ASU President Calls a Group of US-born Alumi International Students

Tempe, Ariz., March 2, 2017- A group of women who are Arizona State University alumni as well as American-born citizens, were called international students by the university’s president in an article released two weeks ago. According to Nshawh Ahmad, the ASU alum who has been the most vocal about this incident and also included in a photo included with the article. She feels that she was profiled by the university. Ahmad stated that her and her two friends were assumed to be international students because her and another woman were wearing head scarves known as hijabs.

    In the article titled “Why We Need International Students”, ASU president Michael Crow wrote: “Inviting foreign students to study in the United States doesn’t just create jobs, it also brings in perspectives that can help the United States solve complex global challenges”. As a response to Trump’s Muslim ban, he also wrote “It’s important to recognize how significant the impact may be on international students studying here and the institutions that both educate and depend on them.”  However, the Arizona State’s president failed at his attempt by categorizing a group of alumni as foreign exchange students just by the way they looked.

    Nshwah mentioned, “It’s offensive because especially in today’s current political climate, it’s one that is trying to erase the Arab and Muslim identity as Americans” regarding the situation. She feels that the dialogue in this country is that people cannot be both Muslim and American. Like how Ahmad has previously stated, with the political climate in this country, this was a big mistake that Arizona State’s president has made that could possibly deter potential international students from studying at the university. “By trying to seem accepting they went ahead and racially profiled us and it came off as more racist than anything,” Ahmad said. Her, the two other women in the photo, and their friends and families felt that the university should have asked permission for their image to published and had done their researched on who was actually in the photo.

    Since Nshwah Ahmad has asked her peers to share her story on social media, it has gained much attention in Arizona’s local communities, and even caught the attention of people in other states and other countries on the internet. Soon after, President Michael Crow has issued a public apology to all three girls. Ahmad has contemplated on taking legal action against the university, but so far there has not been any updates if she has or not. In the end, she feels that someone should be accountable for this and wants to make sure this never happens again to other people.

Photos are courtesy of Ahmad's Instagram page and are being used with permission.

Legal Consequences for Emmett Till's Accuser

Overall, the dialogue of entering the year of 2017 was hopeful and refreshing, as many people felt that 2016 was filled with many tragedies. Not even a month into the new year, an event had unraveled that infuriated many people all over the nation- particularly African Americans. On January 27th, it was revealed that the woman who accused Emmett Till of "whistling" at her, Carolyn Bryant Donham, admitted that she had fabricated her story according to Vanity Fair.
This was a trending topic on Facebook, Twitter, and a story about this was even featured on Snapchat. Her story is what ultimately led up to his murder. He was killed by Donham's husband and his half-brother after Carolyn went home and told her husband that Till was flirting with her. Emmett Till was a 14 year-old African American boy from Chicago who was visiting his family in Mississippi during the summer of 1955. Previously, no one was sure exactly what the teenager allegedly said to Donham, but it was reported that Till was bragging to his cousins about having a white girlfriend back home when he was in the store Carolyn Donham, who was 21 at the time, was working at. However, she lied about him grabbing her and made lewd comments to her. “That part’s not true,” Donham told Timothy Tyson, who spoke to her for a new book, The Blood of Emmett Till. What makes this case even more heinous is that Tyson carried out Donham's interview back in 2007, when she approached him to write her memoirs, but this news wasn't known to the public until a decade later! Tyson also wrote down that Emmett's "whistle" Donham heard may have been intentional because he had a lisp. Carolyn Donham also claims that she isn't able to recall what else happened during their 1-minute encounter, although she states that “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” Donham said. 


The thing is, Emmett 's death occurred 62 years ago. Donham is now 82 years old. It is very hard for the public to believe that she has had a change of heart over the years. How can any human being live comfortably knowing that they were responsible for the death of a child? This is not a case of manslaughter. Emmett Till was lynched. After Donham and Till's encounter, later on that night, Till was dragged out of his relatives' home by an angry mob led by Doham's husband and his half brother. His body was later found in the Tallahatchie River. He was beaten, shot in the head, one of his eyes was gouged out, and was tied down by a cottin-gin fan with barbed wire. His parents didn't even recognize him when they saw his corpse. When Donham's husband and half brother were on trial for murdering him, she lied under oath defending her spouse and brother-in-law. She committed perjury. If Nazi leaders were able to be convicted of war crimes when they were in their 90's, the United States can convict Carolyn for perjury. She deserves to spend the rest of her life in jail.

