Category: News

Global

Reparations: A Moral Obligation (Prose)

By Nathalie Amazan

The discourse of the 2020 U.S. Presidential race indicates a significant political moment. Immigration, campaign finance corruption, and adequate responses to climate change are only a few of the incredibly important issues currently debated. The question of reparations however has taken a forefront amidst these other issues because scholars, activists, and organizers have successfully directed the public’s attention towards the ways in which chattel slavery continues to live its legacies in contemporary racist disparities.

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Campus, Lifestyle & Culture, Music, News

UMass Amherst Music Festival ft. Pusha T, Lil Tecca, and more
Pusha T encouraging the crowd to raise their hands with him as he performed. (Nehemiah Brent/@planetnehemiah)

By Steven Turner-Parker 

AMHERST – On Thursday Sept. 19, Find Your Grind U “FYG” Music + Tech Festival partnered with Amazon Prime Student to display a huge performance upon college music lover’s ears at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Mullins Center. A line up that featured upcoming acts such as Souly Had and Teyonahhh as openers, with the headliners being Lil Tecca and Pusha T, left the student crowd amazed, speechless, and exhausted.

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Culture, Global, Opinion

India, Pakistan and ongoing tensions in the modern world
The Valley of Kashmir (Tony Gladvin George/Flickr)

By Isha Mahajan

Over the past 70 years, Kashmir – a snowy mountainous region occupied by military troops on the India-Pakistan border – has been the center of communal violence and displacement, affecting people living in and around this territory adversely. The impact was initially felt by the people living in Kashmir and has grown to affect the religious groups and foreign policies of these countries.

The attacks in Pulwama in February of this year led to the killing of nine, people including four soldiers and a policeman in a gun battle in Indian administered Kashmir. This event enabled Kashmir to dominate the headlines once again and highlighted the decades-old conflict between these neighboring countries.

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Campus, News

CEPA organizers ‘March on Whitmore,’ continuing to pressure administration to respond to student debt crisis
The 50 person crowd gathering by the ramp outside of Whitmore administration building (Brie Bristol/Rebirth Project)

By Brie Bristol

AMHERST, MA – It was apparent to the public that an overcast day at the University of Massachusetts Amherst would not stop organizers and allies of the Center for Education Policy & Advocacy from marching to the Whitmore administration building, who were advocating against student debt.

The Center for Education Policy & Advocacy, also known as CEPA, has been an agency on campus since 2007, “building grassroots power movements to expand the political consciousness of the campus.”

On Friday, April 12, CEPA as well as their student allies, marched to Whitmore from Goodell lawn. The organizers discussed with the 50 person crowd that they were there to address the UMass Amherst student debt crisis. “The university can’t drown out our voices any longer,” CEPA education & training coordinator Emma Kinney said, stirring up the audience.

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Campus, News

Islamophobia Teach-In : Religion, Fear and the Consequences of Dehumanization

by Isha Mahajan

The Office of Equity and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst presented a teach-in on Islamophobia that aimed to address the religion, its fear and the consequences of dehumanization on Wednesday, Apr. 3, 2019.

The panelists consisted of  professors from UMass alongside those from Boston and Hartford, Conn, who provided their opinions and experiences with instances related to Islamophobia from around the country as well as from an international perspective.

“In the wake of the New Zealand massacre, it is vital that we address Islamophobia and how we overcome fear and misconceptions about a faith practiced by 1.6 billion people on earth, which is one in four human beings,” said Reza Mansoor, president of the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford.

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