Category: Articles.

Learning Antiracism from MLK Jr.

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The Third Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture tackled overcoming racist ideas and building an anti-racist America.

The first step to being an antiracist is confession and recognition of racist ideas you may have, American University History Professor Ibram X. Kendi said Wednesday at the Third Annual School of Medicine and Health Sciences Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture.

Dr. Kendi said that the next step to being an antiracist is clearly defining and understanding the contrast between racism and antiracism in policies and people.

This can be learned by looking at the totality of Dr. King’s life. In doing this, Dr. Kendi said, it is also necessary to reject the “widely ahistorical” analogy of how far we have come, and how far we have to go, to reach Dr. King’s dream.

Rather, he said, there has been a dual progression of racial progress and racism—antiracism breaking down barriers, and racism rebuilding new and more sophisticated barriers to exclude and exploit people.

“While hailing racial progress over the last five decades, Americans have largely ignored racist progress,” Dr. Kendi said. “If King’s well-known dream symbolizes the glorious and true march of racial progress over the last five decades, the unknown nightmare symbolized the inglorious march of racist progress over the last five decades”

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Sen. Kamala Harris Embraces the ‘Beautiful Design of Democracy’

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While discussing her newly released books at GW, the senator from California emphasized her “no false choices” mantra.

There are no false choices for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and, as she explained, there are no reasons to be bound by societal limitations.

These are lessons she learned as a child, and she shared these during a Wednesday night discussion co-sponsored by George Washington University and Politics and Prose for her newly-released books, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” and children’s book, “Superheroes Are Everywhere.”

The audience in a packed Lisner Auditorium roared when the senator from Oakland, Calif., appeared on stage, dancing along to 2Pac’s “California Love.”  The conversation was moderated by The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. Ms. Harris dodged questions about a potential 2020 presidential run, noting that she will make a decision soon. Instead, she focused on her upbringing and how that framed her political stances.

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Bernie Sanders Discusses Next Steps for a ‘Political Revolution’

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The senator from Vermont talked about his new book and what the Democratic Party must do to advance a progressive agenda.

Even though his 2016 run for the Democratic presidential nomination ended in a loss to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the campaign Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) launched what he calls a political revolution.

According to Mr. Sanders, the issues brought to the forefront of political debates—such as free public college, Medicare for all, $15 federal minimum wage, affordable housing, immigration reform, criminal justice reform and gun safety legislation— were the same causes he fought for when he campaigned and continues to fight for today.      

Lisner Auditorium was packed on Tuesday night for the discussion. The event, co-sponsored by George Washington University and Politics and Prose, signified the official release of Mr. Sanders’ book, “Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance.”

The book picks up immediately after the 2016 primary election when he met with Ms. Clinton to discuss next steps. Then, they devised a plan to bring their campaigns together and developed “the most progressive platform in the history of American politics,” he said, which they hoped would bring people together and help her win the election.

On election night, he said, he thought it was likely she would win but wouldn’t have been surprised if Donald Trump won. Mr. Sanders followed his normal election-night routine: watching election returns at his Vermont home with family and friends. He would speak to people and the media after election results came in, but on that night, he said, he was too depressed to leave the house.

“It was clear to me, if not all my supporters, that on her worst day, she would have been a much better president than Trump,” Mr. Sanders said of Ms. Clinton.

“I was asking, I think, the question that millions of Americans were asking,” he added. “How could Secretary Clinton have lost to a man who was a pathological liar, who was a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, a homophobe and a religious bigot?”

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Experts Discuss Missing Indigenous Women

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A newly-released report brings to light more than 500 stories of missing and slain indigenous women and girls in cities across the U.S.

There is a lack of data on the ongoing crisis of missing and slain Indigenous women and girls, which contributes to a false perception that the issue does not impact American Indian and Alaska Native women living off of reservations.

A newly released report from the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) aims to change that.

During a community discussion hosted by the George Washington University AT&T Center for Indigenous Politics and Policy (CIPP) at the Multicultural Student Services Center (MSSC) on Thursday, the study’s lead researchers presented a snapshot of the missing indigenous women crisis in urban Indian communities and the challenges they faced in collecting this data.

The event took place during the Native American Heritage Celebration at GW, sponsored by MSSC, which promotes the values and traditions of American Indian and Alaska Native people through cultural events and educational programming throughout November.

Elizabeth Rule, assistant director of CIPP and a member of the Chickasaw nation, said that this report is a fundamental data resource that sheds light on the critical issue of missing and slain women, which is affecting indigenous communities nationwide.

“We honor these women, and we honor their families, they are the reason we’re here,” Ms. Rule said. “Today, in this space as well as beyond, we will continue to remember them, to advocate for justice, to fight to ensure that data is decolonized, and their stories are told.”

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Students Express Concerns over University Culture at Town Hall

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GW administrators in attendance listened and responded to students on issues of race, diversity and inclusion at the Black Student Union town hall.

George Washington University students expressed their frustrations as black students on campus at a town hall Thursday night asked administrators to work to create a more inclusive community.

The town hall, hosted by the GW Black Student Union, had the theme “Changing the Culture” and encouraged students to talk openly and honestly about issues they have faced, especially those related to the racial climate at the university.

GW administrators—including President Thomas LeBlanc, Provost Forrest Maltzman, Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Caroline Laguerre-Brown, Senior Vice Provost for Enrollment and the Student Experience Laurie Koehler and Dean of the Student Experience Cissy Petty—were also in attendance at the discussion in the Elliott School of International Affairs to hear the students’ perspectives on their experiences and respond to some of their concerns.

