The Siren - Spring 2015

The Siren | Page 1about the sirenSiren Team 2014-2015 EDITORS Executive Editor Morgan Johnson Executive Editor Sarah Pederson Managing Editor Mars Earle Managing Editor Wilson Hood 2015-2016 EDITORS Executive Editor Alice Wilder Executive Editor Amanda Kubic Media Director Zakyree Wallace Art Director Lisa Dzera Feminist Community Engagement Liv Linn Feminist Community Engagement Callie WallaceWRITERS The Siren is a student-produced publication of UNC-ChapelAlice Wilder Hill that promotes feminist perspectives on issues surroundingAmanda Kubic gender, identity, sexuality, and human rights. We provide readersAnuradha BhowmikDylan Mott resources for discovering, developing, and challenging theirJohanna Ferebee self-identities and life philosophies by exposing the daily worldKristin Tajlili to the glaring examination of feminist critique. In this way, weLeah Osae aim to address the challenges of inequality not only globally andLiv LinnMars Earle nationally, but particularly within the UNC-CH community.Monique LaBlancWilson Hood

letter from the editorsDear Reader,Thank you so much for picking up a copy of The Siren, UNC’s only feminist magazine! Inside you willaim to spark a dialogue that promotes awareness at our University and beyond. In our table of contents,Over the past year, we have been thinking about what we envision for a better Carolina. For this issue, wecalled for narratives rooted in personal experiences that demand radical cultural shifts for our community.in the fallacies of “erasing history” and “upsetting tradition.” So-called tradition is often bound in thepolitical interests of the powerful, and we demand our right to envision new traditions that serve us. Wedo not view ourselves as erasing history, but rather, reclaiming HERstories that have been stolen fromfor a long time.Women’s & Gender Studies (WMST) and the African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD)departments as places of deep intellectual thought, and schools that recognize the connection betweenacademia and activism. We already know that this is true, but we want to see these departments valuedacross campus.sexual violence as the same administration that chooses to perpetuate the violence of white supremacyon this campus. We aim to acknowledge our interconnectedness despite forces that work to separate us.We will (re)connect across coalitions to build power from the ground up. Our lives are connected and ourmovement work can only be sustained by building community.We want Siren to be a space where voices that are suppressed by dominant power can be heard loud andwith our Siren call—we welcome new members at any time!In love and in power,Morgan JohnsonAmanda KubicSarah PedersonAlice WilderSiren Co-Editors Spring 2015 | Page 2

The Siren | Page 3 5 1319 21 2229 TRIGGER WARNING KEY Racial Violence Gender-Based Violence Sexual Assault Graphic Material Intimate Partner Violence Gun Violence Heterosexist Violence

table of contents 5 The Real Silent Sam Coalition Manifesto 8 My World With Comprehensive Sex Ed 9 Hair11 The Axe Forgets; The Tree Remembers13 A Day of Action for Justice in Louisiana15 Paper Dolls16 Birthday Photograph17 The “Marry or Move-In” Paradox19 Campus Microagressions21 Sample Microagressions22 UNC BOG Report23 in a Panhellenic UNC Sorority25 Questions for Silent Sam27 A Day at UNC with and without Sexist/Trans-Exclusive Language29 Passion in Practice: An Interview31 Woodwalker, Smoketalker33 Reminders34 Project Dinah UNC Women’s Center Spring 2015 | Page 4

The Siren | Page 5 The Real Silent Sam Coalition Manifesto Spring 2015 PREAMBLE Racism and white supremacy are embedded in the physical and mental geography of our campus. By maintaining memorials like the Confederate Monument “Silent Sam” and preserving names of buildings like Saunders Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill chooses to honor people who upheld and enforced legacies of terror. This legacy of hate is pervasive on our campus. The administration has habitually refused to acknowledge the diversity of our community. UNC- Chapel Hill is a Historically White Institution, and we believe that it has shown itself, time and time again, to be more invested in maintaining legacies of violence and hate than it is in creating a safe space that recognizes the complex selves of its students of color. We believe the University is responsible and obligated to give every student an education that does not obliterate truth with whitewashed etchings of Western philosophy.PRINCIPAL ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE We will now rebut each of these argumentsRENAMING individually.1. Renaming the current Saunders building will“be a slippery slope” to renaming other sites— 1. We are challenging the name of Saunders Hallperhaps the entire campus. with the full understanding that there are many buildings on UNC’s campus that are named after2. The renaming would constitute a “revisionist individuals who have participated in and upheldhistory.” white supremacy. By choosing to focus our organizing on renaming Saunders Hall, we are3. William L. Saunders may have been a part of not ignoring the presence of these other legaciesthe Klan but he contributed greatly to UNC- on our campus. The focus on Saunders HallChapel Hill and North Carolina. was decided through the combined dialogue of those already organizing within and around the building. This organic choice to focus on Saunders Hall underlined its potential as an important example of the impact these spaces have on students of color. When the building is renamed, it will be the result of coordinated and focused organizing. While we are dedicated to contextualizing UNC’s history beyond the limited example of Saunders Hall and indeed seek to rename other buildings as well, it is sensationalist to say total change will

come at once. We are not afraid of the ‘slippery of white supremacy it acted to uphold (and isslope.’ The maintenance of Saunders’ name on still upheld). We are not trying to ‘revise’ history.a campus building symbolizes the continueddismissal of the experiences of student of color our future.on this campus. We demand this name change asproof the university seriously seeks to properly 3. This argument seeks to rank Saunders’contextualize its space for all of its students. character. It is popular to insist upon the “good”2. Some have implied that to rename Saunders that Saunders did in his life while ignoring theHall would be to practice a “revisionist history.” unsavory context and background activity thatThis argument would have us believe that allowed him many of his accomplishments.changing the name of this building wouldsomehow change history or cause us to forget It is true that William L. Saunders was Northwho Saunders was. To this we would like to say, Carolina Secretary of State. It is also true thatdon’t worry. We can remember the evil Saunders there is documented evidence of Saunders’ participation in anti-Black terrorism as Grandsaying that it is more important to preserve the Dragon 3 of the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan.status quo then it is to honor and respect the While the current Board of Trustees tries toneeds of students of color at a university. use this documentation to make Saunders’Our call for a name change is not based on the recommended Saunders as a namesake for aabstract idea that Saunders and the KKK were newly constructed building. On the fourth lineand are racist. It is based on the specific acts ofviolence the Klan committed and the structure Spring 2015 | Page 6

