Current Events: SAE racial chant, Germanwings plane crash, Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Fraternity SAE shut down for racist chant
University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter was shut down due to the release of a viral video of fraternity members chanting racial slurs to the tune of “She’ll Be Comin Round the Mountain.” The video released on March 8 revealed students pumping their fists as they chanted, “There will never be a n— in SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me.”
Members of the fraternity were given two days to pack up their belongings from the house, and university President David Bolen said that SAE would not be returning to the campus and neither would the members involved in the chant.
Many took to social media to protest this act of racism, while others physically protested, spray-painting “tear it down” on the walls of the fraternity house. Of the two students expelled for their alleged “leadership role” in the racist chant, one has spoken up publicly.
Levi Pettit made a formal apology on March 25 alongside African American leaders whom he’d been meeting with at the Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. Pettit said he was “deeply sorry” and will be pursuing the destruction of racism for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, his words were not enough to stop those on Twitter from their outcries against the chant and those involved.
Germanwings plane crash
10:01 a.m. on March 24, Flight 9525 took off from Barcelona, Spain headed for Dusseldorf, Germany. By 10:30 a.m. the plane had began descending and by 10:40 it had lost contact with the French radar. The missing aircraft was later found in the French Alpes.
The crash left no survivors, and the 150 passengers who went down seem to be the result of 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locking the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashing the plane. A recording was released in which the pilot can be heard screaming and begging Lubitz to let him in, apparently using an ax in an attempt to get past the door.
DNA has been recovered for 78 of the passengers thus far. Investigators have noted that Lubitz had gone through a serious bout of depression and told this to the airline’s training school in 2009. Antidepressants were found at his apartment in Dusseldorf, though no suicide letter has been recovered to explain the crash.
According to USA Today, insurance firms are setting aside $300 million to deal with costs relating to the crash, including the compensation claims from the families of the 150 passengers. In the week since the crash, several countries have announced a new policy that at least two airline personnel must remain in the cockpit at all times.
Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Last week, Republican Mike Pence quietly signed into Indiana state law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The act has become common among the states, having been introduced to Ark., Colo., Ga., Hawaii, Mich., Mont., Nev., N.C., Okla., S.C., S.D., Texas, Utah, W. Va. and Wyo.
Many have taken to the streets and the internet to protest what is being seen as an act allowing discrimination towards those apart of the LGBTQIA community. Numerous corporations, such as Apple, Angie’s List, and the NCAA have voiced criticism for the new law.
RFRA supporters claim the law mirrors a the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The 1993 law came about when a Native American man lost his job in 1990 after testing positive for drugs. However, the drug found was peyote, used as part of a religious ritual.
Loading ...The solution, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest, “was an effort to protect the religious liberty of religious minorities based on actions that could be taken by the federal government,” and in no way mirrors the RFRA laws of 2015. Earnest also added that due to the broad nature of the Indiana law, it is likely that it could be manipulated for discriminating individuals solely based sexual orientation.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the law “is giving voice to millions of courageous conservatives,” and those who agree with him believe it is a natural right to refuse service when their religious faith is violated. Though Republican pollster Whit Ayres told reporters that when considering the statistics it seems that, “we are headed to where a political candidate who is perceived as anti-gay will never connect with people under 30 years old.”