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12 May 27, 2021 Views

“It seems to me important for a country, for a nation to certainly know about its glorious achievements but also to know where its ideals failed, in order to keep that from happening again.”

- GeorGe Takei

Hundreds of people in Chicago wave Palestinian flags and signs in protest, calling for the end of the Israel apartheid.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AVEEDIBYA DEY | UNSPLASH

Palestine needs our support

Israeli government must be held accountable for actions

BY JULIO RODRIGUEZ STAFF REPORTER

Sixty-six children are dead over the continued fighting between Israel and Hamas.

While in the last few days, the two sides have come to agree on a cease fire, this conflict is one that unfortunately won’t end there.

Through the last few decades, the two sides have fought over each other’s right to sovereignty: Israel in their pursuit of a Jewish state that is safe and welcoming to all Jewish people, and Palestinians fight to protect a home that they have known for centuries.

But almost from the start of the conflict between Israel and the people of Palestine, the power dynamics at play have been one-sided. And one can argue rightfully so, that the Jewish people needed support from military powerhouses like the United States in their pursuit of a safe place to live, since it was just a few decades ago that over 6 million Jewish people were persecuted and slaughtered in Germany during the Holocaust.

But the human rights atrocities happening now should matter to all of us.

Right now, Palestinian children and families are being killed by Israeli warplanes and missiles at an alarmingly higher rate than the casualties suffered by Israel.

And all for what? These crimes are being committed under the guise that Israel has a right to protect itself. Protect itself from who? Children?

Frankly, there is no debate to be had about Israel’s right to protect itself. It is a non sequitur when children are being murdered.

Why is Israel doing all of this without any fear of repercussions? Because the United States government funds and protects them. Our taxes are supporting the war machine that is allowing for all of this to happen.

This week it was announced that the Biden Administration had approved a sale of $735 million worth of weapons to Israel. Our silence on this issue has allowed the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the murder of countless people to go unchecked. That can no longer be and we must be more critical about their actions.

In fiscal year 2019, Israel received about $4.8 billion in military aid from the United States and about $8 billion in loan guarantees. Almost all of this money is for the military and “defense” of a government that already commands the 14th most powerful military in the world.

The historical atrocities suffered by the Jewish community are immeasurable. But the murders at the hand of the Israeli government now need to be held to account.

Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization, whose mission is to prevent and stop grave violations of human rights, has called out all of the atrocities in Palestine and has been able to prove that Israel targeted families and their homes to achieve political advantages.

No one has ever held them accountable.

It is an unfortunate statement to say, but Israel seems to have no intention of stopping until everyone in Palestine is displaced or dead.

To the citizens of this world and people who want to be on the right and humane side of this issue: We must stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and advocate against the Israeli government’s actions.

These are war crimes against marginalized people and, if we stand idly by, we are complicit in our inaction. Here in California, here in Riverside, here at Riverside City College, we must care about the people of Palestine and stand for Palestinian liberation.

Children are being murdered and we are not doing anything about it. Listening to children’s stories currently living on the Gaza strip is enough to tear at one’s soul.

The media and Israeli government want to paint Hamas as murderers and terrorists, and let’s be frank, they are.

But Hamas was started in 1987, during the first Palestinian uprising against the Israel occupation of the Gaza strip.

The actions of Israel over the years have created Hamas as a response to the occupation against the people of Palestine. Israel is the embodiment of modern-day colonialism. While initially created as a solely Jewish state where Jewish people fled to be safe, by 1948 that state had become more and more violent and began to displace the Palestinian people, who had been there for centuries before them.

Israel has taken so much of what was originally Palestinian land. What is going on in the Gaza Strip is an apartheid. Palestinians launch rockets into Israel while Israelis launch massive, catastrophic airstrikes into Palestinian territory.

To equate the two is simply a false equivalency.

The United States and this Congress can no longer blindly support Israel. The people of Palestine deserve justice and a safe place to live and thrive, too.

Editorial

DANIEL HERNANDEZ | VIEWPOINTS Student government disregards concerns

When a person pursues a position of power, their constituents demand transparency, whether they be citizens of a nation or students at a higher learning institution.

The Associated Students of Riverside City College are the student government. They are supposed to work for their constituents like all government officials in a democracy. In this case, that is the student body.

Several students voiced their discomfort over Albert Jaramillo, a convicted sex offender, running for ASRCC president to Vice President Stefany Moctezuma during an Inter-Club Council meeting May 17.

Moctezuma dismissed students’ concerns about safety and met sexual assault survivors’ pleas for transparency with callousness.

She continued to say that she understood where students were coming from while telling them that their sexual trauma “will always be there,” so it is not a substantial argument to ask Jaramillo, or anyone with a similar conviction, to resign.

The vice president went as far as to equate the public’s desires for transparency about the possible incoming president’s past conviction to a gay person experiencing discrimination. She later walked her comment back after being called out for it by students.

The ASRCC mission statement says they “shall not discriminate against any person on the basis of age, ancestry, gender or gender identity, genetic information, national or social origin, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, differential political opinion, primary language, race or color, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.”