The Siren | Page 7of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina.” One of We are calling for Saunders Hall to be knownSaunders’ top qualifications for the original as Hurston Hall. We choose this name to honornaming is now being conveniently dismissed. legendary writer and folklorist Zora NealeThe name of Saunders Hall stands not only for take classes (in secret) at UNC-Chapel Hill priorthat individual, but for all that he represents as to integration, but left in part due to racist violencea white supremacist idol. It is absurd to suggest on campus. In honoring Hurston, students ofthat his position in the KKK can be evaluated color honor ourselves and all those who haveas a trivial “fault” among other “redeeming come before us. She wasn’t given a place on thisqualities.” Saunders’ life, his name, and the Board campus—now, we give her one.of Trustees decision to honor that name allsymbolize a legacy of hatred, fear, and violence We DEMAND that a plaque be placed ontowards Black people. The Confederate Monument “Silent Sam” contextualizing its violent racial history.DEMANDS Generations of students, faculty, and staff haveIn the past, the administration and the Board fought for the violence this monument representsof Trustees have failed to pay attention to the to be formally recognized. We will not let it bewants and needs of their students. At this point, ignored any longer.we are concerned that the administration’sinaction signals a lack of care or understanding We DEMAND that the University incorporatefor its students. We intend to hold the University mandatory programming for incoming studentsaccountable to its moral obligations to its students. that teaches the historical racial violence of this University and town, as well as anti-racismWe DEMAND that Saunders Hall be renamed to training for faculty, staff, administrators, deansHurston Hall. As long as his name remains on and chairs.this campus in hallowed infamy, the Universityis upholding the legacies of racial violence and photo courtesy of Alice Wilder

MY WORLD WITHSEX-EDCOMPREHENSIVEby Liv LinnI don’t learn (incompletely, fallibly) about condomsmy sexuality is not informed by silence.my passions or values or education or whatever else I want notthe number of people I’ve kissed orthe state of my hymen.I have or don’t have the sexual experiences I want or don’t wantwithout wondering if I am a slut or a prude—in fact,those words are arcane, relegated to the old dictionarieswhose hateful contents have lost meaning.I no longer take the thousanddaily useless “anti-rape” precautions because I am no longer afraidbecause you cannot graduate kindergarten unless you understand consent power protection health and safety change our rightand not a luxury.TALKING about SEX is necessary for survival.There are no more hushed tones—there is no room for that in this my cuntry. Spring 2015 | Page 8

The Siren | Page 9 by Kristin Tajlili I hate the summertime. I hate the heat, the mosquitos, but most of all, I hate having to shave. During the summer, I’ll spend an hour trying to dark hair on the back of my leg. Afterwards, I’ll stare at my arms wondering if should spread chemicals all over them, or body part with the potential to be smooth and hairless.

As a kid I was bullied for having thick, dark hair put in the time and money to make themselveson my arms. I would also get comments on my completely hairless.legs, my upper lip, and other parts of my body.One boy said, “Your mustache is thicker than Sometimes I am disgusted by my body becausemine and I’m a boy.” Other comments were, others have told me I should be, but at the end“You have hair everywhere like a Guerrilla,” or of the day, I know body hair doesn’t deserve“Why don’t you shave? That’s so disgusting.” so much contempt. If hair is so disgusting and harmful, why do our bodies want to growOnce I became teenager, I would pluck my it naturally? Why do women try to grow longeyebrows daily; each hair I plucked out would luscious locks on their head but insist onbring a piece of my skin with it. When I knew removing their leg hair? At the end of the daythat I was going out, I would shave my legs, hair is hair.armpits, and bikini. I would get terrible redbumps. It was as if my body was rebelling. Regardless of how much hair grows on my body,Even when I did shave my legs, I would get so I am lucky in a lot of ways. I rarely get sick. Imany mosquito bites and would experience so never have to worry about diet and exercise. Inmuch irritation that my legs would be covered short, I am young and healthy. So why should Iin scabs by the end of the summer. hate my body when it works so well? At 18-28 my body is the healthiest it will ever be. At itsIt took me years to build up confidence to best, my body might not be curvaceous enough,wear a bikini, despite being thin and tanning or hairless enough for some people, but it’seasily. Seeing my man legs and thick black good enough for me. At the end of the day, myhair reminds me how I, like most women, fall leg hair doesn’t hurt anyone, and if people were used to seeing more women with body hair,Western beauty standards. I doubt they would react so negatively to my own.Now that I am an adult I have two options—Icould either spend hours each week on the In the Carolina community, there may be peoplebathroom floor shaving and plucking every who choose not to shave because it goes againstinch of my body, or I could do nothing. When their religion and culture, as well as people whoI do nothing, others are disgusted by my body, have trouble growing any hair at all. In order tobut more importantly, I am disgusted with my be accepting towards those groups of people,body. I’ve been taught that smooth hairless we need to accept appearances different fromskin is beautiful and that what is natural for the norm.me is grotesque. Even if I did choose to get ridof my hair, I would have dark stubble after a Shaving in itself is not harmful—it’s a personalfew days. choice. But people should understand it’s not open to everyone. For some, smooth, hairlessLike many things portrayed in the cosmetic legs are easy to obtain, but for me they are not.industry, smooth hairless skin is an unrealisticbody standard unless someone is willing to my legs. Plus, I’m tired of the razor burn. Spring 2015 | Page 10

