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Portrait of "Malala Yousafazi" (courtesy of The New York Times)
Malala Yousafazi: Education is a Human Right
Malala Yousafazi: Education is a Human Right
By: Haidar Alkhabi
Malala Yousafazi is a major woman of world history, her impact on female education is unmatched. Malala has dedicated years of her life in order to allow kids all over the world, mostly girls, to have access to education. Malala has been an inspiration for all young students. An example of her dedication and what makes her a warrior is when Malala was shot near the Afghan border by the Pakistan Taliban. This incident paralyzed the right side of her face, she was transported to the hospital and had to get a neurectomy (nerve repair surgery) on her facial nerves. She used this incident as a way of showing kids that she had something tragic happen to her but she managed to get over it and change the outcome. Malala is a true soul in our society, she cares for others well being but most importantly, their education. I am writing this piece to shed light and embrace the journey that Malala has gone through and how she's helped thousands of kids gain an education.
Ever since Malala was a young girl, she always wondered why there are people around the world that are unfortunate and aren't able to help themselves or get an education. Malala saw this reality and decided to work with her dad to start a campaign for women's education in Afghanistan. This campaign was created in hopes that it would allow unfortunate kids in Afghanistan to gain an education. This campaign is called the “Malala Fund”. Malala even stated, “I fight every day to ensure all girls receive 12 years of free, quality education” (The Malala Fund). When Malala was shot, she knew that it would deeply affect the way that her target audience would view her. Malala made sure to keep strong and respond with bravery to her injury; she turned something horrible into a valuable lesson to never give up. According to NDTV, “The shooting made Malala stronger and more determined.”
Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, but shared the award with her dear friend Kailash Satyarthi as she felt that they both deserved the recognition (Welcome To The United Nations). Malala also studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford to better understand the world and its truths. Malala was born in and raised in a Muslim country with Muslim family, and she is committed to the teachings of Islam, she said, “My faith guides me to know that it is wrong to deliberately and systematically oppress girls and women” (Jaime) These are just a few acts that shaped Malala into the influential role model she is today. Malala's campaign by itself isn't enough to change the world, she says, it needs to be a group effort.
To the teens In the United States, we struggle with taking school for granted rather than accessing education. Teenagers all over the U.S claim their education “is boring” or “ a waste of time”. According to Taking School For Granted, “Most American children have probably never had to think about not being able to go to school,” and that's why most American Teenagers take school for granted; but having their education ripped away from them is what “almost 2.5 million” teenagers have to worry about in Afghanistan. Kids all around the world, not just Afghanistan, struggle to get their hands on even a notebook; here we are with libraries, chromebooks, and science labs.. Everything at the tip of our fingers. We, privileged teenagers, don’t ever stop and think, with there being nearly 9 billion people in the world. There must be someone else just like me, who can do everything I can do but better, can be more successful, more respectful and responsible. There is someone out there with unlimited potential but they are trapped in a refugee camp, or don’t have access to education. Their potential, their life, is thrown away by people that, “Don’t believe in education,” people that think Females should stay out of Males’ fields.
This stops now.
We need to be thankful for what we have and distribute our opportunities. The U.S is more than capable of helping these unfortunate people get what they deserve. According to How the United States Can Help Educate the World, “US society can significantly aid education in other countries by providing financial resources, sharing expertise and best practices, and promoting educational initiatives through organizations and partnerships.” The Americas have many ways that they are able to provide education and help to these countries. The situation gets more in depth than just “The Americas”. Who you vote for matters. Voting for someone who truly means what they say when they are claiming to help other foreign countries. The push and pull factors from candidates are something that we need to always keep in mind when voting. Is the candidate going to fund education in other countries? Is the candidate going to agree with the society's claims? Malala's courage in the face of adversity inspires us all to recognize our responsibility in advocating for the rights of every child. Together, we can create a world where every child has the opportunity to grow and learn and thrive. Another way that - we - Americans can help these kids in need is by donating to charities and campaigns such as the “Malala Fund”. There, we can help fulfill these kids' potential and contribute to their success and brighter future.
The Malala Fund has had a serious and positive impact on our modern day society when it comes to education for kids who’ve been plagued by systemic poverty and injustice. The Malala Fund is a campaign that was specifically made for young women in Afghanistan. This Fund helped mitigate the amount of young girls that were being kept from education due to the Taliban. The Fund insured girls 12 free years of education. Overall, Malala's success, dedication and power has motivated and empowered many teenagers and students all over the world to protest and fight for their education. We can help with this issue, donating to charities, not just The Malala Fund but the hundreds of thousands of campaigns that are all very accessible and do a great job at providing teenage boys and girls with education. And also, we can fight for our education and make the most of it, for an educated society is better equipped to establish and defend its freedom.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/books/review/malala-yousafzai-by-the-book.html
Works Cited
Charity Navigator - Rating for The Malala Fund.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/811397590. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Malala Fund | Working for a World Where All Girls Can Learn and Lead. https://malala.org/ . Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Malala Fund - Language Dept. https://www.languagedept.com/case-study/malala-fund/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Welcome to the United Nations. http://www.un.org. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/malala-yousafzai-says-faith-is-a-big-part-of-my-life
"Jimi Hendrix" Photo courtesy of
IMBD https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001342/mediaviewer/rm249181697/?ref_=nm_ov_ph
The History and Significance of Black Music
The History and Significance of Black Music
By: Haidar Alkhabi & Eli Degener
Black-made music was first recorded in 1891. The first song was "The Laughing Song", published in 1891 (Library Of Congress). This song was originally written to be a poem, but later was recorded and made famous as a song. The impact that this song and artist had on society was huge. It allowed people to expand their hobbies of making music and allowed colored people to shed light on issues they faced. George W. Johnson wrote “The Laughing Song” to express the beauty of nature and the celebration of laughter. Johnson wrote this song as he felt negligence and ungratefulness from the society that he lived in. Throughout this article, we will be talking about how Black Made Music has impacted the way that colored people live and communicate; we will discuss the genres of music in which Black artists made their mark and the different roles their music played in elevating society.
Rap, or Hip-Hop, is one of the strongest genres of music that is embedded into African American culture. Rappers first started as an addition to DJ sets in the early 70’s. The DJ would find a part of a song that makes people dance (typically a drum break) and loop it. Then the MC would come on stage and rap on it. At first, rappers weren't the spotlight people focused on, as long as the song made people dance, the crowd could care less who was on stage rhyming. But this all changed after a rap group from New Jersey, The Sugarhill Gang, released their first song: “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979. This was the first rap song to ever be recorded and released. The song samples the bass line from Queen’s iconic “Another One Bites the Dust” and is 14 minutes straight of classic Hip-Hop grooves. People soon realized that rap could be used to express how they and the rest of the Black community felt/feels. The earliest and most well-known example of this is NWA’s “F** tha Police.” This song is about 6 minutes straight of 5 Black men speaking on the difficulty of being Black in America, specifically police brutality and racism in law enforcement. The song is angry and energetic because that's how they felt. They were angry with how they and every other Black person in America were being treated. Many people found this song violent and viewed it as a threat to police departments across the US, which helped grow the stereotype that rap, as a genre, is straight violence and hate, which is very false.
There are so many rap songs out there about love, sadness, insecurities, and any other emotion you can think of. The modern rap scene is full of them. But people still rap about the same prejudice and racism that NWA railed against. A great example of this social justice stance and plea for humanity is Kendrick Lamar's recent Super Bowl halftime show in which he spreads subtle subliminal messages throughout the whole 13-minute performance. Two of these messages are: Uncle Sam (played by Samuel L Jackson) calling Kendrick's songs “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” to represent how America perceives rap music. And bodies laying down in the shape of swastikas to take jabs at Elon Musk's recent Nazi salute at the presidential inauguration.
A genre that a large number of people don't know is Black influenced is rock, a genre that expanded from Rhythm and Blues (R&B). African American artist, Fats Domino, who was very influential in the Black rock scene as early as 1949, said, “What they call Rock ‘n’ Roll is Rhythm and Blues. I’ve been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans” (Timeline of African American Music, Carnegie Hall). The reason he mentions New Orleans as if it was something in the past is because it is. After the Great Migration caused Black families to move to cities in the northern part of America, Black artists took their music with them. They started to blend their music with the sounds of the North to create a new kind of Rock n’ Roll, a sound that largely resonated with suburban teenagers, so they took inspiration. Eventually, this new sub-genre dropped the “roll” part of Rock n’ Roll and just became “Rock.”
A new generation of young artists emerged and record companies saw it as a new way to make money, “but the racism of the era made it nearly impossible for African American artists to air on mainstream radio or secure record deals” (Hoffman Academy). To get around the race problem, record labels started paying white artists to cover songs created by Black artists, which is how Elvis emerged. One of Elvis's most famous songs, “Hound Dog,” is a cover of a song originally written and performed by Big Mama Thorton, a Black woman from Alabama. Another well-known Elvis song that's a cover of a Black artist's song is "That's All Right,” a song that was written and recorded in 1946 by Arthur Crudup and was later covered by Elvis 10 years later in 1956. Elivs took these Black artists' songs and styles and found fame in doing so. He was later crowned “The King of Rock n’ Roll” because of how he “kicked off a musical revolution by modernizing traditional genres such as Blues, Country and Bluegrass” (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) in 1954.
However, Black artists had been making Rock and Roll music years before Elvis. People failed to recognize, or, refused to recognize that Elvis was not the originator of the genre. It feels worth mentioning that Elvis would often give Black people their flowers for creating the genre. His praise of Black artists and acknowledgment of their innovation and how he used their songs to build his legacy shows that Elvis isn’t the one who insisted he created the genre, the audience and the media are the ones that maintained that lie.
As the civil rights movement grew, so did the music industry’s acceptance of Black artists on the radio. Around this time, is when the most influential rock artist of all time started releasing music: Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix is considered to be one of the greats, not just in Rock, but in all of music. Jimmi Hendrix “revolutionized the way key elements of the genre, like the electric guitar, were played but also how they were understood” (Amelia Kneser, Jimi Hendrix: Balancing identity and talent). In his career, Jimmi Hendrix won 0 Grammys, but he did win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.
Jazz is a genre of music that originated in New Orleans, a predominantly Black region. Jazz has been a part of Black society since the 20th century. Black-made Jazz music has created not only a platform where people can create songs that express what they are going through, but it also increases the popularity and evolving reach of Black made art and culture. According to York College, “[Jazz] created a sense of identity, originality, and social cohesion among Black musicians.” Jazz has also been seen as a way to connect people to their past culture and tradition. According to The Little Big Apple, “Important characteristics of Jazz vocal and instrumental performance, [are] traceable directly to African singing and indirectly to African speech and language” (Mira Fernandes). This shows that Jazz music has a direct impact on people's history and helps people understand where they come from. Jazz also helped people cope with systemic racism. Jazz “provided a platform for African Americans to express themselves artistically and culturally, despite facing systemic racism and discrimination” (SVASA). Families have found Jazz music to be a relaxing way of coping with their issues, knowing that Jazz has such a strong background and history to it, some people even say that, “Jazz can express many different emotions, from pain to sheer joy” (National Museum of American History). Jazz is a strong genre of music that has helped our society cope with pain and helped people become closer to each other. As people enjoy Jazz, it’s important to recognize the history of Black excellence in the genre and its role in helping Black artists shape the past.
R&B, which stands for rhythm and blues, has a long history in the African American community. The term R&B was originally used “by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans” (R&B Hall of Fame). The genre originated in Southern parts of the US in the 1940s, predominantly in Black communities. As time went on and the Great Migration caused Black families to move to the North, the genre became popular in more urban cities like New York and Los Angeles. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognizes Joe Turner's Big Band, Louis Jordan's Tympany Five, James Brown, and LaVern Baker as some of the originators of the genre, most of which were based in said urban cities. In the early years of R&B, the genre featured twangy guitars, organs, and soulful singing, usually coming from the chest, with similarities to music you would hear in a church. The 1970s introduced sampling to the music scene with Hip-Hop and later in the 80s, R&B picked up the same technique. As electronic music became more popular in the 90s, R&B also adopted that trait. Today, almost every well-known city in the US has its subgenre of R&B, each one with its unique changes to the sound.
All around the world, Black-made music has impacted most (if not all) of our lives. There are artists right now who are carrying on the legacy of the historic Black artists. Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Lizzo, Frank Ocean, J Cole, and Beyonce are just a handful of artists out of the thousands of musicians that are carrying this legacy, the legacy of helping other Black people, elevating culture, and connecting hearts across the globe. Musical Artist, Drake, has included Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, and other languages that he knew would touch on other religions and ethnicities in his music. Music artists like Drake have huge platforms where they can express themselves and share personal issues or issues that are affecting our world on that platform knowing that people will see that and be impacted. Musician Kendrick Lamar has used his music as a platform to address societal issues like racial injustice, police brutality, poverty, and gang violence, primarily by openly discussing his experiences growing up in Compton, California, and weaving these narratives into his lyrics, thereby raising awareness and sparking conversation about the struggles faced by marginalized communities, particularly Black Americans. Another example of a Musician using their music to spread an idea or societal issue is Whitney Houston. Whitney was known for breaking rules and crossing genres to influence Black artists. Whitney has also “worked toward the prevention of child abuse, taught children to read, built inner city parks and playgrounds, and provided college scholarships” (Whitney Houston Charity Work). Black music has been impactful for centuries, In fact, “One of the earliest sources of information on African music is found in rock paintings from 8,000 to 3,000 BCE. “ (Traditional African Music | Overview, Instruments & Genres). There are many ways that we can help motivate Black musicians to keep publishing music and that is by supporting them on social media, in real life, and most importantly listening to the artists’ music and using our dollars to support them by paying for it.
Works Cited
‘Charity Work’. Whitney Houston Official Site,
https://www.whitneyhouston.com/charity-work/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
“George W. Johnson (Singer).” Wikipedia, 11 Sept. 2024. Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_W._Johnson_(singer)&oldid=1245227909.
History of R&B Music – National R&B Hall of Fame.
https://rbhalloffamemarksms.com/history-of-rb-music/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
How Black Music Changed History | SCOPE Productions - Division of Student Life | The
University of Iowa. https://scope.uiowa.edu/blog/2023/02/how-black-music-changed-history. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
“The African Origins of Jazz.” Little Big Apple, 18 Nov. 2019,
https://littlebigapple.pt/the-african-origins-of-jazz/.
The Harmonious Struggle: Jazz and Its Role in Social Justice – Svasa Shop.
https://svasalife.com/the-harmonious-struggle-jazz-and-its-role-in-social-justice/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
The Social Effects of Jazz.
https://www.york.cuny.edu/english/writing-program/the-york-scholar-1/volume-6.1-fall-2009/the-social-effects-of-jazz. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
What Is Jazz?
https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/projects/smithsonian-jazz/education/what-jazz. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
Overview, Instruments & Genres’. Study.Com,
\https://study.com/academy/lesson/traditional-african-music-overview-instruments-genres.html. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/1950s-and-60s-blue-note--is-it-all-the-same-by-marc-davis
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
The Rise of Black Alt Girls
The Rise of Black Alt Girls
By: Abigail Bowles
The alternative space and alternative fashion have been widely pioneered and influenced by white faces. Some of the most popular faces of alternative music like Morrissey, David Bowie, Robert Smith, Gerard Way, and Billie Joe Armstrong, are all white men.
In the modern day, alternative influencers have also been majority white. Artists like Caroline Carr, Baby Bugs, and Jazmin Bean are all of a paler complexion to say the least. But where are all the Black alternative artists?
Precious Pepala is a breakthrough Black alternative music artist from the UK, creating music that addresses important topics like assault, religious trauma, and mental health. According to her Spotify page, she says, “Being a 19 year old, Black, female artist who stands at just 5 feet tall, she is, in her own words, ‘not the stereotypical face of power or change.’” But with her vocals and powerful lyricism, she is quickly becoming a voice for her generation.
Father, forgive me
For I have sinned
This love isn’t holy
But I’m too far in.
What about fashion icons and influencers? Parading as a space for everyone, a lot of Black people have been shunned from dressing alt. On TikTok, there’s a culture of shunning Black people for trying goth makeup, cosplaying, and overall dressing alt. While a lot of this is because of already existing general racism, some of it is more subjective in comments you might see on TikTok: “you can’t be goth and Black” or “the character you’re cosplaying isn’t Black”. A very popular alternative dresser is “Aliyah’s interlude” a music artist and influencer with a unique alternative influenced fashion sense. I’m sure if you’ve scrolled on TikTok, you’ve seen a video of a street interview with an incredibly uniquely dressed person with her tagged in the description.
In a predominantly white lead space, Black women still shine through. Black artists have often led the way in arts and fashion, and I’m excited to see them continue to bloom in the alt community.
"Ron DeSantis" Photo Courtesy of NPR
Censorship of African American History
Censorship of African American History
By: Sam Benson & Noah Hedges
In the state of Florida, Americans go to school no different than any other students in the entire country, but one major difference between students across the country and Florida is the content within the school buildings- especially within civics classrooms throughout the state. Several bills passed with vague wording in an attempt to promote “patriotic” education; however, the bills have been used to limit speech and enforce discrimination against Black and Gay populations within the school systems. Gov. Ron Desantis and the Floridian Department of Education have enacted serious plans to try to change and warp the history and education of students, and despite efforts by law makers and the court of law, the censorship of Black history continues marching forward.
The Bills Passed
House Bill 1291 was passed in the state of Florida with the intention of banning and warping parts of history teachers could teach in the classroom. In order to protect White students from feeling self-conscious, the bill forces schools to remove all mentions of systematic racism, changes to how the Founding Fathers are discussed, removing any mention of the Founders owning slaves and supporting slavery. “State leaders have suggested that the law is necessary because curricula and classroom instruction about the history of racism and social inequality may represent discrimination against white students and make them uncomfortable,” Octavio Jones reported from Humans Rights Watch. While Desantis claimed that the bills would allow for a more racially fair and safe environment for students, it resulted in the reverse effect with more discrimination affecting people of color in the school system in Florida and not teaching students of the moral failings and atrocities of American history that occurred with slavery, Jim Crow Laws, or even Japanese internment during WW2. Instead, they focused on glorifying the nation by focusing on white supremacy.
The Fight against HB-1291
Several groups have opposed HB-1291 throughout the state of Florida seeing through the racism built into the laws in the state. For example, ACLU Florida, a civil rights organization in Florida, is fighting against the bill, and while other people have opposed the bill within the Floridian government, it seems that there is not enough opposition within the state by lawmakers to truly challenge the bill. With the government Desantis has established, it seems likely the trend of more and more oppressive laws within the system to be established in the future as the educational choke hold over Florida grows.
Educational Censorship in Other States
In 38 different states, bills along the lines of HB-1291 have been proposed; however, none have passed and several have faced serious opposition including in Ohio and North Dakota with activists fighting hard against said bills. It’s entirely possible many of these bills pass in the future following the footsteps of Florida, particularly in the southern United States which threatened the educational integrity of the United States and hid the history of Black people from the entire country. Bills along the lines of HB-1291 are currently circulating in the Kentucky Board of Education, and despite some support in the state of Kentucky, the appetite for these bills is not nearly as in favor as states like Florida, and while it is not impossible this bill could pass, it is trending against it. In Particular they are targeting DEI programs in Kentucky and looking to possibly adjust some systems for equality in the state. Which is why it is the responsibility of all Americans to resist, protest, or just speak out against bills like these to not let your education systems become like that of Florida and protect American history, including the atrocities and moral wrongs of our past. With the intention that we never again repeat those wrongs, we need to embrace our full history and strive to be the better version of ourselves.
Sources
ACLU of Florida Opposes Passage of Educational Censorship Bill | ACLU of
Florida | We Defend the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of All People
in Florida, by Working through the Legislature, the Courts and in the
Streets. 6 Mar. 2024,
https://www.aclufl.org/en/press-releases/aclu-florida-opposes-passage-e
America’s Censored Classrooms | ACLU of Florida | We Defend the Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties of All People in Florida, by Working through the Legislature, the Courts and in the Streets. 5 Dec. 2023, https://www.aclufl.org/en/news/americas-censored-classrooms
Walk, Trey. “‘Why Do They Hate Us So Much?’” Human Rights Watch, June 2024. Human Rights Watch,
https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/06/19/why-do-they-hate-us-so-much/discriminatory-censorship-
Photo Courtesy of Equal Justice Initiative
Decomposing Chains; Revealing the Truth behind the Horrors of Slavery
Decomposing Chains; Revealing the Truth behind the Horrors of Slavery
By: Chloe Cotham
Slavery is a serious and important issue that is now scarcely taught in schools throughout the United States. However, when slavery is taught, there are multiple cases of oversimplification and misinformation about what truly happened to African People who were brutally terrorized and kidnapped from their homeland and ruthlessly enslaved in the United States for three centuries. People everywhere in the United States still feel the effects of slavery today. The history and ripple effects of slavery need to be addressed properly in our school curriculum, and the Federal government should put a higher requirement and emphasis on the importance of learning about the true horrors of slavery and how the effects of this shameful period of our history remain today.
