Category Archives: Editorials/Student Voice

Editor’s Note: The Plaid Line publishes editorials that contain opinions that are those of the student authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the the Plaid Line, HPSH, or its staff.

Editorials/Student Voice

Why Bob Woodward’s Trump interview should concern everyone

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By: Quentin Miller.

Many may already be aware of the recently leaked interviews between Trump and the famous reporter Bob Woodward. But for those who have not heard of it, to build anticipation for his upcoming book, Bob Woodward leaked parts of interviews between him and Trump regarding his presidency. 

One specific part of this interview, conducted on Feb 7th according to The Washington Post, contained Trump saying “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”, implying that he was very aware that COVID-19 was much more deadly than he let on.                                                          

Speaking of what he let on, here’s what he had to say on Feb 28th at his South Carolina rally, 21 days after admitting COVID-19 was a serious threat, “Whoever thought of this two weeks ago? Who would’ve thought this could be going on four weeks ago?”. You, you did Trump.

Now, why should this concern you? Well under UN definition, a decision is considered genocide if it has the intention to destroy part of/the entirety of an ethnic or religious group based off of their ethnicity or religion, and one of the following acts associated with it:

  • Killing members of the group
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

So, theoretically, if Trump knew that poorer people can’t get proper medical treatment and that poorer areas in the U.S. are normally made of minorities, and he showed a clear motive for wanting to commit genocide, that would make a very clear case for the hundreds of thousands of deaths due to corona to be genocide. According to PBS, on Jun 11th, 2016, Trump claimed, “You live in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs” while referring to African Americans. This clearly shows he is aware African American people, or as he likes to say “The Blacks,” face clear financial disadvantages. 

Also, according to The New York Times, Trump, during April 2020, said this when referring to a plan to cover uninsured treatments of COVID-19, “This should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment.” This shows that he is aware people who can’t afford/don’t own an insurance policy need aid in paying for treatment. 

But what could the motive be? As has been reported on by PBS’ NewsHour, there are many possibilities.

Maybe the idea that Mexico is the enemy to the United States, and implying many Hispanics are rapist is his motive. But if blatant racism and harsh language towards Mexico and its people wasn’t evidence enough that he has disdain towards minorities, just take the words of Rep. Elijah Cummings who claimed Trump’s words and actions are hurtful and offensive to the black community.

So, maybe it’s the fact that he constantly voiced support and thanks to African American’s during Black History Month, only to completely ignore them almost directly after Black History Month was over.

Or maybe it’s when he openly supported “Stop and Frisk” laws which have been proven to discriminate against minorities.

Maybe his claim that the reason black youth have a hard time is because of their lack of spirit is his motive. Or when he called people protesting the very suspicious death of Freddie Gray “thugs,” aware of the fact that the majority of them were black. 

So, Trump has a motive for genocide, let a pandemic he knew was deadly devastate poor areas, and knew that demographics he was clearly racist towards would be hit hard by his actions. In short, he committed genocide in the opinion of this writer. And any world leader who is genocidal against minorities should concern you. 

For more information, please check out the following:

  1. ‘Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly’ and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans’ by: Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, at The Washington Post
  2. ‘Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally Transcript – February 28, 2020’ on rev.com
  3. ‘What exactly Trump has said about race’ by:Lisa Desjardins, at PBS NewsHour
Editorials/Student Voice, Movies/TV/Theaters

Disney shills for the CCP

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By: Jalalisa Geleto

There has been a controversy over Disney’s ‘Mulan’ and now Disney is losing millions.

The controversy started a while back when the actress, Liu Yifei, came out in support for the CCP during the Hong Kong protest. It was also found that she was the daughter of a member of the CCP government.

To know why what I previously said, and what I’m going to say, is offensive to many people, you must know what the CCP really is.

The CCP took control of China in 1949 and installed a brutal authoritarian/communist government. This government killed over 100 million Chinese during its reign. They suppressed religion, destroyed human individuality, free speech, ability to give birth, ability to feed yourself, and many other atrocities. The Communist era of China has been horrible for its people.

Now, the Chinese government is capitalistic, but it’s still just as authoritarian. Many Chinese people don’t starve the way they used to, but they’re still just as oppressed.

