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In a representative democracy it’s important that our representatives engage with the voting populace.
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In a representative democracy it’s important that our representatives engage with the voting populace.
The Republicans in the state legislature are at it again, essentially sprinting away from ethics scandals in hordes.
It seems I have to keep writing columns about how over-militarized our country is, and yet no one really seems to pay attention.
Everyone hates going to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Indiana.
As a student who both studies and works in the political science realm, barely a day goes by when I don’t witness Indiana Republicans cramming budget surpluses down the throats of any person who is brave enough to listen.
The situation in Ferguson, Mo., has reached the boiling point. With peaceful protests turning into riots, police have begun using everything from tear gas to rubber bullets to pummel protesters back into line.
I will never forget the moment same-sex marriage was briefly legalized in Indiana.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During Little 500 weekend, I experienced a plethora of interesting sights, sounds and smells that I’ve never encountered and hopefully never have to experience again. I saw drunken people dart out into the middle of the street without looking. I witnessed an overabundance of wasted girls falling over their own feet. One or a dozen fistfights evolved on street corners, and I definitely saw a group of people drinking in a church parking lot.What happened Saturday, however, exemplified both the good side and the bad side of IU’s party culture. On Saturday night, my friends and I drove into the parking lot by the SRSC and started our mission to find a parking space. As we drove around, we noticed a rather intoxicated girl, who will not be named, lying naked from the waist down on the concrete. We stopped the car and my friend, who is female, got out and, with a group of other women, got the girl dressed again. At this point, a group of guys standing in the distance had called the cops, who then arrived. After the police questioned the girl, they thanked us for helping and calling the police because “most people would’ve just kept driving.” Though it’s a great thing that all these people worked to help this girl, it’s quite shameful that we live in a culture where helping a vulnerable, scared college girl is considered rare or unexpected. Here at IU, we pride ourselves on our Culture of Care. The Culture of Care program recently put out a video in which actors performed various tasks on hidden camera in public. These actors did things like pretend to be intoxicated, pretend to be homophobic and pretend to break down and cry. In this video, somebody helped every single person. While this video shows the great side of IU, I feel it doesn’t adequately address the issue of aiding someone in need, particularly during Little 500. As the police said, not everyone would stop to help — a lot of people would’ve just left her there — where she could’ve been raped or otherwise was assaulted. Issues like these are easy to brush under the rug when you aren’t faced with them directly. But I feel as though many people brush them off even when these situations happen right in front of them. This girl might have been lucky enough to be seen by several kind passersby, but for every good Samaritan there’s someone willing to look the other way. I saw several cars pull into the parking lot before us, none of which stopped or did anything. I only pray and hope that people didn’t end up in situations like these during Little 500 without getting help. Because that’s not what we do here in Bloomington.Here at IU, we do what was done Saturday in that parking lot. We look out for one another. Classmates help classmates, neighbors help neighbors and Hoosiers help Hoosiers. Or at least that’s how it should be. ajguenth@indiana.edu
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of five college women will be sexually assaulted, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. This means that, statistically, about 745 women in the IU Class of 2017 will be victims of sexual assault. Besides being an absolutely abhorrent snapshot of college life in the United States, this raises an important question. If, statistically, about 745 women in each graduating class will be victims of sexual assault, why have only about 120 sexual assaults been reported at IU from 2010 to 2012? The fact is that many cases will go unreported to authorities because of victim blaming. On January 24th, 2011, a Toronto police officer, in response to rapes in Toronto, stated, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”From this statement sprung the Toronto “SlutWalk,” a parade meant to protest the victim-blaming and slut-shaming that plague victims of sexual assault. Since then, SlutWalks have sprung up across the world, with one even in Bloomington happening each year. Protestors march with signs saying things such as “I’m not asking for it” and “Society Teaches Don’t Get Raped Instead Of Don’t Rape.”And what really makes an event like the SlutWalk so important is that it brings attention to the issue of sexual assault and how victims are not to blame. Unfortunately, with any good cause comes those who feel the need to attack victims.On the Bloomington SlutWalk event page, a supposed member of the Traditionalist Youth Network, IU’s favorite hate-mongering student group, attacked the idea of SlutWalks in general. The man stated multiple times that though he doesn’t support rape culture, he thinks slut culture is also a problem. A member of the event said the man