At USC Village on Friday morning, 40 to 50 Black women and nonbinary students repeated the affirmation, “Siss, you’re a vision of beloved Blackness.” The affirmation, led by Rossier School of Education clinical education professor Brinell Lynn Anderson, kicked off the “Sistxrs in Solidarity Summit.”

The Center for Black Students and Cultural Affairs hosted the summit, an event centered around supporting and celebrating the mental wellness of Black women at USC. The CBCSA held the event in partnership with the Department of Psychiatry, Viterbi School of Engineering, USC Black Alumni Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha. 

Founded in 1977 under the Department of Campus Life, the CBCSA serves to connect the University and resources tailored to the Black community. The association’s primary goals are the retention of Black students and providing them necessary resources for academic success. The event is the second of its kind put on by the CBCSA, following a mental summit for men held last spring. 

Split into three distinct sessions and an opening keynote speaker, each section focused on keying into one aspect of Black women’s experiences on campus in regards to mental health. 

The keynote speaker, Anderson, started by  asking attendees to focus on their motives for joining the summit, whether it be a recent struggle or a search for “the sister connection.”

Anderson’s speech was centered around “a vision of your beloved Blackness wellness through the lens of the dimensions of your African selves.” She noted the racial trauma that weighs on Black women, personally and collectively, but also encouraged attendees to see those experiences as a single part of a much richer identity.

Our story did not start with any of the oppression we see in modern times, in the brutality of police or injustices regarding mass incarceration. No, we are people rich with culture from the motherland.

Brinell Lynn Anderson, professor of clinical education at the Rossier School of Education

“Our story did not begin with our oppression,” Anderson said. “Our story didn’t begin with our kidnapping. Our story didn’t begin with the Middle Passage. Our story didn’t begin with our enslavement or reconstruction, terror or lynchings or Jim Crow. Our story did not start with any of the oppression we see in modern times, in the brutality of police or injustices regarding mass incarceration. No, we are people rich with culture from the motherland.”

Anderson encouraged the audience to envision their “African selves” through four dimensions: the personal self, the social self, the tribal self and the divine self. 

As she discussed the “social self,” or the aspects of identity connected to people such as families and friends, Anderson highlighted the importance of cultivating relationships that allow their true and best personal selves to come out.

“The beauty of this dimension is we get to create connections which serve us and let go of ones which eat us alive,” Anderson said. 

Anderson also introduced the “tribal self,” or the part of identity rooted in ancestry. Anderson said rituals are a common way to affirm the tribal self, and led the group in a libation ceremony to honor their ancestors. As Anderson poured libations, the audience called out ancestral names, responding to each in unison with the word “ashay,” meaning “so it is.”

After the keynote address, attendees participated in an hour-long sound bath conducted by Bloom Holistic Healing, a Los Angeles-based organization that harnesses experiences like sound baths and breathwork to promote natural healing. Attendees laid on yoga mats while the Bloom team led guided meditation and relaxation exercises. As a key part of the process, the team played high-frequency sounds with instruments including crystal bowls, Tibetan gongs, rain sticks and koshi chimes. 

“The sound bath awakened so many parts of my body that I felt were lying dormant,” said Sasha Lawrence, a sophomore majoring in psychology who attended the event. “The sound bath interacts with your different energy centers along your body and I definitely felt mine come alive, so that was amazing.”

Lawrence said she has often found mental health stigmatized in the Black community and that it can be difficult to have “any experience with mental health” as a Black woman. She said she believes events like Friday’s summit break some of the barriers to needed conversations. 

Black women are always expected to be strong, and it’s really frustrating because you can only hold the weight of the world for so long until you crack.

Sarah Lawrence, a sophomore majoring in psychology

“People don’t encourage you to get your feelings out, to cry and to be vulnerable,” Lawrence said. “Black women are always expected to be strong, and it’s really frustrating because you can only hold the weight of the world for so long until you crack. It’s been hard to find spaces where I’m able to talk about my mental health and be comfortable doing so. But that’s why we’ve created all these things, so that people are able to leave ancestral trauma behind and grow from that.”

Lawrence said that for self-care, she tries to find time to meditate, be in nature and explore flea markets. 

Following the second session’s small group discussions on the perceptions of Black womanhood proctored by USC Student Health’s Counseling and Mental Health services, the summit reconvened for a final panel on mental wellness beyond college. Panelists included Culver City Councilwoman Yasmine-Iman McMorrin, former professor of business at the Marshall School of Business and head of global inclusion at Creative Arts Agency Sharoni Little and Dr. “Sunshine” Shalonda K. Crawford.