During the communist era of the CCP there was a forced cultural revolution. Now, the present day CCP is trying to finish the Cultural Revolution in China. They are going to the edges of China and oppressing/depopulating the minority groups whose cultures survived the original Cultural Revolution.

This is happening with the Chinese Uighur. They are being raped, sterilized, killed, and tortured. Their religion is being stripped from them, and they are forced to do things they consider blasphemy. They are forced into giant camps to “re-educate” them (making them abandon who they are and become the perfect Han Chinese).

Now, let’s get back to the story.

In the credits of the movie, they thank propaganda departments in Xinjiang and the Public Security Bureau of Turpan, a Uighur-majority city in the region. This is the same department that claims that nothing is happening to the Uighurs, and it was all made up.

Not only that, but Disney filmed the movie literally a couple miles away from these camps. This sparked outrage in the West.

People are getting tired of major corporations doing anything for a spot in China. There are large portions of the country that are starting to believe these American companies are more Chinese than American at this point. Western values and businesses are all under CCP control in the eyes of many.

People are saying how can these companies “support” social justice causes here in America, but then grovel at the feet of one of the most oppressive and cruel governments of our time.

Now, I’ll leave you with this question. Should we sacrifice our Western values and art just to have access to the Chinese market?

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

What happened to the school lunches for SPPS?

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By: Elsie Olive

Most students have already noticed, but if you hadn’t already, the lunches served at St. Paul Public Schools have severely gone downhill between the 2018-2019 school year and this one.

In the years prior to the 2019-2020 school year, SPPS had provided a variety of nutritional foods. In fact, in 2013, TwinCities.com said SPPS lunches had gotten national attention for the incredible and healthy foods the schools were providing.

However if you look at the lunches served now, almost always the options are either some variant of chicken, hamburgers, gyros, or Italian dunkers, and every lunch is served with a side of fries.

So, what changed in the few months between these two school years?

Unfortunately, there is hardly any information that explains exactly what happened, but, by checking some of the links on the SPPS lunch menus page, there is one that takes us to Nutrislice.com. Here, at spps.nutrislice.com, it gives us a message which suggests that SPPS no longer uses Nutrislice as a means of supplying their lunches. The newest and working links on the SPPS page take us to SchoolCafé.com, where you can view current school lunch menus.

It could be that this is the only reason school lunches have decreased in value this much, but it is hard to believe that such a small change could completely offset the school’s menu. It is likely that there were some staff changes in the Nutritional Services and Wellness department of SPPS.

At this point, there isn’t much other information available, and the lack of information provided on the SPPS website about it’s staff members or exactly what changed between this school year and the last one doesn’t help with that.

However, it probably has much more to do with the relaxing of regulations for school-provided meals by the Trump Administration according to BusinessInsider.com. This particular article also mentions that the billions of dollars cut from the education budget has deeply affected the ability for schools to provide enough nutritional food for all of their students.

Editorials/Student Voice, News

Black Lives Matter!!

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“I can’t Breathe”

“I can’t breathe, see his knee is on my neck as I take my last breathe 

I can’t breathe, my life is ending now as everyone sits here and watch 

I can’t breathe, someone please help me I’m begging you 

I CAN’T BREATHE, boom I’m dead another black man gone 

I can’t breathe,  George Floyd May 25, 2020

I can’t breathe, Eric Garner July 17, 2014

I can’t breathe, you shot me Tamir Rice November 22, 2014

Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Aebery, Breonna Taylor, how many more.

How many more will it take for America to realize the hate

I can’t breathe, I want to but it’s hard, it hurts, I can’t see

I can’t feel, I’m dieing, I love you momma, I’m gone.”

As a young black African American teenager it hurts to see that my culture has to destroy things just for us to get a point across. BLM ( black lives matter) is more than just a protest, more than a hashtag, it’s our lives. We say black lives matter but we still aren’t heard more of the less we still aren’t safe. Day after day the death of a black man or child or woman is on the news. Why? Because there are racist cops who will do anything just to harm us. They say “I saw a weapon” but they saw a hairbrush. He was resisting but in reality I asked you why was I being detained.

