tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-pennsylvania-1017/articlesThe University of Pennsylvania2024-02-13T13:23:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226772024-02-13T13:23:41Z2024-02-13T13:23:41ZSaving the news media means moving beyond the benevolence of billionaires<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574711/original/file-20240209-18-vtb36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C5973%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Billionaire media owners can't change inhospitable market dynamics.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-los-angeles-times-building-and-newsroom-along-imperial-news-photo/1211874817?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the journalism industry, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/26/media-layoffs-strikes-journalism-dying">2024 is off to a brutal start</a>. </p>
<p>Most spectacularly, the Los Angeles Times recently slashed <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-01-23/latimes-layoffs-115-newsroom-soon-shiong">more than 20% of its newsroom</a>.</p>
<p>Though trouble had long been brewing, the layoffs were particularly disheartening because many employees and readers hoped the Times’ billionaire owner, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/01/how-patrick-soon-shiong-made-his-fortune-before-buying-the-la-times">Patrick Soon-Shiong</a>, would stay the course in good times and bad – that he would be a steward less interested in turning a profit and more concerned with ensuring the storied publication could serve the public. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-01-23/latimes-layoffs-115-newsroom-soon-shiong#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CToday's%20decision%20is%20painful%20for,%2C%E2%80%9D%20Soon%2DShiong%20said.">According to the LA Times</a>, Soon-Shiong explained that the cuts were necessary because the paper “could no longer lose $30 million to $40 million a year.” </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/_cingraham/status/1749890710118301751">As one X user pointed out</a>, Soon-Shiong could weather US$40 million in annual losses for decades and still remain a billionaire. You could say the same of another billionaire owner, The Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/12/19/washington-post-cut-jobs-voluntary-buyouts">who eliminated hundreds of jobs in 2023</a> after making a long stretch of steady investments. </p>
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<p>Of course, it helps if your owner has deep pockets and is satisfied with breaking even or earning modest profits – a far cry from the slash-and-burn, profit-harvesting of the two largest newspaper owners: the hedge fund <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/">Alden Global Capital</a> and <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/03/the-scale-of-local-news-destruction-in-gannetts-markets-is-astonishing/">the publicly traded Gannett</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, as we’ve previously argued, relying on the benevolence of billionaire owners isn’t a viable long-term solution to journalism’s crises. In what we call the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-slippery-slope-of-the-oligarchy-media-model-81931">oligarchy media model</a>,” it often creates distinct hazards for democracy. The recent layoffs simply reinforce these concerns. </p>
<h2>Systemic market failure</h2>
<p>This carnage is part of a longer story: <a href="https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2023/report/">Ongoing research on news deserts</a> shows that the U.S. has lost almost one-third of its newspapers and nearly two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005.</p>
<p>It’s become clear that this downturn isn’t temporary. Rather, it’s a <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/12/we-will-finally-confront-systemic-market-failure/">systemic market failure</a> with no signs of reversal.</p>
<p>As print advertising continues to decline, Meta’s and Google’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-and-metas-advertising-dominance-fades-as-tiktok-netflix-emerge-11672711107">dominance over digital advertising</a> has deprived news publishers of a major online revenue source. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/the-print-apocalypse-and-how-to-survive-it/506429/">The advertising-based news business model has collapsed</a> and, to the extent it ever did, won’t adequately support the public service journalism that democracy requires.</p>
<p>What about digital subscriptions as a revenue source? </p>
<p>For years, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2013.865967">paywalls have been hailed</a> as an alternative to advertising. While some news organizations have recently stopped requiring subscriptions <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/06/great-subscription-news-reversal">or have created a tiered pricing system</a>, how has this approach fared overall?</p>
<p>Well, it’s been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/business/media/new-york-times-q4-earnings.html">a fantastic financial success for The New York Times</a> and, actually, almost no one else – while denying millions of citizens access to essential news.</p>
<p>The paywall model has also worked reasonably well for The Wall Street Journal, with its assured audience of business professionals, though its management still felt compelled <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wall-street-journal-shakes-up-d-c-bureau-with-big-layoffs/ar-BB1hDv9V?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds">to make deep cuts</a> in its Washington, D.C., bureau on Feb. 1, 2024. And at The Washington Post, even 2.5 million digital subscriptions haven’t been enough for the publication to break even.</p>
<p>To be fair, the billionaire owners of <a href="https://twitter.com/aidanfitzryan/status/1748098450963460180">The Boston Globe</a> and <a href="https://startribunecompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Click-here.pdf">the Minneapolis Star Tribune</a> have sown fertile ground; the papers seem to be turning modest profits, and there isn’t any news of looming layoffs.</p>
<p>But they’re outliers; in the end, billionaire owners can’t change these inhospitable market dynamics. Plus, because they made their money in other industries, the owners often create conflicts of interest that their news outlets’ journalists must continually navigate with care.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three female protestors shout, while one holds a sign reading 'Don't cut our future.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C5525%2C3755&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574235/original/file-20240207-28-42qqde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Los Angeles Times employees stage a walkout on Jan. 19, 2024, after learning about layoffs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-times-guild-members-rally-outside-city-hall-news-photo/1945953066?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>While the market dynamics for news media are only getting worse, the civic need for quality, accessible public service journalism is greater than ever. </p>
<p>When quality journalism disappears, <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1170919800">it intensifies a host of problems</a> – from rising corruption to decreasing civic engagement to greater polarization – that threaten the vitality of U.S. democracy.</p>
<p>That’s why we believe it’s urgently important to grow the number of outlets capable of independently resisting destructive market forces.</p>
<p>Billionaire owners willing to release their media properties could help facilitate this process. Some of them already have. </p>
<p>In 2016, the billionaire Gerry Lenfest donated his sole ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer along with a $20 million endowment to an eponymously named <a href="https://www.lenfestinstitute.org/about/">nonprofit institute</a>, with bylaws preventing profit pressures from taking precedence over its civic mission. Its nonprofit ownership model has enabled the Inquirer to <a href="https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2023/brightspots/philadelphia-inquirer-jim-friedlich-q-and-a/">invest in news</a> at a time when so many others have cut to the bone.</p>
<p>In 2019, wealthy businessman Paul Huntsman ceded his ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune to a <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/11/04/historic-shift-salt-lake/">501(c)(3) nonprofit</a>, easing its tax burden and setting it up to receive philanthropic funding. After continuing as board chairman, in early February he announced that he was permanently <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2024/02/02/paul-huntsman-its-time-step-away/">stepping down</a>. </p>
<p>And in September 2023, the French newspaper <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/about-us/article/2023/09/24/two-major-milestones-for-le-monde-s-independence_6139073_115.html">Le Monde</a>’s billionaire shareholders, led by tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel, officially confirmed a plan to move their capital into an endowment fund that’s effectively controlled by journalists and other employees of the Le Monde Group. </p>
<p>On a smaller and far more precarious scale, U.S. journalists have founded hundreds of <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/many-small-news-nonprofits-feel-overlooked-by-funders-a-new-coalition-is-giving-them-a-voice/">small nonprofits</a> across the country over the past decade to provide crucial public affairs coverage. However, most struggle mightily to generate enough revenues to even pay themselves and a few reporters a living wage. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Workers sit at a table in a large, open workspace." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574245/original/file-20240207-18-arb5jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Philadelphia Inquirer moved to a new headquarters in May 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://meyerdesigninc.com/news/the-philadelphia-inquirers-hybrid-headquarters/">Jeffrey Totaro/Meyer Design, Inc.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Donors can still play a role</h2>
<p>The crucial next step is to ensure these civic, mission-driven forms of ownership have the necessary funding to survive and thrive. </p>
<p>One part of this approach can be philanthropic funding.</p>
<p><a href="https://mediaimpactfunders.org/philanthropys-growing-role-in-american-journalism-a-new-study-reveals-increased-funding-and-ethical-considerations/">A 2023 Media Impact Funders report</a> pointed out that foundation funders once primarily focused on providing a bridge to an ever-elusive new business model. The thinking went that they could provide seed money until the operation was up and running and then redirect their investments elsewhere. </p>
<p>However, journalists are increasingly calling for <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/patterns-in-philanthropy-leave-small-newsrooms-behind-can-that-change/">long-term sustaining support</a> as the extent of market failure has become clear. In a promising development, the <a href="https://www.pressforward.news/press-forward-will-award-more-than-500-million-to-revitalize-local-news/">Press Forward initiative</a> recently pledged $500 million over five years for local journalism, including for-profit as well as nonprofit and public newsrooms. </p>
<p>Charitable giving can also make news more accessible. If donations pay the bills – as they do at The Guardian – <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/10/rich-americans-more-likely-to-pay-for-news/">paywalls</a>, which limit content to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/01/11/media-startups-subscriptions-elite">subscribers who are disproportionately wealthy and white</a>, may become unnecessary. </p>
<h2>The limits of private capital</h2>
<p>Still, philanthropic support for journalism falls far short of what’s needed.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/">Total revenues for newspapers have fallen</a> from a historic high of $49.4 billion in 2005 to $9.8 billion in 2022.</p>
<p>Philanthropy could help fill a portion of this deficit but, even with the recent increase in donations, nowhere near all of it. Nor, in our view, should it. Too often, donations come with conditions and potential conflicts of interest. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man wearing blue hat sits on a bench reading a newspaper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574248/original/file-20240207-27-cqnylz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philanthropic giving hasn’t made up for the billions lost in advertising revenue over the past two decades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-sitting-on-a-bench-reading-the-newspaper-news-photo/144075964?adppopup=true">Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The same <a href="https://mediaimpactfunders.org/philanthropys-growing-role-in-american-journalism-a-new-study-reveals-increased-funding-and-ethical-considerations/">2023 Media Impact Funders survey</a> found that 57% of U.S. foundation funders of news organizations offered grants for reporting on issues for which they had policy stances. </p>
<p>In the end, philanthropy <a href="https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/a-qa-with-phil-napoli.php">can’t completely escape oligarchic influence</a>.</p>
<h2>Public funds for local journalism</h2>
<p>A strong, accessible media system that serves the public interest will ultimately require significant public funding. </p>
<p>Along with libraries, schools and research universities, journalism is an essential part of a democracy’s critical information infrastructure. Democracies in western and northern Europe earmark taxes or dedicated fees not only for legacy TV and radio but also for newspapers and digital media – and they make sure there’s always <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4779">an arm’s-length relationship</a> between the government and the news outlets so that their journalistic independence is assured. It’s worth noting that U.S. investment in public media is <a href="https://www.cjr.org/opinion/public-funding-media-democracy.php">a smaller percentage of GDP</a> than in virtually any other major democracy in the world.</p>
<p>State-level experiments in places such as <a href="https://njcivicinfo.org/about/">New Jersey</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/local-news-vouchers-bill-dc">Washington, D.C.</a>, <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/09/the-state-of-california-will-fund-25-million-in-local-reporting-fellowships/">California</a> <a href="https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/free-press-action-applauds-groundbreaking-wisconsin-bills-addressing-local-journalism-crisis">and Wisconsin</a> suggest that public funding for newspapers and online-only outlets can also work in the U.S. Under these plans, news outlets prioritizing local journalism receive various kinds of public subsidies and grants. </p>
<p>The time has come to dramatically scale up these projects, from millions of dollars to billions, whether through “<a href="https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2019/academics-craft-a-plan-to-infuse-billions-into-journalism-give-every-american-50-to-donate-to-news-orgs/">media vouchers</a>” that <a href="https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/the-local-journalism-initiative.php">allow voters</a> to allocate funds or other ambitious <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/17/local-news-crisis-plan-fix-perry-bacon/">proposals</a> for creating tens of thousands of new journalism jobs across the country.</p>
<p>Is it worth it?</p>
<p>In our view, a crisis that imperils American democracy demands no less than a bold and comprehensive civic response.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can an industry experiencing systemic failure get back on its feet?Rodney Benson, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York UniversityVictor Pickard, C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178952024-01-30T13:33:53Z2024-01-30T13:33:53ZFor 150 years, Black journalists have known what Confederate monuments really stood for<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571511/original/file-20240125-21-3a2puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=494%2C187%2C2976%2C2596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Confederate leaders Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis are depicted in this carving on Stone Mountain, Ga. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-confederate-generals-carved-into-stone-mountain-in-news-photo/3094974?adppopup=true">MPI/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2023, nearly seven years after the deadly <a href="https://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/">Unite the Right</a> white supremacist rally, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2023/civil-war-monument-melting-robert-e-lee-confederate/">melted down</a>. Since then, two more major Confederate monuments have been removed: the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/arlington-cemetery-confederate-monument/676965/">Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery</a> and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/confederate-monuments-jacksonville-florida-eb85c70216603e180db5df851f0f852c">Monument to the Women of the Confederacy in Jacksonville, Florida</a>.</p>
<p>Defenders of Confederate monuments have argued that the statues <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/the-meaning-of-our-confederate-monuments.html">should be left standing</a> to educate future generations. One such defender is former President Donald Trump, the likely GOP presidential nominee in 2024.</p>
<p>“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-history-defending-confederate-heritage-political-risk-analysis/story?id=71199968">Trump tweeted</a> in 2017. “The beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”</p>
<p>But since the end of the Civil War, journalists at Black newspapers have told a different story. Despite meager financing and constant threats, these newspapers represented the views of Black Americans and documented the nation’s shortcomings in achieving racial equality. </p>
<p>According to many of these writers, the statues were never designed to <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/beyond-monuments-african-americans-contesting-civil-war-memory/">tell the truth</a> about the Civil War. Instead, the monuments were built to enshrine the myth of the “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/growing-up-in-the-shadow-of-the-confederacy/537501/">Lost Cause</a>,” the false claim that white Southerners nobly fought for states’ rights – and not to <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp">preserve slavery</a>.</p>
<p>In 1921, for instance, the Chicago Defender published an article under the headline “Tear the Spirit of the Confederacy from the South” and called for the <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/why-honor-them">removal of the statues</a> from across the country because they “lend inspiration to the heart of the lyncher.” </p>
<h2>‘Lost Cause’ propaganda</h2>
<p>For the last several years, I’ve <a href="https://falseimage.pennds.org/introduction/">studied the history of Confederate monuments</a> by poring over the letters and records of the organizations that campaigned for their construction. My research students and I have also <a href="https://falseimage.pennds.org/">reviewed countless reactions</a> to the monuments published in real time in Black newspapers.</p>
<p>What is clear is that from the late nineteenth century until today, Confederate monuments were part of a relentless propaganda campaign to restore the South’s reputation at dedication ceremonies, parades, reunions and Memorial Day events.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://archive.org/details/ProceedingsOfTheThirty-seventhAnnualReunionOfTheVirginiaGrandCamp">dedication in Charlottesville</a> of the Lee monument in 1924 – 100 years ago this May – was one such event. </p>
<p>Timed to coincide with a reunion of the <a href="https://scv.org/">Sons of Confederate Veterans</a>, the speakers openly bragged about how they were sweeping Northern-authored textbooks out of Southern schools and replacing them with <a href="https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/education/2020/12/03/southern-history-textbooks-long-history-deception/6327359002/">friendlier accounts</a> of the Civil War. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Underneath a burning cross, a group of white men dressed in white robes and white hoods march holding American flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571519/original/file-20240125-21-en2mp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ku Klux Klan members march under a burning cross near Washington in 1925.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/arlington-park-va-composite-photo-of-ku-klux-klan-members-news-photo/515204254?adppopup=true">Bettmann Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the weeks leading up to the dedication, members of the Ku Klux Klan <a href="https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/uva-lib:2590120">paraded down Charlottesville’s Main Street</a> in daylight and <a href="https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/uva-lib:2590109">burned crosses in the hills</a> at night.</p>
<p>The master of ceremonies of that unveiling was <a href="https://www.cvillepedia.org/Richard_Thomas_Walker_Duke_Jr.">R.T.W. Duke, Jr.</a>, the son of a Confederate colonel who was a popular orator at events like these. </p>
<p>A few years earlier, Duke made his own views of the Civil War plain. </p>
<p>He told a crowd gathered at a Confederate cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, that he was “still a believer in the righteousness of what some of our own people now call the ‘rebellion.‘”</p>
<p>Duke further said “that slavery was right and emancipation a violation of the Constitution, a wrong and a robbery.”</p>
<h2>A critical Black press</h2>
<p>Contrary to the claims of today’s defenders of Confederate monuments, a <a href="https://falseimage.pennds.org/essays/">review of Black newspapers</a> going back to the 1870s conducted by my research team shows that Black journalists’ criticism of these memorials had already begun by the late nineteenth century. </p>
<p>The first truly national Confederate monument was the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond. It was unveiled before an audience of as many as 150,000 attendees on May 29, 1890, and provoked sharp alarm among Black commentators across the country.</p>
<p>In a May 31, 1890, article, <a href="https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/written-accounts/post-war-newspapers/richmond-planet/6161-1890-05-31-richmond-planet-editorial-decrying-the-erection-of-the-lee-statue-on-monument-avenue-and-the-improper-use-of-confederate-imagery-and-memory">Richmond Planet</a> editor John Mitchell, Jr. pointed out that Confederate flags and emblems far outnumbered U.S. flags at the unveiling.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A Black man wearing a business suit sits at a desk with his right hand on a sheet of paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571515/original/file-20240125-21-44dqbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">John Mitchell Jr. at the Richmond Planet in 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7808hpr_aab81de2428104d-scaled.jpg">Encyclopedia Virginia</a></span>
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<p>“This glorification of States Rights Doctrine, the right of ‘secession’ and the honoring of men who represented that cause, fosters in this Republic the spirit of Rebellion and will ultimately result in handing down to generations unborn a legacy of treason and blood,” Mitchell wrote. </p>
<p>Mitchell further <a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2020/06/john-mitchell-jr-and-richmond-planet.html">detailed the enthusiasm</a> of the crowd assembled in Richmond. </p>
<p>“Cheer after cheer rang out upon the air as fair women waved handkerchiefs and screamed to do honor,” Mitchell wrote. But the South’s insistence on celebrating Lee “serves to retard its progress in the country and forges heavier chains with which to be bound.”</p>
<p>By reprinting articles from other Black publications, the Planet in 1890 effectively created <a href="https://falseimage.pennds.org/essay/lee-in-richmond-forging-heavier-chains/">a forum for commentary on the Richmond Lee statue from around the country</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A large statue is seen in the middle of a park that depicts a white man siting atop a horse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571528/original/file-20240125-21-rww437.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va., in 1905.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/equestrian-statue-of-robert-e-lee-in-richmond-virginia-in-news-photo/835252424?adppopup=true">Library of Congress/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>An article republished from the National Home Protector, a Baltimore-based Black newspaper, also took aim at the statue.</p>
<p>“When the unveiling of the monument is used as an opportunity to justify the southern people in rebelling against the U.S. government and to flaunt the Confederate flag in the faces of the loyal people of the nation the occasion calls for serious reflection,” the article said. </p>
<p>The editors of the newspaper accused white Southerners of trying to use the glorification of Lee to resurrect the “corpse of rebellion.” </p>
<h2>Writing truth to power</h2>
<p>No one knows what the Black-owned Charlottesville Messenger said about the unveiling of the Lee monument in its city in 1924.</p>
<p>Only one copy <a href="https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u3832085?idx=0&page=1">of a single issue still exists</a>. In fact, one of the only things known about the Messenger is that in 1921, the white-dominated Charlottesville Daily Progress <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/10/charlottesvilles-confederate-statues-still-stand-still-symbolize-racist-past/">reprinted a Messenger article</a> that called for Black civil rights. The Black newspaper later retracted the story after receiving threats from white supremacists.</p>
<p>But we do know what other Black newspapers of this period were saying about Confederate monuments. For many Black editors, the monuments had become symbols of the violent backlash against Black citizenship by white Southerners. </p>
<p>In 1925, the <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-pittsburgh-couriers-discursive-power-1910-1940/">Pittsburgh Courier</a>, criticized the Confederate carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia, the <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/19119/stone-mountains-hidden-history-americas-biggest-confederate-memorial-and-birthplace-of-the-modern-ku-klux-klan">site of the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan</a>. </p>
<p>Taking square aim at the Lost Cause myth, the newspaper called Stone Mountain “a living monument of the cause to which white Southerners have dedicated their lives: human slavery and color selfishness.” </p>
