Page 2 The Skanner May 23, 2018
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Graduation is Just the First Hurdle
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Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
lecturer), who is now on paid
leave.
Why would the university
continue to pay someone who
seems to have differentially
attacked Black students, as ap-
parently no White students
were assaulted or pushed off
of the stage?
This lecturer is a menace to
society and college students,
who should not be exposed to
his racism, either on stage or
in a classroom.
According to The New York
Times, UF President W. Kent
Fuchs apologized to the af-
fected students and left a
personal message of apology
on Alpha Phi Alpha fraterni-
ty member Oliver Telusma’s
voicemail, due to the incident.
However, from where I sit,
President Fuchs should track
that student down along with
all of the others and visit them
face-to-face.
The UF incident reminds
Black students that gradua-
tion is but one of the many
hurdles they must clear.
Every day, every single day,
they face the possibility of
pernicious racism, differen-
tial treatment, and the threat
of law enforcement to com-
pel compliance with the most
foolish of laws and norms,
spoken or unspoken.
That’s why Holly Hylton, the
White woman who managed
a Philadelphia Starbucks, felt
I
SPECIAL ISSUE:
CAREERS: PG 7
y
toda
M
arvel’s “Black Pan-
ther,” Chadwick Bose-
man, graduated from
Howard
University
with a bachelor’s degree in
Fine Arts (BFA) in 2000.
On May 12, Boseman re-
turned to his alma mater to
address the Class of 2018,
while receiving an honorary
degree.
The Howard University
graduation is one of more
than 100 Historically Black
College and University grad-
uations and one of more than
4,000 general graduations
across the country.
On May 5, White House
Correspondent April Ryan,
brought down the house at
Bennett College in North Car-
olina.
In Arkansas on the same
day, journalist and political
commentator Sophia Nelson,
made lasting remarks during
the Philander Smith College
commencement exercise.
All across the nation, fami-
lies are gathering, people are
celebrating and graduations
are being hailed as an occa-
sion of joy.
However, despite these
many festivities, if you are a
Black American who gradu-
ated from the University of
Florida (UF), your achieve-
ments may have been marred
by the horrible memory of
faculty marshals physically
pushing you off of the stage,
after you decided to celebrate
your Black Greek (fraternity)
pride, with the execution of a
few “steps.”
More than 20 students were
assaulted by the unidentified
faculty member (although
some say he is a chemistry
free to call the police on two
Black men after they had been
seated, without ordering any-
thing.
That’s why a hysterical
White female bigot, called the
police on a Black man, who
was barbecuing in a public
park in Oakland, California,
where barbecuing is custom-
ary.
That’s why the police were
called on three Black women
(and a White man), because
they failed to wave or smile
when they exited an Airbnb
in Rialto, California, and were
detained for 45 minutes de-
spite possessing proof that
they had reserved their space.
“
I want the
graduates to
know that
their place is
everyplace
That’s why the police wres-
tled a 25-year-old Black wom-
an to the ground (exposing
her bare breasts) in an Ala-
bama Waffle House, after she
asked for plastic cutlery and
an ignorant employee report-
edly said “she did not know
her place,” and the beat goes
on and on and on.
The police are too often
called to put Black people in
their place, to force them to
comply, to reinforce the tenet
of White supremacy; the no-
tion that when we see a White
person, we must shuck and
jive and smile. So-called law
enforcement officers become
servants of racism, who want
us in our place.
I want the graduates to
know that their place is ev-
eryplace.
Class of 2018, your place is
in that Starbucks at the table,
order or not. Your place is in
that Waffle House, getting the
utensils you requested. Your
place is at the lake in Oakland,
burning those bones on your
grill. Your place is on that
stage at UF.
Resistance has a high price.
Who wants to go to jail and
end up, like Sandra Bland,
whose mysterious death
in Texas still has not been
solved? Who wants to be
handcuffed, humiliated, ex-
posed, and maligned, just for
asking a simple question?
Starbucks will close thou-
sands of stores to the tune of
millions of dollars for uncon-
scious bias training. But who
will train these biased police
officers and the racists who
call them, because their feel-
ings are bruised when no one
waves at them?
The Class of 2018 will learn,
as have millions of other
Black Americans, that racism
is alive and well.
They’ve cleared a hurdle
with graduation, but even as
some cross the stage, they are
being reminded that there are
many more hurdles to clear,
to survive in our unfortu-
nately racist nation.
Perhaps though, the Class of
2018, will be among those to
dismantle the racist hurdles.
Perhaps in the process of
clearing other hurdles (grad-
uate and professional school,
marriage and children, arti-
ficial intelligence and gentri-
fication), they will also find
the wherewithal to eliminate
racial barriers to success.
The Racial Politics of the Israeli State (Part 2)
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y •
Opinion
n my last column, I ad-
dressed the murder of
Palestinian protesters by
Israeli state officers. The
racial politics of the Israeli
state were also demonstrated
by another recent action: the
April 3 reneging on an agree-
ment on the handling of Afri-
can migrants.
The Israeli political estab-
lishment goes out of its way
to present Israel as a civilized
democracy. The hypocrisy of
this can, of course, be seen in
the apartheid system creat-
ed to oppress and suppress
the Palestinian people. But it
can also be demonstrated in
actions towards African mi-
grants.
Over the years, African mi-
grants, seeking refugee from
war, political repression, pov-
erty, and environmental dev-
astation, have entered Israel
in search of a safe haven. This
population, which Prime Min-
ister Netanyahu and his right-
wing clique have termed
“infiltrators,” has come to oc-
Bill
Fletcher Jr.
The Global
African
cupy a rung in the social hier-
archy reserved for poor and
disenfranchised labor. Much
like undocumented workers
in the United States, these
African migrants are subject
“
as part of a protest against the
barbaric treatment that they
have received when impris-
oned.
The Netanyahu adminis-
tration originally came to an
agreement with the United
Nations — after threatening to
deport these migrants to their
countries of origin — to send
them to safer locations. Re-
turning the migrants to their
countries of origin would, in
some cases, be nothing short
of a death sentence.
Much like undocumented work-
ers in the United States, African
migrants in Israel are subject to
various forms of abuse
to various forms of abuse
including harassment from
employers and government
alike. In January 2014, on a
visit to Israel and the Occu-
pied Palestinian Territories, I
witnessed demonstrations by
African migrants in Tel Aviv
On April 3, the Netanyahu
administration put this deal
on hold, throwing into uncer-
tainty, the fate of the African
migrants. Allegedly due to
pressure from his right-wing
allies, Netanyahu changed
his mind, leaving the status
of the migrants unclear, but
also leaving unclear whether
there are to be further negoti-
ations towards an acceptable
resolution of this crisis.
The Israeli political estab-
lishment over the years has
made Israel available to any-
one claiming Jewish heritage.
Thousands of Russians en-
tered Israel after the collapse
of the USSR irrespective of
their ability to prove their al-
leged Jewish origins. A line,
however, has been drawn
when it comes to African mi-
grants and in this line one can
see evidence of the racial poli-
tics of the Israeli state.
The democratic face of Isra-
el is crumbling as it becomes
more repressive against
generalized dissent; as it
strengthens the apartheid
system against the Palestin-
ian people; and as it ramps
up its xenophobic attacks on
African migrants. There are
no further excuses that can
be made nor justifications ac-
cepted.
nt •
lo c a l n e w s •
eve