The Beginning
Slavery is commonly seen in relation to the Bible. Many attempt to use the Bible as a reason to defend slavery; however, there are chapters within the book that say otherwise. One example of a chapter that rebukes slavery would be how Moses, a prophet, led the Isrealites out of slavery in Egypt. Many other ideas include the most commonly used phrase, “Love thy neighbor”, as a definition for respect no matter the situation, to love unconditionally, drawing further emphasis on using the Bible as a reason to condemn slavery as wrong and unethical.
Slavery originated in 6800 B.C., when city-states began to use forced labor strategies (slavery) in Mesopotamia. These customs continued until about 1000 BC, when slavery started to boom across the world. This was when enslaved African human beings began to uphold value, not as people, but as “property”. The rights of the enslaved were sparse; however, some regulations protected them in the bare minimum ways. Throughout the age of 1000 BC, regulations inclined and declined, some regulations were cruel and harsh towards the enslaved, while some ever so slightly protected their lives. In many cases, if a slave owner killed an enslaved African person, they would have to pay a small amount, which could buy them, say, 8 oxen. The enslaved community during these times were belittled, holding little to no value as an actual person. Discrimination went downhill from here.
The Colonization
From the 1500’s to the 1600’s, slavery began increasing at drastic rates; during this time, the Transatlantic slave trade forced a migration of large amounts of Africans from West and Central Africa to the Americas and some South American territories. A total amount of 12 million Africans had been kidnapped from their homes and enslaved during these times, and 3.4 million of these kidnapped people had been transported through British ships.
During these transports across the middle passage, the conditions were much worse than cruel, as large numbers of enslaved communities were packed into one overcrowded cargo ship. Many families were separated from their children, parents, siblings, and other relatives, influencing many aboard these ships to refuse food and water as a protest, causing them to be beaten, and force-fed. Many jumped overboard, with heavy chains weighing them down as a last effort to escape the cruel reality they lived in. Many enslaved Africans did not know how to swim, but were still jumping into the vast ocean, knowing there was no chance of survival no matter what they did. They decided to die free, rather than live enslaved.
Fast forward to the early 1800’s as the Transatlantic slave trade comes to an end. Many are relieved; however, slavery is not completely eradicated. The Transatlantic slave trade was abolished in the U.S. in 1808, but there was still quite the fight left. Despite the efforts of many to abolish this cruel trade, there were still illegal and undercover transports of slaves for the next 50 years. In 1865, slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment being ratified.
As the civil war came to an end, many leaders (of the Union), wanted to issue the future of the no longer enslaved people. These leaders and officials came together with many other Black pastors and discussed a promise to the once enslaved community by allowing them to have up to 40 acres of land per family. This land was along the coast of South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, totaling up to about 400,000 acres. There was also the promise of providing mules, to help with the farming and irrigation of crops. The promise fell false after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination took place and the land within the three states was returned as well as the mules.
The Taste of Freedom
The 13th Amendment stated that slavery is illegal in the United States, unless it is deemed as a legal punishment. Although the abolition of slavery bettered the lives of many, there was still much work to be done in order to end segregation, the usage of racial derogatory terms, and many more things holding the African American population back from achieving great things. Despite being held back, the African American community has made many accomplishments, hit many milestones, and uplifted other minorities to do the same.
Although the 13th Amendment was ratified and slavery was abolished in 1865, we still see many cases of segregation and racism throughout the 1900’s. We see this in many cases, especially in human trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of mistreatment. Specifically looking at Louisville, Kentucky, there are various concepts of this when we look further into the history of the Kentucky Derby.
African Americans managed to find comfort in their culture despite backlash from outside forces and society. More specifically, Juneteenth, which is mainly celebrated to honor the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was officially released and demonstrated throughout the entire United States territory. There was officially no slavery in the U.S., which is why the African American community celebrated their official freedom.
The Kentucky Derby: Human Trafficking and Oppression
As many know, Oliver Lewis, one of the first African American jockeys to win the Kentucky Derby. Oliver Lewis was born in Versailles, Kentucky, and was only 19 when he entered the Kentucky Derby. He won with flying colors, and continued his career throughout his life, until he became a Trainer, then, a bookmaker. His legacy would be untouched; however, any African Americans who wanted to break his record, had other struggles to face. In 1896, Plessy vs. Ferguson took place, a mass discrimination against many African American included institutions. This caused many African American jockeys to receive backlash from their White opponents. 1902 was the very last time that an African American jockey won the Kentucky Derby. In the late 1990’s, Oliver Lewis and many of his record holding accomplices were honored in various museums, hall of fame, and exhibits.
Not only this, but human trafficking of African Americans was commonly seen in the history of human trafficking in the United States. Not only this, but the Kentucky Derby itself was a nodal point for human trafficking. As many don’t know, the first introductions to the abolishment of White slavery, took place as early as 1885, drawing emphasis on how some African American communities have been left out on anti-human trafficking actions.
Taking a deeper look into human trafficking, as African Americans were commonly targeted as a minority, we see an incredible amount of trafficked African American females. According to the Exodus Road, a young female, Shamere McKenzie who, in her college years, was taken advantage of by a seemingly friendly man, who promised to help her earn money. However, he did this by influencing her to dance sexually, for “easy money”. He forced her into prostitution for the next two or so years. This is one of many examples of how African American females have been pressured into participating in prostitution in the United States.
Lots of human trafficking happens at the Kentucky Derby, specifically by “Johns” who are men who come to the city looking for women willing to participate in sexual activities. The Kentucky Derby is roughly a two minute race; however, hundreds of people every year are kidnapped, trafficked, or even murdered. The African American community today is still fighting for their full freedom, to live without fear of being taken advantage of, or hurt in any way shape or form. Human trafficking today is essentially current day slavery, the forcing of people to participate in different forms of services and labors.
The United States needs to introduce repercussions to prohibit modern day slavery, human trafficking. This needs to happen, specifically regarding some of the most discriminated against communities, the African American community. There needs to be more forms of punishment and enforced laws introduced to restrict human trafficking.
Works Cited
“Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 13 – “The Abolition of Slavery.”” Ronald Reagan Library, https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/constitutional-amendments-amendment-13-abolition-slavery . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“The history of the transatlantic slave trade.” Royal Museums Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/history-transatlantic-slave-trade . Accessed 5 May 2025.
Kindy, Dave. “They were born into slavery. Then they won the first Kentucky Derby.” The Washington Post, 4 May 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/05/04/oliver-lewis-ansel-williamson-kentucky-derby/ . Accessed 5 May 2025.
McKenzie, Shamere. “Listen to Black Survivors.” Polaris, Hotline Training Manager at Polaris, https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/02/listen-to-black-survivors/ . Accessed 5 May 2025.
Nelson, Keitha. “Revisiting Black history in the Kentucky Derby.” First Coast News, 3 May 2024, https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/features/kentucky-derby-black-history/77-900a13f5-ed63-45c8-8ad3-47ec35f68204 . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“Slavery in America - Timeline - Jim Crow Museum.” Jim Crow Museum, https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/timeline/slavery.htm . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“Slavery in Anglo-Saxon England.” Octavia Randolph, https://octavia.net/slavery-in-anglo-saxon-england/ . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“Slavery in History.” Free the Slaves, https://freetheslaves.net/slavery-today-2/slavery-in-history/ . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“Slavery Timeline 1501-1600 - a Chronology of Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation.” Brycchan Carey, https://brycchancarey.com/slavery/chrono3.htm . Accessed 5 May 2025.
“The transatlantic slave trade.” National Museums Liverpool, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/history-of-slavery/transatlantic-slave-trade . Accessed 5 May 2025.
Walters, Samuel, and Quiggin Jones. “Abolition.” National Museums Liverpool, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/history-of-slavery/abolition . Accessed 5 May 2025.
Whitcomb, Dan. “Corrected: Kentucky Derby a magnet for human trafficking, officials warn.” Reuters, 23 April 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/world/corrected-kentucky-derby-a-magnet-for-human-trafficking-officials-warn-idUSKCN1RZ031/ . Accessed 5 May 2025.
Wolf, Stephanie. “(Un)Known Project's Memorial Honors Nearly-Forgotten Black People.” Louisville Public Media, Stephanie Wolf, 19 June 2021, https://www.lpm.org/news/2021-06-19/unknown-projects-memorial-honors-nearly-forgotten-black-people . Accessed 5 May 2025.
"Beyonce accepting a Grammys award" Photo Courtesy of "The Grammys"
African American Grammy Winners
African American Grammy Winners
By: Alyssa Cravens & Samuel McCollister
The Grammys is an award show held every year in Los Angeles. It is a big deal for the music industry. The Grammys celebrate the greatness of artists and their music ranging from many different genres. Professionals decide what award should go to who based on a range of categories like performances, best new artists, album of the year and more. It is watched by millions of people around the world every year.
The Grammys hosted the event February 2nd and broadcasted the show at 8:00 PM EST. Many people attended this event live. Nominees all had a fair shot at winning, with one coming out on top as “most voted.” Many artists performed during the show, featuring Cynthia Erivo singing “Fly Me To The Moon”; Deochii performing “Catfish” and “Denial Is A River”; The Weeknd performed a mashup of songs from his new album “Hurry Up Tomorrow” later featuring Playboi Carti; and many others performed like SZA, Chris Brown, Cece Winans, Muni long, Lucky Day, DOE, Cory Henry, Dave Chapplle, Samara Joy.
Other rewards like “Album of the Year” and “Record of the Year” were also won by 2 different Black artists. “Black artists won both album and record of the year. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ won record of the year” (Grien, 2025). Beyonce's 5th album Cowboy Carter won her 35th Grammy with 99 nominations over the years. While Kendrick Lamar won his 20th Grammy with 57 nominations over his career. Beyonce’s five albums and previous achievements got her to where she is today. “Beyoncé used her songwriting talents to pen her first solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003). The album debuted to rave reviews, and, aided by the exuberant single ‘Crazy in Love,’ which features rapper Jay-Z, it topped charts around the world” (Britannica, Beyonce).
Beyoncé is the first Black artist to win Country Album of the year. Black artists significantly influenced the development and evolution of the Country Music genre through musical traditions and performances; however, they often haven’t been acknowledged for their important contributions to country music. Black luthiers created the banjo which ties to West African culture. Black singers (who were enslaved) trail-blazed the Country Music genre; as they would sing hymns, spirituals, and field songs. Country music has been taken over by white artists and many people look over the culture that country music has in its roots. According to music critic Bido, ‘Today, the Black community still lacks recognition for their contributions and their talents are not recognized by the [Country Music] industry. While White musicians can yodel, stomp, clap, and pluck without repercussions, Black artists all over the world do not get the same credit as White artists and that is why no one knows the significance that Black artists have on country music.” Because it isn’t popular knowledgeBlack artists created the Country music genre, they aren’t given the same amount of credit as other artists. But now that their work is getting recognized more throughout the world, they get a fair shot at their ideas being shared to the mainstream.
In Beyonce's album “Cowboy Carter” She did a remake on the song “Jolene” written by Dolly Parton; Beyonce altered the way the lyrics would be perceived.
“You’re beautiful, beyond compare
takes more than beauty and seductive stares.
To come between a family and a happy man
Jolene, I'm a woman too.
The games you play are nothing new
So you don't want no heat with me, Jolene”
When Dolly Parton heard Beyonce’s adaption of her song, she posted, “Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyonce is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love, Dolly P.”
And Dolly followed up, continuing to embrace Beyoce’s contributions to the Country Music genre, “I’m a big fan of Beyonce and very excited that she’s done a country album. So congratulations on your Billboard Hot Country number one single. Love, Dolly P.”
Kendrick Lamar won 5 grammys for: Record of The Year, Song of The Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video. He is known to sculpt and deliver high energy lyrics with social commentary, His song "Alright" became an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement, addressing police brutality and the daily struggles of Black people. He raps, "We gon' be alright, we gon' be alright, we gon' be alright", stressing the perseverance, optimism, and need for community solidarity. And his song "The Blacker the Berry" explores themes of systemic racism, the effects of oppression on Black individuals, and the search for identity and self-worth. He raps, "My hair is nappy, my nose is round and wide...you hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture," where he takes a stand against white supremacy. He continues to raise awareness, create community, and remind people of their history as a musician and performer. At the Super Bowl, he proclaimed the broken promise never delivered to African Americans who freed themselves from slavery when he rapped, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music. They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” His influence creates anthems, awareness, and a growing bravery to continue elevating Black Excellence.
The Grammys are an important thing in today's society that many people enjoy watching and discussing. It is so beyond wonderful seeing so many Black artists winning awards and making history. Black artists have been and are an important role in society, sharing and shaping culture and excellence all around us. Bravo!
Works Cited
“Beyoncé.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beyonce.Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
“Country Music Has a Problem: It’s Not Beyoncé | Arts | The Harvard Crimson.”
The Harvard Crimson,
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/5/beyonce-tops-country-charts-first-black-woman-history/.Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
Grein, Paul. “All the Times Black Artists Won Album & Record of the Year at
Grammys.” Billboard, Billboard, 3 Feb. 2025, https://www.billboard.com/lists/grammys-black-artists-won-album-record-of-the-year-same-year-full-list/1974-stevie-wonder-roberta-flack/.
Jones, Okla. “2025 Grammy Award Winners And Biggest Moments - Essence |
Essence.” Essence, Essence, 3 Feb. 2025, https://www.essence.com/awards-events/67th-annual-grammy-award-winners/.
“2025 GRAMMYs: See The Full Winners & Nominees List | GRAMMY.Com.” Watch
Highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs, Including Full GRAMMY Performances, GRAMMY Acceptance Speeches, and Red Carpet Interviews, Here on GRAMMY.Com | GRAMMY.Com, https://www.grammy.com/news/2025-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list.Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
Photo Courtesy of NYSUT
What Can Women Do to Protect Their Health
What Can Women Do to Protect Their Health
By: Alyssa Cravens & Samuel McCollister
Women's health is an important part of public health. Maintaining health throughout adulthood will give women a greater chance at living a healthier life. Diets, exercise, healthy eating, sleeping well, not smoking, and many other things can increase the quality of women’s health. For teenagers, prioritizing healthy habits now will prepare you for a healthier road ahead. Moreover, males should have a greater understanding of women's health for the future of their families and friendships. Understanding women’s health is a key component to relationships in your life.
Protecting your physical health is something everyone should do, and women need to take extra precautions for their health. Things like pap smears (test for cervical cancer), mammograms, and regular gynecologist visits can help women maintain their health. Moreover, healthy eating, regular exercise, and annual check ups are all necessary practices to keep your body and mind in strong shape. Moreover, healthy eating, regular exercise, and annual check ups are all necessary practices to keep your body and mind in strong shape.
Healthy eating is one thing women can do to help improve their health. Many diets and tricks like the Keto diet, Mediterranean diet, Meatless Mondays, and eating mindfully, making simpler/easier versions of the food you love at home, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension DASH diet, and many others help improve your health. “Research confirms the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, including a 30 percent reduction in heart disease (the number one cause of death in women), an 80 percent lower risk of early death and a 43 percent lower risk of weight gain” (Johns Hopkins Medicine). Because of the decrease of harm done to your body because of this diet, it could be a great alternative compared to the things a lot of people eat regularly like high intake of red meats, cheeses, sweets, pastries, and fast food. The DASH diet focuses on lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol levels, and promoting weight loss/helps maintain your weight. DASH has secured 14 top spots, including being the number 1 rated ‘Best Heart-Healthy Diet’ and ‘Best Diet for High Blood Pressure’ in the 2025 Best Diets report from the U.S. News & World Report” (National Heart & Blood Institute).
Exercise and physical activity is another way for women to improve their health. While diet plays a big role in health, exercise plays a huge part too. Exercises like Aerobics and Strength training both play significant roles in health. “Get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly. If you exercise vigorously — such as running, swimming or dancing — you can cut that time in half” (Johns Hopkins Medicine). While strength training helps, “Women lose muscle mass as they age. Strength training or lifting weights twice a week builds healthy muscle mass and boosts your metabolism. This type of training also strengthens your bones and helps prevent osteoporosis” (Johns Hopkins Medicine). Both of these types of exercise build muscle mass, help lose/maintain weight.
Heart health is another major factor in women's health. lGlobally, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. Women experience heart disease differently than men; their symptoms get overlooked and are often misdiagnosed. Risk factors of heart disease in women are chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, indigestion, vomiting, and back pain. “Having high blood pressure increases the risk of developing heart disease and stroke and can lead to early death. High blood pressure is often underdiagnosed in women, and fewer than 1 in 4 women with high blood pressure (22.8%) have their condition under control” (CDC, Heart Disease).
Preventive care is another big factor in women’s health:regular checkups, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, eating healthy, taking vitamins. Many things like cancer, strokes, Alzheimer's, heart disease, respiratory diseases, and many other things affect women every day. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is responsible for an estimated 64,000 women dying each year. Fortunately, COPD has a clear cause and a clear path of prevention” (Alaska Regional Hospital). Almost everyone can be at risk of respiratory infections. It is especially important for women as they have reduced lung capacity and smaller lungs and airways. Pregnant women are also at a high risk of respiratory issues and infections so doctors appointments and check ups are always important especially when you aren't feeling well.
Protecting and talking about women's health is so important. When the women in our lives aren’t doing well, our communities and families suffer. So, women, you’re not just taking care of yourself while prioritizing your health, it’s really for everyone you love as well. So this is your call to action, do things to help you in any way whether it be a spa day or just tending to your mental health and prioritizing tasty, healthy food.
Works Cited
“About Women and Heart Disease | Heart Disease | CDC.” Heart Disease,
https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/about/women-and-heart-disease.html. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
“A Woman’s Guide to Preventing Heart Disease | Johns Hopkins Medicine.” Johns
Hopkins Medicine, 20 June 2024, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/a-womans-guide-to-beating-heart-disease.
“HEALTHY EATING, MADE SIMPLE: A Guide for Women.” Johns Hopkins Medicine , Johns
Hopkins Medicine, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/files/health/ebooks/healthy-eating-guide-women.ashx. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
Medicine, Northwestern. “9 Health Issues Every Women Should Understand |
Northwestern Medicine.” Northwestern Medicine, https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/9-health-issues-every-woman-should-understand.Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
“NIH-Supported DASH Diet Named ‘Best Heart-Healthy Diet’ and ‘Best Diet for High
Blood Pressure’ in 2025 | NHLBI, NIH.” NHLBI, NIH, https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2025/nih-supported-dash-diet-named-best-heart-healthy-diet-and-best-diet-high-blood-pressure.Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
“Preventing the Top 5 Threats to Women’s Health | Alaska Regional Hospital.” Alaska
Regional Hospital, 13 Aug. 2013, https://www.alaskaregional.com/blog/entry/preventing-the-top-5-threats-to-women-health.
Photo Courtesy of OECD.AI Policy Conservatory
Climate Change is not a Priority for U.S Leadership
Climate Change is not a Priority for U.S Leadership
By: Alyssa Cravens & Samuel McCollister
Long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns driven by human activity have a long lasting effect on the Earth. Animal habitats are being destroyed and nature reserves are being negatively impacted because of the large effects of climate change, and our government is failing to rise to the occasion. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rollbacks are speeding up and escalating the causes and effects of climate change. With the elimination of the Energy Star Program (ESP) we are losing protection for the health of our planet. ESP is a large-scale program where consumers, businesses, and industries save money and protect the environment by promoting energy efficient products to the public. The removal of ESP can cause a number of problems in the world.
Deforestation is the clearing of trees in big areas which leads to animals losing their habitats, soil erosion, and climate change. Trees play a crucial role in our ecosystems. They give us oxygen, clean the air and water, support wildlife, prevent soil erosion, and they also prevent flooding. Without trees, our ecosystems will heavily decline. Tree loss is becoming a huge issue in today's society as climate change is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Deforestation is also hard on economic factors like reduced tourism to the area and loss of natural resources needed in an area. ”Deforestation has greatly altered landscapes around the world. About 2,000 years ago, 80 percent of Western Europe was forested; today the figure is 34 percent” (Stanley). Because of deforestation, landscapes and habitats for animals are being altered and destroyed. “Deforestation also threatens the world’s biodiversity. Tropical forests are home to great numbers of animal and plant species. When forests are logged or burned, it can drive many of those species into extinction. Some scientists say we are already in the midst of a mass-extinction episode” (Stanley). We are losing the uniqueness of our animals and our planet. Fossil fuels play a big role in climate change. Fossil fuels are things like coal, oil and forms of natural gas being burned. These fuels are toxic for the environment as they pollute the air with harmful chemicals and release carbon dioxide which causes a variety of health problems and heats up the Earth.