<p>The Confederate monument on the side of Stone Mountain still stands today. </p>
<p>Telling the truth about American history requires transforming these memorials into true reflections of the seemingly never-ending battles initially fought during the Civil War.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donovan Schaefer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At the turn of the 20th century, Southern sympathizers started building monuments to Confederate leaders. Black newspaper editors saw these emblems clearly for what they stood for – a lost cause.Donovan Schaefer, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159232024-01-02T07:10:47Z2024-01-02T07:10:47ZCoca-Cola in Africa: a long history full of unexpected twists and turns<p><em>A new book called <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/bottled/#:%7E:text=Sara%20Byala%20charts%20the%20company%27s,but%20rather%20of%20a%20company">Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African</a> tells the story of how the world’s most famous carbonated drink conquered the continent. It’s a tale of marketing gumption and high politics and is the product of years of research by critical writing lecturer <a href="https://www.sarabyala.com">Sara Byala</a>, who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=sara+byala&btnG=">researches</a> histories of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226030449/html">heritage</a>, <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Water-Waste-Energy_sm-1.pdf">sustainability</a> and the ways in which capitalist systems intersect with social and cultural forces in Africa. We asked her some questions about the book.</em></p>
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<h2>What do you hope readers will take away?</h2>
<p>There are three main takeaways. The first is that while Africa is largely absent from books on Coca-Cola, the company’s imprint on the continent is enormous. It is present in every nation. Most estimates put Coke as one of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/africa/coca-cola-africa-mpa-feat/index.html">largest private employers</a> in Africa, if not the largest. Beyond official jobs, the company has been shown to have <a href="https://docplayer.net/11916251-The-economic-impact-of-the-coca-cola-system-on-south-africa.html">a multiplier effect</a> that means that for each official job, upwards of 10 other people are supported. </p>
<p>The second takeaway is that Coke’s story in Africa is an old one. It starts with its use of the west African <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160922-the-nut-that-helped-to-build-a-global-empire">kola nut</a>, from which it takes its name (if no longer <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/pop-quiz-whats-in-a-coca-cola-if-its-not-coca-or-the-kola-nut/">its source of caffeine</a>). Arriving in Africa in the early 1900s, it’s a story that is deeply and, often surprisingly, entangled with key moments in African history. This includes the end of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> in South Africa and the advent of postcolonial African nations.</p>
<p>Third, I want readers to see that while we may assume that a multinational company selling carbonated, sugary water is inherently a force for ill, both the history of Coke in Africa and my fieldwork suggest a far more complicated story. Coca-Cola is what it is today in Africa, I argue, because it became local. It bent to the will of Africans in everything from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalCopaCocaCola/about">sport</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/cokestudioAfrica">music</a> to <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/social/project-last-mile">healthcare</a>. Its ubiquity thus tells us something about African engagement with a consumer product as well as the many ways in which ordinary people wield power. </p>
<h2>How did Coca-Cola first arrive in Africa?</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola doesn’t export a finished product from its corporate headquarters in the US. It sells a <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/about-us/coca-cola-system">concentrate</a>, which comes from a handful of locations around the globe, including Egypt and Eswatini. This concentrate is sold to licensed bottlers who then mix it with local forms of sugar and water before carbonating and bottling or canning it. </p>
<p>Coca-Cola <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/xe/en/media-center/95-years-operations-community-impact">lore</a> says that the company first secured local bottlers for its concentrate in South Africa in 1928, its first stop on the African continent. By combing through old newspapers, archival documents, and pharmaceutical publications, however, I found evidence to suggest that Coke may in fact have been sold in 1909 in Cape Town as a short-lived soda fountain endeavour. This is just 23 years after the product was invented in Atlanta, Georgia. </p>
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<p>It was neither easy nor assured that Coca-Cola would take off anywhere in the world upon its arrival. The early chapters of my book detail the often ingenious lengths that bottlers had to go to to get Coke off the ground. This included creating a new line of sodas to support the fledgling product called <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/za/en/brands/sparletta">Sparletta</a>. This includes <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/ng/en/brands/sparletta">green Creme Soda</a> and <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/ng/en/brands/Stoney">Stoney ginger beer</a>, both still available for purchase. Later chapters explore the routes by which the product spread across the continent, by detailing everything from the co-branding of petrol stations with Coca-Cola, to the rise of Coke beauty pageants, the birth of local forms of Coke advertising, the proliferation of Coca-Cola signage, and much more. </p>
<h2>What role did it play in apartheid South Africa?</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola was entrenched in South Africa before the advent of the racist, white minority <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> state in 1948. While the company largely attempted to stay out of politics in South Africa, much as it did elsewhere in the world, it resisted certain “petty apartheid” rules. For example, the washrooms and lunchrooms in its plants were open to all ethnic groups, unlike the “whites only” facilities established under apartheid. A turning point came in the 1980s when, in tandem with <a href="https://blackamericaweb.com/2014/08/10/little-known-black-history-fact-operation-push-boycotts/">activism in the US</a> calling on the company to redress racial imbalances in America, the company was forced to reexamine its racial politics in South Africa as well.</p>
<p>What followed was perhaps the most interesting chapter in the story of Coca-Cola in Africa. Breaking with established precedent, the company took a stance against the apartheid state. Coca-Cola executive Carl Ware led the way here. Under his <a href="https://www.carlwareauthor.com/">direction</a>, the company crafted a unique form of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-18-mn-11241-story.html">disinvestment</a> that enabled it to do what no other company managed: keep the products in the country while depriving the apartheid state of tax revenue. To do this, the company <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/09/18/coke-to-sell-all-holdings-in-s-africa/495f0069-2682-4d67-8769-506f4fbd2d83/">sold all its holdings</a> to a separate business that continued to sell Cokes. It then moved its concentrate plant to neighbouring Eswatini, leaving Coca-Cola with no assets or employees in South Africa.</p>
<p>In part, this was possible because the company aligned itself with the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/06/17/mandelas-stops-during-us-tour-reflect-anc-political-concerns/f41a84a3-4aa5-462f-abc3-fc2a9213bb58/">African National Congress (ANC)</a>, making a host of moves to help to end apartheid. These included meeting in secret with ANC leadership, funding clandestine meetings between the ANC and businesspeople, and setting up <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/24/us/coca-cola-giving-10-million-to-help-south-africa-blacks.html">a charitable fund</a> headed by <a href="https://saportareport.com/atlanta-leaders-to-pay-special-tribute-to-desmond-tutu-sept-28/sections/reports/maria_saporta/">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</a> to support Black educational empowerment. In the book, I document these activities for the first time with extensive interviews and archival material.</p>
<p>It was during this era of disinvestment that Coca-Cola exploded within densely populated and remote parts of the country, providing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/26/business/putting-africa-coke-s-map-pushing-soft-drinks-continent-that-has-seen-hard-hard.html">on-ramps to economic participation</a> for scores of South Africans that were later replicated with its global <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/pk/en/about-us/faq/what-is-5by20-0">5x20 project</a> to empower women in business. </p>
<p>This spread in turn drove the consumption of liquid sugar to new heights, causing a host of other problems such as <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1573448/sugar-tax-pits-jobs-versus-health-diabetes-in-south-africa">diabetes and dental cavities</a>, which both the company and my book tackle too. </p>
<p>What I demonstrate in the book is that Coca-Cola’s shrewd positioning at the end of apartheid allowed it to emerge, in the post-apartheid landscape, ready not only to renew business in South Africa, but also to reinvigorate its presence on the continent at large. The question is how to weigh this spread (and its attendant benefits) against the costs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Byala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coca-Cola has often been entangled with key political moments in Africa since its arrival in the early 1900s.Sara Byala, Senior Lecturer in Critical Writing, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174222023-12-05T17:50:44Z2023-12-05T17:50:44ZWant to know if your data are managed responsibly? Here are 15 questions to help you find out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563436/original/file-20231204-21-5svi2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5990%2C3506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Organizations that gather information should establish a framework for responsibly managing user data.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/want-to-know-if-your-data-are-managed-responsibly-here-are-15-questions-to-help-you-find-out" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>As the volume and variety of data about people increases, so does the number of ideas about how data might be used. Studies show that many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-016-0153-x">people want their data</a> to be used for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/276aaca8-en">public benefit</a>. </p>
<p>However, the research also shows that public support for use of data is conditional, and only given when risks such as those related to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/">privacy</a>, <a href="https://wellcome.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_One-Way_Mirror_Public_attitudes_to_commercial_access_to_health_data/5616448">commercial exploitation</a> and <a href="https://www.jmir.org/2021/8/e26162/">artificial intelligence misuse</a> are addressed. </p>
<p>It takes a lot of work for organizations to establish data governance and management practices that mitigate risks while also encouraging beneficial uses of data. So much so, that it can be challenging for responsible organizations to communicate their data trustworthiness without providing an overwhelming amount of technical and legal details.</p>
<p>To address this challenge our team undertook a multiyear project to identify, refine and publish a short list of <a href="https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v8i4.2142">essential requirements for responsible data stewardship</a>.</p>
<p>Our 15 minimum specification requirements (min specs) are based on a review of the scientific literature and the practices of 23 different data-focused organizations and initiatives. </p>
<p>As part of our project, we compiled over 70 public resources, including examples of organizations that address the full list of min specs: <a href="https://www.ices.on.ca/data-repository-requirements/">ICES</a>, the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d8b7b3eabff3c4f1954d802/t/63c9b2638614cc5609a3a0d3/1674163135114/hdc-minspecs.">Hartford Data Collaborative</a> and the <a href="https://www.unb.ca/nbirdt/data/privacy/index.html">New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training</a>.</p>
<p>Our hope is that information related to the min specs will help organizations and data-sharing initiatives share best practices and learn from each other to improve their governance and management of data.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a woman sitting on a sofa on a laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563439/original/file-20231204-23-rmsqh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People want to know that organizations can responsibly gather and manage data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Minimum specification requirements</h2>
<p>We also think the min specs can help people know what to expect of responsible data stewards. To support people in using the min specs, we translated them into plain language questions that individuals can pose to the organizations that collect, use or share their data:</p>
<p><strong>Legal</strong></p>
<p>1) What laws, consent forms or other documents give you the authority to collect, use or share data?</p>
<p><strong>Governance</strong></p>
<p>2) Where do you publicly state the purpose behind your data-focused activities?</p>
<p>3) Which committee or group is accountable for important decisions such as who can use data and how they can use it?</p>
<p>4) How do you achieve transparency about your data holdings, data access policies and other information that people want to know about their data?</p>
<p>5) How do you acknowledge and respect <a href="https://www.stateofopendata.od4d.net/chapters/issues/indigenous-data.html">Indigenous Data Sovereignty</a>? </p>
<p>6) What measures are in place to ensure you adapt and respond to new threats and opportunities?</p>
<p><strong>Management</strong></p>
<p>7) What policies, processes and procedures do you have to cover the entire data life cycle from collection through to use, sharing and destruction?</p>
<p>8) How do you address cybersecurity and data protection?</p>
<p>9) How do you identify and manage risks related to data?</p>
<p>10) What data documentation do you have to help people understand the data you hold?</p>
<p><strong>Data users</strong></p>
<p>11) Is there mandatory privacy and security training that data users must complete?</p>
<p>12) What are the consequences if data users do things they are not allowed to do with data?</p>
<p><strong>Stakeholder and public engagement</strong></p>
<p>13) How do you engage with stakeholders such as the organizations that provide you with data and the organizations that use the knowledge you generate?</p>
<p>14) How can members of the public be informed and get involved in the decisions you make about data?</p>
<p>15) What special measures do you have to engage and involve groups who have a special interest in your activities or decisions?</p>
<h2>Transparent and trustworthy</h2>
<p>These min spec questions can serve as a framework to improve data governance and management practices.</p>
<p>It is our hope that the more that members of the public request this kind of information, the more that organizations will proactively make it available or adapt their practices.</p>
<p>In this way, the min specs can help increase the transparency and trustworthiness of data holding organizations, which can, in turn, lead to more support for data being shared and used for public benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>P. Alison Paprica has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and other national and provincial research funders in Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Hawn Nelson receives funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Curtis Maillet receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and other national and provincial research funders in Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberlyn McGrail receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and other national and provincial research funders in Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Schull receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Government of Ontario.</span></em></p>Responsible data stewardship must take many factors into account including legal requirements, data governance, cybersecurity and user privacy.P. Alison Paprica, Professor (adjunct) and Senior Fellow, Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoAmy Hawn Nelson, Research Faculty, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), University of PennsylvaniaDonna Curtis Maillet, Privacy Officer, New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training, Research associate, Faculty of Law, University of New BrunswickKimberlyn McGrail, Professor of Health Services and Policy Research, University of British ColumbiaMichael J. Schull, Professor, Department of Medicine, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177892023-11-20T14:41:00Z2023-11-20T14:41:00ZLes projets financés par la branche du secteur privé du Groupe de la Banque mondiale alimentent les conflits armés : il est temps de réformer le système<p>Dans quelle mesure l'investissement privé aide-t-il les pays en développement à réduire les conflits et la violence et à atteindre les <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/#goal_section">Objectifs de développement durable</a> ? </p>
<p>Cette question est très débattue. La plupart des institutions internationales, telles que le groupe de la Banque mondiale, estiment que le problème réside dans <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/738131573041414269/pdf/Closing-the-SDG-Financing-Gap-Trends-and-Data.pdf">l'insuffisance de l'investissement privé</a>. Elles mobilisent donc des ressources publiques pour subventionner et protéger les acteurs du secteur privé dans le but d'accroître considérablement les investissements étrangers directs. </p>
<p>Pendant ce temps, les défenseurs des communautés, du travail et des droits de l'homme - en particulier dans les pays fragiles et touchés par des conflits - ont plutôt tendance à considérer les modèles dominants d'investissement direct étranger comme faisant partie d'une histoire continue <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/suffering-others">d'exploitation des pays en développement</a>.</p>
<p>Pour contribuer à éclairer ce débat, nous avons entrepris <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4540583">une étude approfondie</a> de milliers de projets de la<a href="https://www.ifc.org/en/home">Société financière internationale</a>(IFC), la branche du Groupe de la Banque mondiale qui s'occupe du secteur privé. Nous nous sommes concentrés sur la période allant de 1994 à 2022. </p>
<p>Nous avons choisi l'IFC parce qu'elle prétend investir pour atteindre le développement. Elle prétend également appliquer les normes les plus élevées en matière de performances sociales et environnementales. En outre, de nombreux autres acteurs privés et publics suivent son exemple en matière de définition des normes. Si l'IFC se trompe, ce serait un bon indicateur de la situation du système mondial au sens large. Nous avons axé notre étude sur la relation entre les projets de l'IFC et les conflits armés, car la violence a un effet négatif évident sur le développement humain. </p>
<p>Les résultats montrent que les projets de l'IFC sont à l'origine d'une augmentation significative des conflits armés dans le monde. Un seul projet provoque en moyenne 7,6 conflits armés supplémentaires dans l'année qui suit son lancement. Ces résultats sont en adéquation avec <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877872">d'autres grandes études quantitatives</a> qui remettent en question la relation entre l'investissement direct étranger et le développement. Les investissements directs étrangers qui <a href="https://www.tommasosonno.com/docs/GlobalizationConflict_TommasoSonno.pdf">accroissent les conflits violents</a> et rendent le développement presque impossible semblent être la règle, et non l'exception.</p>
<p>Nous concluons que les approches actuelles de l'investissement étranger doivent être réexaminées de toute urgence, en mettant particulièrement l'accent sur le risque de conflit violent.</p>
<h2>Notre méthodologie</h2>
<p>De nombreux facteurs influencent les conflits violents, notamment l'histoire des relations entre les groupes et entre l'État et la société. L'étude a donc utilisé des analyses économétriques sophistiquées pour isoler l'impact de l'IFC. </p>
<p>Nous avons d'abord géolocalisé les projets de l'IFC et noté les années au cours desquelles ils ont été approuvés. Nous avons ensuite vérifié si les conflits armés avaient augmenté dans la région proche du projet de l'IFC au cours de l'année suivante. Nous avons identifié d'autres facteurs - tels que la présence de groupes politiquement exclus, le PIB, le type de régime ou la taille de la population - qui ont une incidence sur les conflits. </p>
<p>Dans l'analyse, nous avons pris soin de faire correspondre et de comparer une zone de projet de l'IFC avec les zones sans projet de l'IFC qui lui sont le plus similaires. Enfin, nous avons pris en compte et vérifié la possibilité que les conflits proliféraient déjà avant l'arrivée du projet de l'IFC. En excluant ces autres raisons qui peuvent expliquer les conflits, nous avons été en mesure d'établir des relations de cause à effet raisonnables. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-priorities-africas-newbie-on-the-world-bank-board-should-focus-on-181521">Three priorities Africa's newbie on the World Bank board should focus on</a>
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<p>Fait inquiétant, l'étude a révélé que l'augmentation des conflits armés était concentrée dans des projets que l'IFC avait indiqués aux parties prenantes locales et internationales comme présentant des risques environnementaux ou sociaux potentiels limités. Elle a affirmé que ces risques pouvaient être facilement pris en charge par des mesures d'atténuation. Ces mesures d'atténuation semblent être soit inefficaces, soit sous-utilisées. Par ailleurs, il est possible que l'IFC fait un mauvais classement des projets comportant des risques de conflit plus élevés et qu'il ne veut pas le reconnaître ou le rendre public.</p>
<p>Un exemple particulièrement troublant est la <a href="http://www.humanrightscolumbia.org/sites/default/files/SIPA%20Listening%20to%20community%20voices%20on%20effective%20remedy%20-%20final.pdf">campagne de terreur contre les citoyens locaux</a> menée par le gouvernement ougandais pour céder des terres à un client de l'IFC. L'IFC n'a toujours pas donné suite aux plaintes déposées par des activistes en 2019 pour <a href="https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/liberia-salala-rubber-corporation-src-01margibi-bong-counties">violence sexiste et menaces de représailles et d'intimidation</a> à l'encontre de l'un de ses partenaires de projet, Salala Rubber Corporation au Libéria.</p>
<p>L'étude a également démontré que les projets à forte intensité de capital (c'est-à-dire l'agro-industrie, le pétrole, le gaz, l'exploitation minière et les infrastructures) ont une plus grande propension à causer des perturbations socio-politiques et socio-économiques. Les régions qui reçoivent des projets à forte intensité de capital connaissent, en moyenne, un décès de plus dû à un conflit armé au cours de l'année suivante.</p>
<h2>Pas au-dessus de la loi</h2>
<p>Ces résultats ne devraient peut-être pas surprendre. Les organisations de la société civile concluent depuis longtemps que l'IFC donne la priorité à ses propres profits et intérêts commerciaux au détriment des <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/suffering-others">“souffrances d'autrui”</a> contribuant ainsi à <a href="https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=social_encounters">“diversifier les instruments qui conduisent à l'extraction, la dépossession et au conflit”</a>. En 2020, Human Rights Watch a décrit l'IFC comme <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/24/world-bank-group-failing-remedies-project-abuses%22">“étant défaillante sur les recours aux abus commis dans le cadre de projets</a>. Cette affirmation se fondait sur <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/brief/external-review-of-ifc-miga-es-accountability">l'étude commanditée par le Groupe de la Banque mondiale lui-même</a>.</p>
<p>Pourtant, la stratégie de l'IFC a consisté à se placer au-dessus de la loi. Elle continue de revendiquer l'immunité souveraine. Elle affirme qu'en tant qu'organisation internationale, <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/iolr/16/1/article-p105_105.xml">elle ne devrait pas être responsable</a> devant les tribunaux nationaux, même à l'égard des parties qu'elle reconnaît avoir lésées. </p>
<p>Elle maintient cette position en dépit des <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/17/world-bank-whistleblower-bridge-international/">récents rapports</a> faisant état de la complicité de l'IFC dans la dissimulation des abus sexuels commis sur des enfants afin de favoriser ses projets d'investissement. </p>
<p>Il est grand temps que les 186 gouvernements membres de l'IFC exigent la transparence, la responsabilité et la réparation des préjudices causés par l'institution et les acteurs du secteur privé qu'elle finance. D'autres parties prenantes peuvent également jouer un rôle. Les gouvernements qui ont peut-être naïvement compté sur le prestige de la Banque mondiale devraient remettre en question les avantages qu'on leur a dit pouvoir attendre des investissements de l'IFC. Les agences de notation qui classent les obligations de l'IFC comme positives d'un point de vue environnemental, social et de gouvernance devraient remettre en question les bases sur lesquelles ces notations sont faites.</p>
<p>Dans le même temps, peut-être devrait-on accorder plus de crédit aux récents <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/un-secretary-general-calls-radical-transformation-global-finan-cial-system-tackle-pressing">appels du secrétaire général des Nations unies</a> en faveur de la réforme du système financier mondial pour mieux soutenir la sécurité humaine et le développement humain. </p>
