Alexander Spiess

All work presented on this page was created for the Marist College Diversity Works Magazine:

Through the Gateway to Greatness: A Marist Football Player’s Remarkable Coming of Age Tale

The un-mistakable pop of gunfire rang through the streets, as Caylin Moore slept on the floor of his family’s un-heated home in South Central Los Angeles. His brother and sister were hungry, and his mother hadn’t left her bed in weeks following the traumatic sexual abuse she suffered in the hospital while recovering from open-heart surgery. Caylin was only 9 years old when he became the man of the house. Where he has been since then—describes a journey to greatness paramount to his divine vision.

Caylin Moore was born on June 4, 1994, the son of Louis J. Moore and Calynn J. Taylor-Moore in Hollywood’s Kaiser Permanente Hospital. He was five years old when his parents divorced and he moved to Carson, California. “I moved in with my grandma, and from first to seventh grade I lived in the same room as four other people, we didn’t have heat or hot water, and times were really tough there.” Moore explains, as he sits peacefully in the plush confines of a student lounge, looking across the Hudson River on the Campus of Marist College.

Moore is a 20 year old junior majoring in economics, with a minor in psychology. He is a quarterback for the red foxes, and plays a major role in the community as well. For three years he has worked closely with the Grace Smith House of Poughkeepsie, raising awareness and providing services for victims of domestic violence against women and children. This is an incredibly important cause for Moore, who experienced domestic violence first hand throughout his childhood.

As Moore’s story begins in the rough neighborhoods on the fringe of South Central Los Angeles, he recalls the early moments of boyhood that turned him into the inspirational man he is today. The juxtaposition of a Division I college quarterback, Dean’s list honoree and recipient of the U.S-U.K Fulbright Summer Institute Scholarship, doesn’t typically relate to a black youth growing up in the same neighborhoods that bore the Rodney King riots.

Moore credits his strength to his faith in God and his mother, Calynn Taylor-Moore. After graduating High School at the age of 16, Taylor-Moore attended Harbor Community College, where she graduated after two semesters, on her way to attending California State University at Long Beach. After CSULB, she worked in the medical field for 13 years, before getting her law degree from Trinity Law School, in Santa Ana, California. Upon receiving her law degree in 2002, she worked as a family and divorce lawyer for two years, before finding a tumor on one of the chambers of her heart. This would also be the same time that Caylin Moore’s life would significantly change.

While she was recovering from a successful open heart surgery to remove the tumor, she was sexually abused by a hospital staff member and fell into a deep depression. She was bed ridden for eight months recovering from the physical and emotional trauma coupled from surgery and professional mistreatment. It was at this moment that Caylin Moore took on the responsibilities of being a man, that he has carried ever since.

He explains how his family dynamic changed when his mom was recovering from surgery. Caylin, 9, and his sister Mi, 11, had to take care of their younger brother Chase, who was 6. Caylin and Mi separated responsibilities within the household. For example, when Caylin would walk Chase home from 1^st grade, and stay up late doing homework while also checking on his mother to make sure she was breathing and taking her medicine, Mi would cook dinner and take care of the house.

“When my mom couldn’t work, I kind of had to man up. I had to protect my brother, and prepare for people breaking into the house. I remember one time I went outside and my mom’s car was on bricks with the tires missing. Sometimes I had to sleep on the floor, but all I knew was hard work, because it was something my mom had always instilled in me. And when she got better, she told me she had fallen into a state of deep self-pity, and she never wanted me to fall into a state of self-pity like that.”

It was not easy for Moore to maintain his responsibilities within a constantly shifting family dynamic. There was one place however, where he did have peace. The football field became his safe haven from the constricting obligations he treaded through. Football was his anchor of equilibrium that provided the aesthetic therapy he used to help endure the great familial weight on his shoulders. One day however, he would find his sanctuary threatened by forces out of his control once again.

While Moore was at high school football practice, police came to the field and brought him to his house that had gotten raided and broken into by police looking for his father—suspected of killing his live-in girlfriend. “My sister and mother were there, and there were helicopters and police in the bushes, all looking for my father who had shot his girlfriend dead with a rifle.” His father wasn’t there, but Moore has no difficulties explaining this surreal moment where the world’s vices collided with his small life.

