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Kaepernick was right

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Kaepernick was right

    Kaepernick was right. That statement will cause one of two reactions: people who support him, and know what they are talking about, will nod their heads in agreement while those who don’t support him will get upset and stop reading. Whatever the case may be, he was right and there is no doubt in my mind about it; Colin Kaepernick was right.

    If anyone is confused about what I am referring to, here is the breakdown. During a San Francisco 49er’s preseason game in 2016, Kaepernick was noticed to be sitting down during the national anthem. It caused a small stir but not enough to get attention. By September, Kaepernick was seen kneeling, instead of sitting down, or the preferred, standing, during the national anthem.

    He continued to do this with more and more players from his own team, as well as others in the league, joining him and refused to stand during the anthem, rather, they took a knee. As the season continued, Kaepernick’s actions inspired more people, such as soccer players and high school athletes who joined in his peaceful protest. This started debates by pretty much everyone who knew what was going on, more negative reviews than good. By the next year, early 2017, Kaepernick was released from the 49er’s and the backlash continued.

    Kaepernick hasn’t played for the NFL  since. After getting released and branded as someone who disrespected this country, he was seen as a pariah. Even President Donald Trump was caught giving his two cents on the situation, and I’m sure everyone can guess his reaction to it. But, that wasn’t the end of Kaepernick.

    At the beginning of this month, the successful athletic brand Nike released an ad that turned the entire country upside down. Nike made Kaepernick the new face of the brand and everyone basically lost their marbles, but it’s funny because everyone that has gotten mad really doesn’t know why they’re mad in the first place.

    Kaepernick started kneeling for one reason and that reason was to peacefully protest against police brutality. At the time, there were countless incidents that left civilians dead because of excessive use of police force and most of those incidents included African Americans. Kaepernick was fed up and frankly, so was everyone, so he decided that enough was enough and he needed to take a stand.

    For everyone that thought that Kaepernick was dead wrong, I have a question for you: why? Why do you think that? If you say it’s because he disrespected the country and those who have fought for this country, were wounded or lost their lives then let me stop you right there. Kaepernick didn’t disrespect veterans and he had veterans on his side. In fact, after he sat down, a veteran came to him and told him the proper and respectful way to protest was to take a knee instead.

    Honestly, everyone who tries to make the argument about respecting the veterans are hypocrites. Ask yourself, when was the last time you took a stand and helped out a veteran you’re so worried about? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t care about the veterans but unless you have actually helped, don’t make that argument. Kaepernick was trying to take a stand and peacefully protest for something he thought needed to be changed. He was taking a stand for his people, just like you’re trying to take a stand for your people, the veterans.

    Another thing that happened was the backlash against Nike and honestly, the way people tried to boycott the brand was incredibly stupid. There were videos and pictures of people burning Nike gear. Shoes, shirts, shorts, book bags, anything with that famous check on it was on fire as if that was going to make a difference. That didn’t hurt Nike. In fact, Nike’s earnings went up. The fact that people took their own personal belongings and destroyed them actually made me laugh and I’m sure Nike employees laughed about it too. You already gave Nike your money so destroying the merchandise didn’t do anything but make you look foolish.

    To everyone who started to hate Nike and decided to burn the gear, why didn’t you give those clothes and shoes and everything else to a homeless veteran you’re so worried about? Those shoes you just lit on fire could be on the feet of a veteran but instead, they’re walking around barefoot. Is that what you wanted or did you just not think it through? I don’t think you thought it through.

     What Nike and Kaepernick did, from the beginning, was trying to bring everyone together in a peaceful way. But, it doesn’t seem like any kind of protest is okay in the eyes of some Americans. Would it have been better if Kaepernick and Nike both took to the streets, causing havoc? No. You can hate Nike and Kaepernick all you want but it’s not going to change the fact that people are still getting killed for no reason. Wake up and help out or keep your opinions to yourself until you decide to try and help the difference.

Teacher Spotlight: Sandra Giles

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Teacher Spotlight: Sandra Giles

     ABAC and Tifton are two things that have always been familiar to Sandra Giles. She has been a resident of Tifton, GA since the age of two, and attended Tift County High School. In high school, Giles dreamed of being on Broadway and majoring in music.

     Giles attended ABAC, where she got her associates in English, before getting both her B.A. and M.A. in English at Valdosta State University (VSU). “It makes it seem like I always had a plan, but I didn’t”, Giles said when asked about her degrees. She decided to take a break before earning her Ph.D. at FSU.