<p>Cela pourrait inclure des intermédiaires spécialisés entre l'IFC et des projets sensibles dans des endroits difficiles. Un contrôle local indépendant et renforcé semble nécessaire pour garantir des formes plus inclusives et responsables d'analyse contextuelle et de planification de l'atténuation des risques, de suivi et d'évaluation de l'impact du développement, de gestion proactive des conflits et de réparation accessible pour les préjudices subis. Cela pourrait <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/conflict-environments-need-a-peacebuilding-approach-to-business-development">réduire les conflits violents et permettre davange de tirer parti du potentiel de développement de l'investissement privé</a> dans les pays en développement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ce travail fait partie du projet Peace Positive Private Sector Development in Africa (P3A), financé par le Conseil de la recherche de Norvège. Un financement supplémentaire a été reçu de l'Initiative de financement de la paix.</span></em></p>Un seul projet d'IFC entraine en moyenne 7,6 conflits armés supplémentaires dans l'année qui suit son lancementBrian Ganson, Professor and Head, Centre on Conflict & Collaboration, Stellenbosch UniversityAnne Spencer Jamison, Assistant Professor of International Economics, Government, and Business, Copenhagen Business SchoolWitold Jerzy Henisz, Vice Dean and Faculty Director, ESG Inititative; Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174542023-11-14T14:10:37Z2023-11-14T14:10:37ZProjects funded by the World Bank Group’s private sector arm fuel violent conflict – it’s time to reform the system<p>To what extent does private investment help developing countries to reduce conflict and violence and to achieve the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/#goal_section">Sustainable Development Goals</a>? </p>
<p>This is a hotly debated issue. Most international institutions such as the World Bank Group take the stance that the problem is <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/738131573041414269/pdf/Closing-the-SDG-Financing-Gap-Trends-and-Data.pdf">not enough private investment</a>. So they mobilise public resources to subsidise and protect private sector actors with the goal of greatly increasing foreign direct investment. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, community, labour and human rights advocates – particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries – tend instead to see the dominant patterns of foreign direct investment as part of a continuing history of <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/suffering-others">exploitation of the developing world</a>.</p>
<p>To help shed light on this debate, we undertook <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4540583">a comprehensive study</a> of thousands of projects of the <a href="https://www.ifc.org/en/home">International Finance Corporation</a> (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. We focused on the period between 1994 and 2022. </p>
<p>We chose the IFC because it claims to invest with developmental purpose. It also purports to apply the highest standards of social and environmental performance. Additionally, many other private and public actors follow its lead in setting standards. If the IFC is getting it wrong it would be a good indicator of how things stand in the broader global system. We focused our study on the relationship between IFC projects and armed conflict, as violence has a clear and detrimental effect on human development. </p>
<p>The results establish that IFC projects cause significant increases in armed conflict around the world. A single project, on average, causes 7.6 additional armed conflict events in the year after it is introduced. These findings are consistent with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877872">other large quantitative studies</a> that question the relationship between foreign direct investment and development. Foreign direct investment that <a href="https://www.tommasosonno.com/docs/GlobalizationConflict_TommasoSonno.pdf">increases violent conflict</a> and makes development nearly impossible appears the rule, not the exception.</p>
<p>We conclude that current approaches to foreign investment need urgent reconsideration, with particular focus on the risk of violent conflict.</p>
<h2>Our methodology</h2>
<p>Many factors influence violent conflict, including the history of intergroup and state-society relations. So the study used sophisticated econometric analyses to isolate the IFC’s impact. </p>
<p>We first geolocated IFC projects and noted the years in which they were approved. Then we tested whether armed conflict rose in the area proximate to the IFC project in the following year. We controlled for other factors – such as the presence of politically excluded groups, GDP, the regime type, or the population size – that affect conflict. </p>
<p>In the analysis, we were careful to match and compare an IFC project area with those areas without IFC projects to which it is most similar. Finally, we considered and controlled for the possibility that conflict was already rising before the IFC project arrived. By excluding these other explanations for conflict events, we were able to make reasonable causal attributions.</p>
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<p>Disturbingly, the study found that increases in armed conflict were concentrated in projects that the IFC told local and international stakeholders had potential limited adverse environmental or social risks. It claimed that these could be readily addressed through mitigation measures. These mitigation measures appear to be either ineffective or under-employed. Alternatively, the IFC is mis-classifying projects that carry more substantial conflict risk than it recognises or cares to make public.</p>
<p>One particularly disturbing example is the Ugandan government’s <a href="http://www.humanrightscolumbia.org/sites/default/files/SIPA%20Listening%20to%20community%20voices%20on%20effective%20remedy%20-%20final.pdf">campaign of terror against local citizens</a> to turn land over to an IFC client. The IFC also has yet to resolve activists’ complaints from 2019 of <a href="https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/liberia-salala-rubber-corporation-src-01margibi-bong-counties">gender-based violence and threats of reprisals and intimidation</a> against one of its project partners, Salala Rubber Corporation in Liberia.</p>
<p>The study also demonstrated that capital-intensive projects (that is, agribusiness, oil, gas, mining and infrastructure) have a larger propensity for socio-political and socio-economic disruption. Areas that receive capital-intensive projects experience, on average, an additional death from armed conflict in the following year.</p>
<h2>Not above the rule of law</h2>
<p>These results should perhaps not be surprising. Civil society groups have long concluded that the IFC prioritises its own profits and business interests over the “<a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/suffering-others">suffering of others</a>” in ways that contribute to “<a href="https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=social_encounters">multiple paths of extraction, dispossession, and conflict</a>”. In 2020 Human Rights Watch characterised the IFC as “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/24/world-bank-group-failing-remedies-project-abuses">failing at remedies for project abuses</a>”. This was based on the World Bank Group’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/brief/external-review-of-ifc-miga-es-accountability">own commissioned review</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cautious-welcome-world-bank-and-imf-return-to-africa-but-questions-remain-214888">Cautious welcome: World Bank and IMF return to Africa, but questions remain</a>
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<p>Yet, the IFC’s strategy has been to position itself above the rule of law. It continues to assert sovereign immunity. It claims that, as an international organisation, <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/iolr/16/1/article-p105_105.xml">it should not be liable</a> in national courts – even to parties it admittedly harms. </p>
<p>It maintains this stance despite <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/17/world-bank-whistleblower-bridge-international/">recent reports</a> of IFC complicity in covering up the sexual abuse of children to further its investment projects. </p>
<p>It appears beyond time for the 186 member governments that own the IFC to demand transparency, accountability and redress for harms done from the corporation and the private sector actors it funds. Others can also play a role. Governments that have perhaps naively relied on the World Bank halo should question the benefits they are told they can expect from IFC investments. The ratings agencies that classify IFC bonds as positive from an environmental, social, and governance perspective may want to question the bases on which such determinations are made.</p>
<p>At the same time, perhaps more credence can be given to recent <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/un-secretary-general-calls-radical-transformation-global-finan-cial-system-tackle-pressing">calls by the UN secretary general</a> to reform the global financial system to better support human security and human development. </p>
<p>This could include specialised intermediaries between the IFC and sensitive projects in difficult places. Independent and empowered local oversight appears necessary to ensure more inclusive and accountable forms of contextual analysis and risk mitigation planning, monitoring and evaluation of development impact, proactive conflict management, and accessible redress for harms done. This could <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/conflict-environments-need-a-peacebuilding-approach-to-business-development">reduce violent conflict and open more developmental potential for private investment</a> in the developing world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work is part of the project Peace Positive Private Sector Development in Africa (P3A), funded by the Research Council of Norway. Additional funding was received from the Peace Finance Initiative.</span></em></p>A single International Finance Corporation project, on average, causes 7.6 additional armed conflict events in the year after it is introduced.Brian Ganson, Professor and Head, Centre on Conflict & Collaboration, Stellenbosch UniversityAnne Spencer Jamison, Assistant Professor of International Economics, Government, and Business, Copenhagen Business SchoolWitold Jerzy Henisz, Vice Dean and Faculty Director, ESG Inititative; Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136352023-09-22T12:30:15Z2023-09-22T12:30:15ZNazi Germany had admirers among American religious leaders – and white supremacy fueled their support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549198/original/file-20230919-19-unvudq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C1%2C1019%2C789&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of people attend a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in New York in May 1934, with counterprotestors outside. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/approximately-20-000-people-attend-a-pro-nazi-germany-rally-news-photo/2961927?adppopup=true">Anthony Potter Collection/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each September marks the anniversary of <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws">Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws</a>, whose passage in 1935 stripped Jews of their German citizenship and banned “race-mixing” between Jews and other Germans. </p>
<p>Eighty-eight years later, the United States is facing <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/antisemitic-incidents-on-rise-across-the-u-s-report-finds">rising antisemitism</a> and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/white-supremacy-returned-mainstream-politics/">white supremacist ideology</a> – including two <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/florida-neo-nazis-chant-above-freeway-sickening-frightening-video-1825481">neo-Nazi demonstrations</a> in Florida <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/neo-nazi-groups-spew-hate-disney-world-orlando-officials-say-rcna103186">in September 2023 alone</a>.</p>
<p>The Nuremberg Laws were a critical juncture on the Third Reich’s path toward bringing about “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172422/hitlers-american-model">the full-scale creation of a racist state … on the road to the Holocaust</a>,” according to <a href="https://law.yale.edu/james-q-whitman">legal historian James Whitman</a>. Yet across the Atlantic, many Americans were unconcerned, and even admiring – including some religious leaders.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://abroad.gmu.edu/profiles/mgarrit2">a political scientist</a> and <a href="https://sociology.sas.upenn.edu/people/melissa-wilde">a sociologist</a>, we wanted to examine what Americans thought about Hitler and the National Socialist Party before the U.S. entered World War II – and see what lessons those findings might hold for our country today. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13020">Our recent research</a>, which focused on religious publications, suggests that Americans’ support for Nazi Germany is best explained by belief in white supremacy.</p>
<h2>View from the pulpit</h2>
<p>In 1935, Adolf Hitler entered his third year in power and legally solidified the Nazi regime’s racist policies. During this period, Jews, Romani, homosexuals, the mentally or physically disabled and African-Germans were all targets of Hitler’s wrath. Thousands of refugees fled the country in search of safety – <a href="https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/how-many-refugees-came-to-the-united-states-from-1933-1945">many to U.S. shores</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded chart shows many small circles in varying percentages of black and white." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549199/original/file-20230919-21-i48mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chart from Nazi Germany showing the regime’s racial categorizations under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chart-from-nazi-germany-explaining-the-nuremberg-laws-of-news-photo/113494189?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Individual public opinion data about Nazi Germany is not available for this period; Gallup’s first survey on the topic <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/232949/american-public-opinion-holocaust.aspx">was conducted in 1938</a>. Instead, we used a database of periodicals from religious organizations that one of us, Wilde, had originally compiled for a book on <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303218/birth-control-battles">views of contraception</a> in the early 20th century. Using these periodicals, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13020">we examined the views</a> of leaders in 25 of the United States’ most prominent religious groups.</p>
<p>In the 1930s, the U.S. was a far more religious country than it is today, with around 95% of Americans claiming membership in a religious denomination. The groups in our sample include <a href="https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7MAKH">82% of Americans who reported religious membership</a> at the time. Most are white Protestant denominations, but our sample also included Roman Catholics, three Jewish groups, Black churches, and smaller groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. </p>
<p>We argue that while these texts are not necessarily representative of individual members’ views, they are evidence of the views religious elites tried to cultivate in large segments of the American population.</p>
<h2>‘Unequaled in cruelty’</h2>
<p>These periodicals dispel the notion that Americans did not know, or understand, the gravity of the situation in Germany at the time. A third of the denominations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13020">in our sample</a> were critical of Hitler, and their alarm demonstrates that ample information was available about the escalating situation in Nazi Germany. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A yellow and white illustration of a man's head next to a swastika, with his eyes covered by the phrase 'business as usual.' The bottom says 'America open your eyes!'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549196/original/file-20230919-21-q820hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster designed by Jean Carlu for Fortune magazine in 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/america-open-your-eyes-poster-by-jean-carlu-news-photo/526779530?adppopup=true">swim ink 2 llc/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These groups, which were both Christian and Jewish, wrote about “the omnipresent terror that grips every town and hamlet”; the German concentration or “education camps”; and the number of people jailed, sent to camps, killed or sterilized. Leaders of Conservative Judaism warned that “German Jewry is on the way to extinction.” The Universalist General Convention described the situation in Germany as “unequaled in cruelty and brutality even by the Spanish Inquisition.”</p>
<p>On the other end of the spectrum, religious leaders from the Norwegian Lutheran Church, which has long since merged with other denominations, emphasized that Hitler was <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/aug-19-1934-german-voters-approve-hitler-as-fuhrer/">legitimately elected</a> and enjoyed strong support among the German people. Another article recounted a recent trip to Germany, writing that “what we interpret as militarism” is a manifestation of support for “the program of Hitler” and “the common good.” The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. – a white Southern denomination that later merged with other Presbyterian denominations – wrote of Hitler’s regime <a href="https://archive.org/details/sim_presbyterians-today_1935-05_25_5/page/262/mode/2up">making “effort[s] toward social justice”</a> with reforms for illegitimate children.</p>
<p>And while some religious elites sympathetic to Hitler acknowledged that the Nazis’ tactics were unsavory, they suggested “the means do not, taken by themselves, condemn the end.”</p>
<h2>Finding the pattern</h2>
<p>As we analyzed the periodicals, we classified leaders’ writings into four categories. Beyond groups that clearly sympathized with Hitler or criticized him, the largest number were ambivalent, with mixed views. Others were “distant,” barely commenting on events in Europe. </p>
<p>We found that two main factors <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13020">explain religious elites’ views of Hitler in 1935</a>. The first is whether their group embraced white supremacist ideas. The second is whether they were atop the religious hierarchy – that is, mainstream Protestant denominations whose members would not have been at risk of persecution in Germany.</p>
<p>Groups that consistently criticized Hitler had members that were marginalized because of their race or ethnicity. They regularly spoke out against prejudice, segregation and lynching. In contrast, denominations that were well established and mostly white tended to be ambivalent toward Nazism, even those that spoke out against anti-Black racism in the U.S. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a row of pushcarts on a sidewalk, their wares covered up by cloths." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549195/original/file-20230919-17-92dpkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jewish pushcart workers on New York’s Lower East Side participated in a two-hour protest in 1933, refusing to make sales, during a day of mass demonstrations against the persecution of German Jews.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/on-the-day-of-gigantic-mass-demonstrations-in-many-american-news-photo/515129434?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But a few groups, five in total, did more than express ambivalence – they openly sympathized with Hitler. What united these groups were white supremacist beliefs. Their periodicals included articles titled “The Fitness of the Anglo-Saxon” and “Why the Anglo Saxon,” emphasizing “men are born equal in their rights, but they are not equal in their fitness and ability to serve … God needed the white Anglo-Saxon race.”</p>
<p>Importantly, the groups that supported Hitler were also antisemitic and eugenicists, believing human beings could be “perfected” through selective breeding. </p>
<p>However, antisemitism <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0031322X.1998.9970245">was rampant at the time</a>, even among groups that were ambivalent about Hitler. Similarly, <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/eugenics">support for eugenics</a> was too broad to explain why certain religious groups in the U.S. sympathized with the Nazis. There were even religious leaders who criticized Hitler yet had connections to <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303218/birth-control-battles">the American Eugenics Movement</a>, which promoted forced sterilization laws and, later, the legalization of birth control.</p>
<p>Instead, what most strongly differentiated Hitler’s sympathizers in this era was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13020">their belief in white supremacy</a> vis-a-vis African Americans. These groups published literature claiming that African Americans were physically and mentally inferior, and one wrote positively of the Ku Klux Klan. A Southern Baptist bishop wrote, “The Negro is not like the white man … there are striking differences physical and mental,” going on to claim, “the white race … assumes its superiority in strength and capacity.”</p>
<h2>Fast-forward</h2>
<p>Although 1935 is nearly a century behind us, U.S. politics has been awash in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/donald-trump-nazi-comparison.html">comparisons to the Third Reich</a> for several years now. Former President Donald Trump recently <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/174773/trump-whines-nazi-germany-third-indictment">compared his indictments to Nazi Germany</a>, obfuscating the mass atrocities of Hitler’s regime. </p>
<p>But such comparisons do prompt reflection on what drove American support for Nazi Germany in the 1930s, as Trump campaigns with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/04/21/trump-agenda-policies-2024/">an authoritarian vision</a> for his second term, and as <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/white-nationalism-remains-major-concern-for-voters-of-color-and-appears-to-be-connected-ideologically-to-the-growing-christian-nationalism-movement/">white nationalism</a> remains a major aspect of U.S. politics.</p>
<p>In 1935, Europe was not at war, and concern about mass killings would have seemed alarmist. Yet just a few years later, a global conflagration began. On the anniversary of the Nuremberg Laws, what motivated American support for Hitler’s authoritarianism in the 1930s still resonates today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Wilde received funding from the Louisville Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania for the data connected to this research.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meghan Garrity does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two social scientists analyzed periodicals from US religious leaders in 1935 to determine what factors influenced groups’ sympathy, ambivalence or outrage about Hitler and Nazi Germany.Meghan Garrity, Assistant Professor of International Security & Law, George Mason UniversityMelissa J. Wilde, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106122023-08-09T12:31:58Z2023-08-09T12:31:58ZA brief illustrated guide to ‘scissors congruence’ − an ancient geometric idea that’s still fueling cutting-edge mathematical research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541530/original/file-20230807-29-khkb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=188%2C25%2C1746%2C997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While scissors congruence accurately captures the modern algebraic notion of 2D area, things get more complicated in higher dimensions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In math class, you probably learned how to <a href="https://www.cuemath.com/measurement/area/">compute the area</a> of lots of different shapes by memorizing algebraic formulas. Remember “base x height” for rectangles and “½ base x height” for triangles? Or “𝜋 x radius²” for circles?</p>
<p>But if you were in math class in ancient Greece, you might have learned something very different. Ancient Greek mathematicians, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Euclid-Greek-mathematician">such as Euclid</a>, thought of area as something geometric, not algebraic. Euclid’s geometric perspective, recorded in his foundational work “<a href="https://www.claymath.org/library/historical/euclid/">Elements</a>,” has influenced research programs across centuries – even the work of mathematicians today, like <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mzqTDjwAAAAJ&hl=en">the two</a> <a href="https://web.sas.upenn.edu/callem/">of us</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A gif of a blue blob bouncing between a triangle, circle and square, along with formulas for their areas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541055/original/file-20230803-25-o1740b.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Math today treats area algebraically, using formulas for simple shapes and calculus for more complicated regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern mathematicians refer to Euclid’s concept of “having equal area” as “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti898">being scissors congruent</a>.” This idea, based on cutting up shapes and pasting them back together in different ways, has inspired interesting mathematics beyond just computing areas of triangles and squares. The story of scissors congruence demonstrates how classical problems in geometry can find new life in the strange world of abstract modern math.</p>
<h2>Euclid’s notion of area</h2>
<p>Today, people think of the area of a shape as a single number that can be computed using algebraic formulas or calculus. So what does it mean to think of area as something geometric the way the ancient Greeks did?</p>
<p>Imagine you’re back in math class and you have a pair of scissors, some tape and a piece of construction paper. Your teacher instructs you to make a new flat, two-dimensional shape using all of the construction paper and only straight-line cuts. Using your scissors, you cut the paper into a bunch of pieces. You start moving these pieces around – maybe you rotate them or flip them over – and you tape them back together to form a new shape. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A drawing of a student doodling on some paper. Above them, a pentagon is cut into 3 triangles, and those triangles are reassembled into a new polygon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541117/original/file-20230803-15-7hhb5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What kind of shapes can you make from a pentagon using only scissors and tape?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using your algebraic formulas for area, you could check that the area of your new shape is equal to the original area of the construction paper. No matter how a 2D shape is cut up – as long as all the pieces are taped back together without overlap – the area of the old and the new shape will always be equal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue pentagon with a central eyeball is cut up into pieces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541118/original/file-20230803-17-ji9w80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You’re not allowed to make curved cuts or tape overlapping pieces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Euclid, area is the measurement that is preserved by this geometric “cutting-and-pasting.” <a href="http://aleph0.clarku.edu/%7Edjoyce/elements/bookII/bookII.html">He would say</a> that the new shape you made is “equal” to the original piece of construction paper – mathematicians today would say the two are “scissors congruent.”</p>
