The correct way to evaluate these historical figures is to appraise the lasting social, political, and economic effects of their actions. If an individual’s actions produced lasting social and political harm, like Wilson’s did for African-Americans in the twentieth century, that individual’s legacy is not worth preserving.
The Prog
As much as national security should be a priority for our administration, I am sick and tired and upset that this is unrelentingly utilized as a warrant for such blatantly discriminatory and hurtful measures. H.B. 158 is based on ethnicity and national origin – arbitrary factors that are largely beyond one’s own control.
It is yet to be seen whether the BJL’s demands will be met, and whether the sit-in will have achieved actual institutional change at Princeton. What is clear is that the movement has been more successful than any other in Princeton’s recent history at garnering attention, spurring debate, and forcing the administration to react on protestors’ terms. By watching the rippling effects of the sit-in at Princeton, we all learn more about how the University conceptualizes the agency of its students and understands its own ability to change.
Today’s American Left should view Sanders’ embrace of the United States’ populist-progressive tradition with a degree of skepticism. Though such a movement has the potential to gain mass support in an era of socioeconomic stratification not seen since the Gilded Age, Sanders’ populist politics should temper his supporters’ excitement regarding the “revolutionary” potential of his attempted crusade. Populism has simply disappointed too often throughout American history, failing to ever fundamentally change the system it has sought to challenge.
Like Al-Qaeda, ISIS took advantage of the disenfranchised, many of whom were enticed by the prospect of political and economic stability which had been lacking their entire lives. Unfortunately, the radicalism ascendant across Iraq and Syria was almost entirely avoidable. It was not the inevitable circumstance of demographics and history, but rather arose as the result of willful ignorance on the parts of Western elites who viewed the region as a collection of commodities and short term strategic choices.
Defunding Planned Parenthood would disenfranchise oppressed and marginalized groups without distinguishing along party lines. Because of this, we, as Americans, have a collective responsibility to work to empower us all, no matter what combination of privileged and oppressed identities we hold as individuals.
Currently, Labour is a weak and fragmented party that has a confused sense about what to do. It will not provide the singular platform necessary to articulate a coherent left-wing message, even if it had the leader to do it. Corbyn is a deserved product of Labour’s travails; but he is not the person the party, nor the left, needs right now.
We have gathered here today to outline our demands for this administration so that it may be held accountable in improving the social and academic experiences of its black students at Princeton. There is no pride in being the number one university in the country when for its students of color and marginalized communities, Princeton very rarely leads but often follows.
The black students protesting at Yale and Mizzou aren’t threatening anyone’s freedom of speech. And the selective, sudden concern for free speech exposes the racism of those who respond to black students’ pain with complaints about political correctness.
Ideally, we would treat all tragedies the same; we would have the same emotional connection and response to human suffering no matter the context. But what if we just can’t? What if, as human beings, we are wired in a way that limits our ability to empathize with events and people separated from our own lives by geographical distance, culture, race, or anything else?