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The U.S. needs a cultural revolution
The richest members of American society are ramping up class warfare. As time goes on, it is increasingly difficult for lower and middle class households to obtain healthcare, higher education, quality housing and financial security — all the result of specific policies enacted by the representatives of the upper class that control our government. At…
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U.S. citizenship should not be based on luck
On April 5, after over 16 years of living in the United States, I finally had the privilege of becoming an American citizen. Along with 139 people, we, new citizens of the United States of America, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” We stood up to represent our old countries as their names were read aloud one…
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Pay our educators the salary they deserve
Since I was a little girl, education has always been something I’ve valued. I remember wearing a Spelman College T-shirt at age six and reading my first chapter book about the great educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. For me, education was the key to everything else in life, and I thought everyone…
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Look beyond the white standard
As a senior international student at the College, I spent more than three years acculturating myself to the standards and perspectives of my white domestic friends. It took some time to realize that the frustration I had didn’t stem only from their disappointing participation in discourse related to race, but with their refusals to engage…
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Singing the N-Word is no different than saying it
At a party I went to a couple of weeks ago, the song “Caroline” by the rapper Aminé began to play. The party was majority white and as the song played the part, “Freaky with the sticky-icky, baby give me kitty kitty/ Killa, westside nigga,” a group of white and Latina girls from a sorority…
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Selling students of color false hope in academia
As current high school seniors are going on campus visits and receiving acceptance letters, I am excited. I love seeing all the excited faces as high school students are walking around the campus and how they just look so eager to start college. It is even more special when I see people of color and…