The Siren | Page 11 The axe forgets; the tree remembers. - Zimbabwean proverb (Shona tribe)(brr it’s cold in here) 8) When the blue-black bruises bloomed around my shoulders, I told my friends it was from danceBut the Quality Inn is warm and the stench of practices and not from him holding me down.the sheets strong. I’m an angry young woman—men. I get angrier (don’t you know no one will be my fault.date you if you think like that). Ethel taught her, but no one taught me.Not dark enough not thick enough not black enoughyou’ll never know what it’s like. And then the constant comparisons. She’s nice, he said.into a piece of beef, meat I hadn’t eaten since Now I’m not nice enough either.the age of eight according to my religion. Hesaid I needed an epi-pen. My reaction was an I’m a high red belt, one step below black. Tooverreaction. receive your red belt you must break a board in half with the ridge of your hand, spar with your2) He sat on the steps of Kenan-Flagler and master and defeat him. I did all of that. When itadmitted he lied to me because he knew I wouldhold him accountable. Also my fault. It wasn’t some stranger on the side of the street either, following you home at night like on TV. It3) When he hit me and I couldn’t sit down in a was an invitation I accepted, many nights over.chair, it was my fault because I didn’t stop him.4) When I said “Stop” three times and he still Race is a divide. I identify as a person of color,didn’t at the Quality Inn, I didn’t push him off. as does he. In fact, his racial identity is more marginalized, if you try to quantify it. (Don’t everdidn’t remove them until he was done. This get into a relationship with an outsider again.happened over and over again, night after night. Pretty words, while nice to hear, are hollow).Once I tried pushing him away—“What are you doing?” I am painfully aware of the perception of the violent black man that pervades America6) My fault again. today—and its consequences. Images of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and countless7) Patronizing language littered with fucks and others splashed across my newsfeed. I don’tcunts. Why did I move his hairbrush?? want to perpetuate it. One man’s actions do not

Present at the Mike Brown vigil. Me too. he didn’t.They say I’m bringing down the black community When compared to his bulky frame, I am small. I spend an entire semester thinking I am evenpersonally, I’m told. They have a role model, to boost my ego when I know I am anything but.someone in a position of power, who’s made itand who is nice. Who’s well known. I am none I spend an entire semester wishing I could be likeof those things--he told me so before. I guess I’ll someone he wants to be with. Then I remember that when he wanted to be with me, I was sittingand I’ll show you someone who termed me a face down ass up in the Quality Inn waiting forcrazy bitch. Same person). his hands and hiding my tears.not the problem, his actions are. —Lenoir. Ignore the bile slowly creeping up your You are the role model. You are the one who wentthroat. through it and came back stronger, who learned from and dealt with your problems as they came up. Insert fuzzy thoughts and feelings here.(He is not a monster either; he is a man. Who extracurriculars. The support is unsurprisinglybreathes the same air, occupies the same space nil.I do. He has a sister and a mother too. Has gonethrough trainings and seminars—I edited his Lose your appetite. Wear bigger clothes thatapplications. I pray he will never do the samething again. Once is more than enough).He is repeatedly asked why he is not with else drum on your shoulder. People knowsomeone who will understand. I don’t.mistakes start to pile up. You’re a Carolina Woman. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, you repeat over and over— and over again. Tell others at your own pace— no obligations either way. Lay down in a circleI will have to live knowing I did that to you. at the Campus Y lounge and listen to your own voice in the dead quiet. Mitigate the side effectsHis words. He doesn’t know half of it. Why as best you can. Take care of yourself.should he be the only one knowing? Whyshouldn’t everyone else know exactly what he Use your voice. It was given to you for a reason.did? If they knew, would they care? should I be part of yours?He calls me a little girl, infantilizing me like I’mnot twenty years old. She is “woman.” He still He’s right. It’s nothing personal.thinks I’m beautiful, he says. He and I both wish Spring 2015 | Page 12

The Siren | Page 13 A Day of Action for Justice in Louisiana A previous version of this article was published on FeministCampus.org by Monique LeBlanc such as Hurricane Katrina, on our nation’s acceptance of same-sex marriage, abortion, andOn January 24, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal porn. Presumably this did not go over well withand the American Family Association (AFA) Louisianians, the people arguably hit the hardesthosted a prayer rally, “The Response,” at Louisiana by Katrina, since “The Response” quickly removedState University. To counter this, I came together the controversial prayer guide from their site.with other activists from the LSU community to Clearly, this organization is out-of-touch with our state and its people.Justice in Louisiana.” Feminism, at its core, is about equality. The AFAthe AFA as a hate group, a title well-deserved due is anti-feminist because they are against ourto its heterosexist, cissexist, Islamophobic, sexist, reproductive rights, ethnicities, sexualities, andand racist rhetoric and actions. They’ve claimed faiths. They try to deny us equality by trying tothat LGBTQ individuals are to blame for the deny us the freedom to be who we are.Holocaust, that Muslims are a threat to nationalsecurity, and that Eric Garner was to blame for his In reaction to the AFA’s discriminatory messages,own death, among other oppressive statements. one of our members of the feminist group at LSU, Feminists In Action (FIA), started a protestBut the best example of what the AFA standsfor can be found in the prayer guide for “The myself, became heavily involved. We protestedResponse,” in which they blame natural disasters, “The Response,” hosted a panel discussion, and held workshops to help attendees become better and more effective community organizers. Despite the unfortunate circumstances necessitating the event, I was thrilled to see our community mobilizing in the name of equality. We had over fellow protesters was a powerful experience. Our

were heard. photo courtesy of Monique LeBlancWhat upsets me most about “The Response” is the that our state government chose to align withway it feels like LSU disregarded their promise them, and we’re upset that our university allowedof diversity to their students. LSU’s Diversity it on our campus.“Diversity is fundamental to LSU’s mission and “I hope those coming to protest will come out onthe University is committed to creating andmaintaining a living and learning environment Shannon Bates, Governor Jindal’s spokeswoman,that embraces individual difference…LSU strives in an email to The Advocate. “It’s going to be ato create an inclusive, respectful, intellectually great event worshiping the Lord and praying forchallenging climate that embraces individual our nation.”difference in race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, As well intended as Ms. Bates thought this prayerage, spirituality, socio-economic status, disability, rally was, the AFA has a long history of hate andfamily status, experiences, opinions, and ideas.” a sheer disrespect for our state’s citizens. This is something that has alienated us from theirRental of an LSU facility does not imply message, however well-intended they believe it toendorsement. However, many faculty and students be. We didn’t protest this event to disrespect theirfelt betrayed by our university. We felt like, by right to gather in pray- it was about defending ourhosting a hate group on our campus, LSU denied right to an equal society. It is our duty as citizensus a living and learning environment that valuesour differences. We hope that the AFA and those who went to pray saw our pain, sadness, and anger. We hopeThat’s why we had to organize and protest. that the answers they got from their prayer andWe’re not against their prayer. We’re not against meditation were ones of peace, love, and tolerance,Christianity. We’re against the AFA. We’re upset unlike the message the AFA has been preaching. Most of all, we hope we will see a future in which organizations like the AFA accept our differences without conditions. Spring 2015 | Page 14

