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Tim Wise, an anti-racism activist, author and one of The Roots 8 Wokest White People They Know, will visit campus today and speak in Albert Taylor Hall from 6 to 8 p.m.

I feel like students should go listen to Tim Wise because one, Donald Trump is our President, said Ceanna Trice, vice president of Black Student Union and junior organizational communication major. It just lets you know how much racism and sexism and all of these -isms are in America...Tim Wise is here to talk about that and bust open those conversations most people are afraid to talk about.

Even though Wise is a man of privilege, he knows whats wrong with the system, Trice said.

He knows how fucked up it truly is, Trice said. For you not to go listen to him, is basically you saying, I dont want to be educated. I dont want to know whats happening in America. I dont care because I have privilege and I dont care about no one else. So going to Tim Wise is educating yourself.

Students will also have an opportunity to meet with Wise in Visser 330 at 2 p.m. today.

Tim Wise is probably one of the greatest anti-racists and allies within the social justice movement, said Jason Brooks, assistant dean of students for diversity, equity and inclusion in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. (He is) a champion for those within the working poor class, people of color, (and) those who are searching for equity within the system himself...He has been in the field of social justice, equity, diversity, and multiculturalism for years and hes probably one of the most vocal.

Wise is the first speaker in the newly founded Social Justice Lecture Series.

The idea of it (social justice) is to...tackle issues like poverty, injustice, racism and, in particular, there is a big distinction made between charity and social justice, said Michael Smith, chair of social sciences. The idea would be, for example, you have someone who is so poor they have no food. Charity is, lets get them some food. Social justice is, why does our society tolerate poverty to the extent that there are people amidst all this wealth that cannot afford to feed themselves? We need to change the structures.

Social justice is for everyone, Trice said.

He (Tim Wise) is very (aware), when it comes to social justice and education, I feel he is very aware, Trice said. Hes knowledgeable on issues that have to deal with diversity and inclusion. I feel like his way of professing that to students and elderly people is just beautiful. I gain something new even though we dont look the same on the outside, I feel like he helps me be a better me as well as helping other people become diverse in this diverse world.

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Woke White person visiting campus - The Bulletin

With self-deprecating humor and the flair of a favorite professor, Tim Wise spoke to about 150 members of Washburn Universitys faculty on Friday about bringing more equity into their classrooms.

Wise, of Nashville, Tenn., began his nearly two-hour presentation describing how he as a white, male student at Tulane University in the late 1980s experienced privilege. Those experiences, he said, got him thinking about his own white privilege and how he could start the conversations about race as a white person from the South.

My own white privilege allows me the flexibility to first of all, be in a lot of those rooms and have the opportunity to speak to mostly white audiences about the subject, Wise said. People of color dont get that opportunity that often and if they do get it, its a very short-lived opportunity because they get shut down or are certainly concerned that they will be.

Most of Wises presentation in Washburns Memorial Union touched on a variety of race and equality issues that academia should face, particularly stereotype vulnerability.

This phenomena extends to all institutions of higher learning and all institutions in general, he said. This has an effect on learning outcomes.

Stereotype vulnerability, Wise said, is essentially how a person performs in a domain where he or she believes there is a stigma attached to them, causing them to underperform because of the stress of the perceived stigma. He said the concept can have an impact on academic performance and graduation rates.

This is something educators need to know about, Wise said. Students of color are academically insecure.

When it comes to talking about race and equality in the classroom, Wise said students often feel they cant talk openly about the issues out of fear they will say something wrong.

We have to be up front, particularly when were teaching classes that touch on these really difficult topics, that this is not going to be easy and this is going to be awkward, he said. There will be times when I as the instructor, dont know how to push through the awkwardness and youre (the students) going to have to help us do that. That empowers the student. Discomfort is critical and its critical for you to model.

We have to be upfront that when we teach about these really difficult subjects, Wise continued. We all have a lens. We have to own our stuff and put it out there, then its not as frightening to have those conversations. That can be challenging in a time when truth is a movable thing.

Wise concluded his presentation by saying this is sort of a weird moment in this country to be an educator, maybe a weird moment to be alive. He said part of the instructors gig is to discern what are facts.

The purpose of an institution of higher learning is to search for truth, he said.

