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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, <strong>2024</strong><br />
VOLUME CXXX | ISSUE VIII<br />
CREATING CIVIC LEADERS<br />
Jermaine Ball<br />
Contributing Writer, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
Fostering active citizenship<br />
and community<br />
involvement among college<br />
students has never been<br />
more crucial.<br />
Universities play a vital<br />
role in addressing these<br />
responsibilities by offering<br />
initiatives and programs<br />
designed to promote civic<br />
engagement among their<br />
student bodies. One program<br />
doing this at the University is<br />
Crossroads Civic Engagement<br />
Center.<br />
According to its website,<br />
Crossroads’ vision is a<br />
“University that develops the<br />
civic capacity of its students<br />
and its community partners<br />
in ways that foster a thriving<br />
democratic society at the<br />
Capstone and beyond.”<br />
Lane McLelland,<br />
Crossroads’ executive director,<br />
said the center is focused on<br />
supporting students, faculty,<br />
staff and community partners<br />
and continuing to teach the<br />
civic values, knowledge and<br />
skills that people “need to be<br />
good civic actors.”<br />
McLelland said that voting<br />
is essential to democracy.<br />
“People need to not only<br />
Diversity in STEM<br />
majors at the<br />
University is increasing for<br />
many underrepresented<br />
groups, which reflects<br />
similar changes in the<br />
national workforce.<br />
UA Crossroads celebrating the launch of their new Civic Learning Lab in October 2023. Courtesy of UA Crossroads’ Instagram.<br />
UA Crossroads makes an impact on civic engagement<br />
know how to vote, they need<br />
to vote, not just register and<br />
find out, but they need to<br />
actually do it,” McLelland said.<br />
Civic engagement among<br />
all citizens is important, but<br />
maybe especially among<br />
young people, even more so<br />
for those demographics that<br />
may be underrepresented and<br />
made to feel that their civic<br />
contributions are insignificant.<br />
In 2023, researchers at Tufts<br />
University reported a national<br />
student voting rate of 66%,<br />
and a 2022 study from the<br />
same university found that<br />
Black youth are consistently<br />
underrepresented among<br />
voters.<br />
“I just think it is important<br />
because most of the<br />
advancement for the Black<br />
community has come from a<br />
result of voting,” said Malea<br />
Benjamin, a senior majoring<br />
in communication studies<br />
and political science.<br />
She said that promoting the<br />
need for civic engagement on<br />
platforms that younger people<br />
frequent could also help to<br />
encourage their participation.<br />
“I think the best way to get<br />
people more civically engaged<br />
is to meet people where<br />
they’re at,” Benjamin said. “I<br />
feel like that’s a great way to<br />
help target Black people.”<br />
Benjamin encourages<br />
utilizing social media and<br />
methods like canvassing and<br />
knocking on doors to appeal<br />
to people who otherwise<br />
aren’t very invested in civic<br />
engagement.<br />
“Especially, I think it’s really<br />
great to target young people,<br />
especially young Black people,<br />
because a lot of election<br />
campaigning is through<br />
social media,” Benjamin said.<br />
“Mostly everyone has a phone,<br />
computer, or sees anything<br />
social from a day-today<br />
basis.”<br />
One of the main complaints<br />
about participating in the<br />
political process for some is<br />
accessibility. For instance,<br />
having classes off during<br />
election days isn’t a luxury<br />
afforded to all students,<br />
although there have been<br />
efforts to combat this in<br />
recent years.<br />
However, McLelland said<br />
voting isn’t the only way to<br />
take civic action. <strong>The</strong>re’s also<br />
community problem-solving<br />
or learning to talk to one<br />
another.<br />
Crossroads’ work centers<br />
on five key components:<br />
who identify as Black,<br />
Hispanic/Latino, Asian,<br />
or female is increasing<br />
for the main UA campus.<br />
Meanwhile, the same<br />
metric for Indigenous<br />
students is lagging.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re is momentum<br />
across campus as a record<br />
number of students are<br />
drawn to the preeminent<br />
speaking engagements,<br />
workshops, civic skills<br />
training, consultation and<br />
collaboration, and civic<br />
dialogue.<br />
McLelland focused<br />
on sustained dialogue,<br />
particularly when discussing<br />
Crossroads’ work. Sustained<br />
dialogue is a dialogue-toaction<br />
model utilized to build<br />
relationships for addressing<br />
controversial issues and<br />
making positive changes. <strong>The</strong><br />
model is used in national,<br />
community, corporate and<br />
campus settings.<br />
“One of the things we’ve<br />
noticed is that people think<br />
civic discourse looks one way<br />
and that it looks like what<br />
we see on TV,” McLelland<br />
said. “So, while debate is<br />
important and an analytical<br />
discussion is important,<br />
also the ability to dialogue,<br />
to listen to understand,<br />
and also to articulate your<br />
own perspective is really<br />
important.”<br />
Sustained dialogue helps<br />
to encourage these kinds of<br />
conversations in hopes that<br />
both parties will come away<br />
from a discussion with a<br />
better understanding of the<br />
opposing perspective.<br />
Jackson Harris, director<br />
of Crossroads, stressed that<br />
graduating from college<br />
with a healthy desire for<br />
civic engagement is just as<br />
important as everything else.<br />
“We hope that somewhere in<br />
their university experience,<br />
they’re thinking about these<br />
terms, they’re thinking about<br />
themselves as a citizen or<br />
what does it mean to have a<br />
civic life and participate in it.”<br />
Harris also encourages<br />
students who may<br />
be discouraged from<br />
participating in the<br />
political process. He says<br />
that any anxious energy<br />
spent worrying about<br />
the significance of their<br />
contributions should instead<br />
be channeled into action so<br />
that it may help us continue<br />
to have a healthy society.<br />
“I think that those feelings<br />
also can inspire action and<br />
hope and participation, which<br />
is what we’re shooting for,”<br />
Harris said.<br />
Programs like Crossroads<br />
help inspire people to<br />
amplify their voices and<br />
take advantage of the power<br />
afforded to them, their right to<br />
a thriving democratic society.<br />
To stay up to date with UA<br />
Crossroads, visit its website.<br />
Diversity increases among UA STEM majors<br />
Jacob Ritondo<br />
Assistant News Editor, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Data from the Office of<br />
Institutional Research and<br />
Assessment shows that<br />
the percentage of enrolled<br />
undergraduate students<br />
enrolled in science,<br />
technology, engineering or<br />
mathematics departments<br />
Alabama experience<br />
that propels them to<br />
success,” said Alex<br />
House, assistant director<br />
of communications for<br />
the University. “<strong>The</strong><br />
University’s STEMrelated<br />
programs provide<br />
outstanding teaching,<br />
high-quality scholarship<br />
and distinctive cocurricular<br />
programs.<br />
Coupled with that<br />
academic excellence is a<br />
commitment to develop<br />
opportunities for students<br />
of all backgrounds and<br />
experiences to thrive.”<br />
SEE PAGE 2A<br />
Take classes at Shelton State as a Transient Student.<br />
Visit sheltonstate.edu to apply and register!<br />
INSIDE NEWS 2A SPORTS 5A<br />
CULTURE 1B<br />
OPINIONS 4B
2A<br />
continued from 1A — STEM<br />
news<br />
<strong>The</strong> numbers<br />
In the College of<br />
Engineering, fall enrollment<br />
percentages for Black,<br />
Hispanic/Latino and Asian<br />
students grew considerably<br />
from 2019 to 2023. <strong>The</strong> share<br />
of women also increased:<br />
Black students: 8.24% to<br />
12.42%.<br />
Hispanic/Latino students:<br />
3.73% to 6.74%.<br />
Asian students: 3.29% to<br />
5.3%.<br />
Women: 22.6% to 24.4%.<br />
Indigenous students,<br />
which the University calls<br />
“American Indian or Alaska<br />
Native” students, saw<br />
relative stagnation, going<br />
from 1.6% to 1.58% in the<br />
same period.<br />
STEM majors in the<br />
College of Arts and Sciences<br />
saw similar trends over the<br />
same period, although<br />
less pronounced:<br />
Black students: 13.04% to<br />
14.79%.<br />
Hispanic/Latino students:<br />
5.34% to 7.71%.<br />
Asian students: 3.58% to<br />
3.91%.<br />
Women: 69.1% to 71.4%.<br />
Indigenous students: 1.85%<br />
to 1.81%.<br />
Diversity increases<br />
in STEM are not only<br />
happening at the college<br />
level.<br />
According to a January<br />
2023 report by the National<br />
Science Foundation, the<br />
national workforce has seen<br />
a boost in diversity in recent<br />
years as well.<br />
“Collectively,<br />
underrepresented<br />
minorities — Hispanics,<br />
Blacks, and American<br />
Indians or Alaska Natives —<br />
represented nearly a quarter<br />
(24%) of the STEM workforce<br />
in 2021, up from 18% in<br />
2011,” the report said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> proportion of women<br />
in the STEM workforce<br />
increased by 3 percentage<br />
points during this same<br />
period.<br />
“A diverse workforce<br />
provides the potential for<br />
innovation by leveraging<br />
different backgrounds,<br />
experiences, and points of<br />
view. ... Furthermore, STEM<br />
workers have higher median<br />
earnings and lower rates of<br />
unemployment compared<br />
with non-STEM workers,”<br />
the report said.<br />
Why some groups<br />
of students are<br />
underrepresented<br />
UA student organizations<br />
like the National Society<br />
of Black Engineers and the<br />
Society of Women Engineers<br />
have been fighting the issue<br />
of underrepresentation in<br />
STEM for decades.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se organizations have<br />
similar goals, working to<br />
increase interest in STEM<br />
fields, promote academic<br />
and professional success,<br />
and help the community.<br />
In general, the groups<br />
host representatives from<br />
companies in industry and<br />
professional development<br />
workshops, among other<br />
activities.<br />
Established in 1975,<br />
the UA chapter of the<br />
National Society of Black<br />
Engineers seeks to “increase<br />
the number of culturally<br />
responsible Black engineers<br />
who excel academically,<br />
succeed professionally<br />
and positively impact the<br />
community,” said President<br />
Malachi Battle, a Master of<br />
Business Administration<br />
candidate who studied<br />
aerospace engineering as an<br />
undergraduate.<br />
A first-generation<br />
student, Battle said support<br />
networks like NSBE are<br />
important for Black<br />
engineering students like<br />
him who might otherwise<br />
have trouble finding people<br />
they can identify with and<br />
relate to. He said these<br />
struggles were what led<br />
to the formation of the<br />
national organization<br />
in 1975.<br />
“A lot of Black engineers,<br />
especially in the ’60s, ...<br />
had challenges successfully<br />
completing their programs.<br />
... And why was that so? For<br />
the exact same reasons that<br />
numerous Black engineers<br />
encounter when they came<br />
here: no support, typically<br />
first-generation students,<br />
no community, really, and<br />
frankly put, not everyone is<br />
for you,” Battle said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first of similar<br />
organizations for<br />
Hispanic STEM students,<br />
by contrast, appeared<br />
formally on campus when<br />
the University recognized<br />
the Society of Hispanic<br />
Professional Engineers in<br />
fall 2022.<br />
Vice president Sofia<br />
Estela, a junior majoring<br />
in civil engineering,<br />
said that in some cases,<br />
Hispanic students may<br />
avoid STEM fields due to<br />
the internalized stigma<br />
that Hispanic students are<br />
