Well, today for your reading pleasure, I have two tales to start the New Year off. Like many people this year, I had the opportunity to go to Navy Pier in Chicago. First off, I want everyone to know that I just wanted to stay at home that night and watch my New Year's movie, "Strange Days." My friend, on the other hand, wanted us to go downtown for New Year's.
The quickest and easiest way to get to downtown from my house in southside Chicago is to take the train, which we did. It was free, after all, so why drive? Anyway, standing on the pier counting down for the new year and then watching the fireworks made me realize one thing: Chicago is truly a melting pot. There are so many languages being spoken and so many different people. I think I saw every different ethnic group that night and every interracial couple you can imagine. Everyone was chanting "Go Bears!" People who were once strangers were now united. People who just minutes ago were strangers in the previous years were now friends in the brand-new year.
Perfect examples of holiday comraderie: sharing a drink with a new-found friend and when my friend posed in several pictures, even holding someone else's camera to tape the owner hugging many different women on the pier.
That was the good part. Chicago is the third segregated city in the United States of America. So, as everybody left the pier with the same people they came with, we all went our separate ways. Many of the minorities went to take public transportation, while many of the non-minorities went to the high-priced parking lots ($10 an hour) to return to the joy of the suburbs. I got to see how Chicago is segregated. Don't get me wrong, I love my hometown, but my feelings went from joy to disbelief in less than a few seconds. Maybe, just maybe, things will change next year. Who knows?
Attention new students of Ball State: We have Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday off from classes. I know to many of you that may not seem a lot, but many people fought to get King's birthday off to celebrate in a positive way and not be punished by teachers in various classes. King himself once said, "We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Many people were not silent.
King also said, "The hour is late. We will rise as one person or fall together." I know many see King's birthday as "just another day off" but it's more than that. This is the first year Ball State has that day off and I am asking the student body to "rise as one person" and show to the administration that we do appreciate the deeds that King has done by staying on campus for the weekend.
Now, I know a few people here and there go home for different reasons, but I'm asking you, the student body, if you don't leave for the weekend, partake in Jan. 21's events. It's not a "black people's holiday;" it's an "any and everybody holiday." There are many events going on.
If you're unsure what is going on, check out the Ball State Web site, your Resident Assistants, your Multicutural Adviser, your hall director, or stop by the Multicultural Center to get updated information. I will tell you about two of Jan 21's events: a march starting at LaFollette Field at 7 p.m. and a great speaker at 8 p.m. in Emens Auditorium. If you want to know who the speaker is, don't leave.
Remember now is the chance for us to prove that we care.
Write to Moses at moses_41@hotmail.com
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