The Siren | Page 15 PAPER DOLLS by Anuradha Bhowmik Strips of masking tape stick to white cement walls, garland tacked, cardstock hands linked by craft fasteners. One family ceramic skinned, chapped cheeks cold and red. Freckled brunettes lipglossed with tousled tresses, push-up bras, and polka dot dresses. Pressed the crinkled class worksheet scrawled with India. One community in the cookie cutter head. Gingerbread face burnt brown, crisp-edged like scabbed gorilla legs masked in threads of black bang curtains, drawn back for a torn hole target. Red spots of spit spill from lip cracks, Hindus eat rats drips on toilet paper sari scraps, stuck to the monster in the magnetic from the squeak of Air Jordan feet—cheerleaders players. Fist pumps for the dot head destined to drop banner for One school crumpled by the clutch of paper dolls.

BIRTHDAYPHOTOGRAPH, 1997bangs veil the birthmark crescent; round teep from aapartment walls pasted with past-worn teeps taken off at go back to 7-Eleven, dot head. Caughtred-handed for being blue collar brown in a whitetown? This is America, Arab. Suburban September 11thfor the sandwich your mom made me at Subway. Jerseysstitched in school spirit fade with the glory of exclusion.True patriots in red and white stripes stomp schoolhalls, scream bombrip off the red dot, bitch.by Anuradha Bhowmik Spring 2015 | Page 16

The Siren | Page 17 The “Marry or Move-In” Paradox: HOW LGBTQ SURVIVORS IN NORTH CAROLINA HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND BY MARRIAGE EQUALITYby Wilson HoodWhen North Carolina’s Amendment One, a of securing a Domestic Violence Protective Orderconstitutional amendment barring our statefrom recognizing or performing same-sex must be “current or former spouses, people ofmarriages or civil unions, was formally found to the opposite sex who live or have lived together,be unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court on parent and child or grandparent and grandchild, parents with a child in common, current or formerby LGBTQ and anti-intimate partner violence household members, or people of the opposite sexadvocates alike. Aside from Amendment One’s who are or have been in a dating relationship.”outright discrimination against same-sex coupleswishing to legally marry, many critics of the The defeat of Amendment One, and the formalamendment pointed out the amendment’s potential recognition of marriage equality that accompaniedeffects on civil domestic violence protections forunmarried different-sex couples covered under experiencing IPV in same-sex married relationships, but the law has yet to includeMore than a year out from the defeat of Amendment survivors in abusive same-sex relationships whoOne, LGBTQ and anti-intimate partner violence are neither married nor cohabitating.advocates in North Carolina have much tocelebrate. However, the legal environment left This leaves a large proportion of LGBTQ survivors without adequate civil recourse under state law.punishing (and largely ignored) paradox on many Survivors in abusive same-sex relationships whounder North Carolina law, survivors of IPV in Contact Order, otherwise known as a Chaptersame-sex relationships must marry or move inwith their abusers, thereby exposing them to even have the same vital features available undergreater threats of violence, before they qualify forcivil domestic violence protections. of separate criminal charges and arrest upon violation.The language of North Carolina’s existing Perhaps most disturbingly, Civil No-Contactdomestic violence statute is clear. For the purposes Orders do not carry the same mandatory

abusers as DVPOs. Considering this in light of Survivors of Intimatepossession and deaths from intimate partner * indicates that resource has anviolence- one study by the American Medical instant escape optionAssociation found that family and intimate (919) 843-5376 • lgbtq.unc.educonfront the fact that we are condemning many Gender Violence Services Drop-In Hours:LGBTQ survivors in our state to death at the end Thursdays 3-5pmof their abuser’s gun. UNC GENDER VIOLENCE SERVICES:In addition, the “marry or move-in” paradox (919) 962-1343in our civil domestic violence law renders a cassidyjohnson@unc.edudemographic within the LGBTQ community least sexualassaultanddiscriminationpolicy.unc.likely to either have married or lived with their eduabusers- LGBTQ youth and students- especiallyvulnerable. According to a study by the Urban UNC OFFICE OF THE DEAN OF STUDENTSInstitute, 46 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (FOR INTERIM PROTECTIVE MEASURES):youth respondents reported experiencing physical deanofstudents.unc.edu (919) 966-4042 • dos@unc.edutrans youth respondents reported experiencingphysical dating violence. *COMPASS CENTER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES:LGBTQ students at UNC are neither married nor (919) 929-7122 • compassctr.orgcohabitating with their partners, if they currently ORANGE COUNTY RAPE CRISIS CENTER:students on our campus experiencing intimate (866) 935-4783partner violence are not currently eligible for civil info@ocrcc.org • ocrcc.orgdomestic violence protections under state law.How can we expect LGBTQ student survivors to (919) 832-4484 info@lgbtCenterofRaleigh.comCarolina’s next generation of leaders if that very lgbtcenterofraleigh.comstate implicitly tells them that their lives are notworthy of protection? TRIANGLE: (919) 821-0055The time has come for us to stop telling *NC COALITION AGAINST DOMESTICLGBTQ survivors of interpersonal violence, VIOLENCE: (919) 956-9124 • nccadv.organd particularly LGBTQ youth and studentsurvivors, that their lives aren’t worth defending. INSIDEOUT (SUPPORT GROUP FORThe freedom of LGBTQ persons in our state tolegally marry that was secured by the downfall (919) 923-7884 • insideout180.orgof Amendment One should not become a boardinsideout@gmail.comrequirement for survival. Indeed, until the legalreality changes for many LGBTQ survivors in our THE TREVOR PROJECT:state, the “freedom” to marry may not be much of 1-866-488-7386 • thetrevorproject.orga “freedom” at all. Spring 2015 | Page 18