“supposed” to take on the<br />
jobs “nobody else wants.”<br />
“It's kind of just been<br />
a matter of debunking<br />
that stigma and getting<br />
Hispanics to believe in<br />
themselves and believe that<br />
they have the power to get<br />
what would be considered a<br />
conventionally white man's<br />
job or finish a white man's<br />
degree,” Estela said.<br />
Asian STEM students<br />
face slightly different<br />
challenges, Society of Asian<br />
Scientists and Engineers<br />
Vice President Susan<br />
Xiao said. She said her<br />
organization, like the SHPE,<br />
was recently recognized by<br />
the University.<br />
Xiao said one of the<br />
biggest challenges for<br />
Asian students comes after<br />
graduation.<br />
“Once we get into the<br />
workplace, there's not a<br />
lot of us who end up in<br />
leadership positions,”<br />
Xiao said.<br />
For some students,<br />
underrepresentation can<br />
create impostor syndrome.<br />
Society of Women<br />
Engineers President Hunter<br />
Grace Fairfax, a senior<br />
majoring in computer<br />
science, said this is a<br />
problem faced by many<br />
women in engineering.<br />
“I’ve suffered with it.<br />
I’m sure every woman in<br />
engineering has. <strong>The</strong>y have<br />
... the mindset of ... ‘This is<br />
a hard career,’” Fairfax said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y’re almost waiting for<br />
themselves to get stuck.”<br />
Breaking into aerospace<br />
engineering, where women<br />
made up only 18.8% of fall<br />
2023 enrollment, can be<br />
daunting, said President<br />
of Women of Aeronautics<br />
and Astronautics Emma<br />
Barchus, a senior aerospace<br />
engineering major.<br />
“It's very important<br />
to have resources for<br />
girls, because it's hard to<br />
reach out to classmates,<br />
sometimes, when it's all<br />
men,” Barchus said.<br />
For Indigenous students,<br />
however, representation<br />
in STEM fields is not<br />
increasing. Kaytie Colbert,<br />
co-president of the Bama<br />
Indigenous Student<br />
Organization Network and a<br />
junior majoring in nursing,<br />
said one potential reason is<br />
lack of scholarships.<br />
<strong>The</strong> College of<br />
Engineering had a<br />
9.2%<br />
increase in enrollment of<br />
Black, Hispanic/Latino, and<br />
Asian students<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re aren’t any<br />
scholarships available for<br />
Native students at UA,”<br />
Colbert said. “I definitely<br />
am not satisfied with what<br />
UA is doing, because they<br />
are not actively trying to<br />
increase enrollment of<br />
Native students. Honestly, it<br />
feels like we’re a forgotten<br />
race of people. But we are<br />
not — we are still here.”<br />
Recently, the University<br />
discontinued its main<br />
diversity scholarship,<br />
the National Recognition<br />
Scholarship, in favor of a<br />
competitive scholarship<br />
that does not consider race<br />
or ethnicity.<br />
Colbert said Indigenous<br />
representation in health<br />
care is particularly<br />
important, as Native people<br />
have different traditional<br />
approaches to medicine<br />
than Western medicine.<br />
House did not comment<br />
about why Indigenous<br />
representation in STEM on<br />
campus has<br />
not increased.<br />
Why diversity is<br />
increasing<br />
Students from<br />
underrepresented groups<br />
cited several potential<br />
reasons why diversity<br />
is increasing.<br />
“More people are<br />
beginning to believe,<br />
you know, that they're<br />
capable,” Battle said. “More<br />
people have access to<br />
resources and/or parents or<br />
prominent figures in their<br />
life, encouraging them to<br />
pursue their dreams.”<br />
Fairfax attributed<br />
the growth in women’s<br />
representation partly<br />
to scholarships that the<br />
University offers for women<br />
in STEM.<br />
Several students said<br />
that a rise in interest in<br />
STEM fields is a potential<br />
factor.<br />
“Now that...technology<br />
is really, really growing<br />
and we realize that we<br />
really can't live without<br />
technological literacy, it<br />
has definitely pushed more<br />
education about technology<br />
and engineering to younger<br />
students,” said Cindy Qiu,<br />
vice president of outreach<br />
for the Society of Women<br />
Engineers and a junior<br />
computer science major.<br />
Qiu said that the<br />
combination of taking<br />
Advanced Placement<br />
Computer Science in high<br />
school and hearing a<br />
guest speaker who led an<br />
engineering activity in her<br />
classroom inspired her to<br />
pursue computer science.<br />
“Hispanics, especially<br />
considering most of them<br />
come from lower-income<br />
households, are striving for<br />
career stability and going<br />
into big money, and that<br />
happens to be in STEM,<br />
and there's a ton of growth<br />
opportunity in STEM,”<br />
Estela said.<br />
While being in a STEMrelated<br />
field has been<br />
challenging at times for<br />
Barchus, the work she is<br />
doing inspires her to<br />
keep going<br />
“It is definitely difficult.<br />
But if you make the right<br />
connections, and reach out<br />
to your professors, just put<br />
in the work, you can do it,”<br />
Barchus said. “If all the boys<br />
in my class can do it, then I<br />
can, too.”<br />
Editor's Note: Susan Xiao is a<br />
staff graphic designer for <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
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news<br />
Path Forward: DEI Plans impact campus community<br />
Rachel Seale<br />
Staff Writer, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Jeffrey Kelly<br />
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chairperson, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Writing Editor, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
In 2019, G. Christine Taylor,<br />
vice president and associate<br />
provost of diversity, equity<br />
and inclusion, along with a<br />
committee of faculty, staff<br />
and students, released a set of<br />
recommendations in the Path<br />
Forward Diversity Report with<br />
the goal of reaching greater<br />
diversity, equity and inclusion<br />
on campus.<br />
Though there hasn’t<br />
been a visible update to the<br />
report since 2020, the report<br />
still serves as an outline<br />
for productive diversity<br />
efforts on campus with<br />
diversity initiatives within<br />
departments and colleges<br />
sharing similar objectives to<br />
Path Forward’s overarching<br />
goals of recruiting and<br />
retaining diverse faculty,<br />
staff and students; creating<br />
a more welcoming campus<br />
community; developing<br />
cultural competency; and<br />
expanding diversity, equity<br />
and inclusion infrastructure.<br />
Matthew Hudnall, an<br />
associate professor of<br />
management information<br />
systems and the president<br />
of the Faculty Senate, said<br />
the multifaceted approach of<br />
Path Forward has established<br />
a paradigm and mission for<br />
influencing change.<br />
“Each college has increased<br />
the amount of personnel that<br />
are devoted to increasing<br />
diversity within their own<br />
college,” Hudnall said.<br />
According to their websites,<br />
nine of the 12 colleges within<br />
the University have either a<br />
committee or individual who<br />
is focused on diversity, equity<br />
and inclusion efforts for the<br />
respective college.<br />
Path Forward has also<br />
served as an access point for<br />
needed conversations about<br />
individual diversity plans.<br />
Dr. Pamela Payne-Foster,<br />
the president of the Black<br />
Faculty and Staff Association<br />
and a community medicine<br />
and population health<br />
professor, said that when<br />
BFSA talks to administration<br />
about the need for more<br />
diversity on campus, as with<br />
its 2022 retention project<br />
recommendation, the<br />
organization goes back to<br />
the Path Forward report to<br />
articulate its point.<br />
However, outside<br />
of discussions of Path<br />
Forward, Payne-Foster said<br />
conversations surrounding<br />
diversity, equity and inclusion<br />
aren’t just being raised by<br />
faculty. She said that last<br />
year, during a meeting about<br />
accreditation, there was a<br />
recommendation made for<br />
more diversity, especially<br />
in health care professionals<br />
since the demographics of<br />
people seeking health care<br />
are changing.<br />
“We feel as professors,<br />
we have to prepare our<br />
medical students for that<br />
demographic shift, and many<br />
of them are not equipped,”<br />
Payne-Foster said. “<strong>The</strong>y're<br />
equipped medically to handle<br />
patients, but not culturally<br />
to handle patients who are<br />
different from them.”<br />
Hudnall said there’s<br />
significant value in a diverse<br />
faculty because it introduces<br />
students to diverse views and<br />
creates a better environment<br />
for recruiting diverse<br />
students.<br />
Currently, Hudnall serves<br />
as the co-chair of the hiring<br />
subcommittee within the<br />
Culverhouse College of<br />
Business’ diversity, equity and<br />
inclusion committee, which<br />
is creating a system of checks<br />
and balances to help recruit<br />
diverse applicants for each<br />
department by implementing<br />
a nontraditional marketing<br />
of positions and a check<br />
that helps departments<br />
examine the diversity of their<br />
application pools.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Faculty Senate’s DEI<br />
committee also works to<br />
recruit by highlighting events<br />
like the DEI Summit on<br />
Disability Among Faculty in<br />
March or the DEI Breakfast<br />
in April.<br />
However, Payne-Foster said<br />
when it comes to recruitment,<br />
it's not just the faculty or staff<br />
member you’re recruiting; it's<br />
their family too.<br />
“Say I’m a professor, but<br />
my husband's not. <strong>The</strong>y need<br />
to have a job. <strong>The</strong>re’s not a lot<br />
of job choices here,” she said.<br />
“If the spouse can't get a job,<br />
that's going to keep a person<br />
from coming.”<br />
Payne-Foster said many<br />
factors affect the recruiting<br />
process, like child care,<br />
school systems, culture, arts,<br />
environment, etc.<br />
Yet Path Forward<br />
emphasizes that recruitment<br />
is only half the battle for<br />
lasting diversity. Once<br />
someone is accepted, it’s<br />
important to make sure<br />
they have a welcoming<br />
environment, professional<br />
development, support and<br />
more to ensure that new<br />
faculty want to stay.<br />
When it comes to staff<br />
retention, Hudnall said the<br />
University’s human resources<br />
department has reimagined<br />
the hiring process. Changes<br />
included new staff titles,<br />
opening different pay grades,<br />
increasing pay ranges and<br />
placing a greater emphasis<br />
on a candidate’s experience<br />
and capabilities over their<br />
education.<br />
“That's still an important<br />
check mark, education,<br />
without a doubt, but they're<br />
more acknowledging what<br />
the individual brings to the<br />
table,” Hudnall said. “I think<br />
that allows greater retention<br />
of staff, because the HR<br />
system is now more flexible,<br />
to actually understand and<br />
incorporate the capabilities<br />
and needs of the individual<br />
into that process.”<br />
We feel as professors,<br />
we have to prepare<br />
our medical students<br />
for that demographic<br />
shift, and many<br />
of them are not<br />
equipped. <strong>The</strong>y’re<br />
equipped medically<br />
to handle patients,<br />
but not culturally to<br />
handle patients who<br />
are different from<br />
them.<br />
Dr. Pamela<br />
Payne-Foster<br />
Black Faculty and<br />
Staff Asscociation<br />
President<br />
He said the Office of<br />
Academic Affairs is in the<br />
infancy stage of creating<br />
something similar.<br />
“I think that's an ongoing<br />
opportunity that will<br />
hopefully increase faculty<br />
retention at UA,” Hudnall said.<br />
In terms of student<br />
retention, Hudnall said it's<br />
about ensuring there are as<br />
many resources on campus<br />
as possible to help previously<br />
under-supported students,<br />
like Legacy Scholars or the<br />
Alabama REACH program, so<br />