Terek Hawkins, a Washburn senior from St. Louis, majoring in education, said Wises remarks resonated with him as a black male college student.

I think what spoke to me in his conversation was the fact that when I do walk into a classroom and Im the only African-American student, especially in my education classes, that there is a perception, he said. I think it spoke to me that he said we all need to realize this perception and then talk about how to tackle it.

Washburn president Jerry Farley said having Wise speak to the faculty, students and the Topeka community Friday about difficult race and equality issues makes Washburn stronger as a whole and continue striving for diversity.

If were truly trying to be more diverse in our community, this is an opportunity to bring people in and get them excited about what we are doing, he said.

Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, director of Washburns Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said Wises appearances Friday are part of an ongoing effort to talk about race and equality.

Theres a lot of discourse that needs to happen about race and issues of social justice, she said. We can have that discourse civilly and productively and we can find common ground and we can find work for us all to do around these issues.

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or follow her on Twitter @AngelaDeines.

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Using humor, Wise tackles race as a white man from the South ... - Topeka Capital Journal

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, greets Federica Mogherini before their bilateral meeting. Photograph: Planet Pix via Rex/Shutterstock

The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has warned the Trump administration not to interfere in European politics, advising it to deal with America first.

Speaking during a two-day visit to Washington, Mogherini did not make specific accusations but said that she sometimes heard voices in the new administration saying the European Union is not necessarily a good idea. Inviting us to dismantle what we have managed to build and which has brought us not only peace, but also economic strength.

Its not for me or another European to speak about domestic political choices or decisions in the US. The same goes with Europe no interference, Mogherini said, speaking at the Atlantic Council thinktank. Maybe America first means also that you have to deal with America first.

Mogherinis tone echoed the increasing alarm in Brussels over the new administrations attitudes. Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council, has listed the new US administration and its worrying declarations as one of the leading global threats to the EU.

Trump has not missed a chance to deride the EU, going out of his way to praise Brexit, and in an interview just before taking office, he depicted the continent as being dominated by Germany and on the brink of collapse.

President Trump believes that dealing bilaterally with different European countries is in US interests, that we could have a stronger relationship with the countries individually, said Ted Malloch, the man tipped to be Donald Trumps nominee as ambassador to the EU. He also accused Europe of blatant anti-Americanism.

The presidents chief strategist, Steve Bannon, gave encouragement and space to the European far right when he ran the Breitbart website, which has announced plans to expand its operations in Europe, much to the alarm of European capitals.

Mogherini stressed that she had not heard any such anti-EU sentiment in her meetings in Washington, which included the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson; the national security adviser, Michael Flynn; and the presidents son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, as well as senators from both parties.

She described all those meetings as good, and said she came away reassured on some issues, including the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, of which Trump is a strident critic and the EU a strong supporter. The administration appears to be backing off its campaign pledge to dismantle the agreement.

She also took the opportunity to remind the administration, which hosted the UK prime minister, Theresa May, as the presidents first foreign guest, and promised her a favourable trade deal, that Britain did not have the right to negotiate independently until it was outside the EU, which was two years away at least.

The strength of the EU and the unity of the EU I believe is more evident today than it was a few months ago. This has to be clearly understood here, Mogherini said. This also means respect for the EU not simply as an institution. It is a union of 28 member states.

Mogherini expressed cautious optimism that Brussels and the new administration in Washington could learn to cooperate on a case-by-case basis.

We believe we are probably entering a time of a more pragmatic and transactional kind of relationship with the United States, Mogherini said.

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EU foreign policy chief tells Trump not to interfere in Europe's politics - The Guardian

In a stark admission, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan told Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday that after 15 years of war, the conflict remains a stalemate and said thousands more troops are needed to train Afghan forces.

Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, Jr. offered lawmakers a grim assessment about the prospects for truly ending a war that so far has cost more than 2,000 American lives -- and billions of dollars -- since 2001. The challenge, he testified, is made even tougher by Russia and Irans aid to the Taliban, amid signs the militant group is making territorial gains.

I believe we're in a stalemate, Nicholson told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., when asked directly if the U.S. and its allies are winning or losing.

He said he has adequate resources for counterterrorism, but is facing a shortfall of a few-thousand troops to train Afghan forces.

