Newspaper Page Text
SINK OR SWIM FOR ROMNEY CAMPAIGN:
FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE A TEST OF UNDERDOG TENACITY
Jared Loggins
Associate World and Local Editor
Jared.loggins@yahoo.com
Presidential cam
paign slumps and gaffes
are nothing new to our
political process. As
always, coming into
debate season, there will
be a candidate seen by
the general public as the
underdog or the candidate with the most to lose. On
Oct. 3, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney has to lay out
his heavily criticized policy initiatives as he challeng
es Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama
in the first presidential debate.
Romney is coming off of a whirlwind of gaffes
centered around a secretly taped video at a campaign
fundraiser of wealthy donors. In this tape he makes
provocative remarks about 47 percent of Americans
who will never vote for him because they are depen
dent on government, and can’t be persuaded that
they should, “take personal responsibility for their
lives.”
The comments created a political firestorm
that prompted swiff reaction from both campaign
teams, several press conferences to clarify the re
marks, and denunciation from several top Republi
can lawmakers. The remarks, however, show a clear
economic policy divide between the two candidates
who will mainly be articulating their economic
policy agendas on Wednesday night. The President is
now leading in a recent New York Times poll ques
tioning who the people think will best handle the
economy.
The debate is also a moment in which Romney
must overcome polls in key swing states that have
him trailing among likely voters just seven weeks
before the general election.
Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and Marist
polled the likely voters in three swing states, and the
results indicated mounting challenges for the Repub
lican nominee, as he tries to chart a path to victory
just over a month before Election Day and a few days
before the presidential debates. Romney trails the
President by two percentage points among registered
voters in North Carolina and Nevada, and by seven
points in New Hampshire, according to the recently
released survey. The polls also indicate Romney is
doing better among Independent voters in Nevada,
and among voters likely to cast a ballot in November,
though he is still trailing.
There will be a Debate Watch Party in Doug
lass Hall on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The debate
will also be aired live from Denver on NBC. The
term will began Monday as the court hears Kiobel v.
Royal Dutch Petroleum, No. 10-1491, a case to rule
on the jurisdiction of American courts in interna
tional conflict.
HIGH COURT EXPECTED TO HAVE BUSY YEAR-COURT TO
ON DIVISIVE, CONTROVERSIAL DECISIONS
TAKE UP AND RULE
Jared Loggins
Associate World and Local Editor
Jared .loggins @y ahoo .com
As a new session
looms, the Supreme
Court of the United States
is slated to take up some
controversial decisions
related to gay rights, affir-
the Americas: united states mative action and voting
rights that may have an
impact on some recent state and national legislative
actions.
Before the close of the last court recess in July
where the Supreme Court ruled most of President
Obamas landmark Affordable Care Act constitutional,
the court also agreed to take up cases that will un
doubtedly have at least some impact at the state and
national level.
The high court is expected to rule on affirma
tive action by taking up Fisher v. University of Texas,
a case which will determine Texas’ limited use of race
to help fill out its incoming classes. The impact of the
decision could be felt at local Atlanta colleges and uni
versities across the state trying to balance out enroll
ment numbers.
In the wake of Voter Suppression Laws
in Georgia and across the country which activists
claim will keep minority Americans away from the
polls, the court will also hear arguments from state
Attorneys General about the constitutionality of the
Voting Rights Act. Several appeals from state and
national lawmakers are asking the court to invalidate a
cornerstone of civil rights era legislation, a mandate of
a law that impacts over a dozen states, mostly south
ern states with a history of institutional discrimina
tion, to get approval from the Justice Department or
the federal court in Washington before instituting any
changes affecting elections and voting.
Several Supreme Court justices have expressed
reluctance about the need for this measure in another
decision that denied the appeals.
A recent study conducted by professors from
the University of Washington and the University of
New Mexico found that more than over a million reg
istered voters in Pennsylvania and 757,325 people who
voted in 2008 lack a valid ID under a new Pennsylva
nia Voter ID Law.
Coming off the heels of national controversy
which erupted from anti-gay remarks from conser
vative lawmakers and conservative companies like
Chick-Fil-A, the court is also expected to hear argu
ments related to the constitutionality of the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA).
