The House by Natalie Shure
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GROWING UP FIGHT FASCISM WITH WHY THE NATIVE HOW TO REACH BEHIND BARS P. 26 LITERATURE P. 34 VOTE MATTERS P. 9 TRUMP VOTERS P. 12 Make Room in THE HOUSE BY NATALIE SHURE ++ Sunrise Movement on Biden vs. Trump NOVEMBER 2020 .tv WHEN LIFE NEEDS A DIFFERENT LENS “A cornucopia of international movies and documentaries.” —The New Yorker “A haven for indie gems.” —The New York Times OVID is the streaming destination for global cinema and documentary films. Boundary-pushing films that you won’t find on other services. INCLUDING FILMS BY CHANTAL AKERMAN • JOHN AKOMFRAH • MICHAEL APTED • JULIE BERTUCCELLI • WANG BING CLAIRE DENIS • CHERYL DUNYE • NIKOLAUS GEYRHALTER • DEBRA GRANIK • PATRICIO GUZMÁN • DIEUDO HAMADI HEDDY HONIGMANN • SHOHEI IMAMURA • CHRIS MARKER • ROSS McELWEE • ROSINE MBAKAM • BILL MORRISON KELLY REICHARDT • JEAN ROUCH • PEMA TSEDEN • TRAVIS WILKERSON AND MORE FREE 14-DAY TRIAL Sign-up at www.OVID.tv – you will receive a free 14-day trial. After that the cost is $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly. VOLUME 44 NUMBER 11 ON THE COVER From the Streets to the House 18 What Does the SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Fighting Fascism Election Mean for Sentenced as Through Literature Climate Strategy? Children, Still Fiction can help us resist authoritarianism by expressing What to do if Trump or Biden wins Behind Bars not only outrage but joy A DISCUSSION WITH SUNRISE BY APOORVA TADEPALLI MOVEMENT ORGANIZERS MATTIAS A lifetime spent awaiting justice LEHMAN AND NIKAYLA JEFFERSON BY KATIE ROSE QUANDT 34 14 26 NOVEMBER 2020 = IN THESE TIMES 1 No political movement can be healthy unless it has its own press to inform it, educate it and orient it. “ — IN THESE TIMES FOUNDER JAMES WEINSTEIN ” TABLE OF CONTENTS FOUNDING EDITOR & PUBLISHER JAMES WEINSTEIN (1926–2005) DISPATCHES FEATURES EDITOR & PUBLISHER Joel Bleifuss EXECUTIVE EDITOR 6 The Climate Movement’s 18 From the Streets (ON LEAVE) Jessica Stites EXECUTIVE EDITOR Reckoning to the House (ACTING) Diana Babineau BY CAMILLE WILLIAMS BY NATALIE SHURE EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Christopher Hass WEB EDITORS Miles Kampf-Lassin, 7 African Migrants on 26 SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Sarah Lazare Hunger Strike Sentenced as Children, GUEST EDITORS Jack Mirkinson, Susan Rinkunas, Jacob Sugarman BY KATIE JANE FERNELIUS Still Behind Bars LABOR REPORTER Hamilton Nolan BY KATIE ROSE QUANDT INVESTIGATIVE FELLOWS 9 Why the Native Alice Herman, Indigo Olivier Vote Matters COPY EDITOR Bob Miller PROOFREADERS Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, BY STEPHANIE WOODARD DEPARTMENTS Rochelle Lodder SENIOR EDITORS Patricia Aufderheide, 4 In Conversation Susan J. Douglas, David Moberg, Salim VIEWPOINT Muwakkil, Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kate Aronoff, 7 This Month in Theo Anderson, Michael Atkinson, Frida 12 How We Are Flipping Late Capitalism Berrigan, Michelle Chen, Sady Doyle, Pete Trump Voters Karman, Kari Lydersen, Moshe Z. Marvit, 9 By the Numbers: Jane Miller, Shaun Richman, Slavoj Žižek BY GEORGE GOEHL Voter Suppression CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dean Baker, Rebecca Burns, Barbara Ehrenreich, 10 In Case You Missed It Jeremy Gantz, Leonard C. Goodman, Mindy IN PERSPECTIVE IN 2020 Isser, Naomi Klein, Chris Lehmann, John 13 LABOR Nichols, Rick Perlstein, Micah Uetricht The Big Idea: EDITORIAL INTERNS Frank Carber, 14 What Does the Election Hannah Faris, Clara Liang, Janea Wilson Outcome Mean for Climate Sectoral Bargaining CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rachel K. Dooley Movement Strategy? DESIGN ASSISTANT Matt Whitt A discussion with Sunrise CARTOONS EDITOR Matt Bors CARTOONISTS Terry LaBan, Dan Perkins Movement organizers Mattias ON THE COVER Lehman and Nikayla Jefferson DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Art Direction: Rachel K. Dooley Lauren Kostoglanis Illustration by Ryan Olbrysh DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Jamie Hendry CULTURE PUBLISHING ASSISTANT Caroline Reid CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Rebecca Sterner 34 Fighting Fascism IN THESE TIMES BOARD OF DIRECTORS M. Nieves Bolaños, Tobita Chow, Kevin Through Literature Creighan, Dan Dineen, James Harkin, BY APOORVA TADEPALLI Robert Kraig, Paul Olsen, Rick Perlstein, Margaret Rung, Steven Saltzman, Stacy 38 Comics Sutton, David Taber, William Weaver 40 In Those Times: The work of In These Times writers is supported by the Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy Puffin Foundation. pms 3015 pms 130 Our staff and writers are represented by these unions: 2 IN THESE TIMES + NOVEMBER 2020 EDITORIAL Supreme but Illegitimate f Democrats don’t stop him, Pres- that end, on September 17, Trump announced ident Donald Trump was set (at press time) to the creation—via executive order—of the “1776 install Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Commission,” a federal body whose job it is to Court. celebrate the Constitution as “the fulfillment of