these students can succeed<br />
in college.<br />
“Greater care is needed<br />
by the University to provide<br />
support mechanisms<br />
for them,” he said. “So,<br />
I know that the central<br />
administration has been<br />
[putting] more and more<br />
programs and effort and<br />
money into supporting those<br />
initiatives.”<br />
André Denham,<br />
associate dean for graduate<br />
academic affairs and a<br />
former member of the Path<br />
Forward committee, said<br />
there are several graduatelevel<br />
programs created to<br />
support graduate students,<br />
like GradACTS, a professional<br />
development program, Tide<br />
Together, a mentorship<br />
program for personal and<br />
professional success, and<br />
the newly launched <strong>Crimson</strong><br />
Odyssey, which offers<br />
mentorship training for<br />
faculty and students.<br />
While different<br />
departments work on creating<br />
programs to recruit and retain<br />
faculty, staff and students,<br />
the creation of respective<br />
faculty/staff and student<br />
organizations like the Asian<br />
American Pacific Islander<br />
Association, the Hispanic-<br />
Latino Association, and other<br />
affinity groups are allowing<br />
diverse people to build<br />
community and create a more<br />
welcoming environment<br />
through their visibility.<br />
For Julia Dominguez, the<br />
president of HLA and a junior<br />
majoring in political science<br />
and psychology, and Valentina<br />
Mora, vice president of HLA<br />
and a sophomore majoring in<br />
French and communicative<br />
disorders, increasing visibility<br />
in their organization has<br />
meant hosting cultural events<br />
for students, like Carnaval, to<br />
showcase that they are more<br />
than just a demographic.<br />
She said even though<br />
Hispanic or Latino students<br />
make up a small percentage<br />
of students on campus —<br />
6.59%, according to the Office<br />
of Institutional Research<br />
and Assessment — they<br />
are present and want that<br />
percentage of students to<br />
know that HLA is here to<br />
support them and make them<br />
feel at home.<br />
As the president of the<br />
AAPIA, Hee Yun Lee, associate<br />
dean for research and<br />
endowed academic chair in<br />
social work and health, said<br />
this sentiment also rings true.<br />
She said the creation<br />
of the AAPIA was a great<br />
improvement in diversity<br />
efforts. Although the<br />
organization has been<br />
operating for only a year, it<br />
has still been able to offer<br />
support, a sense of belonging<br />
and advocacy for the<br />
University’s Asian American<br />
and Pacific Islander faculty,<br />
staff and student community.<br />
Lee said that with every<br />
past and upcoming event —<br />
3A<br />
like the AAPI Heritage Month<br />
celebration in March, the<br />
first AAPI-specific graduation<br />
ceremony in May, or social<br />
events for community<br />
members to join in fellowship<br />
— the organization hopes<br />
to bring joy to the Asian<br />
American and Pacific Islander<br />
communities.<br />
“I see that our visibility is<br />
still small, but it will become<br />
a big impact to the UA<br />
community as well as the<br />
Tuscaloosa community,”<br />
she said.<br />
While these organizations<br />
have worked independently<br />
from Path Forward, the<br />
original pillars have still<br />
been shown throughout<br />
the ongoing work. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
organizations often find<br />
themselves collaborating<br />
with the Division of Diversity,<br />
Equity and Inclusion, because<br />
many initiatives can’t be done<br />
in one department.<br />
Denham said that<br />
collaboration was an<br />
important part of the initial<br />
report because without it,<br />
leaders found themselves<br />
doing more, but were<br />
duplicating efforts. He said<br />
he doesn’t think this was<br />
a bad thing; however, it<br />
showcased how an absence of<br />
a centralized structure makes<br />
people think they must figure<br />
it out themselves.<br />
“So, I think it was well<br />
intentioned, but it actually<br />
wasn’t productive, because<br />
as we said, we weren’t all<br />
moving in the same direction,<br />
but everybody had the same<br />
end goal in mind,” he said.<br />
“You get a whole lot more<br />
economies of scale when<br />
everybody’s working together<br />
collaboratively on the same<br />
thing and going in the<br />
same direction.”<br />
Now, as these organizations<br />
move individually as well as<br />
collectively toward increased<br />
diversity across the board,<br />
many are worried about<br />
what the future of diversity,<br />
equity and inclusion will look<br />
like given a recent “divisive<br />
concepts” bill, Senate Bill 129,<br />
that could potentially halt DEI<br />
programs in Alabama.<br />
However, despite an<br />
unclear future for DEI on<br />
campuses, many hope that<br />
things will only get better in<br />
the post-Path Forward<br />
report era.<br />
To read the complete version,<br />
please visit thecrimsonwhite.com<br />
CW / Shelby West
4A<br />
news<br />
Lawmakers push to cut DEI initiatives across Alabama<br />
Kay Maxwell<br />
Race and Identity Reporter<br />
Assistant Writing Editor, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
Emma Brandenburg<br />
Contributing Writer, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Alabama is one of 20 states<br />
considering restrictions<br />
on diversity, equity and<br />
inclusion initiatives in this<br />
year’s spring<br />
legislative sessions.<br />
Republican-led legislatures<br />
around the country are<br />
considering several bills<br />
this year that would<br />
regulate divisive concepts<br />
in government institutions,<br />
cut state-sanctioned DEI<br />
programs and prohibit<br />
discussion of so-called<br />
divisive concepts in<br />
the classroom.<br />
In 2023, the legislation was<br />
approved 9-3 in a committee<br />
of the state House but failed<br />
to pass in the Senate.<br />
This legislative session,<br />
however, Republican<br />
lawmakers have decided to<br />
take a different route. On<br />
Wednesday, Sen. Will Barfoot,<br />
R-Pike Road, introduced a<br />
revised version of the divisive<br />
concepts bill, Senate Bill<br />
129, in front of the Senate. A<br />
revised version has passed in<br />
the Senate and now awaits a<br />
vote in the state House.<br />
This is the third<br />
consecutive year that<br />
Alabama Republicans have<br />
proposed restrictions on<br />
DEI initiatives. In 2022 and<br />
2023, state Rep. Ed Oliver,<br />
R-Dadeville, introduced<br />
legislation banning the<br />
promotion of “certain<br />
concepts” related to race, sex<br />
and religion in public schools<br />
and universities.<br />
Students and faculty have<br />
begun to question how the<br />
University will adapt the<br />
legislation if passed. Richard<br />
Fording, a political science<br />
professor, believes that the<br />
legislation being debated at<br />
all is concerning.<br />
“I think it’s awful,” he<br />
said. “I think this is part of a<br />
national movement coming<br />
from the right and the<br />
Republican party, and a lot<br />
of it is based in ignorance as<br />
well as some intolerance.”<br />
According to the original<br />
version of SB 129, divisive<br />
concepts are defined to<br />
include, for instance, the<br />
belief that any race, color,<br />
religion or national origin<br />
is inherently inferior or<br />
superior; the assignment<br />
of worth, morality and<br />
oppression based on race;<br />
and assertions that slavery<br />
and racism are aligned with<br />
the founding principles of the<br />
United States.<br />
<strong>The</strong> legislation would also<br />
prevent students from using<br />
a bathroom that does not<br />
align with the sex they were<br />
assigned at birth.<br />
Additionally, the bill would<br />
prohibit public entities from<br />
maintaining DEI offices and<br />
sponsoring DEI programs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> section about<br />
discussion of slavery and U.S.<br />
history has been removed<br />
from the version of the bill<br />
that passed, and some Title IX<br />
protections have been added<br />
as well.<br />
<strong>The</strong> bill clarified that<br />
it will not prohibit state<br />
agencies from promoting<br />
“racial, cultural and ethnical<br />
inclusiveness,” so long as<br />
state agencies do so in a<br />
way that complies with the<br />
bill; prohibit the teaching of<br />
<strong>The</strong> Intercultural Diversity Center on the second floor of the Student Center. CW / Riley Thompson<br />
topics or historical events in a<br />
historically accurate context;<br />
or bar student, faculty and<br />
staff organizations from<br />
hosting DEI programs or<br />
holding discussions about<br />
divisive topics.<br />
However, these<br />
organizations may not use<br />
state funds to hold these<br />
events, and they must<br />
identify the sponsors of these<br />
events at the event and in its<br />
advertisements.<br />
Oliver believes that the<br />
changes made to the bill<br />
will benefit college students<br />
statewide.<br />
“I think the farther we<br />
move away from DEI, the<br />
more it will help students in<br />
general. We would like to be<br />
about two years ahead of a<br />
fad if we could,” Oliver said.<br />
“All of the things that are hotbutton<br />
issues we see today,<br />
post George Floyd, will start to<br />
dissipate within the next year<br />
or two. That’s just the way<br />
things flow.”<br />
Kiana Younker, a master’s<br />
student in theater with<br />
a concentration in arts<br />
management, believes that if<br />
passed, the banning of statefunded<br />
DEI initiatives could<br />
harm minority students.<br />
“This would be an<br />
incredibly dangerous initiative<br />
that jeopardizes the safety of<br />
not only BIPOC individuals on<br />
campus but also LGBTQIA+<br />
and international student<br />
programs,” Younker said.<br />
“Some majors might cease to<br />
exist under that legislation.”<br />
Fording said that<br />
this all stems from a<br />
misunderstanding about<br />
what DEI is.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re are a lot of<br />
exaggerated claims about<br />
what it is that DEI means,”<br />
Fording said. “<strong>The</strong>re is also<br />
misinformation about what<br />
critical race theory means,<br />
and this whole idea of<br />
divisive concepts. It’s just<br />
interesting to me that if we’re<br />
going to be free speech and<br />
freedom of expression, that<br />
should include left and right<br />
at the very least. You can’t<br />
implement it just for<br />
one side.”<br />
Cassandra Simon, an<br />
associate professor in the<br />
School of Social Work,<br />
said the bill reflects a<br />
misinterpretation of higher<br />
education and its purpose.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> bill, like similar<br />
legislation, is based on narrow<br />
thinking,” Simon said. “I view<br />
it as is a kitchen sink of bias,<br />
fear, misunderstanding and<br />
attempt to control education,<br />
what it entails and how it is<br />
put into practice.”<br />
Bryan Fair, a professor<br />
in the law school, believes<br />
that the University is not<br />
doing enough to combat the<br />
potential legislation.<br />
“If I were the university<br />
president, I would be fighting<br />
for diversity and inclusion<br />
and honoring a principle of<br />
equity,” Fair said. “I would<br />
explain why this university<br />
has a special obligation<br />
to do more than perhaps<br />
other universities in the<br />
country. And I would always<br />
be prepared to go to court<br />
to defend the principle of<br />
fairness and equity and<br />
dismantling systemic racism.”<br />
Fording hopes to hear more<br />
support from administrators<br />
for campus diversity.<br />
“If this legislation passes,<br />
I really hope there will be<br />
more vocal leadership from<br />
the very top of the university<br />
administration to sort of<br />
reaffirm their commitment to<br />
diversity,” Fording said.<br />
Fording questioned the<br />
next steps for the University.<br />
“What can be done about<br />
it?” he asked. “If enough of<br />
us on our campus, students<br />
and faculty, agree that this is<br />
a problem, what can we do<br />
about it?”