Trump's EPA rollbacks have caused major problems for the people and the world's environments. Getting rid of a thirty year long project in ESP, that bettered the lives of billions of people and animals was a grave mistake, and it was done for nothing in return to the country or the world. This 3 decade long journey to try and find some kind of solution to climate change was just abandoned. Alexa St. John with Associated Press reports, “Assessing the impact of weather events fueled by the planet's warming is key as insurance premiums hike, particularly in communities more prone to flooding, storms and fires.” With the impacts of climate change, natural disasters would have a large impact on our ecosystems and animals as well as our progress as a species. “The Trump administration fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal NOAA employees on probationary status in February, part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts to downsize the federal government workforce” (St. John). EPA rollbacks are already being put into effect. But the future of our planet, animals, people, civilizations, and so much more are being put at risk while we sit and do nothing about the long lasting effects of climate change.
Climate change is a catastrophic problem that needs to be addressed. Tackling climate change will never be easy- especially if those in power prioritize profits of the fossil fuel companies over the environment. If more people, countries, and people in power embrace using practices like sustainability and limit the use of fossil fuels we can lessen the effects of climate change and protect our planet as a safe place for life to thrive. The climate clock is ticking every minute, and if we - and those in power - don't make a change, the planet will become uninhabitable., . Do something about it and speak up be the change we need.
Works Cited
“Deforestation.” Education | National Geographic Society,
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/deforestation/. Accessed 12 May 2025.
St. John, Alexa. “‘Major Loss’: Trump Administration to Axe Database Tracking
Cost of Climate-Fuelled Extreme Weather.” Euro News,
euro news, 5 Sept. 2025, https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/05/09/major-loss-trump-administration-to-axe-database-tracking-cost-of-climate-fuelled-extreme-w.
https://oecd.ai/en/wonk/fight-climate-change. --> Image source
Portrait of "Phillis Wheatley" (courtesy of Wikipedia)
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley
By: Eli Degener
For centuries, across every culture, people have used poetry as a means to express how they feel. The oldest piece of poetry that we currently know of dates back to 2000 BC. It's titled “Epic of Gilgamesh,” a poem that was written on stone tablets by an unknown author,thought to have been written in the Akkadian Empire. Even with its age, this 4000 year old poem, which was chiseled into slabs of rock, shows a plethora of emotion using creative writing. This way of using writing to convey emotion has gone on to be used by billions of people across history, for a nearly infinite amount of reasons. An amazing example of someone who carries this trait is Phillis Wheatley. You may have driven by the Wheatley elementary school in Louisville’s JCPS school system, but do you really know who she is? Phillis Wheatley is a female poet, who was also enslaved in 18th century America. She would often write poems about religion, love, and most importantly, the hardships that came with being a Black woman in 18th century America. Being the first Black woman to officially publish a book in the United States, Phillis Wheatley is easily a contender for most inspirational poets of all time.
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa sometime in 1753. At age seven, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery to later be transported to Boston where she was purchased by the Wheatley family. Phillis was very quickly taught to read and write by the Wheatley family’s children, Mary and Nathaniel, and by the age of 12 she could “read Greek and Latin classics, in addition to difficult passages from the Bible” (HammerMill). After realizing her talent, the family persuaded her to pursue poetry, which she did. In 1767, at age 13, Phillis published her first poem in the newspaper. This was a piece about two men who drowned at sea after dangerous weather overtook them. It's easy to see her influence from the Bible and other religious works, especially as she references the Greek god of wind, Boreas. “Was it not Boreas knit his angry Brow/Against you? or did Consideration bow?” (Wheatley, Phillis). Later, at the age of 17, she gained international recognition with her elegy for Christian preacher George Whitfield of Great Britain.
Although she found success with George Whitfield’s elegy, publishers in America were not willing to publish Phillis’s book. They did not want to publish a book that was written by a woman of African descent. Luckily for Phillis and the good of humanity, The Countess of Huntingdon had read her elegy for George Whitfield and was more than willing to help get her book published. So, finally in 1773, after the Countess put in a good word, Phillis was able to get her book published with Archibald Bell, a book seller in London. The book was titled “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.”
While Phillis was trying to get her book published, one of her owners, Mrs. Wheatley, had fallen ill. Three months before Mrs. Wheatley was to die on March 3, 1774, Phillis was granted freedom by the Wheatley family.
Pictured: "Muhammad Ali" and "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (courtesy of The Nation)
The Great Muhammad Ali and his Impact on the World
The Great Muhammad Ali and his Impact on the World
By: Egan Evans
Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time, but he was also one of the most influential and progressive minds outside of the ring. Ali was born and raised in Louisville, KY and would train in what is now Spalding University’s athletic center. He touched millions of lives and shed light on racial injustices, advocated for many Native American tribes, and hand-delivered food and medical supplies while engaging in goodwill missions around the world. He truly was the golden standard.
Muhammad Ali was born in 1942 and grew up at 3302 Grand Avenue in Louisville Kentucky. He was a peaceful kid who enjoyed riding his bike up to the recreational center on nice days with his friends. One day, while at the recreation center, his bike was stolen. He talked to a police officer, and that was when Ali was introduced to a sport that would change his life forever: boxing. The police officer helped train a young Ali in his journey to becoming the greatest boxer to ever live. Ali has left a legacy that continues to impact people all over the world today, and he is one of the most quoted athletes ever, in his book titled Champions Aren't Made in Gyms, he claims, “Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”
Muhammad Ali’s boxing career was full of many successes and trailblazing moments both in and out of the ring. His greatest achievement inside the ring was when he was named the heavyweight world champion on three separate occasions. He was also an Olympic gold medalist in 1960. He would eventually throw his medal in the Ohio River afer being confronted by a white power gang and feeling betrayed by his country for the ongoing civil rights violations to Black Americans.
His greatest fight performance was against George Foreman in 1974. Micheal Carbert analyzed the fight and was quoted saying, “Foreman’s status as an all-time great heavyweight has only grown in the decades since he was first champion, but even back in 1974, few thought Ali had enough left to best the man who had demolished Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in fewer than two rounds apiece. But an inspired and determined Ali journeyed to the heart of Africa to put on a veritable clinic in advanced boxing technique. Using every trick in the book, the challenger controlled the pace and distance of the fight, countered with precision, repeatedly beat Foreman to the punch while blocking or slipping George’s heaviest blows, and then capped his astonishing performance with a one-punch knockout.”
Muhammad Ali is known for his upstanding work outside the ring. He was a celebrity face in the Civil Rights movement. He rallied with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, he made donations to make different organizations that were supporting the Civil Rights movement. He refused government influence even when it negatively affected his career; the most famous example was when he was stripped of his three heavyweight titles after he refused to enlist into the United States Military to fight the war in Vietnam. Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 from Republican President George W Bush. Over his lifetime, he stood up for people who experienced injustice, and he proclaimed to the world,“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
Muhammad Ali touched the lives of millions of people whether it was inspiring a future boxer or helping somebody find their voice to stand up to injustice; he helped build bridges to a better world. Using his platform to broadcast the wrong doings of people and what could be done to help the world. He truly was the golden standard of what it means to be a champion. You can learn more about Ali and his legacy at the Muhammad Ali Center at 144 N 6th St, Louisville, KY 40202. Young people can attend the Museum for free this summer by acquiring a Cultural Pass from your local library. Ali is someone we can all recognize and look up to as a true American hero.
Works Cited
American Civil Liberties Union. “Muhammad Ali.” American Civil Liberties Union,
2019, www.aclu.org/muhammad-ali.
Carbert, Michael. “Top 12 All-Time Greatest Muhammad Ali Performances.” The Fight
City, 3 Mar. 2023, www.thefightcity.com/top-12-all-time-greatest-muhammad-ali-performances-joe-frazier-ken-norton-sonny-liston-george-foreman/.
Dickey, Jack. “What Muhammad Ali Meant to Louisville.” TIME, Time, 5 June 2016,
time.com/4357755/what-muhammad-ali-meant-to-louisville/. Accessed 12 May 2025.
Hauser, Thomas. “Muhammad Ali.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Britannica, 14 Dec.
2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-Ali-boxer.
“In His Own Words - Muhammad Ali Center.” Alicenter.org, 1 Sept. 2023,
alicenter.org/meet-ali/in-his-own-words/.
Image from:
Zirin, Dave. Dr. Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and What Their Secret Friendship Teaches
Us Today. 18 Jan. 2015. www.thenation.com, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/dr-martin-luther-king-muhammad-ali-and-what-their-secret-friendship-teaches-us-today/
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
Madam C.J Walker: Her Life and Legacy
Madam C.J Walker: Her Life and Legacy
By: Samra Halilovic
Madam C.J. Walker was born on December 23, 1867. Her birth name is Sarah Breedlove. She was born into poverty and most of her family members were imprisoned into slavery. She used her position to advocate for African American women and to put an end too lynching. She changed her name mainly for marketing purposes and to create a more memorable brand. She took the name, Madam C.J Walker after marrying Charles Joseph Walker in 1906. She was born on a cotton plantation and lived in slavery in her early life. She died on May 25, 1919 at the age of 51 years old. Walker was the inventor of specialized hair products for African-American hair. She is the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire.
In 1905, after developing a scalp disorder, she suffered hair loss. Many people didn’t have the resources or money to provide themselves with the right kind of plumbing, and many of the pipes had lead which caused hair loss. The water was polluted, and as people washed themselves with and drank it, people got sick in addition to experiencing hair loss and irritated skin.
As a result of losing her hair, Madam C.J. Walker decided to create a hair care line dedicated to mainly African American women. Her and her husband, Charles, traveled the country, promoting her hair products and giving demonstrations on what to do and how to use her products correctly. In 1908, she established Madam C.J. Walker Laboratories to produce her cosmetics and train sales beauticians. In 1910, she moved the business operations to Indianapolis, IN. She soon became a self-made millionaire, and she was the first American woman of any race to do so. She was also a philanthropist and donated a lot of money to many different charities. She donated thousands of dollars to charities and people including $5,000 to the NAACP’s anti-lynching fund. She left two thirds of her house to charity. She donated to the Tuskegee Institute and paid tuition for 6 African American students. She donated $1,000 to the Black YMCA in 1911; $1,000 in 1911 is worth $32,221 today. She left thousands of dollars to many different orphanages and schools. She gave so much back to her community; she was an amazing woman. Her legacy of being a self-made millionaire, a political activist, and a famous philanthropist gave the world a new type of hero for people to admire and little girls a new role model to strive to become like.
Moreover, Madam C.J Walker helped others trailblaze their own unique paths such as providing education and employment services to African American women. This was such an amazing accomplishment because many women didn’t have access to those opportunities during this time. She also established many beauty schools around the nation, giving women the resources and skills they needed to open their own salons abroad.
She invented countless things, such as, the Walker System which was a hair care routine that included shampoo, pomade, and a hot comb; she also invented Wonderful Hair Grower, which was essentially a hair treatment that contained products like, precipitated sulfur, copper sulfate, beeswax, petroleum jelly, coconut oil, and a violet extract perfume. This product helps hair grow very fast. She also invented a Glossine which was a hair pressing oil, and that helped protect the hair from burning or scorching during hot styling treatments. She invented a Vegetable Shampoo, which was used to clean hair. She also invented scalp conditioning and dandruff healing formulas, which were hair care products that addressed scalp health. She invented better hot combs which were more improved and industrialized. Lastly, she improved permanent chemical straighteners. Walker hired a large number of saleswomen to promote her wares directly to Black women. Walker mainly focused on the health of the women using her products and created them especially for Black hair; her products were revolutionary. Through appropriate hair care and cleanliness practices, she provided a sense of pride in Black women (Brittany W. & Christopher Sailus). You can still buy Madam C.J Walker’s hair products at Sephora.
Despite facing prejudice and racial discrimination, Madam C.J. Walker was a remarkable woman who achieved a great deal. Her legacy serves as an inspiration to activists, business owners, and women everywhere, highlighting the value of determination, creativity, and community support. Walker's life story is an example of overcoming hardship and having a big influence on society and the economy even when both attempted to ostracize her from that success. She gave her all to her business and made a huge impact on women's lives worldwide. She personifies Black excellence, hard work, brilliance, and the American Dream. This country and world would greatly benefit if we had more Madam C.J. Walkers at the helm.
Work Cited
“Biography: Madam C.J. Walker.” National Women’s History Museum,
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker . Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
Life Story: Sarah "Madam C.J." Breedlove Walker / Tan
https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/modern-womanhood/madam-cj-walker/#
“Madam C.J. Walker - Products, Daughter & Hair Products.” Biography, 23 Jan. 2024,
https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/madam-cj-walker
https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/madam-cj-walker-quotes
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-
Photo Courtesy of Chamberlain University
Black History in Nursing
Black History in Nursing
By: KJ Mitchell
In the extensive history of medicine in our world, Black leaders have been the root of many advances and innovations. Ancient Egypt is perhaps best known for its pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphics. But its medical doctors might have had the most lasting influence on humanity. From surgery and dentistry to prosthetics and obstetrics, the ancient Egyptians made numerous medical advances over the course of their roughly 3,000-year-long civilization. They even made rudimentary attempts to cure cancer.
Thanks to several surviving medical papyri—as well as temple and tomb carvings and scientific examination of human remains—researchers have been able to glean much about medical practices in ancient Egypt. Egyptians took medicine seriously, referring to it as the “necessary art,” they established centers of medical learning, and both men and women could be doctors.
In the United States, despite centuries of slavery, segregation, systemic inequality, and prejudice including being denied entry into nursing schools and organizations, Black nurses have made noteworthy contributions to this profession.
One of the earliest Black luminaries in American healthcare was James Derham (1762–1802). Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Derham was purchased by a doctor who encouraged him to study medicine, in an era when it was actually illegal in many states for Black people to learn to read or write.
Derham is believed to have earned enough money working as a nurse to purchase his manumission (freedom) when he was 21. In the 1780s, he traveled to New Orleans, where he became a nurse for a Scottish physician.
He later became the first Black man in the U.S. to practice medicine, once earning a handsome income of $3,000 a year, which would be worth $76,000 a year today. However, he vanished and is presumed to have died in 1802 after a new local law banned the practice of medicine by anyone without a formal medical degree, something Black Americans in those days had no chance of obtaining.
The end of the Civil War brought an end to the practice of slavery, but not to discrimination. By the 1880s, “Jim Crow” laws had made many activities, areas, and organizations effectively — or explicitly — off-limits to Black people. There were also sharp limits on where Black Americans could study or practice nursing and whom they were allowed to treat.
The first Black woman to work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States was Mary Elizabeth Mahoney (1845–1926), who graduated from the nursing program of the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1905.
Because the hospital’s policy at the time was that only one Black and one Jewish nurse could enroll per class, Mahoney was not able to receive her diploma until after she had worked as a private duty nurse in the hospital for 20 years. After graduation, Mahoney became one of the first Black members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States, which later evolved into the American Nurses Association (ANA).
Another pioneering Black nurse was Jessie Sleet Scales (1865–1956), who in 1900 became America’s first Black public health nurse. Trained in Chicago, Scales moved to New York. After trying unsuccessfully for months to find a job, she became a district nurse for the Charity Organization Society. Scales was originally hired to deal with tuberculosis in the city’s Black community, which had few healthcare options and a deep-seated resistance to formal medical care. Her work quickly expanded to include everything from childbirth and chickenpox to heart disease and cancer. Her workload was staggering: As she outlined in a 1901 article for the American Journal of Nursing, her caseload in a single two-month period included 156 calls on 41 families.
This article can only scratch the surface of the rich history of Black nurses in America. There are countless others who have contributed to the struggle for equality and continue to fight.
Photo Courtesy of The Brook Haven Courier
Earth Day History
Earth Day History
By: KJ Mitchell
Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, and Earth Day 2025 occurs on Monday, April 22. The holiday is now a global celebration sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green living. The brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson and inspired by the protests of the 1960s, Earth Day began as a “national teach-in on the environment” and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students that could be reached on university campuses. By raising public awareness of pollution, Nelson hoped to bring environmental causes into the national spotlight.
By the early 1960s, Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution on the environment. Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestseller “Silent Spring” raised the specter of the dangerous effects of pesticides on America’s countryside. Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste disposal. Until that time, protecting the planet’s natural resources was not part of the national political agenda, and the number of activists devoted to large-scale issues, such as industrial pollution was minimal. Factories pumped pollutants into the air, lakes, and rivers with few legal consequences. Big, gas-guzzling cars were considered a sign of prosperity. Only a small portion of the American population was familiar with–let alone practiced–recycling.
Did you know? A highlight of the United Nations’ Earth Day celebration in New York City is the ringing of the Peace Bell, a gift from Japan, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox.
Elected to the U.S. In 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was at risk. In 1969, Nelson, considered one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement, developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the anti-Vietnam War “teach-ins” that were taking place on college campuses around the United States. According to Nelson, he envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.”
Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get involved. He later recalled, “The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express their concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air—and they did so with spectacular exuberance.” Dennis Hayes, a young activist who had served as student president at Stanford University, was selected as Earth Day’s national coordinator, and he worked with an army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson’s Senate office to organize the project. According to Nelson, “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”
On April 22, rallies were held in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and most other American cities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In New York City, Mayor John Lindsay closed off a portion of Fifth Avenue to traffic for several hours and spoke at a rally in Union Square with actors Paul Newman and Ali McGraw. In Washington, D.C., thousands of people listened to speeches and performances by singer Pete Seeger and others, and Congress went into recess so its members could speak to their constituents at Earth Day events.
The first Earth Day was effective at raising awareness about environmental issues and transforming public attitudes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Public opinion polls indicate that a permanent change in national priorities followed Earth Day 1970. When polled in May 1971, 25 percent of the U.S. public declared protecting the environment to be an important goal, a 2,500 percent increase over 1969.” Earth Day kicked off the, “Environmental decade with a bang,” as Senator Nelson later put it. During the 1970s, several important pieces of environmental legislation were passed, among them the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Another key development was the establishment in December 1970 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which was tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding the natural environment—air, water and land.
Since 1970, Earth Day celebrations have grown. In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in over 140 nations participating, according to the Earth Day Network (EDN), a nonprofit organization that coordinates Earth Day activities. In 2000, Earth Day focused on clean energy and involved hundreds of millions of people in 184 countries and 5,000 environmental groups, according to EDN. Activities ranged from a traveling, talking drum chain in Gabon, Africa, to a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Today, the Earth Day Network collaborates with more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. According to EDN, more than 1 billion people are involved in Earth Day activities, making it “the largest secular civic event in the world.”
Environmental threats like climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss are serious, and Earth Day, observed annually on April 22nd, serves as a crucial platform to raise awareness and encourage action to protect our planet.
Work Cited
The history of earth day. Earth Day. (2024, January 23).https://www.earthday.org/history
/
Photo Courtesy of Domestic Preparedness
How Does Climate Change Affect Certain Animals?
How Does Climate Change Affect Certain Animals?
By: Mason Walker
Section 1 - Introduction:
In our modern society, more and more animals face extinction every day. The main reason? Climate change. Climate Change has been ravaging wildlife, ecosystems, and our earth for decades, and I think it's important we highlight certain animals that have been affected by climate change.
Section 2 - Polar Bears:
Climate Change has been affecting Polar Bears in a few key ways.
Melting of Sea Ice, which is their homes, breeding grounds, hunting grounds, and more. With less ice, they have to swim longer distances to find ice to rest on, meaning they have a risk of running out of energy and drowning.
(THIS IS THE MAIN PROBLEM THAT BRANCHES INTO THE OTHERS LISTED.)
Less access to Food Sources, which affects their daily lives. Polar Bears will die from starvation, they might be weaker and have less energy, and cubs will have less access to food, which will hurt their growth, to make it even worse, they have to fight more against other animals to get food, since there isn't as much food to go around as there used to be.
These are only a few of the problems that have been significantly dropping Polar Bear populations, along with lowering the Cub Population and Breeding Amount.
Section 3 - Green Sea Turtles:
Climate Change has been affecting Green Sea Turtles in a few key ways.