He communicates with his father through letters, as he serves his prison sentence for life. Moore became fascinated with his family’s ancestry, so he and his father trade bible verses and notes on family history. He understands that part of knowing where he is headed—starts with knowing where he came from.

“Turns out my father’s side of the family comes from Morocco and the Canary Islands. You know you get a certain make up of who you are from genetics and I was trying to figure out why I am the way I am and stuff like that.”

As Moore progressed and grew with high academic and athletic honors in high school, it was his mother’s confidence that outlined his drive to never doubt college as a possibility, but a tangible step forward. When a teacher told him he would never get into UCLA, his mother brought the acceptance letter right to his desk in triumph. Marist is a far cry from home and perhaps the perfect place for Moore to continue the divine path set before him.

When Moore first visited Marist, he immediately got a feeling that god needed him to do great things here. “For me to be the first recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship here, it’s crazy. I’m a dark skinned guy with dreadlocks on my head and I won the Fulbright. I’m with people who are going to be prime ministers of countries, ambassadors, senators, and then there’s me. That’s the kind of stuff that god puts forth. God likes to take impossible odds and show victory through them.”

While participating in the U.K Fulbright Summer Institute Program, Moore studied the trans-Atlantic slave trade at the University of Bristol. He also participated in cultural immersion trips like attending an archeological dig at a Viking buriel ground, dancing at a British Ball, reading historical archives in London, visiting the Roman Baths, and arguing with a member of the British Parliament about the socialization of the U.S education system. Moore sees his place in the world as a catalyst, rather than a participant. It is simply not enough to go to school and get a degree, he is genuine about creating an impact for the betterment of humanity. While some people perceive his vision as a fantastic quest from naivety, it is abundantly clear from what he has accomplished so far, that the odds don’t need to be in his favor to reach success.

There is validity in how Moore describes his journey from the lanky nine-year-old with the beaming smile, to the sage-like young man wise beyond his years. The raw environment he grew up in, coupled with the strong will passed on from his mother, acted as a pressure cooker of maturation that bore a young man headed for greatness.

His greatest honor is being his mother’s son he says, and her faith gives him faith. Moore plans to start applying for public policy and International affairs positions through the D.C Internship program at Marist. He hopes to bring more diversity to politics, or at least get into public service & non profit organizations, to improve & better the communities he grew up in.

Ultimately though, he doesn’t think his plans are up to him. “Before I die, I want to become the man god has destined me to be. The triumphs I have been through have given me a glimpse of who I can be. At a minimum – I’m just staying the course, I didn’t write this script.”

Migration, Citizenship and Development: A Discussion of Dr. Daniel Naujoks’s New Book

America is a nation built around immigrants. This is an obvious observation, that nearly every American has heard at some point in their life; or at least during the campaign trails for mid-term elections. Immigration riddles the annals of American heritage, and culture, and stirs the iconic melting pot which embodies the rich diversity this country represents.

For Dr. Daniel Naujoks, the study of the Indian Diaspora is a fascinatingly fluid movement of knowledge, culture and economic growth. Naujoks visited Marist College on September 16, to discuss his new book, Migration Citizenship and Development, which studies Diasporic membership policies and Indian immigrants in the United States.

Naujoks was brought to Marist through assistant professor of international relations and comparative politics, Dr. Juris Pupcenoks. Naujoks’ book examines how overseas citizenship of India affects remittances, foreign investment, philanthropy, the movement of knowledge and information, and a larger question about what ‘nationality’ really means?

In beginning his study, he found that 53% of the world’s countries allow immigration. 28% do not, and 19% of the world’s countries have limited access for overseas citizenship. India falls within the 19% of countries, which restricts much of its emigration. Despite the fact that India has the largest number of people living outside of its borders, (14 million) according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study. The United Arab Emirates (2.9 million) and the United States (2.1 million) have the most Indian migrants. It is information like this, which caused Naujoks to collect data of the Indian Diaspora.

