Racial profiling used to ensure national security
By Mark Wassberg, Staff writer
February 24, 2015
Racial profiling is when law enforcement officers detain, search or arrest an individual due to his or her ethnicity. In the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, racial profiling was not used. The story is that Brown robbed a convenience store of several cigarillos. In the process he assaulted ...
Input required
By Editorial Board
February 11, 2015
The Contra Costa Community College District is less than three months away from making a decision that might reduce the length of the spring and fall semesters each by two weeks. Making the switch to a compressed calendar of 16 weeks from the current semester length of 18 weeks would potentially enab...
Holiday neglects love, promotes spending
By Janae Harris, Assistant Photo Editor
February 11, 2015
Valentine’s Day is Saturday and once again overpriced flowers, candy and cards surround me. Everywhere I turn, red and pink signs of materialistic love cover billboards and flood advertisements. It is all just a commercialized false holiday that reminds single people that they’re alone. There ar...
Many car owners are negligent, unaware
By Cody Casares, Assistant Photo Editor
February 11, 2015
Working as an automotive technician, inspecting cars has provided me with horrific insight into how people treat the vehicles they are so dependent on. Why is it that people spend tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, on such an important item, yet do not take the time to learn how to proper...
Student athletes overlook options while making academic leap
By Robert Clinton, Sports Editor
February 11, 2015
The decision to move on from community college athletics to the next level, whatever that may be, is a question most student-athletes dream of facing. Although the percentage of athletes who will continue their playing career decreases as the required skill and fitness levels increase, student-athlet...
Weighing unknowns
By Editorial Board
February 3, 2015
Contra Costa Community College District made an excellent decision to allow other colleges in the state to test how to manage a career technical education baccalaureate program before making the attempt. It can be uneasy being the first to do something, especially if that means having to run and fu...
Constructing education
By Editorial Board
January 27, 2015
Students hastily going from class to class may not realize they are witnessing the evolution of Contra Costa College, but despite ignorance are no less guilty of stressing the change. Without students, why spend $52 million to build the Campus Center the first step in the campus modernization projec...
Fundamental flaws in law
By The Advocate Editorial Board
December 10, 2014
House Republicans worked themselves into a full rage spiral over President Obama’s recent executive order to bring roughly 5 million migrant workers out of the shadows and into society where they belong. The executive order to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), allows people ...
Tickets replace taxes in lives of urban poor
By Robert Clinton, Sports Editor
December 10, 2014
Protest has long been an important strand woven into a cloak of liberty and independence that collectively shrouds all of us as Americans. After the non-indictment decision of officer Darren Wilson for the killing of teenager Mike Brown, marches and protests erupted across the country resulting in riots ...
Selective outrage coloring America’s future
By Rodney Woodson, Associate Editor
December 10, 2014
There is no one woman or man to have ever made the decision to be born a certain gender, into a certain culture or as a specific race — so why is race held in such high regard in U.S. society? Being born a certain race is no different than being born with a butt or a nose — it just comes with t...
What’s wrong with weird?
By Manning Peterson, Staff Writer
December 10, 2014
When you traverse the relaxing roads of the East Bay or enjoy a scenic stroll across the Cal-Berkeley campus, you will probably be privy to conversations in at least 30 different languages including American Sign Language (ASL). “Name-calling” aka “talking smack” or “negative labeling” is o...
Veterans get no respect
By Manning Peterson, Staff Writer
November 20, 2014
“No one has been barred on account of his race for fighting or dying for America – There are no “white” or “colored” signs on the battlefields." — U.S. President John F. Kennedy Before and after each visit to any Veterans Administration Health Services Center (VA), I practice co...