photo<br />
Significant monuments and moments:<br />
Looking at civil rights locations throughout Tuscaloosa<br />
CW Photo Desk<br />
5A<br />
Foster Auditorium<br />
Now the home of Alabama volleyball and<br />
women’s basketball, Foster Auditorium<br />
became a national historic landmark<br />
in April 2005 as it was where in 1963,<br />
then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood<br />
to oppose desegregation of the<br />
university.<br />
CW/ Hannah Grace Mayfield<br />
Howard-Linton Barbershop<br />
Autherine Lucy, the first Black student<br />
accepted into the University, was<br />
threatened and attacked by a violent<br />
mob on only her third day of studying<br />
library science. Chased by the mob, Lucy<br />
took refuge in the barbershop until she<br />
could be escorted out past the mob later<br />
that afternoon.<br />
CW/ Michael Davis<br />
Dinah Washington Cultural Arts<br />
Center<br />
<strong>The</strong> center is named after Dinah Washington,<br />
a jazz and blues singer born in<br />
Tuscaloosa. She became one of the most<br />
popular African American artists in the<br />
1950s and was inducted into the Alabama<br />
Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986 and in<br />
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.<br />
<strong>The</strong> home was the home of the “Fertile<br />
Ground”: <strong>The</strong> Civil Rights Movement and<br />
its legacy in the Mississippi Delta exhibit<br />
in October of 2015.<br />
CW/ Caroline Simmons<br />
Hunter Chapel A.M.E Zion Church<br />
<strong>The</strong> oldest Black church in Tuscaloosa, it<br />
was founded in 1866 by Shandy Jones,<br />
Alabama’s first Black legislator who<br />
served from 1868 to 1870.<br />
CW/ Caroline Simmons
Color blindness impedes<br />
progress<br />
Nnenna Nwannunu<br />
Contributing Writer, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
don’t see color” is a<br />
"I statement supposed<br />
to serve as some sort of<br />
credibility for those denying<br />
discrimination accusations,<br />
but it’s really the 21st<br />
century’s favorite cop-out.<br />
Having to acknowledge<br />
racism and how it affects<br />
the way we function in<br />
Western society today is<br />
uncomfortable. Americans<br />
hate discomfort.<br />
<strong>The</strong> root of this cause<br />
can be blamed primarily on<br />
white fragility. Scott Proudfit,<br />
an associate professor of<br />
English at Elon University,<br />
defines white fragility as “a<br />
will to innocence that serves<br />
to bury the violence it sits<br />
on top of.” This definition<br />
reveals how some white<br />
people might not realize<br />
the privileges they have<br />
simply because they're part<br />
of a system that gives them<br />
advantages that they don’t<br />
notice or pretend not to.<br />
Race affects us in all<br />
aspects of our life whether<br />
we like it or not, and trying<br />
to create a color-blind<br />
society directly discredits<br />
any struggles for equality<br />
that even allow us to be able<br />
to have conversations like<br />
this.<br />
Color blindness shuts<br />
down any room to have a<br />
productive conversation<br />
about the lives of Black<br />
and brown people in this<br />
country. According to a study<br />
conducted by Pew Research<br />
Center, 76% of Black people<br />
believe that their race is very<br />
important to their identity.<br />
From the music we listen<br />
to to the food we eat, the<br />
clothes we wear, and even<br />
the way we speak in white<br />
or Black spaces, so much of<br />
our identity is to validate the<br />
fact that we are Black.<br />
If you ignore the color<br />
of the skin of not only us<br />
but also our peers, you are<br />
not only denying us of our<br />
experience, but also those<br />
before us, and those who<br />
will come after them. It is<br />
just going to continue to<br />
build upon itself until it is<br />
finally acknowledged. <strong>The</strong><br />
same can be said for social<br />
change.<br />
Simply taking a look<br />
around <strong>The</strong> University of<br />
Alabama’s campus color<br />
blindness allows the subtle<br />
segregation of staff to take<br />
place. Passivity regarding<br />
race in predominantly<br />
white spaces allows for<br />
the absence of minorities<br />
in various groups and<br />
institutions.<br />
When the U.S. during<br />
the 1970s is compared to<br />
how things are now, many<br />
say there's been a lot of<br />
progress socially, which<br />
for some creates a lack of<br />
urgency regarding any calls<br />
for further improvement.<br />
Thinking this way suggests<br />
that while more progress is<br />
needed, we've already come<br />
a long way compared to the<br />
past, so people think things<br />
are OK as they are.<br />
This implies that ideas of<br />
and benefits of things like<br />
privilege that stem from<br />
racism should be forgotten<br />
and ignored. After all, if<br />
you're blind to color you’re<br />
also blind to the struggles<br />
that are attached to it.<br />
Advocacy and activism<br />
are two valuable assets<br />
in social change, because<br />
they require not only the<br />
oppressed to be involved, but<br />
also those who are part of<br />
the more privileged society.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cop-out “I don’t see<br />
color” directly impedes this,<br />
all while glorifying ignorance<br />
and scrutinizing awareness.<br />
Ignoring problems does not<br />
make them go away; they’re<br />
persistent and never ending.<br />
You can always count on<br />
them to be there, like bills on<br />
the first of the month.<br />
opinion + culture<br />
1B<br />
How the Republican debate highlighted a<br />
politically divided campus<br />
Kay Maxwell<br />
Race and Identity Reporter<br />
Assistant Writing Editor, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
On Dec. 6, 2023, the<br />
Republican presidential<br />
primary debate was held at<br />
the Moody Music Building,<br />
making some students<br />
question if the platforming<br />
of polarizing individuals and<br />
organizations is painting a<br />
narrow picture of the campus.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> way the campus<br />
guest speaker process works<br />
is that any organization on<br />
campus is allowed to invite<br />
someone to speak, and the<br />
University can't tell them,<br />
‘No, we don't approve of this,’<br />
and the reason is because<br />
of free speech protections,”<br />
said Richard Fording, a<br />
political science professor.<br />
“But then, if left unregulated,<br />
what does that population of<br />
speakers look like? And for<br />
whatever reason, it seems<br />
that the representation of<br />
the speakers on campus is<br />
heavily right wing.”<br />
Julia Dominguez, a junior<br />
majoring in political science,<br />
said she doesn’t think the<br />
University does enough to<br />
seem neutral.<br />
“Even though it's a public<br />
university, it doesn’t feel like<br />
a public university in the<br />
sense of the politics behind<br />
everything,” Dominguez said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Republican debate is<br />
one of a few events featuring<br />
right-wing figures and<br />
politicians in recent years that<br />
the University has approved.<br />
In April 2023, former Vice<br />
President Mike Pence spoke<br />
against “wokeism,” which<br />
proved divisive. In October<br />
2022, Matt Walsh was<br />
invited, a man noted for his<br />
aggressively anti-LGBTQ+<br />
views.<br />
Both men were invited<br />
by Young Americans for<br />
Freedom, an organization on<br />
campus designed to “provide<br />
conservative students the<br />
opportunity to both network<br />
within the conservative<br />
movement.”<br />
However, in a statement<br />
the University clarified its<br />
stance on political affiliations.<br />
“As a public institution,<br />
UA promotes free speech<br />
and facilitates numerous<br />
opportunities for civil<br />
discourse and the exchange<br />
of ideas,” the statement read.<br />
“This includes welcoming<br />
and supporting student<br />
organizations’ events and<br />
invitations to guest speakers.<br />
Requests are not evaluated<br />
based on content, ideology or<br />
political affiliation.”<br />
Fording questioned if that<br />
is the best way to go about<br />
allowing speakers on campus,<br />
and if it could potentially<br />
make certain students<br />
uncomfortable.<br />
“I think it has detrimental<br />
consequences because we<br />
have a lot of students on<br />
campus who aren’t attracted<br />
to those kinds of speakers,”<br />
Fording said.<br />
Fording said this could also<br />
create an environment where<br />
minority students do not feel<br />
safe.<br />
“I think with some<br />
student populations that are<br />
commonly victimized by hate<br />
crimes or other acts of bigotry,<br />
it makes them feel even more<br />
fearful of being victimized,”<br />
he said. “What makes it even<br />
worse is that some of these<br />
people who come to speak<br />
are explicitly hostile towards<br />
certain groups of students.”<br />
Ja’Kobe Bibbs, a freshman<br />
majoring in political science,<br />
said that the University<br />
provides conflicting messages<br />
1956 / Lyric Wisdom<br />
to its minority students.<br />
“In some ways, it’s really<br />
good, and in some ways it's<br />
really bad for disadvantaged<br />
communities, if you look<br />
at certain communities<br />
compared to others,” Bibbs<br />
said.<br />
Dominguez suggested<br />
that the University could do<br />
more to support vulnerable<br />
students and references<br />
the multiple chalking's<br />
that have appeared on<br />
campus targeting minorities.<br />
Recently, campus chalkings<br />
have sprung up ahead of a<br />
visit Yeonmi Park, a North<br />
Korean defector who aligns<br />
with right-wing values. Park<br />
was also invited by Young<br />
Americans for Freedom.<br />
“If we’re thinking about<br />
everything that they’re<br />
allowing to happen on this<br />
campus, like the chalking<br />
things that have happened in<br />
the past years. It doesn’t feel<br />
like the University cares about<br />
certain students,” Dominguez<br />
said.<br />
Fording said he thinks<br />
a line must be drawn at<br />
a certain point because<br />
this presents a conflicting<br />
message on freedom of<br />
speech.<br />
“I think universities need<br />
to be a place for open, free<br />
expression, that’s clear,” he<br />
said. “<strong>The</strong> question is, can you<br />
draw a line to separate what<br />
[is] legitimate free speech and<br />
what's harmful speech?”<br />
Black students are the welcoming faces of UA<br />
Brandon Smith<br />
Race and Identity Reporter, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> Avanti orientation<br />
team is the University’s<br />
premier group of students<br />
that welcomes incoming<br />
students to campus. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
some of the first faces that<br />
students and their parents<br />
see when they attend Bama<br />
Bound and register for<br />
classes. This year, the Avanti<br />
team is an organization made<br />
up predominantly of<br />
Black students.<br />
Salome Montague, a<br />
sophomore majoring in public<br />