“To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world”

 As part of his empirical findings in the book, Naujoks interviewed 50 highly skilled Indian-born silicon valley workers. 50 Indian-born U.S policy makers, as well as 19 return immigrants in India. The fundamental question for all of these highly skilled immigrants, is why? The result of this migratory shift of skilled workers, is indicative of a brain drain for countries like India, as many of their top young professionals emigrate to foreign countries directly after graduating college.

This is not an entirely bad thing for India, Naujoks says. He describes many ways in which migrants benefit their home country. “The direct effects come from investing, paying taxes, buying real estate, transferring knowledge, and bringing tourism to both countries.” Naujoks calls these factors ‘agents of trade’, because they are aspects of overseas movement that directly put money or knowledge into certain sectors of the economy.

Another benefit to India comes from what he calls the ‘Branding Effect’. Essentially, the success of skilled Indian workers in the U.S has caused American companies to invest in India because Indian migrants indicate that India is a safe option for companies to make lucrative decisions by investing money in a country with lower wages, taxes, and a skilled workforce.

These symbiotic relationships between foreign countries and Indian migrants, comes from a few motivating factors that reveal an interesting find in Naujoks study. For Indian migrants that either come to the U.S directly after graduation, or to the U.S for college and stay in the country upon graduating; Naujoks found that both groups of immigrants contain similar patterns. Naujoks portrays a scenario for a common Indian migrant.

“Say they (Immigrant) work at a U.S IT hub, and make a significant amount of money. They will incrementally send it back home, and this accounts for about $60 billion a year in remittances for India (This is an actual figure from 2009, according to his book.)   For someone who graduated from an American university, they may want to go back to India to work, but salaries there are not as high, so it would be difficult for them to pay off their student loans. What you see is Indian graduates going to work in the IT sector, to make enough money to pay off their loans, and return to India to start their own companies.”

These two scenarios make it appear that America is being used as a form of contract labor. This is not true, America makes a large amount of money from these skilled migrants, and more overseas Indians living in America, are actually choosing to stay.

What Naujoks found, is that there are two common occurrences with Overseas Citizens of India living in America. During his interviews, he found that second generation immigrants naturally have a direct relationship with their country of origin. They grow up with an American accent, and the only connection to India that they have are customs from their grandparents and parents. So it made sense to Naujoks that this generation of OCI’s would be naturalized to America.

He contrasts this with an example of non-resident Indians. These are immigrants that could have been born in India or America, have dual citizenship, but have permanent residence outside of India as well. The result is immigrants with a loyalty to the country they made more money in; the U.S. He calls this the naturalization premium, which indicates the most interesting find of his study. During his interviews, he asked non-resident Indians where their loyalties were if a war broke out between the U.S and India. Without weighing what the circumstances of the war were, they sided with the U.S.

Naujoks says this question of nationality comes from a conflicting loyalty to which country the person identifies with. This is based on money, residency, and citizenship. One of Naujoks respondents cited the U.S citizenship exam process as his reason of loyalty to America. Through Naujoks words, he described what the respondent told him, “They made me swear and take an oath. They gave me all this information about what it means to be an American citizen. U.S history, war, and then made me renounce all allegiances to Indian royalty, and government.” Naujoks said the subject took this process of citizenship very seriously, and once he consented, he felt strongly that he was indeed a citizen of the United States.

This shows that communication from the government has significant impact on Overseas Citizens of India (OCI). Many countries, including Britain have special status for Diasporas, which leads to Immigrants gaining a sense of nationality to the country they immigrate to.

As for the Marist IT students who may be Overseas Citizens of India, Naujoks thinks that many of them will return to India after a long career in the IT industry. He says that the traditional route for OCI students to graduate from U.S schools, and stay in the U.S to pay off loans, build wealth, and collaborate on joint projects—are what motivates them to ultimately go back to India to develop a company of their own. On the other hand, he says there is always a good chance that they will remain in America as they become naturalized to the consistent income of the booming American tech industry. Marist has a great relationship with IBM, which Naujoks agrees, “proves that Marist is certainly a microcosm of the international Diasporic pattern I have studied.