encouraged members of the SlutWalk to “put some clothes on, go to church, find a chivalrous man, have a family and stop being sluts.” He made it clear that TradYouth thinks a return to traditional gender roles of women being subservient to men will end rape culture. And it should bring to light that some people just don’t understand sexual assault. Victims of sexual assault have the autonomy of their bodies forcibly taken from them. These victims are assaulted, they lose their sense of dignity and then are often blamed for it. SlutWalks aren’t designed to glorify dressing or acting in a certain way.They’re designed to show that rape shouldn’t occur under any circumstance, regardless of the dress or behavior of the victim. TradYouth plans on protesting the SlutWalk in Dunn Meadow, and I pray they find the true meaning behind SlutWalks and accept it. After all, we don’t blame pedophilia on the way little girls dress, so we shouldn’t blame rape on the way women dress. Period.ajguenth@indiana.edu
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When you grow up as a member of the LGBT community, your peers often tell you “Just be yourself” or “Individuality is a beautiful thing.” Though these beautiful, philosophical nuggets of wisdom would look great crocheted on a pillow, they don’t prepare members of the LGBT community for the harsh realities of the gay community. When you first enter it, which is in college for some, you’re in for a culture shock. The happy-go-lucky “It gets better” image projected in public is worlds away from the behind-the-scenes version of the gay community. In reality, some people are rejected from the culture just because they don’t conform to the standards that exist. If you don’t dress a certain way, if you don’t enjoy certain music or TV shows or if you simply don’t look a certain way, it’s common that the gay community will just brush you aside.Now, it’s important to note that being gay is different from being a part of gay culture. Being gay means you’re attracted to someone of the same sex, while being part of gay culture means you follow a monolithic, culturally-formed “ideal” for what being gay means.Gay culture as a whole is a racist, male-dominated social structure that inherently is discriminatory against people of color, women and those who are religious. Besides being a disgusting way to discriminate against those who come to the community to feel accepted, these social barriers hold us back as a community as well.While the LGBT community is often the first to reject the heteronormative culture that most of the country follows, we’ve created our own little culture of exclusion and conformity. It’s not uncommon that gay men and women will come out of the closet just to discover that they then have to battle against their own community to maintain their identity. And when people are unwilling or unable to battle their own community, they conform. This conforming leads to caricatures of the gay community, which grow into hurtful stereotypes. Now, I’m not judging people who just happen to dress a certain way or who happen to like Madonna. However, people who purposely put out this aura of conformity, of racism or of exclusion are no better than the conservative Republicans who vote to strip the LGBT community of their rights. You cannot create a community based on the idea that all people are equal, that everyone is beautiful in their own way, and then pollute and sour that community with conformity and hatred. Creating tangents from mainstream society, such as gay fraternities or restaurants, already creates an image that we are separate from the rest of the world.You may not like the way a person dresses, the fact that they go to church or that they don’t do drugs or drink, but we all belong to the same community. We all have struggles — some more so than others. The reason that the LGBT community has the potential to have such beauty in unity is that it can bring together people from all walks of life.Stop tearing the community apart with how you “think” people should act. Start bringing the community together with who we are.ajguenth@indiana.edu@GuentherAndrew
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The New Jersey Port Authority shut down two of the three lanes connecting Fort Lee, N.J., to the George Washington Bridge in September under the guise of a “traffic study.” During this time, several-hour delays occurred, affecting everyone from commuting workers to ambulances. A 91-year-old woman died of a heart attack when an ambulance couldn’t reach her home due to the traffic blockages. Further investigation revealed emails between Bridget Kelly, the deputy chief of staff for Gov. Chris Christie, and Christie-appointed Port Authority executive David Wildstein. The emails revealed there was no traffic study, which has led many to believe the lanes were being shut down as political revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who refused to endorse Christie in his reelection campaign. As soon as the motive and emails hit the airwaves, Christie, in the typical fashion of a politician, went on the defensive. Calling a press conference in January, Christie pushed the blame solely onto Kelly and Wildstein, claiming he never knew of the plans to close down the bridge. The scandal, appropriately nicknamed “Bridgegate,” sent alarm bells ringing on both sides of the political spectrum. Democrats pointed at Christie, claiming he did know about the plan and that he should be criminally liable. Republicans, worried about losing a potential presidential candidate in 2016, vehemently defended Christie, claiming Kelly and Wildstein worked independently. No one should worry, however, because Christie did not know about the bridge closure.At least, that’s what