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For anyone who uses technology to communicate regularly, it is likely that you have used an emoji to add some flare to a message, express an in-the-moment emotion, or simply avoid typing out a long sentence that can easily be conveyed with an image. As novel as emojis may seem, transmitting messages via pictures dates back over 5000 years to ancient Egypt. Egyptian hieroglyphs are one of the world’s oldest writing systems and historically have been called “the gods’ words” based on the belief that Egyptian gods invented the language to make their people wiser. Those who could command the gods’ words, typically scribes, were highly regarded in Egyptian culture. Hieroglyphs utilize pictograms that both stand for specific words and frequently represent phonetic sounds as well. To be clear, Egyptians were not doodling. They were spreading complex information amongst themselves that has baffled historians for centuries. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); So are emojis a 21st century renaissance of hieroglyphs? Well, not quite. While emojis are wildly popular, they lack the cultural significance of hieroglyphs, which were not designed to necessarily ease communication but instead to preserve cherished information like religious rituals, literary texts, and ancient stories previously passed down orally. Asserting that emojis are a new version of hieroglyphs is certainly flattering, but likely premature and inaccurate. Because more people are able to communicate with emojis presently than those who could do so with hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt, people have erroneously claimed that emojis are in fact more advanced. Like most things the Western world does not understand about African innovations, hieroglyphs have been written off as primitive by countless scholars. According to an Egyptologist, “Such ethnocentric attitudes exhibit a disappointing cultural chauvinism in judging the ‘evolution’ of other societies by Western values.” Emojis are cool and fun, but it is important not to equate them with the forward-thinking and cutting-edge language of our ancient African brothers and sisters. It is our duty to safeguard our inventions and prevent history from dismissing our meaningful contributions.

Lunch shaming. It’s a hot topic that’s become a nationally discussed issue since a Rhode Island school district made headlines in early May 2019. And the reason is unlike any other you may have heard before. Essentially, in these alternative lunch programs, students whose parents haven’t paid their lunch debt are subjected to eating cold sandwiches while peers are afforded hot meals. Some are even marked to show they owe money. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-1512094833018-0"); }); It’s reminiscent of a larger system that punishes people for being poor. That is, America. Lunch shaming is a microcosm of a system that criminalizes poverty. According to Mitali Nagrecha, director of the National Criminal Justice Debt Initiative, “In the United States, many jurisdictions rely on fees and fines for revenue for the criminal justice system and for other programs. This has led to an increase in fees assessed across the country and more aggressive collection tactics, including time in jail.” Poor people and Black communities are targeted most. Schools use shame as a collection tactic, as if preparing poor students for a predatory system that targets them. And it’s negatively impacting their self-esteem and psyches, according to experts. After public outrage, several school districts have shut down alternative lunch programs. Instead of shaming students, how our criminal justice system punishes those in need needs addressing. Perhaps, if addressed, Black students in this position won’t expect discrimination. They’ll expect progress.