Not My Life: Film Screening & Panel Discussion at Dutchess Community College on Global Sex Trafficking and Contemporary Slave Trade

There are pockets of the world where lights don’t shine, and legislative bodies have no reach over the disregarded side of human sex trafficking and slavery. Some parts of the world however, do recognize the cross-cultural vices that affect millions of people every day. The World Affairs Council of the Hudson Valley, hosted an incredibly enlightening and culturally rich film screening and panel discussion of Not My Life; a documentary on global human trafficking by Academy Award nominee Robert Bilheimer.

Not My Life is the first film to comprehensively depict the cruel and dehumanizing practices of global human trafficking and modern slavery. The screening of the film was made possible by a grant from the Carlson Family Foundation, and took place on September 22, at the James and Betty Hall Theatre at Dutchess Community College.

The screening was followed by an open panel discussion by three experts on human rights. Taina Bien-Aimé is the Executive Director at the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Nimmi Gowrinathan is a gender expert and lead author of the National Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme. The final panel member was, Ş. İlgü Özler – Director of the SUNY Global Engagement Program in New York City, and associate professor of political science and international relations at SUNY New Paltz.

James and Betty Hall Theatre was buzzing with students and professionals, as they awaited the fantastic opportunity to participate in a global conversation that does not get enough attention at legislative meetings. The film focuses on six aspects of human trafficking across the globe, and offers insight on the various systemic issues and crimes that often go unpunished. Each story is unique in how it describes the different ways trafficking and slavery is operated within the model of contemporary global trade, consumerism, and law enforcement.

The first story focuses on brothels in India, and the seemingly endless flow of young girls that get pulled into Asia’s sex trade. The film reveals that more than one million girls are enslaved in brothels throughout India. The film focuses on a group of girls who represent a microcosm of the path many other girls get swept into. These girls were smuggled from neighboring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and West Bengal, but as the film states, 90% of victims are trafficked within India’s borders.

“The brothels of Mumbai are horrible places where Indian men can spend a few rupees for a few minutes of sex, that will scar a child for a lifetime”

Girls are often kept in small crawl spaces, attics, and cages. They are beaten, raped, sexually tortured, and often go un-fed so they will be able to stay awake at night to attend customers.

In addition to revealing each gruesome story, the film also introuduces a philanthropic organization, specified for each situation. Rescue Foundation is an organization that works for the rescue and rehabilitation of forced prostitution victims in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Rescue Foundation provides health care, vocational training, legal assistance, counseling, and repatriation.

Following the film’s excursion through the sex trade in India, the camera pans from Asia to Africa. This is the introduction to Grace’s story. At the age of 14, Grace Akallo was abducted from St. Mary’s Boarding School in Northern Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army, and thrown into the despair of being a child soldier fighting in one of Africa’s many civil wars.

The film explains that nearly half a million children are fighting in armed conflicts around the world. During her interviews, Akallo laments that she has killed, witnessed human mutilation and been a victim of rape multiple times. Her best friend Miriam was abducted with her, and remains in captivity.

“I know that she is still alive, that’s my hope…. but why does she have to remain? Why does any child have to suffer for that long?” Akallo says.

De-sensitizing was the only way to cope with the tragedies she endured, as she spent seven long months in captivity. Grace managed to narrowly escape from the rebels during the chaos of an attack on an LRA outpost by Ugandan soldiers.

Akallo is now a mother with a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Clark University. She works to educate and spread awareness about children in armed conflict. She leads the non-profit organization United Africans for Women and Children Rights and co-authored the book, Girl Soldier: A story of Hope for Northern Uganda’s Children.

Another aspect of the film brings the issue of sex trafficking incredibly close to home. For girls in the U.S., the average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 years of age. This segment focuses on Angie, a young teenager from Kansas who, after deciding to run away from home, was forced into prostitution and trafficked at a truck stop in Midwestern America.

An interview with FBI Special Agent Mike Beaver, explains, “Angie was by all accounts, an all-American girl. She came from a good home, with a good family and even attended private school.”

Angie was rescued during Operation Stormy Nights, an FBI sting operation that led to the arrest and conviction of more than 15 pimps and traffickers working throughout the American mid-west. Most of their victims were young teenage girls.

