My role in STARS and this blog

Hello Everyone,

My name is Don Jason, and I am a junior journalism Major at Ohio University. I decided to start this blog because I recently joined STARS at the beginning of this school year after seeing their display at the school involvement fair. I started going to meeting, which gave me a forum to discuss the topics that you all see in this blog. This was a relief for me, because before I would think about these topics, however, I really had no one who could relate to them, to talk about them with. The same quarter I joined STARS I took a class about online journalism, and one of the on-going projects for the class was to find a relevant story that could be told over-time or in blog format and follow that story as it developed over the course of the quarter. I chose STARS... I feel that this blog will not only work for my class project but it will allow me to act as a webmaster for STARS in the future. I plan to keep the blog up and running even after the quarter is over and hopefully I can give it to the organization to maintain once I graduate.

Thanks for your time,
Don

Interview with the President and Vice President of STARS

Sarah Williams, Vice President of STARS and Ebony Porter, President of STARS

When was STARS founded and what does the organization stand for?

• Ebony- STARS was founded in the late 1980's and the organization stands for "trying to educate people about stereotypes and all forms of discrimination, as well as helping people see and respect the point's of views of others even if they don't agree with these views.
  
• Sarah- "STAR's role is too teach other people about different cultures and act as a constructive forum to expose people to new ideas."


• When and where does STARS meet?


• Sarah- STARS meets every Monday at 6 p.m. on the second floor of Baker Center at O.U.
  
• What kind of discrimination does STARS addresses, is there a focus on blatant discrimination or all types?


• Ebony- "STARS addresses the blatant racism but is also interested in educating the people who sit back silently and allow racist and discriminatory things to persist around them."


• What events does STARS have planed for the rest of this quarter and next quarter?


• Sarah- STARS is having community service on Saturday, November 8th at the Athens Community Center from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.


• Ebony- STARS will be hosting more dialogs with other organizations on Ohio University's campus during Winter quarter; Organizations such as the Latino Student Union, Asian Student Union, etc. in an effort to promote discussion on issues that affect these demographics on campus.


• Has STARS ever won an award for the work that it has done?
• Sarah- last year STARS won The Ohio University NAACP Image Award for a job well done with our voter registration drive.

• 
  Tell me about the retreats held by STARS?
  
• 
  
  Ebony- Every year, generally Spring quarter STARS holds a retreat open to anyone on OU's campus. The retreat aims to get different people together in a different setting , so generally the retreats are held off campus. There is food, dialog and activities.


• 
  
  What type of activities are done at the STARS retreat?


• 
  
  Ebony- For example one activity that has been done in the past is a "stream-of-conscience" exercise where one person says the name of a race or ethnic group and the other person says anything they can think of about that group, both good and bad, without editing themselves.


• 
  
  Ebony- Another Activity is a simulated college admission exercise, where everyone acts as college admissions officials and are given about ten college applications and are told they can only accept five people. The people who act as college admissions officials can chose the people based on any criteria they wish: grades while in high school, ACT/SAT scores, activities while in high school, family background or race and gender. This activity shows how college admissions officials can let their personal life experiences and priorities influence the college admissions process for all.

My thoughts on the roll of Race in the presidential election

I feel that Race should not play a roll in the election, but obviously it will. I hope the people who support Barack Obama hold strong and don’t change their mind at the last minute in the voting booth. Also, the article I linked to in the previous post talked about the importance of the “youth vote.” I feel that the young people will determine this election, not the race of either candidate. It is so important for those of us who are registered to vote, to actually take the initiative to vote on Nov. 4. or vote early at the board of elections?

The roll of Race in the upcoming presidential election

I found an article through Yahoo News that brings multiple sources together to weigh in on the role of race in the up coming presidential election. Sources range from Paul Herrnson, director of the Centre for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland, Gary Weaver, an American University professor and a Stanford University Survey.


According to a recent Stanford University poll, Obama could lose six points on Election Day due to his color, which is a troublingly high price to pay for prejudice.

