Pomp and Circumstance and Protests

This past Sunday, our former Governor and current Vice President Mike Pence, returned to Indiana to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame University.  When he began to speak, approximately 100 of the 3,171 graduates got up quietly from their seats and left the stadium in protest of Pence's policy positions.  Since Sunday, there has been quite a debate about whether the students were engaging in their right to free speech, or being disrespectful.

The protest had been planned for weeks and both university and campus police were made aware of the demonstration prior to the ceremony.  Students began planning the protest after learning of Pence's selection as their commencement speaker, due in part to the numerous controversies that surrounded Pence's time as Governor, including the religious freedom bill that many felt allowed discrimination against LGBTQA Hoosiers.

Supporters of the protest, which included several Notre Dame faculty members stated that the students had a right to exercise their free speech rights.  Opponents argued that the students disrupted the graduation ceremony for others, and that they were disrespectful to their fellow graduates, faculty and civil leaders.  For his part, Pence did not seem flustered by the demonstration and ironically spoke of Notre Dame as a "vanguard of freedom f expression and the free exchange of ideas."

Some of you will be graduating in just a few weeks and I'm interested in knowing how you all feel.  "Do you commend or condemn the protest?  Would you be ok with this kind of demonstration taking place during your graduation ceremony, or do you think graduations are not the place to exercise your rights to free speech?"  Answers are due no later than Wednesday, May 31st, 2017.

A Photo Is Worth 1,000 Words

I was shocked to read an article last week regarding the magazine LensCulture, which recently posted a photo of what appeared to be a man raping a girl who looks like a young teenager. The magazine — which has nearly a million Facebook followers — was using the photo to promote a photo competition. The caption said the girl is 16 and is being forced to have sexual interactions with a "client" in the red-light district of Kolkata, India.

The girl is on her back, looking up at the camera, with a naked man on top of her. Her face is in full view. Her identity is not concealed. There are two men in the room with this young girl. There's the 'client,' paying to have sex with her; and behind the client, stands the photographer, who has been paid, through grant money, to take photographs of the girl being used.

There has been a huge outcry since the photo was published. Based on the content of the photo and its caption, the photo violated UNICEF's ethical guidelines on reporting on children by showing her face, which makes her identifiable, according to human rights activists. According to UNICEF, you should "Always change the name and obscure the visual identity of any child who is identified as a victim of sexual abuse or exploitation." 

Amid a barrage of protests from readers, photojournalists and human rights activists, LensCulture took down the photo hours after it was posted. But the magazine defended the photo and its photographer, Souvid Datta: “We'd like to emphasize that we believe the work of the photographer was carried out with great ethical care and in close collaboration with the subject portrayed; by contrast, our own posting was hasty and presented the situation without proper context.” Datta has been a highly-regarded photojournalist since starting his career in 2013. He has won several prestigious awards, including ones from Getty Images and Magnum Photos. And his work has appeared in The New York Times and National Geographic. Datta also defended the image of the girl stating in part, “She asked me to photograph this interaction — fully aware of my intention to publish this story widely in an attempt to create constructive awareness ... Where some see the image, and point to the anonymity of the client and apparently undignified exposure of an underage girl, I see the astounding resilience of a young woman who takes ownership of her reality — unlawful, deplorable and bleak though it is — and determines to be more than what her circumstances have forced upon her. I see a woman who wants to speak directly to viewers, saying if you actually want to understand my perspective "then look into my eyes and see what I feel."

I’ll admit, my first reaction to this story was one of outrage and horror. If that was one of my family members, I wouldn’t want it published. Then I realized that many times throughout history, a photograph has been the catalyst for change.  It can call attention to an issue in the way that no words can.  In fact, I encourage you to make your own political images, and push the boundaries of what’s acceptable. You are all producers of content and many of you are photographers.  You know the power of an image.  So, my question to you this week is, “What do you think of the magazine’s decision to publish photos such as the one described?  Do you think it helps or hurts the cause of human sex trafficking?” Answers are due no later than Wednesday, May 24^th, 2017

Slapped By the Truth or Kissed with a Lie?

I had planned to blog about healthcare this week.  However, in the current political climate, it seems there is breaking news almost every day.  So, I decided to go with recent events – even more recent than the healthcare legislation.  This week, President Trump fired FBI Director, James Comey after the Justice department, and more specifically, the Deputy Attorney General recommended it.  According to the recommendation, Comey needed to be fired because of the way he mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.

To many, it seems suspicious that Trump waiting this long before firing Comey, if the true reason was because of how he handled the investigation of Clinton which was going on thoughout the campaign season.  Especially considering that in March, the FBI publically announced it was conducting an investigation into the possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia prior to the election.

For his part, Trump has denied the firing had anything to do with the FBI’s investigation of his campaign, and calls reports that his campaign colluded with the Russians “fake news.”  Democrats are calling for a special, independent prosecutor to handle the investigation, however that seems unlikely.  A special prosecutor would need to be appointed by the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who has already recused himself from anything related to the investigation because he admitted he did have conversations with the Russia Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.  That leaves the responsibility of appointing a special prosecutor to the Deputy Attorney General, but he is the one who recommended Comey’s firing in the first place.

US intelligence already accused Moscow of orchestrating multiple cyberattacks against Democratic political organizations and leaking stolen info during the campaign season in an attempt to sway the election in Trump’s favor.  Trumps initial appointment for the National Security Advisor, Mike Flynn, also had to resign after it was revealed he too had communications with the Russian ambassador that he failed to disclose to Vice President Pence.

All this talk sounds so much like a spy novel; I have a hard time believing this is really our country’s political news.  So, my question to you this week is, “What do you think about the investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties.  Do you think something nefarious occurred, or is the media sensationalizing the story?  Do you think we should appoint a special, independent prosecutor, or should we let the FBI continue their investigation?”  Answers are due no later than May 18^th, 2018

Black Lives Matter...But To Who?

It has been a long week.  Most of you know I was traveling this past week to Baltimore.  Baltimore’s murder rate has been on the rise, so much so that the mayor has requested help from the FBI because the Baltimore police can no longer control the high rates of violent crime.

Meanwhile, in Texas, Jordan Edwards, an unarmed, African-American 15 year old, was shot and killed by police.  The officers had received a call about a teenage house party where they believed under-age drinking was occurring.  When the police arrived, the teens did what many teens would do in that situation – they scattered and tried drive off.  The police first said they saw a vehicle reversing aggressively at them; however body camera evidence later showed the vehicle was driving away from the officers.  Officer Ray Oliver fired into the car of teenagers, killing Jordan with a shot to the head.  Bloodwork showed none of the teens had been drinking at the time of the incident.  I’ve blogged far too frequently about the killing of un-armed African American men.  You can read my thoughts and your fellow students’ comments here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/search?q=trayvon and here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2014/12/hands-up-dont-shoot.html and here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2016/07/americas-black-and-blue.html

I was raised to respect police officers.  I have friends and family that serve in the police department.  I understand that they often have to make split-second, life-changing decisions.  That being said, we can’t ignore the history of racism in this country, particularly within the justice system.  We all have biases – perhaps those biases come into play more when you’re faced with high stress situations.  I don’t have the answers, but it breaks my heart to lose so many young men to senseless violence.

So my question to you this week is, “What do you think can be done to ease the tensions between African-Americans and police?  How can we begin to find healing after incidents such as those mentioned above?”  Answers are due no later than Wednesday, May 10^th 2017