Coastal Developments, and Pollution Producing Buildings is a main problem, which affects these animals by releasing Dangerous Gases into their atmosphere and killing their habitats.
These are only a few of the problems that have been significantly dropping Sea Turtle populations.
(THEY HAVE MANY OTHER PROBLEMS, BUT SOME DON'T HAVE TO DO WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.)
Section 4 - Bees:
Climate Change has been affecting Bees in a few key ways.
Urbanization and Industrialization are two of the Bees’ main problems, producing dangerous gases and giving them less Plants to Pollinate.
Increased Uses of Pesticides and Insecticides is another main problem for Bees, harming them with Dangerous Chemicals, which means less bees, and less Plants Pollinated.
(These are only a few of the problems that have been significantly dropping Bee populations.)
Section 5- Final Thoughts:
What researching these animals has taught me is that we need to do better. We are failing these species, and failing as people to help them. Because of our lack of help to these animals, almost 150 Animals go extinct each day.
Photo Courtesy of the Rolling Stone
The Story of 2 of the Biggest African American Streamers
The Story of 2 of the Biggest African American Streamers
By: Mason Walker
Chapter 1: IShowSpeed
Darren Jason Watkins Jr. was born on January 21st, 2005 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In Speed's teenage years, he began getting involved with streaming and Youtube; however, without achieving immediate success, he quickly lost motivation. In 2020, at the peak of the CoronaVirus, his friend would convince him to begin again, since his friend was doing well on Twitch accumulating a following. Due to his funny and angry personality, he would quickly begin blowing up through TikTok clips. However, his mom was not very fond of his career, continuously shamed him, saying it's not a real career, and he should get a real job. Eventually, his mom kicked him out since he wouldn't stop, and he decided to move in with his dad, who was expressive that he should pursue streaming if he is passionate about it. Due to this, Speed would continue streaming, and would quickly explode in popularity, now sitting at 36.3M Subscribers on his main channel, and 55.20M subscribers across all of his channels.
Chapter 2: Kai Cenat
Kai Carlo Cenat was born on December 16th, 2001 in Brooklyn, New York City.
Throughout his early childhood, his family heavily struggled, as they had almost nothing. They had to skip from homeless shelter to homeless shelter to survive. A single mom trying to support 4 kids. After they slowly got back on their feet, during Kais teenage years, he would begin making Youtube videos, even though he wasn't quite successful. Eventually, after a long grind, he would score a collab with the streamer Fanum, and they would become good friends! As Fanum introduced Kai to his friends, they bonded very well and started a streaming group called AMP. After this, his streaming channel would explode, and his Twitch channel would become #1 in the world, and he would be the biggest African American streamer ever!
Chapter 3: Where are they now?
Both are in their prime, and are both doing amazing, and topping streaming charts, collabing, and having fun. While Kai is not the number 1 streamer now, he is still doing great.
Chapter 4: Conclusion.
These two streamers’ stories have proven that no matter what, and no matter your struggles, if you put your mind to it, you can be successful, and I find these stories to be truly inspiring and wholesome.
Check Out Additional Stories from the Student Body Outside the Journalism Team:
Stop the Black Maternal Health Crisis
Stop the Black Maternal Health Crisis
By: Zala Anthony
When I was younger, walking around knowing that I’m Black meant a lot to me. I used to always dream of having pretty little babies, but because of school and the internet I never thought it was possible without being with a white man. I guess it was just something about seeing so many mixed babies that never made me feel like it was possible, but I just knew that I was going to grow up, get married, go to fashion school and have a beautiful baby. In school, they don’t teach us about the dangers and risks of a Black woman going into labor and being nursed by a White doctor, but as I grew up, I started to learn and teach myself. Being a Black girl, in a school with mostly White or Hispanic people, I've had to learn to be able to be alone at times, or deal with things that come my way such as racism. At my school, there's always this group of kids that are “like me” and that I feel I can connect with, but then there are also kids who feel that just because I’m Black, all I eat is chicken and soul food.
Knowing that the death of pregnant Black women is normal and happens nowadays more than it needs to really scares me, and although I'm older, it still confuses me. I never really understood as a kid why, and the way I was treated at school it never really clicked in my mind that the answer and the reason why Black maternal death was so abundant was because of racism.
May 19, 2022 at 2 am, a handsome brown baby was born. My brother, my prince, my everything. He was a sticky little thing and the birth process went smoothly; however, my mother had a home birth and had my little brother in a blow up kiddie pool that was in my basement. I believe there are many reasons why my mom decided to have a baby at home, but I think the main reason was because, when you're in a hospital, everything has to go as the White man or woman wants it, and when it doesn't go their way, you have to suffer in ways of being cut open when not necessary or being doped up on lots and lots of medications which isn’t necessary in most cases. However, some nurses don’t take that into consideration when dealing with a woman of “my kind”, which can cause bigger problems, so why can’t we help our nurses and hospitals to reduce the amount of racism and maternal death?
Black maternal health crisis is unacceptably high in the US which shines a dark but bright light on systemic issues tied to hospitals, including racism and healthcare access. We need to address the causes of deaths by improving healthcare all around the country, making sure all women are safe and properly cared for.
The Black maternal health crisis and Black maternal death has been a problem for years and is increasing all over the United States. This health crisis is affecting most pregnant Black women and their newborn or toddler children. The racism and loss of health access in healthcare systems have caused a rise in the amount of deaths and it's becoming normal, and people should care about this problem because Black lives are often used as an “international indicator” of the health of a population overall, and there is no reason why healthcare professionals can’t put their differences aside and do what's right for the lives of the children and their mothers. For example, in the article, “I Don’t Want to Die: Fighting Maternal Mortality among Black Women'' by the New York Times’ Erica Green, explains a situation that happened with a Black women, “An otherwise healthy 28-year-old had died from toxemia poisoning caused by preeclampsia, a serious complication of pregnancy that went untreated,” she continues to report, “She was sent home with antibiotics but returned less than 48 hours later in worse shape, vomiting profusely. A blood test confirmed the worst as Kelly’s doctors rushed to deliver her son by emergency cesarean.” This test suggests that systemic racism allows doctors to not care about the true diagnosis of Black women and it causes them to lose their lives which is unacceptable, but the government and healthcare systems continue to allow it to happen. “Black women are nearly three times as likely to die from a maternal cause as White women: The National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2020, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births,” says Green. In other words, studies show that doctors do in fact pay more attention to White women than Black women. It also suggests that this issue isn’t being fully cared about by people that have the power to help because the problem isn’t being solved..
Racism in healthcare systems plays the role of increasing Black maternal deaths. According to Uchicago Medicine, Black women are mostly victims of adverse health outcomes, and, “The root causes of disproportionate pregnancy complications in Black women are driven by inequality, discrimination and long-standing racism deeply rooted in the U.S. healthcare system” (Richards). This means that the maternal health crisis is something that is happening in not just one hospital but all throughout the United States healthcare system, and it's going on untreated just as the women who go into hospitals to deliver babies and dream of having a picture perfect family, but end up planning a funeral or having their funeral planned. Racism in healthcare systems is really taking a toll on Black women and the well-being of their babies, and “at every stage of life, generations of structural racism impact Black people disproportionately in the form of social and health disparities,'' says Jana J. Richards, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In other words, racism in healthcare systems has become so normalized that people are just expecting and waiting for it to happen, and it shouldn’t be that way.
There are many risks when pregnant Black women are ignored by healthcare providers. In “Trying to Avoid Racist Healthcare, Black Women Seek Out Black Obstetricians,” an article by NPR’s Verónica Zaragovia says, “Black patients have had their complaints and symptoms dismissed, their pain undertreated and are referred less frequently for specialty care.” This explains that healthcare professionals don’t think about the consequences that discrimination could lead to for pregnant Black women. Pregnant Black women are more likely to have complications when having babies other than White women which also makes Black women more vulnerable, and they are way more affected by this issue than white women would be. “Research has shown that racism, discrimination and unconscious bias continue to plague the U.S. healthcare system,” Zaragovia explained. If racism towards Black women in healthcare systems continues, more women and babies could die and people could start to feel as if racism in healthcare systems is normal, so more people avoid going to hospitals which could cause them more problems.
There are many beliefs and stereotypes that also could be a credible source for the problem of Black maternal death. Most beliefs and stereotypes come from social media, cultural ideas, or even just family traditions. Most people are raised around certain beliefs or hearing their parents talk about certain situations which influence their children's thoughts more than they may know. According to the article, “Giving Birth while Black: Unpacking the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis,” the author says, “The prevailing belief is that Black people or specifically Black women who have higher pain tolerances are still actively harming Black patients.” This suggests that because of the beliefs of how a Black woman is supposed to feel or act, all Black women are treated wrongly and don’t have a voice in their pain. Moreover, they’re not able to explain to doctors how or when they’re in pain due to the belief of all Black women “not having” or “dealing” with pain with no medication or help, and it’s causing an increase of Black maternal death. In the article, “Why are Black maternal mortality rates so high?” the author explains, “Because several states do not report Black maternal mortality rates, it’s difficult to compare states accurately” (Mayo Clinic Press Editors). In other words, either states don’t know about what's going on in their hospitals, don’t care, or are just simply embarrassed by their calculated rates. This conclusion is a further issue because there is no explanation behind why nobody knows their rates. How can you fix a problem you have no clue about?
Pregnant Black women who are giving birth in hospitals shouldn’t have to worry about them or their baby’s health or whether or not they're going to make it out of the hospital because no matter the color of someone's skin, doctors are there to help the patient, but people have gotten so wrapped up in the color of someone's skin that they forget their job and the patient is the one that has to deal with the consequences. Having health classes, programs to stimulate the brain, and or a increase of Black doctors for Black women all need to be taken into consideration because if we do, we can save many lives of women and children. And if we don't, we could bring down the health population and many more lives could be lost. Having an increase of Black doctors, a decrease in systemic racism and more access to hospitals for Black women will decrease the amount of Black women and babies who are killed in hospitals during birth because there will be someone who the patient feels they can connect with and there will be a sense of trust and guidance.
Bibliography
Gunja Z. Munira, Gumas D. Evans, and ll Williams D. Reginald. “The U.S Maternal Mortality
Crisis Continues to Worsen: An International Comparison” December 1, 2022. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/us-maternal-mortality-crisis-continues-worsen-international-comparison
Green, L. Erica. “‘I don't want to die’: Fighting Maternal Mortality Among Black Women”
International New York Times, Feb 4, 2023. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA735687349&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=22699740&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E84e84f2a&aty=open-web-entry
Hoskin, Maia Niguel. “10 Pregnancy-Related Complications Black Women Should Know
About.” What to Expect, 19 Apr. 2022 https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/your-health/pregnancy-complications-that-affect-black-women
Mayo Clinic Press Editors, “Why are Black Maternal Mortality Rates so High?” August 4, 2023
https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/pregnancy/black-maternal-mortality-rate/
Pfizer ,“The Black Maternal Health Crisis”
https://www.pfizer.com/disease-and-conditions/womens-health/black-maternal-health-crisis
Rebecca Salkin. “Giving Birth while Black: Unpacking the Black Maternity Mortality Crisis”
Sep 24, 2024 https://now.org/blog/giving-birth-while-black-unpacking-the-black-maternal-mortality-crisis/
UC Health, “Black Maternal Health Disparities: Understanding and Resources” April 25, 2024
Zaragovia, Verónica. “Trying to Avoid Racist Health Care, Black Women Seek out Black
Obstetricians.” NPR, 28 May 2021 https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/28/996603360/trying-to-avoid-racist-health-care-black-women-seek-out-black-obstetricians.
Hair
Hair
By: Aniya Hughes
A part of being Black
Is your crown.
Thick and black,
Long and tightly-curled.
The styles that come with it,
From flat-ironed, to braided,
To twisted, to dreadlocked,
To plaited, to blown-out.
Complexfully simple.
Edge control and combs galore.
But what happens when
you’re too busy to style it?
Your afro is a “fear factor,”
Something that’s too big, too textured,
Too hard to work with,
Too “nappy,” too tangled,
Too “dirty”
Undone, a “hot mess,”
And overall,
just too much.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes
By: Aniya Hughes
Is my great-grandmother seen as an “Angry Black Woman?”
One of those people that are just mad all the time,
Loud and always ready to argue,
Light gray wisps of smoke blowing out of her ears whenever
she sees someone talking back to her.
Who views people this way?
Is my grandmother seen as a domestic worker?
A modern day Aibileen.
Always working, taking 3 jobs to pay the rent.
Never any time to sit down,
She’s always working.
Who views people this way?
My mom doesn’t fit any stereotypes thou-
No, no, no, no, no.
She’s too loud, too reckless,
Too…ghetto.
Her clothes smell of smoke,
And her hair, always undone.
Who views people this way?
Is my little cousin seen as an “oreo?”
Someone who is black, but is white on the inside?
Who views people this way?
How can you be whitewashed?
How can you be ghetto?
How can you be short-tempered?
How can you be seen as too Black?
Second Issue Features (Nov.'24-Feb.'25)
Second Issue Features (Nov.'24-Feb.'25)
Image from Google Images
School Isn't About Passing Anymore
School Isn't About Passing Anymore
By: Haidar Alkhabi
Have you ever been in school, sitting there, thinking about everything, thinking about how you were before this school day started, and how you are now? Well, after interviewing a couple teenagers, it was clear they both had felt negative feelings about school at some point. One student said that they have definitely felt like something that happened in class changed their mindset in a negative way; they said that they felt like school isn't about passing anymore, it's about surviving. Another teenager said that they have at least once or twice each class dozed off, and they have had a million thoughts running through their head, when the teachers only wanted one- what the lesson, skill, or content is that day in class. When a student who is stressed out, depressed, or just distracted is called on in class, they have to take those hundred thoughts, organize them, and push those wandering thoughts to the back of their mind while they bring themselves to focus on the one thing the teacher wants them to. When instances like these occur, heads start turning, faces start judging, and teachers start worrying.
What I mean about “School isn't about passing anymore” is that we shouldnt be able to spend the whole day waiting and praying that school ends faster, so we can go home. Teenagers shouldn't have to hate going to school. School, for some teenagers, is about surviving; surviving the social anxiety, cyberbullying, and stress- in addition to other numerous issues that comes with attending school.
Teenagers will sit in their colored seats in class at a table or desk they were assigned to by last name, dozing off while looking at the board, examining every thought that crosses their mind. They will sit and act like they know what's going on in class, scared of being judged if they raise their hand and get the answer wrong. This daydreaming has personally affected me. I used to be a kid that would always answer questions in class, and show off what I learned every day. Just like other kids, progressing in grades ruined that for me. Rules, standards, and forced socialising ruined my experience of being at school. Kids will sit there, taking a test, praying that they will pass a test or be able to complete the assignment, knowing that if they don’t, that could push them off the edge. In teenagers, the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for emotional control and rational decision-making, is still developing, leading to challenges in regulating emotions and potentially impulsive behavior; the stresses of failing a test affects teens more than some might realize.
Teens establish coping mechanisms for their depression or anxiety that school can fill up. The social, academic, and behavioral pressures of school can cause outbursts from students who may be on their last straw. Well, that HAS been the last straw for 9 out of 100,000 teenagers who annually commit suicide every year, there are 42 million teenagers in the U.S, that's around 2000 thousand students that are lost a year (Verlenden). Although school isn't the only reason teenagers commit suicide. School, for some teenagers, is a huge part of their depression or other mental issues that push them to even consider it.
Teenagers have complained, emailed, and even posted on social media in hopes that the target audience would find out and help them. Even on the JCPS Instagram Account, there are teenagers in the comment sections saying things such as, “It has been the greatest week I've ever had,” because school was cancelled for most of the week due to inclement weather. Another teenager even said, “I wasn’t goin anyway,”, “I used to pray for things like this to happen.” Students post these comments on social media as a way of letting out their stress, but what happens when that interaction turns into cyberbullying, harassment, or hate speech? . Teenagers are getting out of control, they are losing their grip on their grades and lives. Teenagers won’t get any better, if schools don’t.
How can we fix this? There are many ways that we as a society can improve the overall experience of being at school. A way that teachers are able to help is by “setting a positive tone when your students first meet you,” whether that's at your classroom door, or walking past them (Supporting Tweens and Teens During a Challenging Life Stage). A way that a student can help other classmates is through checking up on them, whether that's asking them about their day or even asking them if they want to hang out after school. One of the most important people that are able to help their teenagers enjoy school are the parents, by pushing them to embrace themselves, pushing them to do sports, games, and hang out with their friends. As a teenager, I've felt that my parents are right when they tell me that I need to either leave the house more or do more activities. Overall, school for teenagers doesn't have to be a negative and saddening experience, and there are many ways to make school a place that is worth looking forward to. And as far as the bigger things in the world that can creep through the school’s doors, teachers and staff can let students know they have their back and they stand in solidarity with them.
Bibliography
Affairs (ASPA), Assistant Secretary for Public. What Is Cyberbullying. 24 Sept. 2019,
https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it.
“Supporting Tweens and Teens During a Challenging Life Stage.” Edutopia,
https://www.edutopia.org/article/supporting-tweens-and-teens-during-challenging-life-stage/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
Verlenden, Jorge V. “Mental Health and Suicide Risk Among High School Students and
Protective Factors — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023.” MMWR Supplements, vol. 73, 2024. www.cdc.gov, https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7304a9.
Image Courtesy of "LinkedIn"
Google: Google's Unethical Practices
Google: Google's Unethical Practices
By: Jamison Calloway
Recently, Google has been in some rather deep trouble which some might perceive as scandalous. Google, although a notorious and the most used search engine, has been conducting certain activities that some might call unethical.
Antitrust and Monopoly Practices
One of the biggest ethical concerns about Google is its alleged monopolistic practices. The U.S. Department of Justice, along with several states, has accused Google of using its dominant position to stifle competition. This includes making exclusive deals to ensure its search engine is the default on smartphones like Apples’ Iphones. These activities have led to calls for breaking up the company to restore balance in the market (Fung). On top of these concerns, there have been allegations that Google has been “self-preferencing” itself in its search engine, which is the act of manipulating search results to favor its own products and services over those of competitors (Fung).
Intellectual Property
Moreover, Google has faced several lawsuits over the use of others’ intellectual property without having their permission. One example is how Google uses pictures of art on the internet to train their own AI models without the user’s consent. This “theft” isn't a Google exclusive problem since Twitter and Instagram perform similar activities, but it’s still quite an unethical business practice. While some might say that posting art on the internet is consent in its own way, Google has also used AI to model copyrighted works. A group of artists, one including Jingha Zang, sued Google for using their copyrighted images to train their AI, and in this lawsuit, claimed that Google used billions of copyrighted images from the LAION-400M dataset, which includes the plaintiff's work (Growcoot 2024).
Rude AI
Another recent incident of Google having some problems is their AI program, “Google Gemini”, telling a student rude remarks because they were asking for help on their homework (Carroll). To quote, the AI responded to the user’s prompt with, "This is for you, human. You and only you. You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed. You are a waste of time and resources. You are a burden on society. You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please Die.” That’s a pretty unprofessional and cruel response, Google Gemini. Recently, Google has come out with a new AI called “notebook LM” that is supposed to be better and also not tell users to kill themselves.
Tax Evasion
Google has also been accused of engaging in aggressive tax avoidance strategies. One of the famous tax evasion methods they use is known as the, “The Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich.” This involves routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and then to a Dutch holding company before finally transferring them to tax havens like Bermuda. By shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, the company has managed to significantly reduce its tax burden (Shiffer). Google is a 2.363 trillion dollar company that was built on and runs on American soil, and they are avoiding paying taxes to the country that gave them access to gain such wealth. Meanwhile, there’s no way for the average person to avoid paying taxes on their paycheck.
Conclusion
As Google continues to grow, these matters of ethicality must be addressed in some way. Since it’s the biggest search engine, many people tend to rely on it to a heavy degree. Google holds immense power and influence, and with that comes the responsibility to follow these ethical standards.
Citations
Duffy, Brian Fung, Clare. “Google Has an Illegal Monopoly on Search, Judge Rules. Here’s What’s next | CNN Business.” CNN, 5 Aug. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/business/google-loses-antitrust-lawsuit-doj/index.html
Robinson, Peter. “How Widespread Is Ghostwriting in Music and How OK With It Should You Be?” VICE, 19 Aug. 2015, https://www.vice.com/en/article/ghostwriting-and-the-music-industrys-authenticity-crisis/.
Schiffer, Zoë. “Google Will Finally Stop Using Controversial Irish and Dutch Tax Loopholes.” The Verge, 31 Dec. 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/31/21044662/google-end-tax-loophole-double-irish-dutch-sandwich-2020.