He made clear those additional troops could come from allies as well as the U.S., and said the subject would be on the table when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attends a NATO defense meeting next week in Brussels.

At the Senate hearing Thursday, Nicholson also told lawmakers a U.S. special forces soldier had been severely wounded that morning in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Twelve Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October.

In further evidence that the war is far from over despite then-President Barack Obama declaring an end to the combat mission in 2014, the United Nations reported Monday a record number of Afghan civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year.The report said nearly 3,500 were killed and nearly 8,000 wounded. A government watchdog group also says the Afghan government only controls 60 percent of the country right now.

Five Americans continue to be held hostage in Afghanistan, according to Nicholson.

At the White House, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump would heed the advice of his generals and defense secretary, but said no decision was imminent.

Restrictions on troop levels in the past administration forced the U.S. military to rely on expensive contractors.

"We have roughly a two-to-one ratio of contractors to soldiers, said Nicholson.Currently, there are 8,400 American troops in Afghanistan, which would put the number of civilian contractors at nearly 17,000. Nicholson said soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division based at Ft. Riley, Kansas, were forced to stay home when their aviation brigade deployed to Afghanistan to adhere to troops limits set under the Obama administration.

This contract for maintenance runs into the tens of millions of dollars, and then the soldiers who are trained to be mechanics are sitting back at Fort Riley not having the opportunity to do their job. So this has a direct impact on army readiness and it also costs us more money, Nicholson said.

Some say Afghanistan has become the forgotten war, despite more American troops on the ground there than in Iraq engaged in the ISIS fight. The subject rarely surfaced on the campaign trail.President Trump mentioned Afghanistan just once to express gratitude for Americans serving there, in prepared remarks while visiting U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., earlier this week.

While Trump has given his generals 30 days to come up with a draft plan to ramp up the ISIS fight, the same request was not made for Afghanistan, where Nicholson says the Russians and the Iranians are now actively supporting the Taliban.

When we look at Russia and Iranian actions in Afghanistan, I believe that, in part, theyre [trying] to undermine the United States and NATO, he said.

Russia's support for the Taliban began last year, according to Nicholson.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said, I think we better let President Trump know that.

Yes sir, Nicholson replied.

Nicholson said Iran is actively recruiting Afghans to fight in Syria, a situation that could blow back on Kabul when those fighters return home.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., questioned the resources spent on the war so far, a number that has reached $117 billion.

"Adjusted for inflation the U.S. has spent more on Afghanistan's reconstruction than it did on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe after World War II. Reconstructing Afghanistan has now become the largest expenditure to rebuild a single country in our nation's history, he said.

There are fewer American troops on the ground in Afghanistan than any time since 2002. Following the reduction of 1,400 troops at the end of the year, the number stands at a mere 10 percent of the 100,000 at the height of the Obama administrations surge in 2011.

Today, there are nearly 6,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq.

While some questioned the high cost of Americas longest war, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked Nicholson, If the United States just said we've had enough, you know, 15 years is long enough, let's just roll up our operation there and come home, do think that we would face the risk of an attack planned and directed from Afghanistan?

Yes, senator, definitely, Nicholson replied.

Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews

Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel . She joined FNC in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent. You can follow her on Twitter at @JenGriffinFNC.

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Top US general says Afghanistan war at 'stalemate,' more ...

At least 60 Taliban insurgents have been killed in a series of air strikes in southern Afghanistans Helmand province.

The insurgents were planning to launch a major attack on Sanging district.

The provincial government officials, including the provincial governor, deputy provincial intelligence chief, and the commander of 215th Corps of the Afghan Army briefed the media about the latest development during a press conference in Helmand on Saturday.

Khaama Press quoted the officials, as saying that hundreds of fighters were called from the other provinces and districts by the Taliban after one their largest attack on Sangin was repulsed nearly two weeks ago.

According to the officials, the security forces was keeping a watch on the Taliban insurgents and thwarted their offensive on Sangin by killing nearly 60 of them.

So far, there has been no comment by the anti-government armed militant groups about the report.

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Afghanistan: Air strikes thwart major attack plan, kill 60 Taliban insurgents - Hindustan Times