Source: ABC News Australia

When I first set my eyes on this Australian news, entitled “Multicultural groups are pledging their support for the Voice, but some people say they still know ‘zero’ about it” I thought to myself, nothing could get more multicultural than this very event that brought all these different nationalities together for one good cause. It’s no surprise that all these immigrants and descendants of immigrants are joining hands to support the Indigenous Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s as they are trying to make their voice heard since these immigrants also experience their fair share of marginalization and inequity. Though these people may have different colors and speak different languages, they all have one thing in common, facing racial injustice.

“The joint resolution describes the constitutional Voice as “modest, practical and fair”, and has been signed by multiple Indian and Chinese community organisations, as well as Sri Lankan, Italian, Irish, Iranian, Greek, Vietnamese, Filipino, Sikh, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Pacific Islander community groups” (Handley & Cheng, 2023). The question is, what is this “good cause” that brought all these different nationals together? It is the Voice to Parliament; a proposed Law, to alter the Australian Constitution to recognize the first people of Australia by establishing an advisory body known as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice (the Voice). According to the Parliament of Australia (2023), the Voice “…may make representations to Parliament and the Executive on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and give Parliament the power to pass legislation with respect to matters related to the Voice.”

The first people of Australia are believed to have inhabited the continent for many millennia. According to National Geographic, aboriginal Australians have dwelled on the land for more than 50,000 years (Blakemore, 2019). Despite the fact that these Aboriginal people are the first inhabitants of the land, the sad reality is that they have been facing heartbreaking oppression, injustice, and unimaginable violation of their human rights for generations.

Hannah McGlade, Aboriginal Australian activist and human rights lawyer, underscores the severity of the heart wrenching challenges that the Aboriginal people are facing even today, “In some ways our rights situation is getting worse, according to the Government’s own data. We’re seeing more incarceration of Aboriginal people; more Aboriginal children being removed from their mothers and families, increasingly to non-Indigenous families where they lose their cultural identity; and we’re seeing more Aboriginal suicides as well. These are the shocking, ongoing impacts of colonization and we know that systemic and institutional racism and discrimination is a key driver of these issues” (United Nations, 2023).

Would the Voice ameliorate some if not all of the injustices these indigenous people are facing on a daily basis? Some remain hopefully optimistic that their voice will eventually mean something. Bella Swann is among those hoping that the Voice will truly bring about change, “It’s about justice versus injustice. It’s about hope versus despair. It’s basically saying, ‘Let us decide what is best for us.’ And honestly, it’s giving us the dignity also to decide it. Because, so far, the outcome of other people deciding for us has been tragic.” (Handley & Cheng, 2023).

What really struck me in reading this article about the Voice is though the whole idea seems on the surface to appear as a fair and progressive move, borrowing Hannah McGlade’s term, I still sense institutional racism and discrimination since the rest of Australia has to also vote on a referendum with a “Yes” or “No” to the Voice. I don’t believe it’s the right thing for the indigenous people to have the blessing of the rest of Australians to decide on the matters that concerns them and their future. It’s not logical, and in fact it’s unfair, for other races to be empowered to decide on the fate of these Aboriginal people. Why are these non-Aboriginals voting on the future fate of the Aboriginal groups? It makes no sense at all, maybe it is another systematic way of revoking their rights and silencing them. Could this injustice be the reason that brought the other minorities together to be a collective voice for the Aboriginals? How is it that the Aboriginal people’s fate is left in the hands of the very people who have been oppressing them for hundreds of years?

