A mid-air collision over the Potomac. Raging wildfires in Los Angeles. The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. At first glance, these events seem completely disconnected from each other. However, they do share one underlying theme: they were all swiftly blamed on DEI. In a world where accountability often takes a back seat […]
Tag: discrimination
When Inclusivity becomes Conditional: Racism, Body Shaming, and Femme Shaming in the Gay Male Community
As a crowd of individuals walk proudly throughout the streets, a gay couple affectionately kiss against a backdrop of rainbow. In this community, love always wins – except when it doesn’t. An image of equality and inclusion generally accompanies the LGBTQ+ community, and rightly so. As a group that has been outcasted and othered for […]
Creating A College Admissions Process Based On Disadvantage
Affirmative action policies have been adopted by universities across the country for at least four decades, in the hopes of ensuring a diverse campus by creating an equal playing field. The motivation behind these policies is admirable. As someone who was born in a country where over 98 percent of the population shares the same […]
How Portland’s “Right to Return” is Indeed Right to Return Housing to the Underrepresented
In his 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, author Mark Twain discussed a world run by the upper echelons of society, detailing the growing and domineering aristocracy apparent at the turn of the 19th-century where financiers and business magnates dominated the urban landscape and frail economy. Twain was one of the few […]
To Segregate or Not to Segregate, that is (the Bay Area’s) Question
Children born in East Oakland, California have a life expectancy 12 years lower than those born in Piedmont, California. Oakland Unified School District reports about 1,600 homeless students, whereas Piedmont High reports zero. Residents of Oakland have a median household income of $51,000. In Piedmont, it is over $130,000. Yet less than two miles […]
America’s “Welfare State” Isn’t Faring Well: Misconceptions Surrounding America’s Homeless
As the clock struck 7:00 pm, the homeless shelter on Dwight Way was thrown into the full swing of Tuesday night Womxn’s Clinic. Student volunteers from UC Berkeley’s Suitcase Clinic funneled in, followed, of course, by the ladies of the occasion, homeless females from every corner of the city. I stood waiting in front of […]
Indonesia in the Democratic Recession
Muslim protesters calling for the imprisonment of incumbent Jakarta governor Basuki Purnama on blasphemy charges On February 15th, millions of Jakarta residents went to vote in their third gubernatorial election since democracy took hold. More than a simple exercise of voting rights, this election represents a referendum on the direction of Indonesian democracy. The […]
Are Asians apolitical and other musings
I was browsing Facebook when I came across Jesse Watters’ “Chinatown segment” from the O’Reilly Show on Fox News. I had some time so I decided to watch it. As the camera panned to Chinatown, New York, a stereotypical Oriental riff chimed in the background. Watters’ first words? “Am I supposed to bow when I say […]
California Equal Pay Bill: Groundbreaking, or Hollow Hope?
Women in California have achieved a momentous victory in the workplace. This summer, the state senate passed Senate Bill 358, a landmark equal pay bill that carries strong measures aimed at closing the long-standing wage gap in employment and increasing wage transparency. The bill supports and upholds pre-existing provisions of the California Labor Code that […]
The Road to Indiana
Governor Mike Pence of Indiana recently signed into law a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which shares a near identical title to twenty other states’ acts and one federal law signed in 1993 under the Clinton administration. Taken on face value, it seems to be a rather unremarkable event with plenty of precedence; however, critics exploded […]