the investigative team hired by Christie found. Randy Mastro, an attorney hired by Christie, led the investigation. The investigation interviewed more than 70 witnesses and reviewed over 250,000 documents, including text messages and emails. Mastro came to the conclusion that Kelly and Wildstein, as well as former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien, all knew about the lane closure. He concluded that Christie himself did not.While Christie fans may be sighing in relief and applauding their fearless leader, it’s pretty obvious that this investigation is a sham. Of course the investigation, led by lawyers hired by Christie, found Christie innocent of all wrongdoing. That only makes sense.Additionally, the investigation failed to even interview people who are key to the case, such as Kelly, Wildstein and Mayor Sokolich.The fact that Christie spent roughly $1 million in taxpayer dollars on this sham of an investigation, while both the New Jersey Legislature and the federal government are holding investigations concurrently, is shameful within itself.Additionally, Christie is quite obviously hiding something that is pertinent to the case. He admitted to speaking to Wildstein two days after the lane closure. Wildstein claimed they’d discussed the closing of these lanes at that time.When interviewed, Christie admitted he spoke to Wildstein. He said he can’t remember what exactly they talked about, but he knew for a fact they didn’t talk about the lane closures. It is obvious that Christie is willing to go any length to protect his name and his potential presidential bid. So far, he’s wasted $1 million and likely broken numerous investigation ethics codes to do so. But ultimately, you can’t beat the sweet, sweet scent of corruption. ajguenth@indiana.edu @GuentherAndrew
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As far as the political world goes, you generally can’t get more boring than a midterm election year. At least, that’s how voters seem to feel. In Indiana, voter turnout in 2012 was at 58 percent, and in 2010 it was 41 percent. Generally, midterm elections’ lack of allure is blamed for the low turnout. During presidential years, many people are excited and invested in the races. The nation’s highest office is on the line, and the difference between candidates like Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is staggeringly obvious. In midterm election years, one-third of the United States Senate seats and all U.S. House of Representatives seats are elected. Additionally, one-third of Indiana Senate seats and all Indiana House of Representatives seats are up for grabs. This year, only three statewide positions are up for election — secretary of state, treasurer and state auditor. This weekend, the College Democrats of Indiana organized a dinner at IU. Democratic candidate for secretary of state Beth White and candidate for state auditor Michael Claytor spoke at the dinner. White admonished current Secretary of State Connie Lawson for restricting the voting rights of students and other groups in the state of Indiana. Lawson pushed through a bill during her tenure as a state senator that limited early voting and has supported bills to limit out-of-state students from voting here in Indiana.Claytor mentioned how the state of Indiana managed to lose more than half a billion in taxpayer dollars in 2012 by misplacing funds. He also stated that, if elected, he’d be the first Certified Public Accountant to hold the position of state auditor. When candidates are debating issues such as these, which directly affect students like us on a daily basis, it’s our job to listen. And when we fail to do so, we not only hurt ourselves, but we hurt our communities, our state and our society.In midterm years, it’s obvious to me that Democrats need to work just as hard, perhaps harder, to get people to the polls. Though the offices of secretary of state, treasurer and auditor may not be “sexy,” they are important. Young voters in particular need to understand that offices here in Indiana affect everything from taxes to education to how you vote in the next elections. That’s why I love seeing groups, from the IU College Democrats to the College Democrats of Indiana to the Democratic Party, continuing to push to get young voters out to the polls. We may need to push harder than we are currently, but students need to take initiative and start shaping their own future. In order to create the Indiana that you want, you need to get out to the polls and let your voice be heard. There’s nothing more shameful than those who don’t vote but complain about how politics aren’t going the way they want. If you don’t vote, don’t complain. Get involved or go home. ajguenth@indiana.edu
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Well, ladies and gentlemen, the Indiana State Legislature is at it again. After a great legislative session debating gay marriage and cursive writing, we now get to see if an ethics scandal comes to fruition. Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, seems to have been caught throwing his weight around.Turner reportedly lobbied against Senate Bill 173, which would have placed a moratorium on new nursing home beds. Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, who authored SB 173, argued since Indiana has 13,000 currently unoccupied beds in nursing homes, continuing to make more would be a waste of money. What makes Turners lobbying unethical is that his son Zeke owns Mainstreet Property Group, which develops upscale nursing homes. The company plans to build two dozen more nursing homes in Indiana over the next three years, according to a testimony by Zeke Turner to the House Ways and Means Committee. The underlying issue is that this isn’t the first time Turner has crossed ethical boundaries for his and his family’s financial gain. Last year, he fought to get one of his daughter’s lobbying clients, Insure-Rite, a multi-million dollar contract with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Anonymous Republican lawmakers told reporters that Turner lobbied his fellow representatives in the Republican Party Caucus meetings. In the legislature, both parties stage caucus meetings to discuss the workings and plans of the party.Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, launched an ethics investigation against Turner after being urged by members of his own party as well as Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody. Bosma sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Steurwald, R-Avon, requesting his committee investigate Turner’s actions. Chairman Steurwald seems reluctant to bring charges against Turner. Steurwald said he is unsure if any lawmakers would testify before the Committee about what happened in the caucus. “Those are private, confidential meetings and are intended to be private confidential meetings,” he said. I, for one, was unaware that corruption is completely OK when held behind closed doors. It’s shocking and disturbing to me that our legislators can waste taxpayer dollars to line the pockets of their families. Turner, the second most powerful Republican in the Indiana House and one of the Republican caucus’s top fundraisers, knows he can get away with corruption. This is because Turner is an important, powerful Republican who understands private caucus meetings are a place where the press is shut out and where he reigns supreme. The Indiana State Legislature is broken when our representatives can be unethical in private and still rule over the legislature in public.We deserve better.ajguenth@indiana.edu @GuentherAndrew
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Since the Conservative Political Action Conference has rolled around yet again, I’ve determined they need some help. CPAC is a convention where some of the most passionate, politically active conservatives come together to hear speeches, attend panels and discuss elections for the next year. I cannot help but feeling that CPAC is becoming a Convention of Politically Ancient Conservatives. When you talk about political parties and their strong points in terms of support, there’s generally a distinct line separating Republicans and Democrats. Democrats garner overwhelming support from women, gay people, blacks, Latinos, Asians and people ages 18-29. Republicans meanwhile grab the majority of voters who are white, Christians, gun-owners, men and ages 45 or older . Speaking from the position of an objective, political campaign worker, the Republican Party needs to try to appeal more to minorities if it wants to secure the White House in 2016. The ability for the Democrats to get minority voters to the polls is too formidable a force to try and overcome with old, white Christians alone.So when I read there was going to be a panel at CPAC this year about diversity and minority outreach, I was moderately impressed the Republican Party was finally acknowledging the need to appeal to minority voters.But there were two big problems with the panel. First, the panel — which focused, mind you, on diversity and multicultural outreach — consisted of five white men. As both a white man and someone who is politically competent, I must say — damn, that was stupid. The second big issue with the panel was that no one went. John Hudak, a political writer for the think-tank Brookings, tweeted a picture of a large ballroom with the panelists on the stage and maybe two dozen audience members. Out of a conference of thousands upon thousands, just a couple dozen is a pathetic number by any standard. The room only started to fill up towards the ending of the diversity outreach panel as members came to hear the next presentation by the President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre.Unfortunately for Republicans, this seems to be the general consensus of the Republican Party and its supporters. They don’t seem to care about getting the support of minorities. When your political leaders — from candidates to campaign managers to volunteers — refuse to even entertain the idea of reaching out to minorities, it sends a message. The Republican Party doesn’t need the support of gun owners. It needs the support of minorities. The only way the Republican Party is going to start overcoming its reputation as a party of old-fashioned, bigoted, misogynistic, old, white men is by both working to pass legislation that helps minority groups and working to change its tone about those same groups.But when you both refuse to have minority members of your party speak on a panel about diversity and refuse to attend the same panel, you aren’t moving forward far. The Republican Party needs to learn that it can’t rely on Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., or Dr. Ben Carson to be its token minority leaders. It needs to actually try to seem like it cares about the groups whose votes it needs to win.Otherwise, it might as well just hand the Democrats the White House. ajguenth@indiana.edu
