i>
/1
*fev
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
The Blue B anner
Thursday, April 3, 2008
www.lhehliR'haniu'r.iu'l
\'()1. 18, Issue 0
Students protest Shuler
OW or
ViVMW
A 'hiid's advocate'
In Court
Jon Walczak - Assistant News Editor
Top, sophomore anthropology student Alikhan Salehi, on the right,
debates with Congressman Heath Shuler over the Secure America
through Verification and Enforcement immigration bill Shuler
introduced last November.
Bottom left, Ken Ashe a Vietnam veteran and member of the anti-war
group Veterans for Peace, argues with campus police Officer Shannon
Green after being briefly removed for shouting and cursing at Shuler
following his speech.
Bottom right, Shuler speaks March 26 to a packed room of about 200
community members and students.
I’lUiro COl'KIl SY (II I’lTlIIC iNKIkMAIION
Actor Mike Wiley during his oiie-uiau perforniauce of Brown v. Board
of Education. The landmark court case overturned Plessy v. Eerguson,
striking down the “separate but etpial" doctrine lhal denied blacks
equal educational opportunities in the public school system.
One-man show
tackles Brown v.
Board of Education
Dylan Schepps
Staff Wfiiter
DCSCHEPP@UNCA.EDU
Mike Wiley, in his lOth year as
a playwright, actor and historian,
is touring the country with a solo
performance of the 1954 Supreme
Court case Brown v. Board of Edu
cation declaring the “separate but
equal" doctrine set forth by Plessy
v. Ferguson as unconstitutional.
Wiley makes his living as an ac
tor performing one-man plays in
spired by stories in black history.
“I wanted to challenge myself
as an actor,” Wiley said of his deci
sion to only do solo plays. “I found
I was having some degree of suc
cess in the area.”
The first play Wiley wrote was
inspired by a slave named Henry
"Box” Brown who mailed himself
to freedom in a crate labeled "This
.Side Up,” according to Wiley,
In this performance, Wiley por
trays more than 20 characters on
stage.
“With the success of the first
one, people kept asking for more
solo shows," the native of Roa
noke, Va., said.
Wiley performs his one-man
play at I2;30 p.m. today in UNC
Asheville’s Humanities Lecture
Hall.
His performance is in conjunc
tion with a teaching program at
UNCA instructing educators on be
coming more interactive while pre
senting history in the classroom.
"(Wiley) has a great detil to
teach future eductitors about how
to present history iti a w:iy that
u.ses the arts in the classrootii,"
siiid Deborah Miles, coorilinator
for lINCA's Center for Diversity
Education.
The center begtiti in 1995 as
a program of Asheville's Jewish
Comnumity Center tind eventu
ally moved to the UNCA ctimptis
in 2()()-3.
Its iiitii in tiioving to the univer
sity is to work with students and
professors on research projects and
to provide stuilents with exhibits,
programs, performances ;iik1 in
ternships.
Wiley specializes in thetiter for
young auiliences and seeks to pro
mote cultural awareness through
arts in education, but he said his
shows appeal to people of all ages.
Wiley performed his play “Dar
He: the Eynching of Emmett 'fill,”
at the Diana Wortham Theatre hist
year and received stellar reviews,
according to the Chapel Hill grad
uate.
"I really hope people come out
to hear about this landmark case
that really enabled individuals of
all cultures to not just study to
gether, but allowed people to learn
from one another," Wiley said.
Heath Shuler’s SAVE Act draws heat from Hispanic organizations Study AbrOad
Ben Smith & Jon Walczak
Editor-In-Chief & Assistant News Editor
BLSMITH@UNCA.EDU
jmwalczk@unca.edu
Approximately 30 protesters
greeted Rep. Heath Shuler. D-
Waynesville, on March 26 when
he spoke to a full crowd of com
munity members and students in
the Reuter Center.
Shuler spoke for about 30 min
utes before protesters entered the
back of the room holding pro
immigrant signs. One said, “Only
One Human Race.” Another said,
“iNo Human Being is Illegal!”
Hispanic Outreach for Learn
ing Awareness, a UNC Asheville
group, and the Western N.C.-
based Coalicion de Organiza-
ciones Latino-Americanas walked
to the event after listening to Ada
Volkmer, COLA coordinator and
Mexico native. Students for a
Democratic Society and a few
local members from Veterans for
Peace also protested.
“You have certain groups, and
instead of saying, ‘Let’s sit down
and have a quiet dialogue where
we can usually get a lot further,
people get heated,” Shuler said
after the meeting.
Shuler said a healthy dialogue
between politicians and voters
“makes America what it is to
day.”
“Whether they support you, or
if they’re against a particular issue
that I’ve supported or voted for, I
think that’s healthy,” Shuler said.
Shuler’s immigrant-reform
bill. Save America Verification
and Enforcement Act of 2007, has
gained support in Congress in re
cent weeks. A petition to bring the
bill to a vote has the backing of
185 members, almost all Repub
licans. The petition needs 218 sig
natures in order to force a vote.
The bill proposes the employ
ment of 8,000 Border Patrol
agents and mandates all employers
use the E-Verify program, which
is currently voluntary, to verify
employee eligibility as legal citi
zens. Finally, the bill proposes an
increase in Immigration and Cus
toms Enforcement officers and an
increase in the speed and quantity
of deportations.
As of yet, the bill has not been
paired with any measures to pro
vide easier pathways to citizen
ship for the 12 million undocu
mented people living in the United
States. Shuler proposed the bill in
November after the June failure of
the Comprehensive Immigration
Reform Act of 2(X)7.
“To have more border control
and enforcement before we get
amnesty is ridiculous just doesn’t
make sense,” said Caitlin Nelli-
gan, member of HOLA and senior
Spanish student. “It’s ridiculous.”
After making an initial speech,
Shuler answered questions written
on slips of paper and read by mod
erator Joe McGuire, board mem
ber of the Leadership Asheville
Forum that sponsored Shuler’s
See Schuler Page 2 |
goes to Washington
Rachel Letcher
Staff Writer
rletcher@unca.edu
The UNC in Washington intern
ship program provides students
with a taste of the political atmo
sphere in the nation’s capital, as
well as a chance to apply their edu
cation in one of the country’s most
demanding cities.
“(My experience) has been in
credible. It’s really fun, and there
is so much to do, I have never been
this busy in my life,” Marian Sa
dler, junior psychology and Span
ish student said.
The program offers many in
ternship opportunities in Washing
ton. Students apply to programs in
nearly every field or major.
Ben Radford, junior interna
tional studies and math student,
and participant this semester, was
hired to work for the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Stud
ies.
“They hire interns to research
and talk to Congress about weap
ons ol mass destruction with the
focus on getting rid ol the weapons
of mass destruction. My job is to
St I Internship Pagi 2 ■
Features
Asheville artist’s work adorns
wall, canvases and skin.
Full story on page 6
Arts, Etc.
Hostility Friday II brings the
noise back to Asheville.
Full story on page 8
Weather.
orix ast hy Sandy LaCortt-.