The Siren | Page 19 CAMPUS MICROAGRESSIONS by Alice WilderMicroaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, making mistakes is a part of learning. But thatand environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether wasn’t the problem here. This experience wasintentional or unintentional, which communicatehostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target microaggressions in the classroom. It’s a subtlepersons based solely upon their marginalized group reminder that although you may be in themembership. In many cases, these hidden messages may classroom, you have no ownership of the space.invalidate the group identity or experiential reality oftarget persons, demean them on a personal or group The following are the most commonlevel, communicate they are lesser human beings, microaggressions I experience in classrooms.suggest they do not belong with the majority group, I’m speaking from my experience as a white cis-threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior woman with boatloads of privilege, but pleasestatus and treatment (Psychology Today). keep in mind that microaggressions impact many students of different identities.always silent—most of the class is half asleep. Ten 1. The “No Raised Hand:”weeks into the semester, and I’m about to speak in I’ve seen this happen in every lecture class I’ve ever been in. Women tend to raise their handsquestions three times, raising his voice each timeto scare someone into answering. as if it’s a small discussion seminar. Come onI stick my hand in the air. Everyone is the lecture courtesy! We’ve all been doing this since thehall is staring at their keyboards. The professorlooks around the classroom. I’m sure he’s about to 2. The Professor Interruption: When womencall on me. do answer questions, I’ve seen some professorsAnd a guy in the front row starts talking,hand to be seen. and clarify that the professor actually didn’t represent what they were trying to say. Again,I put my hand down, glance at the girl next to me,who gives me a knowing look. themselves!Let me be clear—there is nothing wrong with 3. The“SuperIntense:”being wrong in class. We are here to learn, and I was called “super intense” by male classmates

because I spoke in class discussions. Meanwhile, 5. The Front Row: This one isn’t exactly athe guys were passionate and intellectual. This microaggression, but it’s another indication ofwas yet another class where nobody spoke.Students would be giving presentations and classrooms. Next time you’re in a large lectureasking questions to a completely silent class. hall that’s not a WGST class, check out who allSo I answered their questions, spoke up, helped is in the front row. What is the deal with thisthem out as they were very clearly panicking. I ya’ll? I know that I tend to sit in the third ormade a concerted effort not to speak too often. fourth row because I worry that sitting in theBut speaking more than twice gets you labeled“super intense.” Why are we taught that caring or a teacher’s pet.is unattractive? There is clearly a difference Women may be attending college in highbetween adding something to a discussion and numbers, we may make up most of UNC-Chapelmonopolizing the class, but this isn’t really Hill’s population, but that doesn’t mean we’reabout that. It’s about making women second getting equal space in the classroom. Theseguess their right to speak and making them feel microaggressions remind us every day that this isguilty for speaking at all. still not our space.4. The Laptop Question: Our professor is microaggressions in the classroom, and I betbemoaning the low attendance in his class you have your own list of stories. Share themand then adds that those who do attend rarely with us and help us push back on the everydaypay attention. “How many of you are online discrimination that happens in our classrooms.shopping right now? And then let’s sort thatby gender.” He laughs. Hahaha I’m taking notes Share your microaggression stories with us atright now, but it’s always fun to know that you UNCMicroaggressions.tumblr.com UNC Sirenassume female students are online shopping will post your stories to promote awareness aboutduring class. Do you know what does not microaggressions and to work towards a safer, moreincrease my enthusiasm about a class? Having inclusive campus community.the professor say to the entire class that hethinks many of the women in the classroom areshopping online. Spring 2015 | Page 20

The Siren | Page 21 AT CAROLINAM I C R O A G R E S S I O N S TUMBLR.SUBMISSIONS “Well, I’m pretty sure they’d rather have a pretty girl working for them than another nerdy Asian guy, so you’ll probably still get the job.” - After I told my (ex) boyfriend I had completely bombed my phone interview with Google for a software engineering position Guy at party (that I don’t know) starts to try to hug me as I’m walking in the door. Me: “(Trying to get away from him) Sorry, I don’t really like hugging people I don’t know.” Guy: “Why do you hate me?” FEMINIST YIK YAK photo courtesy of Alice Wilder

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The Siren | Page 23 by Johanna Ferebee the organization entirely. My motivations forin America have grown increasingly fragile to “cool” sorority. Although I met invaluable friendsconfronting what media colloquially refers to as through my former sorority and acknowledge the“racial tensions”. People of color and marginalized system fosters a powerful network for sisterhood,identities know these “tensions” to be a continued, philanthropy, and culture, after repeatedlyongoing reality. The internet and social media encountering behavior and policy that challengedhave spurred our heightened awareness of issues my education, my troubled conscience outweighedincluded, have long understood through the lens “White Trash Bash” and “What Would You Beof rose-colored glasses. I believe that in order to Without Your Degree?” reek of willfully ignorantmore forward, it is essential to participate in a elitism. It felt utterly irresponsible to continueproductive discussion rather than to shy away membership and remain a silent observer afterfrom topics that make us uncomfortable. Fear ofdivision on the basis of recognizing our differences either indifference or blatant resistance duringdoes a disservice to the complexity of culturesand identities that inhabit our diverse nation. I During Panhellenic sorority fall recruitment, afeel compelled to contribute to this conversation time that ought to make any vaguely consciousconsidering my prior involvement in a system I person cringe, I witnessed and participated inknow from experience to oppress and silence suchidentities and those who attempt to elicit positive as a sorority woman. A process in recruitment,change. Our generation has the responsibility to “scoop sheets”, involves announcing the nameshonor the tremendous efforts of our ancestors of every single potential new member preparingwho have made power structures visible through to “rush” the following week. In a room of oneboldly combatting our own present-day forms ofsocial oppression. It is important to understand information on X individual to assist in ourthat not only instances of overt racism need compilation of the year’s pledge class, no matterto be addressed, but also the simple day-to-day behaviors and actions of organizations of for “slut”, was used repeatedly to shame theyoung people- especially white young people- reputations of women most of us had never met.who perpetuate indifference whilst occupying As if “marketing” potential new members on secret posters throughout a main area of the houseThroughout my membership of a prestigious marketed as “hot Indian” and “hot Asian” wasn’tPanhellenic sorority, I witnessed numerous enough (needless to market a white woman asoccurrences of overtly racist, sexist, homophobic, such), an individual stood up and uttered wordsclassist, and intimidating behavior from members I will never forget. Sheepishly laughing, the thenand leaders alike. After several failed attempts member stated, “She’s like Asian.... but she’s not”to address these institutional weaknesses, I while advocating for a friend of hers and the entire room erupted in laughter. For the socially aware, this easily translates to “she’s white like us”. Sitting in the room visibly alarmed by roaring, agreeable laughter, I was told, “Calm down, Jo”.

