According to Malcolm X, “Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year.” Since the outlaw of slavery, racial discrimination taken on many different forms, from physical abuse, to legal segregation, to dog whistle politics, with the last yet to be prohibited. Today, dog whistle politics, a type of political speech […]
Author: Kevin Yao
Eric Cantor or Eric “Can’t Win”?
It didn’t matter that David Brat was an unknown economics professor. It wasn’t enough that Eric Cantor had spent nearly $5.4 million on his campaign. And it certainly made no difference that Cantor branded himself as a preacher of the Republican Creed. On the evening of July 10, 2014, Eric Cantor made congressional history, becoming […]
Community College: Undivided Over an Educational Divide
On January 08, 2015, President Obama unveiled “a bold new plan” to universalize the first two years of community college. His initiative would provide free tuition to all students across the economic spectrum, but on the condition that students maintain a 2.5 GPA while attending school at least part-time. Although Obama’s proposal is only in […]
Shooting Down Local Laws
Local and state governments have constantly engaged in a battle over legislative power, perpetuating a struggle that blurs the line of influence each level of government has. Fortunately, Pennsylvania recently took a strong initial step towards establishing the authority of state power with the passage of its firearms preemption ordinance. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett […]
Hypocrisy In the EPA: Environmental Discrimination in Louisiana
It has been decades since dioxin, a chemical contaminant, overtook the Mossville, Louisiana population. The deleterious toxin reigns supreme over its residents, conquering their lives one by one. Today, the African American community of Mossville is surrounded by fourteen industrial facilities within a half mile radius. These buildings have been spewing hazardous substances into […]
Muted By Money
The Citizens United Supreme Court case has not only revolutionized campaign finance but has also solidified the immutable power of corporate companies. The Court ultimately decided that corporations are composed of “associations of citizens” and that protecting corporate speech was a way to “protect the rights of those citizens.” The ruling ended the ban on corporate and union […]