During the discussion, Crawford sought to redefine the classic understanding and stereotype of “strong Black women.”

“When we talk about strong Black women, there’s an expectation that we should bear beyond reason,” Crawford said. “I feel like a lot of us are bearing beyond reason [and] navigating life broken, overloaded, tired and smiling.”

Milan Fritz, a senior majoring in neuroscience and an undergraduate prospective advisor for CBSCA, echoed Crawford’s concern toward the stereotype.

“The idea behind Black women having to be strong is something that is a really big stigma in today’s society, and you’re not allowed to embrace our soft side. We have to keep up a persona and keep up an image that we’re strong, we can do it all,” Fritz said.

During her speech, Little spoke about the difficulty focusing she had as a student during her time at the University, which eventually landed her in academic probation. She began pursuing her undergraduate degree at 16 years old after graduating from high school a year early in Compton, California. While her academic abilities spoke for themselves, her mental aptitude was not yet mature enough, she said. 

“I was still smart, but it had nothing to do with being a smart student. It was about doing what I needed to do, but I was developmentally not ready,” Little said. “Sometimes, we’re in situations where we’re just not there yet, but we try to force through … Don’t do that to yourself.” 

Sometimes, we’re in situations where we’re just not there yet, but we try to force through … Don’t do that to yourself.

Sharoni Little, head of global inclusion at Creative Arts Agency

All three speakers also put a spotlight on their struggles and failures throughout the years, and the ways they’ve resolved those experiences in their current work. 

“I started going to therapy in law school when I realized, ‘Oh, I need some tools in here,’” McMorrin said. “Therapy is a major part of who I am, and the end is this journey and this work that I continue to do.”

Courtnee King, a community health organizer and graduate student studying public policy, said her experiences and struggles at Arizona State University shapes her current work.

“[At ASU], I felt it was more of, ‘We’re going to put students in leadership positions so that they can feel like leadership, but we’re not going to listen to them,’” King said. “So when I came here as a grad student, I really wanted to be a part of building experiences for undergrad.”

The CBSCA will continue to provide mental health outreach programs throughout the semester, including their bi-weekly “Health is Wealth” series.

The post Summit promotes mental health among Black womxn appeared first on Daily Trojan.

UH head coach Dana Holgorsen and his team have yet to find an answer for the abundance of problems the Cougars have displayed through five games in the season. | James Mueller/The Cougar

Houston football’s search for answers continues. The same problems that haunted the Cougars in Week 1 are still prevalent and problematic five games into the season.

UH found itself in a familiar situation in its American Athletic Conference opener against Tulane on Friday night at TDECU Stadium — leading late and in a prime position to win the game.

Yet again, the Cougars dropped the ball, finding another way to come out defeated.

“We could of found a way to win and we didn’t,” said UH head coach Dana Holgorsen.

It’s not just one specific phase of the game that is holding the Cougars back. Rather, struggles with consistency spread throughout the entire team.

“Offense clearly didn’t do enough. Defense gave up another drive at the end. Special teams missed a couple of field goals,” Holgorsen said. “All three sides right there.”

First quarter offensive struggles were once again prevalent as the Cougars failed to score any points for the fourth time in five games. Only 14 total first quarter points on the season is not a recipe for success, as UH continuously finds itself having to dig out of hole in the second half to get back in the game.

“We just need to do a better job of starting fast so we don’t put ourselves in those situations,” said freshman runningback Brandon Campbell. “It’s hard to have to play from behind in the second half because you have to so much more dialed in and the mistakes you make, you can’t have as many of them.”

Just like the games against UTSA and Texas Tech, the UH defense failed to protect a late lead, allowing Tulane to march 75 yards in two minutes, 25 seconds to score the game-tying touchdown and force the Cougars to play in their third overtime of the season. 

 “They make more plays to win than we do,” said senior linebacker Donavan Mutin when asked about UH’s struggle to close out games.

A blocked first quarter field goal and another one missed from 47 yards out late in the third quarter were yet more squandered opportunities the Cougars failed to capitalize on.

These miscues and inconsistencies resulted in overtime, a situation which UH is far too familiar with.