At a Faculty Senate meeting on Friday, Dr. LeBlanc told faculty members that those concerns are not only a problem for black students or the administration but also a problem for the entire GW community.

“They’re experiencing a different GW than many of us are experiencing,” Dr. LeBlanc said. “To sit there and listen to these things gave me hope because we’re having a conversation, we were hearing things, and we were listening. There were some proposals about things we can do better—I tend to generally live life as an optimist, so I think we can do better.”

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Experts Talk about Housing Segregation in D.C.

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The digital history project “Mapping Segregation in Washington DC” sparked conversation on the lasting impact of decades of housing discrimination in the nation’s capital.

In the 50th year since the 1968 Fair Housing Act was passed, researchers launched a digital history project on Wednesday to unveil discriminatory patterns in housing that shaped Washington, D.C.

In collaboration the George Washington University’s Center for Washington Area Studies, “Mapping Segregation in Washington DC” serves as a resource to provide context for discussions of race and gentrification in D.C. It reveals a detailed look at the impact of racially restrictive housing deed covenants that prevented African Americans, and sometimes other groups, from living in certain parts of the city and therefore controlling where they could reside.

Project directors Sarah Shoenfield and Mara Cherkasky, with Prologue DC, said that several stories emerged through their thousands of hours of research into D.C. real estate records. Ms. Cherkasky, M.A. ’85, who earned a master’s in American studies from GW, said the data showed how many and where legal challenges to these restrictive covenants took place, and how private developers defined the city’s racial landscape through these covenants.

“One thing we learned about this is that if a picture tells a thousand words, a map can tell stories that no words can tell,” Ms. Cherkasky said.

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Women Journalists Discuss Remaining Objective in Polarized Climate

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CBS News Senior Producer Chloe Arensberg and Political Director Caitlin Conant talked about combating the fake news narrative during a Women’s Leadership Program panel.

To present the news objectively, it is all about how you frame the story, Caitlin Conant and Chloe Arensberg of CBS News told a group of first-year students Thursday night at a Women’s Leadership Program event.

Remaining objective is an ongoing conversation in the newsroom, and as producers, Ms. Conant said, they work behind the scenes and make decisions every day to deliver the news to their audience as fairly as they can. For them, it is not about interviewing a Democrat after every Republican in every political story, but rather ensuring that the news anchors ask the right questions in a fair and balanced way.

“What questions do you ask, are you holding them accountable, are you making sure that you’re at least acknowledging their point of view,” Ms. Conant said.

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Writer, Activist Kicks-Off Latinx Heritage Celebration

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Nicaraguan-born writer and activist Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez gave an unapologetic keynote address for the Latinx Heritage Celebration.

Prisca Dorcas, founder of online activism platform Latina Rebels, has not always been a “woke brown girl.”

During her keynote address for the 2018 Latinx Heritage Celebration on Monday night, Ms. Dorcas told the George Washington University students in Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre that her journey involved unlearning much of the self-hatred she grew up with. She became radicalized after experiencing racism as a graduate student in Nashville, Tenn., a culture shock from her upbringing in Miami where she was surrounded by Latinx people like her.

She read some of her written pieces that dealt with her learning from these experiences, many of which were published in the Huffington Post Latino Voices, including a piece she wrote to herself called Reminders.

“Some days whiteness will make you forget that you are beautiful, and you’re capable of anything, because of the barrio that you come from and the clothes that you wear,” she read.

“Some days whiteness will make you forget that you are smart and that you deserve to be in these institutions, because you might stutter when you have to speak English in front of a room of people whose English is their first language.”

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New Students Arrive at GW on Move-In Day

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First-year and transfer George Washington University students were welcomed to campus Saturday with helping hands, warm smiles, a presidential lemonade stand and GW sweatshirts.

Sydney Walker, a transfer student from Upper Marlboro, Md., was still in the process of moving into Somers Hall on the Mount Vernon campus when her family decided to take a break and visit the GW Family Welcome Suite in the Marvin Center’s Great Hall on Saturday afternoon.

Being an only child, Ms. Walker said that she was a bit nervous about sharing a space for the first time, but that she is excited to get started studying creative writing.

Her parents, Sam Walker and Kenya Ulmer, graduated from George Washington University in 1996 and 1997 respectively. They first met in Madison Hall. Both said they were happy to see their daughter at their alma mater.

“It’s kind of surreal, being back on campus and seeing how things have changed and some things are the same,” Ms. Ulmer said of moving her daughter to campus. “I think I have one more cry left in me.” 

In her first year, Ms. Walker’s parents said they hope she becomes even more independent, meets new friends and embraces GW’s international community.

“I would hope that in terms of being around this community that she gets to absorb all of the different cultures that she’s around and gets to know how it is to do her own thing for a little while,” Mr. Walker said.

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Experts Discuss CTE Risk for Kids in Contact Sports

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The film screening and panel tackled the issue of preventing young athletes from developing the degenerative brain disorder.

Without football, Robert Turner II, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership at the George Washington University and former professional athlete, said he would not be where he is today.

Football made college accessible to him as a first-generation student, which later created paths for him to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D.  Dr. Turner also authored the book being released late this summer, “Not for Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete,” through his academic research, which would not have been possible if football hadn’t been available to him.

Still, Dr. Turner acknowledged the importance in making football and the culture surrounding the sport safer for children who play. Doing so, he said, would allow the sport to continue as a tool that adds value to the lives of the players.

“People need to play sports because there’s a lot of overall benefits to it, but where we get messed up a lot of times is when parents see their kid as the next so-forth and so-on, no matter what the sport is,” Dr. Turner said. “I think that has long-term negative consequences on the athletes themselves.”

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