In fact, President Barack Obama signed an act last December that can put her behind bars. Ironically, it is called the Emmett Till Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016. It will allow the FBI and the Department of Justice to reopen unsolved civil rights crimes that were committed before 1980. The Emmett Till Act calls for  “the full accounting of all victims whose deaths or disappearances were the result of racially-motivated crimes.” Basically, the law states that the agencies will regularly keep families informed about the status of investigations and make information regarding the case available to he public. This bill was originally introduced by Alvin Sykes in 2005, who promised Mammie Till, Emmett's mother, that he would pursue her son's case after the two men were acquitted for his murder. Hence why it is named after him. Unfortunately, those men can't be brought to justice because of double jeopardy. Though Carolyn Dunham can definitely can be convicted and brought to justice so the relatives of the Till family can have some justice. Carolyn got the chance to live her life. Emmett Till never got the chance to live his.

Information from this post comes from:


http://www.ebony.com/news-views/emmett-till-false-claims#axzz4Xnf5Z4nQ
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/obama-emmett-till-bill#axzz4XndxyDvk
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

The Worlds of Islam

During the Classical Era (sometimes called the post-Classical) which took place from 500 AD to 1500 AD, Islam was spreading and being worshipped by people all over the world. Arabs, Persians and Turks were major carriers of Islam during this period. Places that are considered to be part of the Classical Era have seminal thinkers, cosmopolitan areas, and  an empire. Islam straddled more than one continent- specifically on Europe, Africa, and Asia, the only major continents of the time. Islam had converted people who had a different faith at first and became the main religion of previous civilizations. In West Africa and Spain, there were thriving cosmopolitan centers. In West Africa, Timbuktu was the Islamic epicenter of the region. This city had over 150 level Quarnic schools and several major centers of higher education with thousands of students from all over West Africa. Timbuktu also had libraries that held tens of thousands of books and manuscripts. What Spain unique was that the people who lived there who had either a Jewish, Islam, and Christian background and relationships between them were good without any conflict for a short period of time. They all made brilliant contributions in astronomy, medicine, the arts, architecture, and literature flourished.This changed under the rule of al-Mansur in 981. At this period, the only group being persecuted in this region were Christians. As Islam trekked into India, it was being resisted by people who had a strong Hindu faith - the main faith of the previous civilization. Muslims aggressively attacked both the Hindus and Buddhists by smashing their temples, then carried off mass quantities of Indian treasure. Hundreds of years later, people the more egalitarian Islam attractive by dis-illusioned Buddhists and low-caste Hindus. Also people who converted to Islam in India benefitted by being free of taxes imposed on non-Muslims.

Classical China Renaissance

The Renaissance Era in China was just as significant as the one in Europe. The third wave civilization of China had many innovations ranging from agriculture, politics, manufacturing and education which started with the Sui Dynasty between the years 589-618. The emperors created a major extension of the nation’s canal system and stretched about 1200 miles. It was described by one scholar as “an engineering feat without parallel in the world of its time” in the textbook. This system was crucial because it connected the north and south part of the country. After the collapse of the Sui Dynasty the Tang took over between 618-907 and the Song during 960 and 1279.

This time was referred to the “golden age” of arts and literature setting standards of excellence in poetry, landscape painting, and ceramics, while setting standards in poetry, landscape painting and ceramics. And the revival of Confucianism took place which incorporated some insights of Buddhism and Daoism. Both dynasties also made changes to their government that was maintained for a thousand years. The Censorate was an agency that looked over the rest of the government by checking the character and competence of public officials and six major ministries: personnel, finance, rites, army, justice, and public works. The printing press was also invented, which helped the ability to print books for the first time in world history. Classical China began to choosing officials based on merit rather than picking sons of established aristocratic families.

The Song dynasty was referred as “by far the richest, most skilled, and populous country on earth” due to its economic revolution. One major aspect of China’s prosperity was its rapid population growth. By 1200, its population doubled from 50 million to 120 million as the people adopted a fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from Vietnam. Hangzhou, which was the capital at the time had  specialized markets for meat, herbs, vegetables, books, rice, and more while actors entertained shoppers. Also clubs were available for poets, fisherman, Buddhists, physical fitness enthusiast, horse lovers and other interests. Even famous Italian explorer Marco Polo raved that the capital as "beyond dispute the finest and noblest [city] in the world." One of the major reasons why major cities in China experienced such population growth was because they had an immense network of internal waterways: canals, rivers and lakes. It allowed China to have cheap transportation and tied the country together economically.  At the same time, industrial production skyrocketed between large-scale enterprises and small family-owned businesses.