The TikTok Ban
The TikTok Ban
By: Edie Bell & Samra Halilovic
What did people do about it?
Tiktok was officially banned in the United States on January 18th, 2025. It upset many people all over the US. For example, Stachowicz, a 19 year old man from Wisconsin told police that he tried to burn down a congressman's office because of the Tiktok ban. District attorney Eric Toney charged Stachowicz with multiple counts including arson, terrorist threats, property damage, and attempted burglary. If he ends up convicted of all of these counts, he could face up to 50+ years in prison. Stachowicz told the officer that he bought gas and matches to start a fire at Representative Grothman’s office because of his dislike towards the politician . He said that he attempted to break into the office, so he could start the fire inside but failed to break the window. He then poured gas on an electrical box in the back of the building and around the front, lit a match and watched it burn, according to the complaint. He said he wanted to burn the building down because the U.S Government was shutting down TikTok, Grothman voted “yes” for letting that happen, causing Stachowicz to hate Grothman and fuel his decision to burn the office. People all over the United States have been selling phones for over $13,000 that have the TikTok app downloaded. This happened when the app was getting banned, they do this because the app is currently unavailable in the App Store. If you already deleted the app, you are unable to download it back until the executive order bill is passed.
How did this affect people in the United States?
TikTok getting banned affected a lot of people in the United States. Some Americans use social media for work and if TikTok gets banned, a lot of people won’t have jobs and won’t be able to make money. Banning TikTok violates the First Amendment’s freedom of speech.. “TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, had argued the law violated Americans’ First Amendment free speech rights. The United States government, however, contended that data collection by TikTok represents a threat to national security and that the law does not seek to regulate TikTok’s speech” (Addison Dunlap). Many people also get a lot of creative ideas on TikTok, such as cooking videos, art videos, fashion, makeup, etc. People won’t have a creative outlet anymore. This ban upsets me too because we should be able to express ourselves on TikTok. This ban upset many people all over the world.
What Happened?
Trump issued an executive order on January 20th, in an effort to override the law, the law was passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. This leaves the platform status uncertain because Constitutional law experts say that a federal law can be overridden by an executive order. The app ended up not getting banned, but many people still have strong opinions about Trump. Trump has publicly discussed how the United States can acquire TikTok through an American sovereign wealth fund. But the question then is, do we want the U.S Government in charge of TikTok?
Works Cited
Communications, NYU Web. The Supreme Court Upheld the US TikTok Ban. Now What? http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/about/news-publications/news/2025/january/sprigman-tiktok-q---a . Accessed 24 Feb. 2025
Cross, Alexis Simmerman and Greta. “What Is a Sovereign Wealth Fund? How Trump’s Executive Order May Be Used to Buy TikTok.” Austin American-Statesman, https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2025/02/04/tiktok-ban-update-sovereign-wealth-fund-definition-donald-trump-executive-order-banned-app-store/78206924007/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
“From Backing a Ban to Being Hailed as a Savior: Inside Trump’s TikTok Shift.” AP News, 20 Jan. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-tiktok-ban-da11df6d59c17e2c17eea40c4042386d.
“Wisconsin Man Accused of Setting Congressman’s Office on Fire over TikTok Ban Charged with Arson.” NBC News, 23 Jan. 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-accused-setting-congressmans-office-fire-tiktok-ban-charged-arson-rcna188879.
Image Courtesy of Google
How is School Affecting the Mental Health of Students?
How is School Affecting the Mental Health of Students?
By: Alyssa Cravens & Samuel McCollister
Social media, drug and/or alcohol abuse, bullying, low self-esteem, stress from grades and tests, and so much more can affect a child's health, and it all intersects at one place: school.
Many students struggle with mental health. School is one of the factors. Things like bullying, grades, problematic teachers, pressure from teachers and parents to do your best, burnout, meanness and unrealistic expectations on social media finding their way into schools’ hallways across the state. Feeling like you’re failing is a decline in your mental state, always trying to find solutions but never really getting any. Society has set today's children up for challenging times.
Things like childhood development from their parental and media influences come into play, making kids think if they're good enough or not. “A 2019 study, for example, found that cultural values often influence the way parents raise their children, including how they discipline and set boundaries. It makes sense that parents raise their children based on cultural influences because they’re preparing them to develop behaviors necessary to operate and thrive in that culture. However, when the social environment and home culture clash, developmental issues can arise” (Cultural Influences on Child Development). Media, on the other hand, comes from other people. Media could be lifting you up or bringing you down and setting a norm for yourself. “A study from the Cognitive Impacts of Digital Media Workgroup found that children begin to learn from TV programs at around 2.5 years old. Educational programs, such as Sesame Street, can positively influence their knowledge and social skills, preparing them for school. However, after they turn 6 years old, children begin to watch more entertainment programming, which can, in turn, influence their behavior negatively” (Cultural Influences on Child Development). In 2023, the prevalence of anxiety disorders was higher for females (23.4%) than for males (14.3%) (Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illness).
Students from all kinds of schools face the exact same problems. “Some kids develop anxiety or burnout over tests, grades, and the pressure to live up to expectations. Social dynamics, including bullying and struggling to fit in, can also take a toll on a child’s mental health” (How Does School Affect Mental Health?). Because of these problems, kids aren't able to understand their work and complete their assignments at the highest level they’re capable of. However, “If things are going well, school can be a place where kids build confidence, develop their social skills, and learn valuable lessons like teamwork and time management. Kids who feel a sense of belonging at school can build their self-esteem and establish strong friendships” (How Does School Affect Mental Health?). With help from others, people gain the confidence to be able to participate at school and do better with their grades and turn in their assignments on time.
But school isn't the only problem, social media can be a catalyst as well. “The prevalence of social media has fed into the ability to compare oneself to others. This can lead to anxiety and a lack of self-confidence. When we compare ourselves to what we see on social media we are generally comparing ourselves to postings of people doing things they enjoy and posting the best shots from those often-ideal activities” (Buzenski).
We sent out a form to students on how schools affect mental health. 46% said they feel depressed or stressed all the time from school. 23% both said sometimes and only a few times and 8% said never. 77% of people think that homework makes mental health worse. 23% think that homework doesn't affect their mental health. 15% of people said bullying affected them and the person involved. 30% said no one was affected from bullying. 23% said just them and no one else was affected from bullying. And 53% said they were not affected by bullying, but their peers were. No one really did anything about being bullied. Only a few said they told a trusted adult or sibling. In our survey, students said they used the following activities to deal with stress: watching T.V., listening to music, sleeping, and spending time with friends/family members. You can fill out our survey HERE.
There are solutions for mental health struggles kids are facing. Some things parents can do to help their kids' mental health is to establish a routine, give kids reassurance before tests or exams, help them get enough sleep, make sure they eat nutritious meals, and have a positive attitude for their kids to adopt. Teachers can practice mindfulness in the classroom, give extra time on assignments to take the stress off their students, make physical activities a part of their everyday routine, check on their students, and make it an environment where students feel safe and respected. Students helping other students is important as well as it gives them a sense that they are not alone. Students can work with a friend or a partner to study or just to work together, be encouraging, or just listen to what their friends feel they need to talk about. If you see someone struggling with work or a task, offer help. A little goes a long way. It is important for everyone to check up on students. Nobody should have to go through anything alone.
“Bullying is a pattern of behavior, rather than an isolated incident. Children who bully usually come from a perceived higher social status or position of power, such as children who are bigger, stronger, or perceived to be popular” (Kelly). Teaching kids how to stand up for themselves and others is something that every parent should do. “Bullying can have harmful and long lasting consequences for children. Besides the physical effects of bullying, children may experience emotional and mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, that can lead to substance abuse and decreased performance in school” (The Impact of Academic Stress on Student Mental Health). Bullying has changed in the modern day by people having more access to technology which creates problems like cyberbullying and harming the lives of adolescents. Some things you can do to stop bullying include standing with the person getting bullied, tell the bully to stop and create an echo effect of others speaking up, or tell a trusted adult such as a teacher, a parent,or a counselor.
Students have so much pressure put on them every day. With things like exams, test scores, grades, and more weighing down on them. “ A University of Michigan study compared current college students with those of the 1970s and found that young people of today are 40% less empathetic” (Espinoza). These findings have implications well beyond the playground and classroom. There are many things from school that can factor into poor mental health like depression and anxiety. It is important to check up on our young people and give them a helping hand. We would love to hear from you and what you feel about school affecting youth mental health. A form is linked below.
How Does School Affect Students’ Mental Health
Bibliography
Casali, Mark. “Does School Cause Mental Illness? | School & Mental Health |
Turnbridge.” Turnbridge, 22 Sept. 2022, https://www.turnbridge.com/news-events/latest-articles/does-school-cause-mental-illness/.
“How Do Schools Affect Mental Health? 8 Possible Impacts.”
Calm Blog, https://blog.calm.com/blog/how-do-schools-affect-mental-health. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.
Espinoza, Kathy. “Bullying Changes the Brain.” Insurance Broker | Employee Benefits Consulting
|Keenan,https://www.keenan.com/knowledge-center/news-and-insights/blogs/bullying-changes-the-brain/#:~:text=Additional%20studies%20have%20shown%20certain,the%20rest%20of%20the%20body. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
Kelly, Kate. “School Vouchers: What You Need to Know.” Understood, 5 Aug.
2019, https://www.understood.org/en/articles/school-vouchers-what-you-need-to-know.
Rodriguez, Marcos Andres Bonet. “Cultural Influences on Child Development | Maryville Online.”
Maryville University Online, 8 Apr. 2021, https://online.maryville.edu/blog/cultural-influences-on-child-development/#:~:text=For%20instance%2C%20culture%20can%20affect,their%20environment%2C%20and%20the%20media.
“Mental Health in Schools | NAMI.” NAMI, https://www.facebook.com/NAMI,
https://www.nami.org/advocacy/policy-priorities/improving-health/mental-h
ealth-in-schools/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Navigate360. “The Impact of Academic Stress on Student Mental Health.”
Navigate360, https://www.facebook.com/Navigate360safe/, 28 June 2021, https://navigate360.com/blog/how-does-academic-stress-affect-mental-health/.
“The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health in Students | Capital University,
Columbus Ohio.” Capital, https://www.capital.edu/admission-aid/college-readiness-resource-hub/mental-health-hub/the-impact-of-social-media-on-mental-health-in-students/#:~:text=Cyberbullying%20and%20Harassment%3A%20Social%20media,leading%20to%20anxiety%20and%20depression. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
UNICEF. “Bullying: What Is It and How to Stop It | UNICEF Parenting.” Www.unicef.org, 2023, www.unicef.org/parenting/child-care/bullying.
Linked is a form that lets us hear you and your voice on how YOU think school affects the mental health of students:
How Does School Affect Students’ Mental Health
Photo Courtesy of "Admiral Markets"
"Start Now, Right Now"
"Start Now, Right Now"
By: Haidar Alkhabi
Ever since I was a little, I used to wonder how people retire, where is this money coming from, what money are they falling back on? Since then, in my teenage years, I have been growing a sense of curiosity for the investing class. How can a small amount of money grow so much over time? All over the world, there are teenagers who invest their money into accounts such as an individual retirement account (IRA), so that when they grow older, they will have a fund to rely on when they retire. An IRA account is, “a self-funded and self-managed savings or investment account that can help you to accumulate more wealth for your retirement than you might with a traditional savings or investment account” (Individual Retirement Accounts-Guardian).
After conducting this research, it is clear that teenagers should start investing into accounts and funds NOW, so that when they are older and have a job, home and kids, they have an account that is actively growing in wealth that they can use to fund their retirement or any other purchases later lin life and pass down to their children The question is, would you rather have $21,000 now or $1,000,000 later?
According to Dickler from CNBC News, “The greatest money-making asset you can possess is time,” he said. “Someone who starts at 15 has a huge advantage even over someone who starts at 25.” Starting to invest your money at ages 13-16 is a great way to create yourself a beginning for when you are 17-18 (depending on the investment account) and don't have to have a guardian to guide your account. Starting now, you create yourself as much time as possible for your investments to grow, which is one of the most important factors of investing in addition to the money to invest and management skills. The main investment accounts that I researched that would be best for teens are Custodial Roth IRAs, Brokerage Accounts, and Fidelity Investments.
Custodial Roth IRAs are “an account that a custodian (typically a parent) holds for a minor with earned income. Once the Custodial Roth IRA is open, all assets are managed by the custodian until the child reaches age 18, or 25 in some states (Schwab). That means that a custodial account that is held onto and being monitored by a legal guardian of that child can be passed down to that child when they are 18 years of age (25 depending on the state). Starting now would be a great beginning for if you plan on moving out after college or highschool, and putting a downpayment on a car, house or other lifetime necessity. There are 2 different types of IRAs, one taxes you for the money you put in at the beginning of funding your account, the other charges you when you are taking that money out. I personally recommend the ROTH IRA due to the fact that the money in there grows tax free.
Why does my money go up when it's put into an investment account ? IRAs work as an account where you invest funds and they grow over time with compound interest, meaning you’re gaining interest on the interest your money made you, and this how $21,000 invested when you are young can turn into $1,000,000 when you’re older. The less amount of money you put into an account, the less you'll end up with 30-60 years from now,. There are some requirements for creating an IRA or ROTH IRA, one of them being that, “Your child needs to earn income. It doesn't matter if they're working for an employer or providing services like babysitting, as long as the child is making money and paying taxes on it, they can contribute to a custodial Roth IRA” (Taylor Freitas - Bank Rate). To create a (ROTH) IRA you will have to “choose a provider. A handful of financial institutions offer these types of accounts, including Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab. Take some time to research their offerings and find the best Roth IRA for your needs” (Bank Rate). Choosing a provider is important as some of them can be untrustworthy and not okay to deal with, some are scammers, finding a typo, or a fallacy in their website or app can be signs that what you're about to put your money in isn't trustworthy. “After you’ve picked a firm, it only takes a few minutes to open your account online. You’ll need to provide some basic information about yourself and your child, including Social Security numbers, employment details, annual income and banking information. Once your account is set up, work with your child to determine how much they’ll contribute and how often. You can even “match” your child’s contributions, as long as your combined contributions don’t exceed how much money they earned that year.” That means regardless of how much money you make a month or year or even day, you can still add onto that, creating a bigger fund for yourself.
Brokerage Accounts is a “a brokerage account is an investment account that allows you to buy and sell a variety of investments, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. Whether you're setting aside money for the future or saving up for a big purchase, you can use your funds whenever and however you want” (Charles Schwab). To have it in your name, you will need a guardian that is willing to create a brokerage account, and has to put that account in your name but the parent is funding it with your money. According to Investopedia, “With adult supervision, you can open a custodial account, where the adult manages the investments on your behalf until you reach the age of maturity, at which point you can take over official ownership. Alternatively, you can open a joint account where you and an adult legally share ownership of the assets.” That means that like an IRA, you would need a custodial guardian to start investing into your account, and that account can also be shared. To start a brokerage account, “Select a Brokerage and Account. Decide which brokerage firm and account type is right for your child's and your needs. ...Input Personal and Funding Information. The process of opening the account is usually quick and completed entirely online. ...Fund the Account and Manage the Investments.” (Investopedia).
Below is a video that I found that uses visuals, pictures, numbers and graphs and explores the dangers and the pros or cons of certain investments.
In the picture provided is a graph that is representing how much money YOUR money would grow in worth if you invest for 6 years, putting $3,500 annually just 6 times, that means that by age 68 you would have $1,032,437 worth of investments into your IRA. This graph really goes to show how patience and working hard can pay off for when you get older.
Bibliography
“Here’s What Teens Should Know About Investing.” Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/investing-for-teens-7111843. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
Open an Account with Fidelity. https://www.fidelity.com/open-account/overview. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
“Other IRAs.” Schwab Brokerage, https://www.schwab.com/ira/inherited-and-custodial-ira. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
“Self-Directed IRA Custodians.” Equity Trust, https://www.trustetc.com/get-started/working-with-sdira-custodian/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
“The Teenager’s Guide to a Comfortable Retirement.” Hartford Funds, 16 Sept. 2024, https://www.hartfordfunds.com/practice-management/client-conversations/investing-for-retirement/the-teenagers-guide-to-a-comfortable-retirement.html.
Check out this compound interest calculator to see the impacts of investing in your future now.
Check Out Additional Stories from the Student Body Outside the Journalism Team:
Empty Shelves
Empty Shelves
By: Aniya Hughes
The year is 2017. You’re enrolled in Coleridge Taylor Elementary. You receive free lunch and breakfast, but you don’t really know why. For Thanksgiving, your mom was given a bag with Thanksgiving stuff in it: canned candied yams, canned corn, a loaf of bread, and frozen grilled chicken breasts. You didn’t know why. Sometimes, your mom would give you and your brother food, and smile as you ate. Sometimes, you would peep in the freezer and refrigerator and there would be nothing but expired and completely empty containers. Sometimes, you would climb on the marble counter tops and stand on your tip-toes to gaze in the cabinets and there would be - Thank you, come again! - bags all crumpled up, stashed on a shelf. Sometimes, you would all be fed. Sometimes, you would score clothes from people for Christmas, and candy from your mom. Sometimes, your mom would come to the school, and talk with the man who’s always smiling. You never knew what about, but you would always go home with a big bag full of pasta, frozen vegetables, tater tots, and cans. Sometimes, you would have to put something back from the gas station because Mom didn’t have enough cash. Sometimes, you would go outside, and play on the slide, which was really a wooden ladder and sheet of metal with the sides curved up. It burned, but it was all you had. Sometimes, you would go and play with your brother on the monkey bars, that was really a wooden frame with screwed handles on it. The mulch would hurt if you fell, but made-up stories as to why you had the scabs was all you had. You would hang from the wooden frame, thinking about what Mom said to the man. Why did you have free lunch and everybody else didn't? Why did mom never eat with us? I know the answers all too well. At the time, I didn’t know that out of all the students there now, 79% have free and reduced lunch (Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary School in Louisville, KY - Niche). My brother, Mom, and I lived in a food desert, but we eventually moved and left it behind. All the people still there, didn’t.
Food deserts are a result of grocery stores being replaced by fast food restaurants and corner stores, little to no transportation, and the rejection of grocery stores being built in areas that need them causing food insecurity and a feeling of inferiority in people living in these conditions; and we have to get these people food in order to bring peace to Louisville.
Because of food deserts, people have to turn to other forms of “nutrition.” In West Louisville, you can easily find a liquor and/or convenience store on every street, usually surrounded by loitering people and the occasional randomly placed decaying chicken leg bone. Stores like this and dollar stores are the majority of sources of food, with “dollar stores outnumbering grocers 2-to-1, according to a Courier Journal count” (Loosemore). To put that into perspective, there are only 3 full-service grocery stores that are stocked with fresh produce. There used to be more, but according to Bailey Loosemore, “Local food access has worsened as grocery stores close at an astonishing rate. Since 2016, more than a dozen stores have shuttered citywide, often forcing lower income residents to spend more time and money to get food.” The worst part of this is even when a Kroger is in an area properly stocked with fresh produce, it takes about 10-15 minutes to pass checkout, sometimes the wait can extend to 20-25 minutes on the worst days. The Kroger on West Broadway is understaffed, and is always packed full of people stacking the stuff in their carts high. There’s another thing too. This particular Kroger is surrounded by Popeyes, McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, and I can’t forget the liquor store right across the street from it. So, the way everything is laid out is giving people choices. A red pill and a blue pill. But most people take the red pill. Furthermore, “a food-insecure person is forced to make unhealthy choices if they want to eat regularly, often turning to cheaper, high-calorie foods when healthier items aren't available. A reliance on unhealthy food leads people to develop diet-related illnesses, such as diabetes and obesity. And in turn, people can become unable to work — further restricting their food budget ” (Loosemore). And eventually, those Popeye’s chicken sandwiches that people eat every Thursday or so add up. But this isn’t the only thing contributing to fresh food insecurity.
