“Do you really think that you’re going to make a difference? If 800,000 people show up to a march, does it matter that you were there?”
Being a die-hard sports fan has brought me a great deal of stress, heartbreak and disappointment. Earlier this year, Kristaps Porzingis, the best player on the New York Knicks — my favorite team — tore his ACL. He’ll be sidelined for another eight months, and even when he returns, he may never be the same player. As a lifelong New York Jets fan, I endure season after season of embarrassment and failure. And in 2016, I watched as my favorite athlete, golfer Jordan Spieth, lost The Masters in spectacular fashion — perhaps the most epic collapse in golf history.
Hip hop tycoon Jay-Z said it best in his single release, “The Story of OJ”: “Financial freedom my only hope/F*** living rich and dying broke.” Cogently embodying the capitalist mantra of success, these lines conjure an image of power, freedom and legacy all converging towards one thing: wealth. Jay-Z’s song encapsulates a mutual understanding among Americans that the dollar sign is more symbolic of the American Dream than Lady Liberty herself.
Last week brought tragic news to our community. With emotions running high, questions left unanswered and the process of mourning ongoing, it is important that we take time to be kind and thoughtful and forge community.
The Association of Amherst Students will have elections on April 6 for next year’s Executive Board. Amherst students will receive an email on April 6 with the link to cast votes. The following candidates will be on the ballot for the positions of president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and judiciary council chair, as will other candidates who did not submit statements but attended Speech Night on April 2.
President
Helen Zia, an award-winning activist, journalist and scholar, gave a talk about activism in the Asian-American community and the importance of “breaking the binary” in Stirn Auditorium on March 21. The event was sponsored by the Office of Student Activities, the Center for Diversity and Student Leadership, the American Studies Department and the Asian Students Association.
Forty Amherst students travelled to Washington D.C. to participate in the national March For Our Lives on March 24. The trip, which was sponsored by the Amherst College Democrats, called on policymakers to enact stronger gun control legislation.
The Washington D.C. march was organized by victims of the Feb. 14 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The massacre, one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history, killed 17 people and injured 14 others.