<p>What can your new shape look like? Because you’re only allowed to make straight-line cuts, it has to be a polygon, meaning none of the sides can be curved.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A gif of a pentagon splitting up into five triangles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541060/original/file-20230803-27-21x5oo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When a polygon is cut up into pieces, its area doesn’t change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Could you have made any possible polygon with the same area as your original piece of paper? The answer, amazingly, is yes – there’s even a <a href="https://dmsm.github.io/scissors-congruence/">step-by-step guide</a> from the 1800s that tells you exactly how to do it. </p>
<p>In other words, for polygons, Euclid’s notion of area is exactly the same as the modern one. In fact, you may have even used Euclid’s idea of area before in computations without knowing it.</p>
<p>For example, you can use scissors congruence to compute the area of a pentagon. Since area is preserved if you cut the pentagon up into smaller triangles, you can instead find the area of these triangles (using “½ base x height”) and add them up to get the answer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pentagon, the same pentagon split up into five triangles, and the five separate triangles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541116/original/file-20230803-15-otnpws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It can be easier to compute the area of a pentagon by chopping it up into smaller triangles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hilbert’s third problem</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most infamous appearance of scissors congruence is on the famous German mathematician <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Hilbert">David Hilbert</a>’s <a href="http://aleph0.clarku.edu/%7Edjoyce/hilbert/problems.html">list of problems</a>, which consisted of some of the most important mathematical questions of the 1900s. <a href="https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2020/05/06/hilberts-problems-23-and-math/">Of the original 23 problems</a> Hilbert proposed, some have been solved, some have been shown to be unsolvable and others are still unresolved. The third problem on the list, and the first to be resolved, is about scissors congruence.</p>
<p>Instead of two-dimensional polygons, Hilbert asked about their three-dimensional cousins: <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/polyhedron.html">polyhedra</a>. Euclid’s notion of scissors congruence was known to be an accurate description of two-dimensional area, but could it be a good notion of three-dimensional volume?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of the five platonic solids" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541526/original/file-20230807-24-n0k98j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are just five Platonic solids – polyhedra, whose faces are all the same polygon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The answer came within a year, provided by one of Hilbert’s students, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Dehn">Max Dehn</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01448001">Dehn’s solution</a> to the problem was very different from the two-dimensional case. He showed that when polyhedra are cut up, volume is not the only thing that is preserved. There is another preserved measurement, now called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYfpSAxGakI">the Dehn invariant</a>, which is constructed from the lengths of edges and the angles between the faces of the polyhedron. </p>
<p>If two polyhedra are scissors congruent, then they have to have the same Dehn invariant. So, if Dehn could find two polyhedra with the same volume but different values of this invariant, that would prove the answer to Hilbert’s third problem is no – scissors congruence doesn’t precisely capture 3D volume.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A tetrahedron splits into pieces. In its thought bubble is a cube, also splitting into pieces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541133/original/file-20230804-29-at8e7l.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is no way to cut a tetrahedron into pieces and glue them back together to make a cube with the same volume.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is exactly what Dehn did, showing that the invariants associated to a cube and tetrahedron with the same volume are different. This means that there’s no possible way to cut up a tetrahedron into a finite number of pieces and reassemble them back into a cube with the same volume.</p>
<p>Are volume and the Dehn invariant all we need to know? If two polyhedra have the same volume and the same Dehn invariant, does that tell us they’re scissors congruent? It took mathematicians another 60 years to answer this question. In 1965, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02564364">Jean-Pierre Sydler confirmed</a> that the answer is yes, closing this chapter on scissors congruence.</p>
<h2>Strange shapes and stranger connections</h2>
<p>But the story doesn’t end there. Mathematics is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-weird-world-of-one-sided-objects-101936">full of shapes</a> living in higher dimensions – like 4D, 100D, 3,485D or any dimension you can imagine – which are impossible to visualize. An active new research area called <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1654522">generalized scissors congruence</a> seeks to uncover whether Hilbert’s question about scissors congruence can also be stated – and maybe even solved – for these strange shapes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of various shapes lining a landscape, with arrows pointing between them. Some resemble waves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541523/original/file-20230807-19-hbqdqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mathematicians study other strange kinds of geometries, like hyperbolic and spherical geometry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, what it means for two things to be scissors congruent is now far more complicated. While Hilbert and Dehn cared about things like volume and angles, other mathematicians could exchange these physical traits for something <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.topol.2022.108105">far less tangible</a>. </p>
<p>A recent research program pioneered by mathematicians <a href="http://www.jonathanacampbell.com/">Jonathan Campbell</a> and <a href="https://pi.math.cornell.edu/%7Ezakh/">Inna Zakharevich</a> proposes a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/bull/1527">unifying framework</a> for generalized scissors congruence. This framework is built using a very abstract, seemingly unrelated mathematical toolkit called <a href="https://bookstore.ams.org/gsm-145">algebraic K-theory</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A triangle jumps into a machine and splits into three triangles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541135/original/file-20230804-15-qs4z18.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Algebraic K-theory was developed in the late 20th century in the field of abstract math known as algebraic topology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxine Calle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The big idea of K-theory is that mathematical objects can be understood by how they decompose into fundamental building blocks – much like molecules are broken up into atoms. With a little bit of adjustment, mathematicians can harness the machinery of K-theory and <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-cut-apart-shapes-to-find-pieces-of-equations-20191031/">apply it</a> to generalized scissors congruence problems.</p>
<p>This use of K-theory reimagines the problem of scissors congruence and opens the doors for future research. But at the end of the day, scissors congruence is a concrete idea that you don’t need fancy math to understand – just some patience, creativity, a pair of scissors and a lot of tape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210612/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxine Calle is the 2023 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at The Conversation U.S. and she receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mona Merling receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>This is a story about geometry, algebra and many different dimensions, best read with construction paper, scissors and tape on hand.Maxine Calle, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathematics, University of PennsylvaniaMona Merling, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092732023-07-07T12:26:54Z2023-07-07T12:26:54ZAffirmative action lasted over 50 years: 3 essential reads explaining how it ended<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536124/original/file-20230706-22749-n7njvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=172%2C112%2C5581%2C3718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harvard students protesting on July 1, 2023, after the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/harvard-students-joined-in-a-rally-protesting-the-supreme-news-photo/1448852658?adppopup=true">Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since U.S. President Lyndon Johnson enacted affirmative action in 1965, white conservatives have challenged the use of race in college admissions. </p>
<p>Their arguments against such policies are typically based on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection">use of the equal protection clause</a> of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits discrimination against American citizens on the basis of their race, religion or sexuality.</p>
<p>According to this conservative thinking, race-based solutions are discriminatory by their very definition and, as such, are unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The question, then, is how does an institution try to offer a modern-day remedy to atone for long-standing patterns of racial discrimination?</p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring affirmative action – and what diversity on college campuses means with race-neutral admission policies. Here is a selection from our archive.</p>
<h2>1. An ambitious start to level the playing field</h2>
<p>During his 1965 commencement address at Howard University, Johnson explained how he intended to make right the wrongs of the past.</p>
<p>“Freedom is not enough,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcfAuodA2x8">he declared in his speech</a>, “To Fulfill These Rights.” “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”</p>
<p>One of Johnson’s solutions, as affirmative action scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travis-knoll-1377873">Travis Knoll</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-is-poised-to-dismantle-an-integral-part-of-lbjs-great-society-affirmative-action-201247">pointed out</a>, was affirmative action.</p>
<p>Unlike the conservative majority on today’s Supreme Court, “Johnson understood that the U.S. could not serve as a moral leader around the world if it did not acknowledge its past of racial injustices and try to make amends,” Knoll contended. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-is-poised-to-dismantle-an-integral-part-of-lbjs-great-society-affirmative-action-201247">Supreme Court is poised to dismantle an integral part of LBJ's Great Society – affirmative action</a>
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</p>
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<h2>2. Court’s mixed history on affirmative action</h2>
<p>The battle over affirmative action heated up during the 1970s when a legal challenge reached the U.S. Supreme Court in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/regents_of_the_university_of_california_v_bakke_(1978)#:%7E:text=Primary%20tabs-,Regents%20of%20the%20University%20of%20California%20v.,Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964">Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</a>.</p>
<p>In that 1978 case, Associate Justice Lewis Powell wrote that while race can still be one of several factors in the admissions process, a separate admissions process for minority students was unconstitutional.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Five men and four women are wearing black robes as they pose for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Current members of the Supreme Court, from left in front row: Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan; and from left in back row: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-supreme-court-associate-justice-sonia-news-photo/1431388794?phrase=us%20supreme%20clarence%20thomas&adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Since then, the Supreme Court has issued different rulings on whether race could be used in college admissions.</p>
<p>As University of Pennsylvania race and equity legal scholar <a href="https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/shrop/">Kenneth Shropshire</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-2003-supreme-court-decision-upholding-affirmative-action-planted-the-seeds-of-its-overturning-as-justices-then-and-now-thought-racism-an-easily-solved-problem-208807">wrote</a>, the court had subtly established an affirmative action expiration date in its 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision.</p>
<p>In that case, Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that the “Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” </p>
<p>But Shropshire explained that that O'Connor’s deadline was one of desire and not reality. </p>
<p>“The vestiges of past discrimination and the unfortunate existence of ongoing discrimination continue,” Shropshire wrote. “No deadline has made these wrongs and their impact disappear.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-2003-supreme-court-decision-upholding-affirmative-action-planted-the-seeds-of-its-overturning-as-justices-then-and-now-thought-racism-an-easily-solved-problem-208807">A 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action planted the seeds of its overturning, as justices then and now thought racism an easily solved problem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Selective colleges will become less diverse</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SE2WERAAAAAJ&hl=en">Natasha Warikoo</a>, a sociology professor at Tufts University and author of “<a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=is-affirmative-action-fair-the-myth-of-equity-in-college-admissions--9781509549368">Is Affirmative Action Fair?: The Myth of Equity in College Admissions</a>,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">shared insights</a> on how the racial and ethnic makeup of student bodies at selective colleges and universities will change now that the Supreme Court has decided to outlaw affirmative action.</p>
<p>As she pointed out, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-might-states-ban-affirmative-action/">nine states already have bans</a> on affirmative action, and studies of college enrollment in those states suggest that enrollment of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720904433">Black, Hispanic and Native American undergraduate</a> students will decline in the long term.</p>
<p>“Ending affirmative action will make it harder to increase the percentage of professionals and leaders from minority backgrounds,” she explained. “This is because, as research has shown, affirmative action has increased the number of Black college graduates and, in turn, increased the number of Black professionals with advanced degrees.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">Affirmative action bans make selective colleges less diverse – a national ban will do the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action programs reverses nearly 50 years of its own decisions that ruled diversity was of vital national importance.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2088932023-07-05T12:24:21Z2023-07-05T12:24:21ZAmerica faces a power disconnection crisis amid rising heat: In 31 states, utilities can shut off electricity for nonpayment in a heat wave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535395/original/file-20230703-253876-e0fp4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6720%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-income residents are among those most likely to lose cooling in their homes because they can't pay their bills.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/elderly-woman-with-fan-royalty-free-image/1420571004">Solidcolours/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of Americans have been sweltering through heat waves in recent weeks, and U.S. forecasters warn of a <a href="https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1">hot summer ahead</a>. </p>
<p>Globally, 2023 saw the <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/it-was-hottest-june-record-unprecedented-north-atlantic-warmth-record-low-antarctic-sea-0">warmest June on record</a>, according to the European Union’s climate change service. That heat continued into July, with some of the hottest global daily temperatures on satellite record, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-heat-record-hottest-climate-change-july-483fc8e2a286062773692db1a37efe23">possibly the hottest</a>. </p>
<p>For people who struggle to afford air conditioning, the rising need for cooling is a growing crisis. </p>
<p>An alarming number of Americans risk losing access to utility services because they can’t pay their bills. Energy utility providers <a href="https://utilitydisconnections.org/">shut off electricity to at least 3 million customers</a> in 2022 who had missed a bill payment. Over 30% of these disconnections happened in the three summer months, during a year that was the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-says-2022-fifth-warmest-year-on-record-warming-trend-continues">fifth hottest on record</a>.</p>
<p>In some cases, the loss of service lasted for just a few hours. But in others, people went without electricity for days or weeks while scrambling to find enough money to restore service, often only to face disconnection again.</p>
<p>As researchers who study <a href="https://energyjustice.indiana.edu/index.html">energy justice and energy insecurity</a>, we believe the United States is in the midst of a disconnection crisis. We started tracking these disconnections utility by utility around the country, and we believe that the crisis will only get worse as the impacts of climate change become more widespread and more severe. In our view, it is time government agencies and utilities start treating household energy security as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0582-0">national priority</a>.</p>
<h2>1 in 4 households face energy insecurity</h2>
<p>Americans tend to think about the loss of electricity as something infrequent and temporary. For most, it is a rare inconvenience stemming from a heat wave or storm.</p>
<p>But for millions of U.S. households, the risk of losing power is a constant concern. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/">1 in 4 American households</a> experience some form of energy insecurity each year, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01265-0">no appreciable improvement</a> over the past decade.</p>
<p>For many low-income households, the risk of a power shut-off <a href="https://energyjustice.indiana.edu/research/index.html">reoccurs month after month</a>. In a recent study, we found that over the course of a single year, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac90d7">half of all households</a> whose power was disconnected dealt with disconnections multiple times as they struggled to pay their bills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman sits on wooden steps outside a door. Two backpacks, one belonging to a small child, sit on the steps beside her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535396/original/file-20230703-203734-ft3kuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman sits outside the NeedLink Nashville offices after filling out an application to avoid losing electricity in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/melissa-besong-of-nashville-poses-for-a-portrait-outside-of-news-photo/1243291719">William DeShazer for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Energy insecurity like this is especially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00763-9">common among low-income Americans</a>, people of color, families with young children, individuals who rely on electronic medical devices or those living in poor housing conditions. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that Black and Hispanic households were three and four times, respectively, more likely to lose service than white households.</p>
<p>Along with existing financial constraints, people are facing rising electricity rates in many areas, rising inflation and higher temperatures that require cooling. Some also face a history of redlining and poor city planning that has concentrated certain populations in less efficient homes. Taken together, the crisis is apparent.</p>
<h2>Coping strategies can put health at risk</h2>
<p>We have found that over half of all low-income households <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205356119">engage in some coping strategies</a>, and most of them find they need multiple strategies at once.</p>
<p>They might leave the air conditioner off in summer, allowing the heat to reach uncomfortable and potentially unsafe temperatures to reduce costs. Or they might forgo food or medicine to pay their energy bills, or strategically pay down one bill rather than another, known as “bill balancing.” Others turn to payday loans that might help temporarily but ultimately put them in deeper debt. In our research, we have found that the most common <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535403/original/file-20230703-37566-a194rb.png">coping strategies</a> are also the most risky.</p>
<p><iframe id="GG6Ll" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GG6Ll/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Once people fall behind on their bills, they are at risk of being disconnected by their utility providers.</p>
<p>The loss of critical energy services may mean that affected people cannot keep their <a href="https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/aps-cut-power-heat-customer-dead-phoenix-summer-shutoff-11310515">homes cool</a> – or warm during the winter months – or food refrigerated during any season. Shut-offs may mean that people with illnesses or disabilities cannot keep medicines refrigerated or <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3637206-regulators-can-save-lives-by-protecting-medically-vulnerable-utility-users/">medical devices charged</a>. And during times of extreme cold or heat, the loss of energy utility services can have <a href="https://www.workers.org/2009/us/shutoff_0730/">deadly consequences</a>.</p>
<h2>Where disconnection rates are highest</h2>
<p>Our research team recently launched the <a href="https://utilitydisconnections.org/">Utility Disconnections Dashboard</a> in which we track utility disconnections in all places where data is available. </p>
<p>In recent years, more states have required regulated utilities across the country to disclose the number of customers they disconnect. However, state regulations only apply to the utilities that they regulate. Public utilities and cooperatives, which serve over 20% of U.S. electricity customers, often aren’t covered. That leaves massive gaps in understanding of the full magnitude of the problem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screengrab of the Utility Disconnections Dashboard shows data from the state of Indiana, where five utilities had more than 2,000 disconnections each due to customers not paying bills on time. Indiana's total was over 32,000 in 2022." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535093/original/file-20230630-21-33j7ki.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Utility Disconnections Dashboard shows the number and rate of disconnections by utility in each state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://utilitydisconnections.org/">Energy Justice Lab</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The data we do have reveals that disconnection rates soar during the summer months and are typically highest in the Southeast – the same states that were <a href="https://theconversation.com/extreme-heat-and-air-pollution-can-be-deadly-with-the-health-risk-together-worse-than-either-alone-187422">baking under</a> a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-heat-dome-an-atmospheric-scientist-explains-the-weather-phenomenon-baking-texas-and-forecast-to-expand-185569">heat dome in June and July</a> 2023.</p>
<p>Places with particularly high disconnection rates include Alabama, where the city of Dothan’s municipal utility has disconnected an average of 5% of its customers, and Florida, where the city of Tallahassee has a disconnection rate of over 4%.</p>
<p>Large investor-owned utilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana also top the charts in disconnections, with average rates near 1%.</p>
<h2>Only 19 states restrict summer shut-offs</h2>
<p>State public utility commissions place certain restrictions on the circumstances when utilities can disconnect customers, but summer heat is often overlooked.</p>
<p>All but a handful of states limit utilities from shutting off customers <a href="http://utilitydisconnections.org/">during winter months</a> or on extremely cold days. Most have at least some medical exemptions.</p>
<p>Yet, the majority of states <a href="https://utilitydisconnections.org/doc/electric-utility-disconnections-legal-protections-and-policy-recommendations.pdf">do not place any limits</a> on utility disconnections during summer months or on very hot days. Only 19 states have such summer protections, which typically take the form of designating time periods or temperatures when customers cannot be disconnected from their service. We believe this is untenable in an era of climate change, as more parts of the country will <a href="https://theconversation.com/saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-lessons-from-the-deadly-2021-pacific-northwest-heat-wave-206737">increasingly experience excessive-heat days</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="hLGLj" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hLGLj/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These state-level policies provide a baseline of protection. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106244">We learned</a> during the COVID-19 pandemic that moratoriums that prohibit utility disconnections can alleviate energy insecurity by establishing a strong mandate against disconnections.</p>
<p>But these policies are highly variable across the country and particularly insufficient during hot summer months. Moreover, customer protections can be difficult for people to find and understand, since the language can be overly convoluted and confusing, placing additional an burden on already vulnerable Americans to discover for themselves how they can avoid losing service.</p>
