Caribbean Corner

Too many Americans seem to be okay with mistreating people based on where they come from. Approximately one in three Americans agree that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” according to the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Alarmingly, the same annual survey found that 47% of respondents are okay with setting up militarized encampments for undocumented immigrants. While there has always been a string of xenophobic and nativist rhetoric in American politics, this sentiment is a stark shift from the idea of America as a land of opportunity and refuge. It also raises an ironic question: who really believes in the American dream and the promise of this nation? Is it the immigrants risking everything to come here, or is it the Americans disparaging those who seek what others have sought out for generations? In the past, immigrants arrived here believing they could find a better life in a country that celebrated freedom, fairness and ...

In the Climate Justice course Professor Shelly Eversley taught at Baruch College last spring, her students created documentaries exploring how climate issues affect them person- ally. When three students in the class realized they all had asthma, they decided to collaborate and produced a powerful short film about their experiences living in a place they call “Asthma Alley.” Eversley isn’t teaching science or health. She’s a professor of English and the interim chair of Baruch’s Black and Latino Studies program. She is also a faculty leader of CUNY’s on- going commitment to strengthening humanities education. She developed the unique approach of her Climate Justice course as a way to engage students in a subject that can seem far removed from their everyday experiences. “They do research and collect data,” Eversley says. “But fundamentally, it’s about storytelling.” Sixteen of the 22 students in the class landed internships with climate justice organi- zations after the course. ...