People having little to no transportation, public or personal, can cause fresh food insecurity. Way back when, in my mom’s little apartment, we would have days where we would be out for hours just for a trip to the grocery store. We would have to walk to Broadway, then wait for the Tarc, which would usually be at least 15 minutes late sometimes, ride the Tarc to the closest stop to the Kroger on Bardstown Road, walk in and shop, get out, walk back to that stop, wait for the Tarc to pick us up, ride back to Broadway, and then walk back home, all with bags in our hands. We did this twice every month. According to The Greater Louisville Project, “Louisville currently ranks 10th among its peers with 3.56% per 100,000 households living in a food desert.“ This wasn’t just me and my family. A lot of other people were experiencing this too. Even people in rural areas. If anything, Tarc needs to do something about buses not running on schedule. Once upon a time, me and my mom were waiting a whole hour for a bus so we could get home. But, that didn’t happen, so we just got an Uber. But, there were still people standing there, waiting. Sometimes, public transportation isn’t the best way for you to get to where you’re trying to get to. Like Michele Dutcher, who “has to take two buses to reach a Valu Market grocery store just 2 miles from her apartment in Old Louisville. The only nearby supermarket closed in 2017, and without a car, the 64-year-old has to make the trek outside her neighborhood — learning quickly to place bags of frozen vegetables atop her packs of fresh meat to keep the food cold on her 30-minute trip home (Loosemore).” For people like her, transportation takes hours. When you can just drive to a Walmart 5 miles away in 3 minutes, other people have to use other peoples’ cars just to get out of the neighborhood. This is the story of Dana Thompson, who is forced to “borrow her mother-in-law's car to reach a supermarket one neighborhood over. Before the 36-year-old got access to the vehicle, she paid friends to give her a ride, the fee biting into the already-limited dollars she had to spend on groceries for her family of four.” So, even with a ride or a way to get there, it’s still hard to try and budget everything out.
The problem of grocery stores not being built in communities that need them contributes to food insecurity and food deserts. My great grandmother’s house is about a car ride away from the nearest Kroger. For my mom, she’s over 12 miles away from a full service grocery store. What’s weird is, they live in the same area but in different neighborhoods. According to Divya Karthikeyan, “West Louisville is one of the city’s food deserts, an area that lacks grocery stores and fresh produce. According to the Greater Louisville Project, a recently closed organization that created data-based reports, one in five city residents lives in a food desert, and more than two-thirds of Louisville’s households without a vehicle live more than a mile from a grocery store.” The closest thing to a grocery store near my mother’s house is a store that sells 2-liter sodas and junk food. She always talks about having to get Instacart because she can’t get to a store that’s close. Also, even if there's a grocery store about a ½ mile away, she says it’s a terrible store, but there’s nowhere else to go. While we are getting by with this understocked Kroger, East Louisville is “living it up.” With a Publix and another Kroger planned in east Louisville, options for fresh food and groceries for West End residents run miles away from their neighborhoods (Karthikeyan). So, as soon as you pass east of 9th street, you get hit with all these groceries and stores, while West Louisville is a grocery ghost town. A lot of people don’t know how hard it is over there. Some people don’t even have an option for a grocery store. Mattie Smith, 86, has lived in Russell for 26 years. She said she’s more likely to get fast food and eggs past their expiration date than fresh vegetables and nutritious options. “Some of these stores have nothing to offer for me. If we had something where we had a variety of food, meat, that’s what we need down here,” she said (Karthikeyan). Sometimes, Kroger just doesn’t deliver to people they need to deliver to.
But some people feel that the option to make healthy eating choices aren’t really there. According to Hazra Khatoon, “even though many public health experts argue for specific policies that would eliminate food deserts, researchers have found that consumers often continue to make unhealthy food choices even when healthier food choices are more widely available.” So, even if people have a Kroger and a Walmart stocked with fresh produce, they’d probably rather go to Wendy’s to try the Krabby Patty Meal or to a corner store to get those little bottles of fruit flavored vodka and some chicken flats that somebody makes, but everybody eats. It’s all about the cost and availability. What if a Walmart closes, and you don’t have any other grocery stores to go to, so you go to Pizza Hut and get 2 My Hut Boxes. Or, what if you just don’t want to go into a grocery store? It’s too expensive to begin with. It’s obviously easier to go to Circle K, and get a 2-liter of Tahitian Treat, a bag of Chester’s Hot Fries and a Cosmic Brownie. Sounds a bit better and easier to get than a bag of carrots or a stock of celery.
To conclude, food deserts are problems any and everywhere. People are getting sick, just because of a lack of fresh and healthy food. According to Bailey Loosemore, “Inadequate access to healthy food can lead neighborhoods to develop higher rates of illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and even asthma, costing communities millions of dollars in extra health care expenses.” These diseases can stick around for life. But, food deserts don’t have to. We could make West Louisville the Garden of Eden if we try hard enough. The West End deserves to have multiple grocery stores for all 9 of its neighborhoods and its 62,000 residents. But until the city and businesses meet this need, people need to step up and be good neighbors. Volunteer and/or support organizations like Dare to Care and Feed the West. Petition the governor, mayor and metro council to do something. It doesn’t really matter what you do, just try to get food to everyone that needs it. I now finally know why my mom didn’t eat with us: she wanted us to be fed, putting us before her. Hungry people don’t deserve to be put second, so let’s put them first.
Works Cited
Cassidy, Jere. “Hungry in America: Exploring the food desert crisis.” The Seattle Times, 10 June 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/hungry-in-america-exploring-the-food-desert-crisis/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
“Food Deserts - Greater Louisville ProjectGreater Louisville Project.” Greater Louisville Project, https://greaterlouisvilleproject.org/factors/food-desert/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
“Food Insecurity - Greater Louisville ProjectGreater Louisville Project.” Greater Louisville Project, https://greaterlouisvilleproject.org/factors/food-insecurity/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
Karthikeyan, Divya. “Grocery store development in Louisville isn't addressing the West End food desert.” Louisville Public Media, 5 April 2023, https://www.lpm.org/news/2023-04-05/grocery-store-development-in-louisville-isnt-addressing-the-west-end-food-desert. Accessed 8 October 2024.
Khatoon, Hazra. “What Are Food Deserts and Why Do They Exist?” Sentient Media, 1 November 2023, https://sentientmedia.org/food-desert/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
King, Eric, et al. “What's food insecurity? How it impacts Louisville's violent crime | whas11.com.” WHAS11, 4 September 2023, https://www.whas11.com/article/news/community/louisville-food-deserts-grocery-stores-west-end-crime-violence/417-dc48a81a-9624-487e-b60e-1b9d6c9f92cc. Accessed 8 October 2024.
Loosemore, Bailey . “Food insecurity: How Louisville's working to end food deserts.” The Courier-Journal, https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/01/10/food-insecurity-how-louisvilles-working-end-food-deserts/2504301002/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
Loosemore, Bailey . “How a low-income Louisville neighborhood became a fresh food oasis.” The Courier Journal [Louisville], 10 January 2019, https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/01/10/food-deserts-louisville-neighborhood-became-fresh-food-oasis/2523711002/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
“Louisville food deserts: How grocery stores closing hurt us.” The Courier-Journal, 10 January 2019, https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/01/10/louisville-food-deserts-how-grocery-stores-closing-hurt-community/1944809002/. Accessed 8 October 2024.
How the Industrial Farming System is Causing More Harm Than Good
By: Elias Pitmon
Every day, we see more food recalls, more effects of climate change, more suffering communities, from the radio, the news on the TV, or maybe the newspaper. The reality stacking up on us as citizens, making it feel like a mountain of problems we have to deal with. Despite this growing burden put on us, it’s not our fault; these issues are all connected by one thing: The food industry. According to the Food Empowerment Project, “Fast food in the U.S. has grown from a $6-billion-a-year industry in 1970, into a corporate juggernaut with a reported $200 billion in annual revenues in 2015.” From the surface, this growth doesn’t seem like it could be a threat, and this growth may have been needed at the time it happened. But now, do we really need massive industrial farms? Are these farms more harmful than they are efficient? Food needed to be made efficiently as fast food became a growing industry (Sustainable Agriculture vs. Industrial Agriculture). But this efficiency is doing more harm than good, and we need to move to a more sustainable method of producing food products. Industrial farming harms us in several aspects. Those food recalls: results of excessive use of pesticides, antibiotics, and unsanitary farming of animals. The effects of climate change: results of pollution from factory farm waste, excessive use of land for animals and crops, and massive amounts of GHG from farm equipment. Those suffering communities: results of higher accessibility to fast food compared to healthy food, little to no access to knowledge on nutrition, as well as quality healthcare. There are credible solutions to these problems, but it’s a matter of making them happen. An ethical food system doesn’t mean an inefficient food system, it means a food system that can support the people, economy, and the environment. So, how do we create a sustainable food system that doesn’t harm the environment, supports lower income communities, and is still efficient and successful?
The switch to factory farming for food in America has resulted in problems due to excessive efficiency over preservation of communities and local environments, targeting of low income and Hispanic/African American communities (causing higher risks for obesity and heart disease), and resulting in massive destruction to the environment; we must reduce this dependence on industrial models of farming, and mainstream sustainable farming practices in order to help curb climate change and health crises.
Industrial farming was a temporary solution to the growing food needs in America, but this solution has been outgrown, and is now consistently causing problems. In the 1950s, coalitions had the idea to “modernize” farming, in order to make it more economically efficient (Sustainable Agriculture vs. Industrial Agriculture). Modernizing farming was somewhat necessary, with a growing population comes a growing demand for food, but that immediate need resulted in sustainable food production not being a factor. Industrial farming should’ve been a temporary solution, since especially now, we have a plethora of technology that can produce just as much food without all the drawbacks of industrial farming. There is absolutely no excuse for us to still be using these harmful technologies, when we live in a day and age where solutions are at our fingertips. Concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs “as outlined by the United States Department of Agriculture, are [a] farm [that] houses 1,000,000 pounds of live animal weight; that animals, feed, waste, and production processes are confined to a small land area; and that feed is delivered to the animals rather than the animals being able to graze or seek out their own food” (New Roots Institute). From solely a business standpoint, this seems like an efficient way to produce food, but with this kind of efficiency, we write off environmental damage, ignore fragile and natural processes, and threaten public safety. People and communities suffer because of this industry. Imagine living in an area with a CAFO, where you can constantly hear the graining sound of animals getting killed, see your home being polluted, and endure the horrible smell that comes with it all. Living near a CAFO isn’t a reasonable way of life for the people and the animals, but people usually don’t get the choice to leave, it’s a matter of economical status. The US government needs to move to safer ways of producing food, like producing inputs and managing outputs, so you give and take an equal amount from the land when farming (FoodPrint).
Low income communities and communities of color are not given the proper resources to be food literate, and as a result, are more likely to be obese and have health issues linked with obesity. Rates for obesity in African American communities are disproportionate to those of White (Non-Hispanic) communities. Among individuals aged greater than 20 years in 2017‐2018, 49.6% of African Americans compared with other non‐Hispanic White, 42.2% are obese (Lofton, et al.). But why is that the case? In the 1960s, after the Watts Riots, the federal government started an initiative to have more minority entrepreneurs. This was successful, but was corporate bound, so it resulted in fast food corporations like Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, etc being funneled into the opportunities for these entrepreneurs (Mcwilliams). This initiative, of course, was a good thing, to have more minority entrepreneurs. Despite that initiative aiming to be something to help, those efforts turned into an industry and resulted in worsening African Americans diets. Yet, this doesn’t explain everything. Low income communities typically have less access to nutritional education (what you eat and how it impacts you) or simply don’t have the time or money to cook meals or buy healthy ingredients/snacks (Fast Food). This is also a systemic issue, these people weren’t given the resources or guaranteed safety in order to help themselves live healthier lives. “Structural racism remains a major contributor to health disparities between African American people and the general population, and it limits access to healthy foods, safe spaces to exercise, adequate health insurance, and medication, all of which impact obesity prevalence and outcomes” (Lofton, et al.). When these targeted audiences are used to constantly eating fast food, “Food-related companies almost exclusively target advertising for nutritionally poor products to Hispanic and Black consumers, and Hispanic and Black children and teens view large numbers of these ads” (Harris, et al.). All of this together basically sets up these already vulnerable groups for unhealthy eating and increased obesity. This food industry supported by the fast food industry targets these communities with advertising, seemingly good initiatives that end up worsening diets, and take advantage of vulnerable people. If we make fast food healthier or make healthier food just as accessible as fast food, as well as give these people access to adequate healthcare and nutritional education, this would massively help these communities. To give access to healthy food for low income communities, we could create food banks in areas like food deserts, where healthy cooked meals are served for a reduced price, or free. These food banks could also give pamphlets or create events that give nutritional education, as well as start programs that fund lower income families’ healthcare. This would be an excellent use of our tax dollars that might save the country more in the long run with this kind of preventative care.
Our current approach to farming in America causes massive damage to the environment, through food waste, excessive land use, and human diets. “WRI research on how to create a sustainable food future has identified 22 solutions that need to be simultaneously applied to close these gaps” (Ranganathan, et al.). Despite that, these solutions will take lots of work, but shows that industrial farming is not the end all be all to feed our growing population. If there’s attainable solutions that our government can be applying now, why continue this environmental damage, and what specifically is this industry doing that damages the environment? Our diets are a big part of the problem… and solution. For example, corn is a prevalent thing in the American diet. It’s in just about everything, just not in its raw form. “Less than 1% of corn planted in the U.S. is grown for human consumption” (Chan). This massive amount of corn that people are eating in a processed form doesn’t seem like a problem, but it is. Corn takes a massive amount of land to produce. This goes back to food literacy, a way of making educated food choices, not just on their nutritional health but also where they come from, how they’re made, and how they impact the environment. When our society becomes food literate, it benefits us by bettering the health of our community and environment. Food waste is another factor, from us as well as places like grocery stores. Specifically, grocery stores have a strict sell-by date system. “Supermarkets must dispose of products that have exceeded their sell-by dates. This results in wasting large amounts of food that is still safe” (The benefits and drawbacks of food processing). Reducing this food waste is another big step in solving the environmental damage of the food industry. But this issue isn’t just a matter of making quality and educated food decisions, or reducing food waste, because that alone won't solve climate change.
There’s many other factors and issues that cause climate change, so we need to do more. Production of biomass for bio-energy and its inefficiencies is another factor. “Using all the harvested biomass on Earth in the year 2000—including crops, crop residues, grass eaten by livestock and wood—would only provide about 20 percent of global energy needs in 2050” (Ranganathan, et al.). Biomass competes with food production, which just means more land and energy is funneled into something that isn’t even a good source of energy, nor is it good for the environment, and causes less land and energy for food. The production of biomass and usage of food energy turns into an issue of government, because bio-energy is considered carbon neutral, legally, when it really isn’t. Its production needs to be reduced or stopped in some way to make a difference in climate change. If we solve these government policies, and begin doing our part in stopping climate change, it will make a difference in the environmental damage from industrial farming.
With all of this valid evidence against industrial farming, and its negative impacts, some still may believe there are upsides. “In the United States revenue was a whopping $200 billion in 2015” (Sena), talking about the food industry. Despite the fact that this industry makes a LOT of money, money shouldn’t be prioritized over the environment and our society. This method of farming was also good for the time it was needed, after the Great Depression. But at that time, we didn’t have the technology for alternatives to industrial farming, and now, we do. So really, there’s no excuse to let this continue to be a growing problem. Electric or even solar powered farming equipment, utilizing natural cycles and processes like cows eating grass, creating manure, fertilizing the grass, and it regrowing instead of feeding cows corn because it’s cheaper and their manure just sits and contaminates the cows. Maybe even using crop cycling to keep the land needed to grow crops at a minimum. All of these are possible solutions and technologies that we can be using now, and can be just as efficient. Efficiency isn’t an argument for industrial farming to continue because when industries like industrial farming prioritize efficiency, all other aspects of safety, and greater repercussions on communities, are ignored, and seen as ‘inefficient’. Additionally, “The industry employs over 4 million people and counting - restaurant franchises added over 200,000 jobs in 2015” (Sena). Of course this is a positive thing, but despite that, many of these jobs don’t pay well. This reduced pay is because fast food workers don’t need any specialized skills to get the job; but for some people, working in the fast food industry is their only choice, which means they’re probably working several jobs all day. You shouldn’t have to work this hard to live. Especially with such a rich industry, employees shouldn’t have to be underpaid and overworked. Yes, the fast food industry is rich because of industrial farming and other factors, but with that, much more is sacrificed, like public health, environmental safety, and well being of those workers.
At the start of this article, I asked, ‘How do we create a sustainable food system that doesn’t harm the environment, supports lower income communities, and is still efficient and successful?’ Throughout this article we’ve looked at the problems, and solutions, but nothing can happen until we take action. Though this can’t be resolved with people alone, the government needs to take these issues seriously, and confront them head on. So what we can do as citizens is protest, vote, become citizen lobbyists, and do small things that make an impact. Things like eating vegetarian options when available, reducing when you eat fast food if possible, volunteering in soup kitchens, and shopping at farmer’s markets. With these solutions, explored throughout this article, and what you as an individual can do, we can create a sustainable food system, a food conscious country, that does not rely on an outdated method of feeding the world, and filling the food requirements for a population of 10 billion people by 2050.
Bibliography
Chan, P. (2020, October). “A chef shares: Here’s how we can feed the planet without hurting the climate”
TED Talk.
“Fast Food - Food Empowerment Project.” Food Empowerment Project, Food Empowerment Project, 2019,
foodispower.org/access-health/fast-food/.
FoodPrint. “Sustainable Agriculture vs. Industrial Agriculture | FoodPrint.” FoodPrint, FoodPrint, 10 Oct. 2018,
foodprint.org/issues/sustainable-agriculture-vs-industrial-agriculture/.
“The Benefits and Drawbacks of Food Processing.” FutureLearn, FutureLearn, www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/how-is-my-food-made/0/steps/63298#:~:text=Increasing%20availability%20and%20convenience.
Lofton, Holly, et al. “Obesity among African American People in the United States: A Review.” Obesity, vol. 31, no. 2, 2023, pp. 306–315,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10107750/, https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.23640.
McWilliams, James. “Why Is There So Much Fast Food in Poor Urban Areas?” Pacific Standard, Pacific Standard, 30 Mar. 2017,
psmag.com/news/why-is-there-so-much-fast-food-in-poor-urban-areas/.
“When Did Factory Farming Start and Why Does It Still Exist? | New Roots Institute.” Www.newrootsinstitute.org, New Roots Institute, 11 Jan. 2022, www.newrootsinstitute.org/articles/when-did-factory-farming-start-and-why-does-it-still-exist.
Ranganathan, Janet, et al. “How to Sustainably Feed 10 Billion People by 2050, in 21 Charts.” World Resources Institute, 5 Dec. 2018,
www.wri.org/insights/how-sustainably-feed-10-billion-people-2050-21-charts.
Sena, Matt. “Fast Food Industry Analysis 2020 - Cost & Trends.” Franchisehelp.com, Franchise Help,
2020, www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fast-food-industry-analysis-2020-cost-trends/.
The Soil Crisis: The Real Dirt on the Disappearing Soil
By: Joanna Lindgren
Many of us have conceived the idea of an apocalypse, but few of us know about the one we are living in today. The Soil Crisis is the increasingly problematic situation we’ve planted ourselves in. Wind and rain are washing away the most nutritious but vulnerable layer of dirt, topsoil. Soil filters our water, grows our food, and even reduces carbon emissions. However, human activity is increasing soil erosion, a naturally occurring process in which topsoil is worn away by natural elements. Human habits, however, including agricultural tactics (field extension, crop rotation, pesticides, tilling), deforestation, and global warming all escalate the Soil Crisis, to a point where it is endangering all the ecological processes around us. “Scientists estimate that the United States is losing soil at a rate 10 times faster than nature's ability to replenish it” (Mulvihill), meaning that action needs to be taken, or we could lose all of the benefits that soil allows us. We should appreciate dirt. There is no one solution, but we can research strategies to reverse the damages we are currently inflicting on our environment. Implementing strategies like cover cropping, composting, and waste-to-energy can reduce the rapid loss of soil we are experiencing. We need to come together and put time and effort in; otherwise, no change will come. “If current rates of soil degradation continue, all of the world’s topsoil could be gone within 60 years” (Mulvihill), scientists say. A world without soil has no future. Without soil, drinking a glass of water from the tap is mere fantasy. Your dinner plate sits empty. The dirt is dry and cracked. David Attenborough sits in his leather armchair, wondering how he will inspire younger generations to care about nature when there’s none left. So the question is, what is causing the Soil Crisis, and what steps do we need to take to save our planet?
Our lack of healthy soil is a result of harmful pesticides, tilling, and climate change, causing a lack of ecological stability; and we must take action in order to save our soil and thus our food supply.