relations and Spanish said the<br />
perceived racial makeup of<br />
the orientation team depends<br />
on the year. When she was an<br />
incoming student, she said,<br />
the team was a more evenly<br />
mixed group.<br />
On the Avanti website,<br />
where staff members<br />
are listed, out of 81 staff<br />
members, most of the<br />
leaders appear to be Black or<br />
people of color, providing the<br />
opportunity to showcase a<br />
more diverse University.<br />
“We try to welcome future<br />
students the best that we can.<br />
To make sure they feel that<br />
UA is the place for them,” said<br />
William Battle, a sophomore<br />
majoring in accounting.<br />
Madison Hoffman, a junior<br />
majoring in public relations<br />
and creative media, said<br />
that she has received the<br />
odd glance from some of the<br />
white students and parents<br />
who come to Bama Bound.<br />
Battle said much the same<br />
about a mostly Black student<br />
group representing<br />
a predominantly<br />
white institution.<br />
“I could tell that we made<br />
some people feel awkward.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y weren’t expecting our<br />
team to look like it does,”<br />
Battle said.<br />
Montague, Battle and<br />
Hoffman all agree that being<br />
a Black student on the Avanti<br />
team allows them to make<br />
the orientation experience for<br />
incoming students of<br />
color better.<br />
Montague, the daughter<br />
of Jamaican immigrants,<br />
said that her most impactful<br />
experiences have been<br />
connecting with and relating<br />
to incoming students<br />
who struggle to adopt the<br />
University as their home<br />
away from home.<br />
Her most prominent<br />
experience was connecting<br />
with a Jamaican mother<br />
whose son would be<br />
attending the University.<br />
Montague felt that she made<br />
a genuine connection with<br />
the mother, beyond trying to<br />
sell the University to her.<br />
Battle feels that the team<br />
has brought more fervor to<br />
the program, for example by<br />
creating a chant to the song<br />
“Swag Surfin’,” by Fast Life<br />
Yungstaz, featuring Easton.<br />
New Avanti orientation leaders pose for a group photo. Courtesy of UA Bama Bound via Instagram<br />
When Hoffman was asked<br />
by a girl and her mother if the<br />
Avanti leaders are normally<br />
predominantly Black, she<br />
responded, “No, but we made<br />
history, and it is for right now.”<br />
Battle and Hoffman agreed<br />
that their impact as Avanti<br />
leaders is being a potential<br />
inspiration to the students of<br />
color who choose to attend<br />
this school.<br />
“We were showing other<br />
African American students<br />
and people of color they can<br />
be in the same leadership<br />
position we’re in,” Battle said.<br />
Similarly, Hoffman said,<br />
“It’s nice to influence other<br />
Black people. You can be face<br />
of this school too.”<br />
Displaying the diversity<br />
of the University and<br />
encouraging students<br />
from Battle, Hoffman, and<br />
Montague all stressed the<br />
importance of the diverse<br />
student population at the<br />
university.<br />
For more information<br />
about the Avanti team, visit<br />
its website.
2B<br />
sports<br />
Rashinda Reed blazes a trail for the future of Alabama volleyball<br />
Kendal Wright<br />
Staff Writer, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
Courtney Larrimore<br />
Staff Writer, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Rashinda Reed, head<br />
coach of the <strong>Crimson</strong><br />
Tide volleyball team, made<br />
history as <strong>The</strong> University of<br />
Alabama’s first Black head<br />
coach after the resignation<br />
of Lindsey Devine in<br />
December of 2021.<br />
“It was exciting to have<br />
a new venture,” Reed said.<br />
“I’m a Georgia alum, so<br />
being able to come back to<br />
the Southern region was<br />
something I was really<br />
excited about.”<br />
Before coaching at<br />
Alabama, Reed was the<br />
assistant coach for the<br />
University of Illinois<br />
volleyball team.<br />
Reed played volleyball<br />
for the University of Georgia<br />
from 2002-04 and graduated<br />
with a bachelor’s degree<br />
in psychology. During her<br />
time at Georgia, her team<br />
took third place in the SEC<br />
tournament in 2002-03 and<br />
took second place in the<br />
Dutch Super Cup overseas<br />
with Longa ’59 in 2007-08.<br />
“Her resume speaks<br />
for itself. ... From our first<br />
conversation, we were drawn<br />
to Rashinda and knew she’d<br />
be an incredible addition<br />
to our coaching staff,”<br />
Greg Byrne, UA director of<br />
athletics, said.<br />
Having played for<br />
many programs, Reed has<br />
combined each unique<br />
experience into something<br />
Black athletes turn hair discrimination into empowerment<br />
Abby McCreary<br />
Sports Editor, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Ta’Kyla Bates<br />
Editor-in-Chief, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
With her long-awaited<br />
return to the Olympic<br />
stage, Gabby Douglas, the<br />
three-time Olympic gold<br />
medalist, will look to compete<br />
in the <strong>2024</strong> Paris Olympics.<br />
Douglas received the allaround<br />
gold and the team<br />
gold in both the 2012 and 2016<br />
Olympic Games. While her<br />
achievements were making<br />
headlines, criticism of her<br />
hairstyle was making<br />
national news too.<br />
During the 2012 Olympic<br />
Games, viewers criticized<br />
16-year-old Douglas’<br />
supposedly “unkempt”<br />
ponytail.<br />
Douglas is just one of<br />
multitudes of Black female<br />
athletes who face scrutiny<br />
regarding their hair.<br />
Black female athletes who<br />
experience discrimination<br />
or criticism due to their hair<br />
are not isolated cases; they<br />
represent systemic issues<br />
rooted in societal prejudices<br />
and stereotypes.<br />
Ketra Armstrong,<br />
a professor of sport<br />
management and director<br />
she can use to coach each of<br />
her athletes individually. She<br />
also played professionally<br />
for five years overseas<br />
in Austria, Spain, the<br />
Netherlands and Finland.<br />
Diversity has been a<br />
constant topic for discussion<br />
as it pertains to collegiate<br />
sports, especially among<br />
leadership roles. According<br />
to the NCAA demographics<br />
database, in 2023, out of<br />
the 20,255 head coaches<br />
active, only 506 were Black<br />
women. Being the first Black<br />
woman to hold such a title<br />
at the University and the<br />
responsibility that brings is<br />
not lost on Reed.<br />
“I’m representing<br />
something so much bigger<br />
than myself in addition to<br />
not just being a woman of<br />
color, but a female,” Reed<br />
said.<br />
During Reed’s first season<br />
in 2022, the <strong>Crimson</strong> Tide<br />
was ranked in the top three<br />
in the SEC in aces and digs.<br />
Alabama also had four<br />
players, outside hitters Abby<br />
Marjama, Kendyl Reaugh,<br />
and Alyiah Wells, and libero<br />
Victoria Schmer, named<br />
to the CSC Academic All-<br />
District list in 2022, which is<br />
a program record.<br />
As a woman of color in a<br />
career where she is in the<br />
minority, Reed hopes to<br />
inspire and empower young<br />
people not to be afraid and<br />
of the Center for Race &<br />
Ethnicity in Sport in the<br />
School of Kinesiology at<br />
the University of Michigan,<br />
discusses women such as<br />
Venus and Serena Williams<br />
who were once criticized<br />
for their beaded braids.<br />
People complained that<br />
the beads violated tennis<br />
etiquette and served as a<br />
distraction, resulting in Venus<br />
Williams losing a point in the<br />
Australian Open quarterfinal.<br />
Venus Williams said<br />
wearing beads in her hair<br />
added to her identity on the<br />
court, especially a court that<br />
is most often played on by<br />
white athletes.<br />
Alabama women’s<br />
basketball guard Loyal<br />
McQueen said hair plays a<br />
big part of her identity on the<br />
court as well.<br />
“It’s all about standing<br />
out and letting the younger<br />
girls know that it’s OK to<br />
be different and it’s OK to<br />
have a different style than a<br />
protective style like twists or<br />
braids,” McQueen said. “It’s<br />
OK to stand out in a different<br />
to keep pursuing whatever<br />
they put their minds to. One<br />
of those players inspired by<br />
Reed was Wells.<br />
"I think it's trailblazing to<br />
show that one of the biggest<br />
schools in the country is<br />
hiring Black women to be<br />
head coaches. She's not in<br />
a supporting role; no, she's<br />
it," Wells said. "And I feel<br />
like if people see us doing it<br />
and setting that standard ...<br />
it's causing a chain reaction<br />
in volleyball, because there<br />
weren't any Black coaches<br />
hired in SEC volleyball before<br />
her. So, I feel like it's going<br />
to lead to just different<br />
opportunities, not only<br />
for coaching, but also for<br />
administrative roles in the<br />
future."<br />
way, so that’s my thought<br />
process with how I wear<br />
my hair.”<br />
With Douglas, it wasn’t so<br />
much about identity as it was<br />
being expected to uphold a<br />
Eurocentric standard of hair.<br />
“We’ve been indoctrinated<br />
with European standards<br />
of what it is, how it should<br />
be, and what should be,”<br />
Armstrong said. “Because<br />
sport is that place where<br />
we all come together. And it<br />
really shouldn't matter about<br />
the color of your skin or the<br />
texture of your hair, but the<br />
color of your uniform and the<br />
character of your game.”<br />
According to the Good<br />
Hair Study conducted by<br />
Perception Institute in 2017,<br />
1 in 3 Black women said that<br />
their hair is the reason they<br />
haven’t exercised, compared<br />
with 1 in 10 white women.<br />
“When we think about<br />
the overall health and wellbeing<br />
of Black individuals<br />
understanding hair or not<br />
wanting to sweat, not wanting<br />
to sweat out a relaxer, a<br />
perm, for sake of dominant<br />
societies’ cultural standards<br />
of beauty,” said Akilah Carter-<br />
Francique, who serves as<br />
the dean for the School of<br />
Education, Health and Human<br />
Services at Benedict College.<br />
Alabama guard Loyal McQueen (#0) dribbles the ball against South Florida on Nov. 16, 2023, at<br />
Coleman Coliseum. CW / Riley Brown<br />
Alabama volleyball coach Rashinda Reed in a huddle with her players before a game.<br />
CW / Elijah McWhorter<br />
Outside of the impact<br />
Reed has made on the<br />
volleyball world, she's also<br />
made impacts a little closer<br />
to home. Wells detailed the<br />
close relationship she has<br />
with Reed and how she<br />
got not only a coach but a<br />
mentor when Alabama hired<br />
Reed.<br />
Wells also found<br />
something she never<br />
thought she'd get in her new<br />
coach: a coach who looked<br />
like her. When coming to<br />
Alabama, she found herself<br />
as the only woman of color<br />
on the team and even in<br />
many of her classes, and<br />
because of this, Reed very<br />
quickly became someone<br />