Although there is no mention of sex offender status, ASRCC leadership is adamant about protecting Jaramillo’s “personal life” despite several students voicing that they feel they have a right to know.

Indeed, Jaramillo has a legal right to attend RCC and participate in student government. He has a right to rehabilitation and education, and rightfully so. No one is depriving him of these rights.

But we, the Viewpoints Editorial Board, believe students have the right to know if someone with sex crimes in their past is representing them. The concerns of these students should not be met with disregard.

To the surprise of many, Moctezuma revealed that there have been several people with a similar sex offender status in ASRCC throughout the years.

However, this kind of conviction is not something that can simply be written off as a troubled past. Nor can it be written off as a “mistake made” or something that results from socioeconomic circumstances.

It is a conviction that weighs heavy on many survivors of sexual violence, many of whom were children when they were assaulted. It weighs so heavy that some spend a lifetime recovering mentally, emotionally and even physically. Their ability to trust others is often broken.

Many have come forward about several powerful people in the years since the #MeToo movement.

President Joseph Biden, former President Donald Trump, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh and several more who have sexual assault allegations against them have had that information reported by the news.

The aforementioned men have denied all allegations and claim no sexual misconduct. However, it is still public knowledge and the public deserves to know who they are voting for.

Though these people in power may have felt slandered by the allegations and the news media publishing them, their constituents have the right to know.

The RCC student body is no different.

Viewpoints’ editorials represent the majority opinion of and are written by the Viewpoints’ student editorial board.

STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Erik Galicia (951) 222-8488 viewpoints@rcc.edu

MANAGING EDITOR Leo Cabral viewpoints.managing@gmail.com

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JOURNALISM SPECIALIST Matt Schoenmann matthew.schoenmann@rcc.edu

FACULTY ADVISERS Matt Schoenmann Angela Burrell

NEWS EDITOR Cheetara Piry

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ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR Arsal Asif

SPORTS EDITOR

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PHOTO EDITOR Angel Peña

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ONLINE EDITOR

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OPINIONS EDITOR Leo Cabral

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LIFE EDITOR Alyssa Aldrete

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ASSISTANT LIFE EDITOR Jacob Quezada

DESIGN EDITOR

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MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Daniel Hernandez

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SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Alondra Alarcon

Stephanie Arenas Jessica Lopez Timothy Lewis Isabel Whitsett Sigifredo Macias Jonathan Ramirez Paul Quick

REPORTERS

Jennipher Vasquez Julio Rodriguez Liv Pearson Tyrese Blue Elaina Kleven Mathew Acosta Jesus Coronel Bianca Macias Daniela Ramirez Brian Calderon Kenway Collins Tim Nacey

MEMBER:

LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the editor should be kept to 250 words or less and include contact information. Letters should be emailed to viewpoints@rcc.edu. Viewpoints reserves the right to edit letters for space and to reject libelous or obscene letters. Letters to the editor and columns represent the opinions of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the entire Viewpoints staff, Viewpoints faculty advisers, student government, faculty, administration nor the Board of Trustees.

PRINTING SCHEDULE

Copy deadline: August 11 Photo deadline: August 11 Ad deadline: August 11 Next issue: August 19

Viewpoints is a public forum, First Amendment newspaper. Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

14 May 27, 2021

SPORTS “I want to be a representative and be a role model for the Asian American community.” - Jeremy Lin

PHOTO COURTESY OF RED BULL CONTENT POOL Max Verstappen, center, celebrates with the Red Bull team after taking the lead in the Constructors Championship over Mercedes in the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23. Red Bull claims victory in Monaco Grand Prix

BY JESUS CORONEL STAFF REPORTER

The Monaco Grand Prix, the first street circuit of the year, made this year’s Formula One championship chase more intense.

The rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull intensified as Mercedes began to increase its lead in the championship in both the Constructors and Drivers categories.

During qualifying, it would be Ferrari that surprised the field, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc leading the way.

Leclerc, in his home country, would end up in pole position. But the way he ended up there wasn’t pretty.

After setting his first lap, he would hit the barrier and end up losing his front wing. The session was soon red flagged and ended early.

But even with the glory of pole position obtained, disaster would strike.

The damage to his car was significant enough on the next day that the gearbox wouldn’t function properly, ending his race before it started.

“It’s just very sad,” Leclerc said in an interview. “I also feel sad for the team because they’ve been checking everything. It’s a difficult one to take.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen would start the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23 on pole with Leclerc out. His teammate, Sergio Perez, who was under pressure by the team to have a good performance, started at eighth.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas started second, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton started at a surprising seventh.

Ferrari’s hopes rested on Carlos Sainz, who started third.

Verstappen fended off an early overtake attempt by Bottas on the first lap, closing a gap on the very first turn of the circuit.

Mercedes was hoping to close the gap to the Red Bull drivers, but an unfortunate turn of events ruined them.

When Hamilton pitted on Lap 29, he was surprisingly overtaken by Perez, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel when he exited the pit lane.

