Below is just one quote from Soltis in a Forbes-published interview. You can read more on Soltis HERE.
Forbes.com
November 16, 2017
Freedom University: Educating Undocumented Young People In Georgia
Koteles: How can documented people support undocumented people?
Soltis: Documented people like myself can start by recognizing that the undocumented experience actually has a lot to teach us. First and foremost, it challenges us to rethink basic notions of citizenship: is citizenship defined by how we act or the arbitrary location of our birth? It challenges us to think about how we as U.S. citizens benefit from a current world system of global apartheid, where some people can travel across borders freely to study abroad, to go on vacation, to learn from cultural exchanges, while others — primarily people of color from formerly colonized countries — are confined to the borders in which they were born. HERE
Emiko Soltis: “Undocumented is racial code. None of these bans would’ve been passed if they said, “Let’s ban brown students.” “
WABE News – Closer Look. February 2, 2016 HERE. Hosts, Jim Burrus and Rose Scott
Speaker 1: Georgia’s University system got what they consider a win from the state Supreme Court, yesterday, when Justice’s decided the Board of Regents can’t be sued by a group of students. That’s because the Supreme Court said, “The Board of Regents is immune from lawsuits.”
Speaker 2: But, the students vow to continue their fight. They’re a group of students who have graduated from Georgia High Schools and had temporary protection from deportation, also known as [DACA 00:00:30] students.
Speaker 1: Now, some of them even say a Regent’s policy that bans them from the state’s top colleges, based on tuition, is racist. Martha Dalton has more.
Martha: This is an audition for the Freedom University Singers. Freedom U is an underground school in Atlanta for undocumented students who want to go to college.
Emiko Soltis: We get our inspiration from the Freedom Schools of The Black Freedom Movement and Freedom Summer, 1964.
Martha: Emiko Soltis runs this school in a secret location. She says, “Like the Freedom Schools of the 60s, Freedom U teaches students how to effectively organize and protest, with lessons in civil disobedience.”
Emiko: And, we provide tuition free, college level classes.
Martha: The school was founded in 2011, after the Board of Regents banned undocumented students from its top 5 universities, even if they graduated from a Georgia High School. Soltis says, “In doing so, the Regents reverted to old southern segregation laws.”
Emiko Soltis: When we look at the exact same Universities that are banning undocumented students, yes, it’s only 5. But, those 5 Universities also banned black students in 1960, and that is absolutely not a coincidence.
Martha: Civil Rights leaders have also chimed in when Universities restrict access for undocumented students. Georgia Congressman John Lewis addressed the issue when he spoke at Emory University’s 2014 graduation ceremony.
John: It doesn’t make sense that we live in a country where more than 12 million people are living in the shadow, living in fear. That is not right. That is not fair and that is not just. And, you must get in the way and find a way to make the way out of no way.
Martha: After his speech, Emory, which is private, changed its tuition policy for undocumented students, so more could attend. Georgia’s public universities aren’t the only ones in the south restricting admissions for undocumented students. South Carolina and Alabama don’t allow undocumented students to attend any state colleges. To Emiko Soltis, that, “[inaudible 00:02:27] of the old south, where discrimination was written into law.”
Emiko Soltis: “Undocumented is racial code. None of these bans would’ve been passed if they said, “Let’s ban brown students.” “
Martha: The University System of Georgia declined to be interviewed for this story, but issued a statement saying it’s following state law, to make sure only those lawfully present get in-state benefits. But, Freedom U student Melissa [Rivas 00:02:48] Triana says she is lawfully present.
Melissa: I was able to apply and get my work permit and then I got a license, so it’s like I have 2 forms of ID now.
Martha: She’s what’s known as a DACA student. She can’t be deported right now, under federal orders, and the interpretation of what it means to be lawfully present is at the heart of the lawsuit the students are waging against the state. Salvador Alvarado doesn’t see the tuition restrictions as racist or a form of segregation. He’s also a Freedom U student and says his main gripe is that the policy that keeps him from getting a college education at a public school in Georgia just makes no sense.
Salvador: You’re limiting he or she to a high school education, where you later on expect that person to get a job and contribute to society, but how is that person able to contribute when he has a low income job or he is limited to what he can do, based on his education?
Martha: Alvarado has a college scholarship, but he might go out of state because top schools like UGA, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State can’t consider him. Students like Alvarado could attend other Georgia public colleges, but they’d have to pay out of state tuition, which is often 3 to 4 times higher, and then there’s Freedom University.
Speaker 8: Yay.
Speaker 9: Good job, yeah.
Martha: Students don’t get college credit for the courses they take, but organizers say, “It opens doors for Georgia’s undocumented students to Universities and scholarships in other states.” Martha Dalton, WABE News.
“The Alliant Energy Corporation, where Davis served variously as President, CEO, and Chairman from 1998 to 2006 when he became Georgia’s USG Chancellor sponsors the Erroll B. Davis, Jr. Achievement Award. But, not all students are eligible. To receive the tuition help, students must be either legal immigrants or, (gulp)…U.S. citizens.”
And white students need not apply.