Wells could relate to.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>re are certain things<br />
As a scholar, Carter-Francique<br />
has studied diversity, equity<br />
and inclusion and social<br />
change in the sports world.<br />
“Having that straight hair,<br />
having that relaxer has also<br />
created challenges, and in<br />
many ways, health issues for<br />
we as Black people,” she said.<br />
I want to say to the<br />
younger girls, especially<br />
the girls that look like<br />
me, to just embrace<br />
their natural hair and<br />
just encourage them,<br />
no matter what other<br />
people say and no<br />
matter how challenging<br />
it is, to be themselves<br />
through their hair, to<br />
love it every step and<br />
every process<br />
Loyal McQueen<br />
Alabama women’s<br />
basketball guard<br />
Alabama women’s<br />
basketball guard Reychel<br />
Douglas said learning how to<br />
do your hair should not<br />
be a setback.<br />
“Even if you don’t know<br />
how to do your hair just yet,<br />
just taking the time to be<br />
patient with yourself and<br />
learning how to do it can<br />
really help you grow closer<br />
with yourself and build that<br />
self-love, so don’t be scared to<br />
take that time and learn how<br />
to do it,” Douglas said.<br />
Several years ago,<br />
legislation was passed in<br />
California to help counter<br />
these Eurocentric hair<br />
standards. In 2019, Dove<br />
and the CROWN Coalition<br />
created the CROWN Act,<br />
along with state Sen. Holly<br />
J. Mitchell. This act helped<br />
“ensure protection against<br />
discrimination based on racebased<br />
hairstyles by extending<br />
statutory protection to hair<br />
texture and protective styles<br />
such as braids, locs, twists<br />
and knots in the workplace<br />
and public schools,” according<br />
to a website created by Dove<br />
and the CROWN Coalition.<br />
that you look for and a<br />
certain experience that<br />
you wish to have as a Black<br />
athlete. And being coached<br />
by a Black female is one of<br />
those things I never thought<br />
I would have," Wells said.<br />
"Just because she could<br />
empathize and understand<br />
the struggles I went through<br />
and was going through as<br />
well."<br />
Reed's appointment<br />
has reverberated not only<br />
throughout the SEC, but<br />
also across the collegiate<br />
volleyball landscape, etching<br />
her name in history as the<br />
first Black woman to helm<br />
the <strong>Crimson</strong> Tide's volleyball<br />
program.<br />
<strong>The</strong> act has played a<br />
significant role in recognizing<br />
the importance of<br />
representation and diversity<br />
in sports as well as sparking<br />
conversation about the<br />
stigma regarding Black hair.<br />
Alabama women’s<br />
basketball guard Aaliyah Nye<br />
chimed in on the topic, saying<br />
young girls should never feel<br />
like they must conform to the<br />
beauty standard.<br />
“If they see Loyal wearing<br />
her puff and they want<br />
to express themselves by<br />
wearing their puff, then they<br />
can wear it,” Nye said. “If they<br />
see me wearing braids and<br />
they want braids, maybe we<br />
can just inspire the younger<br />
people or just anybody<br />
around us to just be who they<br />
are and wear whatever style<br />
they want to wear.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> message carries over<br />
for others on the team as<br />
well, as freshman teammate<br />
Essence Cody said she looks<br />
to all hair for inspiration.<br />
“I look up to everybody<br />
that has natural hair, fluffy,<br />
curly, just any type of hair,<br />
especially Loyal because her<br />
hair is so beautiful and I just<br />
want to get my hair like that<br />
one day,” Cody said.<br />
Although Black female<br />
athletes and their hair have<br />
come a long way since<br />
Venus Williams confronted<br />
discrimination with her<br />
beads in 1999, there is still<br />
a long way to go for the<br />
double standard, the stigma<br />
and the discrimination to<br />
become nonexistent. But<br />
when McQueen and the<br />
other <strong>Crimson</strong> Tide players<br />
and athletes wear their hair<br />
the way they want, progress<br />
continues to be made.<br />
“I want to say to the<br />
younger girls, especially the<br />
girls that look like me, to<br />
just embrace their natural<br />
hair and just encourage<br />
them, no matter what other<br />
people say and no matter<br />
how challenging it is, to be<br />
themselves through their hair,<br />
to love it every step and every<br />
process,” McQueen said.
culture<br />
Bama Flava: Brings Southern cooking to campus<br />
3B<br />
Frederick Fitch, the owner of Bama Flava, standing by his food truck. CW / Natalie Teat<br />
Jeffrey Kelly<br />
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chairperson, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
Writing Editor, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
Along the side of Oliver-<br />
Barnard Hall, the<br />
bright red Bama Flava food<br />
truck’s engine sputtered<br />
as Frederick Fitch, its<br />
owner, parked the vehicle<br />
and stepped down onto<br />
the dewy concrete, ready<br />
to start another day of<br />
business in his second<br />
semester on campus.<br />
Fitch propped a long<br />
whiteboard, which featured<br />
the food truck’s specials for<br />
the day scrawled in marker<br />
along with the phrase<br />
“Smile somebody love you,”<br />
against the truck’s front tire<br />
and reentered the vehicle<br />
to continue preparing for<br />
opening in an hour at 10<br />
a.m.<br />
From then, he and an<br />
employee would work until<br />
2 p.m. in the truck, serving<br />
various Southern foods to<br />
the UA community, like<br />
smoked cut wings, slabs of<br />
ribs, pulled chicken nachos<br />
and what seemed to be<br />
some students' favorite<br />
menu item, pulled pork<br />
sandwiches.<br />
“I had one person who<br />
told me, ‘Man, this here<br />
needs to be in the stadium.’<br />
That was something to<br />
hear,” Fitch said. “That says<br />
a lot.”<br />
Often, Fitch likes to<br />
stand outside his truck and<br />
give people samples of the<br />
pulled pork so they can see<br />
what the fuss was all about.<br />
Later, around noon, as<br />
students filed out of classes<br />
and onto the sidewalks,<br />
Ashanti Pointer, a junior<br />
majoring in kinesiology<br />
and returning customer,<br />
stood in line at Bama Flava<br />
waiting to order one of<br />
today’s specials, spaghetti.<br />
Usually, Pointer said,<br />
her go-to choice was the<br />
pulled pork nachos because<br />
the pulled pork reminded<br />
her of her grandfather’s<br />
cooking back home, but<br />
when she comes to the<br />
food truck, she likes trying<br />
out the different specials<br />
for<br />
the day.<br />
Fitch said it brings him<br />
joy to know he’s providing a<br />
good product to<br />
his customers.<br />
In a statement, Bruce<br />
McVeagh, Bama Dining’s<br />
district manager, wrote,<br />
"Bama Dining is extremely<br />
happy to partner with<br />
such a talented culinary<br />
professional as Bama Flava<br />
on the campus.”<br />
However, Fitch said he<br />
feels like he’s still getting a<br />
feel for the University since<br />
it’s been a long journey for<br />
Bama Flava<br />
to campus.<br />
Bama Flava started<br />
in July 2016 while Fitch<br />
was working at a plant in<br />
Cottondale. He saw a need<br />
This is our water.<br />
Help UA protect it.<br />
Only rain down the drain.<br />
for a restaurant nearby<br />
because employees were<br />
given only 30 minutes for<br />
lunch, which many found<br />
impossible if they didn’t<br />
bring something from<br />
home.<br />
“So, when I left the plant,<br />
I was already in transition<br />
with the business,” Fitch<br />
said.<br />
He returned to the plant<br />
not long after with a food<br />
trailer, and since then,<br />
Fitch has been serving his<br />
former co-workers and the<br />
surrounding Cottondale<br />
and Tuscaloosa community<br />
for almost eight years.<br />
Fitch said it’s always<br />
been a goal to get the<br />
food trailer on campus,<br />
but when he began doing<br />
research into it he realized<br />
that the University<br />
wouldn’t allow trailers, so<br />
he had to spend some time<br />
regrouping before he tried<br />
again.<br />
He said these past few<br />
years have been a roller<br />
coaster but a welcome<br />
journey because the<br />
challenges made meeting<br />
his goal feel even better.<br />
Essie Banks, one of<br />
Fitch’s employees, has<br />
been working with him for<br />
three years and said it’s<br />
been wonderful working on<br />
campus and meeting new<br />
people.<br />
“All the students out<br />
there are good people, and<br />
they always speak to me<br />
and smile. If I smile or say<br />
hello, they always respond,”<br />
Banks said.<br />
Banks said the positive<br />
response on campus has<br />
meant a lot to her because<br />
the Bama Flava team is like<br />
a family.<br />
This bond is also<br />
reflected in the food Bama<br />
Flava prepares. Not only<br />
did both Fitch and Banks<br />
learn to cook from their<br />
respective mothers when<br />
they were young, but many<br />
of the truck’s recipes are<br />
adapted from recipes<br />
Fitch’s and his employees’<br />
families created.<br />
Fitch said his mother<br />
died before he started the<br />
business, but the recipes,<br />
like his banana pudding,<br />
are a part of his mother<br />
that is still with him.<br />
“She’d be, I think,<br />
overjoyed to see where<br />
her son has came from to<br />
where he is now,” he said.<br />
Along with the banana<br />
pudding, Fitch said one of<br />
his favorite things to make<br />
is the smoked turkey leg<br />
or “bam bam,” as he likes<br />
to call it. He said he likes<br />
smoked turkey when it’s<br />
cooked right, but if not, it’s<br />
like throwing money in the<br />
trash.<br />
“Over here at Bama<br />
Flava, I think I got it right,”<br />
Fitch said. “Most places,<br />
when you say you want<br />
some turkey, they think<br />
it’s dry, but no, not here.<br />
<strong>The</strong> turkey is very juicy —<br />
tender, really falling off the<br />
bone.”<br />
Fitch’s favorite part<br />
of running a food truck<br />
on campus is building<br />
relationships with<br />
customers. He said he’s<br />
proud to have return<br />
customers because it lets<br />
him know he’s doing a good<br />
job.<br />
“We are confident that<br />
this relationship will<br />
continue to bring both<br />
memorable moments and<br />
delicious offerings to our<br />
students, faculty/staff and<br />
campus visitors,” McVeagh<br />
wrote. “We look forward<br />
to seeing what the future<br />
holds for this partnership.”<br />
Fitch said every day<br />
is trial and error, so he<br />
strives to be better, and he’s<br />
thankful to customers old<br />
and new and anyone who’s<br />
offered support from the<br />
beginning to now.<br />
“Thank y’all from the<br />
bottom of my heart. It’s a<br />
dream come true,” Fitch<br />
said. “Be on the lookout for<br />
more; we’re coming with<br />
more, bigger and better.”<br />
To stay up to date with<br />
Bama Flava, interested<br />
patrons can follow the<br />