“Third overtime game in five games,” Holgorsen. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

While the Cougars were able to pull out the overtime victory in their season opener against UTSA, the next two overtimes have not been kind to them.

Failure to stop Texas Tech on a fourth-and-20 led to a double overtime loss in Week 2. A three-and-out offensively, followed by a pass interference on Tulane’s first play in overtime led to another excruciating loss for UH.

All these extra periods of football through five games have taken a toll on the Cougars.

These games, they wear on you mentally,” Campbell said.

Frustration and deflation filled the UH locker room as the team knows it could and probably should be sitting at 4-1 instead of its actual record of 2-3.

“Not a good feeling right now,” Mutin said. “Not a good place to be right now. It can better or worse. We have the ability to choose that.”

While there are many questions that need to be answered inside the UH locker room, the Cougars are holding out hope that they can right their wrongs and turn the ship around over their final seven games of the regular season.

It starts with getting on the same page beginning in the film room, weight room and on the practice fields.

“It gonna be a team effort,” Mutin said. “From the head of the snake to the tail of the snake, we need alignment. It needs to be coherent. The message needs to be clear. We’re going to have a chance to do that or not and (the results of) our season will be the ramifications of whatever we do.”

If UH is able to find this alignment from top to bottom, it then ultimately comes down to execution under the bright lights, something the Cougars have struggled to do so far.

“Enough blame to go around,” Holgorsen said. “Coaches gotta coach better. Players gotta play better.”

sports@thedailycougar.com

—
“UH football searching for answers amidst current skid” was originally posted on The Cougar

Fresh off of a win in Tempe last week, the University of Utah football team returned home to face the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavers nearly held on against the USC Trojans last week, losing 14-17, and giving up 14 points in the 4th quarter. Oregon State came prepared, but Utah did as well.

Recap

The Beavers were only able to gain 11 yards before Clark Phillips III picked it off. Utah immediately responded, with Cam Rising finding Jaylen Dixon in the end zone to get the first touchdown of the day.

Oregon State kept their momentum, scoring on the next drive with a 29-yard run. Utah wasn’t able to get anything going offensively and was forced to punt. But Utah’s defense once again came to play, with Phillips III grabbing his second interception of the night. But Phillips III was able to return this one for 38 yards and a Utah touchdown.

Utah kept going in the 2nd quarter, with Rising finding the end zone on a 24-yard rush. Utah finally gained some breathing room, leading 21-7 early in the quarter.

Utah was able to stop the next Oregon State drive, which started on the 50-yard line. Utah only allowed the Beavers a field goal and retained a comfortable 21-10 lead.

The Utes went into the locker room up 21-13 after a wild first half. Utah only recorded 139 yards in the half, compared to Oregon State’s 219. Rising led both teams in rushing yards, finishing the half with 50 yards on 5 runs.

Utah couldn’t score on the first drive of the 2nd half. They punted it away, but the defense held the Beavers to a field goal. This made it a 21-16 game, putting the pressure on Utah’s offense to find their rhythm.

Utah did just that, marching down the field in just over three minutes, and ended with a 16-yard touchdown reception by Devaughn Vele.

Once again, Utah’s defense came to play, with R.J. Hubert grabbing an interception in the end zone and running it back 70 yards to give the offense great field position. Jaylen Dixon capitalized on this with a 22-yard touchdown rush to expand Utah’s lead.

But the Utes weren’t quite finished, as they would drive down the field yet again, this time with Dalton Kincaid finding the end zone. Utah seemed to be running away with the game, taking a massive 42-16 lead early in the 4th quarter.

The Beavers were on the Utah 5, inching closer and closer to scoring. But Phillips III wasn’t quite done with this game, and intercepted the ball in the end zone for his third interception of the night.

This appeared to put the game away, placing the ball back in Utah’s hands with just 7 minutes left of play. Utah finished the game with a strong 42-16 win against a team that nearly beat USC just last week.

This Utah team is looking strong as they are set to face UCLA and USC in the next few weeks. The schedule gets harder from here, but the Utes look up to the challenge.

Analysis

Utah’s red zone defense was stellar today, forcing three field goals from the red zone rather than allowing touchdowns. The Beavers moved the ball, but continuously struggled to punch it into the end zone, setting them well behind the 8-ball matching up with a stellar Utah offense.

Four interceptions also set the tone for Utah, three by Phillips and one by Hubert that completely swung the momentum of the game. With Oregon State knocking on the door of the end zone, Hubert set up a long touchdown with the 70-yard return to basically put the game away. 

