The Fall 2015 Global Awareness Forum Roundtable on Human Rights featured four members of the College faculty: Dr. Nancy Nenno, Dr. Edward Chauca, Dr. Malte Pehl, and Dr. Chris Day. Each of faculty member has a specialty in a certain area of the world, and knowledge of the human rights issues within that area.

Dr. Edward Chauca spoke primarily about Mexico and Central America, especially on the case of the 43 missing students in Mexico in 2014. These students, protesting the state government, vanished and their bodies were never found. In the wake of the search for these students, many mass graves were uncovered, none of which contained the students. This, however, raises the questions: “Who are these people?” and “How does this happen?”.  Criminals are either sentenced for human rights violations and set free, or they are only suspect of human rights violations but jailed for corruption. Unfortunately, there is a lack in a political movement that goes beyond activism; the change needs to be within the political sphere as well as in the public circle.

Dr. Chris Day focused on the Central African Republic and human rights within the framework that the civil warring creates. Civil war creates breaks between intercommunal bonds. Because of the split, both armed officials and rebels control human rights and resources. Government control extends no farther than the capital because of rebel factions. But without a unified ceasefire, there cannot be elections. Of all the rights, the right to life and security fall above others. The problem lies with the path to reach those rights.

Dr. Nancy Nenno’s main point is that it is harder to identify human rights violations in Europe than in other areas of the world because, like violations within the United States, we don’t want to see it. There are a large number of refugees right now, both economic and political refugees. One of the largest human rights issues in Europe right now is the freedom and safety of religion. Panic continues to spread as more refugees cross into Europe, and those rights should not be tampered with.

Dr. Malte Pehl is well versed in topics regarding India, particularly human rights and the rights of women and children. Within India, it is too often the case that the state is the cause of human rights violations. Unfortunately, the police infrastructure is corrupt to the point that women who are seeking help from abuse or rape are either pushed away or taken advantage of. There are also still cases of caste discrimination and dowry murders. Bonded labor and child labor are still used to pay off debts which are passed down from generation to generation and while this labor is technically illegal, the citizens do not know their rights. India does have open elections, but the problem lies with enforcing the laws and protecting people from the enforcers.

Each of the four faculty members urged the necessity for awareness of these issues in the global sphere as well as at a local level. Give your time to movements with a cause to help and support people in these conditions. Make sure that you are looking at multiple sources, gathering information from widespread viewpoints. The freedom of press is an important factor in making sure a change can come. Use it.

Within the United States, the ‘War on Drugs’ has grown into a massive scale of policing and sentencing. Jamie Fellner, Senior Counsel for the United States Program of Human Rights Watch, is particularly adamant about reducing sentences for non-violent drug offenses and the unequal treatment of people of color in the War on Drugs. Her primary example is a twenty two year old black man who received life without parole for dealing small amounts of cocaine. He was victim to the system, and his loss of liberty – argues Fellner – in not a just punishment for his crime.

Fellner argues that if your right to liberty is taken away as a punishment by the prison and legal system, it should be free of racial discrimination, and without cruel or degrading behavior or punishment. The prison system should place more emphasis on reentry into society rather than racking up a higher count of people in the prison system. Fellner’s main point revolves around the basis that prison should be a last resort.

By using statistics from South Carolina, Fellner really hit home. 26% of the South Carolina population is black, but 62% of the prison population in this state is black. On top of this, 45% of all arrests are drug-related incidents. At $17,000 a year spent per inmate in the SC system, over $66 million is spent per year keeping non-violent drug offenders behind bars – in this state alone. The system cannot continue to behave this way, instead prison should benefit society; not hinder it.

As we talk about civil rights and the injustices both past and present, it is important to reflect and question the use of civil rights martyrs in the movement and the media. Specifically, Brian Norman spoke of the presence of Emmett Till as a civil rights mouthpiece. Emmett Till, a fourteen year old boy, was lynched, beaten, shot, and abused after being accused of whistling at a white woman. His body was found in the Tallahatchie River.  His body was displayed in an open casket, throwing shock around the nation.

When dragging the river for his body, several other bodies were found. Which begs the question, what are all of these bodies doing in the river?

To this day, the Emmett Till narrative is used in novels, plays, and poems to posthumously change the perception of the civil rights movement.