business on Instagram or<br />
find it on campus Monday<br />
through Friday from 10<br />
a.m.-2 p.m. Its scheduled<br />
location can be found on<br />
the Bama Dining website.<br />
Shop Boots,<br />
Jeans, & Hats<br />
For questions, comments, or concerns<br />
about Storm Water, contact<br />
Environmental Health & Safety<br />
(205) 348-5905 | ehu.ua.edu | @EHS_UA<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Wharf<br />
in Northport<br />
220 Mcfarland Blvd N (205)-752-2075
4B<br />
1956 / Lyric Wisdom<br />
2023 saw an<br />
unprecedented spike in<br />
anti-LGBTQ+ legislation<br />
across the nation, with at<br />
least 510 bills introduced<br />
at the state level. At the<br />
same time, there have been<br />
attempts to ban critical<br />
race theory, with 783<br />
anti-CRT measures being<br />
introduced across the<br />
country.<br />
For Black and queer<br />
youth, the erasure of Black<br />
and queer representation<br />
in education can have<br />
detrimental effects on<br />
their self-perception.<br />
Examples of this can<br />
be seen in Florida, where<br />
Gov. Ron DeSantis has<br />
signed off on various<br />
bills attacking LGBTQ+<br />
individuals and critical<br />
race theory. <strong>The</strong>se bills<br />
include banning classroom<br />
instruction on sexual<br />
orientation and gender<br />
identity, and extensive<br />
book bans, particularly<br />
of books highlighting<br />
queerness and Blackness.<br />
“I do think that it<br />
creates this mass narrative<br />
that villainizes people<br />
that aren’t just straight<br />
and white, and I hate<br />
that,” said Isaiah Caldwell,<br />
community director for<br />
the Magic City Acceptance<br />
Center in Birmingham.<br />
One course being<br />
banned is Advanced<br />
Placement African<br />
American Studies, which<br />
includes lessons on<br />
queer abolitionists and<br />
revolutionaries.<br />
In an interview with<br />
the Advocate, Brandon<br />
Wolf, press secretary for<br />
Equality Florida, spoke on<br />
the importance of youth<br />
learning about Black,<br />
queer history.<br />
“It sounds like Ron<br />
DeSantis would himself<br />
benefit from taking AP<br />
African American Studies,<br />
as he has no knowledge<br />
of the critical role that<br />
culture<br />
A moment in the spotlight:<br />
Black women make waves in the music industry<br />
Nineteen Fifty-Six Staff<br />
Black women have<br />
seen an uptick in<br />
the recognition of the<br />
contributions they have<br />
made to music.<br />
<strong>The</strong> recent Grammy<br />
wins for singer-songwriter<br />
Victoria Monét are<br />
monumental in an<br />
industry that has not<br />
always recognized the<br />
talents of Black women.<br />
Her award for best new<br />
artist earlier this month<br />
served as a culmination of<br />
a 15-year effort from the<br />
Atlanta-born singer.<br />
“I just want to say<br />
to everybody who has a<br />
dream, I want you to look<br />
at this as an example,”<br />
Monét said in her<br />
acceptance speech. “I like<br />
to liken myself to a plant,<br />
and I feel like today I’m<br />
sprouting, finally above<br />
ground.”<br />
Even in genres not<br />
dominated by Black<br />
women, <strong>The</strong>y are still<br />
heavily involved in the<br />
process either literally<br />
or by influence. Many<br />
mainstream pop stars like<br />
Ariana Grande have been<br />
influenced by and work<br />
with Black women to make<br />
their music come to life.<br />
Monét is one of<br />
Grande’s most frequent<br />
collaborators, penning<br />
songs like “7 Rings,”<br />
“Thank U, Next” and<br />
“34+35” with the singer.<br />
She has finally stepped<br />
into the limelight, creating<br />
a space in music for<br />
herself.<br />
Genres such as R&B and<br />
hip-hop have been heavily<br />
influenced by Black<br />
women, even though these<br />
genres have historically<br />
been dominated by men.<br />
From ’60s artists such<br />
as Aretha Franklin and<br />
the Supremes, to ’90s<br />
hitmakers like Whitney<br />
Houston, Janet Jackson<br />
and Mariah Carey, Black<br />
women have continued<br />
to emerge as influential<br />
figures and trailblazers for<br />
upcoming generations.<br />
Allisyn Freeman, a<br />
freshman majoring in<br />
news media and member<br />
of the Million Dollar Band,<br />
has drawn inspiration<br />
from Black female<br />
musicians in every aspect<br />
of her life. She said Black<br />
women are forced to go<br />
the extra mile to gain the<br />
recognition they deserve.<br />
“I feel like society<br />
is always praying on<br />
Black women’s downfall<br />
because they don’t want<br />
to see us win or do well,”<br />
Freeman said. “I think that<br />
something that’s promoted<br />
is not our strengths, but<br />
what can be perceived<br />
as our weaknesses. But<br />
honestly, I think that<br />
makes us stronger as Black<br />
women, because we’ve<br />
never had anybody rooting<br />
for us, we’ve had to do<br />
it ourselves.”<br />
While Black women<br />
may be widely known<br />
for their contributions to<br />
R&B, hip-hop and soul,<br />
their artistry can hardly<br />
be relegated to those three<br />
genres. <strong>The</strong>ir presence<br />
can be found in pop, folk,<br />
country, punk rock and<br />
LGBTQ+ youth of color are caught in a web of restrictions<br />
Angelina Bearden<br />
Contributing Writer, Nineteen Fifty-Six<br />
many other genres.<br />
Black female artists<br />
like Ohio native Tracy<br />
Chapman, who has been<br />
a mainstay in the music<br />
industry for decades,<br />
mainly known for her folk/<br />
blues rock sound, have<br />
seen a resurgence in the<br />
last few months.<br />
Chapman graced the<br />
Grammys stage this year<br />
and performed her wildly<br />
popular song “Fast Car”<br />
with Luke Combs. <strong>The</strong><br />
35-year-old song recently<br />
skyrocketed back into the<br />
Billboard Hot 100 charts<br />
for the first time since its<br />
1988 release, sitting at<br />
No. 42.<br />
Beyoncé, a pillar of the<br />
music industry for almost<br />
three decades, has also<br />
transitioned into country<br />
music. With the release of<br />
her new songs “Texas Hold<br />
’Em” and “16 Carriages,”<br />
she has set out on a<br />
mission to reclaim country<br />
music as a space for<br />
Black artistry.<br />
With speculation of her<br />
forthcoming album,<br />
“Act II” — following<br />
“Renaissance” — being<br />
a country album, many<br />
country music enthusiasts<br />
have spoken out against<br />
this change. Some have<br />
even gone as far as to<br />
exclude her newest work<br />
from the category of<br />
country music.<br />
An Oklahoma radio<br />
station, KYKC, refused<br />
to play Beyoncé on the<br />
airways, responding in an<br />
email to a fan saying, “we<br />
do not play Beyonce on<br />
KYKC as we are a country<br />
music station,” sparking<br />
queer people have played<br />
in Black history in our<br />
country,” Wolf said.<br />
Joshua Baker, a graduate<br />
student in philosophy<br />
and youth programs<br />
coordinator for <strong>The</strong> Knights<br />
and Orchids Society, a<br />
grassroots organization<br />
focused on fighting racial<br />
and gender injustice,<br />
personally felt that the<br />
Alabama education system<br />
tried to erase his identity<br />
as a Black, queer man.<br />
“From a formal<br />
perspective, there was no<br />
education as a queer man<br />
who knew very young, I<br />
was having to recharge<br />
myself and look for TV<br />
shows and have to, like,<br />
kind of piece together<br />
these fantasies of what<br />
your life could be,”<br />
Baker said.<br />
Research has<br />
shown how important<br />
representation is,<br />
especially for historically<br />
marginalized communities.<br />
Three-quarters of Black<br />
parents agree that<br />
representation is important<br />
in the media that their<br />
children consume, and 89%<br />
of LGBTQ+ youth reported<br />
that seeing their sexuality<br />
represented in the media<br />
made them feel good about<br />
being LGBTQ+.<br />
“When we’re able to<br />
see Black, queer joy, we’re<br />
able to imagine ourselves<br />
within Black, queer joy,<br />
right?”<br />
Baker said.<br />
According to a study<br />
conducted by <strong>The</strong> Trevor<br />
Project, 44% of Black<br />
LGBTQ+ youth seriously<br />
considered suicide in 2023,<br />
and 2 in 3 youth reported<br />
that their mental health<br />
declined drastically after<br />
hearing about potential<br />
bans on the discussion of<br />
LGBTQ+ people in schools.<br />
backlash from fans.<br />
Despite this, Beyoncé’s<br />
“Texas Hold ’Em” has<br />
reached the top of the<br />
Billboard country charts,<br />
making her the first Black<br />
woman to achieve<br />
this milestone.<br />
Beyoncé is determined<br />
to highlight the roots<br />
music genres founded by<br />
the Black community.<br />
<strong>The</strong> woes Black women<br />
face within the industry<br />
stem from both patriarchal<br />
and societal norms<br />
that enforce negative<br />
stereotypes and ideals<br />
on artists. Colorism, for<br />
example, runs rampant<br />
throughout the industry,<br />
making it difficult for<br />
darker-skinned artists to<br />
gain the success that they<br />
deserve. However, artists<br />
“If the only narratives<br />
we see are around grief, or<br />
around trauma, that might<br />
be the only way we think<br />
about our ability to exist,<br />
right?” Baker said.<br />
Erasing Black and queer<br />
history takes away more<br />
than just lessons on past<br />
events; it also takes away<br />
important connections of<br />
self-acceptance, identity<br />
and important experiences<br />
that aid in personality<br />
development for youth,<br />
advocates say. To Baker,<br />
this erasure isn’t new.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> reality is, we’ve<br />
been very closed off<br />
from education and<br />
representations of<br />
ourselves for years,”<br />
Baker said.<br />
While legislation<br />
changes are sweeping the<br />
nation, local organizations<br />
are still providing safe<br />
spaces and educational<br />
opportunities for youth<br />
and adults alike to learn<br />
about LGBTQ+ and Black<br />
history.<br />
Caldwell and Lauren<br />
Jacobs, assistant director of<br />
the Magic City Acceptance<br />
Center, work with LGBTQ+<br />
youth, providing history<br />
lessons, safe spaces and<br />
fun community events.<br />
Magic City Acceptance<br />
Center hosts educational<br />
forums for both parents<br />
and youth, adult LGBTQ+<br />
events, and proms<br />
specifically for queer<br />
youth that may not be<br />
allowed to show their<br />
identity in their schools.<br />
<strong>The</strong> center hosts inperson<br />
events and closely<br />
monitors a Discord chat<br />
that allows queer youth<br />
to hold conversations<br />
about identity and<br />
self-acceptance.<br />
“Knowing that you<br />
deserve that space for<br />
yourself to be authentically<br />
such as Coco Jones are<br />
changing this narrative<br />
and gaining mainstream<br />
success.<br />
“I definitely feel like<br />
the industry for darkskinned<br />
Black women has<br />
gotten better and better,<br />
especially since I was a<br />