Video proof of cops, racist, KKK, and all and yet the white man doesn’t go to jail for long. Oh but when it comes to a black man killing anyone they get the death sentence. There have been plenty of times and opportunities for a change to happen. It’s so sad that I have to grow up in a world where I could be killed just because of the color of my skin. It’s sad because young boys and girls have to see how messed up the world is. No parent should have to sit down with their kid and tell them that they could die at a young age, because a racist police officer or man or woman will fear them because of the race they were born into.  

What did Sam Cooke say? “A change is Gonna Come” and yet we still haven’t seen it. When the color of my skin is seen as a weapon, I will never be unarmed. I will never be not seen as a threat, a murderer, a demon, a vicious animal. Everyday an Black African American faces a racist encounter. We are free, but it really doesn’t feel like it. We as people as human beings shouldn’t have to always wonder if today will be the day we die. If we’ll be talking our last breath in a matter of seconds and minutes. The world needs to change and it needs to change fast. 

I’ll leave you with these quotes and maybe it’ll help you realize why rioting was the only option that was left.

“It’s hard to elevate when this country’s ran by whites

Judging me by my skin color and my blackness” – Joyner Lucas 

“Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?” – Tupac Shakur

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” – Martin Luther King Jr

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal” – Martin Luther King Jr

The last quote left an engraving in my spirit because there have been many other races that have protested with us. They have contributed during the protest by speaking up and marching with us. But there are also the ones that aren’t doing anything to help us spread the word. We wanted the protest to be peaceful, but instead they were violent. We wanted to get a point across but instead we were called hoodlums.

Point is we are not hoodlums, we are not ratchets, we are not ghetto and we are humans. 

We are America’s people just like everyone else in this country. We are Black African Americans, We are Black Lives Matter and until everyone gets it into their heads we will not stop until our voices are heard. 

Long live my black queens and kings 

COVID-19, Editorials/Student Voice

What the US government has done wrong during the pandemic

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Some countries have handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than others: Australia is already going back to school, South Korea has had widespread testing since the beginning of the pandemic, and Germany has the lowest mortality rate in the world.

One of the biggest issues that the US has faced is the lack of testing. In the beginning, the WHO came out with tests that worked and were widespread and were working for the most part, but the CDC made their own tests that were going to be used in the US. These tests had major setbacks, and the US couldn’t get as many people tested as other countries because we weren’t producing enough tests.

Another huge issue is that states are competing for resources like ventilators and masks. The US government hasn’t done a good job providing, and rationing, resources so whichever state has the most money, or is willing to spend the most money, will get the most resources.

Finally, the spread of misinformation by the president is causing a lot of problems. Trump has been contradicting Dr. Fauci and telling people to take medicine that hasn’t been proven to help, or ingest chemicals that could have disastrous side effects. He recently told people that testing is overrated and that the less you test the less cases you have. Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, Trump has been saying things that aren’t true and has not been listening to the government issued guidelines.

Editorials/Student Voice, National

Justice for Ahmaud

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Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was gunned down on February 23, 2020, during one of his jogs. Ahmaud was a 25-year-old African American.

There have been plenty of cases and where young African Americans have been killed for the color of their skin. Such as: Trayvon Martin, age 17;  Jordan Edwards, age 15; Micheal Brown, age 18.

As a child, having to view these crimes, and seeing no justice being served, is stomach aching. It’s traumatizing really. Ahmaud Arbery was doing nothing but jogging, simply working out like any other person, and was targeted by people so hateful and sinful. They felt the need to hurt, and not only harm, but kill, Ahmaud Arbery.

The justice system in America is sooo messed it literally makes no sense that someone loses their life and isn’t served the proper justice they deserve.

So, I would like to end this article with saying long live Ahmaud Arbery and #justiceforAhmaud. 

COVID-19, Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Seniors missing graduation

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Since the start of COVID-19 seniors have been a bit on the depressive side. Many seniors, including my own brother, have been in a panic when it comes to long distance graduation. My parents and my brother have been on the spectrum of trying to get prepared for the day of his virtual graduation.

Not only are the seniors upset, but so are their parents and siblings. As a sibling, I’ve always awaited the time where I got to record my older sibling walk across the stage in their cap and gown. But since COVID-19, I am not able to have that experience. It’s also upsetting to my parents because they’ve longed for the day they were able to send my brother off to prom, and to see him walk across that stage.