The Beavers were frisky and threatened a win, but Utah controlled the game in all the little areas to come out on top by a wide margin. The defense came up huge in big moments with the red zone stops and four picks. If that happens, it’s tough for the opponent to make up for it and win the game, which is what happened to Oregon State today.

This was a great confidence-boosting win to open up this four-game gauntlet. Next week, the Utes will hit the road to face an undefeated UCLA squad coming off a win over top-15 Washington.

s.overton@dailyutahchronicle.com

@SeanOverton3

e.pearce@dailyutahchronicle.com

@splashcitynba

Andrew Joseph White‘s queer, trans, monstrous Young Adult debut “Hell Followed With Us” isn’t afraid to push the limits of how dark, frighteningly real and openly queer Young Adult books can be. 

‘Hell Followed With Us’

The novel centers around a trans boy named Benji who is trying to escape from a religious cult that brought about the end of the world with a plague. Benji himself has become a living host to this plague.

He meets a group of queer teens at a local LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the narrative turns into something scary, unflinchingly queer and packed with tension. 

White’s debut novel has been turning heads on TikTok and Instagram for its queer and autistic representation and cast of diverse, queer teens who are dealing with a lot of problems in the wake of a virus being unleashed by a religious cult. The book, while full of heavy moments and terrifying religious extremities, allows queer teens to be queer teens even at the end of the world.

There are moments of joy and calm as characters find love and form friendships. They bond over their experiences of survival and resistance. In the novel’s pivotal moment, they accept each other for exactly what they are without demanding they change or be a certain way to be valid. 

“Hell Followed With Us” raises a lot of questions about what YA literature can be and how much is too much for the category, even in a horror genre. The book is more than death, struggle and monsters. It carves out a space for queer teens to be themselves and for queer readers to see themselves represented on the page. It proves that queer people can be messy, monstrous and that they can still be human at the end of the world. 

A Gloriously Grim Representation

As a trans person myself and an avid reader of YA fiction, I knew that this book would hold something for me. Had I known that it would hold so much space for queer and trans bodies that are different, that aren’t held to cisgendered standards, that are loved, I would have cried a lot more. 

Seeing a trans character like Benji who doesn’t need hormones, surgery or even a human form to be valid as a boy was a moment of pure joy. There aren’t criteria for the characters in White’s book to be queer; they simply claim the word and forge its meaning for themselves. 

The dark elements of terror, gore and violence in the book are strangely bearable and a welcome change of pace. They weren’t overwhelming but they prove that YA doesn’t have to be happy or silly to be YA. In fact, all YA novels need is to address issues of interest to the age group of its readers, not necessarily rosy content.

If “Hell Followed With Us” hasn’t already been on your radar, now is the time to pick up this terrifying, honest and queer narrative. Somehow, it manages to feel like a queer homecoming, with the characters at the end of everything. 

w.fuller@dailyutahchronicle.com

@whit_fuller_

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced on Thursday that Newark, New Jersey’s Deputy Mayor Brian O’Hara is his final nominee for Minneapolis Chief of Police. The announcement comes after a national search was conducted by an outside firm and Frey named the three finalists on Sept. 7.

O’Hara served as a police officer for 15 years before being appointed public safety director for Newark and was chosen by Frey over Dr. RaShall Brackney and Elvin Barren. The nomination will be sent to the Minneapolis City Council for final approval on Oct. 6.

During a press conference announcing the decision, Frey emphasized O’Hara’s past experience working with the Department of Justices’ consent decrees, which are binding legal agreements issued by judges and enforced by the courts. O’Hara would start as Minneapolis chief of police in a time when the Minneapolis Police Department is still under a civil rights investigation launched by the DOJ in April 2021.

MPD has been without a permanent chief since December 2021, after Medaria Arradondo retired. Amelia Huffman has held the position in an interim capacity since his retirement.

“It should be clear by now to all that the idea that policing can simply go away, will be abolished, is just unrealistic,” O’Hara said in the Sept. 29 conference announcing his nomination. “The foundation of policing is trust, and as the Minneapolis chief of police, I will work day and night to ensure that the residents of Minneapolis can feel safe, and that all people can trust the MPD to have their backs.”