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>ampus. Students, faculty, administrative workers loudly proclaiming and praising how liberal and forward-thinking IU is. Compared to the rest of Indiana, with the exception of Gary and Indianapolis, Bloomington is pretty liberal and diverse. We’re one of the more blue parts of this state, and the way we vote and run our city shows it. Unfortunately, this perspective of IU as a liberal utopia that is fully accepting and diverse holds us back as a university. We need to improve on a lot of things here in Bloomington. We need a cultural makeover.When I was choosing a college as a high school senior, IU sprang instantly to mind as a gay-friendly, liberal school that seemed eons away from the conservative, Lutheran university close to where I grew up. I was sold. When I got here, though, I was less than enthused. I quickly saw there wasn’t a huge difference between Bloomington and Valparaiso, my hometown. Racially, we aren’t as diverse as we market ourselves to be. Religiously, we aren’t as varied as we should be. And we aren’t as accepting as anyone likes to pretend we are. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had the word “faggot” yelled at me from a passing car or how common it is for me to see people pointing and laughing at a Jewish boy wearing a yarmulke. The hard truth is many people here at IU don’t feel safe or accepted. They don’t feel safe walking across campus after dark. They don’t feel safe openly being themselves in their dorm. And many of them don’t feel accepted by other students. Recently, IU Student Association sponsored an event at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center to discuss issues relating to diversity. One law student in particular mentioned the awful experience she had being one of the 12 minority students in her law class of 250.“It makes the environment very hostile sometimes,” she said. “I would never reach out to an incoming black law student and tell them to come. I would never recruit because it has been horrible so far.” I know of far too many instances of people who aren’t straight, white, cisgender Christians being discriminated against, ignored or belittled. I know of transgender freshmen who can’t room with people of their identifying gender because of University policy. I know Muslim students who are openly discriminated against with no intervention from University employees. It needs to stop. If the administration is unwilling or unable to actively increase meaningful diversity and understanding on campus, then students should take charge. We can’t keep waiting year after year for IU to increase minority enrollment. It has made promises for years and it hasn’t delivered.Student groups, such as the Residence Hall Association, IUSA, the IU Student Foundation, the Alumni Association and Union Board need to organize more events like these and use the feedback to create programs and policies to combat ignorance. The students have a larger voice on this campus than is acknowledged. It’s time we use it to stop hate instead of sweeping it under the rug. ajguenth@indiana.edu@GuentherAndrew
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Sochi Olympics have turned into a circus of homoerotic jokes, rainbow-studded advertisements and protests against Russia by pro-gay Olympic viewers. Russia instituted its anti-gay policies June 30, 2013, making it illegal to possess, create or support propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations to minors.” The law, dubbed the “no promo homo” law by pro-gay activists, has sparked an increase in anti-gay violence in Russia. Gangs, which continue to equate homosexuals with pedophiles, have attacked, humiliated, raped and tortured gay men.When I write columns, I always find it compelling how blind our own citizens are to the problems facing American society. Sure, in liberal little Bloomington we’re all safe and sound, but that’s not the case in other places. Nine states in the United States have laws similar to the “no promo homo” laws passed in Russia, while an additional two ban anti-bullying policies for gay students in schools.And while Utah, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina have never been considered bastions of liberal ideology, it’s shocking they have laws in place that in some form or another criminalize homosexuality. Some — not all, but some — Republicans yell and scream about how the government should leave citizens alone, but only if those citizens happen to be rich or corporations. When it comes to abortion or homosexuality, those same Republicans often claim it’s the government’s right to defend societal values. Gay rights, it seems, is one of the last battlegrounds in which religion can be used as a major weapon. And this religious ammunition is effective; it is widespread and it is disgusting. As someone who is both gay and a devout Christian, it’s disheartening to see my own God used against me. I digress, however, because I’m not disturbed the most by the use of religion to attempt to deny me the rights shared by all heterosexuals. What I’m disturbed by most is the apathy of our own citizens.In the U.S., it seems, we have established a status quo of being ignorant and blind to societal issues that plague us. We regard these issues as unsolvable, unimportant or simply too difficult to discuss. We can see this even at our own University, where student government elections are lucky to even get some attention from the student body. And, unfortunately, when we look at the country as a whole, many of us decide that we cannot be bothered to understand what we need to improve upon as a country. The only patriotic things we can do are vote and at least have a basic understanding of our government and our society. Otherwise, we’re no better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia. — ajguenth@indiana.eduFollow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In November 2012, the citizens of the United States elected 234 Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. What many people forget is that they also elected 201 Democrats to the same chamber. Speaker of the House John Boehner, the conservative presiding officer and leader the lower chamber of Congress, is charged with a variety of powers, from having control over committees to deciding what legislation comes to the floor of the House. Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner has been using his power to harm the American people, rather than help them as his job entails.The 113th Congress has been widely criticized to be one of, if not the single, most dysfunctional and inflammatory Congress in U.S. history. To have a piece of legislation pass through both the House and the Senate is a miraculous feat for this Congress. Bipartisanship and civility have been thrown out the window in exchange for a hopeful reelection and to appease Tea Party fundraisers and super political action committees. Comprehensive immigration reform, for example, has long been a controversial topic for the U.S. That’s why, when the Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill in 2013, it was historic. The bill passed 68-32, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans voting in favor , including big names such as John McCain, R-Ariz., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.I’m not saying immigration reform would or would not pass through the House of Representatives in its current form. What I am saying, however, is that the people of the U.S. deserve a vote — just a simple up-or-down, yes or no vote. Not every Congressional district elected Speaker Boehner. Two hundred and one districts elected Democrats and 233 elected Republicans who aren’t Boehner. Boehner is one out of 435 members of the House of Representatives, but he’s put his own political agenda ahead of the political progress of the country. You can argue the immigration bill won’t pass the House regardless and that’s a possibility. It’s also possible, however, that it could pass. And it isn’t like the House is busy passing important legislation every day. With the exception of the odd law here and there, the House is more inactive than my love life this past Friday.It’s time the Democrats demand votes be brought to the floor of the House. Again and again, bills from the Senate have died upon arrival, with the speaker refusing to allow them to pass into Committee. Democrats have an opportunity to use a parliamentary procedure — a discharge petition — that, with the signatures of 218 Representatives, would force the bill to go directly to the floor of the House. Members of the House, such as House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Mary.) have suggested this tactic already.And if the Democrats and the Republicans really care about the American people, they will sign that petition. This country was founded on the principles of deliberation and compromise. Speaker Boehner is promoting the opposite. — ajguenth@indiana.eduFollow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During the Civil Rights movement, racism was blatant and obvious. Unfortunately, a new breed of ignorance has emerged from the dark, shameful pit of insecurity from which the Ku Klux Klan once sprung. Racism has lately evolved, becoming a new breed of covert hatred.Nowadays, the majority of white people are more than willing to decry the KKK. However, these same people will often turn a blind eye to the institutional racism that has infected our country. Racism, you see, is more than just shouting racial slurs and charging minorities with offensive stereotypes. Racism is far more institutional in nature, far more mechanical in substance. In 2008, Devah Pager, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, conducted a study in which he submitted job applications to hundreds of employers. These applications were the same in every aspect.The only difference was that one application was submitted by a white man, the other by a black man.Pager discovered the white applicant was more than twice as likely to get a callback for the job as his equally qualified black counterpart. Disturbingly, Pager also found that a white applicant with a drug-related felony listed on his application was equally or more likely than a black candidate with no criminal record to get a callback.In 1963, blacks were 2.2 times as likely to be unemployed as whites. In 2012, that number has barely changed, with blacks being 2.1 times as likely to be unemployed.What this new breed of covert racism feeds off most is ignorance. White Americans are uncomfortable talking about race and would rather remain ignorant. We aren’t addressing racism properly. We tell children that color doesn’t matter and that we’re all the same. This might seem like a happy, accepting statement, but it isn’t. This tells children that race plays absolutely no part in how people are treated. And that’s a bold-faced lie. Because race does have a large part in how you’re treated in this country. And when you tell children it doesn’t, it blinds them to the actuality of how race affects people of color.It conforms them to believe that people aren’t discriminated against, that the unfortunate truths of society aren’t about race, but just reality. People of color in this country are being oppressed and robbed of the opportunity that America prides itself on giving to all people. It’s time we face up to our covert racism and treat this infection, before we’re irreparably damaged as a nation. — ajguenth@indiana.eduFollow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana has a habit of stepping backward instead of forward.The Hoosier state has been in the news for treating gay men and women like they aren’t people, restricting women’s access to abortion or pushing for education reform that doesn’t do anything. When we elect legislators we expect them to legislate. We expect them, additionally, to legislate effectively. Unfortunately, our representatives and senators in Indianapolis aren’t being effective. Nor do they even seem to be in touch with what Indiana residents need