statement that we’re going to make.” Harlin Miller, sophomore in history, said

that he wants to make people at UT more aware of injustices such as the Martin case. “Akoma received an e-mail from a fraternity saying ‘if you want to make a difference, join Congress,’” Miller said. “Just a real curt and smart remark, and those types of comments show that there’s a lack of sympathy on this campus towards issues facing minorities, and we want to bring that to attention.” Miller continued to say that this lack of sympathy refers to individuals and not the school as a whole. “I feel that UT is doing a great job of promoting comfort amongst its minorities,” Miller said. Onwuzuruigbo said that the national attention surrounding this case is bringing light to an issue that has been present in our country for years. “We don’t know how many Trayvon Martin cases there have been,” Onwuzuruigbo said. “This is just one that got highlighted and brought to our attention.” Some believe that the Martin case would not be receiving national attention if it were not for the history of racism in the U.S. and white Americans feeling obligated to take a stand on racially sensitive issues. Onwuzuruigbo said he wants justice, and he does not care about the reasoning behind the attention. See TRAYVON RALLY on Page 3

• Photo courtesy of Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin appears in a self portrait in this undated photo. Martin was shot and killed during a confrontation with George Zimmerman of Feb. 26, reportedly dressed similarly as in this photo.

I-House features Indian culture Victoria Wright Student Life Editor About 30 students gathered in the I-House Great Room on Tuesday night for the Indian Coffee House event to experience the art of henna and to sample a traditional Indian cutlet. The henna, or mehandi, is made from a flowering plant and creates a reddish-brown hue once applied to the skin. Henna can be used to create elaborate designs anywhere on the skin, but traditionally, Indian brides are painted on their arms and legs before their wedding. “No Indian wedding is complete without henna,” Deepika Nambiar, first-year graduate student in biochemical, cellular and molecular biology, said. “(Painting henna) can go for a very long time and the design is really different.” Nambiar tediously painted designs of floral and paisley shapes for willing participants. Though the henna tradition is shared throughout India, Nambiar said that many other aspects, such as language and food, differ throughout the Indian states. “(It’s important for students) just to know that there is diversity in Indian culture,” Nambiar said. “Each different Indian state has its own culture, so you can imagine the amount of differences.” Brides can receive a more Arabic-influenced design, which uses flowers, or the more widely recognized Indian designs, which use paisley, some floral designs and occasionally pictures of an elephant with a raised trunk.

Men traditionally do not receive henna designs; however, the bride’s name is occasionally written somewhere on the body. For Russian native Diana Robke, henna wasn’t foreign at all. “In Russia, we use it a lot because it’s a natural way to color your hair,” Robke, senior in global studies, said. “The color turns out to be a very bright and rich color.” Henna is used for hair coloring in India as well. Students also experienced a cooking demonstration led by Kanwarjit Pahwa, graduate student in counseling psychology. Pahwa made a vegetable cutlet with traditional Indian chutney. The cutlet, which is made with assorted vegetables, potatoes, masala and chili powder, was fairly simple to cook. Volunteers helped Pahwa form the ingredients into small patties, which were later shallow fried. The chutney, made from cilantro, coconut, ginger and other spices, was used as a cooking agent for the spicy cutlets. “It was a little too spicy for me,” Megan Pointer, undecided sophomore, said with a chuckle. Spicy food is traditional in Indian cuisine, and many of the spices used hold certain health benefits. “All the spices have some kind of nutrient,” Pahwa said. “These are like natural herbs, which we usually don’t take in any other form, and they give a lot of good flavor to the food.” The cutlet is usually used as an hors d’oeuvre for small parties or as a light snack for cozy days indoors. “Anything fried or shallow fried is used during the rainy season or when there’s cold weather,” Pawha said.

Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon

Taylor Vittatoe, junior in music education, plays the xylophone in Melrose Hall on Feb. 28.

Lecture focuses on environmental injustice Justin Joo Staff Writer Earth Month continued Wednesday with the third part of its Brown Bag Series featuring a 30-minute lecture on environmental justice. The guest speaker was Sara Malley, a doctoral student at UT in the sociology program, who also teaches classes on social justice and social change. Malley said her lecture would not only focus on environmental justice but also injustice. “We’re all impacted by environmental hazards in some way, shape or form,” Malley said. “However, research has shown that the largest groups affected are people in lower-income populations or minority populations. They are disproportionately affected by these hazards.” The focus of Malley’s lecture was examining several case studies in which various companies and organizations harmed the environments in these types of communities. The first case she noted was the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, N.Y. In the 1950s, the Niagara Falls School Board purchased land from Hooker Chemical. Hooker Chemical clearly stated that they had disposed of 21,000 tons of toxic waste in the area and signed an agreement absolving them from liability. The school board purchased the land anyway, and Love Canal was soon built. Malley said that suspicions among the townspeople arose when they started noticing the toxic chemicals coming from the ground brought on by heavy rainfall and an alarming increase in birth defects. She also discussed a case she investigated herself, where the Marsh Folk Elementary School in Raleigh County, W.Va. was less than 300 yards away from a coal loading silo and processing plant. Behind the coal silo and plant was a dam holding back 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge.

After a private donation and lobbying were made, the people of Raleigh County are getting a new, relocated elementary school. Malley believes that a big reason that companies commonly place factories and waste dump sites near lowerincome communities is because there is less chance of local backlash. “Having these things in a community will lower property value, so you’re not going to see this in an upper class or even upper-middle class community,” Malley said. “A lot of times (companies) are not even going to attempt (to construct hazard sites in upper class communities). They’ll go to the place of least resistance.” Likewise, there is little chance of repercussion for any hazardous activity. Malley said that in case studies and her own experience, she’s seen companies and local governments dismiss studies and data showing that the environment and its residents are being harmed. In cases where a company is penalized, Malley said the penalty is little more than “a slap on the wrist or a fine for $100.” But as a whole, Malley said Tennessee is doing well combating environmental injustice, noting the many organizations protesting mountaintop removal. As far as improving the fight against environmental injustice, Malley said the biggest thing people could do is help other communities in their fights even if the environmental hazards won’t affect their own homes. “People don’t want this in their backyard, of course,” Malley said, “but it shouldn’t be someone else’s backyard.” Malley’s presentation was part of the Earth Month Brown Bag Series, which runs from April 9-13. Each lecture is 30 minutes long and is in the UC Room 226. The series and Earth Month are both sponsored by the Office of Sustainability. See EARTH MONTH on Page 3


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