Freshman running back Brandon Campbell rushed for his third touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter of UH’s loss to Tulane on Friday night at TDECU Stadium. | James Mueller/The Cougar

Another game, another overtime for UH football. Like their last overtime game, this one did not end pretty for the Cougars as they fell to Tulane 27-24 in their American Athletic Conference opener on Friday night at TDECU Stadium.

Up seven in the final minutes of the game, the UH defense once again allowed its opponent to drive the length of the field to tie the game and force overtime.

With 3:04 on the clock, the Green Wave mounted an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a shovel pass from Horton to tight end Tyrick James for a 3-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.

UH won the toss and took the ball first but was held to a field goal, which senior kicker Bubba Baxa converted from 36 yards out.

A pass interference on junior safety Hasaan Hypolite on Tulane’s first play of overtime set the Green Wave up at the Cougars’ 15-yard line.

Two plays later, Tulane running back Tyjae Spears caught the game-winning touchdown on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Kai Horton.

Horton, Tulane’s third-string quarterback played the majority of the game for Green Wave due to injuries to Michael Pratt and Justin Ibieta, the Green Wave’s top two quarterbacks.

Early in the second quarter, Horton connected with receiver Duece Watts for a 13-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

On Tulane’s next possession, the ball slipped out of Horton’s hands as he attempted to throw a pass. UH sophomore defensive lineman Hakeem Ajijolaiya jumped on the fumble, giving the Cougars’ offense prime field position.

Facing a fourth-and-1 at the Tulane 1-yard line, senior quarterback Clayton Tune hit junior receiver Nathaniel Dell on a slant to tie the game up.

A strip sack by sophomore defensive end Nelson Ceaser set up the Cougars in Tulane territory early in the third quarter.

UH was unable to capitalize on the turnover, as Tune coughed the ball up himself four plays later. The fumble was picked up by Tulane cornerback Jadon Canady who took it 57 yards to the house to put the Green Wave back in front.

On the ensuing possession, a 41-yard third down catch and run by senior receiver KeSean Carter put the Cougars in the red zone. This set up a 1-yard touchdown rush by freshman running back Brandon Campbell, his third of the season.

The Cougars’ defense forced a three-and-out, quickly getting their offense the ball back. Tune led the Cougars down the field on a few scrambles before connecting with Dell in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. This was Dell’s second touchdown of the game and fifth of the season.

Down a touchdown with 3:04 on the clock, the Green Wave mounted an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a shovel pass from Horton to tight end Tyrick James for a 3-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.

sports@thedailycougar.com

—
“UH drops AAC opener to Tulane in overtime” was originally posted on The Cougar

I have learned to love autumn through food.

Dustin Johnson holds his championship trophy after winning the LIV Golf Invitational Boston tournament. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/JazzyJoeyD)

Let’s face it: LIV Golf, the professional golf league that launched on June 9, 2022 to rival the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour, appears bound for failure. It joins several other failed predecessors, such as the American Basketball Association, United States Football League and XFL. The PGA Tour is not as profitable as its more well-established counterparts, which includes the National Basketball Association and National Football League. Although Tiger Woods revitalized televised golf in the 2000s and has since greatly enriched the PGA Tour, its 2021 revenue still fell short of the billions that other sports leagues are able to generate. 

Realizing the profitability gap in golf, members of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) proposed the creation of a new golf league with a golf legend as the CEO. Initially, investors wanted Jack Nicklaus, the most decorated championship winner, for the position and even offered him a $100 million salary. When he refused, retired Australian golf legend Greg Norman found his way into the sports spotlight again and agreed to lead LIV Golf.

In a nutshell, LIV Golf is a PGA Tour alternative that features smaller fields, fewer rounds and faster play. The league has garnered significant praise but even more backlash. Some lauded the founding of LIV Golf as revolutionary, whereas others see it as the death of competition. Part of the reason LIV Golf has become popular among players is that it has enough funds to make its golfers guaranteed millionaires, and set their families up for generations of financial security. There’s more incentive to join LIV Golf than there is to winning its events: players are earning a lot more without having to compete for their salaries like they would on the PGA Tour.  

Unlike other sports leagues, the PGA Tour doesn’t offer contracts or guaranteed financial support to its players; instead, the purse and leaderboards determine salaries. Players must find financial backers and sponsors to earn a living wage, making it significantly more difficult for a lower-ranked player to make a sustainable salary. For instance, professional golfer Jose Maria Olazabal made only $28,635 in tournament earnings in 2021, but earned $267,581 from endorsements. That’s why you see golfers like Phil Mickelson wearing hats for the accounting firm KPMG and shirts with the Workday logo during all tournament rounds. Given that the minimum annual price to compete is $110,000, regular players without celebrity presences must make sacrifices, whether it’s playing in an excessive number of tournaments or playing less and relying solely on sponsors for their paycheck.