     Before settling on teaching, Giles dabbled in a few other professions. “I worked as a paralegal for a while. I worked on Tift County’s first death penalty case”. Giles even considered going to law school but decided against it. She didn’t like the thought of having someone else’s fate in her hands. She also worked as a technical writer. Giles began teaching at VSU in the fall of 1991.

     She would return there to teach again in 1993 after her brief stint as a technical writer. Giles admitted she began teaching as something to do while she was trying to decide what she really wanted to do. “There are a lot of people in my family who are teachers. My parents are both teachers. My dad was one of the psychology professors here until he retired in ‘98”.

    Giles joined the ABAC faculty in 1997 where she was able to teach English and got the chance to work on the same campus as her father. She didn’t get to see him very often, since they taught in different departments, but was still excited to be teaching alongside him.

    When she first began teaching at ABAC, Giles taught English 1101, 1102 and remedial English. Today she teaches those same classes, along with upper-level classes such as rhetoric, intro to rural studies the internship and capstone classes.

    Giles said the things she loves most about ABAC, and Tifton in general, are both the students and people. She feels that there is an emphasis on students and teaching here at ABAC. “Not all places do that, and I really like that.”

     In her free time, Giles takes dance classes and loves to sing. After 25 years of not dancing, she was happy to take up her long-lost hobby again. When asked if she had any advice for students, she said: “Find a way to stay involved with things you love”.

Love for Alex Strangelove

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Love for Alex Strangelove

     Lately, Netflix has not been slacking when it comes to releasing good content, and Alex Strangelove is no exception. The movie came out over the summer and quickly gained popularity on multiple websites such as Tumblr and Twitter.

     Like many other teen movies, Alex Strangelove starts off with the common trope of losing one’s virginity. Alex is a high school senior with a girlfriend that claims she’s been trying to “devirginize” Alex for a long time. As they are preparing for their first time they attend a party where Alex befriends Elliot, a guy from the other side of town who happens to be gay. This new friendship sends him into a series of events which lead him on a journey of self-discovery. It shows the struggle of growing up in a heteronormative world where straight seems like the only option. Alex’s story is one that many LGBT individuals may be able to see themselves in as it is something that many go through before coming to terms with their identity.

     The movie is funny and a lot of it is reminiscent of reading a young adult novel. There almost seems as if there are two plots going on throughout the movie. One being Alex’s journey of self-discovery, the other plot centering on trying to find a frog with hallucinogenic properties that was accidentally released at the party.

     This is not a movie that you would want to watch with your family. The humor can be crude and there are a couple of scenes that could make a family movie night uncomfortable. But if you are ever in need of a funny movie to watch with some friends that also has serious elements, then Alex Strangelove is the perfect movie.

     It’s very refreshing to see an LGBT movie that isn’t tragic. Though Alex Strangelove handles difficult issues like sexual identity and coming out, the movie manages to stay somewhat lighthearted and comedic. Though it is a teen comedy full of sex jokes and mature conversation, the movie stands out due to its LGBT themes. Even though the movie deals with LGBT topics it is not strictly a gay movie. The characters are diverse, and the humor is for everyone no matter what they identify as. Hopefully, this movie will pave the way for a broader range of LGBT movies because tragic stories get old and depressing.

A Manifesto for a Latinx History Book Club

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A Manifesto for a Latinx History Book Club

     If there ever was a time in which people needed to understand Latin American history and Latin American people, today may be the most essential of all.

     In the Southeast alone people of Latin American-descent have been present since before the 1970s. If we take into consideration the relationships formed between Spanish colonizers and Creek natives in what is now Florida and Georgia, then the history, perhaps, arguably goes back much further.

     To study Latin American history is an attempt to wonder about complex social creations. Where does Latin American history start? Does it start as soon as European settlers first stepped foot on this continent? Or do racial hierarchies and experiences of today’s Latin American people suggest that the history goes back much further? To study Latin American history is to study human movement and nature.

     Where were we after our ancestors first carried maize’s ancestor, teosinte from South America and developed it in Mesoamerica’s fertile land? What memories can we recall on our hour-long high-school history session about Latin America? The Mexican-American War? The Mexican Revolution, perhaps? Ojala! Does our migrant history start in the Southeast when North Mexican people arrive in Georgia during the 1980s, or can we try and understand the broader socioeconomic history between Mexico, Central America and not surprisingly, the United States, in order to understand the brown people in our classrooms today?

     Dr. Julie Weise, Professor at Oregon State University accounted the oral histories of early migrant Mexicans in the late 1970s in Tift County, Georgia in her book called Corazon de Dixie. She also researched how Mexicans fleeing the Mexican Revolution had different experiences east of Texas in the early 1900s. They experienced racial categories classified differently than in the U.S. Some Mexicans surprisingly were allowed to go to White-only schools while others who faced harsher discrimination for their skin complexion were forced to go to segregated schools.

