By Lynnola Christman
On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence formally announced the creation of a sixth military branch. This new military branch is called “Space Force” and will have 6 different bases. The bases will be located in California, Colorado, and Florida. The administration hopes to have the Space Force up and running by the year 2020. This is not for certain, however, because it can only happen if the Congress agrees to fund it. Over five years after starting the Space Force, it could cost up to $13 billion. There are two congressmen who support two different ideas. One Alabama congressman supports the idea of having a Space Force. But there is another congressman, Adam Smith, who said, “I am opposed to President Trump’s proposal for a Space Force. I am concerned that his proposal would create additional costly military bureaucracy at a time when we have limited resources for defense and critical domestic priorities, and I do not believe it is the best way to advance U.S. national security.” This would be the first new military branch since 1947, when the Air Force was founded, to be added to the U.S. Military. This military branch would be “separate but equal” to the air force, said Trump. Two former astronauts have different reactions to this idea. Retired astronaut, Mark Kelly, stated that the Space Force was a “dumb” idea. He say, “The Air Force does this already. That is their job. What’s next, we move submarines to the 7th branch and call it the ‘under-the-sea force?’” Meanwhile former astronaut Buzz Aldrin supported the idea of a Space Force. Aldrin, veteran of the Apollo 11 mission, and one of the first two men to walk on the moon, said it was, “One giant leap in the right direction.”
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By Alejandra Cedeno
It is incorrect to say people of color can be racist. Only white people can be “racist” because racism is based on power and since white people have all of the power and privilege in systems that they’ve set up over centuries to benefit them, people of color can’t be racist. But that’s a conversation for another day. People of color, however, can be colorists. Colorism is different from racism because racism deals with race while colorism is an aftereffect of the systems that have been put in place, such as race. A colorist doesn't factor race but uses the tone of ones skin to determine characteristics about an individual and this is why people from the same race (ex. Black, Latino, Asian) aren't racist towards each other. Colorism is the aftermath of people of color being forced to view Eurocentric standards of beauty as the ideal look. Years of being fed the idea that lighter skin is better through the media and everyday life has affected the mental health and damaged communities. One of the many communities happen to be the Latinx community. As a Latina, more specifically Puerto Rican, I have seen firsthand how deeply rooted colorism is in both our culture and traditions. Puerto Ricans wave the fact that our culture is influenced by 3 races: the original people of the island, the Tainos, and the African slaves brought by the colonizing Spaniards. However, just as we’re quick to boast about our mixture of cultures, we are also quick to turn on each other based on skin complexion. Growing up comments on a person's skin color, whether Latinx or not, were never missed. As well as more subtle comments such as “pelo malo” and “mejorar la raza” were everyday normal things. Colorism can sometimes be so low-key we don’t expect to see it in places like our vocabulary. “Cafre” is a word used by Puerto Ricans to describe someone who is uncivilized or low class, cafres or Kafs are also people born in Reunion of Malagasy and/or African origins. Then there are more common words used in Latinx communities such as “mulatto,” “morena,” “prieta,” or “moya.” What most people don’t know is that Latin countries received a high amount of slaves during colonization. The National Diversity Council says, “According to historian and documentarian Henry Louis Gates Jr., there were 11.2 million Africans who survived the Middle Passage and landed in the New World, and of that 11.2 million, only 450,000 came to the United States however, Brazil received almost 5 million Africans. Today Brazil is the second blackest nation in the world.” However, even though these countries are heavily African influenced and hold large amounts of people with African descent, things like carnival queens are dethroned for being “too black” as it happened with 2014 Globeleza, Nayara Justino. So what can we do to get rid of colorism? Education is key! Educate people on what colorism is, on the different struggles people go through depending on skin tone, learn your history as well as the part our African descendants play on our culture today. Acknowledge that as a lighter skinned Latinx person you benefit from certain privileges your darker skinned peers may not. Fully embrace and uplift your African roots. By Yahnai Lennon
On December 17, 2018 Tumblr decided to ban all Not Safe For Work content on their platform, anything involving nudity and pornography are now gone. If you’re not involved in any of these Tumblr communities, this change may not seem like a big deal. It may even sound like a good idea. But this new policy has already devastated many Tumblr users. Tumblr’s reasoning behind this new ban is their desire to “consider their impact on different age groups, demographics, cultures and mindsets.” Their desire to do this came after the Apple App Store removed the Tumblr app after discovering child pornography on its platform and, instead of filtering out all of the truly damaging and inappropriate content, Tumblr decided to ban all content they consider “inappropriate”. Tumblr is a platform that carries different types of communities and fandoms and a good portion of these communities contain NSFW content. This NSFW content sounds like it may have been pornographic images or videos but it wasn’t. It was communities that draw and paint nude characters, digital art that involves nudity, as well as people who embrace different body types and people figuring out their sexuality through history and art. These topics may not be your cup of tea, but it was really important to the people that created and enjoyed these topics. Tumblr creator @jaspurrlock on Twitter says, “I am absolutely devastated. I have worked so hard, it took so much energy and work and now it’s all gone.” What this ban does is strip the users of their first amendment right to free speech, as most of the nude content doesn’t involve children but consenting adults. This new policy is detrimental to many Tumblr users as it forces individuals off the platform, abandoning the people that enjoyed their content and deleting content that people worked hard to create, content that isn’t damaging or inappropriate at all. |
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