The iron industry especially increased its output dramatically and starting in the 11th century, it was providing the government with 32,000 suits of armor and 16 million iron arrowheads annually along with metal for coins, tools, construction and bells in Buddhist monasteries.  By the year 1000, inventions in printing made books very cheap and available to everyone and people could learn more about religion, agriculture, medical, and math topics. Additionally, the Chinese were leading the world in navigational and shipbuilding technologies. They were also a commercialized society- producing for the world market rather than just the locals. As they were using paper money more and more, financial instruments such as letters of credit and promissory notes contributed to the commercialization of this civilization. Overall, China set many precedents for the rest of the world and highly influenced other nations in the process. From the idea that people should be given things based on merit rather than lineage was crucial. Also, being able to produce books on all sorts of subjects allowed people all over China to gain knowledge through reading. Also it's economy was booming because all its new innovations making it one of the best in the world. China's Classical Era was just as important if not more important than the one in Europe.

Chapter 7 World's Collide

Between the years 500 and 1500, we see that the Eastern and Western hemisphere consistently interact with each other. At this point the world was moving into the modern age. As large civilizations crumbled, small city states took their place, new civilizations emerged and cultural borrowing and influences were found all over the world.  What made the third-wave civilizations distinct was their culture, as well as the specialization economic roles, sharp class and gender inequalities. Out of all the cultures, the largest, most expansive, and most widely influential was Islam which expanded from Spain, Northern Africa, to India. On every continent besides the North and South poles were multiple, local cosmopolitan regions sprang up were trade and migration brought people from different backgrounds, and these were even considered "mini globalizations". Those who controlled trade often became extremely wealthy which excited and made others envy who didn't. Many people learned about new products along with technologies via trade routes. Also, large nations began to incorporate many cultures to create a political system and because of their size and stability was able to provide security that encouraged travelers and traders to journey far distances. Since this part of history focuses on cross cultural relationships and traveling, merchants, missionaries, migrants, soldiers and administrations were a crucial part of shaping world history at this time.

There were three major trade routes that effected the majority of the world: Silk, Sea and Sand Roads.  The Silk Roads was a route that went as far west as Europe and east to China and went up to Turkenstan then south into west coast of India. People who traveled on these roads went by camel caravan and horse. There wasn't a particular start and end point so goods and people traveled all sorts of directions. Silk and dye came from China, medicine and herbs came from India, livestock from the Middle East, fruits and nuts from Siberia and disease from Europe. Almost of these goods were small and were purchased by the wealthy. The Sand Roads were of course more a route than an actual road. The people who traveled across the Sand route used the stars and astrology to navigate. Goods such as animals, their hides, slaves, gold, precious stones and salt were traded along this path. Like the Silk road, people traveled by camel. Also, instead of stopping at major cosmopolitan areas, travelers would make stop in towns or villages. The Sand Roads paths were found in Africa in present-day Arab states. Lastly, the Sea Route expanded from the East African to China and people made stops on islands south of the mainland on boats and ships. Tangible goods like textiles, pepper, sugar and wheat were being traded. Lots of goods were able to be traded because ships were so huge and people who owned these ships were able to make a lot of money. It was the world's largest sea-based system. Luxury goods such as ivory and gold came from East Africa, while porcelain came from China. Both luxury and everyday goods were traded all along the Sea Route.

Second Wave Civilizations of Africa

During the second era of history, Sub-Sahara Africa was home to several civilizations. Surprisingly, only 11 percent of the world's population lived on the continent even though the first people migrated out of there. Similar to the America's the continent of lacked domesticated animals at first to help with agriculture, but because its proximity to Eurasia, they became widely available to African peoples. For the Berber people of the western region, domesticated camels allowed them to live a nomadic life during the first three centuries C.E. Iron tools and weapons have developed here and they played a large role in economics and in the military. Africa is also has the most environmental diversity and culture. Small areas in the north experience Mediterranean climate, huge deserts are located in the Sahara and Kalahari desert, along with grasslands, mountain ranges, and rain forests. African interacted with Mediterranean people- specially ancient Egypt with Crete, the Roman Empire which spread Christianity, and Arabia.




A Nile Valley civilization that appeared south of Egypt of was Nubia. For hundreds of years both civilizations traded and fought, and on one occasion the Nubian kingdom of Kush ruled Egypt for a century Nubia's center then became the city of Meroe between 300 BCE and 100 BCE as Egypt increasingly fell under foreign control. Meroe was governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch, which was a position held by a woman at least 10 times, and these queens had the same power as males whether she ruled alone or alongside him. Occupations that people had during this time was being merchants, weavers, potters, and masons as well as servants, and laborers. They smelted iron and manufacturing iron tools and weapons were especially prominent industries. Outside of Meroe, rural people practiced herding and farming, and rain-based agriculture was possible because farmers were less dependent on irrigation, which was not common in a lot of civilizations during this time. Mere's wealth and military power came mostly form its extensive long-distance trading connections of camel caravans north of the of the Nile. They also had their own style of writing, a script, which is still deciphered. After 100 CE, the kingdom declined due to deforestation for the need of wood to make charcoal to smelt iron, and completely fell apart when it was conquered by the kingdom of Axum in 340 BCE. One thing that I found the most fascinating about Meroe was how diversed it was culturally for a city. For almost a thousand years it was a Christian civilization, using the Greek language and constructing churches in Coptic of Byzantine fashion.