     It may be surprising to many that Mexicans are not alone in the diverse human migration story on this continent South of the border. Throughout the Cold-War the United States of America’s drive to influence and even physically change the political landscape of Latin America caused much social upheaval. Such social, economic, and political change caused Nicaraguans to make a home in Los Angeles and for Guatemalan people to work America’s fields, kitchens, and construction sites.

     In the era of family separation at the border and condemnation of Puerto Rican lives, we must invest in understanding. Though politicians demonize us, we have a home here. We have migrated this continent for thousands of years, and this is the latest chapter told of our human migration. We flourish where we go. We create our Spanish speaking communities and speak Spanglish in our attempt to live all the worlds that we are part of. We create indigenous-language speaking communities of Chol, Mixtec, Tzeltal, Otomi, though they are unaccounted for. We work alongside Asian and Haitian migrants, though they have a deep history in Latin America as well. We must know our history to know where we will go. The face of Latin American migration to the US changed several times. From the Southwest and some Caribbean islands, migration also overlapped to a stream of people from Central America and some from South America. What are their stories?

     As the Venezuelan waitress at my favorite Mexican restaurant takes my order, I think of the beauty and struggle of my people throughout history to persist, love and create a home. And though I am filled with sadness about the political unrest in Venezuela, I can only hope for compassion and true human understanding of another chapter of Latin Americans in America. For this untold history and for many more reasons the History and Government Club will start a book club on Tuesday about Latinx History. The meeting will be at 5 pm at King 113. It will be every two weeks. We will begin with a book about the Mexican Revolution. Along with discussing history books, we will discuss podcasts about contemporary issues in the Latin American community. September 15 and 16 marks the anniversary of the independence for Mexico and many Central American countries. It also marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. If you have any questions, please contact me: kjoachin@stallions.abac.edu

Eminem closes out August with a surprise attack

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Eminem closes out August with a surprise attack

     In the waning days of August, Marshal Bruce Mathers, better known as Eminem, collapsed the contemporary music world overnight. “Kamikaze” became Eminem’s tenth studio work and was completely unannounced previous to its release.

     Eminem’s rise to prominence in today’s vastly different rap landscape can be attributed to his hold over the music world in the early 90s and 2000s—as he became the first musical act to open up with eight works on top of the charts—and the collateral devastation of “Kamikaze.”

     Eminem commences the work with “The Ringer,” where an imitation of a plane nose-diving and eventually erupting as it hits its target can be heard; The track that follows marks the beginning of the resulting carnage. Eminem sets the angry attitude familiar to many long-time listeners as he vents about the present-day hip-hop world, previous critics of his work and even President Donald Trump.

     IllaDaProducer’s intensive production is effortlessly matched by Eminem’s expressive aggression, which might explain why Illa produced four of the tracks on the work, including this track. The explicit barrage of dense lyrics barely goes a few lines without throwing shots at some figure, such as Lil Xan and Lil Pump, or concept of pop culture including the over infatuation of jewelry or bragging about sleeping with somebody’s girlfriend/wife.

     “Lucky You,” featuring Joyner Lucas and produced by Illa, Boi-1da and Jahaan Sweet, shows the polarizing opposite lives that Lucas and Eminem live. Lucas has just barely scratched the music world with his track “I’m Not Racist” which went viral last year, while Eminem recalls winning “a couple Grammys but I sold my soul to get ‘em.”

     Lucas compliments Eminem’s flow and articulation unquestionably well, as another tension-building instrumental reminiscent of Eminem’s earlier works dramatically frames the parallel duo. Eminem’s diction remains individualistic, however, with staccatos and a sense of pressured lyrics.

     While the album remains a staple example of Eminem’s work, it also shows how unyielding Eminem is, as many have labeled the album and his recent works as ignorant and distasteful. With lyrics touching on the fringes of homophobia and misogyny, Eminem has received comparisons to Trump for his behavior, such as relishing in the fact that he has made an enemy of the media. 

     While some can argue that this behavior will attribute to the 45-year-old’s downfall, Eminem has composed another work that keeps to his explosive reputation intact and makes sure his side is heard. If anything, Marshall Mathers has managed to stain multiple generations of the rap world and has left his imprint.

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The Stallion is Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's award-winning student-run newspaper, published tri-weekly during the fall and spring semesters with sporadic updates during the summer session.

Content does not reflect the official opinions of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College or The Stallion unless specifically stated.