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act denies fed
eral benefits, including favorable tax treatment and
health benefits, among many others, to legally married
same-sex couples. The court almost always has the last
word when federal laws are struck down. A separate
appeal involves California’s ban on gay marriage, ruled
unconstitutional by federal courts.
Same-sex marriage is legal in six states and the
District of Columbia -- places with a combined popu
lation of 35 million. Additionally, according to a Real-
ClearPolitics poll, 50 percent of Americans approve or
same-sex marriage and 48 percent disapprove.
The term will began Monday as the court hears
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, No. 10-149,1, a case
to rule on the jurisdiction of American courts in inter
national conflict.
THE PULITZER BEAT
GENDER INEQUALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA INSPIRES REFLECTION
Amal Yamusah
World and Local Editor
amal@breaking-it-down.com
In the Atlanta University Center, where women
make up over 60% of the campus’ cosmology, the struggle
for womens rights is often times trivialized. In areas of the
world like rural South Africa, where gender relations between
men and women are wildly disproportionate, the struggle to
obtain equal rights and entitlements is all too real.
For women in the AUC, life without rights and
entitlements is but a farce. For women in the homelands of
bucolic South Africa, it is a harsh, yieldingly tight reality -
one rooted in fear and despair.
“If a woman brings a case to court, she cannot set foot
in the courthouse,” Melissa Turley, a writer for the Pulitzer
Center said. “If a woman wants to acquire land, she cannot
apply for it on her own. A man must assist her. She has no say
over who her traditional leaders are. She can be subjected to
forced labor or harsh punishment at the whim of her chief.”
Instances like these remind women on the campus of
Spelman College, America’s oldest historically black college
for women, that they too are not far removed from severe
gender discrimination.
“There was a time when women of Spelman were
subject to the same gender inequalities that haunt so many
women today,” Jasmine Short, a junior from Spelman said.
“Even today, we are not completely rid of the discriminations
that threatened us years ago.”
Short echoes the sentiment of many women on col
lege campuses that continue to struggle with gender discrimi
nation, despite the implementation of institutionalized rights.
“Perhaps, countries like South Africa will inspire change in
our own homeland,” Jamal Love, Morehouse junior from
Aberdeen, Maryland said.
Yet, let the gender discrimination in South Africa also
serve as reprieve - though gender inequality still exists in the
United States, we’ve come a long way. The Traditional Courts
Bill in South Africa, first introduced in 2008, attests to this.
“The Traditional Courts Bill, a piece of legislation first
introduced in 2008 and currently under review in South Af
rica, would make these practices within customary law legal
and a part of the constitution, ” Turley said. “Almost, if not
all, of those affected are Africans who are living in various
levels of poverty.”
The Bill represents a country in massive need of
reform. It is not that women are unable to govern themselves;
the problem lies in the fact that they are not afforded the
opportunities to do so. But to what extend should women
continue to suffer under this arbitrary law?
“One female member of the Rural Women’s Move
ment said her daughter was raped at a young age,” Heller said.
“Instead of calling the police they took the matter to their
traditional leader... In her case, he said this was not a court
issue but a family issue and he denied her plea for justice.”
Due to the apathy of the traditional leader, the sover
eign man, her daughter died of complications related to HIV
without the ability to seek medical help.
“It cannot be proven that her rapist infected her, but
her mother is certain that is so,” Heller added.
Calamitous times like these add virtue to the struggle
for gender equality. Yet, this struggle will not seize over night.
Women like Sizani Ngubane, founder of the Rural Women’s
Movement, know this and continue their fights against patri
archy gender inequality.
“Her number one interest now is blocking the passage
of the Traditional Courts Bill,” Heller said. It is the desired
hope of many that others will join in this fight to end gender
indignation, and restore justice back to countries like South
Africa.
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an innovative
award-winning non-profit journalism organization dedicated
to supporting the independent international journalism that
U.S. media organizations are increasingly less able to under
take. The Center focuses on under-reported topics, promoting
high-quality international reporting and creating platforms
that reach broad and diverse audiences. Information used
in this article can be located on the Pulitzer Center’s website,
■A
http://pulitzercenter.org.
www.themaroontiger.com ^ j Recycle The Maroon Tiger October 3 - i o, 2012