Willie Wright Class of 2020 graduate 

I first had a conversation with none other than the man himself, (my brother) Willie Wright, a graduating senior at Como Park Senior High. Willie is a 2020 graduate with a football scholarship to Minnesota State University.  He said, “It’s so crazy because every other class year such as 2001-2019 got to walk across the stage, and I’m not able to. Those are the most memorable moments in our life. Even prom, and I wasn’t able to have that, hopefully this will all be over soon.”

Chaniyah Fenner Class of 2020 Graduate 

I then had the opportunity to speak with Chaniyah Fenner, a senior also at Como Park Senior High. She said that, “I am upset about the virtual graduation. I don’t like it at all, I understand that there’s a virus going on and everything, but they already took away our prom and senior night, and now they’re taking away our graduation. It’s just messed up.” 

William Albert Class of 2020 Graduate 

I then reached out and spoke to William Albert, who attends Gordon Park High School. He said, “I hate the thought of not being able to walk across the stage, but knowing there’s a strong system of people behind me who are willing to bend for my education, it drives me to do better and prosper moving forward.”

With all of this going on, at least the seniors have something good to look forward to. They get a graduation speaker, who is none other than the man himself, Barack Obama (which is something really amazing).

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

The addiction of social media

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Zakianna Johnson

Introduction

There’s been many things going on in social media these days. But the addiction to the apps we all have is really bad. Apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, etc. are all of our lives, especially teenagers.

How it affects our lives

Social media is like drugs; you get addicted easily. Everyone has some sort of social media on their phone. Whether it’s to stay in contact with friends or family, or to have a laugh or two. But we don’t understand what the effect is on our minds and bodies.

These apps are toxic, but we love them. We try to take breaks, but it doesn’t work.

My dad responded with, “I used to be really addicted to it. Like I used to not be able to sleep without it. But now I usually only go on social media when I do my live videos, and I speak on reality and show my family. You know, because I’m showing a side of me and my family and our morals and values.”

COVID-19, Editorials/Student Voice

How the coronavirus has impacted my job

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So, today we are going to talk about how the coronavirus has affected me in my job.

Well, at the start of the coronavirus outbreak we were still working in the Science Museum. However, after a while it called for us to just stay home and then eventually we were laid off, but temporarily, I’ll be working soon I think.

Working from home is a lot different than working at a location. I don’t get to see people at all unless we are in a video; there is no physical interaction. I can’t tease a coworker, hi-five them maybe, congratulate them in person too, and I used to talk to them one-on-one. No, it’s just all online; like we’re looking at video screens and you know sometimes multiple people try to talk and we have to make a rule to not talk while others are talking because it gets way too confusing.

Then there’s the fact that we like to have icebreakers and, we can’t really do that, but we have been playing online games together like trivia games, scribble.io and trivia murder. Those are fun games to play during this quarantine but then working with others can be hard as well because we have to leave the call and find another way to call our partners that we are working with.

So, we ended up starting a Discord where we can talk to each other but that wasn’t looking as professional so they decided to go with Slack, which is like Discord, but for work. It’s much easier to do work stuff in Slack, like make documents, but then you know we got a message saying that we would all get temporarily laid off.

It’s been maybe a month since I’ve been laid off and it sucks. I don’t get to talk to my people anymore and, you know, I don’t get to make money. I don’t get to, you know, have time to go buy stuff for my family now because I’m trying to conserve a little bit of money.

I have to watch my little brother now like a lot more than usual because, you know, mom’s got to work on her laptop with the video calls, because she can’t go into work and, you know, he likes to make a lot of noise so now he’s just in my room when I wake up usually.

So, in conclusion, quarantine sucks a lot for all of us, but there are still ways for us to stay connected and to help each other out. Just look at the image below, these are people in my
apartment complex trying to help each other in the dire time of need.

Clubs and Activities, Editorials/Student Voice

Youth Climate Justice Summit: Part 2

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By: Vivian S

On Wednesday, February 26th, I woke up, brushed my teeth, and walked out of my house. But instead of continuing down to the bus stop, I was driven to the Capitol.

…Well, not exactly the Capitol, I was driven to the Good Neighbor Building, as that is where the Youth Climate Justice Summit began.