Top players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Mickelson have switched from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf. Though many of them didn’t explain exactly why they switched, fans can assume it was due to better pay. A shocking number of big-name golfers are skipping PGA Tour tournaments and playing for LIV Golf instead, raising questions about how the PGA Tour has come to lack innovation and why its players are leaving a so-called ‘prestigious organization.’ 

Players have risked everything, including their careers and reputations, to migrate to a newfound league with minimal experience or infrastructure because of the lucrative financial opportunities. For instance, LIV Golf offered Tiger Woods $700 to $800 million, around six times his career earnings over 25 years.

Some have cited the PGA Tour’s overstepping nature as a reason for their departure. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters Tournament champion, said that long schedules, fatigue and lack of media rights which the PGA Tour imposes on players have marred the players’ quality of life. 

The main point of contention has nothing to do with golf itself. Many opponents cite the PIF’s financial backing as their main concern. The various human rights issues associated with Saudi Arabia, such as the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the lack of LGBTQ and women’s rights, have made many Americans wary of any ties with Saudi Arabia. On Sept. 21, Norman appeared before Congress to lobby for Saudi funding for LIV Golf. Republicans and Democrats alike dismissed his proposal as “Saudi propaganda.”  

Recently, players who wanted to play in both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour events were indefinitely suspended from the PGA Tour. As a result, 13 players and LIV Golf filed antitrust lawsuits against the PGA Tour, citing a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. LIV Golf claims the PGA Tour is a golf monopoly that convinces media companies and sponsors to censor LIV Golf and its players. Additionally, critics point out that much of the money the PGA Tour spends goes towards executive salaries and political lobbying. 

On Sept. 28, the PGA Tour responded by filing a countersuit, arguing that LIV Golf interfered with existing contracts.

Although the PGA Tour donates 16% of its revenue to charity, many have accused the PGA Tour of being greedy, as it is only a non-profit to avoid paying federal taxes. Some of the charities with which the PGA Tour is associated, like Shriners Hospitals for Children and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, lost money while running tournaments, claiming a large percentage of tournament revenue went to player, equipment and land expenses instead. 

The feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is a textbook example of sink or swim and eat or be eaten: the PGA Tour needs to adapt to survive. The PGA Tour has recently increased the amount of prize money available to players, but that is not enough to keep them afloat. For the organization to survive, it needs to offer its players guaranteed contracts, better events and media rights. If the PGA Tour does not wake up and change its archaic business model, it will cease to exist as the premier provider of golf entertainment.  

The post LIV Golf: The competition PGA Tour needed appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

On Tuesday, a group of about 100 people gathered outside the A. Ray Olpin Student Union at the University of Utah in support of the recent nationwide protests in Iran, triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was in the custody of Iran’s morality police in mid-September.

Outside the Union building, chants of “say her name” and “Mahsa Amini” were heard around campus, with attendees wearing shirts with Amini’s name and holding signs with her face. Near the end of the event, the group walked to the block U where they placed photos of Amini and protesters who have “died for the rights of women in Iran,” a sign on the block U said.

Amini was arrested Sept. 13 for allegedly not following Iran’s dress code for women. Hijabs are mandatory for all Iranian women, according to the Associated Press. Iranian security forces said Amini was taken to a detention center to receive training about the headscarf law, where they said she collapsed and died three days later from a heart attack on Sept. 16. But some reports say she was beaten by the morality police, according to a press release from the United Nations.

Since Amini’s death, there have been mass protests across Iran daily, causing the government to deploy security forces who have reportedly responded with live ammunition, pellet guns and tear gas, with many people killed, injured and detained. So far, at least 76 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces since Amini’s death, according to the BBC.

The protest held at the U, which was held by the Persian Student Association, aimed to spread awareness of what’s happening in Iran and why people are protesting, according to an organizer of the protest, who wished to remain anonymous out of safety concerns.

“I believe that the only thing that we can do … is to be the voice of people who are protesting against the government,” he said. “Show more and more people what’s happening in Iran, what’s happening with women’s rights, what’s happening with people who are being killed in the streets every day — young men and young women — in order to just have basic rights.”

