Last month we reported on the citizenship question that came up during Michigan’s primary. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for voter suppression in the Great Lakes State.

March 7, 2012 marked the 47th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” when voting rights marchers were beaten in their attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. NAACP President Ben Jealous joined activists from then and now in marking the occasion with another march, saying protest is just as necessary now as it was then.

“Are you a citizen?” was the question posed by the Michigan Primary even before voters were asked to decide between President Obama or Santorum and Romney.

In 2002, upon completing eighth grade at MacDonald Middle School in East Lansing, MI, Matt Epling was the victim of a hazing assault by upperclassmen. Roughly forty days later, presumably still reeling from the aftermath of the incident, Matt committed suicide. In the years since, friends and family have honored his memory by fighting for the passage of Matt’s Safe School Law.

The latest iteration of this legislation passed the Michigan Senate on November 2. But instead of protecting students like Matt from bullying and harassment, SB 137 creates a potentially dangerous religious exemption.

[asset|aid=830|format=image|formatter=asset|title=franti_crowd.jpg|width=250|height=160|align=left|resizable=true]Now, I'm no festival goer like some of my friends, but sometimes life serves you a layer-cake of awesome so great that you have no choice except to pack up the tent, round up the friends, make a liquor run, hit the road.

The story does not get old. Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. More than 75 percent of the 216 people exonerated by DNA testing so far in the U.S. were convicted partly because of a series of failures in the eyewitness identification process.

Earlier today, the Innocence Project helped free another innocent man from prison, after more than a decade-long investigation into his case. "He was convicted based on a deeply flawed and completely unreliable eyewitness identification," said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project.

Last Wednesday, 3/26, the Epeians Engineering Leadership Honor
Society presented KRATEIA 2008 - Making an Impact in a Flat World.  A
video recording of this event is now available at
http://inst-tech.engin.umich.edu/media/?sk=krateia-2008.

At this inaugural event, five student presenters encouraged the
audience to make an impact during their years here at the University
of Michigan.  The keynote speaker from Google, Matthew Neagle,
captivated the audience with an interactive presentation.  Matthew, a
Michigan Engineering alum who is now a Team Lead at Google's Ann Arbor

Press Release:

STUDIES SHOULD MORE ACCURATELY REFLECT HISTORY

State lawmakers yesterday introduced legislation that will require schools to focus on the advanced civilizations of Africa instead of the most primitive Africans who did not represent the continent.

The bills have been introduced by Rep. Brenda Clack (D-Flint) and Rep. Mike Nofs (R-Battle Creek).

Nofs, who serves on the Advisory Board of the non-profit Ending Stereotypes for America, explained that it's important for world history instruction to accurately portray ancient civilizations.

"The history of Sub-Sahara Africa has been grossly distorted for too long," Nofs said. "This has helped to foster false stereotypes that can lead to discrimination, violence, and a dangerous ignorance about Africa that could have national security implications."

I don't know if any of you know, but the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Domestic Partner Benefits in the state of Michigan are not allowed to be offered  by any public  employer, including universities and colleges. You can look at a copy of the ruling here:

http://aclumich.org/pdf/marriageamendmentopinion.pdf

Read more...

I'm at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan with  Em Ketterer and Erik Green who are leading an education and action community training on "The Truth about the MCRI."

Their group, University Students United is a coalition of students in Michigan who are concerned about the impact of the proposed and mislabeled amendment to Michigan's constitution, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), on Michigan's university and college campuses.

USU "recognizes the vital and beneficial presence of diversity in higher education and knows that the MCRI will cause vast and lasting harm by ending affirmative action-type programs."

Students from across Michigan are standing together to defend affirmative action and spread the word about the ballot initiative.  

"By standing in solidarity, the youth of Michigan can win this fight against the MCRI and protect the right of equal opportunity in Michigan!"

Read more and tell us what you think!