As Meroe declined, a new kingdom emerged called Axum that was located in present-day northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Axum's economics relied heavily on agriculture. One thing that makes the way they farmed different from other places is that the people used a hoe or digging stick instead of a plow. The community grew great amounts of wheat, barley, millet and teff which is a grain unique to that region. As the Roman's demanded Indian pearls, textiles, and pepper, Axum's state grew immensely in 50 CE. Also, merchants who flocked to Adulis, the largest port in on the East Africa, wanting to purchase animal hides, rhino horns, ivory, and tortoiseshells. Taxes that were put on trading these goods were a major source of revenue. The capital city of Axum was the  center or monumental building and royal patronage of the arts, having huge stone buildings over 100 feet tall and obelisks. The expansion of Christianity was also seen in this kingdom as well. During King Ezana's rule, Axum's coins had southern Arabia gods on them and towards the end it had the Christian cross. By the 4th and 6th century the civilization tried to expand imperially by invading Meroe and South Arabia.


In the Niger Valley in West Africa, a extremely long dry period after 500 BCE in the south Sahara had people migrate to the middle of Niger. This area was occupied by clusters of cities or urban centers that sprang up near the city of Jenne-jeno where over 40,000 people lived at one point. Just like the Indus River Valley,  this civilization didn't have a distinct state structure which makes it unique. Archeologists have found very little evidence of domestic power, warfare or social inequalities, although these cities developed a caste system later on. One of the most prestigious occupations at this time was iron smithing, while villages of cotton weavers, potters leather workers, and griots emerged as well. By the second millennium CE, Ghana, Mali, and Songhay amongst other empires or large states appeared in West Africa. Camel-borne trans-Saharan commerce was becoming larger and this region became more connected to North Africa and the Mediterranean and Islam expanded here. The history of the African continent is very unique history compared to other parts of the world and I hope we get to learn about it in class, since most history classes do not talk about it enough.

Intro to Part 2 and Chapter 3

During the second and third wave of civilizations, you see the rise, expansion, and the collapse of empires. These empires included Persia, Greece, Rome, China, and India and patriarchy, some form of slavery, a sharp divide of social classes existed almost everywhere and much blood was shed during their  conquest of other states.  Although, there was some fluctuation in the way women were treated compared to men. Buddhist and Christian women for example found some degree of opportunities for leadership and learning. But during the initial phases of civilizations One thing that I found interesting about the second wave of civilizations is that during this era, there was no technological or economic breakthrough like previously in the Agricultural Revolution. Researchers believe that it's because people had little incentive to innovate something new because of social hierarchy. Landowning elites benefited from expropriating the surplus that peasant farmers produced, while lower class citizens new there wasn't any point to create anything because any gains that they made would be seized by the upper class. But there were important inventions that played a big role in like gunpowder, magnetic compass, firearms, printing, wheelbarrow, crossbow, and paper. Also with the new waves of civilizations, philosophical/ religious systems of Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India amongst others that answered questions contemplating life and death.

Out of all the empires that were talked about in this chapter, the Persian empire intrigued me the most because I have never learned much about in my previous history classes and I liked how it was a blend of European and Indo culture and additionally, the Prince of Persia is one of my favorite movies. In 500 BCE, Perisa was the largest empire in the world, located on the Iranian plateau north of the Persian Gulf. Persia's' most famous monarchs were Cyrus and Darius and under their leadership, the empire expanded from Egypt to India. They encompassed 30 to 35 million people and had much diversity between people, languages, and cultures which is impressive. Persia was also centered around an elaborate cult of kingship were people would cut their hair and set fires across the land when the king died, and when he was alive could only be approached in a certain type of ritual. One thing that always comes to my mind when I see these massive civilizations is how are they able to control it for long periods of time? Well for Persia, they had a highly effective administrative system that placed satraps (Persian governors) in each of 23 provinces, along with officials were that plucked locally, and even spies known as the "eyes and ears of the King". Persia made a canal to connect the Nile to the Red Sea and had expanded its commerce by having caravans of merchants for 1700 miles. Persia also had some intricate imperial centers which included: palaces, monuments, audience halls, that showed the wealth and power of the Persian empire like Persepolis which was the biggest center.