young girl,” Jones said in<br />
an interview with People<br />
magazine in 2023. “And I<br />
think the more storylines<br />
and the more positions<br />
of power that are told<br />
from a woman of color's<br />
perspective, the more<br />
opportunities [there are]<br />
for women to play those<br />
roles and to hire women<br />
that would understand<br />
those storylines.”<br />
Victoria Monét won best new artist, best R&B album and best engineered album, non-classical, at the<br />
<strong>2024</strong> Grammys on Feb. 4. Courtesy of Dalvin Adams via Instagram.<br />
you, regardless if other<br />
people are able to meet<br />
you there, you being able to<br />
build that strength within<br />
yourself is huge,”<br />
Jacobs said.<br />
Both Jacobs and<br />
Caldwell provide youth<br />
with advice about<br />
accepting themselves and<br />
learning to love who<br />
they are.<br />
“It’s more harmful to try<br />
to be someone that you’re<br />
not, and not realizing that<br />
you have to be yourself,<br />
because there is only one<br />
you,” Caldwell said.<br />
Jacobs believes students<br />
being able to find support<br />
networks like the Magic<br />
City Acceptance Center<br />
is important because it<br />
shows them that they are<br />
loved and deserving of joy.<br />
“You deserve an<br />
Alabama that’s going<br />
to not just tolerate, not<br />
just accept but actually<br />
celebrate you in your<br />
Blackness, queerness,<br />
transness and all of those<br />
intersections,” Jacobs said.<br />
Though Black and<br />
LGBTQ+ history is being<br />
challenged within<br />
educational systems, many<br />
youths are still living<br />
and learning through<br />
peers, social media and<br />
their own experiences,<br />
creating a new narrative<br />
for themselves and those<br />
around them.<br />
“You can try and clamp<br />
down on these topics in<br />
our educational spaces, but<br />
you are not going to ever<br />
eradicate LGBTQ people<br />
and LGBTQ youth. Period,”<br />
Jacobs said.<br />
For more information on<br />
these organizations, visit<br />
www.tkosociety.org and<br />
www.magiccityacceptance<br />
center.org
opinion<br />
<strong>The</strong> Capstone should be a home to everyone<br />
Angel Scales<br />
Contributing Columnist, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Crimson</strong> <strong>White</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> University of<br />
Alabama has nearly<br />
40,000 students enrolled,<br />
setting a new record in fall<br />
2023. Of those students,<br />
about 23.3% are from ethnic<br />
and racial minority groups.<br />
<strong>The</strong> University’s<br />
website boasts of its<br />
“record enrollment of<br />
9,342 ethnic and racial<br />
minority students” and<br />
the “highest number<br />
of under-represented<br />
minority students enrolled<br />
at any university in<br />
the State of Alabama.”<br />
However, it still seems<br />
as if minority students<br />
aren’t experiencing a fully<br />
“welcoming” campus.<br />
What does a welcoming<br />
campus look like? <strong>The</strong>re<br />
should be an obvious<br />
safe and comfortable<br />
climate. Not safe in the<br />
way that there is a low<br />
crime rate (although that is<br />
important), but safe in the<br />
way that minorities aren’t<br />
hesitant to “be a minority<br />
in a certain place.” In other<br />
words, there should be an<br />
increase in overall diversity<br />
(this includes staff).<br />
<strong>The</strong> University has<br />
notably made efforts to<br />
try to fix its dark past. In<br />
2022, the University of<br />
Alabama System’s board of<br />
trustees voted to rename<br />
an academic building after<br />
facing criticism for the<br />
original name honoring<br />
Bibb Graves, former<br />
Alabama governor and<br />
leader in the Ku Klux Klan.<br />
<strong>The</strong> building is now called<br />
Autherine Lucy Hall, after<br />
the first Black student at<br />
<strong>The</strong> University of Alabama.<br />
At first, the University<br />
sought to combine the two<br />
names, which was met<br />
with immediate backlash.<br />
Other universities, such as<br />
Troy University, promptly<br />
removed the former<br />
governor’s name from their<br />
buildings as well. <strong>The</strong> new<br />
question being asked was,<br />
“Does his history of racism<br />
outweigh his positive<br />
achievements, so much<br />
so that he should not be<br />
honored with a building<br />
named after him?” — for<br />
Graves, the short answer<br />
is yes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> longer answer<br />
comes in the form of a<br />
rhetorical question: How<br />
would you feel if you were<br />
a Black student, newly<br />
enrolled in a predominantly<br />
white institution that<br />
claims to promote and<br />
encourage diversity on<br />
its campus, but you had<br />
to enter buildings named<br />
after people who, if they<br />
were alive, would be utterly<br />
disgusted to see you on<br />
that campus?<br />
Unfortunately, this is<br />
still the reality for many<br />
Black students, as the<br />
University still has many<br />
buildings named after<br />
racists, like B.B. Comer Hall<br />
and the Gorgas buildings,<br />
completely ignoring<br />
the problematic actions<br />
these people have done<br />
in favor of honoring the<br />
good they’ve supposedly<br />
exhibited.<br />
Aside from honoring<br />
racists, the University also<br />
has noticeable differences<br />
between its white and Black<br />
sororities and fraternities.<br />
<strong>The</strong> predominantly white<br />
sororities and fraternities<br />
each have their own “rows,”<br />
which showcase their<br />
large, gorgeous houses. <strong>The</strong><br />
Divine Nine, predominantly<br />
Black sororities and<br />
fraternities, aren’t given<br />
that luxury.<br />
One could argue that D9<br />
aren’t given the pretty, big<br />
houses because there aren’t<br />
enough Black students<br />
to fill such houses, but<br />
that would be a lie. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
are thousands of Black<br />
students on campus, many<br />
of whom are in<br />
Greek life.<br />
In 2023, the streaming<br />
platform Max released<br />
a documentary on <strong>The</strong><br />
University of Alabama’s<br />
“rush” process. Rush,<br />
according to Forbes, is “a<br />
series of recruitment events<br />
prospective members must<br />
undergo to get a ‘bid’ to<br />
join a collegiate Greek<br />
organization.” #BamaRush<br />
trends on TikTok like<br />
clockwork each year as new<br />
freshmen come to campus.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Greek life culture is<br />
undeniably a major reason<br />
why people come to the<br />
University. Since sororities<br />
and fraternities are so well<br />
liked on the Capstone’s<br />
campus, the D9 should be<br />
offered the same lavishness<br />
as their predominantly<br />
white counterparts.<br />
<strong>The</strong> University’s efforts<br />
to promote diversity and<br />
inclusion for Black students<br />
are commendable, as it has<br />
changed some building<br />
names, and mySource —<br />
a website dedicated to<br />
providing information for<br />
events and organizations<br />
at UA — lists a plethora of<br />
clubs dedicated to minority<br />
students. <strong>The</strong> University<br />
also offers courses<br />
revolving around minority<br />
studies, like AAST 375:<br />
Freedom Beyond Rights.<br />
However, minority<br />
students still need more<br />
representation and<br />
sensitivity.<br />
For example, the<br />
University’s official fight<br />
song, “Yea Alabama,” still<br />
includes the line “You’re<br />
Dixie’s football pride,” a nod<br />
to the South’s antebellum<br />
period. Tammy Ingram, a<br />
historian, said the word is<br />
offensive because it “evokes<br />
a very nostalgic and<br />
romanticized view<br />
of slavery.”<br />
This sparked an<br />
organized campaign in<br />
2022 as activists on campus<br />
sought to get the lyrics<br />
changed. Cassandra Simon,<br />
an associate professor of<br />
social work involved with<br />
the campaign, said she<br />
had “stopped going to all<br />
athletic events” once she<br />
realized how prevalent the<br />
fight song was.<br />
Unfortunately, this issue<br />
was more or less ignored<br />
as students on campus<br />
counteracted the petition,<br />
claiming the lyrics show<br />
pride about where they<br />
come from.<br />
This was just one<br />
example of Black voices<br />
being quieted and reduced<br />
to nothing but a “woke<br />
agenda,” a term often used<br />
to minimize the real issues<br />
minority groups bring up to<br />
promote a more progressive<br />
society.<br />
More recently, in 2023,<br />
UA decided to rid itself of<br />
its National Recognition<br />
Scholarship, an award<br />
dedicated to minority<br />
students (and something<br />
I was awarded when I was<br />
accepted into this school).<br />
Reminiscent of the ending<br />
of affirmative action, all<br />
minority students are<br />
affected by this decision,<br />
and it only hurts us in the<br />
long run.<br />
<strong>The</strong> number of anti-<br />
Black comments I’ve heard<br />
is horrific, and I’ve often<br />
found myself not knowing<br />
what to do when I’m faced<br />
with this. Speaking up is an<br />
obvious solution, but I often<br />
come to the realization that<br />
the people saying these<br />
things are the people who<br />
are most valued on<br />
this campus.<br />
I shouldn’t have to doubt<br />
that the University would<br />
take action against these<br />
5B<br />
people. But I do. I think I’ll<br />
be humored for a while,<br />
but then ignored, and I can<br />
only assume other minority<br />
students feel the same way.<br />
Steps have been taken<br />
to make up for the school’s<br />
racist past, and that’s great,<br />
but I can’t help but feel as if<br />
I’m still an oddball on this<br />
campus. Work still needs<br />
to be done, and there are<br />
two specific reforms I think<br />
should be implemented.<br />
Before freshmen and<br />
transfer students arrive,<br />
they’re taken on a two-day<br />
orientation that tours the<br />
campus and allows new<br />
students to be acclimated.<br />
I think there should be<br />
a brief talk on diversity<br />
added to orientation. Not<br />
the usual “<strong>The</strong> University<br />
values all our students and<br />
promotes diversity” talk,<br />
but instead a very blunt<br />
and serious conversation<br />
about what diversity<br />
looks like, how minority<br />
students on campus can<br />
access different resources,<br />
and how no behaviors<br />
emphasizing any “phobics”<br />
or discriminatory “isms” are<br />
allowed on campus.<br />
Minority students should<br />
also be given a resource<br />
that will allow them to<br />
quickly and safely report<br />
any discrimination (in any<br />
capacity). We should be able<br />
to report these instances as<br />
soon as they happen and be<br />
taken seriously and<br />
with respect.<br />
<strong>The</strong> University of<br />
Alabama certainly has an<br />
ugly past, but if it continues<br />
to push for a campus that<br />
reflects a diverse and<br />
welcoming society, all<br />
minority students would be<br />
more comfortable.