Truckers Against Trafficking is a non-profit organization created to inform truckers, truck stop operators, and other travelers of the basic issues involved in human trafficking throughout America’s transportation system.

The film then shifts back to India, to focus on the Ghazipur Garbage Pickers. The Ghazipur Landfill in New Delhi processes 9,200 pounds of trash per day. The landfill forces children to work sun-up to sun-down, helping process trash. This is illegal, yet city officials do not enforce punishment for these crimes, because New Delhi needs to keep the landfill operating.

The children-often walk the landfill bare-foot, and suffer from malnutrition, physical handicaps, and disease from exposure to toxic pollutants.

The Ghazipur landfill is not a singularity. Advocacy groups like Chintan, are dedicated to freeing children from waste picking throughout asia.

The Fishing Boys of Lake Volta: Ghana

The film shifts back to Africa, where 7,000-10,000 boys work in the waters of eastern Ghana’s Lake Volta. Born into poverty, many of these boys are given away or sold to relatives or strangers who promise to teach the boys the fishing trade and provide a better life. Their families are tricked, as the fishing boys find themselves on a vast manmade lake that serves as a natural prison for the rest of their childhood. The children range from 5-14 years of age, and work 14-hour days, with little-to-no food and overcrowded shelters.

Advocates in the film like Eric Peasah, Director of Right to be Free and consultant for the International Organization for Migration, Negotiates with the boys’ traffickers for their freedom. His program offers the assistance to fisherman in the form of a small loan to support their fishing, or the chance to learn a different vocation. Additionally, the owners must sign a social contract agreeing to release any remaining child laborers in the future, or they will face criminal prosecution.

The Traffickers

At the crux of this film, come the dirty lives of the traffickers. Traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion to lure victims into labor or sex trafficking situations. In many cases, traffickers promise victims the chance at a better life for themselves or their families. This is emphasized in the film through the trafficker Ovidiu, a young Romanian trafficker who was jailed at the Zoha prison in Bucharest. Ovidiu traveled throughout Eastern Europe, sometimes going to family’s homes and selling himself as a professional pimp essentially providing a better life for the family’s daughter. Many of the families that he exploited, like the fishing boys of Ghana—are so poor that they have little choice in the matter. He sold girls for profit, and served only four years when he was eventually arrested.

Triumphantly, the director Robert Bilheimer facilitated the arrest of an infamous trafficker by the name of Ortiz—operating out of Guatemala, by renting a car for the police to use.

Who are the slavers, traffickers, and middlemen who earn their livings on the backs and in the beds of our children?

Trafficking earns $32 billion in illegal profits annually; human trafficking is quickly becoming the world’s fastest-growing criminal industry. In the film, Cecilia Malmström of the EU states, “Traffickers are very aware of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and they exploit it. They also know that they risk very little, because very few of them get caught.”

The panel serves a very different purpose on the discussion of human trafficking and slavery.

Nimmi Gowrinathan immediately following the film, criticizes the many non-profit organizations as “evangelist groups that lack the real capability of intervention” She continues to say that the real issue is in politics. “The film didn’t look at the political impact of sexual politics. Politicians from around the world don’t like to talk about these things, so little improvement is really made in helping enforce laws against traffickers.”

Ş. İlgü Osler thought the film “gives a good overview of trafficking and child marriage, but doesn’t talk about the cause of trafficking—colonialism, the world-bank, and commercial export regulations.”

Indeed the cause and resolution of sex trafficking is lacking in the film, which focuses mostly on the stories and experience of the slave trade, than the systemic issues.

The main theme of the panel discussion, surrounded the most effective ways to combat this global issue. Özler says, “we need to figure out how to spend money in the right ways, advocacy is the best way to do that.” Gowrinathan added that “the private sector is raising the most money, not the government—which is complicated because we are relying heavily on philanthropists instead of politicians”

The problem, is this only helps recognizing the problem, not enforcing justice. Local governments need to bring justice, because it is their jurisdiction within their countries, that can help stop it.

Ambassador Luis CdeBaca of the U.S State Department recognizes this in the film when he is interviewed, “Convicting 3,000 people around the world every year isn’t enough, freeing 40,000 or so victims every year isn’t enough.” This is true, but the allocation of government funding is a real issue that the entire panel agreed was halting any significant gains against trafficking.