The event began with several speeches including one from a man whose wife’s cousin died in the Iranian protests.

“His only crime was marching for women’s rights and shouting for all Iranians to hear,” the man said, who wished to remain anonymous out of safety concerns. “His only crime was the vision of the liberator’s society. The regime has not allowed his family to mourn his death.”

At the protest, the former president of PSA, who also chose to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, asked that friends, Iranian and non-Iranian, support spreading the awareness of this issue mentioning that “Mahsa is like George Floyd for us now.” 

He added that a lot of the Iranians living in the U.S. are students and employees at universities.

“From my perspective, one of the centers that they could have a high impact on the communities [is] the universities,” he said. “This can be the best channel for Iranians to spread the word and also to spread the awareness to the community.”

The organizer said although the protests started because of the death of Amini and fighting against the mandatory dress code that requires all women to wear a hijab in public, the people are now protesting against the regime as a whole.

“People now are fighting not only against the compulsory hijab but also against the regime,” he said. “They want the regime to change.”

Last week, Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout on people in the country, preventing access to platforms including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, in an attempt to make it more difficult for people to organize protests and share information with each other.

Both the former and current president of PSA said they hope to receive more support from the U in spreading awareness of the protests, suggesting it would’ve been appreciated if the university sent an email out to students or at least a statement or social media post about it from President Randall.

“This protest started with women, and what we expect is that the university — the president or the social media of the university — … stand with the women of Iran,” the organizer said. “Let’s not make it political. It’s about women’s rights.”

The organizer said he sent a flyer they posted on their Instagram with all the details of the event Tuesday to the U’s account several days before the event, hoping they would share it on their Instagram story to get the word out more, but they didn’t get a response.

The former president said it’s also important for professors and faculty at the college to understand how the protests will emotionally affect Iranian students at the U “so they just take it easy on them maybe [and] support them when they need.”

a.christiansen@dailyutahchronicle.com

@Andrewwriter01

The Angolan ambassador to the United States, Joaquim do Espírito Santo, told students and faculty at Old Dominion University that his hope for the future is the unification of all African countries. 

“Unification,” said Santo, “will benefit every nation on the continent.” 

Santo made his remarks on Sept. 10 at the commencement ceremony honoring the establishment of African Diaspora Heritage Month. 

Old Dominion University has partnered with the Tidewater African Cultural Alliance (TACA) to mark the March 3 passage of a bill designating September as “African Diaspora Heritage Month.” 

Virginia is the first state to establish an African Diaspora month. Guests at the event could experience various African cultures through clothing, historical stories and fables, and medical advancements America learned from Africa.

A panel discussion offered more information on the origin and current status of the African Diaspora. It also gave insight on the solutions to the pressing issues found in the African Diaspora and its members. 

Panel members consisted of Ambassador Bismark Myrick, Dr. Kideste Yusef, Dr. Marvin Chiles and Princess Philomena Desmond-Ogugua of Nigeria. 

Desmond-Ogugua was asked, “What is the preferred end result in the push for the education of the African Diaspora?”

“We want this month to become nationally recognized,” she responded. Desmond-Ogugua is certain this will bring all countries in Africa together in the fight for equality across the continent.

The cultural showcase wrapped up the event with a grand display of African-inspired arts. The TACA Diaspora Dance Ensemble opened and closed this section with powerful Angolan, Nigerian and Guinean dances. ODU students were also invited to share their African-inspired arts through dance, spoken word and poetry. 

Students Edith Giron and Brian Flores displayed an Afro-Peruvian dance. David Riddick and Adrian Tierney from the Riddick Dance Company expressed an interpretive number to the song “Trouble of the World” by Mahalia Jackson. Tope Larayetan recited three poems about her experiences as a Nigerian immigrant who has left her family to pursue higher education. Her poem, “Love is 52,625 Miles Away,” enumerated her most nostalgic memories from her home in Nigeria, stating that her “love is 52,625 miles away from Virginia Beach,” where she currently lives.

Event coordinator and TACA member Rita Addico Cohen closed the event by sharing her gratitude and hopes for all the participants and guests who were a part of this commencement. 

“I have been waiting for the opportunity to unite Africans and those of African descent,” she said. 

Cohen believes the passing of Bill HJ133 will educate all Americans that “Africans have the greatest minds because we all descend from Africa.”