References

Blakemore, E. (2021, May 4). Aboriginal Australians, facts and information. Culture. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/aboriginal-australians?loggedin=true&rnd=1685756369905

Handley, E., & Cheng, J. (2023, May 30). “we can no longer be ignored”: Why the yes and no campaigns are courting multicultural votes ahead of the voice referendum. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-31/multicultural-views-indigenous-voice-joint-resolution/102304956

Parliament of Australia. (2023, May 19). Constitution alteration (aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023. Home – Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2223a/23bd080#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20Constitution,the%20First%20Peoples%20of%20Australia

United Nations. (2023, April 21). First person: Aboriginal Australians suffer from “violent history” and ongoing “institutional racism” | UN news. United Nations. https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135827

How prevalent do you think religious stratification and racism is in this 21^st century world? Arranged reveals this undeniable reality in an eye-opening yet heartwarming manner through the lives of two courageous young women who defy all the odds and develop a seemingly unthinkable friendship while still defending their cultural heritage and faith. I chose the movie, Arranged, because I thought the topic raised was somewhat familiar to me and I could easily absorb it and also relate to the plight of the main characters. If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch the entire film, here’s a clip of the trailer that provides some of the key highlights.

The issue of an arranged marriage was a practice that was prevalent in Ethiopia during my grandmother’s time, though it began to slowly phase out during my parent’s era which would be equivalent to the baby boomers. Though you don’t see arranged marriages happening at present time, especially in the cities, I’m quite familiar with the concept due to the firsthand accounts I heard from my immediate family, and literature and history books that chronicled arranged marriages. But little did I know I was going to learn much more than I had expected. Watching this movie, I got more than I bargained for in terms of learning other social issues besides arranged marriage like history, politics, racism, gender inequality, classism, and religious stratification. Of course, I can by no means be the judge of whether what’s portrayed in the movie is accurate or over sensationalized since I am neither a Jew nor a Muslim which means I don’t have a deeper knowledge and understanding of the two religions.

However, since I am a Christian, in my endeavor to know about God I had to do a lot of Scripture studying. Due to my study of the Bible over the years, both the New Testament and Old Testament, I am somewhat familiar with the Jewish tradition and their religious practices. On the contrary, I am completely foreign to the Muslim culture though I am aware of the long-lasting conflict and war between Israel and Syria, or the Arab countries. Speaking of war and animosity, one thing that struck me and captivated me about this movie is how we humans can become such great friends, support and encourage one another in times of difficulty if we look past our differences and focus on our similarities or what we have in common, what the filmmakers beautifully summarized as, “Friendship Has No Religion.” Tim Wise passionately conveyed this same message in his clip on white privilege.

This is exactly what Rochel and Nasira showed us in this heartwarming movie, courageously breaking out of this dividing wall that society has enveloped them in the form of religion, accepting and embracing one another for who they are. This unlikely relationship of two young women from two most rivalry religions was challenged from the start, fueled by criticism and indoctrinated stereotypes by seemingly innocent schoolchildren. They are a good example of how one can be progressive and emerge from a dark history full of hatred and bloodshed and refuse to conform to a society that chooses to remain in the shadow of a haunting past. These young women are not only fighting across this divide, but also religious bondages and restrictions. In the movie, we see that Rochel’s mother did not approve of her daughter’s friendship with Nasira, the Muslim girl. She certainly did not want Nasira’s presence in her home.

From the Bible, we can learn that how Jewish people did not associate with nor go into the house of non-Jewish people (or the rest of the world which they referred to as Gentiles). Of course, Jesus Christ came and changed this divide with His revolutionary teachings, one of which being how God broke the dividing wall and loved everyone regardless of their race. In a passage from Acts 10:7 we can see this clearly stated when the Apostle Peter was invited into the house of a Roman centurion (Gentile). “He said to them: ‘You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean…’” (The Holy Bible, 2011).

These remarkable two young women again are depicted as a symbol of strength and one’s fidelity to their faith. In the story we can see how Rochel and Nasira stand firmly for what they believed, their religious teachings, regardless of society’s pressure and forced attempts to assimilate or conform them to the norms of society. Throughout the movie, the principal of the school constantly pressures both Rochel and Nasira to abandon their faith and the expression of their faith by making belittling and chide remarks with the overarching goal to sway them from their identity, who they are, to conform to what she believed was normal and right.

References

The Holy Bible. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1973)

At the very first glance, a controversial anti-racism course offered by Cornell University’s Medical School, featured on Fox News where a panel of newscasters debated the effectiveness of such a course, caught my attention and got me to thinking more about it from different angles.

The bizarre thing about this whole free anti-racism course is to begin with, how can you change someone’s long held attitudes and behaviors about race or even anything with only a five-hour course? It’s literally impossible!