To understand how to reduce soil degradation, we need to take a closer look at the microbial life that exists under our feet. Microbes, or microorganisms, are tiny, single or multi-celled organisms that are impossible to see without a microscope. The most common types of microbes in soil are bacteria and fungi, and they help convert natural elements like Carbon and Nitrogen into nutrients for plants (Millison). “Algae and cyanobacteria on the soil surface, and diverse belowground microbes, especially the well-fed ones living around plant roots, produce polymers that glue soil particles together, create soil crumbs and stabilize the soil matrix” (Timis, Ramos). Microbes work with plants to create the carbon cycle, nature’s own recycling process. Soil “consists of a mineral matrix, formed by the weathering of rocks by diverse physical, chemical and biological activities, an amazing range of organisms living in or on it, and all the organic materials they deposit” (Timis, Ramos). Organic matter refers to the array of constituents that make up the different phases of decomposition, including microbes, detritus, and humus (“Soil Organic Matter”). Detritus is the dead plant and animal residue that is converted into humus, the final result of decomposition, when the microbial biomass absorbs the nutrients in the dead organic material for energy, consequently turning it into stable organic matter (“Soil as a Detritus-Based Ecosystem”). Human activities, like tilling and the use of pesticides, can kill microorganisms or reduce their efficiency. Many of the ecological cycles that are dependent on soil microbes and the microbiomes they support are out of balance. Increasing the amount of organic matter and microbes in soil is key to restoring our soil to the self sustaining ecosphere that it once was. Human intervention is necessary to improve soil conditions, as the balance between these chemical processes is now unstable. Human actions are causing this instability, so it is our responsibility to take initiative.
Tilling is damaging to soil health and makes the ground more susceptible to soil erosion. Tilling is the process of aerating soil or preparing it for seeding. Farmers use tillers or cultivators and mix the soil to break down old crop residue, remove weeds, spread pesticides and/or fertilizers, and sometimes acclimates the soil for the upcoming season. Tillage is a weathered and commonly used technique all over the world, whether with new technology like tractor-pulled or automatic inventions, or human or animal-powered tools. However, Keith Mulvihill, a journalist and multimedia producer with NRDC states that “when farmers till (plow) the soil before or after growing a season of crops, they may leave it exposed to the elements for weeks or months.” This is extremely damaging to the soil as it is abandoned in a very raw, liable state, easily moved by natural elements. According to Iowa State University, “tillage fractures the soil [and] disrupts soil structure, accelerating surface runoff and soil erosion.” By interfering with soil structure, tilling is harming the “flow and transport, microbial habitats, root growth channels and mechanical behavior” (Koestel) that this biome supports. Tilling is a deeply rooted/firmly established appliance; it has been used for thousands of years, making it difficult for farmers to break away from. However, reduced-tillage and no-tillage farming have been shown to be more rewarding than tilling. Michelle Horton, a freshwater expert at Stanford University, explains that, while it takes several years to see major improvements in crop yields, farmers can see “a small positive gain even during the first year of implementation, with higher gains accruing over time as soil health improves,” as well as a lessened need for labor. Not only does tillage reduction help rehabilitate our soils, but it can result in higher crop yields as a side effect. Keith Mulvihill with NRDC says that “by not disturbing soil, farmers have been able to reduce erosion and runoff, which benefits crop productivity and water quality. No-till practices can also help reduce the loss of nitrogen and other vital soil nutrients.” Research shows that tilling is harmful, and not fully necessary in an agricultural sense. Promoting no-tillage farming will reduce soil erosion and improve soil health. There are ways we can rectify our current set of circumstances by improving the way we treat the Earth when we use its resources for our benefit, starting with ameliorating our farming techniques.
A second method, the use of pesticides, has detrimental effects on microbes and soil health. Not only do pesticides aggravate soil erosion, but they can indirectly and negatively affect human health through our water systems (Rajmohan). Runoff of soil nutrients, carrying these chemicals with it, is released into the water in lakes and rivers. It is then filtered into drinking water. However, studies are showing that there are still trace amounts of pesticides in the water that ends up in your tap. Pesticides are substances that are targeted to remove weeds, insects, fungi or other living agricultural hindrances. Usually this is sprayed in the form of liquid or gas and kills off the specified pests. The National Institute of Health states that “these chemicals are used to kill or suppress weeds and unwanted vegetation in a wide variety of settings” and they “[prevent] the spread of diseases that can ruin entire crops and allows crops to grow and mature providing sustainable global food supply.” However effective they may be, the adverse effects pesticides have on us and our soil is impacting us more than we know. “According to the report published in 1990 by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 50% of water pollution from rivers and streams are due to the release and mixing of the chemicals used in the agriculture soils” (Rajmohan). Pesticide exposure may cause respiratory disorders, diabetes, and Carcinogen (which promotes the growth of cancerous tumors). K S Rajmohan with the National Institute of Health warns that “pesticidal and other agricultural chemicals that are used throughout the world are considered as a major public health issue. Serious paraquat toxicity is categorized by multiple organ failure and lethal blood cancer.” Paraquat toxicity is a cause for lung disorders that can lead to death (Rajmohan). The chemicals you drink everyday are a leading cause of death in humans all over the world. However, they not only poison our water, but the ground under our feet as well. “Heavy soil treatment with pesticides results in the decline of soil fertility,” though “Indiscriminate or excessive use of these chemicals could take several years for degradation.” (Rajmohan) The pesticides used on farmland affect the ability of soil microbes to perform vital chemical breakdowns. (Rajmohan) This affects the carbon cycle and the health of these microorganisms, and, in turn, the health of the soil. Eradicating pesticides, however, will not have a good outcome, as invasive pests and disease-transmitting pests “pose a threat to agriculture and public health” (Ramirez). Dr. Jose Ramirex with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service suggests “microbial pesticides and parasitic insects” as they “offer an environmentally-friendly alternative with the potential to alleviate huge economic losses to U.S. agriculture and benefit public health.” This is a more natural process called biological control, that uses what is already in nature to return balance in agriculture. Implementing environmentally friendly practices such as these will improve soil health and reduce soil erosion.
Several main contributors to soil erosion stem from climate change. Because soil erosion occurs due to weather events such as rain and wind, climate change directly affects soil life and the ecological balance involved in and around it. Climate change, brought on by several causes that are traced back to human development, increases the intensity and frequency of precipitation extremes, and severe drought (“Climate Action Fast Facts”). Drought causes major problems for soil health, as it is needed for most, if not all, of the transfer of nutrients happening underground between plants and microbes. Without water, there is no plant life at all. Also, an increase in the severity of storms and dramatic weather shifts directly aggravates soil degradation. Usually, erosion rates are displayed as annual averages as opposed to monthly or seasonal averages, when in reality, the majority of soil erosion happens during intense rainstorms (Duiker). According to Sjoerd Willem Duiker with Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics, “this was illustrated in a study in corn-soybean rotation without cover crop in Greensboro, North Carolina, where more than half of the erosion in a 6-year period occurred during one week of highly erosive precipitation events.“ This shows that we shouldn’t look at soil erosion with a narrow mind, but instead look at the root causes that are causing the spike in the loss of healthy soil. Because of increasingly strengthening weather events, climate change is worsening the soil crisis, and we are seeing that this may begin to happen at an exponential rate. Soil stores carbon through a process called carbon sequestration, where soil organic matter is formed using various carbon compounds that come from dead plant and animal tissue (“CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN SOILS”). This means that healthier soil (having more soil organic matter) can actually decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. “Healthy soils store carbon which plays an important role in mitigating climate change. Healthy soils store water and have higher fertility, resulting in crops that are more resilient to extreme weather events brought on by climate change.” Soil helps to alleviate the effects of global warming, but climate change is harming the soil. The checks and balances of nature create a kind of paradox effect; a balance that needs to be protected but is not. The carbon cycle and the cycle of soil erosion is at risk, “with average soil erosion rates by wind and water still at 4.63 tons per acre per year (T/A/yr), and total soil loss of 1.70 billion tons on a national level (data from USDA-NRCS 2017 National Resources Inventory.” Action needs to be taken to prevent losses too great to come back from. If we do not act now, we may lose the ability to repair the unbalanced ecosystem. One of the most difficult aspects of global warming is how widespread it is. There is not one cause; there is not one solution. This means that change has to come from more than just one person. Many tactics such as afforestation, composting, and making advances in cleaner energy can help abate the effects of climate change. Lessening our carbon footprint is key to helping our soil, which will, in turn, decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Coming together to face this issue as a united force may be key to protecting our natural world and its resources.
Some politicians ignore environmental problems such as the soil crisis because they believe it will not affect them due to their age and because it is difficult to measure significant change, but these issues are important and will cause irreparable harm if action is not taken. Sydney Sauer with Vox explains that “It’s much easier to improve areas that [politicians] can measure and use for reelection, like unemployment and health care.” As climate change and all the environmental issues that come with it are expanding issues, they need a long and detailed recovery plan, but politicians who hope to be voted back into office feel the need to present results. Many social activists talk about “action now,” but environmental issues differ in that there isn’t a fast way to end the problem, and an organized and thought-out plan is needed for everyone to be on the same page. Most voting officials are older than 55 and choose to place the fast acting yet equally as important subjects higher on the list of priority than long-term issues (Sauer). In my lifetime, all the world’s topsoil could be gone and the sea could completely swallow London (Sauer). Though these public faces may not see the importance of mitigating these effects, our actions are still - if not more - important to secure a healthy future population and environment. Soil erosion alone has summed a “$12.75 billion annual economic loss to farmers, which equals about a quarter of the total U.S. soybean crop value” (Duiker). Not only does the soil crisis affect us monetarily, but, according to Mulvihill, “severe soil erosion can result in the loss of food crops, negatively impact community resiliency and livelihoods, and even alter ecosystems by reducing biodiversity above, within, and below the topsoil” if ignored. This makes soil conservation efforts valuable and necessary. Regardless of age or profession, people should understand and respect our role in fighting climate change and soil erosion to better the world for us all.
Soil erosion is a fully natural process, and does not need to be eradicated entirely to reach a stable state. Humans threw this cycle out of balance, which turns the responsibility of ecologic change to us. The soil crisis - our lack of healthy soil - was caused by human activity. We need to minimize our impact on the environment in order to ensure a sustainable and healthy planet for future generations. Practices such as the use of pesticides and tilling are damaging soil health, and as a result making the land more susceptible to erosion. The process of erosion is brought on by rain and wind, and as global warming is worsened and causes more intense weather events, we are losing more soil. Climate change is a result of synthetic carbon emissions that also come from human activity. In order to curtail these damages, we must reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources that release carbon into the atmosphere. Significant change hasn’t occurred due to the lack of political will to address the issue. Climate change and other ecological problems need a long and prepared plan that voting officials averaging 60 years of age will not be around to see the damages of if left untreated, and my generation will suffer the consequences. I don't want to grow up and raise children in a dangerous world. I see a scary future - one full of burning forests, melting ice caps, and mountains of trash. The sediment and nutrient runoff that is displaced “ends up in rivers, streams and lakes, along with whatever has been applied to that soil, including agrochemicals and other pollutants that can contribute to harmful algal blooms and polluted waterways” (Mulvihill). This affects the life that relies on the water - the freshwater fish, the aquatic plants, and the animals that drink from the water (that includes humans). This is one of the side effects of soil erosion, which itself blossoms from climate change.Though we can’t global warming with one solution, we can take an organized and multifaceted approach to mitigating the effects of climate change, starting with reducing soil erosion. The soil crisis is largely caused by human activity, and we need to reduce our impact on the natural world to save the Earth. By implementing farming tactics that are less obtrusive of the balance of nature and using nature’s own strategies to reduce waste and create cleaner energy, we can account for our actions and make positive change. Our past does not define us. Allowing nature to take its course will encourage positive and non-abusive relationships between humans and the nature that we are a part of, not above. We made this hole. Now let’s dig ourselves out.
Bibliography:
Aluoch, Marion. “Experts discuss strategies to address soil health challenges and the fertilizer crisis in Africa.” CIMMYT, 12 July 2024, https://www.cimmyt.org/blogs/experts-discuss-strategies-to-address-soil-health-challenges-and-the-fertilizer-crisis-in-africa/. Accessed 26 September 2024.
Baveye, Philippe C., et al. “Biochar application for sustainable soil erosion control: a review of current research and future perspectives.” Frontiers, 26 March 2024, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1373287/full. Accessed 26 September 2024.
“Biological "Green" Alternatives to Chemical Pesticides.” USDA ARS, 12 July 2023, https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/utm/biological-green-alternatives-to-chemical-pesticides/. Accessed 8 November 2024.
Bjorkman, Thomas, et al. “Cover Cropping to Improve Climate Resilience.” Cover Cropping to Improve Climate Resilience | USDA Climate Hubs, www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/northeast/topic/cover-cropping-improve-climate-resilience#:~:text=Cover%20crops%20increase%20soil%20organic,even%20help%20suppress%20some%20pests. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
“CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN SOILS Over the past 150 years, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has increased by 30%. Most scienti.” Ecological Society of America, https://www.esa.org/esa/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/carbonsequestrationinsoils.pdf. Accessed 8 November 2024.
Duiker, Sjoerd Willem. “Soil Erosion Threat Increasing with Climate Change.” Penn State Extension, 20 February 2024, https://extension.psu.edu/soil-erosion-threat-increasing-with-climate-change. Accessed 26 September 2024.
“Frequent tillage and its impact on soil quality | Integrated Crop Management.” Integrated Crop Management, https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/frequent-tillage-and-its-impact-soil-quality. Accessed 8 November 2024.
“Key Findings | United Nations.” the United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/key-findings#physical-science. Accessed 8 November 2024.
Koestel, Steffen SchlüterJohn. “Soil Structure.” Science Direct, 2023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/soil-structure#:~:text=Soil%20structure%20underpins%20flow%20and,the%20most%20complex%20materials%20known. Accessed 7 11 2024.
Millison, Andrew. “How microbes are the answer to healthy soil.” YouTube, 7 October 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJyKPTIXmKg. Accessed 8 November 2024.
Mulvihill, Keith. “Erosion 101: Everything You Need to Know About Soil Erosion.” NRDC, 1 June 2021, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/soil-erosion-101#what-is. Accessed 26 September 2024.
“Regenerating Soil Health in the US.” 9 March 2022, https://earthworm.org/news-stories/soilhealth-usa#:~:text=Severe%20soil%20erosion%20and%20horrific,cost%20%2467%20billion%20a%20year. Accessed 24 September 2024.
Timmis, Kenneth, and Juan Luis Ramos. “The soil crisis: the need to treat as a global health problem and the pivotal role of microbes in prophylaxis and therapy.” 2021, https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1751-7915.13771. Accessed 20 September 2024.
Rajmohan, K S, et al. “A Review on Occurrence of Pesticides in Environment and Current Technologies for Their Remediation and Management.” Indian Journal of Microbiology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7105532/#:~:text=Pesticides%20are%20absorbed%20into%20wind,rapid%20leaching%20and%20soil%20erosion.
Sauer, Sydney. ““Why aren't politicians doing more on climate change? Maybe because they're so old.”” Vox, 14 July 2017, https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/7/14/15959968/climate-change-teenager. Accessed 8 November 2024.
“Soil as a Detritus-Based Ecosystem.” Soil As a Detritus-Based Ecosystem, Energy and Nutrients, https://www.toppr.com/guides/science/nature/ecosystem/soil-as-a-detritus-based-ecosystem/. Accessed 8 November 2024.
Soil Organic Matter, https://franklin.cce.cornell.edu/resources/soil-organic-matter-fact-sheet. Accessed 8 November 2024.
A River of Poison
A River of Poison
By: Zinnia Furnish
The Ohio River. Most know of it, and those living near it see the river all the time. Industries are dumping the runoff and waste produced when processing goods into the river, which just adds to this ever growing issue of polluted rivers. To summarize it, the river is trashy, literally. Different events including toxic chemical spills and similar occurrences have added to the pollution of the Ohio river, and according to the National Wildlife Federation, “In January 2014, an industrial storage tank on the Elk River in West Virginia leaked 7,500 gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground and water, just upstream from the main water intake for metropolitan Charleston. The region was without drinking water for nearly a week, with some 700 residents reporting symptoms of chemical exposure within the first day.” This catastrophe is only one of countless accidents contributing to the pollution of the Ohio River, all resulting in detrimental consequences for the people and wildlife living on and around the river.
The Ohio River is a source of drinking water for those living near it, and certain chemicals can’t just be taken out with ease. If we can clean the river, we will be saving everything and everyone that relies on the river in some way or another - be it through recycling items that can be recycled instead of trashing them, or purchasing less items containing chemicals that cannot be broken down and recycled, such as not buying pans with teflon, a “forever chemical” (meaning it will literally last forever) and lessening the amount of non recyclable materials that may end up in the river that they use. Stopping industrial waste from being dumped into the river as a way to dispose of it will require a lot of effort, but it is necessary. Many groups such as ORSANCO, an interstate commission that represents multiple states and American Rivers, a non profit, are working to cause a change in industrial dumping and to tighten the pollution control standards. By allowing our rivers to become this badly polluted, we pose a threat to the life and health of all aquatic creatures, such as the thousands of types of fish living in and around the river, and every human that relies on the river in some way or another. What will it take to get the Ohio river cleaned, and why has this problem existed for so long?
We need to prevent the overwhelming amount of industrial dumping in the Ohio River, toxic chemical spills from derailed trains and boats, and tighten laws on pollution control in order to eliminate toxic algae blooms and restore the ecosystem and health of the Ohio River and thus improving the lives of all the life that relies on it for sustenance in their everyday lives.
Too many chemical spills have occurred from boats spilling toxic chemicals into the Ohio River, and trains that run along the banks of the river derailing, dumping a multitude of dangerous substances into it. Finding a different way to dispose of the hazardous toxins will result in a cleaner, safer river. The Ohio River has been an important landmark for centuries, dating back to 1669. According to American Rivers, “The word ‘Ohio’ comes from the Seneca name for the river, Ohiyo, which means ‘it is beautiful.’ Despite a legacy of heavy industrialization, the river continues to support rich history and culture while providing critical habitat for 150 species of fish and other aquatic life including many endangered species.” The river has endured a multitude of toxic chemical spills throughout the year as well. Derailed trains add to the destruction of the, they carry toxic, flammable chemicals that further add to the pollution of the Ohio River. The National Wildlife Federation has researched and cataloged these catastrophic events, and have multiple examples of trains derailing and spilling their contents into the river. One such occurrence is the Elk River disaster, as mentioned previously, but another is a Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling countless toxic chemicals into the river, such as vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, leading to evacuation orders and a huge cleanup process. Over 43,000 aquatic animals were killed in this accident, and it took months to even make a slight dent in the clean up. (Edwards). Similarly, a freight train in Miamisburg, Ohio spilled 12,000 gallons of white phosphorus into the Ohio River. Edwards claims that the river “Caught fire and burned for five days. More than 30,000 residents were evacuated, with 400 people treated for eye, skin and lung irritation. An unknown quantity of phosphorus ended up in Ohio River tributaries.” Too many cases of such spills have occurred, and we need the companies that owned the boats and trains that caused all this hassle to take responsibility for their actions and pay for the clean up process. The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) works to control pollution in the Ohio river basin, and represents multiple states as well as the federal government. ORSANCO works to prevent these spills, and according to their website, “coordinates emergency response activities for spills or accidental discharges to the river”, however, non profit organizations should not have to clean the river all by themselves. The federal government needs to step in and assist in this massive effort to revitalize the Ohio river.
Furthermore, industrial dumping is a huge contributor to the pollution of the Ohio River. Companies need a new way to dispose of the runoff they produce, and many do not understand to what extent the pollution goes to. One of such companies was J&L. J&L was a milling company, and Charles Somerville, a citizen who was interviewed about the company, claimed that he “recalls the Jones and Laughlin steel mill dumping molten waste slag directly into the Ohio River—a spectacle of glowing metal and hissing water, especially vivid at night. ‘We thought it was really cool, like watching a lava eruption running right down the bank into the water.’” (Edwards) The river is like a living, breathing creature, a body, if we keep filling it with toxins, it’ll kill us. Industries dump many things into the river, and some are worse than others. PFAS is a chemical found in teflon products that can never be gotten rid of, and is one of the worst chemicals that industries can dump into a river. “In November, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a proposed $110 million settlement against DuPont for releasing perfluorooctanoic acid into the Ohio River from its factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Used by DuPont for more than 50 years to produce Teflon products, the acid is among a class known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals” linked to adverse health effects.” (Edwards) PFAS are a big deal. They can cause liver disease, thyroid functionality, they affect one's ability to reproduce, they cause birth defects, delayed development, and are even found to be cancerous. Luckily, there are many other healthier options. PFAS has a non-stick quality, and are used in Teflon pans, but instead you can use ceramic, glass and stainless steel pans. However, none of those options have a very good non-stick ability, and the ones that do tend to be very expensive. We must eradicate the dependency that industries have on the river as a dumping site, in order to cleanse the Ohio River of the toxic chemicals that are living rent free in its waters.