<h2>Better rules and a new mindset on right to energy</h2>
<p>As we see it, the U.S. needs more robust customer protections, with states, if not the federal government, mandating better disclosure of when and where disconnections occur to identify any systemic biases.</p>
<p>Most of all, we believe Americans need a collective change in mindset about energy access. That should start with a principle that all people should have access to critical energy services and that utilities should only shut off service to customers as a last resort, especially during health-compromising weather events. </p>
<p>The country cannot wait for deadly heat waves to prove how important it is to protect American households.</p>
<p><em>This article, <a href="https://theconversation.com/americas-power-disconnection-crisis-in-31-states-utilities-can-shut-off-electricity-for-nonpayment-in-a-heat-wave-208893">originally published</a> July 5, 2023, was updated July 7 with the June 2023 heat record and more July heat.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanya Carley has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for work related to the material discussed in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Konisky has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for work related to the material discussed in this article.</span></em></p>One in 4 American households are at risk of losing power because of the high cost of energy. Over 30% of those disconnections are in summer, when heat gets dangerous.Sanya Carley, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning, University of PennsylvaniaDavid Konisky, Lynton K. Caldwell Professor, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2088072023-06-30T00:45:28Z2023-06-30T00:45:28ZA 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action planted the seeds of its overturning, as justices then and now thought racism an easily solved problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534883/original/file-20230629-21-kbgai2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8267%2C5366&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court issued a decision on June 29, 2023, that ends affirmative action in college admissions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-u-s-supreme-court-is-shown-at-dusk-on-june-28-2023-in-news-photo/1260960662?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/29/politics/affirmative-action-supreme-court-ruling/index.html">an anticipated but nonetheless stunning decision</a> expected to have widespread implications on college campuses and workplaces across the country, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29, 2023, outlawed affirmative action programs that were designed to correct centuries of racist disenfranchisement in higher education. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23864004-students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-and-fellows-of-harvard-college">the majority opinion</a> about the constitutionality of admissions programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Harvard’s and UNC’s race-based admission guidelines “cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.”</p>
<p>“College admissions are zero sum, and a benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former at the expense of the latter,” Roberts wrote. </p>
<p>Though not a surprise, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23864004-students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-and-fellows-of-harvard-college">the decision</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/us/politics/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc.html">Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard</a> and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-university-of-north-carolina/">Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina</a> drew widespread <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/key-civil-rights-groups-blast-supreme-court-sharply-curtailing-affirma-rcna91829">condemnation from civil rights groups</a> and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2023-06-29/republican-presidential-hopefuls-celebrate-supreme-court-ruling-on-affirmative-action">praise from conservative politicians</a>. </p>
<p>In my view as a <a href="https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/shrop/">race and equity legal scholar focused on business</a>, the court had subtly established an affirmative action <a href="https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/can-critical-race-theory-save-pro-sports/">expiration date</a> in its 2003 <a href="https://casetext.com/case/grutter-v-bollinger-et-al">Grutter v. Bollinger</a> decision. </p>
<p>In that case, Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her majority opinion that “race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time,” adding that the “Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” </p>
<p>In this opinion, the court moved that deadline to the forefront, and it is no longer the throwaway line that some believed at the time.</p>
<p>What the court’s decision in these 2023 cases means for college admissions officers is that the mere mention of using race to address racial and arguably gender disparities is unconstitutional. By their very nature, academia and corporations are conservative, and general counsels at these entities are likely to caution against any program targeting historically underrepresented people.</p>
<p>At the most optimistic, this ruling forces higher learning institutions to revise programs and look to remedy past wrongs on a case-by-case basis. </p>
<p>But its my belief that O'Connor’s deadline was one of desire and not reality. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/unequal-opportunity-race-and-education/">vestiges of past discrimination</a> and the unfortunate existence of ongoing discrimination continue. No deadline has made these wrongs and their impact disappear.</p>
<p><a href="https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/Jackson-dissent.pdf">In her dissent</a> in the UNC case, Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson details the reality: </p>
<p>“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country’s actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America’s real-world problems.”</p>
<h2>The court’s opposition grew slowly</h2>
<p>In their lawsuits against North Carolina and Harvard, the anti-affirmative action organization <a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/">Students for Fair Admissions</a> argued that the schools’ race-conscious admissions process was unconstitutional and discriminated against high-achieving Asian American students in favor of traditionally underrepresented Blacks and Hispanics who may not have earned the same grades or standardized test scores as other applicants.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Five men and four women are wearing black robes as they pose for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Supreme Court, from left in front row: Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan; and from left in back row: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-supreme-court-associate-justice-sonia-news-photo/1431388794?phrase=us%20supreme%20clarence%20thomas&adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The primary Supreme Court-level battle over affirmative action started during the 1970s when a legal challenge reached the Supreme Court in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/regents_of_the_university_of_california_v_bakke_(1978)#:%7E:text=Primary%20tabs-,Regents%20of%20the%20University%20of%20California%20v.,Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964">Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</a>. </p>
<p>In that 1978 case, Allan Bakke, a white man, had been denied admission to University of California at Davis’ medical school. Though ruling that a separate admissions process for minority medical students was unconstitutional, Associate Justice Lewis Powell wrote that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/how-lewis-powell-changed-affirmative-action/572938/">race can still be one of several factors</a> in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Since then, the Supreme Court has issued different rulings on whether race could be used in college admissions.</p>
<p>In the 2003 <a href="https://casetext.com/case/grutter-v-bollinger-et-al">Grutter v. Bollinger</a> case, O’Connor wrote the <a href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep539/usrep539306/usrep539306.pdf">majority opinion</a> that endorsed the University of Michigan’s “highly individualized, holistic review” that included race as a factor and had been legally challenged. </p>
<p>Most recently, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.PDF">Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin</a> in 2016, the court reaffirmed its belief in schools that “train students to appreciate diverse viewpoints, to see one another as more than mere stereotypes, and to develop the capacity to live and work together as equal members of a common community.”</p>
<h2>A colorblind society?</h2>
<p>The ruling is not a complete loss for supporters of diversity efforts. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23864004-students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-and-fellows-of-harvard-college">Roberts wrote</a> that prospective students should be evaluated “as an individual — not on the basis of race,” although universities can still consider “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A Black man wearing a robe poses for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1138%2C97%2C2678%2C2443&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508683/original/file-20230207-27-bavjpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas opposes all race-conscious college admissions policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-supreme-court-associate-justice-clarence-news-photo/1431382313?phrase=us%20supreme%20clarence%20thomas&adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Applicants then are still able to explain their background in their essays submitted for college admissions. But even that is fraught with problems. </p>
<p>As novelist <a href="https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/g32842156/james-baldwin-quotes/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_opr_m_bm_prog_org_us_g32842156&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo5CX_-Po_wIVbs_jBx243Aw3EAAYASAAEgJ8DvD_BwE">James Baldwin once asked</a>: How does one articulate the constant presence of race to someone who is not experiencing it? </p>
<p>For governmental entities, like public schools or those receiving substantial state funding, the ruling forces them to detail not only how using race will further compel government interests but also whether such a program is necessary to achieve that interest. </p>
<p>As Jackson explains <a href="https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/Jackson-dissent.pdf">in her dissent</a>:</p>
<p>“The only way out of this morass – for all of us – is to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly, and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field. It is no small irony that the judgment the majority hands down today will forestall the end of race-based disparities in this country, making the colorblind world the majority wistfully touts much more difficult to accomplish.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth L. Shropshire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate affirmative action programs sent shock waves across the US and is expected to impact racial diversity throughout society.Kenneth L. Shropshire, Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Business Ethics; Faculty Director, Wharton Coalition for Equity & Opportunity, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2079682023-06-22T12:30:17Z2023-06-22T12:30:17ZProving Fermat’s last theorem: 2 mathematicians explain how building bridges within the discipline helped solve a centuries-old mystery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533229/original/file-20230621-16311-x58km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C16%2C1775%2C1085&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Andrew Wiles, the mathematician who presented a proof of Fermat's last theorem back in 1993, stands next to the famous result.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MATHEMATICIANHONORED/c6b1d16943e5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo">AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On June 23, 1993, the mathematician <a href="https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/people/andrew.wiles">Andrew Wiles</a> gave the last of three lectures detailing <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2118559">his solution</a> to <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Fermat%27s_last_theorem/">Fermat’s last theorem</a>, a problem that had remained unsolved for three and a half centuries. Wiles’ announcement caused a sensation, both within the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=fermat%27s+last+theorem">mathematical community</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/24/us/at-last-shout-of-eureka-in-age-old-math-mystery.html">in the media</a>. </p>
<p>Beyond providing a satisfying resolution to a long-standing problem, Wiles’ work marks an important moment in the establishment of a bridge between two important, but seemingly very different, areas of mathematics. </p>
<p>History demonstrates that many of the greatest breakthroughs in math involve making connections between seemingly disparate branches of the subject. These bridges allow mathematicians, like <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DQJrW7EAAAAJ&hl=en">the two</a> <a href="https://web.sas.upenn.edu/callem/">of us</a>, to transport problems from one branch to another and gain access to new tools, techniques and insights.</p>
<h2>What is Fermat’s last theorem?</h2>
<p>Fermat’s last theorem is similar to the <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-eighth-grade-math/cc-8th-geometry/cc-8th-pythagorean-theorem/v/the-pythagorean-theorem">Pythagorean theorem</a>, which states that the sides of any right triangle give a solution to the equation x<sup>2</sup> + y<sup>2</sup> = z<sup>2</sup> .</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An animated gif. The statement of the Pythagorean Theorem is in the upper left. A purple right triangle appears with sides labeled a,b,c. Small red and green squares appear along the sides of the triangle, illustrating the Pythagorean Theorem." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532962/original/file-20230620-15-b35197.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pythagorean theorem, named for the Ancient Greek philosopher Pythagorus, is a fundamental result in Euclidean geometry that relates the lengths of the sides of a right triangle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AmericanXplorer13 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Every differently sized triangle gives a different solution, and in fact there are <a href="http://www.math.ualberta.ca/%7Eisaac/math324/s12/pythag_triples.pdf">infinitely many solutions</a> where all three of x, y and z are whole numbers – the smallest example is x=3, y=4 and z=5.</p>
<p>Fermat’s last theorem is about what happens if the exponent changes to something greater than 2. Are there whole-number solutions to x<sup>3</sup> + y<sup>3</sup> = z<sup>3</sup> ? What if the exponent is 10, or 50, or 30 million? Or, most generally, what about any positive number bigger than 2?</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painted portrait of a man with long dark hair, wearing a dark robe" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532963/original/file-20230620-16-949zc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The French mathematician Pierre de Fermat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rolland Lefebvre via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Around the year 1637, <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fermat/">Pierre de Fermat</a> claimed that the answer was no, there are no three positive whole numbers that are a solution to x<sup>n</sup> + y<sup>n</sup> = z<sup>n</sup> for any n bigger than 2. The French mathematician scribbled this claim <a href="https://www.maa.org/book/export/html/1391254">into the margins</a> of his copy of a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arithmetica">math textbook from ancient Greece</a>, declaring that he had a marvelous proof that the margin was “too narrow to contain.”</p>
<p>Fermat’s purported proof was never found, and his “last theorem” from the margins, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3219268">published posthumously</a> by his son, went on to plague mathematicians for centuries.</p>
<h2>Searching for a solution</h2>
<p>For the next 356 years, no one could find Fermat’s missing proof, but no one could prove him wrong either – not even <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/05/08/310818693/did-homer-simpson-actually-solve-fermat-s-last-theorem-take-a-look">Homer Simpson</a>. The theorem quickly gained a reputation for being incredibly difficult or even impossible to prove, with <a href="https://simonsingh.net/books/fermats-last-theorem/the-book/">thousands of incorrect proofs</a> put forward. The theorem even earned a spot in the Guinness World Records as the “<a href="https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofwo00mark/page/6/mode/2up">most difficult math problem</a>.”</p>
<p>That is not to say that there was no progress. <a href="https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201703/rnoti-p197.pdf">Fermat himself</a> had proved it for n=3 and n=4. Many other mathematicians, including the trailblazer <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Germain/">Sophie Germain</a>, contributed proofs for individual values of n, inspired by Fermat’s methods.</p>
<p>But knowing Fermat’s last theorem is true for certain numbers isn’t enough for mathematicians – we need to know it’s true for infinitely many of them. Mathematicians wanted a proof that would work for all numbers bigger than 2 at once, but for centuries it seemed as though no such proof could be found.</p>
<p>However, toward the end of the 20th century, a growing body of work suggested Fermat’s last theorem should be true. At the heart of this work was something called the modularity conjecture, also known as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0041-5553(63)90308-2">Taniyama-Shimura conjecture</a>.</p>
<h2>A bridge between two worlds</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue line swoops down from the top-right, curves out a sideways-U, then swoops down to the lower-left" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533256/original/file-20230621-27-z5fihs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A graph of an elliptic curve.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Googolplexian1221, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The modularity conjecture proposed a connection between two seemingly unrelated mathematical objects: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18588-0">elliptic curves</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51447-0">modular forms</a>. </p>
<p>Elliptic curves are neither ellipses nor curves. They are doughnut-shaped spaces of solutions to cubic equations, like y<sup>2</sup> = x<sup>3</sup> – 3x + 1. </p>
<p>A modular form is a kind of function which takes in certain complex numbers – numbers with two parts: a real part and an imaginary part – and outputs another complex number. What makes these functions special is that they are <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/long-sought-math-proof-unlocks-more-mysterious-modular-forms-20230309/">highly symmetrical</a>, meaning there are lots of conditions on what they can look like. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A circle containing curving black stripes against other colors, mostly yellow, green, and blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533249/original/file-20230621-25-lhh8ep.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The symmetries of a modular form can be seen in how it transforms a disc.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linas Vepstas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is no reason to expect that those two concepts are related, but that is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1K3Eo2PQc">what the modularity conjecture implied</a>.</p>
<h2>Finally, a proof</h2>
<p>The modularity conjecture doesn’t appear to say anything about equations like x<sup>n</sup> + y<sup>n</sup> = z<sup>n</sup> . But work by mathematicians in the 1980s showed a link between these new ideas and Fermat’s old theorem. </p>
<p>First, in 1985, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Links_Between_Stable_Elliptic_Curves_and.html?id=rpoDmgEACAAJ">Gerhard Frey realized</a> that if Fermat was wrong and there could be a solution to x<sup>n</sup> + y<sup>n</sup> = z<sup>n</sup> for some n bigger than 2, that solution would produce a peculiar elliptic curve. Then <a href="https://doi.org/10.5802/AFST.698">Kenneth Ribet showed</a> in 1986 that such a curve could not exist in a universe where the modularity conjecture was also true.</p>
<p>Their work implied that if mathematicians could prove the modularity conjecture, then Fermat’s last theorem had to be true. For many mathematicians, including Andrew Wiles, working on the modularity conjecture became a path to proving Fermat’s last theorem.</p>
<p>Wiles worked for seven years, <a href="https://simonsingh.net/books/fermats-last-theorem/fermats-last-theorem-the-tv-documentary/">mostly in secret</a>, trying to prove this difficult conjecture. By 1993, he was close to having a proof of a special case of the modularity conjecture – which was all he needed to prove Fermat’s last theorem.</p>
<p>He presented his work in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.math/9407220">series of lectures</a> at the Isaac Newton Institute in June 1993. Though subsequent peer review found a gap in Wiles’ proof, Wiles and his former student <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Taylor_Richard/">Richard Taylor</a> worked for another year to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2118560">fill in that gap</a> and cement Fermat’s last theorem as a mathematical truth.</p>
<h2>Lasting consequences</h2>
<p>The impacts of Fermat’s last theorem and its solution continue to reverberate through the world of mathematics. In 2001, a group of researchers, including Taylor, gave a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2118586">full proof</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1090/S0894-0347-99-00287-8">the modularity conjecture</a> in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1090/S0894-0347-01-00370-8">series of papers</a> that were inspired by Wiles’ work. This completed bridge between elliptic curves and modular forms has been – and will continue to be – foundational to understanding mathematics, even beyond Fermat’s last theorem. </p>
<p>Wiles’ work is cited as beginning “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19552">a new era in number theory</a>” and is central to important pieces of modern math, including a widely used <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvB-mhkT0w">encryption technique</a> and a huge research effort known as the <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-langlands-program-20220601/">Langlands Program</a> that aims to build a bridge between two fundamental areas of mathematics: algebraic number theory and harmonic analysis.</p>
<p>Although Wiles worked mostly in isolation, he ultimately needed help from his peers to identify and fill in the gap in his original proof. Increasingly, mathematics today is a <a href="https://www.ams.org/notices/200501/fea-grossman.pdf">collaborative endeavor</a>, as witnessed by what it took to finish proving the modularity conjecture. The problems are large and complex and often require a variety of expertise.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rSowRw_BW50?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Andrew Wiles on winning the Abel Prize, a high honor in mathematics, in 2016 for his work on Fermat’s last theorem.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, finally, did Fermat really have a proof of his last theorem, as he claimed? Knowing what mathematicians know now, many of us today don’t believe he did. Although Fermat was brilliant, he was sometimes wrong. Mathematicians can accept that he believed he had a proof, but it’s unlikely that his proof would stand up to modern scrutiny.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxine Calle is a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at The Conversation U.S. and she receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bressoud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 1993, a British mathematician solved a centuries-old problem. But he couldn’t have done it without the help of many other mathematicians, both historical and modern.Maxine Calle, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathematics, University of PennsylvaniaDavid Bressoud, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077252023-06-19T20:00:58Z2023-06-19T20:00:58ZMosul faced mass heritage destruction by the Islamic State. We asked residents what they thought about rebuilding<p>After the Islamic State captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul <a href="https://time.com/isis-mosul/">in mid-2014</a>, they unleashed a wave of devastating human suffering and unprecedented heritage destruction.</p>
<p>The Islamic State <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/05/29/the-islamic-states-threat-to-cultural-heritage/">targeted</a> many of Mosul’s most sensitive and important cultural heritage sites.</p>
<p>Most notoriously, in 2015 the Islamic State released a number of propaganda videos in which they had filmed themselves using sledgehammers to topple and destroy statues <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-39470521">at the Mosul Museum</a>, and using power tools to deface giant reliefs at the ancient archaeological site of Nineveh. </p>
<p>In response to such mass heritage destruction, the international community has launched <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/revive-mosul">various initiatives</a> worth millions of dollars to reconstruct the heritage sites of the city.</p>
<p>However, very little is known about whether or not the people of Mosul support such initiatives.</p>
<p>To find out, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00108367231177796">we conducted a survey</a> of 1,600 people from across Mosul. Here are four of the more significant findings. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/isis-is-destroying-ancient-artefacts-to-send-a-message-of-intent-38235">ISIS is destroying ancient artefacts to send a message of intent</a>
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<h2>1. Heritage is not a priority</h2>
<p>We wanted to gauge whether or not heritage reconstruction was a priority for the people of Mosul, given other urgent needs following years of dictatorship, war and Islamic State control.</p>