So now, I am calm. I’ve analyzed with peers and What more do we as members of the dominantmyself over what my clandestine experiences power group possibly need to shake theindicate for society in the year since my departure. consciousness of our generation?This instance is nothing close to the worst I havewitnessed, but was the most obvious example of to a system that desperately needs reform. Notdaily groupthink going unchecked and virtually every member of my former sorority subscribes tounnoticed I can recall and legally disclose. Realizing this behavior and I applaud them for not bucklingmy organization was explicitly and unashamedly under the pressure to conform. You know whovaluing whiteness- or perceived whiteness- as a you are, and I love you. To the one woman withmarketable commodity was disturbing to say theleast. Exploiting multiculturalism for the social my concerns at the time, I hope you have takenvalue of “diversity” in such a way seems incredibly strides to address these shortcomings and willdisingenuous, especially considering this member continue to combat indifference fearlessly. Tonow holds the highest leadership position possible those of you on the fringes, who feel a slight tugin the UNC Panhellenic system. in their conscience, who feel their moral compass wavering; I encourage you to confront theseComplacency is active. I refuse to remain passive feelings with a sense of urgency. Failing to doin the face of blatantly destructive groupthinkbehavior. It is socially irresponsible to boil point that it takes a video of white millennialsdown circumstances such as these to politicalcorrectness or hypersensitivity. Xenophobia, condemnation, yet everything up until that pointracism and other “isms” for this matter will we seem blind to.remain rampant as long as people are complicit innot recognizing them. The fact that one hundred To the people who ignored me in the Panhellenicwomen witnessed these incidences and not onelack of transparency can breed. So much can be choose to be ignorant. It is our duty as memberssaid about my experiences that I cannot possibly of the dominant power group to actively addressattempt to tackle in a single post, but I do know instances of exclusive behavior whilst recognizing the role whiteness plays in our daily lives. I amsystem that perpetuates the exclusion of people begging you to wake up.based on class, ethnicity and sexuality. Exclusivityin this manner is destructive, happens frequentlyand often without notice. Spring 2015 | Page 24

The Siren | Page 25 Silent Sam by Leah Osae What does Silent Sam know about silence? Does being silent mean perishing in a lost war? If silence is death, then have I died alive? Orientation surely did not prepare me for my humanity’s funeral, but my death-ridden corpse of a mouth still has questions for our Fallen Martyr. Our Emblem of Silence. Does Silent Sam know about being pulled out of your seventh grade classroom for no reason? Does he know about being segregated from your classmates solely because your blackness screams intimidation? Does Silent Sam know about being called coal and smut and tar to the point where you forgot your own name and your own face and could only see mud and dirt and grime in the mirror? that the binary is absolute and that your feelings are invalid? Does Silent Sam know the Art of Passing? Does he know the Tongue of Self Deprecation and Self Denial? Is he well versed in the Tales of Imaginary Identities? Does Silent Sam know about believing that your existence is antagonistic? That your gender is illusory? That your sexuality is rebellious? That your race is intolerable?

Does Silent Sam know about being the “only one” in your chemistry class?In your biology class? In your shows? In your movies?In your own stories? In your own imagination?Does Silent Sam know about building an economy on your back?Carrying the bricks of a University on your shoulders and in your arms, only to be reduced to a granite tabletop where people wipe their feet?Does Silent Sam know silence beyond the bullet? Does he know about erasing the lines of your bodyDoes he know about the silence that predates death?Does he know about the silence that occurs whenyour state and your University try to bury you alive?Does he know how it feels to scream through the dirt? Spring 2015 | Page 26

The Siren | Page 27 A Day at UNC with and withoutby Amanda KubicA Day at UNC with Sexist/Trans-Exclusive A Day at UNC without Sexist/Trans-ExclusiveLanguage (a.k.a. A Normal Day at UNC): Language (a.k.a. The Rise of Y’all):I, and other non-male-identifying people with me, I hear people use gender-neutral collective pronouns, like “y’all” and “everyone,” whenI picked up an issue of The Daily Tar Heel and saw addressing more than one person.referred to as “freshmen.” I see that The Daily Tar HeelI heard myself, and other women of my age, at UNC.referred to as “girls” by my friends, professors, as “women” or “womyn.”I heard people refer to a person’s expression of I hear people talk about others complaining orfrustration as “bitching”—twice. venting, but I never hear the term “bitching.”I heard students and professors dichotomizing I notice everyone being referred to by theirall people into the categories of “man” or preferred gender pronouns. No one is assumed to identify a certain way, or any way.binary or acknowledging the presence of otheridentities. I hear students in all organizations, including Greek life, being referred to as “members” orI heard a member of a co-ed fraternity refer to allof the members as “brothers” even though not all I am referred to as a writer. Always.I heard myself referred to as a woman writer. 3 Addendum:times. In this piece I have tried to point out seemingly harmless instances of sexist or trans-exclusive language. For example, “you guys” is one of the most prevalent and ostensibly harmless uses of sexist language that I hear every day on UNC- Chapel Hill’s campus. I hear it from faculty, staff, and other students. I see it on social media. I read it in editorials, comments, and columns from The

