I
The Samford Crimson
— — — — Serving Samford University Since 1915 ■ ■■■—■■
Volume 103. Issue 22 April 26, 2018 thesamfordcrimson.corr
School
of the Arts
and Sciences
presents
fair
News, 2
#CallanCan
Features, 6
Is shooting
i
an Olympic
sport 7
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Opinions, 8
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Panel discusses 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'
WILLIAM MARLOW
News Editor
Samford University added Martin
Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Bir¬
mingham Jail” to the curriculum’s re¬
quired readings.
For the occasion, Samford’s Howard
College of Arts and Sciences presented a
two-day panel discussion titled “Where
Do We Go From Here” on April 16 and
17. Samford’s Core Texts Program Di¬
rector Jason Wallace hosted the events.
A faculty and student panel discussed
the letter’s relevance today as well as
America’s current race relations.
Wilson Fallin, Tondra Loder-Jack-
son, Jennifer Speights-Binet, LeeAnn
Reynolds, Jonathan Bass, and Arthur
Price spoke. Price is the pastor for the
16th Street Baptist Church.
Fifty-five years ago, Price said Klu
Klux Klan members bombed the 16th
Street Baptist Church. They placed 22
sticks of dynamite outside the church.
The explosion killed four girls.
“Church is a place that is supposed
to be a sanctuary, safe haven, and se¬
cure for your children. Nobody thinks
about when they send their children
to church, they will come home dead,”
Price said.
Despite being written 55 years ago,
Price said King’s letter still resonates
today.
“This letter strikes at the core of
what’s going on today,” he said. It
wasn’t that long ago when people had
different ideologies that were so ex¬
treme that they snuffed out children’s
lives to make their point.”
Even though African-Americans lives
have improved, Price said many lack
remain unemployed or
imprisoned.
Besides these struggles, Price said
African-Americans endure crime and
racial economic inequality. They also
suffer the most HIV/AIDS cases.
“Our children are killing each other
over scraps. I’m tired of praying myself
back into a peaceful place when I know
there is no peace,” he said.
African-American boys how to survive
police encounters. He said these fears
dominate their lives.
For example, Price said Philando
Castro’s death demonstrated African-
Americans can follow the police’s direc¬
tions and still be shot.
Just two weeks ago, Price said two
African-Americans were arrested at
Starbucks on April 12. Price said the
While the U.S. obsesses over Syria’s
atrocities, Price said America ignores
African-American men being shot.
Price said Japan and Great Britain
killed zero of its citizens last year. Ger¬
many killed two. He said American po¬
lice killed 1,200 people.
“I’m tired of turning on the news and
seeing another brother shot and killed
by the police,” he said. “The greatest
threat to African-American males isn’t
terrorism but gun-violence and police
brutality.”
Consequently, Price said he teaches
men wanted to use the restroom and
were viewed as a threat.
Despite these injustices, University
of Montevallo professor. Wilson Fallin
said people must forgive.
Fallin and King both attended More¬
house College. At the college, King
taught philosophy and said he would
sneak into King’s class and listen.
Beside philosophy, Fallin said he also
learned forgiveness from King.
MLK’s letter continued on page
2
Samford hosts first student-led LGBTQ panel
ANNA GRACE MOORE
News Writer
Samford University held its first stu¬
dent-led LGBTQ panel to help bridge
the gap of communication between
members of the community and other
students and faculty at the school on
Friday, April 20.
Students, faculty and staff gathered
together in the Howard Room to hear
testimonies from members of the LG¬
BTQ community.
The inspiration behind the panel
stemmed from four Samford affiliates’
desires to open up conversation about
their lives. The discussion drew in over
50 people. Several students sat on the
floor in the back to listen to the panel¬
ists.
Samford campus Pastor April Robin¬
son opened up the discussion. She said
after working at Samford for 18 years,
she had developed a strong passion for
helping students walk through difficult
times in their lives.
“This gives us a chance to tell stories
that are unheard,” panelist and junior
political science major Isaac Sours said.
“It’s reported that 70 percent of sexual
minorities know that they are different
from a very early age.”
Sours said that when he got to col¬
lege, he started experiencing gender
dis forum, which is not knowing what
one’s gender is. However, Sours said
that these people are no less deserving
of respect.
“Last year there were at least 20
trans women who were killed in appar¬
ent hate crimes,” Sours said. “Having
these conversations and humanizing
people is an important step in prevent¬
ing the unnecessary loss of life.”
Several panelists said they had expe¬
rienced such bullying in their own tes¬
timonies.
“I knew very early on that I was dif¬
ferent,” panelist and graduate student
Jarvis Cleveland said. “I think within
the black community there is an extra
layer of LGBTQ-no, you can’t do that.
There was a particular hatred towards
that community ,and I felt that.”
Cleveland said that growing up, he
felt a lot of prejudice from his commu¬
nity. He said that for a long time he did
not know how to open up.
According to Cleveland’s testimony,
it was not until his mother passed away
that he realized he did not need to live
in secret. He wanted to live freely as
who he wanted to be.
“The first person I
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out to was
my 16-year-old brother,” Cleveland
said. “After 20 minutes of beating
around the bush, I said, ‘I’m gay,’ and
he said, ‘yeah, I knew that.’”
Cleveland’s account said his broth¬
er’s response to his coming out gave
him so much life. It encouraged him to
not be ashamed of himself because he
had the love and support of his family.
When asked about the differences be¬
tween sex and sexuality, gender and
gender identity, Sours said that your
sex refers to the genitals you were bom
with and chromosomal mutations such
as an extra “X,” or “Y,” in your genetic
makeup. Gender, rather, is how you
identity with society as a whole.
“Gender is much more of a sociologi¬
cal thing,” Sours said.
Cleveland agreed.
“We’re taught certain behaviors
based on our sexes,” Cleveland said.
Cleveland said that one example of
this behavior would be telling a girl
that she needs to wear pink or that she
needs to leam how to cook just because
she is bom a female.
While the panelists all agreed they
had faced some gender classification,
they also said each of their testimonies
is unique
Samford’s first LGBTQ panel
continued on page 2
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