<p>We presented respondents with a list of ten options, and asked: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you had to choose just three, which of the following do you think are the most urgent priorities for the future of Iraq?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The top answers were “safety and security” (61%), “unemployment and poverty” (54%), “education and schools” (52%) and “hospitals, health and sanitation” (49%).</p>
<p>Only 16% of respondents listed “heritage protection and reconstruction” in their top three urgent priorities.</p>
<h2>2. But people still believe heritage sites should be reconstructed</h2>
<p>We also wanted to gauge respondents’ overall attitude to heritage reconstruction efforts in Mosul.</p>
<p>We asked whether they agreed with the statement: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Heritage sites that were damaged or destroyed during recent conflicts should be restored or reconstructed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The overwhelming majority (98%) of respondents agreed with the statement.</p>
<p>So, while very few respondents considered heritage reconstruction to be among the most urgent priorities facing Iraq, assuming it would continue regardless of their preferences, it had broad support from the people of Mosul.</p>
<h2>3. Restoration should prioritise modernising buildings</h2>
<p>We also wanted to know what form they would like restoration to take.</p>
<p>We provided respondents with a list of six possible answers, and asked: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What would you prefer to see happen to the heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed during the recent conflicts?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>None of those surveyed wanted to see damaged or destroyed heritage sites left in ruins. Only 4% wanted them developed into entirely new structures.</p>
<p>Instead, the vast majority (96%) wanted to see buildings restored and reconstructed, with the largest number of respondents (48%) indicating they would like to see the sites “restored and reconstructed into a new and more modern structure”.</p>
<p>The people of Mosul prefer damaged structures to be transformed into new and more usable buildings for the community over projects that aim to match historical or pre-war conditions.</p>
<p>This finding has implications for foreign heritage actors as they undertake reconstruction works in Mosul. It points to a long-standing dichotomy in heritage practice between UNESCO’s stated preference to preserve the “authenticity” of heritage sites and developing something meaningful and useful for a living community.</p>
<h2>4. Iraqis think rebuilding should be Iraqi-lead</h2>
<p>Finally, we sought to understand respondents’ views on who had done the most to restore heritage sites to date and who they would like to see leading such works in the future.</p>
<p>We asked two key questions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Which actor do you think has done the most to restore or reconstruct heritage sites across Iraq?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you had to choose just one, who would you most like to see being entrusted with any restoration or reconstruction work at heritage sites?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After each question, we presented respondents with a list of 14 actors, from the Iraqi government to foreign states and multilateral institutions.</p>
<p>For the question concerning who respondents understood to have done the most reconstruction work, 17% identified global agencies such as UNESCO, 13% chose the Iraqi government and 8% identified the Gulf States. Only 2% saw Western governments as having done the most to restore heritage sites across Iraq.</p>
<p>This contrasts sharply with results from the second question on which agencies locals would most like to see leading the reconstruction efforts. </p>
<p>Most respondents named the Iraqi government (48%), with only 8% support for UNESCO, 6% for the involvement of the Gulf States, and just 2% for Western governments to lead restoration projects.</p>
<p>Despite an acknowledgement that multilateral actors like UNESCO have led much of the reconstruction to date, people expressed a clear preference for the Iraqi government to be entrusted with heritage projects into the future.</p>
<p>To harness local support for the rebuilding effort, international actors must make every effort to work closely with local partners and communities in Mosul to ensure their endeavours are embedded within broader security, developmental and infrastructure investment.</p>
<p>For Iraqis themselves to embrace ongoing efforts to reconstruct Mosul’s heritage, foreign actors will need to foster an authentic grass-roots process where Iraqis take ultimate responsibility for the reconstruction of their heritage.</p>
<p>Taken together, our findings demonstrate engaging with local opinion on heritage is perhaps the only way efforts to restore heritage can have a meaningful long-term impact on the prospects of peace in complex environments like Mosul.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/iraq-war-20-years-on-how-the-world-failed-iraq-and-created-a-less-peaceful-democratic-and-prosperous-state-200075">Iraq war, 20 years on: how the world failed Iraq and created a less peaceful, democratic and prosperous state</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Isakhan has received funding from the Australian Department of Defence and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynn Meskell has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In a survey of 1,600 people from across Mosul, we asked what they thought of the millions of dollars being spent to reconstruct the heritage sites of the city.Benjamin Isakhan, Professor of International Politics, Deakin UniversityLynn Meskell, PIK Professor of Anthropology; Professor of Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design, Penn Museum, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060732023-05-25T12:27:22Z2023-05-25T12:27:22ZNFL icon and social activist Jim Brown leaves a complicated legacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528099/original/file-20230524-30-gv5a9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=628%2C218%2C2206%2C2223&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jim Brown takes a break during a 1963 Cleveland Browns football game.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jim-brown-close-up-on-bench-news-photo/515449734?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Throughout his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/20/jim-brown-remembrance-complex-legacy">celebrated life</a>, Jim Brown was both praised for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jim-brown-activist-actor-nfl-ali-jabbar-e1f179ce07d940d418062ffc01daac97">his community activism</a> and vilified for his <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/05/jim-browns-legacy-clouded-by-allegations-of-domestic-violence.html">abuse of women</a>. </p>
<p>But no one questions his incredible ability on the professional football field or his subsequent career in Hollywood during the racially tumultuous 1960s as one of the movie industry’s few Black male stars. </p>
<p>Considered by some sports analysts as the <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/157718-the-undisputed-greatest-jim-brown">best football player</a> in the history of the game, Brown became a <a href="https://www.profootballhof.com/players/jim-brown/">Hall of Fame</a> running back for the Cleveland Browns and used his celebrity status to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-look-at-jim-browns-life-and-legacy-as-a-football-great-and-activist">fight for equal rights</a> at a time when America’s racial divide was erupting throughout the Deep South.</p>
<p>From his <a href="https://www.nfl.com/videos/a-football-life-how-jim-brown-dealt-with-racial-discrimination-63446">fight against racial discrimination</a> in the 1950s to his <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/nfl-legend-jim-brown-teaches-25-year-old-program-amer-i-can-foundation-article-1.972923">development of programs</a> to end gang violence in the 1980s, Brown set an early standard for being more than just a gifted athlete.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/shrop/">a scholar of African American Studies</a>, it’s my belief that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/sports/football/jim-brown-dead.html">Brown’s death on May 19, 2023,</a> at the age of 87 renews questions about the role that modern-day athletes could and should have on ongoing political and social debates. </p>
<h2>Brown’s first public act of activism</h2>
<p>Unlike later Black superstars such as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/what-o-j-simpson-means-to-me/497570/">O.J. Simpson</a>, <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29130478/michael-jordan-stands-firm-republicans-buy-sneakers-too-quote-says-was-made-jest">Michael Jordan</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/458b7710858579281e0f1b73be0da618">Tiger Woods</a>, Brown was unafraid of potential financial losses and stood up for himself and, by extension, every Black man. </p>
<p>That boldness became clear when Brown <a href="https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/brown-never-lamented-decision-to-retire-from-football-at-young-age/7EYPBMCBXNDYJLAJUSRHSDEYGA/">walked away from football</a> in 1966 to pursue another career as an actor in Hollywood, a decision prompted in part by the actions of Browns owner Art Modell. </p>
<p>Incensed that <a href="https://theathletic.com/4538174/2023/05/22/jim-brown-retirement-browns-super-bowl/">Brown was in England</a> filming the movie “Dirty Dozen” instead of practicing with the team, <a href="https://andscape.com/features/jim-brown-retires-while-on-the-set-of-the-dirty-dozen/">Modell threatened</a> to issue Brown daily fines of $100 until he returned. </p>
<p>Brown’s response was unequivocal. </p>
<p>In a letter to Modell, Brown wrote: “You must realize that both of us are men and that my manhood is just as important to me as yours is to you.” </p>
<p>His retirement in July 1966 from football was shocking.</p>
<p>As a young man who wanted to play professional football myself, I couldn’t understand why Brown walked away from the sport, voluntarily, at the age of 30 years old and at the peak of his career. </p>
<p>Little did I know at the time that <a href="https://andscape.com/features/jim-brown-retires-while-on-the-set-of-the-dirty-dozen/">his sudden retirement</a> was a form of activism to be himself.</p>
<p>Brown said as much in his letter to Modell. </p>
<p>“This decision is final,” <a href="https://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/07/jim-brown-retires-browns-nfl">Brown wrote</a>, “and is made only because of the future that I desire for myself, my family and, if not to sound corny, my race.” </p>
<p>I learned about Brown’s activism after I began to study sports as <a href="https://www.kennethshropshire.com/">a scholar</a> and came to realize how unique Brown was at the time and in comparison to other modern-day superstars who rarely jeopardize their livelihoods to protest racial inequality. </p>
<h2>The Cleveland Summit</h2>
<p>In June 1967, a year after his retirement, Brown organized what has come to be known as <a href="https://andscape.com/features/the-cleveland-summit-muhammad-ali/">the Cleveland Summit</a>, and it centered around Muhammad Ali and his refusal on religious grounds to join the U.S. military and fight in the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>For his refusal, Ali <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/muhammad-ali-refuses-vietnam-war-draft-gqtvtv/">was stripped of his boxing titles</a> and faced a fine of $10,000 and a five-year prison sentence. But he still rejected the <a href="https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/muhammad-alis-draft-controversy/">government’s offer</a> to restrict his military activity to only boosting the morale of U.S. troops by boxing in sparring matches on military bases and not serve combat duty.</p>
<p>To show Ali support and convince him to accept the government’s offer, Brown gathered a meeting of the greatest Black athletes of the day and several politicians, including <a href="https://menofchange.si.edu/exhibit/men-of-change/ali/">Bill Russell</a>, Lew Alcindor – later known as <a href="https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/2016/06/09/alis-passing-takes-jim-brown-abdul-jabbar-down-memory-lane/27955651007/">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</a> – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/06/07/a-redskins-hall-of-famer-once-tried-to-convince-muhammad-ali-to-serve-in-the-military/">Bobby Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/dougherty/2017/02/17/dougherty-willie-davis-stood-up-ali/97995320/">Willie Davis</a> and then-<a href="https://teachingcleveland.org/category/carl-stokes-civil-rights-1960s/clevelands-muhammad-ali-summit-45-years-later/">Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of professional Black athletes and politicians are gathered together during a meeting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527373/original/file-20230521-125283-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jim Brown, seated, second from right, helped organize other professional athletes and politicians in 1967 to talk about Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in the Vietnam War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nations-top-negro-athletes-gathered-for-a-meeting-at-the-news-photo/517262256?adppopup=true">Bettmann/GettyImages</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“I felt with Ali taking the position he was taking, and with him losing the crown, and with the government coming at him with everything they had, that we as a body of prominent athletes could get the truth and stand behind Ali and give him the necessary support,” Brown told the <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2012/06/gathering_of_stars.html">(Cleveland) Plain Dealer in 2012</a>.</p>
<p>In my view, not before, and certainly not since then, has there ever been a more significant gathering of athletes. Though the group <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/2022/0429/My-conscience-won-t-let-me-What-Muhammad-Ali-teaches-us-today">failed to convince Ali</a> to go against his religious beliefs, the meeting sent a powerful message that Black men were united and unafraid to support a Black man deemed an outcast by the U.S. government. Ali was later sent to prison.</p>
<p>“Everybody had taken a great risk at losing everything by meeting with him,” Brown <a href="https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/2016/06/09/alis-passing-takes-jim-brown-abdul-jabbar-down-memory-lane/27955651007/">told The Associated Press in 2016</a>. “But what was so real was that we met for about five hours and Ali was asked every question that you could ask a person.”</p>
<p>Based on Ali’s genuine sincerity about his religious beliefs, Brown said the men became “a group of one” and decided “to back him all the way.”</p>
<h2>A flawed presence</h2>
<p>As a sports and entertainment attorney in Los Angeles, I often saw Brown at galas, some held at his home. Several years ago, I spent a day with him at <a href="https://amer-i-cancommunity.partners/about-amer-i-can/">Amer-I-can</a>, the organization that he founded in the 1980s that is focused on gang members and formerly incarcerated men and women. </p>
<p>In both of those settings, Brown had universal respect, and to say he had presence does not do him justice.</p>
<p>Part of that respect was due to Brown’s public admission that he had flaws. </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/9780806539270/out-of-bounds/">1989 book</a> “Out of Bounds,” he wrote regarding one domestic abuse case he was involved in: “The toughest thing I did to her was slap her. I have also slapped other women. … I don’t think any man should slap a woman.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black man with a grey beard wears a blue jacket as he stands in front of photographers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527370/original/file-20230521-127159-zcvt5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jim Brown attends a gala in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on July 13, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cleveland-browns-full-back-nfl-champion-and-actor-jim-brown-news-photo/814424334?adppopup=true">Greg Doherty/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, some of Brown’s flaws were inexcusable. But for me, Brown offered a rare glimpse of a proud Black man who was willing to give up everything in order to stay true to his own principles. </p>
<p>The last time I saw Brown was during the 2023 Super Bowl festivities in Phoenix. Despite his frailty, crowded rooms still parted to make space for him.</p>
<p>No one invaded Jim Brown’s space without permission.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth L. Shropshire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The death of NFL great and Hollywood star Jim Brown renews questions about the role of modern-day athletes in political and social issues.Kenneth L. Shropshire, Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Business Ethics; Faculty Director, Wharton Coalition for Equity & Opportunity, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005262023-05-12T12:19:21Z2023-05-12T12:19:21ZGene therapy helps combat some forms of blindness – and ongoing clinical trials are looking to extend these treatments to other diseases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517754/original/file-20230327-14-rcucem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C18%2C997%2C490&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New gene therapies are helping to treat certain forms of inherited blindness.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-a-blind-man-assisted-by-a-friend-as-he-walks-on-a-news-photo/1299277661?phrase=blind%20person%20walking&adppopup=true">GettyImages</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.orbis.org/en/news/2021/new-global-blindness-data#">An estimated 295 million people</a> suffer from visual impairment globally. Around 43 million of those people are living with blindness. While not every form of blindness can be cured, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33278565/">recent scientific breakthroughs</a> have uncovered new ways to treat some forms of inherited blindness through gene therapy.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p11214">Jean Bennett</a> is a gene therapy expert and a professor emeritus of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania. She and her laboratory developed the first gene therapy drug for a genetic disease to be approved in the U.S. The drug, <a href="https://luxturna.com/">Luxturna</a>, treats patients with biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder that causes visual impairments and blindness in patients early in life.</em></p>
<p><em>In March, Bennett spoke at the 2023 <a href="https://www.imaginesolutionsconference.com/">Imagine Solutions Conference</a> in Naples, Florida, about what gene therapy is, why it matters and the success she and her team have had helping the blind to see. The Conversation caught up with Bennett after the conference. Her edited answers are below.</em></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Jean Bennett speaks at the 2023 Imagine Solutions Conference.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What is gene therapy and how does it work?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/cellular-gene-therapy-products/what-gene-therapy">Gene therapy</a> is a set of techniques that harness <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/basics/dna/">DNA</a> or <a href="https://www.umassmed.edu/rti/biology/what-is-rna/">RNA</a> to treat or prevent disease. Gene therapy treats disease in <a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/treatments/gene-therapy#">three primary ways</a>: by substituting a disease-causing gene with a healthy new or modified copy of that gene; turning genes on or off; and injecting a new or modified gene into the body.</p>
<h2>How has gene therapy changed how doctors treat genetic eye diseases and blindness?</h2>
<p>In the past, many doctors did not think it necessary to identify the genetic basis of eye disease because treatment was not yet available. However, a few specialists, including <a href="https://www.med.upenn.edu/carot/">me and my collaborators</a>, identified these defects in our research, convinced that someday treatment would be made possible. Over time, we were able to create a treatment designed for individuals with particular gene defects that lead to congenital blindness.</p>
<p>This development of gene therapy for inherited disease has <a href="https://www.eye-tuebingen.de/wissingerlab/projects/rd-cure/">inspired</a> <a href="https://atsenatx.com/">other</a> <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/gene-therapy-for-macular-degeneration">groups</a> around the world to initiate clinical trials targeting other genetic forms of blindness, such as <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/choroideremia/">choroideremia</a>, <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/achromatopsia/">achromatopsia</a>, <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/retinitis-pigmentosa/">retinitis pigmentosa</a> and even <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/agerelated-macular-degeneration-amd">age-related macular degeneration</a>, all of which lead to vision loss. There are at least <a href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/">40 clinical trials</a> enrolling patients with other genetic forms of blinding disease. </p>
<p>Gene therapy treatments are now available in pharmacies and operating rooms all over the world. </p>
<p>Gene therapy is even being used to restore vision to people whose photoreceptors – the cells in the retina that respond to light – have completely degenerated. This approach uses <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36499371/">optogenetic therapy</a>, which aims to revive those degenerated photoreceptors by adding light-sensing molecules to cells, thereby drastically improving a person’s vision.</p>
<h2>You created one of the first gene therapies approved in the US. What is the current state of the clinical use of gene therapy?</h2>
<p>There are now many approved gene therapies in the U.S., but the majority are combined with cell therapies in which a cell is modified in a dish and then injected back into the patient. </p>
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<img alt="Woman in lab coat, face mask, goggles and gloves squeezes syringe into petri dish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512977/original/file-20230301-1750-ujq9ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many forms of gene therapy are helping to treat blindness.</span>
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<p>The majority of those therapies target different forms of cancer, although there are several for devastating inherited diseases. The drug <a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/skysona">Skysona</a> is a new injectable gene therapy medication that treats boys ages 4 to 17 with <a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/adrenoleukodystrophy-ald">cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy</a>, a genetic disease in which a buildup of very-long-chain fatty acids in the brain can lead to death.</p>
<p>The gene therapy that my team and I developed was the first FDA-approved project involving injection of a gene therapy directly into a person – in this case, into the retina. Only one other <a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/zolgensma">FDA-approved gene therapy</a> is directly administered to the body – one that targets <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/spinal-muscular-atrophy-sma#">spinal muscular atrophy</a>, a disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and eventually death. The drug, Zolgensma, is injected intravenously into babies and children diagnosed with the disease, allowing them to live as healthy, active children. </p>
<p>There are now more than two dozen FDA-approved cell and gene therapies, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-cancer-car-t-therapy-reengineers-t-cells-to-kill-tumors-and-researchers-are-expanding-the-limited-types-of-cancer-it-can-target-196471">CAR T-cell therapies</a> – in which T cells, a type of immune system cells, are modified in the laboratory to better attack cancer cells in the body – and therapies for various blood diseases.</p>
<h2>What are you currently working on that you’re most excited about?</h2>
<p>I am very excited about some <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05616793?cond=LCA5&draw=2&rank=1">upcoming clinical trials</a> that my team will soon initiate to target some other devastating blinding diseases. We will incorporate a new test of functional vision – how your eyes, brain and the visual pathways between them work together to help a person move in the world. This test utilizes a virtual reality game that is not only fun for the user but promises to provide an objective measure of the person’s functional vision. I hope that our virtual reality test will inform us of any potential benefits from the treatments and also serve as a useful outcome measure for other gene and cell therapy clinical trials involving vision.</p>
<h2>What are the biggest challenges gene therapy faces?</h2>
<p>The biggest challenges involve systemic diseases, or diseases affecting the entire body rather than a single organ or body part. For those diseases, super-high doses of gene therapy reagents must be delivered. Such diseases involve not only technical challenges – such as how to manufacture enormous amounts of gene therapy compounds without contaminating them – but also difficulties ensuring that the treatment targets diseased tissues without causing toxic immune side effects. That level of a problem does not exist with the eye, where relatively small doses are used and exposure to the rest of the body is limited.</p>
<p>Another challenge is how to address diseases in which the target gene is very large. Current approaches to delivering treatments into cells lack the capacity to hold large genes.</p>
<p>Cost remains a key issue in this effort – gene therapy drugs are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/health/cost-gene-therapy-drugs.html">enormously expensive</a>. As drug manufacturers are able to refine this technique, gene therapy drugs may become more commonplace, causing their price to drop as a result.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Bennett was a founder of GenSight Biologics and Opus Genetics and was a scientific (non-equity holding) founder of Spark Therapeutics. She and her husband waived any potential financial gain from Luxturna in 2002 so that they could conduct the clinical trials. Her team received funds from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Foundation Fighting Blindness and Spark Therapeutics to run those trials. She is a co-author on a number of gene therapy patents, including one on LCA5 gene therapy that was licensed to Opus Genetics. She also is a co-author of intellectual property relating to use of virtual reality for vision assessment. She also serves on Scientific Advisory Boards for several groups and serves on Boards of two companies (Opus Genetics and REGENXBIO) and a private Foundations (RDFund).</span></em></p>Genetics expert Jean Bennett explains how gene therapy is being used to treat certain forms of inherited blindness.Jean Bennett, Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology; Cell and Developmental Biology, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987132023-02-20T13:19:59Z2023-02-20T13:19:59Z3 things the pandemic taught us about inequality in college — and why they matter today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509519/original/file-20230210-16-k7jjvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5800%2C2552&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-income college students often face financial pressures and family obligations that their instructors cannot see. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tired-college-student-studies-late-at-night-royalty-free-image/677955278">SDI Productions/E+ Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Elise, a nursing student at an elite U.S. university in the Northeast, found herself back home and sleeping on the floor of her parents’ one-bedroom apartment after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. </p>