Daily Tar Heel. to refer to students in particular classes. Yet inheard it come from my own mouth. But “you guys”isn’t a generic term referring to a group composed School of Journalism and Mass Communicationof individuals with different gender identities. In at UNC-Chapel Hill, author Andy Bechtel writesher article “What Sociology Teaches Me,” UNC-Chapel Hill Sociology professor Sherryl Kleinman alternative to freshman” and that it should befrom the picture.” The phrase makes men and at some institutions, including Whitman Collegemaleness the standard, the norm, and ignores all and The University of Arkansas at Monticello, ofwho do not identify with the male gender. Similarly,referring to all members of a co-ed fraternity as news publications. There was even a movement at“brothers” erases the existence of women andother non-male-identifying people. The solution the DTH change its language policy. Students andisn’t to call all male members “brothers” and all faculty wrote several letters to the DTH editor,female members “sisters.” This, for one, reinforces including one entitled “Lack of gender-inclusivethe gender binary. It also implies that gender is language disappointing,” written by Executivesomehow relevant to that person’s membership Vice-Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney andin the organization. Unless an individual wants Executive Associate Provost Ron Strauss. Carney and Strauss expressed their “disappointment”personal reasons, it seems unnecessary to refer that the DTH had chosen not to follow the newto someone as a “sister” rather than a member, campus policy of gender-neutral language use.as a “chairwoman” rather than a chair, or as a increase accuracy. A community committed totime for UNC to embrace non-sexist and trans- inclusiveness should demonstrate its commitmentinclusive alternatives for some of the words we sayevery day. We can start with the publications our Despite this movement, the DTH did not changeUniversity circulates. its policy. But that does not mean it never will. As UNC-Chapel Hill’s largest and most widely-readlanguage policy, thanks in large part to the efforts student publication, the DTH has a responsibilityHill policy statement on gender-inclusive language students. If the students of UNC-Chapel Hill, including the writers at the DTH, make it knownHill is committed to providing an inclusive andwelcoming environment for all members of our trans-exclusive language at our university, we cancommunity. Consistent with that commitment, make this change happen.upper-level student, etc.) should be used on This is one small piece of my vision for a betterUniversity documents, websites and policies.” Yet UNC-Chapel Hill. If every individual on this campus made a commitment to constantly andlike The Daily Tar Heel, do not fully abide by this consistently use non-sexist and trans-inclusivepolicy. Writers at the DTH continue to use terms language, we could start deconstructing some of the harmful systems of oppression that operate onall DTH articles must abide by the AP Stylebook— this campus. The language we use has power. Itthe standard style guide for the newspaper has the power to harm, but it also has the power toindustry. The AP Stylebook dictates that the titles heal. It is time that we start holding ourselves and our institutions responsible for the words we use. Spring 2015 | Page 28

The Siren | Page 29 PASSION IN PRACTICE: AN.INTEREVIEW by Alice WilderAisha Anwar and Layla Qoran spent much of this case. There are some voices that are seen as moresemester hearing the stories of Muslims across important. There are voices that are characterizedNorth Carolina and how they express their faith in certain ways.in their daily lives. The stories they found werecomplex, inspiring, and represented the incredible Aisha: As “defensive” or not.Passion in Practice. Layla: Yeah, and I think that the day that we can see everyone’s voice is looked at with an equalI spoke to Aisha and Layla about their exhibit, love value., I hope to come back to a UNC that can befor the Muslim Students Association, and hownon-Muslim students can support the Muslim as a whole. I don’t want UNC to be this bubble ofcommunity. The full interview can be found at something positive whereas everything around ituncsiren.com. is not characteristic of it.Siren: Aisha: So coming at it from what I want to seeyears what would you like to see? What would a for my Muslim community at UNC, I want tonon-oppressive, healthy UNC look like to you? see more people in the arts writing and doing photography. I want to see two or three people atLayla: I think when things happen at UNC they’re the DTH that can represent that way. And I want people to care more, I want people to make thestudents, negative things or positive things, on parallels between different struggles and connect humanity across the world. I want people to beI come back to UNC I’d like to see a campus where aware of the different things that are happeningall voices are heard equally, where one voice isn’tequated to be more important than anybody else. a lot of people do that, and I know that as humans we can only care about so many things at once, but if you could make the parallels between different things- is a huge thing for me. So like, the Black

photos courtesy of Anisha Padmastruggle being connected to the Palestine struggle. certain groups, especially people of color. What’sFrom an academic standpoint- there are comicbooks books that are created to explain the Black suffering so much at the hands of Israel, it’s allstruggle in America that are being used in Palestine about this idea that one group is better than theto teach civil disobedience. That is the way this other and deserves more than the other and thatworld works, that is beautiful and amazing. I want goes not only with the idea of taking land but alsopeople to see these connections and that’s one with voices and how one voice is seen as morereason I advocate for the humanities because taking important than the other.a global studies class or humanities class, take oneopen your eyes, that class is all about connecting Aisha: I don’t want people to be afraid to talk aboutstruggles across the world and seeing how related race, I feel like even here and the way that we’vethey are. Aand it’s so important because that’s the been brought up in the U.S., we’ve learned to talkmoment where you can sit down and say, I know around the problem a lot and de-racialize issues.that my community is struggling with this but this Some people feel like we have to deradicalize anis not isolated and we don’t have to self isolate, issue that is deeply rooted in that before they can enver and feel like they have a right to speak on it., I feel like everyone needs to understand thatcommunity. You can’t mush all struggles together, in race issues, and they have to be able to walk intorecognize that, but also know that the struggle is that and talk about it in a nuanced manner. I wantthe same in a way too. more constructive conversation on campus.Layla: There are all these things about colonialism Read the full interview at UNCSiren.com.group of people, there’s a history of colonialismand imperialism the idea of an empire all over Spring 2015 | Page 30

