The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 20

February 2, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 10 Opinions Sasquatch season On Jan. 22, Oklahoma state house representative Justin Humphrey introduced legislation that, if passed, would create an official state hunting season for Bigfoot. Now, this has got to be the best thing to come out of Oklahoma since the shopping cart. Humphrey hopes to work with the OklahomaWildlife Conservation Commission to establish this system, if the legislation passes. However, Micah Holmes, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, told KOCO-TV “We use science-driven research, and we don’t recognize Bigfoot in the state of Oklahoma.” While Holmes and Humphrey may disagree on the existence of Bigfoot, and Humphrey’s reasoning for pushing this bill might be a little out there, they are bothmissing a major impact of this bill: the fundraising opportunity. An official state hunting season could mean licenses and an increase in their tourism. Humphrey’s Bigfoot proposal would be a great way of promoting his district’s parks and natural beauties. According to Humphrey, “The overall goal is to get people to our area to enjoy the natural beauty and to have a great time, and if they find Bigfoot while they’re at it, well, hey, that’s just an even bigger prize.” The notion of catching Bigfoot might seem silly, but rich people go to other countries and pay big money to kill endangered animals, so why not try something like that here? Just without the killing, because as Humphrey put it, “We are not going to kill Bigfoot. We are going to trap a live Bigfoot. We are not promoting killing Bigfoot.” However, to be honest, Humphrey, I don’t think you are going to get the chance to do either. State-sponsored cryptid hunts just might be a good way of funding conservation efforts and state and national parks -- and this isn’t just limited to Oklahoma. Every state has their own cryptid, many of which are just variants of Bigfoot. A program like this could become a nationwide phenomenon. Just think about: backpacking in the Pine Barrens for the Jersey Devil, air boating in the Everglades for the Skunk Ape, movie night with Mothman, sail boating and scuba diving in Lake Tahoe for Tahoe Tessie. There are plenty of opportunities to use urban legends to draw in PRINTED WITH PERMISSION BY F. SHABAN Sassy Squash foot found in Mt. Everest in DAK The reality behind Black America Black people are not, have not been and may never be respected members of the U.S. Let’s look at our history with this country. We were taken from our homeland, used and abused for labor, treated as disposable, and then, finally, barely relegated to the status of whole human beings. We were tossed a handful of “rights” that were never going to truly be protected, then told to be on our merry way and to be grateful we ended up with what we did. Frankly, America doesn’t seem interested in welcoming Black people. We were brought here against our will hundreds of years ago and are still somehow being treated as unwanted guests. They’re happy to profit off of us. Take our hairstyles after we’ve been told they’re unacceptable, use our slang for witty tweets, condemn our music, and then, years later, claim it as their own. Black Americans are not properly advocated for in the U.S. Sure, in the last decades, we’ve begun to see more black people in power positions within our government, which is all well and good, but it’s not enough. People think that us having had a Black president is proof that we’re not a racist country, but it’s not. Black people deal will the nasty aftereffects of slavery every day; whether it be in workplace discrimination, strategically underfunded schools, medicine or in our treatment by the police and really any powerful organization in America. Whether people are comfortable talking about it or not, racism is very much alive within the very framework of our country. Black Americans are constantly told to “get over” slavery or to “move on,” but how can we possibly move past something that’s still plaguing us? In the last few years, with the increased attention on the Black Lives Matter movement, people are finally being forced to listen. It’s becoming harder to claim ignorance, and at this point, isn’t that ignorance willful? Either way, denial of this reality is a privilege that BlackAmericans are not afforded, and no one should be. By: Nyla Whyte Contributing Writer By: Alexander Martinie Opinions Editor tourists. Humphrey’s Bigfoot proposal might be a little out there, but it does have some promise to it… if you treat the idea of catching Bigfoot as a joke. I think that Humphrey actually wants to catch Bigfoot. This legislation is unlikely to be passed, so Bigfoot is safe in Oklahoma… for now.