The panel unanimously cited Amnesty International as the main conglomerate spearheading advocacy and funding to governments to stop trafficking. The International Violence Against Women Act is a bi-product of what Amnesty International has done on the issue.

It is clear through how the panel feels about advocacy, that events like this—which continues the conversation of progress against human trafficking and slavery, are in an integral part of how to solve this social epidemic.

 

Marist Diversity Works Magazine: Latin Ambitions on the Hudson

As discussions of immigration reform permeate the ivory halls on capitol hill, there is a smaller demographic that needs mentioning. Enter: Edwin Mansilla. Edwin is a Junior at Marist, where he is completing his Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Accounting, with a Minor in Business Administration.

Edwin represents a Latino student body at Marist that only makes up about 8% of the student population. Though small in number, Edwin is certainly making his voice heard, and bringing new opportunities for our Latino students.

During a new years eve party in his neighboring burrow of the Bronx, (He is originally from Brooklyn), he held a conversation with a family friend that would influence his career plans for years to come. She was at the time, in contact with Ernst & Young, a major audit firm that is part of the ‘Big 4’ global audit firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Touche & Tohmatsu, and Peat, Marwick&Mitchell).

She enlightened him towards a networking organization, suited just for people like Edwin. The Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting, or ALPFA.

“Think of ALPFA as a Latino Linkedin.” Edwin puts it. “They help with resume building, interview training, career fairs, and networking.” ALPFA is more than just a networking site however. It is the largest Latino association for business professionals, and has chapters all over the country, with its headquarters in Manhattan.

Edwin has been a member for a year now, and is adamant about spreading the word to the Marist community about this great opportunity, that’s just a short train ride away. “I really want Marist students to know about it (ALPFA) because it has great career fairs, much bigger than Marist has, where you can network and meet employers from all over the country.” Edwin adds.

“ALPFA has a wider and more diverse reach, and is connected with more companies for prospective accountants and financial professionals than Marist does at the moment.”

The train doesn’t just stop in Manhattan though, Edwin is eager to start an ALPFA chapter at Marist, for all students to join. ALPFA is open to all minorities eager to jump into the professional accounting field. “Becoming a member is easy, the student rate for membership is only $20 a year, and then you’re a national member” Edwin explains.

Once a member, the opportunities are endless, as Edwin’s older brother Esteban revealed. “When I went to Baltimore for a weekend, I got to talk to professionals about their careers working in big companies, insider tips on how to get into the job that fits you. What was great, was that everyone I talked to, started low at the bottom, and are now CFO’s and branch managers.”

Esteban attends Brooklyn College, where he is also an accounting major. He also speaks highly of ALPFA, and encourages Edwin to bring it closer to Marist. Esteban says, that networking is the most important element in this field; which shows why organizations like ALPFA are so useful.

While Edwin finishes up his studies at Marist he has a few more things on his checklist before he leaves. First, is his goal to start a new anti-hazing Fraternity on campus. As a freshman, he rushed for Theta Psi, but was rejected. He told them he would be back, and is now working on bringing Psi Delta Theta to Marist. If successful, Psi Delta Theta would be the only anti-hazing fraternity at Marist.

Edwin thoughtfully explained, “My goal is to make a more diverse frat. I want it to be as open as possible, so everyone can be brothers for life, without any racial barriers.” It is safe to say, that Edwin is making his mark around campus with signs of big things to come for the young man.

“My dream is to be in forensic accounting, and fraud, like what happened to Enron.” He chuckled as he said this, but his tone was equally still and focused.

When Edwin is not cultivating Latino Networking groups, or creating diverse fraternities for students, he can be found on Marist’s radio show “Timeout with Tony”, every Tuesday morning from 10 am to noon. His segment is soccer talk; mostly English Premiere League and La Liga Spain.

Edwin is soon-to-be the Steve McQueen of accountants everywhere, so expect the unexpected and look for the next big take-down of a major auditing firm. In the meantime, Marist is blessed to have students like Edwin roaming the Hudson River valley.