Macon Telegraph
December 9, 2016
OPINION
D.A. King
Georgia’s former University System of Georgia ( USG ) Chancellor, Erroll Davis, was recently quoted in the AJC as saying that the current policy of keeping illegal aliens out of some USG schools and charging them out-of-state tuition at the remaining institutions equated to segregationist “Jim Crow” laws.
Trained on coverage by the New York Times Institute on Immigration Reporting at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the Institute for Justice and Journalism on Immigration, the AJC’s Jeremy Redmon wrote “Davis, who is black, said he sees parallels between the enforcement of those policies today and the Jim Crow era when African-Americans were barred from certain public institutions…”
Davis has had a change of heart on the restrictions. He was chancellor when the above policy was implemented, but he is not alone in the disgusting comparison. The “it’s Jim Crow!” angle on mainstream America’s objection to rewarding illegal immigration is boilerplate rhetoric for the totalitarian, anti-borders crowd.
Davis’ race-baiting here approaches that of Emiko Soltis who is Executive Director and Professor of Human Rights and Social Movements at something calling itself “Freedom University”. According to its website, “Freedom University is a modern-day freedom school based in Atlanta. We provide rigorous college preparation classes, college and scholarship application assistance, and leadership development for undocumented students in Georgia.”
Erroll Davis photo: USG
The ‘college prep’ courses aimed at victims of borders at Georgia’s FU include *‘Border Studies: Immigration, Identity, and the Undocumented Student Movement’
* A People’s History of the United States
* Mindfulness and Compassion: The Science, Theory, and Practice of Meditation
* Race, Immigration, and Incarceration in the United States
* Human Rights in the United States: History, Theory, and Skill-Building for Social Change
* Global Migration in the Americas: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Labor.
“None of these bans would’ve been passed if they said, “let’s ban brown students.” Soltis explained to the WABE “Closer Look” crew.
It looks like both Davis and Soltis may be trying to say that protecting our university system for residents with legal status is a civil rights violation. Or that all minorities are illegal aliens. Or that all illegal aliens are minorities. It’s confusing. Somebody should ask them about it.
For readers trying to sort through the confusing priorities of the identity politics/ illegal alien lobby and keep score on all this, add the fact that former Chancellor Erroll Davis is quite proud of a scholarship program administered in his name.
The Alliant Energy Corporation, where Davis served variously as President, CEO, and Chairman from 1998 to 2006 when he became Georgia’s USG Chancellor sponsors the Erroll B. Davis, Jr. Achievement Award. But, not all students are eligible. To receive the tuition help, students must be either legal immigrants or, (gulp)…U.S. citizens.
And white students need not apply.
To be considered for the Erroll B. Davis Academic Achievement Award, student applicants must be “African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian, Southeast Asian or from a racial or ethnic group traditionally underrepresented in the fields of Engineering or Business.”
Maybe WABE will take a “closer look” at the difference in opinion on college admissions and what constitutes “racial code?”
Georgia voters have their own opinions on illegal aliens and higher education. In the last state-wide poll, two-thirds of Georgians wanted to bar “the undocumented” from attending taxpayer-funded state universities – at any tuition rate.
This majority outlook reflects the intent of 2006 state legislation, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, part of which was written to keep all illegals out of all tax-funded post secondary schools.
Regardless of what the soon-to-be President Trump does or does not do in office, Georgia lawmakers should take a stand and clarify state laws on admissions and any public subsidies to any post-secondary education of any illegal aliens.
Let’s not allow Emiko Soltis and Erroll Davis to dictate Georgia’s higher-ed policy. HERE
D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society Twitter: @DAKDIS
Emico Soltis Ph.D.: “Undocumented is racial code. None of these bans would’ve been passed if they said, “Let’s ban brown students.” “
This woman is teaching illegal aliens about America. We think she is a “hater.”
Laura Emiko Soltis, Ph.D. ( @lesoltis )
Professor of Human Rights and Documentary Photography
Professor Soltis received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, where she was awarded the Foundation Fellowship. Emiko received her PhD from Emory University and wrote her dissertation on the human rights strategies and cultural practices of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an interracial farmworker organization in South Florida. Her research and teaching interests include social movement theory, global studies, farmworker movements, racial formation theory, music and social movements, and documentary photography. Having served as a longtime student activist, Emiko is committed to mentoring undocumented youth and providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to be effective leaders in their own freedom struggle.
Executive Director, Freedom University
The four-minute audio linked above is an out-take from the February 2, 2016 edition of the “Closer Look” show on Atlanta’s NPR affiliate, (award winning!) WABE News. For years we have noted that WABE News has dropped all pretense of fairness, balance or real journalism. They have exceeded expectations here. Although the station is mostly an echo chamber for increasingly batty far-left “thinkers”, sometimes the goop they put out can serve as an educational tool for normal Americans.
Listen as the WABE News reporters collect and air the observation from an anti-borders, race-baiting thinker, Emiko Soltis, Ph.D., who has informed us al that the formerly inaccurate term “undocumented” used for illegal aliens is now unacceptable. Because “racial code.”
We will have some fun with this for awhile.
It is easy to see why the staff at WABE News keeps dissenting views out of their broadcasts.