More disaster struck when Bottas pitted to get his tires changed on Lap 31. The wheel gun had machined the nut onto the car’s axle, which caused the axle to be stuck and forced him to retire from the race due to being unable to change tires.

“I couldn’t believe what happened,” he said. “It is a big mistake by us as a team.”

That gave a big opening for Sainz, Perez and McLaren’s Lando Norris to finish in the podium.

Verstappen and Sainz quickly separated from the group behind to get a 10 second gap between them and third.

Meanwhile, Norris and Perez were in a close battle for the podium as five to six seconds separated both of them for that third position.

The gap would slowly shorten as Norris struggled to keep his car running well. He reported to the team that it felt “undriveable.”

Perez would get as close as 0.8 seconds to Norris, but that was as close as he would get before Norris concentrated on keeping him out of the podium position.

Back in the front, Sainz was told by his crew to attack Verstappen on Lap 55, but he would come nowhere close to the Dutchman as he won the Monaco Grand Prix.

This win was huge for Red Bull and for Verstappen. The team now leads the Constructors Championship over Mercedes by one point with Verstappen’s victory and Perez’s fourth place finish.

It also gave Verstappen the lead in the Drivers Championship, making it the first time in his career that he led the championship race.

“It’s so special to win here,” he said. “The first time for me on the podium here. It was all about looking after the tires. I was pretty much in control.”

Even with Leclerc’s misfortune, Sainz propelled Ferrari back in the mix with a second place finish.

“It is a good result,” he said. “If you told me before coming to Monaco I would finish second, I would take it.”

To watch Formula One races tune in to ESPN or subscribe to F1TV

SPORTS COLUMN

COURTESY OF PIXABAY

Olympic softball inspires aspiring female athletes

BY BIANCA MACIAS STAFF REPORTER

I remember the heartache I felt looking up at the television, tears rolling down my then 12-year-old face, when the umpire called the game on a gloomy Thursday in August 2008 after Team USA and Japan battled for the gold medal in Beijing. The tears weren’t because Team USA lost. They came from knowing that this would be the last Olympic Women’s Softball Championship game until its reinstatement.

As a young, female aspiring athlete, watching women’s softball teams compete in the Olympics meant a lot. It sparked drive and inspiration not only within me, but also within other young female athletes worldwide.

My teammates and I proudly wore our red, white and blue T-shirts that read “Bound For Beijing” on the front and Team USA’s full roster on the back.

We wanted to be just like those women someday. They were our heroes.

But the International Olympic Committee took away any hopes and dreams there could have been for young female athletes to someday become Olympic softball players. They also cheated millions of the opportunity to experience spectating the thrill of Olympic softball after they voted the sport out of future competition in 2005.

The IOC decided this for a few reasons, including the small number of countries that could form competitive teams and the number of sports allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics being capped at 28. But above all else, it’s notable that the ruling was made on the grounds that Major League Baseball did not allow their players to participate, as the Olympic games would conflict with the regular MLB season. Baseball and softball are currently associated at IOC meetings, so they were both excluded from the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. The sports were reinstated to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which has been pushed back to 2021 due to COVID-19.

Thanks to Japan’s appreciation for the pastime, international baseball and softball organizations are preparing for this Summer’s Olympics. However, the next time they will be included may not be until 2028 in Los Angeles, since Paris voted to exclude the sports as well.

The exile of women’s softball is an attack that has not only failed multiple generations continues to get the short end of the stick.

While it offers world class competition, it misses out on the level and rewards that the Olympics have to offer.

Three-time gold medalist and American pitcher Lisa Fernandez criticized Jacques Rogge, who served as the IOC’s president at the time women’s softball was voted out. “Rogge has basically conspired against the sports to get them removed,” Fernandez said in a 2005 Associated Press interview. “We had done our job as a sport worldwide to show we belong. I feel one person, the president of the IOC, a person from Europe, has taken it upon himself to ruin the lives of ... billions of women.”

Why Rogge, a Belgian man, would choose to conspire against women and the sport is unclear.

Women’s softball returning to the Olympics in 2020 is a step forward, but permanent reinstatement is the victory that women and the sport demand and deserve from the IOC.

of young women deserving of Olympic status, but has also failed women and women’s sports as a whole. According to statista.com there were 9.69 million women playing ball in 2018, indicating that the sport continues to grow.

But why can’t these players of the thriving game have current Olympic heroes? Why must they continue their careers without the goal of becoming an Olympic athlete? It is unfair.

Aside from these failures, the IOC also disappoints as they continue not to treat baseball and softball as separate entities in IOC meetings. The MLB will not take two weeks out of their season for players to compete at the Olympic level, but the exclusion of softball is not the MLB’s fault.

The IOC should still be able to vote women’s softball into the Olympics even if they choose to exclude baseball for their choice to prioritize the regular MLB schedule. Baseball has a large platform through the MLB network, but women’s softball

Students who enroll in JOU-20 or JOU-52 must attend one mandatory orientation Aug. 23, 24, 25 or 26 in Digital Library 106