After I managed to find my way around all the twisting roads of the Capitol, I completed my registration and went down to breakfast. Everyone sat at tables with people in the same district as them and chatted for a while. Then, youth took to the stage.

We started with some icebreaker activities, but the true beginning of the summit was a speech about the exploitation of Native American people to this day, and how it related to climate justice. That idea is a part of intersectional climate justice, which was a big focus of the summit, which says that climate change disporportionallly affects communities of color and other disenfranchised communities which are normally systematically targeted, making it not just an environmental issue but also a social and economic issue.

We then were given a short presentation of how to talk to representatives, and on the bills that the summit was trying to get passed, and those they were trying to stop from passing.

The bills that were being supported were:

  • Solar on Schools (HF1133 & SF1424): which is a grant program to give schools solar panels which will eventually take on a great part of the electricity load of the schools.
  • Energy Conservation for Schools (HF1148 & SF2016): which would make a loan-fund for schools to make investments in energy conservation.
  • The Women of Color Opportunity Act (HF841 & SF1123): which is a collection of grant programs for organizations working with women of color to develop small businesses, expand access to STEM careers, provide internships, etc. to combat the how women of color are underrepresented.
  • Trash-burning is Not Renewable: which would declare that trash-burning is not a renewable energy source and companies cannot keep claiming it as such. It is still being drafted.
  • Green Affordable Housing: is a proposal by Governor Walz to make massive investments into affordable housing that is energy efficient as well.

The bills that weren’t being supported were:

  • Felony Free Speech & Guilty by Association (SF2011/HF2241 and SF3230/HF2966): 4 bills which would make harsher punishments for water and pipeline protesters.
  • Clean Energy First Act (SF1456): which, while it says that electric companies have to prioritize carbon-free energy, it also defines trash-burning as renewable and coal and gas plants “carbon free resources”.
  • Exempting Climate Impacts from Environmental Review: which says that new projects in Minnesota don’t have to consider the impact they would have on the environment due to carbon emissions. This bill is still being drafted.

After we were given these bills, and an overview of them, we then went to meet with our representatives. I went to meet Rep. Dave Pinto.

We were let in, and about 10 of us squeezed in. We went around introducing ourselves, then got straight down to business. Rep. Pinto immediately expressed his support for what we were doing and the bills we were talking about. The meeting was short, and we only had the time to bring up a few ideas, like how to get moderate Republican support, and short discussions on the bills. By the end of it, Rep. Pinto said that he would co-author the House Solar in Schools bill, which would mean he would be signing his name as someone that was supportive of the bill.

Then, we tried to go meet with Sen. Dick Cohen. We didn’t have a meeting with the senator though, so our meeting failed, but we left letters expressing what bills we supported and what we didn’t.

After that, I participated in one of the student-led workshops. There were many of those over the day, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to see most of them, but I managed to catch one. “Raising the pressure on legislators”, in which one of the students led us through how to contact your legislators and more effectively express your opinions and ideas to them. We were given instructions and how to write letters and emails, how to make phone calls, and how to be active on social media and the community.

We were also given a list of places to look for other events to become active in: US Climate Strike, MN Climate Strike, and Yea! MN.

Then, there was lunch, which may have been my favorite part of the day.

After that, all of us walked up into a sanctuary and filed in row by row, to listen to a whole host of speakers.

The first speaker introduced Will Steger, who founded ClimateGeneration, one of the programs leading the summit. Then came Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan who discussed the need to be active in politics and the fight against climate change. Following her came Governor Tim Walz, who talked about the urgency of battling climate change and how we as young people had to protest, to demand our rights.

Before this summit, I had barely known who Governor Walz was, much less how much of a contested character he was to the climate change activists at the summit. He only spoke for ten minutes, and left at the end without taking any questions. The entire group had a discussion about what he had said, with many of us coming to the consensus that we were disappointed by his lack of specifics.

After that, we had the chairs of both the house and senate climate justice committees talk to us, in which they discussed the specific actions they were taking, their problems, and how to get involved.

All in all, it was a very long day.

I enjoyed it, getting to talk to our representatives was important and it did feel like having a bit of a voice in politics, but the summit could have been managed a bit better, and I wish we got to meet with more representatives.

I would urge all of you though, even if you were unable to make it, to contact your representatives and make your voices heard, and to join in other events.