You can learn more about Atlanta’s “Freedom University” HERE. And HERE. For insight into what the teachers led by Emiko Soltis are teaching the already resentful illegal alien students, see HERE.
A notable course example:
Fall Term II, 2013
Gender Identities and Writing the Self
Dr. Dana Bultman, Dr.JoBeth Allen
November 17- December 15
This five-week mini-course will analyze and discuss gender, masculinity, and femininity as concepts that shape our social, political and economic relationships and that, in turn, we can use consciously to shape our lives. We will examine how imposed gender definitions and sexualities—found in the pervasiveness of media images, inherited ideals, and rules embedded in common language—are made to seem natural and used to structure and limit our access to power and privilege in U.S. society. As we explore questions of bodies, relationships, and consumerism, we will work on being mindful of our own and our peers’ multiple and intersecting race/ethnicity, class, and gender/sexuality identities. We will do this by reflecting on our own positions throughout the course through writing and open discussion. The material will be challenging, sometimes shocking and often very personal, so each student’s past experiences and processing of our themes over time will be respected in an environment that puts our individual perspectives in dialogue.
You can contact the thinkers at “Freedom University” HERE.
The liberal and often wildly inaccurate AJC crew do not want you to read a coming new conservative website. And they are willing to prove it.
While we know nothing about something called ‘Georgia Star’ (update, Jan 16, 2021 Georgia Star News here) it is apparently heavy on the Atlanta Journal Constitution editor’s minds. They have run two separate hits warning readers against what the AJC calls “really fake news.”
The editors also rely on the fellow travelers at far-left SPLC-like Media Matters to “prove” their allegation of wrong thought and the admonition to dismiss what ever you may read in a news outlet that isn’t even open yet. “So before you “like,” “subscribe,” or “forward,” a story you just can’t believe, consider the source” say the keepers of the new truth at the AJC.
The first warning we noted came in the daily “Jolt” section of the AJC’s Political Insider gossip column/blog.
Known for inaccurate, outlandish and false claims on pending state legislation and pro-enforcement immigration activists (that go without correction) the liberal AJC explains that “we fully expect outlandish claims, false accusations, and dirty tricks between now and January 5th.” You can see that here from November 10, 2020 (scroll down.)
The AJC gang must really be worried. There is yet another item on Georgia Star – again leaning on the rabid lefties at Media matters – in the Sunday, Nov. 15 edition under a heading called “Follow up.” This page complied by a Jim Denery. I didn’t take the time to find it online, but here is a photo of copy.
Photo of AJC blurb from DIS.
Remember, the AJC editors do not want you to read Georgia Star News.
NPR affiliate’s news report on an Atlanta progressive is “a racist hit piece” and a “smear campaign…”
From “the things you can run over on Twitter file”: Straight from the progressives, this is pretty funny stuff and makes for a good grin on a Friday.
WABE News @WABENews, an Atlanta NPR affiliate, by our judgment it’s further left than NPR itself – and far less balanced – ran a story the other day about a very far left Atlanta activist, Anoa Changa @TheWayWithAnona, who apparently spreads the progressive message on the Russian-funded Sputnik radio.
The WABE reporter, Johnny Kaufman explains Sputnik radio for the unaware:
“A report released in January by the FBI, National Security Agency and CIA called Sputnik and the TV network RT, formerly Russia Today, part of “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine.”
The report titled, “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in US Elections” links Sputnik to Russia’s broader efforts to influence the 2016 election, noting it served as “a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.”
“Those platforms are set up for the sole purpose of promoting the Kremlin line,” said Robert Orttung, an associate research professor of international affairs at The George Washington University.
It’s not that activist Changa denies using the Russian radio outlet and Kaufman tells us “Changa doesn’t plan to stop appearing on Sputnik programs.
The two shows where she’s a regular, “By Any Means Necessary” and “Loud & Clear,” are a place where she’s comfortable talking about issues important to her, like police brutality, voter suppression and corporate influence in the Democratic Party. The shows, Changa said, are independent. She trusts their hosts and producers.
“If there’s a space available to occupy and get that voice across,” said Changa, “then we should take it.”
But, leftist supporters of Changa – members of the Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists @MetroAtlDSA no less – are having a major cow over the report and are in their third day of attacking the leftist NPR station for…wait, wait, wait “the racist hit piece.”
“In the proto-fascist milieu of contemporary American politics, it is vitally important that we lift up voices of color and support women like Anoa who stand in resolute defiance of white supremacy”.
Today I see that the Metro Atlanta DSA has posted another dig at WABE News that includes a knock off of the MAGA caps worn by conservative Trump supporters that reads: “Make NPR for Old Racists again.” Oh, my sides.
“The smear against her is grotesque but also transparent – the ruling classes will not let go of power easily. We’re grateful to women like Anoa who put themselves at risk to stand up to the 1% and we are grateful for the opportunity to support her in that fight” says the DSA.
I don’t have time to post all of the Twitter posts by the DSA, but just know they are calling this a “smear campaign…”
It’s a hoot if you have time to look around. BTW: When did American commies start avoiding Russian commies? Is the hammer and sickle logo now “so last year?”