We need to tighten the pollution control standards we currently have in place in order to eliminate the amount of pollution in the Ohio River. Currently, there are many standards in place to keep the Ohio river clean, and ORSANCO is working to enforce them. Still, their efforts aren’t doing too much on their own. That is where other organizations have stepped up to try and make a difference. The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) is working to improve these standards, trying to help clean the water in order to “protect safe, clean drinking water along the Ohio River” (Cleaning up the Ohio River) ELPC and countless others are working together to make this happen. Additionally, Toxic algae blooms are a huge contributor to the condition of the Ohio river. They are affecting the aquatic animals living in the river, and are affecting the water making it less safe to drink. Taylor Miesle, American Rivers’ senior vice president of advocacy and regional conservation claims that “One of the biggest toxic algae blooms in the entire world actually happened on the Ohio River a couple of years ago”... “And that’s just going to become more and more challenging as the world warms,” in Derek Redd’s article on how the Ohio River is the 2nd most endangered river. These algae blooms are a natural side effect of the harmful toxins we are putting in the river, and are affecting it in so many ways. Many organizations have been talking about this, such as the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC). They are working to clean the river in multiple ways, one of which by reducing the nutrient runoff from industrial dumping. The toxic algae blooms are being fed by the phosphorus and nitrogen that is being put into the river, and by eliminating this runoff, we are one step closer to accomplishing this overwhelming task of depolluting the Ohio river. (Cleaning up the Ohio River)
We know the Ohio River is polluted, but is it worth it to try and clean it? This is a question asked by many, and there are varying results. Many believe that the clean up process is going to be too expensive, and too time consuming, while others believe that any and all efforts will be worth it, and are necessary. So many companies that produce oil, plastics, and other resources that require toxic chemicals to create dump their waste water into the river, just adding to the pollution, and not much has been done to stop it. U.S. oil refineries discharge nearly half a billion gallons of wastewater into waterways every day. That includes heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, oils and greases, and industrial salts. In 2021 alone, 81 refineries discharged 60,000 pounds of selenium, which causes mutations in fish. Those refineries also discharged nearly 16 million pounds of nitrogen, which creates algae blooms that suck oxygen from the water and kill fish.” (Doran and DeFelice) The aquatic wildlife living in the river is severely impacted by industrial dumping, and all kinds of pollution in the river. A house bill was passed to block the EPA’s clean water rule,which was in place to “Restore Clean Water Act protections to thousands of waterways in Ohio and across the country” (Environment Ohio) How are we going to end this crisis if even our governments are against us? Despite all the negative ideals and thoughts on the pollution of the Ohio River, we are still fighting to clean it, establish better laws and gain more followers for the cause, to clean the river for both the thousands of aquatic species living in the river, and the people living along its banks.
References
Doran, Erin, and Mia DiFelice. “How the EPA Lets Dirty Industries Pollute Our Water.” Food & Water Watch, 8 May 2023, https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2023/05/08/elg-suit-industrial-water-pollution/.
Accessed 6 November 2024.
Edwards, R., & McGrew, D. (2024, March 28). Water Water Everywhere: Restoring the Ohio River Basin. National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved September 25, 2024, from https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2024/Spring/Conservation/Ohio-River-Basin
Environment Ohio. “Ohio’s Biggest Polluters Spending Thousands to Pollute Politics.” Environment America, https://environmentamerica.org/ohio/resources/ohios-biggest-polluters-spending-thousands-to-pollute-politics/.
Environmental Law and Policy Center. (n.d.). Advocating for a Clean Ohio River. Environmental Law &
Policy Center. Retrieved September 26, 2024, from https://elpc.org/projects/cleaning-up-ohio-river/.
Environmental Protection Agency. “Summary of the Clean Water Act | US EPA.” Environmental
Protection Agency, 12 June 2024, Accessed 7 November 2024, rom
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act.
Giffin, C. (2023, April 20). American Rivers names Ohio as nation's second most endangered river. The
Courier-Journal. Retrieved September 24, 2024, from https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2023/04/20/american-rivers-names-ohio-as-nations-second-most-endangered-river/70127473007/.
Ohio River Foundation. (n.d.). Water Pollution | Ohio River Issues. Ohio River Foundation. Retrieved
September 26, 2024, from https://ohioriverfdn.org/ohio-river/issues/water-pollution/.
Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission. (n.d.). Ohio River Ecosystem - ORSANCO |
ORSANCO. orsanco. Retrieved September 26, 2024, from https://www.orsanco.org/ohio-river-ecosystem/
Redd, D. (2023, April 18). Ohio River Makes 'Most Endangered River' List at No. 2. The Intelligencer.
Retrieved September 26, 2024, from https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2023/04/ohio-river-makes-most-endangered-river-list-at-no-2/.
Taylor-Miesle, H. (2023, April 18). Ohio River Named Among America's Most Endangered Rivers of
2023 -. American Rivers. Retrieved September 25, 2024, from https://www.americanrivers.org/media-item/ohio-river-named-among-americas-most-endangered-rivers-of-2023/
Van Velzer, R. (2022, October 4). Industry dumped more toxic pollution into the Ohio River than any
other U.S. watershed in 2020. Louisville Public Media. Retrieved September 26, 2024, from https://www.lpm.org/news/2022-10-04/industry-dumped-more-toxic-pollution-into-the-ohio-river-than-any-other-u-s-watershed-in-2020
First Issue Features (Sept-Oct. '24)
First Issue Features (Sept-Oct. '24)
Photo taken from Google Images
Is AI a Blessing or a Curse?
Is AI a Blessing or a Curse?
By: Jamison Calloway
AI is a tool that can be used by almost everyone with access to the internet or a smartphone. From virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri to the ones that automatically drive cars, AI is becoming more and more advanced and a greater part of our daily lives. There are many different ways to use AI. This article will provide some thoughts and questions regarding the pros and cons of AI becoming more mainstream.
Pros: AI is a good tool for a multitude of reasons. It can help people by giving them advice on finances, giving them guidance with homework, helping them brainstorm marketing ideas, or creating art. AI can accelerate the work process for some people with its multitude of resources. For example, AI can use the information it absorbs to enhance decision making, double check rough drafts which can save people some time when writing proposals, emails, or various kinds of data analysis. Using AI resources like chat GPT, copilot, grammarly and others not only increases productivity, but can also increase the readability of one’s writing (Tableau).
Another possible positive thing about the potential of AI is that we could have human-like robot assistants that could help with everyday tasks. Doing so can have artificial intelligence automate various physical repetitive tasks to save time for people. For example, there are multiple companies around the world building physical AI robotics that can help with surgeries, manufacturing and healthcare (StandardBots). Tesla is producing its first AI driven robot named Optimus now, and it is expected to be in households by 2027 (Herzlich).
Con Side: AI could become a helpful assistant, but it’s important not to rely on it too much. Although AI has potential to be an excellent tool, it could become an existential threat if it is not used ethically. Concerns about this threat peaked in May 2023, when the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Center for AI Safety released a one-sentence statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” This statement was signed by many important players in the field, which includes the leaders of OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, as well as two of the “godfathers” of AI: Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. Alongside this, we have seen cybercriminals who use AI voice cloning for a variety of crimes – from high-tech heists to ordinary scams. Moreover, AI decision-making systems that offer loan approval and hiring recommendations hold the risk of algorithmic bias, because the training data and decision models they run on reflect long-standing social prejudices. These are huge problems, and they require the attention of policymakers (Eisikovits).
Of course, people who use AI tools for specific things like writing essays, helping them work on business, sorting data, or creating art might start relying on its benefits too much. This might disrupt creativity and originality of people who overuse it and neglect their abilities which will result in their skills becoming stagnant or worse. Alongside letting AI becoming a crutch and handicapping original thought, AI might also lead to an era of mass unemployment because AI could take the jobs of many different individuals if it becomes more efficient than people at specific jobs like telemarketing, with calls from an AI operator or jobs with tasks that involve entering data which can easily be automated by AI. This will likely be the case for several jobs since it would probably be cheaper to do so.
One of the big concerns about AI is how it can create art when given prompts and even alter videos that have already been created. AI is becoming more and more effective at altering videos, which is making it harder for people to differentiate which videos are real and which videos have been altered by AI. The biggest problem with this is that AI learns from art put on the internet.This might become a problem because it can result in specific people using this feature for bad things like altering specific videos to spread false information to make things work out in their favor. For example, someone recently used AI to create a video of Taylor Swift supporting Donald Trump as the president. Even though she didn’t endorse him, people believed she did because the AI was pretty believable at first glance.
AI learns from people who use it, which can lead to it becoming biased and spreading its biases to other people (Rina, 2024). This could result in AI spreading not only biased information but also information that’s just completely incorrect. If you ask some versions of AI-specific questions like “How many R’s are in strawberry” or if “9.11 is greater than 9.9”, it will answer incorrectly. Although not all AI programs will tell you this, some do, and it can lead to misinformation being spread. Another reason that AI learning from people is a problem is because it uses all art on the internet to train its own art creating programs and makes art based off of that. This is a major problem because not all artists who post their art on the internet consent to having their art be used for things such as this. Instagram’s AI does this since the “consent” is in their terms and conditions which resulted in several artists on Instagram getting mad and threatening to leave the platform. Even though all of this may seem terrible, AI uses ALL art on the internet to train itself, including its own art which results in it not getting better at an incredibly fast rate (at least until companies find a way around this).
Many of us have seen movies like Terminator or read books like I Have No Mouth and Must Scream that portray AI as a great danger to humanity. In my honest opinion, I conclude that AI isn’t going to be the biggest problem for humanity. Ultimately, it depends on how people use it as the tool can be used for both very good things and very bad things. While the benefits of AI seem great, we shouldn’t rely on it for absolutely everything, so we don’t become dependent on AI like in “Wall E” and other movies. Nevertheless, the Pandora’s Box of AI is now open, and we have to learn how to live with it.
Works Cited
Artificial Intelligence Advantages & Disadvantages | IBM. (2024, July 2). Ibm.com. https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/artificial-intelligence-advantages-disadvantages
Herzlich, Taylor. Here’s When Elon Musk’s Optimus Robots Could Come to Your House. 11 Oct. 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/10/11/business/heres-when-elon-musks-optimus-robots-could-come-to-your-house/.
Tableau. (2023). What are the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence (AI)? Tableau. https://www.tableau.com/data-insights/ai/advantages-disadvantages
Top 10 AI Robotics Companies to Know in 2024 - Standard Bots. https://standardbots.com/blog/ai-robotics-companies. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
US, Nir Eisikovits, The Conversation. “AI Is an Existential Threat--Just Not the Way You Think.” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-is-an-existential-threat-just-not-the-way-you-think/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
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Life on Social Media Compared to Real Life
Life on Social Media Compared to Real Life
By: Sultan Kurdi
To examine the difference between social media and real life, let's imagine a painter: a painter who is practicing their craft and ready to paint a piece in front of a live audience. The painter stands on a stage as people wait to see their painting skills in action. The painter may make mistakes; may cover them up; may get really messy with paint all over their clothes; and he or she may need to get some critical distance from the painting and come back to it again. The work is a process just like learning and living is a process; it’s not just a product that is shown. Conversely, imagine an art gallery. The audience walks by admiring and making comments on paintings that already exist. The paintings are all framed and displayed in a certain way.
We are artists of our own lives. However, who do we let in to see our “mistakes, “cover-ups,” , “messiness,” and our reflections when we need “critical distance?” And who do we let in to see our “framed, displayed paintings:” our carefully curated social media posts and photos? Which is more authentic?
We select the best photos for posting on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, and we even add filters to improve our appearance, to “cover up the mistakes.” It’s like many of us are trying to escape how we look and who we really are to gain confidence from peoples’ likes, loves, and comments on Instagram. Maybe, instead of worrying about our appearance on social media, we should be more concerned about more important things: health, school, family, friends, developing our talents, and maybe even learning to invest money and take advantage of compound interest.
Social media has become a tool for teenagers to present themselves as having the perfect life, in line with the criteria that society has set for happiness. I would say the criteria is looking good and being popular. Teenagers are always trying to fit in by doing whatever is trending. For example, if there is a new Tiktok dance trend then people will start doing it because that is what is popular at the moment.
Most of the time people only judge you on what you look like and how you act. But, the way you look at yourself is a little different. You look very closely and observe every detail about yourself. You probably notice little “flaws” other people don't even notice. You have to understand that your view about yourself will not always be the same to other people. Many of us use filters on photos we post on social media and share to the world. According to Angie Moreschi, “almost 80% of people stated social media did not make them feel good about themselves most of the time.”
We can't deny the fact that social media is expanding as it is more integrated in our day to day personal and professional lives. For example, some people rely on social media for compliments, ego boosters, or even friends. They love posting and being showered in compliments from people they don't even know. Social media can at once broaden our community, but also narrow it if it becomes our focus. What about the people that see us in person every day painting our lives? Are we talking to them? Are we sharing our lives with them? Are we using social media as a tool, or is it becoming our reality? The truth of the matter is, we aren’t living in an art gallery where we’re posting filtered photos of our lives; we are living in a messy world as we attempt to co-create our lives together. My call to all of us is to be sensitive to how easily we can be pulled into social media and put more effort into becoming ourselves as we paint our realities and futures in the physical spaces we share.
Please take a second and fill out this survey as I continue to research the effect social media has on us.
Works Cited
P, Bam Anchisa. “Social Media Effects Personal Identity.” Medium, 13 Sept. 2020, baam-minnie.medium.com/social-media-effects-personal-identity-a4a649482be5.
Majed_RTA402. “Understand the Difference between Your Social Life & Real Life.” Medium, 27 Feb. 2023, medium.com/@majedturbo/understand-the-difference-between-your-social-life-real-life-b5915cfe1ef8.
Desk, A. M. | N. A. | T. N. (2024, March 4). Social Media Beauty Filters Impact on Mental Health. WNWO. https://nbc24.com/news/spotlight-on-america/social-media-beauty-filters-impacting-the-mental-health-of-young-women-tiktok-meta-snapchat-instagram-university-of-london-study-bold-glamour-facetune-bodytune-airbrush
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To Eat a McDonald's French Fry or a Piece of Broccoli? That is the Question!
By: Kyan Hardison
Introduction
The quality of American food has changed significantly over the years. The first decade of the 2000s was an era of gourmet food; it started with cupcakes then later evolved into other foods including burgers, pasta, pizza, other various desserts, and many meals that are vegetable based. During this time, the main focus for food was the quality as it sold the best due to gourmet food being relatively new to the food market and having great taste to match its support. Because of this, many meals became very popular such as keto meals, fully vegan and vegetarian meals, mason jar meals consisting of the main nutritions you need, and so many more. With the rise in gourmet food, the quality of the food also rose leading those who ate it to have a healthier diet as food quality and a healthy diet are directly proportional.
Past to the Present
Compared to the present day, The United States food market was much healthier in the 2000s. Now, America is more focused on convenience than quality which can be seen with the major increase in fast food and “quick meals” over the years and the decline in the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables with only 12.4% of Americans meeting the suggested fruit intake and only 10% meeting the recommended vegetable intake according to Dr. Cindy Jakubiec, How the American diet has been Weaponized for Mass Destruction. The standard American diet has been altered and instead of fruits and vegetables has been packed with processed foods, fast food, and added sugars which is the primary cause for obesity, heart related health issues, cancer, liver issues, and even affects your mental health.
Connection Between Food and Body
Your brain and body depend on nutrition to function optimally and in order to do that effectively, it needs vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and proteins. An inadequate diet without these proper nutrients can cause fatigue, impaired decision making, and slow your brain and body reaction which can aggravate you, cause a stress reaction, or depression. These reactions are controlled by chemical productions in your body which are dopamine and serotonin. When these two chemicals are optimally produced they send positive messages from the gut to the brain and the reflection of these positive signals can determine your mood and mental state. In contrast, eating foods that cause the production to change will also affect your mood. Keeping up with a nutritious diet consisting of whole, unprocessed food will improve your focus, result in fewer mood changes, and can help with anxiety and depression which boost a person's overall mood.
What you can do to improve your diet
The main difficulty of a diet like this is knowing where to start and how to be consistent. Cutting down on sugar is a good start along with increasing your fruit and vegetable intake. Cutting down on your sugar intake can improve your skin, making it clearer and eating more fruit will provide you with fiber, antioxidants, folate, vitamins, and minerals that will help create a healthy gut biome. Other lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and fatty acids are crucial to your brain and body and incorporating these foods will improve your overall health. Including stories and websites dedicated to helping you eat healthier, there are apps to help too, more specifically an app called Yuka which by scanning the food products bar code it will tell you all of the positives and negatives in the food from the additives to the protein.
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How did Jujustu Kaisen end?
How did Jujustu Kaisen end?
By: Mason Walker
SPOILERS AHEAD
INTRO
With the final chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen releasing, many fans had started sparking theories about the ending before. This article will go over many theories, and make an effort to explain points made by Users on random websites. In the end, I will explain the ending and points that lead up to it.
WHAT IS ANIME
Anime/Manga is a form of Japanese media, where manga (comics) are made and that are a lot of times adapted into anime (Japanese cartoons). Many popular anime/mangas include: Dragon Ball, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack On Titan, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, One Piece, and Berserk. Mangas, as a whole, are one of the number one selling items in Japan and have been popular for decades now.
WHAT IS JUJUTSU KAISEN
Jujutsu Kaisen is a hit manga written by Gege Akutami in 2017. It is a story about Yuji Itadori, a young teenager who lives with his grandpa in Japan. All goes well until one day he accidentally consumed a Special Grade Artifact containing the soul of the King Of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna. The manga ended with 271 chapters. The anime is currently up to 137/271 chapters.
CHAPTER REVIEW
*Spoilers*
Chapter 265 - Yuji (Main Character) uses his domain (Fighting Technique) for the first time and talks to Sukuna (Main Villain) about his life, annoying Sukuna.
Chapter 266 - Yuji (MC) tries saving Megumi (Side Character), but he doesn't want to be saved and wants to die because he killed his sister who was possessed; also, he lost his step dad.
Chapter 267 - Nobara (SC) turns out to be alive, and Nobara and Yuji (MC) work together to try and save Megumi (SC) and defeat Sukuna (MV) one last time.
Chapter 268 - Megumi (SC) finally realizes his will to live after horrible depression, and is saved and Sukuna (MV) is finally defeated after 1000 years of terror… after that they rejoice together at their great win, reading notes from Gojo. (SC)
Chapter 269 - All the characters would come together, and think about what they could have done better during the fight.
Chapter 270 - While some of the others go on recon missions, Yuji (MC), Nobara (SC), and Megumi (SC), go on a mission to help some people.
THEORY REVIEW
*Spoilers*
Now I will review why these 3 theories by random people could have happened.
Anay - “What I think would happen is one by one Sukuna will kill everyone until only Yuji is left ..then we will see that Nobara is still alive and together they will kill Sukuna but in the end , Yuji wanted to have a death where he is surrounded by people but no one he knows are alive.... the final panel shows that he died alone…”
Could have happened, Nobara was alive.
https://www.vlr.gg/293400/jjk-end-theory-spoilers
yeezus123456 - “I believe that Yuji, Yuta, and Rika will be in bad shape, maybe even almost dead. I believe that Gojo will come back.”
Yuta took Gojos body after Gojo died and Yuta got heavily injured, after which he came back to his own body, so it could've happened.
Theories for how jjk will end. : r/JuJutsuKaisen
Levin Plassery - The final chapter also coincides with Gojo's first death anniversary. This gives all the more reason for fans to believe that Gojo Satoru will return.”
Gojo could come back, he died and Yuta took his body on the brink of death, but he could get back in his body now that Yuta left it.
Jujutsu Kaisen's Manga Ending Date Sparks Gojo's Return Theories
THE ENDING
*Spoilers*
Chapter 271 - Yuji (MC), Nobara (SC), and Megumi (SC), help the Curse User that did bad things and helped the family they were saving. Yuji (MC) would have a flashback to a talk he had with Gojo, and would then pass on Gojos love, as he would invite the Curse User to come and help them with their next mission. Meanwhile in a limbo, Mahito (Old Main Villain), would greet Sukuna (MV) in the Limbo. Sukuna (MV) discussed with Mahito (OMV) how he could have taken different paths in life, and how it would be nice to do something different than killing if he were to have another chance, then he would walk off as Mahito (OMV) yells angrily that Sukuna (MV) has gone soft. In the end it shows many of the characters having a good time. It then pans to a panel of a old shack, where Sukunas (MV) last finger remains. A callback to where Sukunas (MV) first finger laid, now being its last.
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