By Kenyamarie Mahone The issue of telecommunications surveillance has become a marker of political freedoms in the 21st century. With increasing technological capacities in the Department of Defense, and the growing role of technology in everyday American life–Americans have become wary of surveillance and its many forms. This has become especially true in the wake of Edward Snowden’s...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ‘23) FOSTA-SESTA: Its Origins In April 2018, Donald Trump signed into law the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), frequently referred to as the FOSTA-SESTA package. The two bills, which had been merged into a single package in 2018, were brought forth to address the alarming proliferation of sex...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) On February 23rd 2021, Akquile Pollard, better known as Bobby Shmurda, was released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Pollard, a 26-year-old New York rapper who gained esteem for his hit single “Hot Boy,” was released after serving 6 years for criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy to murder. In the years following Pollard’s arrest, fans and...
Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) After months of campaigning and punditry, Tuesday’s election brought a record breaking turn-out of nearly 160 million Americans. While much of the focus of this election season has been on the presidential race between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, several citizen led ballot-initiatives made history this week. From education policy to...
Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) The final Presidential debate on Thursday at Nashville’s Belmont University brought unexpected levels of professionalism from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. After the chaos that unfolded during the first debate, it was unclear whether this one would offer any substance on either candidates’ platforms or policy goals. Fortunately, with the change in debate rules...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) Rap has always been protest music. Sprouted in the soil of the civil rights movement and War on Drugs, rap functions as a platform for African Americans to express frustration with institutional and interpersonal oppression. The caricature-like portrayal of black men in the music industry relies heavily on stereotypes of criminality and hyper-sexuality that...