First of all, human beings always evolve, both physically and mentally. The opinion that we once had about something will definitely change over time. We’re not the same person we were a year ago, let alone 20 years ago, so we should never be held responsible for the opinion we held 20 years ago when we were teenagers. Let’s not also forget how that teenagers often “view the world through rose-colored glasses.” Teenagers don’t always think about the repercussions of their words or actions. They always expect positive results or rewards for their deliberate or indeliberate actions, good or bad. “We can’t expect people to be held accountable for every terrible take or bad opinion they’ve ever had, because in that is no acceptance of grace. I expect you as a 37-year-old, to be a completely different human being than you were at 17” (Bailey, 2023).

This fact in itself makes the whole course irrelevant and a total waste of time.

The fact that the whole curriculum is designed on apologizing for past action instead of a forward thinking focus on the present and future is a wrong move from the get-go. The course would have been more profitable and plausible if it was designed with the aim of helping students to have a deeper understanding of multiculturalism or enabling students to better integrate with different cultures and ethnicities. “And it matters more to me who you are today. And you show that by your actions, not by an apology or a stupid – or even terrible in that case –  post from 20 years ago. That doesn’t tell me who you are today. Your actions tell me who you are today, which kind of renders this course null and void, in my opinion,” Jones said (Bailey, 2023).

Let’s be honest with ourselves, would apologizing for a social media post that was written some 20 years ago fix the whole racism issue? And one more question, even if one apologizes for the post, how certain are we that it is a genuine act, that originates from a true conviction of one’s self, or is it an opportunistic endeavor to make sure that one’s future career, especially one graduating from an Ivy League college, traditionally regarded as an upper-class and white dominated institution is “secured” from future racism blowback?

References

Bailey, K. (2023, May 27). Cornell medical school offering free anti-racism course, helps students apologize for old social media posts. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/media/cornell-medical-school-offering-free-anti-racism-course-helps-students-apologize-old-social-media-posts

“ጎሽ ለልጇ ስትል ቀንዷን ተወጋች!” Sorry for the confusion here. You may see these unique looking characters and wonder, “what in the world is that?” But I really believe I need to start this blog with my mom’s favorite saying in our native language, Amharic, which seems to most appropriately befit her story. It always seemed to relieve her stress and frustration and sum up all the sacrifices she made for her six children as a single mom who lost her husband at a very young age. In a nutshell, the literal translation of this proverb is, “a buffalo got her horn gored for the sake of her calf, or to fend for her calf.” I never truly understood the meaning behind this proverb, though I grew up hearing it almost every day from my mom’s lips whenever she was feeling blue. It always makes me question; how can an animal be gored on its horn? It may make sense to become gored or pierced in the chest, on the side, or even perhaps on the back where the animal is more vulnerable and defenseless. It was always like a puzzle that I couldn’t solve until about a year ago when I studied the Book of Revelation where I learned that horns always represent power and strength, both offensive power to attack and defensive power to protect.

Then it made sense to me for the first time. They strategically chose a horn instead of other vulnerable body parts to reveal the extent of a mother’s love and sacrifice. It goes far beyond physical sacrifice. It is psychological. It is emotional. It is almost giving up their entire wellbeing, what they stand for, who they really are, what they lived for, their dream. It portrays how they have to sacrifice everything for the safety and betterment of their children. Hence, what my mom was saying all those years was that she sacrificed everything (the days of her strength, her youth, her dreams, career aspirations, and hope in finding love again while her beauty was still with her) for the sake of her children, to raise us up.

I always thought my life would at least for some time take a similar path to this proverb; putting a hold on my career and deferring my desire to pursue graduate education for the sake of my children up until the COVID pandemic hit our planet. When I think of going to graduate school, I always thought of the requirement to attend classes in person. However, they say every cloud has a silver lining; God used COVID to kindle the idea of enrolling in an online graduate program so that now, I don’t have to wait until my children are old enough to go to school. Fast forward a bit and now I’m in my second year as a grad student in the MPS Strategic Communications program at Penn State.