Several examples which Brian Norman spoke on were James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie, and Randall Kenan’s Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. In these stories, Emmett Till is told as a deranged spirit, a silent ghost boy, and a corpse who comes back to life to get justice for his own death. These works, along with over 140 more, utilize Emmett Till’s story and manipulate it to draw questions from their audiences. How do the different types of narratives change the story? Did Emmett Till actually whistle at the woman? Does it matter?

Silence becomes a problem in these cases. Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, knew this. Her famous words, “I wanted the world to see what they did to my boy”, show her inability to let the world hush her voice, her son’s voice. The open casket funeral gave her a mouthpiece to speak on the injustice she saw.

Our voices allow us to speak for those who cannot anymore. We cannot afford to be silent.

South Carolina Community Loan Fund invites College of Charleston students, staff and faculty to join us on Monday, October 19th for a presentation from Nicholas Kristof, American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. The presentation will take place on at 10:00 am at the Charleston Music Hall, and will focus on Kristof’s most recent book, A Path Appears. Blue Bicycle Books will be on site at the event selling copies of A Path Appears and Kristof’s best-selling book Half The Sky, and Kristof will be signing books after the presentation. Tickets for the presentation are on sale to the public for $25, but there are also student tickets available for $15 (use the promo code “STUDENT” at check out).

Mo Asumang’s Die Arier (The Aryans) focuses on the question “What does Aryan mean?” and the origins and reasons behind the usage of the word. She is told by many Germans that Aryan simply means ‘German-blooded’, but these same people refuse to call her an Aryan regardless of her German roots, because of her skin color. The more probing Mo does, the more bigotry she faces. In German Nationalist zones, she experiences a culture where people of color, LGBT+ people, and disabled people are not welcome. And still, these people claim that Aryan means German citizenship and an acceptance of German values and ideals. Linguistically, the word Aryan has roots in the East, in India and Iran; not Europe. A kind of ethnogenesis occurred, where German citizens chose to identify as ‘Aryan’ to elevate themselves over races of people who they considered to be inferior. Upon this discovery, Mo travelled to Iran herself to speak with the true Aryan people, Iranian shepherds. These people were kind and sympathetic and ashamed of how their culture had been twisted into racist ideology. At this point, Mo travelled to the United States to speak with the SPLC about Aryan hate groups within America. Dozens of so-called ‘Aryan’ groups dotted the lists of the SPLC. Speaking with one of the racist leaders of a prominent hate group, Mo was told that she was a product of ‘gene-hijacking’; i.e. when a black person seeks to improve their genes by intermarrying with a white person. Members of the Klu Klux Klan told her that ‘Nobody is a racist in the Klan’. The end of the film showed the beginnings of a transformation of a Nationalist Aryan supporter as he saw his mistakes and began to right his wrongs.

In all of this, Mo Asumang has the firm belief that people are not inherently racist and that their hearts can change. Her own grandmother raised her, abandoning her racist views for one of love towards her granddaughter. Mostly, she experienced subtle racism within Germany, not constant radical racism. Due to racism, she has been kicked out of her home, had her head bashed in, and not known how to identify for most of her life. Only recently has Mo been able to call herself German. She dealt with the racism as if it were within her family, because in reality, Germany is exactly that. Her family.

When I asked Mo about the current civil rights movement within America, she had some very poignant words on the subject. She said, the in the United States there is so much suppressed anger, hundreds of years’ worth. Anger that has been carried over generations. But people cannot deal with that anger and hate, because that is exactly what the racists want. If you rely on anger, they will use it to ‘justify’ their racism. Instead, you must look for any possibilities to be creative. Be creative with your person and your thoughts, be innovative in ways that suit society. We cannot be lazy. We cannot wait for others to change. We have to be the positive change for others.

Continually, Mo Asumang stresses that there is no blonde, blue-eyed master race. We are people. All of us.

The Boy is Gone: Conversations with a Mau Mau General is a history of the struggle for Kenyan independence during the Mau Mau rebellion.The anti-colonial movement has been whitewashed and stigmatized throughout history. Laura Lee Huttenbach allows her readers to view a first-hand account of the events of the Mau Mau rebellion through General Japhlet Thambu’s oral history in The Boy is Gone. The General’s words provide an informative view of the rebellion and of his life before and since. During Huttenbach’s presentation, her fondness for the General and his family was evident. During the months she lived with the General and his family, she spoke with them, worked with them, and learned from them. All of these experiences culminate into her perspective of the General and in turn, ours.

Laura Lee Huttenbach has not only provided the experiences of a Mau Mau General, but also an understanding of where his words come from.