<p>It was tough to get a good night’s sleep as family members passed through to the kitchen or the front door. Such interruptions also made it difficult to concentrate during lectures and exams. Sometimes, limited internet bandwidth made it impossible for Elise to attend class at all. She couldn’t ask her parents to buy her a new computer to replace the one that was breaking down, she explained, because she knew they couldn’t afford it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Elise’s classmate, Bella, a business student and the daughter of two Ivy League-educated professionals, had two empty bedrooms at her parents’ home. She used one for sleep, the other for schoolwork. Her parents had purchased “a monitor and all these other accessories to help make studying easier.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.elenavanstee.com/">doctoral candidate in sociology</a>, I study inequality among young adults. Elise and Bella are two of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12895">48 undergraduates I interviewed</a> to understand how college students from different socioeconomic backgrounds dealt with COVID-19 campus closings. Although all attended the same elite university, upper-middle class students like Bella often enjoyed academic and financial benefits from parents that their less affluent peers like Elise did not.</p>
<p>Just because most college students have gone back to in-person classes doesn’t mean these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X20954263">disparities</a> have gone away. Here are three lessons from the pandemic that can help colleges better address <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13021">student inequality</a> going forward: </p>
<h2>1. The digital divide disrupts learning</h2>
<p>Elise wasn’t the only student in my study who didn’t have the learning technology she needed. “It was a solid two and a half weeks where I didn’t have a laptop,” said Shelton, a social sciences major, describing how he wrote a four-page research paper on his phone. Although Shelton had secured a laptop by the time I interviewed him in June 2020, he still didn’t have Wi-Fi in his off-campus apartment. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, college students could typically use their school’s computer labs and internet hot spots on campus. During remote instruction, however, many had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/us/covid-poor-college-students.html">join classes from smartphones</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/technology/parking-lots-wifi-coronavirus.html">park outside stores</a> to access free Wi-Fi.</p>
<p>Although most undergraduates <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/07/19/college-students-and-technology/">own a cellphone and laptop</a>, the functionality of these devices and their ability to stay connected to the internet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218796366">are not equal</a>. </p>
<h2>2. Living conditions are learning conditions</h2>
<p>When residential universities sent undergraduates home in March 2020, some students <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/12/colleges-confronting-coronavirus-tell-students-move-out-many-urge-attention-needs">did not have a home they could safely return to</a>. Others, including some in my study, feared exposing parents to COVID-19 or being a financial burden. Still others had concerns about space, privacy, internet access or disruptions from family members. </p>
<p>“I didn’t even have a desk at home,” recalled Jennifer, a STEM major who stayed in a friend’s living room before moving to her grandparents’ house.</p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, students living in dormitories were in the <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23137">minority</a>. Far more undergraduates <a href="https://robertkelchen.com/2018/05/28/a-look-at-college-students-living-arrangements/#_ftn1">live off campus</a>, many with their parents. In a fall 2019 survey, 35% of four-year college students and half of community college students reported <a href="https://agency.foodbankccs.org/agency/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/2019_RealCollege_Survey_Report.pdf">housing challenges</a>, which included being unable to pay rent and leaving a household because they felt unsafe.</p>
<p>The struggles of students like Jennifer call attention to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13021">socioeconomic divides</a> among students who were living off campus all along. These include inequalities in space, quiet and furniture for studying. </p>
<h2>3. Many students are family caregivers, too</h2>
<p>Finally, the pandemic increased many students’ <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7h06q880">caregiving responsibilities</a>, which sometimes limited the time they could spend on schoolwork.</p>
<p>For example, Ashley, a social sciences major, described how she shopped, cooked and managed her younger siblings’ remote schooling while her mom worked a retail job. “It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that I was [home] to help, but it definitely impaired my studies,” she told me. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, Ashley had helped support her family financially from a distance. But her responsibilities grew when she returned home and was the only adult available to help her younger siblings. </p>
<p>Contrary to the popular idea of college as a time of self-focused exploration, recent studies describe ways that some students — often from low-income, minority or immigrant families — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X211064867">support their families</a>. These include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214221134808">sending money home</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2020.1801439">helping siblings with homework</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558418788402">assisting parents with digital technology</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798410372624">chaperoning medical appointments</a>. Such responsibilities are often invisible to university instructors and administrators.</p>
<p>Students are members of families and communities, and they enter the classroom with different resources and responsibilities. Inclusive classrooms require instructors to demonstrate awareness, empathy and flexibility around these differences.</p>
<p>But empathy won’t fix students’ laptops or pay their rent. The pandemic highlighted inequalities that are reinforced by universities designed for so-called <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23137">“traditional” college students</a> — fresh out of high school, living on campus, financially supported by their parents, and having few caregiving responsibilities. Yet <a href="https://www.npr.org/2010/08/24/129402669/typical-college-student-no-longer-so-typical">such students are a privileged minority</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences Predoctoral Training Fellowship Program under award #3505B200035 to the University of Pennsylvania. The opinions expressed are my own and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. I am also grateful for support from Penn’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration and Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences Student Government.</span></em></p>The pandemic put a spotlight on inequalities among college students. But students’ resources were unequal all along.Elena G. van Stee, Doctoral candidate in sociology, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1968712023-02-15T13:23:22Z2023-02-15T13:23:22ZHow records of life’s milestones help solve cold cases, pinpoint health risks and allocate public resources<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510099/original/file-20230214-2190-iexpcg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2117%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Civil registries in the U.S. are spread across different local jurisdictions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/several-certificate-of-vital-records-for-birth-royalty-free-image/1197564062">eric1513/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 65 years, Philadelphia police announced in December 2022 that they had identified the remains of <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/investigators/after-65-years-philadelphia-police-identify-the-boy-in-the-box/3445387/">Joseph Augustus Zarelli</a>, a 4-year-old boy who was murdered in 1957. Because no one had ever come forward to reliably identify Joseph, he became “<a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194953">America’s Unknown Child</a>,” a moniker that captured the tragic anonymity of his early death.</p>
<p>Recent advances in DNA analysis and forensic genealogy <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/boy-in-box-joseph-zarelli/">provided the needed breakthrough</a> to build a genetic profile that connected the boy to surviving members of his mother’s family. But linking that genetic profile to Joseph’s identity required finding his name, a piece of information stored alongside his mother’s on his nearly <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/joseph-zarelli-boy-in-the-box-dna-genealogy-cold-case-20221216.html">70-year-old birth record</a> in the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s vital records system. </p>
<p>While the revolutionary science of genetic genealogy has received <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/boy-in-the-box-philadelphia-murder-mystery-dna-explainer/">well-earned recognition</a> for its contribution to solving this long-standing mystery, the integral role of the more staid vital records system has mostly gone unnoticed. </p>
<p>Vital records are the stalwart administrative backdrop to life’s milestone events: birth, adoption, marriage, divorce and death. When a child is born in the U.S., the parents and hospital staff complete and sign a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/birth11-03final-acc.pdf">certificate of live birth</a> that includes nearly 60 questions about the parents, the pregnancy and the newborn. A local registrar issues a formal birth certificate upon receiving the record as proof of a live birth.</p>
<p>Other vital events follow a similar process. Collectively, the U.S. vital records system comprises <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219884/">records of hundreds of millions of events</a> dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=J2RmiawAAAAJ">family demographer</a>, I use information from these vital records to understand how childbirth, marriage and divorce are changing in the United States over time. The scope and quality of these records reflect remarkable administrative coordination from the local to the national level, but examples from other countries illustrate how much more the records could yet tell us. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">While DNA evidence was instrumental to identify “America’s Unknown Child,” vital records also played an important role.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Vital records mark unique events</h2>
<p>Originally, vital records were intended to publicly register events in order to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219870/">legally recognize</a> the status of the people involved. The two people named on a valid marriage certificate, for example, share the legal protections and obligations of marriage until death or divorce. But over time, vital records have also come to serve as proof of identity. For both purposes, the integrity of the vital records system is critical. </p>
<p>Practically speaking, the system requires a perfect symmetry between people and events. Every recorded event needs to be associated with a unique person or pair of people, in the case of marriage and divorce, and every person or pair needs to be associated with a unique recorded event. Because of this singularity, a <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/citizenship-evidence.html">valid birth certificate</a> is required as proof of an individual’s unique identity to obtain a Social Security card, driver’s license or passport. </p>
<p>The uniqueness of each event also underlies <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/births.htm">how birth, marriage, divorce and death rates are calculated</a>. Double-counted events will artificially inflate these rates, while uncounted events will reduce them. Valid rates are important because governments and businesses rely on accurate measures of population change for <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/NCVHS_Vital_Records_Uses_Costs_Feb_23_2018-1.pdf">planning and investment</a>. </p>
<h2>America’s local approach to vital records</h2>
<p>In the U.S., the vital records system isn’t a single entity. Rather, there is a collection of state and local vital records offices operating independently but in cooperation with the federal government. </p>
<p>Each U.S. state and territory, as well as New York City and Washington, D.C., is its own vital registration jurisdiction, amounting to <a href="https://www.naphsis.org/systems">57 areas in all</a>. And within each jurisdiction, local offices receive and process records and issue certificates. Nationally there are <a href="https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-99-00570.pdf">over 6,000 local registrar offices</a> issuing birth certificates in the city or county where a birth occurred. </p>
<p>In nearly all states, marriage licenses and divorce decrees are certified and filed at the courthouse in the county where the event happened. This local registration system explains why Nevada has the highest marriage rate in the nation: of the <a href="https://weddings.vegas/marriage-services/marriage-statistics/">over 77,000 marriage licenses issued</a> in 2021 in Clark County – home to Las Vegas, America’s wedding capital – more than 60,000 couples provided a home mailing address outside of Nevada.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Marriage license of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, with Elvis' portrait printed in the center" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510128/original/file-20230214-18-l8wspj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Couples who flocked to get married in Las Vegas on 7/7/07 got a copy of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s marriage license.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/detail-view-of-a-copy-of-elvis-and-priscilla-presleys-las-news-photo/75259026">Ethan Miller/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This highly decentralized approach has at least two significant implications. First, because different agencies are responsible for recording different events, there is no straightforward way to assemble an administrative profile for an individual over a lifetime. This challenge is further complicated when records are stored in different jurisdictions as people move and experience events in different places. Name changes – for example, through marriage – and inconsistencies in spellings, dates or other details also potentially impede record matching.</p>
<p>Second, in the absence of a single national repository for vital records, it takes substantial coordination to produce national statistics about vital events. Currently, U.S. jurisdictions send individual-level birth and death records to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/index.htm">National Center for Health Statistics</a> annually, and these records provide the basis for national birth and death statistics overall, including demographic characteristics like age, sex, race and ethnicity. This coordination is costly, time-consuming and often delayed. </p>
<p>In part because of the administrative burden, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage-divorce.htm">states stopped sending</a> detailed individual-level marriage and divorce records to the National Center for Health Statistics in 1995, and now provide only annual counts of these events. As a result, the only accessible way to examine national demographic patterns in marriage or divorce is through surveys, which are subject to nonresponse and reporting errors.</p>
<h2>Centralized approaches to vital recordkeeping</h2>
<p>In contrast to America’s decentralized system, <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/popreg/popregmethods.htm">many countries in Northern Europe</a> have centralized and integrated the collection and maintenance of administrative records related not only to vital events but also to circumstances like change in residence, employment and health care. This approach ensures that residents are <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Children/BirthRegistration/SwedenPopulationRegistration.pdf">continuously registered</a> to receive mail, vote, pay taxes, enroll in school and receive benefits such as housing subsidies at the correct address. It also means that public agencies have full information about their population to inform planning and budgeting.</p>
<p>A centralized system also facilitates rapid turnaround of population statistics. At peak periods during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the U.S. <a href="https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/how-lagging-death-counts-muddied-our-view-of-the-pandemic">lagged behind many other countries</a> in estimating national death rates as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awaited reported counts from public health offices in individual states overwhelmed by the pace and volume of deaths. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of infant's footprints on birth certificate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510118/original/file-20230214-28-1q5c7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vital records like birth certificates document your singularity as an individual.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/infants-footprints-on-birth-certificate-royalty-free-image/79250940">Tetra images/Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vital records integrated with population register data also allow
social scientists, epidemiologists and other researchers to use deidentified linked records to study how <a href="https://ncrr.au.dk/danish-registers">early life conditions shape an individual’s life over time</a>. Using linked records from the Netherlands, for example, researchers have demonstrated that children who were in utero <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2021.1888894">during the 1944 Dutch famine</a> were more likely to have health problems throughout their lives than those born earlier or later.</p>
<p>The U.S. has made some progress toward developing a more centralized and integrated vital records system. A <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/linked-birth.htm">national file linking births to infant deaths</a> has helped scientists study how risk factors like preterm birth and low birth weight contribute to infant mortality. And public health and medical research studies can obtain cause of death information for participants in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ndi/index.htm">National Death Index</a>, a compilation over 100 million death records since 1979. </p>
<p>But further progress is unlikely to happen any time soon. The current system, while cumbersome and incomplete, is well established and reliable. And at a time when the majority of Americans <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/06/06/americans-views-of-government-decades-of-distrust-enduring-support-for-its-role/">lack trust in government</a>, there is little political will or public enthusiasm for a change. </p>
<p>For Joseph Zarelli, the durability of the local vital records system in Philadelphia was enough to answer a question that went unanswered for 65 years: A certificate of live birth registered in 1953 reconnected America’s Unknown Child to his name.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula Fomby receives funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. </span></em></p>Vital records document the birth, death, marriage and divorce of every individual. A more centralized system in the US could help public health researchers better study pandemics and disease.Paula Fomby, Professor of Sociology and Research Associate in Population Studies, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975972023-01-12T13:20:36Z2023-01-12T13:20:36ZHow does a child become a shooter? Research suggests easy access to guns and exposure to screen violence increase the risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504081/original/file-20230111-18-oyusqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C2747%2C1826&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The shooting of an elementary school teacher by one of her students is a shocking example of gun violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-tape-hangs-from-a-sign-post-outside-richneck-news-photo/1246066075?phrase=virginia%20teacher&adppopup=true">Jay Paul/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of a shocking incident in which a <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-grader-who-shot-teacher-in-virginia-is-among-the-youngest-school-shooters-in-us-history-197392">first grader shot and seriously injured a teacher</a> at a school in Newport News, Virginia, the city’s mayor <a href="https://twitter.com/Phil_Jones_757/status/1611843035905785856">asked the question</a>: “How did this happen?” </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/6-year-old-unlikely-charged-teachers-shooting-parents-experts-say-rcna65176">details</a> are now known: The child took the gun from his home, and the firearm was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/09/virginia-teacher-6-year-old-student-authorities-gun-shooting/11020209002/">legally purchased by his mother</a>.</p>
<p>Many other aspects of the incident have yet to be established – not least, the likely many factors that resulted in the boy shooting his teacher. But as <a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/dan-romer-phd">experts in media use</a> <a href="https://comm.osu.edu/people/bushman.20">and its connections to violence</a>, we have reported some disturbing findings about how children are influenced by gun violence depicted in media like television, movies and video games. What makes this more troubling is the fact that <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951">millions of children in the U.S. have easy access</a> to firearms in their homes, increasing the risk of gun deaths, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-easy-access-to-guns-at-home-contributes-to-americas-youth-suicide-problem-187744">including suicides</a>. </p>
<h2>The effect of media violence on children</h2>
<p>Research has shown that the depiction of gun violence is increasing in both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-1600">movies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247780">on TV</a>. Our research found that acts of gun violence in PG-13 movies has nearly tripled in the 30 years since the rating was introduced in 1984. And PG-13 movies are not exclusively watched by teens and above. A <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1018017/pg-13-movie-viewing-age-us/">survey of adults in 2019</a> found that 12% said they were allowed to watch PG-13 movies between the ages of 6 and 9, with 6% saying they watched such films aged even younger.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://homeword.com/2019/01/22/movie-violence-doesnt-make-kids-violent-study-finds/#.Y78jYOzML9E">some skeptics say</a> violent media do not lead children to become more aggressive, a large survey conducted in 2015 found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000046">most pediatricians and media scholars agree</a> that there is a link. </p>
<p>Violent media can also lead children to engage in more dangerous behavior if they find a real gun. In studies one of us conducted, exposure to both <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.2229">movies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4319">video games</a> with guns was found to encourage children ages 8-12 years old to pick up a real gun that had been hidden in a drawer and pull the trigger, including while pointing the gun at themselves or their friend. This behavior was observed by a hidden camera.</p>
<p>This is what can happen if parents do not store a gun in a secure location in the home.</p>
<p>The child in the Virginia shooting was younger than 8 years old, but there is no reason to believe the effects we found would differ in a younger child. In fact, the effects might be stronger in younger children because those younger than about 8 can have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Fake-Fact-and-Fantasy-Childrens-Interpretations-of-Television-Reality/Davies/p/book/9780805820478">more difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy</a>.</p>
<p>Violence in the media can desensitize or numb children to violence. In <a href="https://doi.org//10.1177/0886260515584337">one study</a>, researchers found that “children exposed to multiple sources of violence may become desensitized, increasing the possibility of them imitating the aggressive behaviors they watch and considering such behavior as normal.”</p>
<p>Movies containing gun violence that are rated PG-13 portray the use of guns <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3491">in ways that are unrealistic</a>. The effects of gun use in such films are often sanitized so that one rarely sees much blood or serious harm, unlike what is typically shown in movies that are rated R. This could give a child the sense that using a gun to harm someone is not as dangerous as it actually could be.</p>
<p>What concerns us about these findings is that they come at a time of increased media consumption by younger children. A <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2021">2021 report</a> by Common Sense Media found that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/health/covid-kids-tech-use.html">media use by children has risen faster</a> in the two years since the pandemic than the four years before. <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2798256">Research has found</a> that children ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old spent an average of more than three hours a day on screens and consuming media during the pandemic. </p>
