Dozens of Organizations, Former Employees Call for a Boycott of the ASU State Press for silencing Latine columnist Alexia Isais
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18th, 2020
To the State Press Staff and the Community,
In the middle of writing a column about how ASU silences BIPOC and leftist voices, opinion columnist Alexia Isais was notified yesterday that she was fired from the ASU State Press shortly following a tweet she wrote that was anti-police.
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are deeply angered by this decision the editors made. With the broader Black Lives Matter movement in the background, it’s revolting to see publications persecute their own opinion columnists during such a polarizing time.
Journalism, like many areas of employment, historically oppresses women and people of color; and conversely silences minority groups while favoring a systemic white supremacist structure. In firing Isais, the State Press contributed to this discriminatory behavior.
Isais’s firing was brought on within a matter of an hour, while Rae’Lee Klein’s case — the journalism student who published a tweet defending the attempted murder of Jacob Blake by police — took weeks, up to months for action. It is important to note that Klein “has not been fired or removed from the position of station manager.” Klein remaining in her position while Isais was immediately fired without due process speaks to the underlying hypocrisy of this entire situation. Even if Klein and Isais’ employers are different from one another and may not be related — they are both journalistic employment positions at ASU.
Isais’s tweet was referencing an overall strong sentiment in favor of abolishing the police, it was not meant to be misinterpreted as an actual threat against any one. Further, the law does not classify the police as being a “protected class” or protected group under discrimination against sex, nationality, ethnicity and sexual orientation. It is disgusting that the State Press views a tweet that expresses a reasonable feeling of anger by people who have been abused or negatively affected by the police as something equivalent to the systemic murders of Black, Indigenous and People of Color by the police. We believe this to be an unjust firing that infringes upon Isais’s freedom of speech.
As a Mexican-American woman, Isais has experienced abuse at the hands of the police. Towards her family for their immigration status and the color of their skin, or during protest as a prominent activist within the Phoenix community, and in her experiences as a Latine woman in this country.
The following undersigned organizations will from now on, no longer respond to the State Press inquiries or read State Press’s content. Effectively issuing a boycott against the publication until the State Press addresses this inherently hostile behavior towards communities of color. The boycott will be lifted when the following demands are met:
1. The State Press reinstates her position.
2. We demand State Press’s statement be immediately rescinded and taken down from all publication platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and the State Press website), as it is vague language and could imply that Isais discriminated against an actual protected class, such as race, gender, and nationality — as that was not the case. The statement presents a defamation of Isais’s true character.
3. We demand written apology be written by the publication.
4. We demand that the State Press address their siding with systematic and institutional racism and discrimination against leftist BIPOC by creating a council specifically for leftist BIPOC in the State Press itself so that this issue does not happen again. The State Press should pledge to protect the voices of that group.
We ask that readers of the State Press participate in this boycott by refusing to read or contribute to the State Press in any way, shape or form in an act solidarity with the former columnists undersigned.
While the following organizations may not whole heartedly agree with Isais’s former tweets, we want the State Press to respect the opinions of their so called “opinion columnists.”
Former employees of the State Press, Sebastian Miscenich and Diane Solorio have made the decision to resign from their position as opinion columnists for the State Press effective immediately. Solorio cites feeling unsafe and unwelcome in the publication as a Mexican-American woman herself. Miscenich cites the blatant violation of Isais’s freedom of speech, and stands in solidarity with the columnists who feel their identity is not welcome at the ASU State Press.
A GoFundMe and petition have been organized by Diane Solorio to help cover Isais’s displacement and to help with her financial situation during the pandemic. We ask that everyone consider donating, sharing, or signing on to help. For further questions or to sign onto this statement as an organization, please contact unitedvoicesatASU@gmail.com.
The undersigned coalitions are made up of about 30 groups each, including the Black African Coalition, El Concilio, and the Women’s Coalition.
Signed,
Black African Coalition at ASU
Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective
El Concilio at ASU
Poder in Action
Women’s Coalition at ASU
MECHA de ASU
Multicultural Solidarity Coalition at ASU
Undocumented Students for Education Equity
Planned Parenthood Generation Action at ASU
Semillas Arizona
No Más Muertes at ASU
March for Our Lives ASU
Young Democrats at ASU
Students for Socialism at ASU
Party for Socialism & Liberation, Phoenix
Young Democratic Socialists of America at ASU
Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU
Stand Against Hate & Fascism, Phoenix
United Voices for ASU
Alexia Isais, former State Press Columnist
Sebastian Miscenich, former State Press Columnist
Diane Solorio, former State Press Columnist
UPDATE: Former State Press EIC editor asks State Press to rescind their decision in instagram story statement, written below:
As a former State Press EIC who has been defending the right to a platform of anti-capitalist leftists and those accused of anti-police actions at the State Press:
I disagree with Isais on many levels. My analysis is situational and conditioned foremost by the available evidence. Hers is often brutal and highly dogmatic toward the intellectual history that has conditioned her.
All this being said, however, I believe in Isais’s right to a platform as an important—albeit, not my favorite—political leader in the community. What she tweeted was far from grounds for firing or deplatforming. The police ar e not a protected class.
State press has in the past been perfectly fine with its columnists defending violent institutions such as ICE and CBP. In general, I believe the caprice of the State Press editorial board is swayed too often by vague and contradictory sensitivities toward perceptions of professionalism and not nearly often enough by moral considerations and awareness of the position they occupy in the community.
I obviously don’t agree with Alexia on everything, but she represents a perspective that is often ignored and marginalized at institutions like the State Press.
If you claim to support freedom of speech and having standards of rational discussion, then you should apply those standards equally. The State Press editors are working based off of a specious and self-serving definition of “violence” in order to hide the fact that they are uncomfortable with opinion that fall far outside the mainstream.
State Press recently published this editorial wherein a student stated their support for ASU PD. Police are intrinsically violent. Arrest and restraining someone is intrinsically violent. You can say you support some types of violence because some types of violence is necessary, but be honest about what you are saying. Supporting only state violence is not non-violence. State Press’s decision to fire Alexia is a travesty and should be immediately rescinded.