I’m so taken by this proverb and how much it relates to me that I forgot to formally introduce myself. Hi! My name is Helina Belete Scates. I’m a happily married woman and have two beautiful little girls. I’m forever grateful to God for that. I currently live in Orlando, FL but I’m originally from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an ancient kingdom which literally dates back to Old Testament times. For instance, the Kingdom of Aksum, the more prominent ancient Ethiopian kingdom occupied a large geographic area including what is known today as Eritrea, Djibouti, eastern Sudan and portions of southern Arabia. Ethiopia is also well-known for its 11 famous rock-hewn churches built between the 11^th and 12^th centuries out of single monolithic rock. These rock-hewn churches defy the traditional way of building a home from bottom to top, rather, these churches were built from top to bottom by chiseling away at a single rock.

Ethiopia is a country with its own calendar. For instance, in Ethiopia, it is 2015 instead of 2023. So, if you go to visit Ethiopia, you never know, you may just find yourself eight years younger! Another fun fact related to this is that the Ethiopian calendar year is actually 13 months instead of 12. That’s why Ethiopia is called 13 months of sunshine. Also, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa with its own alphabet and ancient number characters.

Ethiopia is also considered to be the birthplace of coffee and the beloved name we all know it to be, “coffee” is believed to be a derivative of its origin, a place called Kaffa in Ethiopia. For Ethiopians, coffee is not just a beverage you drink to kick start your morning. It’s a ceremonial drink where people get together to socialize and resolve issues in the community, support one another, and also where they would reconcile people who held grudges against one another. Here’s a photo of our former president Obama drinking coffee in the traditional Ethiopian way.

Credit: Ethiopian Press Agency

Speaking of bringing peace among brothers and sisters, the ideal world that I would like to live in is where the law of God is the ultimate law of the land, “love thy brother as yourself” because all the Law is fulfilled in this word: if you truly love your brother you won’t deceive him, you won’t steal from him, you won’t covet his wife or his possessions, or ultimately, you won’t kill him. Therefore, if I could make one change in the world, I would teach people the Word of God so that they would truly be transformed, and be renewed in their mind, and sincerely love their neighbors.

I enjoy cooking and preparing meals that bring our family together each evening. I love cooking with my husband. That’s how we unwind the day together while listening to our favorite gospel songs both in English and Amharic. We cook everything from scratch, even our elaborately decorated birthday cakes complete with homemade buttercream icing. We cook both traditional Ethiopian dishes and American foods. And, if you have never tried Ethiopian cuisine before, you should give it a try sometime – I promise it won’t disappoint!

In the Ethiopian tradition, if you visit anyone, there’s an unwritten rule that hosts must prepare something to eat for their guests. And, even if you’re not hungry (as a guest), saying “no” could be offensive to the host. So, if you’re ever invited over to an Ethiopian or Habesha household and asked if you’d like to eat, the correct answer is “yes!” Just taking a bite or two counts. But don’t forget to save room for the traditional coffee ceremony following the meal. That’s my husband’s favorite part. On special occasions, such as with the coffee ceremony, I enjoy wearing the traditional Ethiopian dress, like in the photo of me below.

I speak two languages, Amharic (which is my native language) and English. I’ve served as both a freelance translator and interpreter and enjoy helping people where I can by bridging language gaps. I am also an accomplished former journalist. I loved my job because it gave me the privilege to meet so many people from different parts of the world and walks of life, culture, tradition, and in fact that’s why I think I would really enjoy this course. I primarily read news articles though unfortunately most of the “news” out there is negative and that negative sensationalism is what tends to draw large audiences. I’m not a big fan of social media, the only social media platform I subscribe to is Facebook, but I only use it to stay in touch with my family which is spread throughout the U.S. and abroad. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see them but perhaps once or twice a year.

I’ve always been interested in public relations and recently had an opportunity to go back to school and pursue one of my dreams which is completing a graduate degree program. I’m looking forward to this semester and exploring multicultural concepts with my peers in COMM837. Well, that’s a little bit about me and who I am. I look forward to navigating the multicultural landscape this summer with all of you.