That racist Kamala Harris birther conspiracy is nothing new \u2014 Wired<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\nWired<\/em> turned to two Bates professors to explain what\u2019s going on with the conspiracy theories about Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“[Harris] could show us a home video of her being born and it wouldn\u2019t matter now. Rhetoric doesn\u2019t have to be accurate to be effective.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Whether such theories, such as the birther one about Harris, are true or not is not the point, says Professor of English Ther\u00ed Pickens, whose areas of expertise include African American cultural studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[Harris] could show us a home video of her being born and it wouldn\u2019t matter now. Rhetoric doesn\u2019t have to be accurate to be effective,\u201d she told reporter Emma Grey Ellis, who noted that the rhetorical strategies being used, conspiracy theorizing and appeals to racism, \u201chave been handed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years while remaining largely unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And why are there so many conspiracy theories? Because they work, and are particularly effective in the political arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConspiracy is always a way to cause doubt,\u201d says Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano, who is teaching the course \u201cPresidential Campaign Rhetoric\u201d this fall. When people have doubt, they\u2019re harder to mobilize. \u201cPeople stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Read the story: \u201cThat racist Kamala Harris birther conspiracy is nothing new,<\/a>\u201d Wired<\/em>, Aug. 19, 2020<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAyesha Sharma \u201918<\/h4>\n\n\n\nCivil death: How millions of Americans lost the right to vote \u2014 The Guardian<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\nIn a powerful historical overview of how America has disenfranchised millions of citizens, Ayesha Sharma \u201918 explores the concept of \u201ccivil death…a form of punishment that extinguishes someone\u2019s civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/09\/master-pnp-ds-05200-05267u.jpg\")
Black demonstrators outside the White House in 1965 protest voting restrictions and police brutality against civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Ala. (Warren K. Leffler\/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCivil death has been \u201creshaped and reinterpreted over many generations, persisting in the form of felony disenfranchisement, through which a citizen loses their right to vote due to a felony conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some six million Americans \u201ccannot vote in the country\u2019s elections because of some form of civil death,\u201d Sharma writes. Restricting the number of people who can vote in elections \u201cgoes back to the colonies” in its racist underpinnings. “It\u2019s a history that has disproportionately affected black people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Read the story: \u201cCivil death: How millions of Americans lost the right to vote,<\/a>\u201d The Guardian<\/em>, Aug. 7, 2020<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nJ.J. Cummings ’89<\/h4>\n\n\n\nMemories and a mission: USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> marks 9\/11 while proving it can perform at sea \u2014 Daily Press<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n“Capt. J.J. Cummings, out at sea on USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> for this Sept. 11, can\u2019t help thinking of another 9\/11 \u2014 that awful morning 19 years ago,” writes reporter Dave Ress of the Daily Press<\/em> of Newport News, Va.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNow commander of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier<\/a>, Cummings was a young naval aviator in 2001, about to deploy to the Middle East. At home, he saw the second plane hit the South Tower. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it then, but I watched, live, as two of my friends died,\u201d Cummings told Ress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"J.J.](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/08\/180810_Cummings_4636362-900x600.jpg\")
J.J. Cummings ’89 (right) assumes command of USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> during the ship\u2019s change of command ceremony on Aug. 10, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Cat Campbell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
“[Harris] could show us a home video of her being born and it wouldn\u2019t matter now. Rhetoric doesn\u2019t have to be accurate to be effective.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Whether such theories, such as the birther one about Harris, are true or not is not the point, says Professor of English Ther\u00ed Pickens, whose areas of expertise include African American cultural studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[Harris] could show us a home video of her being born and it wouldn\u2019t matter now. Rhetoric doesn\u2019t have to be accurate to be effective,\u201d she told reporter Emma Grey Ellis, who noted that the rhetorical strategies being used, conspiracy theorizing and appeals to racism, \u201chave been handed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years while remaining largely unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And why are there so many conspiracy theories? Because they work, and are particularly effective in the political arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConspiracy is always a way to cause doubt,\u201d says Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano, who is teaching the course \u201cPresidential Campaign Rhetoric\u201d this fall. When people have doubt, they\u2019re harder to mobilize. \u201cPeople stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Read the story: \u201cThat racist Kamala Harris birther conspiracy is nothing new,<\/a>\u201d Wired<\/em>, Aug. 19, 2020<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAyesha Sharma \u201918<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Civil death: How millions of Americans lost the right to vote \u2014 The Guardian<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In a powerful historical overview of how America has disenfranchised millions of citizens, Ayesha Sharma \u201918 explores the concept of \u201ccivil death…a form of punishment that extinguishes someone\u2019s civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black demonstrators outside the White House in 1965 protest voting restrictions and police brutality against civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Ala. (Warren K. Leffler\/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Civil death has been \u201creshaped and reinterpreted over many generations, persisting in the form of felony disenfranchisement, through which a citizen loses their right to vote due to a felony conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some six million Americans \u201ccannot vote in the country\u2019s elections because of some form of civil death,\u201d Sharma writes. Restricting the number of people who can vote in elections \u201cgoes back to the colonies” in its racist underpinnings. “It\u2019s a history that has disproportionately affected black people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Read the story: \u201cCivil death: How millions of Americans lost the right to vote,<\/a>\u201d The Guardian<\/em>, Aug. 7, 2020<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nJ.J. Cummings ’89<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Memories and a mission: USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> marks 9\/11 while proving it can perform at sea \u2014 Daily Press<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
“Capt. J.J. Cummings, out at sea on USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> for this Sept. 11, can\u2019t help thinking of another 9\/11 \u2014 that awful morning 19 years ago,” writes reporter Dave Ress of the Daily Press<\/em> of Newport News, Va.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now commander of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier<\/a>, Cummings was a young naval aviator in 2001, about to deploy to the Middle East. At home, he saw the second plane hit the South Tower. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it then, but I watched, live, as two of my friends died,\u201d Cummings told Ress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
J.J. Cummings ’89 (right) assumes command of USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em> during the ship\u2019s change of command ceremony on Aug. 10, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Cat Campbell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"Marsden](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/07\/Hartley-Cannes.jpg\")