The article brought up the following statistics: African Americans are statistically over-represented among U.S. poor. In U.S. prisons, there are six times more black people than white people. One African American man in 15 is behind bars. “However only a very small minority of Americans would admit they are racists … perhaps the few thousand who are Neo-Nazis or KKK members,”


Here is the Link to the Article:
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global%5b_id%5d=14395

This video shows a clip of Rush Limbaugh’s show where he says that the only reason Barack Obama got the democratic nomination was because of his race. He says no one in the Democratic Party had the “guts to stand up and say no to a black guy,” he calls it “perfect affirmative action.” Then the video has a commentary by a member of “The young Turks,” the first nationwide liberal talk show and first live, daily Internet TV show.

He says that Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination fair and square because he had more votes. The Young Turk then gives facts from recent history to disprove Limbaugh. For instance, the Democratic Party has had no problem saying no to black people trying to run for president; Jesse Jackson did not get the democratic nomination in 1984 or 1988 and neither did Al Sharpton nor did Carol Moseley Braun get the democratic nomination in 2004.


Watch the clip for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovF-f8bkTU

Please share your feedback and comments: 25 percent of Americans Listen to Rush Limbaugh’s show, if you are a listener feel free to tell why you listen? Do you think Race will play a roll in the upcoming presidential election; does Obama have the same chance at success as McCain does?

Non-traditional forms of discrimination

Until recently I had no idea of the plight many red-headed people go through as far as getting picked-on and taunted over their hair color. In this video ABC goes in-depth and discusses “ginger discrimination.” Apparently the English royal family gets talked about over their hair color. British parents even have to pull their children out of school over playground taunting. In the UK people have been driven out of their neighborhoods and into courtrooms over their hair color!


Here is the link to watch a video ginger discrimination: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=3425585


I don’t know what to say about this next case, but this man had a bad reaction to a medication he was taking and his skin turned blue and now he has to live that way.


Here is the link for the real life blue man:http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4028009


A penny for your thoughts: If you have red hair, please share your story; is the discrimination as bad as the video makes it out to be, have you ever been made-fun of because of your hair color? If you have had a bad reaction to a medication and your skin turned blue please comment?

The Jena 6: Institutionalized Racism alive and well in America

Hopefully, everyone has heard about the Jena 6 case, but if not, here is some background information. The case all began back in Sept. 2006 when a black student asked to sit under a tree at Jena high school in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Black students began sitting under the tree, typically reserved for white students. The nest day three nooses where hung from the tree. The three white students who hung the nooses were expelled but the Superintendent later reversed the decision and called the "hate crime" a prank. Black students protested by having a sit-in.

On Nov. 30 2006 someone set fore to the Jena school building. On Dec. 1 white students beat up a black student at a party. On Dec. 2 a white convenient store clerk pulls a gun on three black teenagers disarm the man and are arrested for theft of a firearm, the white man is not charged. on Dec 4. Jena High School re-opens after the fire and Justin Barker is attacked by six black students after he racially taunts the black student who was beat-up by whites at a party on Dec. 1. Barker goes to Lasalle general hospital and is released after a few hours and then goes to a social event the same evening. Six black teenagers are arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder and conspiracy.

One of the defendant Mychal Bell, who was 16 years old, was tried as an adult and sentenced to 22 years in prison by an all-white jury and white judge.


To view a timeline and see the most recent updates on the case as well as more background information on the case, click this link:
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/NEWS/399990263/1002

Click these links to see two news pieces done on the Jena 6 by CNN. This piece takes a nonbias approach to reporting on the Jena 6 case by just giving the facts and even showing the sides of both the black and white highschoolers involved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIHfTfMXFtQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMVoV6JMsdA

Click this link to see an independent news piece done by Collateral News TV. This piece took the angle of supporting the black highschoolers invovled, the Jena 6, and gives viewers steps they can take to help the black highschoolers build their defense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuoiZnr4jLY

To hear an interview with parents of three of the six boys as well as the reporters who broke the story, click this link, scroll to the middle of the page and click where it says "mp3 download:" (The radio show featured in this link is an hour long, but you don't have to listen to the whole thing; Feel free to fast forward to whatever part your deem interesting or useful to you. It is just nice to hear the story from those who witnessed it first hand. )
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/10/the_case_of_the_jena_six

Feel free to leave comments or concerns about the Jena 6 case: Had you heard about this case before looking at this blog? What is your take on racism in America today?