Trump has nominated (and the GOP Sen- a thousand years of Western civilization.” Iate has confirmed) 220 Republicans to the fed- Indeed. We must defend our constitutional eral judiciary since 2016. Coney Barrett would right to vote—guaranteed by the 15th, 19th, 23rd, make it 221. These judges will interpret the 24th and 26th Amendments—from the likes law to benefit the corporate capitalists who bankroll the GOP. It’s a sure bet that for Where does the blame lie for decades to come these justices will sup- port their party and do little to prevent this corruption of our electoral red states from continuing the Jim Crow system? A constitutional legacy of disenfranchising Black and protection for slaveholders: Brown voters. Take the federal judiciary’s sup- the Electoral College. port of racist Republicans in Florida. Florida—where Blacks comprise 47% of Trump. The progressive agenda, of people in prison but only 17% of the therefore, must include constitution- state population—had been one of four al amendments or workarounds that remaining states where felons are banned protect democracy. for life from voting. That changed in 2018 when Abolishing the Electoral College should be first 65% of voters in Florida passed an amendment to on the list. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. the state constitution that restored ballot access have now passed the National Popular Vote bill, to people with prior felony convictions except which requires the Electoral College delegates those convicted of murder and sexual offenses. from those states to vote for the candidate who In response, the GOP legislators passed a law in wins the national popular vote. Of the 270 Elector- June 2019 that requires people who served time to al College votes that are needed to elect the pres- pay any remaining court fees before voting. This ident, those 15 states and Washington, D.C. have white supremacist resurrection of the poll tax was 196. If the nine additional states that have been endorsed on September 11 by six judges on the close to passing the bill were to do so, their 88 addi- 10-member U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, five tional Electoral College delegates would bring the of whom were appointed by Trump. At the Su- total to 284—enough to ensure the winner of the preme Court, the GOP majority declined to take popular vote becomes president. Presto! No more up the case—the fourth time this year it refused George W. Bushes and Donald Trumps. to address voter suppression. With their “Wicked Witch” dead, the Right is Where does the blame lie for this corruption jubilant, confident it has a decades-long lock on of our electoral system? A constitutional protec- the Supreme Court. tion for slaveholders: the Electoral College. This So where is that silver lining? It has to be 18th-century legal artifact has, in the 21st centu- faith in “we the people.” Or, at least, American ry, allowed two presidents who lost the popular youth—a generation that can’t afford to wait de- vote—George W. Bush and Trump—to appoint a cades for Supreme Court justices to die off. Mil- Supreme Court majority doing its best to pervert lennials and Generation Z are leading the fights American democracy. for racial justice, economic equality and a livable No wonder Trump wants to elevate the Con- Earth. It’s their future on the line. Let’s take our stitution as a “sacred” text. Where would he be lead from them and make history. without it and the Electoral College? Jail? To — JOEL BLEIFUSS NOVEMBER 2020 = IN THESE TIMES 3 IN CONVERSATION A VACCINE IS NOT BLACK WOMEN AND THE “BACK TO SCHOOL” REFUGEES VS. AN ARMS RACE P. 12 THE PAY GAP P. 34 DILEMMA P. 14 AMAZON P. 9 There’s another facet to ɯ A FRESH LOOK FOR ITT opening schools (at least If you have been to helped restructure the new in New York) that I haven’t inthesetimes.com recently, site to better reflect the mis- What’s at Stake seen anyone address: No you may have noticed a sion of the magazine, and to for Labor? EVERYTHING. matter how safe a school few changes. In August, make stories easier to find BY HAMILTON NOLAN may be, people still have we launched a brand new, and read. We teamed up with to get there. A teacher who completely redesigned an old friend, Seamus Holman, lives in the North Bronx website—the first complete to handle the coding as well and works on the Lower overhaul in nearly a decade. as the daunting task of mov- + East Side has a long com- Our creative director, ing more than 20,000 arti- Rebecca Burns reports Rachel K. Dooley, led the ef- cles to the new site. Longtime from inside the mute each way on the sub- eviction crisis OCTOBER 2020 way. There is virtually no fort to bring the visual style readers may remember that way to avoid infection if of our online home up to the Seamus was art director and standard set by the beau- web manager for In These WHAT’S FOR DINNER? that is your daily routine. tiful redesign of the print Times from 2001 to 2005, be- USDA policies and glob- Once infected, a week or magazine we completed fore leaving to start his own two will pass while you al economic forces ex- in 2017.