The Siren | Page 31 SWMOOOKDEWTAALLKKEERR, by Dylan Yonsh Su-Chun Mott face your fear look ‘em straight in the eye and shoot. when i write i write backwards placing thought before word on a race downhill. I got a drumbeat on my soul and sesame oil on my breath. some kinda hybrid creation – if i was created in the image of god, god must be some kinda mixed kid… i couldn’t see myself in the stain-glass-god they had put up over the baptistery, pale and heavily bearded, eyes turned upwards towards heaven and white.cis.God, may He be praised. Nah. That wasn’t for me. Now i hold church for myself down by the creek my hymns like old gospel tunes hanging over the waters, singsong “I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid.” In the dark down the hollow, where the cold water rolls by. Me and the creek cry sometimes and remember. Remember what we had and what we lost, what we wish we could remember, and what we longed to forget. See, i come from the blue ridge mountains –those hills are perpetually, eternally blue. The Old Ones tell us, Remember, they interrupt our dreaming. Those blueberry hues cast over the hills are the shadows of the gods, it’s like god come home to roost, spreading their feather cloak all about blanketing the ridge’s curves. Once, i seen the dinner table of god. Sah-ka-nah-ga. Watched them sit down to sup. watching the table of god ‘til long after the night came in and the valley grew dark, long after god had already retired to their sleeping place and the cricket and nightbird had already begun to sing their nightly serenade.

This winter on the longest night of the year, i felt my soul I’m two spirited queer as fuck. Who am I?inside me dying.i knew it was going to pass the day before, and i readied my soul poured out of the blue, blue sky above memyself My soul was home. And I whispered to my soulpreparing potion in a handleless teacup, crossed irises “Shh, shh, thank you. I see you. I promise I’ll take care ofenameled blue and gold on the porcelain you”concealing a concoction of limoncello, tea, and honey- Only this time my soul was different.colored oxtail fat skimmed this time I am not afraid. The deed was done. thatoff a plastic tub my mom had in the fridge. It’s for thecoating in her sciatic nerve. completed.The fat smelled so sweet – that’s how sick i was, that i This time I walk with a surer stepcraved the poison. my rigid muscles grow soft and supple, slowly butTwo sips in and i spit it all up, pale mixture of oxtail alcohol surely.and bile.It was then, in the dark, by our hedge of hemlocks on the to wear off?drive, This time I know who I am again why I’m here.that my soul exited my body. See, i come dreaming of another planet where I don’t have to be afraid of dogs no moreIt was a pitiful thing, what was left of my stagnant soul. where i won’t catch myself wincing and looking for covercodependent relationship. every time a white boy shoots me a glance.I remember how much i hated myself and how much i I have this memory of running through the creekwanted to die. bottom bathed in mud to hide my scent, and smoke the little shit gets ‘hold of you to confuse my trail, fully alive in the knowledge sinks its little shit fangs and claws in that if they catch me with those dogs, they’d string me and makes you hate your whole self up in a tree. Not Jesus of Nazareth but Peter the Rock, only cuz you been made to — fugging vampire body ‘live, makes you confuse that little shit cut my ears and my hair, my nose, my lips and eyelids with your whole self your holy self. – they practiced their carving skills taking bets to see who could cut my body clean in twoThen one night this week, I was taking my evening walk in the fewest strokes. Then they praised their god, thanking Him for granting them the victory that day,It was a while before i noticed that my soul had returned. making burnt offerings and sacrament of mywhen i did, it was such a sudden realization, and i laughed.i felt the familiar weight in my chest again–welcome. There’s a reason you think there’s no such thing as ani had been alone for so long, so empty, so gone… Indian faggot,I was down by the creek in the middle of the night, why you say I don’t even exist. Cuz they tried to kill us all. But we went underground, mixed into the soil of thiseyes wide – marbles mirroring the sky above me place waiting for the right conditions to grow again. And tothey say that in the old days, each person was bloom.celebrated by the People when they growed upa coming into one’s own, publically. I am not afraid. Just called the cops on the dude upstairs.but i wasn’t at home anymore He’s stomping around pissed. Godwilling, I will be safe.when that was supposed to be happening with me. Calling cops as a queer 2spirit doesn’t feel safe. But this is what it is.I am not a man or a woman, heyo hey. Be fearless. Spring 2015 | Page 32

The Siren | Page 33 REMINDERS by Mars Earle do not wait for the love poems from some boy’s lips that you don’t want to kiss anymore or even those that you do. sing for yourself, raise your own from that death bed. you are halfway through. do not tell them white coats you hear voices, of dead dream fragment people. they will not hear you speak of comfort or remember their savior talked through burned witches’ dreams too. and you are right to say slow down slow down slow down. do not cry for long when they try to lighten your skin on those bathroom tiles, worry when it peels but won’t come off. you are bronzed, not painted, the mineral that they chip their nails on, more than a cliff side for them to harvest from- you are the entire mountain. you have always been whole and enough. our worth includes the struggle as much as the production, our skin is more than the ashes of their ruined empire, our stories’ roots far deeper in the ground than their dysfunctional utopias, instead, grow saplings from where blood was pourn. instead, make those suffocating bedsheets into pairs of gills. instead, tell them of the three daughters who survived. tell them how many generations you have been lying, tell them how thin the air tastes when you can’t breathe whole-chest, hands up, eyes rolled, tell them how the sky changes color depending on who’s talking, which dead dream fragment people come to lead you home now, tell them, but we have always been whole, tell them- from the stones in our stomach where you tried to sink us, we will build cities.

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seeking support after anunwanted sexual experience?for confidential services,visit any of the following:at UNC off campus campus health services orange county rape counseling & psychological crisis center services (CAPS) compass center for university ombuds office women and familiesin any anytime Your DHRE Staff911emergency Department of Public Safety Office of the Dean of Students Deputy Title IX / Student Complaint CoordinatorRESOURCES and INTERIM PROTECTIVE MEASURES forSexual Harassment, Sexual and Relationship Violenceincluding:campus-based no contact orderschanges in housing orchanges in class schedules http://safe.unc.educan be obtained by contacting...Deputy Title IX / Student Complaint Coordinator Office of the Dean of Students Ew Quimbaya-Winship SASB North, Suite 1106 SASB North, Suite 1125 dos@unc.edu eqw@unc.edu 919-966-4042 919-843-3878