My thoughts on Affirmative Action in Education

In my opinion Affirmative Action should be allowed in the college admission process. I feel that having people of different colors, religions, genders and races benefits the entire educational system. All to often we hear people site the above three cases, but these cases have to be more complicated than what can be conveyed in a few simple paragraphs.


It is always said that the minorities GPA's ,MCAT or LSAT scores were not as good as the white students, but as we all know colleges and universities look and more than just test scores and GPA's when admitting someone. For Undergraduate admissions they look at high school involvement and for graduate or professional school they look at undergraduate campus involvement.


For example say a white student has a 4.o GPA and an excellent ACT or SAT score, but does no activities in their high school, while a black student might have a 3.5 GPA and a decent but not stellar ACT or SAT score, however the black student plays two sports, is in the high school band, is in student government, has a summer job and volunteers at a local retirement home on weekends, which student would be an asset to the classroom?


Call me biased but I would say the student with the extracurricular activities and community involvement would be the better asset and not just because he or she is black.


For the facts about how Affirmative Action benefits women as well as people of color please follow this link to the National Organization of Women's Web site:http://www.now.org/issues/affirm/talking.html


After clicking the link and learning the truth about Affirmative Action, feel free to leave any comments or concerns: Do you agree or disagree with my opinion?

Affirmative Action in Education

A growing issue on many campuses across the United States is Affirmative Action. It brings up questions such as: "Are white students being discriminated against during the college admission process?" and "Is it fair to let blacks and other minorities into colleges and programs if their GPA's and test scores aren't as good as members of other groups who applied?"

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided the legal framework for affirmative action in education and employment as well as prohibiting racial or ethnic discrimination in all federally assisted programs and activities. However, it has been three court cases that went to the U.S. Supreme court, which have set the foundation for the dialog on Affirmative Action.

To learn more about the Civil Right Act of 1964 click this link:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/

The first case is University of California v. Bakke. In this 1978 case Allan Bakke applied for admittance to the University of California Davis's Medical school. When he was denied admission he filed a lawsuit against the university after minorities with lower GPA's and MCAT scores were let into the school. The university of California had been using Quotas in its admission process. Quotas in education, are a fixed number of spots reserved for minorities and women. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bakke by deciding that the use of racial quotas in admission policies by colleges was unconstitutional however race could be a deciding factor in admission.

For more information about the Bakke Case click this link:
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/balbak.html

The second two cases, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger were brought against the University of Michigan's Law School. Gratz and Bollinger claimed that they were discriminated against because they were white. They “…claimed that the University’s affirmative action policy unlawfully discriminated against white applicants by giving consideration to race and ethnicity in making admission decisions, and thus admitting minority applicants that were deemed less qualified.” The Supreme court rulled against Gratz in his case but in favor of Grutter in his case.

For more information about Gratz v. Bollinger click this link:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-516.ZS.html

For more information about Grutterv. Bollinger click this link:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-241.ZS.html

"In 1995, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit (Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana), in the case of Hopwood v. Texas, ended all considerations of race in recruitment, admissions and scholarships in all public institutions in Texas.

In 1996, the voters of California passed Proposition 209 which abolished all affirmative action programs in the state in employment, education and contracting.

Since affirmative action programs were banned in California and Texas the number of minority students enrolled in universities has declined. Many groups such as, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project, Americans for a Fair Chance, the ACLU, and American Association of Affirmative Action, believe that affirmative action programs remain to be the only effective solution for achieving racially and ethnically diverse universities." http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/action_affirmative_action.html

After clicking the links and learning more about these three cases, feel free to leave any comments or concerns: Do you agree or disagree with the Supreme Court's rulings? How do you feel about fewer minorities being enrolled in college after California and Texas banned Affirmative Action?