<h2>Guns in the home</h2>
<p>Children are naturally curious, and adults often <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951">underestimate their ability to find guns</a> hidden in the home. As one <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/09/health/gun-safety-tips-for-home-parents-children-wellness/index.html">firearms expert noted</a>, “Their brains are developing. That same curiosity that can inspire them to pick up a book and want to learn how to read can inspire them to go looking for a parent’s gun.” </p>
<p>And the U.S. has <a href="https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/database/global-firearms-holdings">far more</a> civilian-owned guns per capita than any country in the world, with 120.5 guns per 100 residents – the next highest country is Yemen, with 52.8 guns per 100 residents.</p>
<p>The U.S. is also an outlier when it comes to gun-related violence, with rates about <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier">23 times higher</a> than in other developed countries. </p>
<p>Figures from the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety show that every year <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/">more than 300 people are either wounded or killed</a> in unintentional shootings by children. Data on the number of people shot by children intentionally is not, to our knowledge, available.</p>
<p>It is vital for gun owners to lock away firearms, unloaded, with ammunition stored separately – especially if there are children in the home. The <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/state-advocacy/safe-storage-of-firearms/">American Academy of Pediatrics</a> recommends that all guns be secured to decrease “the risk of both unintentional gun injuries and intentional shootings.” Roughly a third of U.S. homes with children have guns, but <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2018/survey-more-than-half-of-u-s-gun-owners-do-not-safely-store-their-guns">less than half</a> of gun owners secure their guns. As of 2022, an estimated <a href="https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Handguns-in-the-Home.aspx">4.6 million children in the U.S.</a> live in a home with unlocked, loaded guns.</p>
<p>What drove the child at an elementary school in Virginia to shoot his teacher is something that is not publicly known. But what the research clearly shows is that exposure to gun violence in media and easy access to firearms around the home all serve to increase the risks of any child picking up a gun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Romer receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Bushman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Watching gun violence on screen can desensitize children to the harm caused by firearms.Brad Bushman, Professor of Communication and Rinehart Chair of Mass Communication, The Ohio State UniversityDan Romer, Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1971692023-01-05T13:28:19Z2023-01-05T13:28:19ZTalking across the political aisle isn’t a cure-all - but it does help reduce hostility<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502986/original/file-20230103-70262-i01ayc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Americans tend to not cross their political divides amicably. New research shows what helps this actually happen. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1306503806/photo/crowds-standing-on-two-separated-zones.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=-iHFW6BsnGt9LHENiKhLkJ0kYYWJP1OJFVkxY1uBLI8=">Orbon Alija</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Simmering tension in American politics came to a head two years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. The <a href="https://clinecenter.illinois.edu/coup-detat-project/statement_jan.27.2021">failed insurrection</a> on Jan. 6, 2021, resulted in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html">several deaths and injuries to almost 150 police officers</a>. </p>
<p>But on the cusp of the November 2022 midterm elections, the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/poll-61-republicans-still-believe-biden-didnt-win-fair-square-2020-rcna49630">majority of Republicans</a> said they still believed the false claim asserted by the Capitol rioters – that President Joe Biden won in 2020 because of voter fraud.</p>
<p>The Jan. 6 riots are an extreme example of what happens when a country becomes trapped in a cycle of polarization and distrust. But that does not mean there is no hope for bridging that divide.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=05S4uMoAAAAJ&hl=en">We are</a> political science <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RIAXDbwAAAAJ&hl=en">scholars who</a> specialize in political polarization. Our recent work suggests that while there is no quick fix to the problems of polarization and animosity, there are ways to lower the temperature of the country’s politics. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A middle aged white woman wearing a red shirt and hat extends her hand into the face of another white person with dark hair and a hat. Behind her stand protesters with American flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502987/original/file-20230103-3468-s5lgny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Trump supporter places her hand in the face of a counter protester in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1237713637/photo/president-donald-trump-supporters-protest-the-election-results-in-st-paul-minnesota.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=UX9wLixmNe0P_7LGkU8J490ZKV5uIkoiG99HdOEwHBM=">The Washington Post/Contributor</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Talking can bring the temperature down</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/winter-2021/america-is-exceptional-in-its-political-divide">80% of registered voters</a> — Democrats and Republicans alike — said in October 2020 that their differences with the other side were about core American values, not just differences of opinion. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/as-partisan-hostility-grows-signs-of-frustration-with-the-two-party-system/">Majorities</a> of both registered Republicans and Democrats also have called the other side immoral and dishonest in 2022 public opinion polls. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, then, few voters and most people do not want to talk to those on the other side of the aisle, thinking it will be a waste of time. </p>
<p>The truth of the matter, however, is quite different. </p>
<p>We conducted an academic study throughout 2019, bringing people who said they identified as either Republicans or Democrats together in person for cross-party conversations. We intended to examine the effects of in-person discussion on polarization. </p>
<p>In total, we hosted over 500 people from around metropolitan Philadelphia in community centers, libraries, schools and any other venue that might have us. The results of this experiment, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/we-need-to-talk/3564AAE9352AD63929C2DFC22D8FB9EF">released in</a> November 2021 in a short book titled “We Need to Talk,” suggest that such conversations offer a pathway to minimizing animosity. </p>
<p>In our work, we found that in-person conversations with people from the other side of the political spectrum reduced partisan hostility by almost 20%. </p>
<p>Participants first read a short article suggesting that there is a surprising amount of consensus and common ground among Republicans and Democrats. Every participant then took turns expressing their agreement or disagreement with the text, and then were asked to discuss American politics more broadly. </p>
<p>Each group talked for approximately 15 minutes. In order to ensure that people felt comfortable expressing themselves, we did not record or monitor their conversations in any way. We also asked that people remain civil and respectful and to stick to a specific issue or problem. </p>
<p>These conversations have several different effects. First, they help people to see that sometimes the parties share <a href="https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/publications/unstable-majorities-polarization-party-sorting-and-political-stalemate">common ground</a>. Conversation exposes that people can agree on some issues, at least some of the time. </p>
<p>Second, conversation also helps people better understand other people’s point of view, and may also help them see that other people might have a valid reason for their beliefs. </p>
<p>Importantly, this depolarizing effect did not disappear the moment participants left the group discussions. When we interviewed people a week later, we found that talking it out had a lasting impact on the participants. </p>
<p>One of our favorite moments while conducting this study came after one of our first sessions at a public library in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Several people stayed after the study in order to continue their conversations, to the point where the librarian had to come in and ask us to leave, as the room was needed for the next group that had reserved it. </p>
<h2>In-person benefits</h2>
<p>When people think of those from the other political party, they have a rather <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/697253">warped view</a> of who that person is. For example, Americans think that almost 1 in 3 Democrats are LGBTQ, while, in reality, only 6% are. Because people mostly interact with those like themselves, their views of the other party are heavily influenced by the mass media. Many media sources — <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/23/national-politics-on-twitter-small-share-of-u-s-adults-produce-majority-of-tweets/">especially social media sites</a> — tend to amplify the loudest and most extreme voices on both sides, drowning out the bulk of people in the middle.</p>
<p>But as we found in our research, when people see that not all people in the other party are extremists, they realize that they might have painted the other party with too broad of a brush.</p>
<p>Practically, this kind of engagement can have different possible effects – including reducing political violence like what occurred on Jan. 6. </p>
<p>How, then, can Americans be encouraged to bridge the political divide and find common ground? That is hard, no doubt, but there are many <a href="https://www.bridgealliance.us/our_members_bridging_ideological_divides">civic groups</a> that are working to do just that. For example, we’re both members of the scholars council for the bipartisan organization <a href="https://braverangels.org/">Braver Angels</a>, which is an independent group bringing Americans together, trying to bridge political divides on many different issues. </p>
<p><a href="https://livingroomconversations.org/">Many</a> <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/opinion/2021/02/07/opinion-how-my-neighbors-voice-building-unity-greenville/4371286001/">other</a> nonprofit groups like this exist throughout the country, and a number of foundations and <a href="https://www.civichealthproject.org/">other groups</a> are supporting that important work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cartoon drawing shows a woman with yellow hair, holding up her hands, facing towards a man with blue hair, also gesturing with his hand. They speak into speech bubbles that have elipses in them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502988/original/file-20230103-105135-palg6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conversations between Republicans and Democrats for just 15 minutes helped people find common ground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1297359834/vector/business-person-have-a-talk.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=36D5FOeaH6P1CQIP3YATk50wU4o048F5MOlm9CSqulI=">iStock / Getty Images Plus</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s in people’s own hands</h2>
<p>Bridging these divides is ultimately up to all Americans. Most people avoid in-person political discussions across lines of disagreement because <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/11/05/more-now-say-its-stressful-to-discuss-politics-with-people-they-disagree-with/">they fear</a> confrontation and discomfort. </p>
<p>But if people enter a conversation with an open mind — and a willingness to hear the other side without trying to persuade them — they will likely learn something. Obviously, given most people’s social networks, this is not an opportunity that arises every day. But if it does, it presents an important opportunity to learn more about those from the other party, and how you might have some common ground. There are <a href="https://www.listenfirstproject.org/listen-first-conversations-complete-guide">many guides online</a> to having such conversations that can help people get started.</p>
<p>To be clear, conversation is not a cure-all for political division and animosity, and there will be divides that cannot be bridged. The goal is not unanimity, but a better understanding of one another. </p>
<p>There is no quick fix to the country’s political divisions, but through good faith conversation, Americans may be able to lower the political temperature, at least a little bit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In-person conversations between Republicans and Democrats lasting just 15 minutes were found to lessen political animus, research shows.Dominik Stecuła, Assistant professor of political science, Colorado State UniversityMatthew Levendusky, Professor of political science, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872382022-08-11T12:14:33Z2022-08-11T12:14:33ZAt 75, Pakistan has moved far from the secular and democratic vision of its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476580/original/file-20220728-32863-63te5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C2901%2C2057&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mohammad Ali Jinnah addressing the assembly in Karachi on Aug. 15, 1947, after the creation of Pakistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanJinnahandMountbatten1947/0b799f7f407344be8715b0240f948c69/photo?Query=jinnah&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=195&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This month marks the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence and of its Partition from British India in a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">devastating process</a> that uprooted more than 15 million people and resulted in 1 million to 2 million dead. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs – communities that had coexisted for hundreds of years – all participated in the sectarian violence. Countless people have borne the scars from these events over multiple generations. </p>
<p>Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, sought to create a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">democratic, egalitarian and secular</a> country where the Muslims of the subcontinent, who constituted about <a href="https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/hindu-muslim-communal-riots-india-i-1947-1986.html">25%</a> of the population, could enjoy full equality. For most of his life, he sought to achieve this equality within an undivided Hindu-majority India. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">Later</a> he became convinced that a separate homeland was necessary to realize such equality.</p>
<p>Today, widespread and escalating <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/19/india-government-policies-actions-target-minorities">violence against Indian Muslims</a> under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691206806/modis-india">right-wing, Hindu-nationalist</a> rule seems to confirm Jinnah’s fears.</p>
<p>Jinnah died just a year after Pakistan was born. As a <a href="https://ir.sas.upenn.edu/people/farah-jan">scholar of South Asia</a>, I know that in the years that followed, the military and the business elite consolidated their power and helped shape a country that bears little resemblance to his vision – although many continue to fight for it. </p>
<h2>Pakistan today</h2>
<p>Ideology and religion are divisive forces in Pakistan today – from <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/sectarian-terror-strikes-pakistan-again/">sectarian violence</a> against Shia Muslims to the state’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48204815">blasphemy laws</a> that authorize a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Religion, as interpreted by the state, plays a significant role in politics and governance. An example of its harmful role can be seen in the deterioration of the rights of <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-pakistans-ahmadis-and-why-havent-they-voted-in-30-years-100797">Ahmadis</a>, members of a religious minority targeted by the state. </p>
<p>Other religious minorities also face discrimination, with <a href="https://hrwf.eu/pakistan-statistics-about-victims-of-blasphemy-laws-1987-2021/">Christians</a> subject to particularly harsh treatment. According to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/">Pew Research</a> statistics, 75% of Pakistanis say blasphemy laws are necessary to protect Islam, while only 6% say blasphemy laws unfairly target minorities. </p>
<p>Pakistan also remains on a turbulent political and economic trajectory. The army has been in direct control of the state for most of its existence, with four military coups and decades of military rule since 1958. The military and notorious intelligence services remain in direct <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/pakistan/will-pakistans-military-lose-its-grip-power">control of domestic and foreign policy</a>, making decisions to protect their power and economic interests, including vast <a href="http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745399010/military-inc/">commercial holdings</a>. </p>
<p>Economically, Pakistan has <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/pakistan-stares-at-bankruptcy-as-economic-crisis-worsens/articleshow/92512596.cms">lagged behind</a> other developing countries, with <a href="https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3186274/political-pressure-crippling-efforts-stave-economic-crisis-pakistan">debt as high as 71.3%</a> of its GDP. <a href="https://mhrc.lums.edu.pk/why-do-income-and-wealth-inequalities-matter-for-pakistan/">Inequality is high</a>, with the top 10% of households owning 60% of the national wealth, and the bottom 60% owning just 10%. </p>
<p>The elite <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2010/09/15/pakistan-s-roller-coaster-economy-tax-evasion-stifles-growth-pub-41562%209-10">evade taxes</a> on a massive scale, contributing to the country’s economic instability. While millions live in <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/1509963/rising-inequality-pakistan">dire poverty and hunger</a>, the government’s spending to mitigate poverty is among the <a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/knowledge-products/SDD-SP-Social-Outlook-v14-1-E.pdf">lowest</a> in the region. Dissidents, human rights activists and <a href="https://cpj.org/asia/pakistan/">journalists</a> face <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/south-asia/pakistan/report-pakistan/">censorship and repression</a>.</p>
<p>Jinnah had hoped for much better.</p>
<h2>Jinnah: An advocate for Muslims in British India</h2>
<p>Born in Karachi in 1876 to a Muslim family, Jinnah was first educated at a local Muslim school and later at Karachi’s Christian Missionary Society High School.</p>
<p>At 16, Jinnah was sent to London, where he decided to study law. After returning to India, he established himself in Bombay as a successful and eloquent lawyer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men -- one dressed in a white suit and another with a white shawl draped over him -- standing next to one another and laughing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Happier days: Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatma Gandhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muhammad-ali-jinnah-lawyer-politician-and-the-founder-of-news-photo/985011434?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jinnah <a href="https://pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/political_career.html">joined</a> the Indian National Congress in 1906, becoming part of the largest Indian political party organizing for independence from British colonial rule. At this time, he was the foremost proponent of Hindu-Muslim harmony in India and pursued a strategy of a unified front against the British.</p>
<p>He considered himself “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">a staunch Congressman</a>” and rejected political organizing that separated Muslims and Hindus in India. Accordingly, Jinnah delayed joining the All-India Muslim League, the political party formed to represent the rights and concerns of the Muslims of British India, until 1913. For years he remained a member of both parties.</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s concerns over Hindu nationalism</h2>
<p>Jinnah’s faith in the Congress party would wane, and he resigned in 1920. He was increasingly concerned with Congress’ growing emphasis on India’s <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo3637242.html">Hindu identity</a> and the lack of political representation for the country’s Muslim minority.</p>
<p>Jinnah was also deeply disturbed by the emergence of right-wing Hindu nationalist groups like the <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-hindu-nationalist-movement-in-india/9780231103350">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS</a>, a violent paramilitary group that drew inspiration from <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/21/india-kashmir-modi-eu-hindu-nationalists-rss-the-far-right-is-going-global/">European fascist parties</a>, opposed Muslim-Hindu unity and increasingly sought to force Muslims to convert or leave India. </p>
<p>In 1934, Jinnah was unanimously elected as the president of the Muslim League, and he continued to advocate for the rights of Muslims in a unified India. He did not embrace dividing the Indian subcontinent into separate Muslim-majority and Hindu-majority areas <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">until the 1940s</a>.</p>
<p>In this period, escalating sectarian violence stoked by both Hindu and Muslim right-wing groups, and Congress’ refusal to accept a federation in which Muslim-majority regions enjoyed greater political representation, contributed to foreclosing an alternative to partition. During this period, Jinnah stressed that Muslims would never enjoy security and full equality in the Hindu-majority nation. </p>
<p>Jinnah eventually led the Muslims of India to form a nation of their own with the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He insisted that this new nation be a secular democratic country with equal rights for all who resided there.</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s vision for a secular Pakistan</h2>
<p>Jinnah <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010316506&view=1up&seq=119&skin=2021&q1=Jinnah">emphasized the necessity of secular education</a> to improve social and economic conditions in the Muslim community, argued for <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010316506&view=1up&seq=119&skin=2021&q1=Jinnah">equality between the sexes</a> and advocated for the discarding of the parda, or veil. </p>
<p>Jinnah did not write a book or memoir, but his speeches give an insight into his vision for Pakistan. Notably, his speech a few days before becoming Pakistan’s first president, delivered on Aug. 11, 1947, expressed his secular aspirations for the newly formed country. In it he <a href="https://na.gov.pk/en/content.php?id=74">stressed</a>: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” </p>
<p>Four days later, on Aug. 14, 1947, British India was divided into the independent nations of Pakistan and India. As the first president of Pakistan, Jinnah again emphasized his secular vision for the new country, <a href="https://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/constituent_address_11aug1947.html">saying</a>, “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. … We are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s dream unrealized</h2>
<p>Jinnah’s achievement remains a significant milestone of the 20th century. But 75 years later, Pakistan is far from the country he envisioned.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Happy Independence Day billboard with images of founder leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pakistan today is far from the country that its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, envisaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanIndependenceDay/8fd8945d17c24ae08ba8f966e82ad0a3/photo?Query=pakistan%20jinnah&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=180&currentItemNo=53">AP Photo/Anjum Naveed</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People from the region, nostalgic for a unified country and cognizant of the suffering during Partition and beyond, sometimes express that it might have been better if they had not been divided based on their <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">religious identity</a> but had instead continued the struggle for a pluralistic society with equal rights for all. Others maintain that <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/jinnah-was-right-but-pakistan-has-a-long-way-to-go-38894">Jinnah was right</a> to conclude that Muslims in India were bound to face continued violence and be treated as second-class citizens in a Hindu-majority country.</p>
<p>What is certain is that Jinnah’s dream of a compassionate homeland for the minorities of the subcontinent remains unrealized. But glimmers of it have lived on in movements and people who have gone on to dream of a more equitable, inclusive and just Pakistan. </p>
<p>For example, Christian and Muslim landless farmers in the <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26757">Peasant Movement</a>, one of the largest and most successful land rights movements in South Asia, have resisted violent efforts to quash their demands for a more equitable society. Some 80,000 lawyers were part of the <a href="https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/pakistans-lawyers-movement-2007-2009/">Lawyers Movement</a>, which challenged the power of the military and fought for a free and independent judiciary. And individuals such as human rights activist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-life-and-death-of-sabeen-mahmud">Sabeen Mahmud</a> have paid with their lives for their dream of a just and pluralist Pakistan. </p>
<p>And while today’s Pakistan is far from Jinnah’s vision, the work of these people and movements reflects the famous words of Pakistan’s most <a href="https://mronline.org/2010/07/17/the-dawn-of-freedom-august-1947/">celebrated revolutionary poet</a>, Faiz Ahmed Faiz: “We must [continue to] search for that promised Dawn.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farah N. Jan has received funding from Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. Thanks to Leili Kashani for contributing ideas and edits to this piece.</span></em></p>Jinnah insisted on secular education, gender equality and equal rights for minorities – all of which remain unrealized dreams in Pakistan.Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.