from their government. Our legislature is instead so lethargic and so self-involved that they’ve seemingly decided that their job doesn’t affect those of us who put them into office in the first place. Indiana and her residents face a myriad of problems and challenges every single day. Problems such as how Indiana education has been continually falling in national rankings since 2010. We’re continually one of the least healthy states, with some of the highest rates of obesity, smoking, diabetes and lack of child immunizations. Perhaps the state legislature would be interested to know that, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Assault Committee, one in five women in Indiana have been raped. Maybe the fiscal conservatives would like to know that Indiana is one of the worst states for entrepreneurs, too.Every two years, the Indiana Legislature is in session for only 91 scheduled days, with 61 of those days being dedicated to the state budget and the remaining 30 in short session years. Logically, and perhaps a bit naively, we’d like to think our government would, in this short amount of time, be passing meaningful education reform, effective health programs, sexual assault prevention strategies or fiscal stimulus for small business owners. And of course, we’d be wrong. Instead, the Indiana Statehouse has been busy tackling issues they feel are much more important then educating our children or preventing rape. House Joint Resolution 3, the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Indiana, has taken up a large amount of time in the statehouse. Sen. Jean Leising R-Oldenburg has decided that cursive is so important to Indiana education that she’s proposed the same law — which mandates cursive be taught in all Indiana schools — for the third year in a row. State Rep. Jim Lucas R-Seymour has proposed a bill to allow licensed gun owners to keep firearms locked in their vehicles on school campuses. The bill died in committee within a few days of proposal.I am sick of our Indiana Legislature mirroring the U.S. Congress. Our legislature has a only short amount of time to make a positive change in the lives of Hoosiers. And regardless of your opinion on gay marriage, cursive or guns on college campuses, they won’t solve our problems. The news is always reporting on big bills meant to solve issues about energy, education, healthcare or drug-reform in other states. Meanwhile, Indiana only gets in the news for moving backwards and wasting time. We deserve better. — ajguenth@indiana.eduFollow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Like many people across the state and the country, I was shocked and upset by the announcement that Indiana would once again attempt to restrict the rights of gay and lesbian individuals with the proposal of House Joint Resolution 3.As a gay man, I wanted to get involved. I entrusted other bodies, those with more influence and power than I, to lead the charge. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we put the wrong people in charge.Freedom Indiana, the organization working to defeat H.J.R. 3, is failing Hoosiers both gay and straight. H.J.R. 3 is a proposed amendment to the state constitution which would prevent the creation of civil unions and other statuses similar to marriage.Here at IU, Freedom Indiana has enjoyed a bounty of progressive students who are willing to work phone banks, write letters and protest in front of the Statehouse to try to defeat H.J.R. 3. Since IU President Michael McRobbie announced that IU was opposed to H.J.R. 3, our campus has all but become a safe haven for Freedom Indiana to operate. Unfortunately, Freedom Indiana has both damaged itself and the chances of H.J.R. 3 being voted down by the Indiana House of Representatives. It’s become pretty clear from talking with past volunteers of Freedom Indiana that they were overly demanding and rude when dealing with volunteers. This kind of mismanagement makes Freedom Indiana appear to be nothing more than a group hell-bent on preventing a marriage amendment at any cost — even if it means alienating its own supporters. Additionally, the organization itself apparently has no real understanding of the political structure of Indiana. For a large portion of their campaign, Freedom Indiana funneled much of its funds and man-hours into lobbying the House Judiciary Committee. The amendment needs to pass through a committee to go to the floor of the House, not specifically the Judiciary Committee. Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, reassigned H.J.R. 3 to the Elections and Apportionment Committee.It was a smart move on his part. It essentially erased a large portion of Freedom Indiana’s efforts to try and lobby the members of that specific committee. The amendment, of course, swiftly passed through the Elections and Apportionment Committee with no hiccups. Freedom Indiana has been playing offense when they should have been playing defense since the amendment was first introduced. Instead, they’ve been sending constituent letters to conservative representatives who truly have nothing to lose by voting for the amendment, but have everything to lose by voting against it. Bosma is the Speaker of the Indiana House for one specific reason — he knows how politics work. And he knows how they work better than Freedom Indiana does. Freedom Indiana needs to see that the only potential way to stop the amendment is to target voters themselves.People must vote no on H.J.R. 3 and vote their representatives, who prefer to put political ambition before basic human decency, out of office in November. Relying on hopeful wishes and spam mail is simply not working. And neither is Freedom Indiana.— ajguenth@indiana.eduFollow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew.