Drake Political Review Volume 6 Issue 1 by Drake Political Review

DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

FALL 2019 | VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 1

WHY IOWA? How does a state with a smaller population than the Chicago metro area have so much political influence?

IN ONE DOOR & OUT THE OTHER

WOKE OR WASHED OUT?

President Donald Trump has the

A look at cultural

record for cabinet turnover in a

appreciation, appropriation

presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first term at a 78% rate

and everything in between.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR It’s an important time to be talking politics–no one knows that better than we do over at Drake Political Review. We have been hard at work talking (as well as writing, editing, and designing) politics for years now in order to bring an unbiased source of political news to campus. Things are complicated in the political world, and I know that it is easy to tune it out as it starts to get overwhelming. It’s easy to feel burnt out, to feel like we are having the same conversations over and over no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on. But now is not the time to stop these conversations. In fact, it is time to encourage those around you to join in. It’s been a semester full of visits from numerous presidential candidates, elected representatives, and anyone else who has a role in politics, it seems. It can be overwhelming. I know that I have felt overwhelmed this semester trying to keep track of relevant political functions while also living my regular non-political magazine editor life. But I encourage everyone to take time to attend at least a couple of these events and to take advantage of the ability to hear from politicians and other notable figures first hand. There really is no

better way to learn about what people stand for than from the horse’s mouth (of course we encourage fact-checking also). Drake Political Review is meant to be accessible to both the politically savvy and those who typically avoid political news on their timelines. We want to bring you issues you may have heard of, as well as the ones you haven’t. This issue, we are breaking down topics ranging from the trade war between the U.S. and China to the fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. I am very proud of all that we have been able to accomplish this year as a publication. From our writers to our editors to our design team, there has been amazing content and contributions across the board. In a society where political apathy runs rampant, it is good to know that there are still people who care, and this publication is an example of this. There are people who care enough to take time out of their schedules to compile this magazine, and you, the reader, care enough to read it. So thank you for your contribution to caring about politics– we need you, and so does everyone else. So without further delay,

TURN THE PAGE AND LET’S TALK POLITICS.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF LILA JOHNSON

ART DIRECTOR ABBY LASHBROOK

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR AMANDA O’BRIEN

MANAGING EDITOR SARAH BALL

CONTENT EDITOR EMILYN CRABBE

STAFF EDITORS TAYLOR MCGILL JESSICA VINAJA ADDI WEAKLEY

CONTRIBUTORS JESSICA COMSTOCK LIAM CONRAD MATTHEW DEIKE REBECCA HICKOK GRACE LONG RACHEL MAYOROS PEYTON MAULSBY BRYONY MITCHELL MARIE NALAN EMILY NELSON CECELIA SANCHEZ BRANDON WHEELOCK RACHEL MAYOROS EMILY WILCOX ANNA WONDRASEK

ADVISOR MATTHEW THORNTON

LILA JOHNSON

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

TABLE OF CONTENTS 06

FROM NEWS MEDIA CELEBRITY TO PRIME MINISTER, WHO IS BORIS JOHNSON?

The United Kingdom was in the middle of a Brexit mess when it saw a leadership shakeup at the highest level.

07 08

VOTE GRIFF

Infographic on what Drake University’s live mascot, Griff the Bulldog, has been up to this election season.

LET’S TALK [LOCAL] POLITICS WITH NICK MILLER

He’s running a campaign for Iowa’s 19th legislative district and he’s still in college. Find out how this political hopeful plans to make an impact on local politics.

Politicians aren’t always truthful, and with the ease of Twitter, they have the ability to say almost anything they want at the tip of their fingers. We found six tweets from prominent political figures and factchecked their statements so you don’t have to.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE RICH AND POWERFUL: WHO IS JEFFREY EPSTEIN? BULLDOG ABROAD: THE PROTESTING FRENCH

Who are the Gilets Jeunes and why are they protesting? A look at France’s innate nature to protest from the point of view of a fellow bulldog.

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MISOGYNISTIC MOTIVATIONS

IN ONE DOOR & OUT THE OTHER

FALL 2019

Can an increase in everyday mass violence be linked to the lack of emotional vulnerability in American men?

Who has been in & out of President Trump’s cabinet?

Des Moines artist files lawsuit against Hy-Vee.

TRASH TALK: A JARRING CONVERSATION

Here’s how the environmentalist movement has been changed by the trending zero-waste movement and what the future holds for activism as our planet’s clock ticks down, fast.

TWITTER FACT CHECK

Pulling back the curtain of the case that never was.

A TROUBLING TRADE WAR

PERILS OF THE POD

WHY IOWA?

How Iowa soybean farmers became the victims of a battle fought with tariffs instead of weapons.

How the e-cigarette epidemic has reversed the course on anti-smoking rhetoric.

How does a state with a smaller population than the Chicago metro area have so much political influence? We look into why you have to come here to be president.

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THE GENTRIFICATION CONVERSATION

Business developments raise questions from sea to shining sea, including here at home.

WOKE OR WASHED OUT?

A look at cultural appreciation, appropriation and everything in between.

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FROM NEWS MEDIA CELEBRITY TO PRIME MINISTER, WHO IS BORIS JOHNSON? The United Kingdom was in the middle of a Brexit mess when it saw a leadership shakeup at the highest level. WORDS BY EMILY WILCOX

oris Johnson is the current prime minister of the United Kingdom after having stepped into the role in the middle of the political controversy that is Brexit. Brexit has been on the minds of people living in the U.K. for the past three years and has only gotten more complicated as time has passed. “Europeans are exasperated and it just makes the U.K. look stupid to the EU,” said Dr. Martin D. Brown, assistant professor of international history at Richmond, the American International University in London. “Whatever status Britain had in Europe has been lost over the last two or three years and we have become a laughingstock.” Brown stated that he has not been impressed by Johnson’s career and ascension to the office of prime minister. According to Brown, Johnson used his fame and the political turmoil of Brexit to secure his place. “He saw the Brexit campaign as a way to get himself into 10 Downing Street,” Brown said. So how did he get into 10 Downing Street? Born in New York City, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson moved to London with his family as a little boy and attended school in England. It didn’t take him long during his schooling to discover a love for writing, which led to a long career in journalism. He was fired from his job at The Times for the fabrication of a quote but continued writing up until, and during, his time as a member of Parliament. Being fired from a major publication company was not the most controversial aspect of Johnson’s journalism career. He was forced to make a public apology to the city of Liverpool after an insensitive post in The Spectator. The post referenced the 1989

1997

Lost to Labour Party

1998

Became a favorite

Hillsborough Disaster in which 96 people lost their lives; Johnson claimed the city was still holding onto “victim status.” Johnson also has been caught in a slew of controversies, including rumors of affairs and allegations of his daughter being caught unconscious with a former Russian intelligence officer who had acted as a double secret agent for Britain. Johnson first began his long journey to prime minister in 1997 when he ran for a seat in Parliament under the Conservative Party and lost. However, he gained popularity during his election process, and in 1998, began to appear on television because of his blunt and irreverent language. Brown said during this time he seemed to “come across as a somewhat loveable, bubbling, overgrown schoolboy, and he is still portraying himself this way.” In 2001, he was officially given a seat in Parliament, running for the Conservative Party. He kept his seat in the 2005 election, but in 2008, he ran for mayor of London and won. This gave him even more popularity before returning to Parliament in 2015 to work closely with Theresa May as her foreign secretary. During his time in this role, he became an outspoken critic of May, stating she was “too soft,” while pushing his case for a hard Brexit, meaning a split from the EU will no strings attached. Soon after, May resigned as PM, and the path was already paved for Johnson to be elected as the new PM. Dr. Tim Haughton, professor of political science and international studies at the University of Birmingham, has seen firsthand the impact Johnson has had on Parliament. Haughton said he believes Johnson is

2001

2005

beginning a power trip that may end in dire consequences. “Before, I viewed him as a funny and rather eccentric politician who seemed to be able to appeal across the traditional divide of politics,” Haughton said. “My view of Boris Johnson changed with the 2016 referendum. I now view him as a mendacious and unprincipled man who will do anything to acquire and retain power.” Now, Johnson continues to push for a hard Brexit, and the U.K. and the EU hope to make a decision soon. Ten months after March 29, 2019, the original date of Brexit, Parliament is still cautious of Johnson’s “hardlined” divorce. Brexit is continuing to be pushed back, even to the beginning of 2020, and the new PM has failed to live up to his promises to make this a quicker process than it would have been under May. Haughton feels that Johnson’s talents may be better suited in a position like party chairman. But for now, Haughton feels the future of the U.K. with Johnson as PM is hard to predict. “He has had some successes such as securing a new withdrawal agreement with the EU and getting MPs to back it,” Haughton said. “He has taken risky strategies as prime minister, and we will see if his gamble pays off.” The future of the U.K. is still unknown, and whatever happens next with Brexit, the national sovereignty Britain was looking for so badly is now gone. “We have to be careful what we say about people who get into politics originally coming from TV shows,” Brown said.

2008

2015

2019

Rose to fame

Despite public

Won Mayor of

Returned to

Elected as prime minister after

when running for

on TV due to

appearing on TV more

rebukes, Johnson was

London election by a

Parliament as MP

prime minister.

his “bumbling

and more. However, he

reelected to his seat

slim margin.

after winning the

Theresa May

demeanour and

got into some trouble

in parliament.

general election.

stepped down.

irreverent remarks.”

due to his fame.

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PEOPLE

VOTE GRIFF. WORDS & GRAPHICS BY DRAKE UNIVERSITY │ DESIGN BY ABBY LASHBROOK

GRIFF HAS MET 13 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES INCLUDING ANDREW YANG, ELIZABETH WARREN, KIRSTIN GILLIBRAND, AMY KLOBUCHAR, KAMALA HARRIS, CORY BOOKER, BERNIE SANDERS, JOHN HICKENLOOPER, BETO O’ROURKE, JOE BIDEN, MICHAEL BENNET, JULIÁN CASTRO, AND JOE SESTAK

GRIFF HAS THREE PATRIOTIC TIES FOR CAUCUS SEASON

2016

“Vote Griff” first began during the 2016

1 2 3

campaign season when Drake hosted the Democratic National Committee’s debate. It was his way of being involved in all things politics happening at Drake without showing preference for any one party or candidate. Since he’s a candidate himself, affiliated with no particular party, everyone else is his competition.

Q: How does Griff prepare for political events?

gets a bath

brushes his teeth

gets his checklist ready

Puts on his patriotic tie DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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LET’S TALK [LOCAL] POLITICS WITH NICK MILLER WORDS BY MATTHEW DEIKE │ PHOTOS COURTESY OF MILLER FOR IOWA

ick Miller is a junior at Drake University who is running against Chris Hagenow in Iowa’s 19th legislative district. He sat down with the Drake Political Review to discuss issues about his campaign. Q: Your campaign’s core values are to invest, educate, and sustain. Why did

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you choose these values to be the center of your campaign? A: My mother was a public high school teacher for about 16 years and I grew up in a public school district as well. I am a huge advocate for entrepreneurship, and in particular, entrepreneurship in young professionals. I see this as an opportunity,

over the course of the next few decades, to really reshape the American economy. We start to see these bigger businesses begin to move online, and the mom-andpop shops are starting to be left behind by priorities from the state level. They prioritize those companies over these smaller companies that are helping

PEOPLE maintain smaller communities. We have to put our people first. Q: Do you think people in your community are ready to elect a young college kid compared to someone that’s been serving as a legislator since 2008? A:. I mean, our ages are always an issue no matter what you’re doing, whether you’re too old or too young. I

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I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND AN IMPACT.

compete… However, at the end of the day, it’s about those connections that you make with the people, and it’s about being from a small-town Iowa community. I offer that to them as an individual, whether that’s through fieldwork, communication on social media, or letting me just have coffee. I am more than happy and more than willing to meet with anybody. Q: In 2018, fellow Drake student Joseph Mitchell was elected to the statehouse. How will you leave the groundwork or inspire other students running for offices like yourself and Joseph Mitchell? A: I’ve only had the opportunity to meet him once, but I have a great deal of respect for Joe Mitchell. If you just looked at the makeup of the current officeholders, the average age is quite up there. Just because we’re younger does not mean that

we are any less intelligent…It means that we have a lot of learning to do, but if we insist on only letting a specific age group or a particular gender be the only ones that are influencing policy, we will only ever have whatever that majority group policy is. I want to see the younger generation of Iowans coming to Iowa. I’m born and raised here and I genuinely love Iowa. So if we want to continue to maintain generations to come, we have to have some policies in place to make sure that Iowa is more sustainable and more attractive to younger individuals. I think that that starts by having young office holders, whether Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party, whatever the case might be. If you are a younger individual, you have a stake in the future.

- Nick miller, junior at Drake University

will say that I have nowhere to be in my life besides learning and developing new skills. I have the opportunity to make a difference and to make an impact. I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support both monetarily and verbally. People continue to care about me and want to see me do well, and that has been absolutely humbling. It’s been incredible to get that experience and to have people that I have disagreed with on probably every single issue come up to me and say they think it’s incredible that I’m running and that they support me because they feel that I am going to do the best for the community. At the end of the day, those are the types of things that get me to continue waking up and continue doing what I’m doing to make that lasting impact. Q: In 2016, Chris Hagenow ran against Representative Jennifer Konfrst here at Drake. He spent almost half a million dollars in that campaign. How will you compete with the fundraising? A: In terms of money and resources, it’s assumed that I’m not going to be able to DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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WORDS BY JESSICA COMSTOCK

Twitter. It’s full of anything and everything: sports results, movie spoilers, breaking news, and “covfefe.” In just the past 10 years, social media, specifically Twitter, has completely transformed the way that politicians communicate with their constituents and the American people. President Trump alone has tweeted over 17,000 times since he announced his campaign for presidency in 2015. Politicians aren’t always truthful, and with the ease of Twitter, they have the ability to say almost anything they want at the tip of their fingers. We found six tweets from prominent political figures and factchecked their statements so you don’t have to.

HALF-TRUE

LEADING

IS TRUE BUT M

DPR DPR

Drake Political Review @drakepoliticalreview

This was tweeted by Elizabeth Warren on September 5th–a day after the CNN climate change town hall. During the town hall, on the topic of fossil fuel industries, Warren stated, “They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your light bulbs, straws and cheeseburgers, when 70% of the pollution that we’re throwing into the air comes from three industries.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas emissions research, these sources (transportation, electricity, and commercial/residential) did make up 69% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. The report also states that agriculture makes up around 9% of emissions and industry makes about 22%. While her tweet is accurate, her statement at the town hall was inaccurate when it comes to her use of the word “industries.” The EPA research studied not only industries, but individual consumers as well, including activities related to transportation and residential homes. Individual consumers can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the EPA cites “efficient fluorescent lighting” as an example of reducing emissions in buildings-- yes, light bulbs.

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Drake Political Review @drakepoliticalreview

The Trump administration’s fight against Obamacare has had some effects on insurance costs. The 2017 tax reform plan cut the penalty for not having insurance to $0. Without a penalty, insurance companies believed healthy people would opt out of buying insurance. To counteract this predicted loss of revenue, insurance companies increased their premium costs. Sabrina Corlette, director of the Center on Healthcare Insurance Reforms, told NPR that “Insurance companies, in anticipation that consumers would believe that the individual mandate was no longer going to be enforced… priced for that in 2018.” According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, premium prices increased by 32% in 2018, but most were offset with subsidies. However, Biden’s claim isn’t completely true. Premium prices across the country have been steadily increasing since 1999, according to the 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey. In fact, premium costs increased due to the Affordable Care Act. According to eHealth research, from 20132017, the average premium increase was almost 60%, which is vastly different from 2009-2013 where premium increases were all less than 10% across age groups. Even without Trump, it’s likely that premium costs would have still followed the 20-year-long trend and kept rising.

PEOPLE TRUE

MOSTLY FALSE

DPR

Drake Political Review @drakepoliticalreview

These statistics are from a research paper titled The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. This paper, written by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and American University, utilized data from the Tennessee STAR class size reduction experiment. This paper also found that black students who have a black teacher before the end of third grade are also 7% more likely to graduate high school. Another paper published by the NBER, titled Teacher Expectations Matter, shows related research to this topic. This paper found that teachers’ expectations of students increase black students’ chances of graduating from college by 10%. According to the same paper, “white teachers are less optimistic about black students,” and since there are many more white teachers in America than black teachers, this puts black students at a disadvantage.

LEADING

TRUE BUT MIS

DPR

Drake Political Review @drakepoliticalreview

While we can’t know the effects of decriminalizing illegal entry into the United States, there is no strong evidence to show that increased criminal charges in the past 15 years have deterred immigration rates. Title 8, Section 1325 of the United States Federal Code states that anyone who enters or attempts to enter the United States illegally can be fined and/or imprisoned up to 6 months. During the 2020 Democratic primary, multiple candidates have spoken against this law, including Julián Castro, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. Most stated that this law is what allows for the Trump administration’s “ZeroTolerance” policy to separate families at the border. In 2005, the George W. Bush administration introduced Operation Streamline, which increased criminal charges for illegal immigration. Specifically, it sought to reduce rates of illegal re-entry. Until this operation, most who improperly entered the U.S. were not criminally charged, but rather were charged civilly. Due to this operation, criminalization of immigrants at the southern border continued to increase throughout the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. However, in 2015, a Department of Homeland Security study reported that Operation Streamline was not effective in turning away illegal immigrants. Even with criminalization of improper entry at the border being law, less than a third of Border Patrol apprehensions are criminally prosecuted, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Although we can’t predict what would happen if we completely decriminalize illegal entry, research shows that increased criminalization doesn’t decrease the amount of immigration at our southern border.

DPR

Drake Political Review @drakepoliticalreview

This tweet from Donald Trump went viral with over 33 thousand retweets in October because of the phrase “Impeach the Pres,” which ended up trending worldwide on Twitter. It’s not clear whether this sentence was the result of sarcasm or a typo, but this tweet from Trump has more beyond that one sentence. First, President Trump claims that median household income is at the highest point ever in the history of the U.S., which is true according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, this is likely not a direct effect of Trump administration policy–median household income has been increasing since 2014. Trump also claims that more people are working now than ever, which is true according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, just using numbers to measure the success of the labor force is misleading, as it doesn’t account for population growth. The employment-population ratio for September 2019 was 61%, which essentially means that 61% of those of working age are employed. This is not the highest it has ever been–the highest occurred in late 1997 when the ratio hit 67.9%. This dropped dramatically due to the 2008 recession, but has been increasing steadily since 2011.

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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE RICH AND POWERFUL: WHO IS JEFFREY EPSTEIN? Pulling back the curtain of the case that never was. WORDS BY ANNA WONDRASEK │ ILLUSTRATIONS BY ABBY LASHBROOK

effrey Epstein’s case is not unique. Stories of wealthy, powerful men being granted leniency in the United States legal system can be found throughout history, particularly in recent history. R. Kelly, Robert H. Richards IV,

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and Michael Jackson were all acquitted of rape or child molestation. However, Epstein’s case stands out, not only because of the sheer number of victims and witnesses, but also because of the way his case was handled, beginning with the

original accusations uncovered in 2005. Epstein’s death on Aug. 10, 2019 may have put an end to the abuse from him in particular, but the trauma endured by the victims, and the legacy of this case, will live on for years to come.

PEOPLE In March of 2005, a 14-year-old girl and her parents went to the Palm Beach Police Department. They told a story of a local mansion where its powerful whitehaired owner paid the girl to give him a massage. He had told her to strip down to her underwear and masturbated himself as she massaged his chest. On its own, this story is disturbing enough. But within days of the first victim coming forward, another does, and her story was almost identical. Detective Joseph Recarey, who worked the case in 2005, has described Epstein’s setup as a “sexual pyramid scheme.” Young girls were lured in with the promise of $200 or more for giving Epstein a massage and would be given another $200 bonus if they brought him another girl. Epstein’s girls were usually between the ages of 14 and 16, and once they got older, they were used primarily as recruiters, not masseuses. The investigation began in April of 2005. On Oct. 20 of that year, the police had gathered enough corroborating statements to execute a search warrant at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Inside the house, police found photographs of several girls on Epstein’s hard drive, appearing to have been taken from a security camera on his desk. They also found the pink-andgreen couch that had been described by many of the girls and the soap shaped like genitalia in the bathrooms. However, the house had clearly been swept of everything that Epstein considered “incriminating.” The police had also subpoenaed telephone records and had conducted surveillance on Epstein and his associates. Detective Recarey considered his case to be airtight. By February of 2006, police had identified 47 girls who had been molested at Epstein’s mansion, all of whom were telling very similar stories, even though most had never met. On May 1, 2006, the police signed a probable cause affidavit charging Epstein and two of his associates with one count of lewd and lascivious behavior and four

counts of unlawful sex acts with a minor. But instead of granting his approval for the arrest, the state attorney, Barry Krischer, came back to police with a plea deal – Epstein was to be charged with a misdemeanor, five years of probation, and would have to undergo a psychological evaluation. When the police rejected this deal, Krischer referred the case on to a grand jury. This was a highly unusual move in a case like this: in Florida, grand juries are only required for capital cases, and are otherwise usually only recommended in cases involving public officials. Epstein was wealthy and had extreme influence, but he was not a public official. Despite Detective Recarey’s protests and outrage, the grand jury was convened for July 19, 2006, and came back with their verdict on July 28. They recommended that Epstein be charged with one felony count of solicitation of prostitution; there was no mention that the girls were underage. This led to the chief of the Palm Beach Police Department, Michael Reiter, calling the FBI and the federal prosecutor’s office because he believed the state attorney was not allowing this case to be prosecuted the way it should have been. At the time, the federal prosecutor was Alexander Acosta, whose name might be familiar, as he would later become Trump’s secretary of labor. Calling in Acosta backfired. In an extraordinary and unprecedented turn of events, Acosta and the prosecution team drafted a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein’s defense team without notifying or consulting with the victims. This agreement specified that Epstein would plead guilty to one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of solicitation of prostitution with a minor. It provided him and his named accomplices with immunity from being prosecuted on a federal level and granted “any potential co-conspirators” immunity as well. Had Epstein not signed this agreement, the Department of Justice found that he would

face a 53-page indictment and could be federally prosecuted. But on Sept. 24, 2007, Epstein signed this agreement, once again without the federal prosecutors notifying or consulting any of his victims, and the original 53page indictment was scrapped. It was to this agreement that Epstein plead guilty on June 30, 2008, and was sentenced to 18 months in the county jail, although he was given work release of

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EPSTEIN’S ARREST WAS A VICTORY FOR HIS VICTIMS.

6 days a week, 12 hours a day. He was also required to register as a convicted sex offender. This makes his work release permission unique, as Florida does not grant work release to convicted sex offenders. Epstein was released from jail in July of 2009, five months earlier than his original sentence had dictated. If Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution with a minor in 2008, how was he arrested again more than a decade later on July 6, 2019? After all, the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits multiple prosecutions and punishments for the same offense. As similar as they might seem, however, the 2008 charges and the 2019 charges are different. In 2008, Epstein was convicted of one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of solicitation of prostitution with a minor. In 2019, Epstein was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. In Florida, where Epstein was convicted, a first offense solicitation of prostitution is a secondDRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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degree misdemeanor and can be penalized with up to one year in jail, and solicitation of prostitution of a minor is a seconddegree felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail. The latter is punishable regardless of whether you knew the prostitute was underage or not. On the federal level, however, sex trafficking of minors is punishable with a sentence that ranges from 10 years to life, depending on the nature of the crime. Had Epstein gone through a trial, he could have faced a maximum of 45 years in federal prison. Epstein’s arrest was a victory for his victims who had been fighting various battles over the past decade to get the justice they deserved. Various civil cases had been filed, but most had been settled out of court, and the terms of those settlements were confidential. Possibly the most famous of these is a defamation lawsuit brought against Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, by Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2015. Maxwell, the youngest daughter of a British publishing mogul, became a close associate of Epstein once moving to the United States. In her civil suit, Giuffre included descriptions of sexual abuse, not only from Epstein, but from several other powerful figures as well; these included Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Defendant Ghislaine Maxwell, and Prince Andrew, among others.

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The case was settled in 2017, but the records were unsealed in August of 2019 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on the grounds that the judge in charge of the case had improperly sealed hundreds of filings. Despite Epstein’s death on Aug. 10, 2019, women have continued to come forward with the intent of holding Epstein’s enablers and accomplices accountable. Although Epstein’s death means that they will not be able to face him in court, these lawsuits may still provide opportunities for these women, as well as the American public, to get answers about how many people were actually involved in the abuse. In one lawsuit filed against Epsten’s estate on Aug. 20, 2019, three women identified only as Katlyn, Priscilla, and Lisa Doe allege that they were promised medical treatment and much-needed surgeries in exchange for sexual favors and domestic chores performed for Epstein and his circle of friends. Katlyn Doe adds that Epstein forced her to marry one of his female associates in order for the associate to stay in the country. Investigations are not limited to the United States, either. According to the New York Times, as of Aug. 23, 2019, a French prosecutor is also looking into possible crimes committed in France, as

well as any potential French accomplices. One target in particular is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent. He has been accused of procuring girls for Epstein under the guise of helping them jumpstart their modeling careers, though he has not been specifically named or charged by French prosecutors. As of Sept. 11, 2019, three alleged victims had come forward, saying that they had been abused by Epstein and his associates. Ultimately, this case is likely to drag on for months, maybe even years. Resolving it will not be straightforward – there are too many unknown variables that are still being investigated, such as the number of people involved and the number of victims. Every time new evidence comes to light, it seems as if there are at least three new unknown variables, and it will be time consuming for investigators to unravel all of the evidence and tie up the loose ends. Although Epstein’s death complicates matters by eliminating a primary source of evidence for investigators, lawyers for the victims have taken a more optimistic view. His victims may struggle with the psychological and emotional trauma he inflicted on them for the rest of their lives, but at least with his death, he can no longer harm anyone else.

PEOPLE

THE PROTESTING FRENCH

BULLDOG ABROAD

Who are the Gilets Jaunes and why are they protesting?

WORDS BY LIAM CONRAD │ ILLUSTRATION BY ABBY LASHBROOK

he stereotype of the alwaysprotesting Frenchman may be true. In the words of Laure Bettencourt, the French student life coordinator for API Paris, “We are French, we love to protest. We love protesting all the time.” To walk the streets of Paris and not see a protest is strange. There is always at least one road, metro stop, or bridge closed due to protests on any given day. One particular protest getting a lot of media attention is the French Gilets Jaunes protests. The Gilet Jaunes protests started on Nov. 17, 2018. They are named for their distinctive clothing: Gilets Jaunes translated is Yellow Vests in English. Since 2008, every car owner in France is required by law to own a yellow vest so that they can be easily seen during emergencies. The protesters wear these distinctive, construction-like vests during every protest, due to the law that drove them to protest in the first place. Taxes contributed to the increasing tension. French President Emmanuel Macron issued plans to raise the fuel tax in November of 2018, which angered many and strengthened the rural-urban divide. “France is very much a metropolitan society where Paris has always dominated,” said Professor Helen Thackwell of the Institut Catholique de Paris. She explained how people in France who are not Parisian often feel neglected by the French government. This feeling of being neglected came to a boiling point with the fuel tax because people in rural areas are more dependent on their cars as they do not have access to public transportation like Parisians. The rural French public can’t simply hop on the metro to go to work, to the store, or take

their kids to school. People in the rural areas saw the fuel tax as an affront to their livelihoods, thus driving them to protest. At the start, the protesters consisted of mainly rural French who came to Paris to protest on Saturdays–their day off work. Since then, however, the protests have grown rapidly. Thackwell explained that it’s not just the non-Parisians protesting the fuel tax anymore. The protests are now made up of

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WE ARE FRENCH, WE LOVE TO PROTEST. - Laure Bettencourt, French Student Life Coordinator

people with more diverse interests. There are people on the far left and the far right, retired people who are angry with pension cuts and higher taxes under President

Macron, and unemployed people pushing for a higher minimum wage. “To be honest with you, I don’t know what I think of them, in the sense that the Gilets Jaunes are not one homogeneous group of people,” Thackwell said. The mixed bag of people participating in the protests has caused a number of problems. It’s become harder to report on the protests, as no one knows exactly who they’re dealing with. In addition, different types of protests have led to different levels of violence, despite the original protesters’ call for peace. A lack of agreement has drawn out the protests for a year, as it is difficult to appease protestors who aren’t united behind common demands. Protests are common in Paris. Weekly protests with no real end in sight, though, have angered many Parisians. Bettencourt stated that she’s “kind of fed up with it” as protests continue to cause road closures, hurting many Parisian businesses in the process. Perhaps the best way to see into the Parisian mindset on the Gilets Jaunes comes from Bettencourt: “Grrrrrrrrr.” DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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PEOPLE

MISOGYNISTIC MOTIVATIONS Can an increase in everyday mass violence be linked to the lack of emotional vulnerability in American men? WORDS BY PEYTON MAULSBY │ ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMANDA O’BRIEN

n early August of 2019, the nation shook in the wake of two mass shootings within 24 hours. First, in the late morning of Aug. 3, a gunman opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Approximately 15 hours later in Dayton, Ohio, Connor Betts opened fire at the entrance of a bar. These two instances of mass violence reignited the national conversation

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surrounding the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States. The role of misogyny in the creation of mass shooters is a highly neglected facet in the conversation surrounding gun violence. Though this could have to do partially with the fact that other forms of bigotry such as racism have taken center stage, Keegan Hankes, a research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center,

stresses the inextricable ties between all forms of bigotry. “A lot of people trade in anti-feminist rhetoric before they ultimately go on to something like white nationalism or other white supremacist ideologies,” Hankes says. “It’s frequently a gateway.” Though the feminist movement has made massive strides in the last hundredor-so years toward equality of the sexes,

PEOPLE these advances have given a latent rise to reactionary movements aimed at protecting the traditionally superior social standing of men in American society. Michael Kimmel, one of the world’s leading sociological experts on men and masculinity, says he believes that the current apparent rise in instances of mass violence by-and-large committed by men could be primarily due to these advances by women’s rights movements. According to a report from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, “It is clear that men and male-dominated institutions are responsible for most of the violence in the world… it remains overwhelmingly true that men are the main perpetrators of violence, across marked social differences of age, class, and race/ethnicity to name only three.” Because of this, it makes sense that there has been a rise in mass shootings,

“

MEN AND

MALE-DOMINATED INSTITUTIONS ARE

RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE

VIOLENCE IN THE

WORLD.

- United nations entity for gender equality report

or at least a rise in the amount of media attention they garner. These acts, the vast majority of which have been committed by men, serve as an outward expression of dominance in a society that has taken that traditional aspect of masculinity away, according to the collaborative journal article “Overdoing Gender: A Test of the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis.”

Researchers such as Mark Greene of the Good Men Project, a media organization dedicated to exploring all facets of masculinity, have used the phrase “Man Box” to describe the strict expectations of men and the prevailing form of masculinity in the United States. The “Man Box” is made up of seven prevailing pillars of the predominant culture of masculinity: self-sufficiency, aggression and control, acting tough, physical attractiveness, heterosexuality and homophobia, rigid gender roles and, hypersexuality. These pillars of masculinity have also been referred to in more common shorthand as “toxic masculinity” which, as its name suggests, defines the current culture of masculinity as being comprised of negative or toxic characteristics. The socialization of these pillars in men from their childhood all the way through their adult lives ingrains a dangerous set of ideals into the men in our society. As Sandra Trappen, assistant professor in the Administration of Justice Department at Pennsylvania State University, put succinctly in her analysis of the film “Fight Club,” this toxic mentality seems to argue that aggression and violence fix everything. According to an article from Business Insider, “A 2017 report from the Department of Homeland Security on ‘mass attacks’ in public spaces found similarly that ‘almost half’ of the attackers studied that year were motivated by personal grievances, retaliating for various perceived slights, including being bullied, disliked, or wronged by peers or family members.” But the Dayton shooter in particular also kept another type of grievance: a rape list. He had been suspended from school for keeping a list of girls that he wanted to rape. So, why wasn’t this display of misogyny enough of an indicator that he had a high probability of turning to mass violence in the future?

Though it takes a bit of analysis to find ideals of misogyny taking root in an epidemic such as mass gun violence, this does not mean that it is not as serious or detrimental as more obvious forms of misogyny, according to Adam Lankford, a criminology professor at the University of Alabama. “Cross-nationally, of course, there

“

PEOPLE HAVE

LESS ACCESS

TO FIREARMS IN THOSE

COUNTRIES THAN

IN THE U.S.

- Adam lankford, a criminology professor

are cultures that are far worse in their misogyny and treatment of women than the United States,” Lankford says, citing instances of female genital mutilation, which is prominent in many other nations. However, people with a history of violence “have less access to firearms in those countries than in the U.S., so they have far fewer public mass shootings.” According to a September 2019 poll from NPR, gender, location and political party divide the debate on gun control The poll states that two-thirds of women (67%) find importance in controlling gun violence over protecting gun rights, while a slight majority of men say the opposite (51%). The social and cultural analyses of this widespread phenomenon lead back to the same conclusions reached by a great number of American citizens–that some sort of “gun control” is necessary to stifle the violent conclusions of the too-many American mass shooters.

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PEOPLE

IN ONE DOOR & OUT THE OTHER Who has been in & out of President Trump’s cabinet? WORDS BY PEYTON MAULSBY │ DESIGN BY ABBY LASHBROOK

VICE PRESIDENT Mike Pence WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF Reince Priebus Confirmed January 20, 2017 Resigned July 28, 2017

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF John F. Kelly Confirmed July 31, 2017 Resigned January 2, 2019

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SECRETARY OF DEFENSE James Mattis

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Mark Esper (Current)

Confirmed January 20, 2017

Confirmed July 23, 2019

Resigned January 1, 2019

SECRETARY OF TREASURY Steve Mnuchin (Current)

ATTORNEY GENERAL Jeff Sessions Confirmed February 8, 2017

Confirmed February 13, 2017

Resigned January 2, 2019

SECRETARY OF STATE Mike Pompeo (Current)

ATTORNEY GENERAL Matthew Whitaker (Acting)

Confirmed by Senate April 26, 2018

Served from November 7, 2018 to February 14, 2019

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF Mick Mulvaney (Current)

SECRETARY OF STATE Rex Tillerson Confirmed March 1, 2017

ATTORNEY GENERAL William Barr (Current)

Confirmed January 2, 2019

Resigned March 31, 2018

Confirmed February 14, 2019

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PEOPLE

SECRETARY OF LABOR Eugene Scalia (Current) Confirmed September 27, 2019

SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Tom Price

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Scott Pruitt (Acting) Served from February 17, 2017 to July 6, 2018

Confirmed February 10, 2017

SECRETARY OF LABOR Alexander Acosta Confirmed April 27, 2017 Resigned July 19, 2019

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE Wilbur Ross (Current) Confirmed February 28, 2017

SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE Sonny Perdue (Current) Confirmed April 24, 2017

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR David Bernhardt (Current) Confirmed April 11, 2019 Served as acting secretary January 2, 2019 to formal confirmation April 11, 2019

Resigned September 29, 2017

SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Alex Azar (Current) Confirmed January 24, 2018

SECRETARY OF HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT Ben Carson (Current)

Serving from November 13, 2019

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY Kevin McAleenan (Acting) Served from April 11, 2019 to November 13, 2019

Confirmed March 2, 2017

SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION Elaine Chao (Current) Confirmed January 31, 2017

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY Kirstjen Nielsen Confirmed December 5, 2017 Resigned April 7, 2019

John Kelly Confirmed January 20, 2017

SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS David Shulkin Confirmed February 13, 2017 Removed March 28, 2018

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR Ryan Zinke

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY Chad Wolf (Acting)

Priebus as chief of staff, July 28, 2017

SECRETARY OF EDUCATION Betsy DeVos (Current) Confirmed February 7, 2017

Confirmed March 1, 2017

SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Robert Wilkie (Current)

SECRETARY OF ENERGY Rick Perry (Current)

Resigned January 2, 2019

Confirmed July 23, 2018

Confirmed March 2, 2017

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PEOPLE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Andrew Wheeler (Current)

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DIRECTOR Gina Haspel (Current)

Confirmed July 9, 2018

Confirmed May 17, 2018

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Joesph Loddo (Acting) Served from January 20, 2017

U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVES Maria Pagan Served from January 20, 2017 to March 1, 2018 Stephen Vaughn

to February 14, 2017

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DIRECTOR Mike Pompeo Confirmed January 23, 2017 Resigned April 26, 2018 to be Secretary of State

Served from March 2, 2017

Served from February 14, 2017

to May 15, 2017

U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVES Robert Lighthizer (Current)

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Russell Vought (Acting) Confirmed January 2, 2019

Confirmed May 15, 2017

DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Dan Coats Confirmed March 16, 2017

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Mick Mulvaney

TRUMP’S CABINET BY THE NUMBERS

Appointed August 16, 2019

Appointed as (Acting) Chief of Staff on December 14, 2018

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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Mark Sandy Served from January 20, 2017 to February 16, 2017

$4.5 B Trump’s Cabinet includes 21 male members and 3 female members.

to April 12, 2019

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Chris Pilkerton (Current) Confirmed April 13, 2019

Confirmed February 16, 2017

Resigned August 15, 2019

DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Joseph Maguire (Acting)

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Linda McMahon

In December 2016, the net worth of Trump’s cabinet was estimated at $4.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Turnover in the Trump Administration is 78% as of September 19, 2019 from Brookings.edu

78%

4% Asian 4% black

92% White The racial makeup of Trump’s Cabinet 92% White, 4% Black, 4% Asian, 0% Hispanic

POLICY

COPYRIGHT CHAOS: THE OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC ART Des Moines artist files lawsuit against Hy-Vee. WORDS BY BRYONY MITCHELL │ PHOTO BY ABBY LASHBROOK │MURAL BY CHRIS WILLIAMS

es Moines artist Chris Williams is in the process of suing Hy-Vee for $25,000 for copyright infringement. In 2018, Williams painted a mural of colorful patchwork rectangles on the side of a building in downtown Des Moines for a community project. In 2019, he was shocked to see his art on TV in a Hy-Vee Super Bowl ad narrated by Oprah. Williams told the Des Moines Register that Hy-Vee had filmed in front of his mural without seeking his permission or awarding him compensation. In response, he sought legal representation and is suing Hy-Vee in the U.S. District Court in California. “This commercial diminishes the value and energy of my art,” Williams said in a statement taken over social media. His lawsuit added, “Nothing is more antithetical to a street artist’s credibility than association with something as banally commercial as a chain of grocery stores.” Due to the nature of their work, anti-corporate sentiments are common among those who create public art, and the association with a corporation can defame them and devalue their art. The larger legal question addressed by Williams v. Hy-Vee and other cases like it is: Who owns public art? This is a growing question related to copyright litigation, in

which artists argue they have the rights to their work and all images of it, as with any other kind of art. However, images of public art are increasingly being used as backgrounds for advertisements or movies, and the makers of these works are defending the public nature of the art, claiming it does not fall cleanly under copyright law. General Motors is in the process of arguing a similar suit after showing a graffiti artist’s work on a parking garage in the background of an advertisement. The initial argument they presented to the court was based on the idea that copyright law does not protect the image of architecture, and that the mural was inseparable from the parking garage. This argument was rejected by a judge in summary judgement. Another way companies are trying to argue against copyright ownership of public artists is with fair use laws, which state that copyrighted material may be used in “transformative” ways, such as criticism or commentary. According to the Des Moines Register, this was the strategy Hy-Vee used in a letter to Williams’ lawyer. By nature, law evolves with each case presented and decided.

Cases surrounding public art have discovered a new subcategory of law, so the way they are argued and decided influences the evolution of this area. Hy-Vee could follow the lead of prior cases, such as the GM case, and argue that Williams cannot own full rights to his mural because it is on a building in a public place, or it could continue to argue that their use of Williams’ mural falls under fair use laws. On the other hand, Williams and other public artists have argued that they have full rights to their artwork regardless of its location, especially if the artist feels that placement in an ad is antithetical to their work, as in Williams’ case. Ultimately, this area of the law is still relatively new due to the more recent movement to grant public art the same legitimacy as is granted to other art forms. It is still malleable and cases like Williams’ and GM’s will continue to shape it until a standard is set and a firm answer is established as to who owns public art. Until then, cases in this area will continue to fall on both sides of the line– sometimes in favor of the artists who claim their work has been used unfairly, and sometimes in favor of the corporations who claim their use is neither damaging nor illegal. DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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POLICY

THE ZERO-WASTE MOVEMENT: THE ACTIVIST LIFESTYLE TREND OF THE FUTURE? Here’s how the environmentalist movement has been changed by the trending zero-waste movement and what the future holds for activism as our planet’s clock ticks down, fast.

WORDS BY MARIE NALAN │ ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA O’BRIEN

2019 has seen a spike in environmental activism, particularly among younger generations. As seen in this summer’s climate marches, students around the globe are picking up their homemade signs and marching for the cause they believe will affect their future. Thousands of students marched in the U.S. alone. Some iconic faces have emerged, such as Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and American Isra Hirsi, both 16 years old. This fresh activism has brought some new ideas on how to tackle the climate crisis. Waves of online trends have been created to brainstorm how to reverse climate change on an individual level. With online tools, activists can share ideas and conversations globally. The internet provides a marketplace of ideas to make activism even more effective and universal. Both militant tree-huggers and casual nature lovers can discuss ways to help the environment and debate ideas as our climate warms dangerously every day.

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One counterculture emerging is the zero-waste movement, which consists of online influencers living daily without producing any garbage. Lauren Singer, one of the pioneers online, is famous for fitting all of her last six years of garbage inside one mason jar. All of it. A zero-waste lifestyle involves making small changes in what someone buys in order to drastically cut down on personal waste. For example, someone that menstruates switching to a silicone menstrual cup or a set of washable pads means they will not need to buy boxes and boxes of tampons. Instead of buying paper towels in bulk, get a few dishcloths. If you find yourself buying loads of singleuse plastic cups of coffee grounds, buy a silicone cup that you can fill with your own grounds. Being zero waste means reflecting on the trash you produce and how you can reduce or eliminate it. Bea Johnson was one of the first online bloggers to promote a zero-waste lifestyle.

In 2009, she started her blog, Zero Waste Home, where she shares tips and tricks she uses to reduce her family’s garbage production. She was soon featured in the New York Times. Many contemporary zero-waste YouTubers cite her as a major source of inspiration for their going zero waste. But there are others who feel that

“

SHOPPING LOCAL AND BUYING ORGANIC. -tara maurer, worker at campbell’s nutrition

the real problem lies with government regulation of carbon emissions and plastic production. For example, many

POLICY activists and politicians are rallying behind Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, which proposes tougher green-energy policies and further regulation of the oil, coal and gas industries. They wonder if individual consumer choices matter when the problem is so systemic. These developments have led to new questions in the climate activist community. As the earth’s clock ticks down, many feel that small consumer choices are a copout for structural change that could help the planet. However, some think that patronizing ethical businesses and buying sustainably will eventually change capitalism better, as far as the environment is concerned. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, says Tara Maurer. She works at Campbell’s Nutrition, which has been selling natural and sustainable products in the Des Moines area since 1937. She sat down among the bulk bins and glass straw sets at the University Avenue location just down the road from Drake University to talk about what being sustainable means to her. “Buying local, reusing what you can,” she said. “Shopping local and buying organic.” Maurer said that paying attention to where your food and beauty products come from can really make a difference. Trying to buy things with less packaging, not wasting food and buying used clothes can all help. Maurer does not speak for Campbell’s Nutrition, but she says her opinion is that big government change needs to happen to address climate change. But in the meantime, individuals should still be doing everything they can. She suggested that people make easy changes, like avoiding single-use products such as straws and coffee cups, or buying your groceries locally from the farmers market. Thrifting your clothes is another great option, she said. Discarded clothes account for a massive amount of the waste found in landfills and in the oceans.

“Watch your footprint,” she said. Lewis Cox, a local activist with the Sunrise Movement, agrees that there is a lot that individuals can do. But he argues that watching your personal consumption and protesting for government change should not be mutually exclusive. While individuals should definitely get inspired

“

WATCH YOUR FOOTPRINT. -tara maurer, worker at campbell’s nutrition

and try to cut down on their personal waste, it should not be our only move forward, he said. Cox does applaud the zero-waste movement for inspiring so many people to think about their footprint. “Things like the zero-waste movement get a lot of attention because it’s kind of a romantic dream,” he said. But Cox fears that people will use

their personal zero-waste lifestyle as a replacement for the structural change that needs to happen, like the Green New Deal. Activists should use a zero-waste lifestyle as just one tool in their toolbox to make the change that our world needs to start seeing immediately. “It’s not just about straws,” said Cox, “but it’s not just about protest (either).” So many activists are asking themselves if the answer is further protesting or going zero waste. Both Maurer and Cox agree that the answer is somewhere in the middle. Individuals can do their best to decrease their footprint as they petition their government to do the same. “People want to do their best,” Maurer said. This divide in the climate protest movement will have a big impact on how activism plays out in the next decade in this country. As climate change continues to transform our world, activists’ time is running out to unify on a strategy moving forward.

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POLICY

A TROUBLING TRADE WAR How Iowa soybean farmers became the victims of a battle fought with tariffs instead of weapons. WORDS BY GRACE LONG │ ILLUSTRATION BY LILA JOHNSON

he fall is a stressful time for Iowan farmers. Harvest is in full swing and agriculturalists across the state are focused on bringing in the crops they have worked so hard to tend throughout the spring and summer. From uncooperative weather to equipment issues, farmers overcome a multitude of trials throughout the process, but the

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biggest challenge they face isn’t found in the field. It’s found almost 7,000 miles across the ocean in China. For the past 18 months, the United States has been engaged in a trade war with China that has had devastating impacts on not only the global and U.S. economies, but agricultural producers across the country as well. Threats of a

trade war with China have been thrown around by politicians in Washington for years. This isn’t surprising, considering that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, China is responsible for the United State’s largest trade deficit, which has been steadily increasing since 2012. A trade deficit occurs when one country’s exports to another country

POLICY add up to less than its imports from that country. For example, according to The Balance, the U.S. trade deficit with China reached $419 billion in 2018 because the U.S. imported $540 billion in Chinese goods, but only exported $120 billion worth of American goods to China. This consistently expanding trade deficit has made it easy for political leaders to threaten a trade war, but President Donald Trump was the first to take concrete action. Trump began

“

PEOPLE DON’T KNOW HOW WE’RE GOING TO GET INPUT. - jake hlas, production agriculturalist

imposing tariffs on Chinese goods as early as January of 2018, but most analysts agree the trade war officially began two months later, when both nations became fully engaged. According to the New York Times, on March 22, Trump imposed tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports. The next day, China fired back with retaliatory tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The two nations have remained locked in an intense trade battle ever since. Both parties have engaged in multiple trade negotiations with little to no success. A few small concessions have been made but have ultimately been overshadowed by the flurry of tariffs that continue to fly between the two countries. Most recently, Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met at the White House to further trade discussion. According to the Washington Post, on Oct. 11, 2019, the Trump administration announced that

Trump and Liu had struck a deal for a “phase one” trade agreement. A central component of this deal involves China committing to buy $40 billion to $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products, as described by the White House. However, the agreements were only verbal and were never made official. On Oct. 17, the Washington Post reported that China’s Commerce Ministry would not confirm the commitment. While this international gridlock occupies news feeds, Iowan farmers have been suffering the consequences. Farmers of all types have been impacted, but no commodity has been harder hit than soybeans. As documented by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Iowa alone produced an estimated 565 million bushels of soybeans in 2018 and the entire country produced 4.43 billion bushels in the same year. China has long been the most reliable market for U.S. soybeans. According to a policy review undertaken by staff at Iowa State University, approximately 60% of U.S. soybean exports (about 25% of the total U.S. soybean crop) were exported to China. However, with the onset of the trade war, the Chinese slapped tariffs on soybean imports and eventually ended all soybean import agreements on May 2, 2018. Market analysts predicted excessive surpluses and, as a result, soybean prices plummeted, hitting a decade-low in July 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. Relief for farmers has been sparing, with soybeans only re-entering negotiations a year later in July 2019. Even then, the talks were inconclusive. A small victory occurred in September 2019 when China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce announced the exclusion of imports of U.S. soybeans, pork, and other farm goods from additional tariffs, as reported by China Briefing. These small advancements often aren’t apparent to farmers who are more concerned with their bottom lines. It’s here that the trade war has taken its

toll. Soybean exports to China were often above $12 billion a year before the trade war, but plummeted to barely over $3 billion in 2018, according to the Washington Post. This drop isn’t specific to just soybeans, all agricultural imports have suffered. The USDA reports that before the trade war intensified, China was reliably purchasing over $20 billion of U.S. agricultural products every year. After the trade war heated up, however, 2018 sales only reached $10 billion, with 2019 sales projected to be even lower. These dismal drops in the market leave farmers wondering how they will continue to make ends meet on their operations. “There’s a lot of people who don’t know how we are going to get input in the ground next spring,” said Jake Hlas, an Iowa State student and production agriculturalist. Hlas grew up on a Simmental cattle operation just outside the small town of Traer, Iowa. He has grown up around agriculture and had a passion for it all his life. This summer, he had the rare opportunity to serve as an intern within the USDA. Although he didn’t work directly with trade, seeing the inner workings of the department shed new light for him on how the actions of the government trickle down to producers. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that even if a deal was made right now, at this exact moment, it’s going to take months for that to really impact the market prices,” Hlas said. As the gridlock of the trade battles continue in Washington, the harvest goes on in the Midwest. Farmers continue toiling to bring in their crops -- crops they don’t even know if they’ll have a market for. Before the trade war, agricultural trade with China was typically escalated from October to January, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. This indicates that the next few months will be critical in determining the next steps of the trade war and the road ahead for farmers.

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POLICY

PERILS OF THE POD How the e-cigarette epidemic has reversed the course on anti-smoking rhetoric. WORDS BY REBECCA HICKOK │ ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA O’BRIEN

he first tobacco users in recorded history were Native Americans. They smoked tobacco from pipes and for medicinal and ceremonial purposes. According to CNN, by the mid-15th century, tobacco use had made its way to most countries. Doctors were prescribing tobacco to patients for medicinal purposes all the way up to the early 20th century.

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Researchers in Germany began studying the suspected relationship between smoking tobacco and lung cancer in the 1930s, with a Federal Labeling Act for cigarette packages going into effect in 1965. The labeling had warnings from doctors about the dangers of smoking cigarettes. E-cigarettes were first proposed in the 1960s, but they weren’t very popular

until 2004, when a Chinese pharmacist invented a more modern-looking e-cigarette. Consumers were attracted to e-cigarettes because of the benefit that was advertised—they didn’t contain many harmful chemicals when compared to traditional combustible cigarettes. More recently, however, many people have been hospitalized for respiratory issues,

POLICY including symptoms similar to those of pneumonia. Some patients were dying from these complications. These cases were thought to be related to e-cigarette use. Soon after these incidents, on Sept. 11, 2019, President Trump introduced the idea of banning flavored e-cigarettes during an Oval Office meeting. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they planned to take action on this plan within the following two to

“

KIDS ARE VAPING JUULS FOR THE BUZZ NOT THE FLAVOR. - tom hudson, owner of 515 vape and disc golf

three weeks. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stated that there have been 34 confirmed deaths in the United States related to vaping as of Oct. 22, 2019. It was a “quick jump” to blame vaping for the medical issues and deaths, according to Tom Hudson, owner of 515 Vape and Disc Golf in Iowa. He said that 95% of these medical incidents can be attributed to the use of THC vape cartridges, not just e-cigarettes. Hudson said the four components of vape juice are vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine and flavoring – none of these ingredients contain the harmful chemical found in the THC cartridges. The FDA has warned consumers not to vape THC at all. When testing samples from many states, the FDA’s Forensic Chemistry Center found many things including cutting agents and other additives. According to The Washington Post, the dangerous ingredient in THC cartridges is believed to be oil from Vitamin E. While Vitamin E shows benefits to skin and shows no threat from ingestion, it appears that it

becomes toxic when inhaled. According to the same source, the FDA announced that they found “nothing unusual” when testing nicotine products used by sick patients. “The flavoring in vape juice is the same flavoring used in alcohol, liquor, candy, medicines,” Hudson said. While this comment aligns well with the FDA nicotine testing, the Trump administration is still planning on passing a national ban on flavored e-cigarettes. While the medical issues which have arisen are serious, the Trump administration’s biggest concern seems to be with the increasing number of youth who are using e-cigarettes and are developing a nicotine addiction. The amount of JUUL brand e-cigarettes found in high schools is a rising problem. The JUUL company sells their products with a choice of 3% or 5% nicotine, both of which are much higher than most e-cigarette and combustible cigarette nicotine concentrations. Combustible cigarettes have anywhere from 1.38% to 1.08% nicotine. According to JUUL, the nicotine content in one JUUL pod can be compared to the content of one pack of 20 combustible cigarettes. Some argue that the increased use of JUULs among students has been encouraged by the JUUL company itself. The FDA sent a letter to the company on Sept. 9, 2019 that was published on the FDA’s website. The letter addressed points raised by a JUUL representative in a speech to high school students earlier in the year. According to the FDA’s letter, the representative told the students that JUULs are “totally safe,” that the FDA would soon announce that JUULs are 99% safer than cigarettes and that the students should “mention JUUL” to their friends who are addicted to nicotine because JUULs would be “better for the kid to use.” According to the FDA, 3.62 million middle school and high school students in the U.S. were using e-cigarettes in 2018. Hudson said that “kids are vaping JUULs for the buzz, not the flavor.” He said that he believes they want the head rush that they can’t get from using e-cigarettes sold at vape shops such as his.

They get the head rush from JUULs and their high nicotine concentration, and not from other e-cigarettes. When discussing the concentration of nicotine with Hudson, he said that he typically starts his clients out at 1.2% nicotine, then decreases it to .06% after a period of time, and then eventually back to 0% nicotine. His company’s goal is to get people to quit smoking. “I’m in the business to get put out of business. I love to see people quit smoking and would love to see people quit vaping,” Hudson said. He added that he believes that almost all customers are looking for something that doesn’t taste like a cigarette, so banning flavored e-cigarettes would likely result in people being unwilling or unable to make the switch and eventually to quit being addicted to nicotine. On the other hand, young people who are using e-cigarettes don’t seem to be vaping for the flavor, so in the theoretical absence of e-cigarettes, they would most likely find whatever else they can get a nicotine high from instead.

“

I LOVE TO SEE PEOPLE QUIT SMOKING & WOULD LOVE TO SEE PEOPLE QUIT VAPING. - tom hudson, owner of 515 vape and disc golf

Cigarette use has transformed over five centuries now—it has gone from being encouraged by doctors to causing cancer and causing death. The modernization of smoking has shown consequences in people throughout many age groups and the U.S. is striving to make changes that may prevent more health issues for citizens. DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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POLICY

WHY IOWA? How does a state with a smaller population than the Chicago metro area have so much political influence? We look into why you have to come here to be president.

WORDS BY EMILY NELSON │ PHOTOS BY LILA JOHNSON, AVERY VANDENBERG, & ABBY LASHBROOK

owa. A state some confuse with Ohio. A Midwestern location many simply fly over to get to their final destination. A place known for its corn and soybeans, or perhaps for that one farmer Bachelor contestant. During the presidential election cycle, however, Iowa stands in the spotlight of the political stage. Leading up to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the Vietnam War was raging on in its 14th year. Both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. President Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew from the race and Vice President Hubert Humphrey went on to win the Democratic nomination, even though he didn’t win a primary. This concoction of political troubles could only be remedied by one thing: improving the nomination process so voters would have a real say in who they wanted to be their state’s nominee for president.

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George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy, the two Democrats that Humphrey beat out for the nomination, created the McGovern-Fraser Commission. Their collaboration required states to give voters 30 days notice before hosting caucuses or primaries — the goal was to get as much participation from the general public as possible. Iowa’s process was by far the longest of all the states, including caucuses and conventions at the county, congressional district and state levels. Tack on all these events with the 30day head start, and it was obvious that the state needed an early place in voting. Now, during an election year in February, Iowans gather at sites around the state to fight for the candidate they think should be the nominee. Speeches are made in hopes of persuading voters to support specific candidates. For Democrats, the candidate who has the most supporters during a head count wins. For Republicans, a paper

ballot occurs after the speeches to see who has the most votes. Aaron Britt, communications director for the Republican Party of Iowa, said he believes that although Iowa is important when it comes to caucus season, the process is more important than the results. “Here in Iowa, we don’t pretend to pick the nominee; we start the process,” Britt said. “Like Dennis Goldford says, ‘Iowa isn’t first because it’s important. Iowa is important because it’s the first.’” Looking toward the 2020 elections, the Iowa Republican Party feels secure in its efforts to reelect President Donald Trump. “This election cycle has been no different for the Iowa GOP when it comes to preparing for the caucuses,” Britt said. “Although it is unique since we have an incumbent Republican president, we still have to organize and recruit volunteers so we can conduct caucuses in 1,680 precints across the state.” To Britt, the Iowa caucuses also presents staple career opportunities for

POLICY those wanting to work in politics. “I was a Drake (University) student during the 2016 caucuses, and I was actually an intern here at the Republican Party of Iowa at the time,” Britt said. “It was an incredible hands-on experience. The entire process is important and meaningful.” According to Britt, having strong staff and teams in Iowa is what allows for candidates to succeed in the state caucuses. A candidate’s work leading up to caucus and election nights is what can make or break their race. To put it simply, if a candidate gathers strong supporters in Iowa and visits frequently enough, they could theoretically succeed in Britt’s mind. “If they’re willing to put in the work -- anyone can come to Iowa, run for president, and have a chance at doing well,” Britt said. “No candidate can buy Iowa simply by advertising.” Judy Downs, executive director of the Polk County Democratic Party, said she believes that the main distinction between Republicans and Democrats with this February’s caucus will be the number of

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IN IOWA, WE DON’T PICK THE NOMINEE; WE START THE PROCESS. - aaron britt, communications director for the republican party of iowa

people who show up. “This year, the difference in how each party prepares for the caucuses revolves around expected turnout,” Downs said. “With so many Democratic candidates, Democrats in Iowa have a huge incentive to show up in February. With an incumbent in the White House,

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FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN Republicans don’t have as much at stake.” The wide range of Democratic candidates has no doubt been at the forefront of many voters’ minds this cycle. It’s also caused the Polk County Democrats to prepare differently compared to past caucus years. “The biggest change we made is to start our planning much earlier,” Downs said. “In Polk County alone, we have 177 precincts. That means we need 177 distinct spaces and around 1,000 volunteers. In the past, we started planning in September– this year, we started in March.” Downs said she believes that volunteers in Iowa have especially dug into the attitudes and energy needed to have a successful caucus and election in general. Rallying around candidates is what has brought Democrats closer together this cycle, even with differing opinions. “Every day, I work with volunteers who put in 40-plus-hour weeks on top of their day jobs just to help the caucuses, a campaign, or the party,” Downs said. To Downs, the caucuses also provide an opportunity for Iowans to deepen

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their connections with members of their community through political differences. “The caucuses are about defending your choices in public, meeting your neighbors, and translating that conversation into political power,” Downs said. “To me, there’s nothing better.” Although the idea of Iowans gathering together to rally for their candidates can be wholesome, it’s a high-risk event for those running for the presidency. For caucus spectators around the country and around the world, it will be hard not to notice the media frenzy that will swarm the candidates who exceed expectations, as well as those who underperform. Brad Anderson, who has staffed the presidential bids of John Edwards and Barack Obama, agrees. “It’s not about winning the caucuses, it’s about beating expectations,” Anderson said. “If you’re one of these middle or lower tier campaigns and you have a good night in Iowa, you could be on a trajectory to win other states and become the nominee.”

Anderson also said he believes that Iowa truly presents a huge stage for candidates wanting to take it all the way. “I was able to get a front-row seat during those campaigns,” Anderson said. “If you

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IT’S NOT ABOUT WINNING THE CAUCUSES, IT’S ABOUT BEATING EXPECTATIONS. - brad anderson, state director for barack obama’s 2012 campaign

look on both sides of the aisle, there have been candidates that have tried to not pay much attention to Iowa, and those candidates have inevitably been unsuccessful.”

POLICY A main reason that candidates pay such close attention to Iowa is because that’s where all the national news media is paying attention. “If you aren’t in the mix on caucus night, you aren’t in any of the stories,” Anderson said. “You lose all that momentum going into New Hampshire and the other early states. By then, you’re irrelevant.” To Anderson, during this election cycle, Iowa will be important for a number of reasons, especially since early voting in California starts the day of the Iowa caucuses. “If you want to do well in California, have a great caucus night in Iowa,” Anderson said. “The national media will be focused on whoever has the most momentum, and California voters will notice that.” Caucuses will also be important for narrowing down the vast field of Democratic candidates who will still be in the race on caucus night. To Anderson, there will definitely be a gap between candidates, allowing for people to make a more specific decision when it comes to the general election. The work done by campaigns leading up to February 3 will no doubt be momentous, and Iowans will be ready to show up and show out. As Anderson said, “It’s incredible to witness Iowans coming out in droves to witness candidates as they take the time and make the effort to decide who they want to support. They understand how important their role is.” The 2020 Iowa Democratic and Republican Caucuses will be Monday, February 3 at various locations throughout the state. For more information, reach out to your party at: -Democrats: (515) 244-7292, iowademocrats.org/2020-caucuses, info@ iowademocrats.org -Republicans: (515) 282-8105, iowagop.org/2020_caucus_to_convention.

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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THE GENTRIFICATION CONVERSATION Business developments raise questions from sea to shining sea, including here at home. WORDS BY BRANDON WHEELOCK AND RACHEL MAYOROS â&#x201D;&#x201A; PHOTOS BY ABBY LASHBROOK

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ood times are here. The signs are everywhere, or so it seems: the lowest unemployment in 50 years. Stocks near record highs. Even the Midwest, Des Moines in particular, is experiencing a renaissance. Repeated rankings place Des Moines as one of the fastest-growing metros in the Midwest and one of the most desirable places for young professionals. The last two decades have witnessed a transformation of Des Moines’ downtown area and an explosion of developments throughout the city and suburbs. Economic development abounds, yet the progress may conceal hidden costs. Coastal Costs Often overlooked during economic progress are the disadvantaged and the displaced. While the City of Angels steadily expands, Los Angeles County is home to a growing homeless population that now rivals the entire population of Ankeny, Iowa. The LA County Homeless Authority reports that the homeless population in Los Angeles County jumped 16% in 2019 alone. Working class residents of San Francisco have long commutes because they can no longer afford living in the metro, many news reports reveal. In cities such as San Jose, the average price of a home mortgage is a staggering $1 million. Even more troubling is the fact that this figure is nearly double what it was seven years ago. Such examples illustrate the challenges many communities face in determining how to provide quality affordable housing to their residents. However, some are trying to be a part of the solution. Recently, Apple announced it was committing $2.5 billion to providing affordable housing in California. Facebook and Google made similar moves earlier in 2019, donating nearly $1 billion each to fight the affordable housing crisis in California. Yet, such struggles are not unique to California, or even America’s largest cities.

From Hollywood to the Heartland Two decades of economic growth in the Des Moines metro area have given rise to an influx of people to Polk County, causing property values to increase. With special investment projects planned by the city, a decline in onceaffordable housing may leave the area in a situation similar to that of large cities like San Francisco and New York. Ankeny has seen a 42% population increase since 2010, West Des Moines has seen a 17% increase, and Des Moines proper has seen a 6% increase. Ankeny has been listed as one of the United States’ top 15 fastest-growing cities for the fourth year in a row. Citizens of Des Moines are also affected by new zoning laws. The previous codes had been in place since 1965 and required the minimum home size to be 1,100 square feet. Now, legislation has raised this to 1,800, prompting questions of how housing can remain affordable. The motion to pass the new zoning laws frustrated many. Building costs will increase between $20,000 to $40,000 per home, according to Stephanie Preusch, executive director of Neighborhood Finance Corp. in an interview with the Des Moines Register. It also draws fear that the opposite of gentrification will happen: as construction costs rise, development may dwindle longterm, leaving Des Moines residents stuck with housing that escapes their budget. According to research done by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), 63% of renters consider their payments to be a severe cost burden. There are an average of 44 homes available per 100 low-income citizens in Iowa. Statistics from the Iowa Public Radio show that Des Moines in particular has less affordable housing than Brooklyn, Boston, or Omaha. Des Moines is attempting to make progress. The city has long held plans to revitalize certain areas that would hopefully bring in more businesses and affordable housing developments. Drake University is in a neighborhood identified as such a

project. However, these plans have not avoided criticism, as some worry that the attempt to bring in new affordable housing will actually harm more than help through the process of gentrification. An Even Closer Look In June 2019, Drake announced it had sold $63 million worth of land roughly outlined as Carpenter Avenue to the north, 22nd Street to the east, Drake Park Avenue to the south, and 27th Street to the west, widely referred to as “Dogtown.” Ryan Arnold, director of community engagement and community relations

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BUILDING COSTS WILL INCREASE BETWEEN $20,000 TO $40,000 PER HOME.

- Stephanie preusch, executive director of neighborhood finance corp

at Drake, clarified the intent behind the Dogtown renovation project. “Many of the owners and operators of Dogtown businesses have long identified two challenges to the vitality of the area; a year-round customer base and a centralized parking solution,” Arnold said. “The Dogtown project is intended to directly and positively impact these two challenges.” The Dogtown community is getting an urban update with modern building practices that are economically and ecologically sound. The area is centered around historic landmarks and places of prominence, about midway between the DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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metro and downtown, making it a great choice for those seeking a short commute. In other words, it is the prime subject for a process that social theorist Neil Smith has dubbed “supply-side gentrification,” the effects of which Dogtown has already seen. He assesses that it is capital that drives gentrification, not social change or policy. Unchecked capitalism results in the following pattern: In the early formation of a city, the jobs and housing are located in the center. As living space in the city becomes harder to find, prices increase. As a result, people become more willing to accept a longer commute from their homes to their workplaces. Property values develop into a cone-like shape, with the “point” located in the city

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center, representing the highest living costs. Cost dissipates the farther one travels from the city center. The downtown area becomes overtrodden and over-urbanized. Property values fall dramatically in areas closer to the city center as renovators fail to keep up with aging properties and shifts in job location. For example, this is where Dogtown currently finds itself, as well as other large areas of Des Moines. As prices decline and spaces open up, there is a “return from the suburbs.” This prompts those with power to promote revitalization projects to reorient the neighborhoods around their own desires. Arnold identified Drake’s partner in the Dogtown project as Merge Urban Development Group. This project is

considered the perfect candidate for mass timber construction, a nature-friendly alternative to carbon-heavy steel and concrete construction. This project will be the first of its kind undertaken in the Midwest. “Our partner on this project, Merge Urban Development, announced their plan to build 300+ mixed-income residential units along with added commercial space specifically designed for micro-retail, which in other parts of the county has proven to be attractive to diverse populations of smallscale retail entrepreneurs,” Arnold said. The residential properties will be owned and operated by Merge Urban Development Group. It is too soon to know the cost per month of these apartment units; however, Drake, the City of Des Moines, and Merge

SOCIAL Urban Development continue to have preliminary conversations regarding the mixture of unit sizes and rent rates to ensure this project is truly mixed-income. Both the neighborhood and Drake have identified this project as a measure aimed at sustaining the social-economic diversity of the neighborhood, and thereby curbing displacement as more and more neighborhood homes revert back into single-family, owner-occupied properties. The Dogtown project was initially set to begin as early as the summer of 2020 but has since been delayed until the spring of 2021. The delay is intended to help ensure that the project reaches the intended community impact identified by neighborhood residents, Drake, Merge Urban Development, and the City of Des Moines. The anticipated completion date is the end of 2024. Jennifer Sayer, president of the Drake Neighborhood Association, says she agrees with the goal of focusing on the community. She became a resident of the Drake Neighborhood 20 years ago and started as a volunteer for the Drake

said. “Drake University and the Drake Neighborhood Association have a very good relationship and work together on a lot of these projects. We want to work together and partner when we can. They asked for our support and wanted us to be fully informed of everything that was going on. Working together and having communication makes us all better neighbors and makes the neighborhood better.” Renovations do not include only building the new but also tearing down the old. The Varsity Theatre is intended to be restored and reopened with a second screen and enhanced concessions while Great Clips, a branch of U.S. Bank, and Gazali’s Mediterranean Grill will be demolished. It is unclear at this time where these businesses will be relocated. “While our agreement with Merge Urban Development is not yet final, Drake University negotiated a right of first refusal

for the commercial tenants we house in the project area,” Arnold said. “I understand that Merge has begun conversations with Gazali’s and Great Clips as well as U.S. Bank, and I have expressed to the owners the university’s desire for their businesses to remain close to campus.” Jason Stuyvesant, a board member of the Drake Neighborhood Association, considers himself an advocate for the city of Des Moines, especially the Drake Neighborhood. As a Drake alum, a real estate agent with Real Estate Concepts, a board member of the Des Moines West Side Chamber, and a resident of Des Moines, this is truly his neighborhood. “I’m super excited about it. Nobody is trying to push people out that have created this neighborhood,” Stuyvesant said. “We just celebrated our 40th anniversary of the neighborhood association. There are a lot of people who have worked hard to build what we already have.”

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THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT IS SERVING THE NEEDS OF ALL OF OUR RESIDENTS. - Jennifer Sayer, President of the Drake Neighborhood

Neighborhood Association, became a board member, and has been president for the past two years. “The first thing we think about is serving the needs of all of our residents,” Sayer DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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WOKE OR WASHED-OUT? A look at brands, cultural appropriation, and cultural appreciation. WORDS BY CECELIA SANCHEZ │ ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMANDA O’BRIEN

n June of 2019, Kim Kardashian announced her new line of shapewear, Kimono. There was an almost-immediate backlash against the line’s name, with calls of cultural appropriation at the forefront of the criticism. Outrage over Kim K’s apparent disregard for Japanese culture (“kimono”

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means “clothing” in Japanese and is in no way associated with underwear or lingerie) caused the reality TV star to change the name of Kimono, make a public apology, and drop her plans to trademark the word “kimono”. While the wrong in this instance was fixed, it does not erase the fact that cultural appropriation continues

to be a long-standing occurrence in the fashion industry. Social awareness surrounding cultural appropriation has grown immensely in the past decade. The backlash against the misappropriation of culture has touched fashion brands, restaurant chains,

SOCIAL children’s toys, celebrity “fashion statements”... the list goes on. Despite growing awareness of the issue, cultural appropriation remains hard to define. The line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation blurs in the middle and is more gray than it is black or white. Some people navigate this by judging whether or not a person or company is using aspects of a certain culture out of respect for that culture or, rather, if they are using these aspects for personal gain or using negative stereotypes. Some people believe the act of appropriation is left to individual interpretation while others don’t believe in appropriation at all. According to a survey conducted by the t-shirt brand TeeHunter, only 1 in 3 people of the 958 that were surveyed said cultural appropriation “involved adopting traits of another culture in a disrespectful or misunderstood way,” while 1 in 4 provided a definition that had nothing to do with cultural appropriation itself. What’s even more striking is that 1 out of 7 surveyed did

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CULTURAL APPROPRIATION TO ME IS NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD OR BAD THING. - Connie wang, a senior features writer for Refinery29

not believe in cultural appropriation. Connie Wang, a senior features writer for Refinery29, helped provide a definition for cultural appropriation, as well as commentary on the ambiguity of this topic. “Cultural appropriation to me is not necessarily a good or a bad thing,” Wang said. “I just see it as a phenomenon

where you take a naturally occurring or traditionally occurring or a divine tradition or aesthetic tradition and you take it out of its context and use it to fulfill some other purpose or by a community of people who are not the ones who first originated the tradition.” Another aspect associated to appropriation is intent - whether or not a brand produces something with the express purpose of celebrating a culture or for profit or harm. However, it can be difficult to discern appreciation as opposed to appropriation just by intention. “Appropriation happens regardless of what someone’s real intentions are,” Wang said. “You could say that you’re doing something that is good and generous and then despite both of those your appropriation is actually really damaging and harmful. So I’m not sure if the intent of someone’s action is as important as the consequences of some of the actions.” In a world where access to different cultural aesthetics and ideas is at everyone’s fingertips, the line between cultural appropriation and appreciation has become nearly invisible. A point can be made about the usefulness of these lines breaking down because there is nothing inherently wrong with using ideas and designs from other cultures. Cultural diffusion is important in learning and facilitating the creation of new products and ideas, and it’s been instrumental in the creation of culture throughout the history of humanity. It would be naive to dismiss the racism within cultural diffusion, but it would also be naive to ignore the benefits of a collaborative sharing of culture. “It’s possible to appreciate something without centering yourself and taking it for your own,” said Jennifer Leatherby, the creative director for Raygun. The importance of learning about different ways appropriation can happen, as well as learning about the culture one is taking from, is a key aspect of being able to appreciate culture. “The closer you get to something, the

more likely you are to be appreciating versus appropriating,” Leatherby said. It’s safe to say that brands can safely incorporate different cultural aspects without being harmful or exploitative, it’s just a matter of whether or not they are socially conscious and transparent with their intentions.

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BRANDS REALLY HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WHAT THEY’RE DOING IS HONEST AND HAS INTEGRITY. - Connie wang, a senior features writer for Refinery29

Cultural Appropriation Guidelines for Brands Integrity Brands have more social influence than ever before. Their prominence affects everything from social media influencers to how we perceive strangers on the street. Because they are so influential, brands have a responsibility to show social awareness in their designs and products. “Brands really have to make sure that what they’re doing is honest and has integrity. That it’s not exploitative,” Wang said. If brands do find inspiration from other cultures, there are numerous ways for them to honor that culture instead of exploiting it for money. Acknowledging the source of their designs is key. Instead of pretending that they came up with the design and releasing it as “original,” brands need to cite the cultural influences they incorporated. But acknowledgment still isn’t enough. A brand can say they took influence from DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW

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SOCIAL a certain culture and still present it in a degrading or offensive way. For example, Urban Outfitters had numerous products labeled “Navajo underwear,” “Navajo print flask,” etc. While their designs were influenced by Navajo designs, their refusal to collaborate with members of the Navajo Nation as well as their lack of respect for the traditions behind Navajo designs mocked and demeaned the tribe’s identity. Instead of just plagiarizing a culture and using their designs without understanding them, brand collaboration with the people of that culture would be empowering and would actually achieve cultural appreciation.

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WE WANT YOUR AESTHETIC BUT OTHERWISE DO NOT VALUE YOUR EXISTENCE. - Connie wang, a senior features writer for Refinery29

Language The way a brand presents their products is equally as important as the design behind them. Careless language perpetuates harmful stereotypes surrounding certain cultures. For example, using the words “spicy,” “fiery,” “exotic,” or any variation thereof, in conjunction with products created to mimic Latinx culture, only portrays a stereotype of that culture and contributes to the longstanding tradition of hyper-sexualizing members of the Latinx community. Similarly, when a brand calls a design “tribal” without having an association with Native American tribes or refers to designs

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inspired by black communities as “urban,” it is essentially telling those communities that their aesthetics are desirable, but their existence is not valued. Racial stereotypes and language that perpetuates them are extremely harmful. They propagate racist images of an entire culture, and brands who use stereotypical terms with their products are at fault for spreading racism–whether they intend to or not. Engagement If brands create products inspired by cultural designs, they should also make sure that members of that culture are part of their customer demographics. If a brand creates products incorporating aspects from a different culture but don’t include the people in that culture as part of their consumers, they are conveying the same message as above– this doesn’t actually value the culture they are taking from and they are only using the label for profit. Collaborating with people from the culture they are taking from is something all brands should do to keep the integrity of their designs. According to Wang, “If you’ve already identified this [specific cultural design] as the thing that would help your brand grow and make money, well, you should go straight to the source.” Education Education is a large part of a brand being able to include members of the culture they are taking designs from. “Learn about different cultures. Learn the history of racism, white supremacy, and discrimination. Learn how this still affects people and do your best to fight against it” Leatherby said. Brands should not only learn about the history of racism, but they need to learn the history of different cultures. Knowing the history of traditions or the significance of certain designs and aesthetics would help mitigate the harm that using culture without context creates.

Consumer Guidelines for Determining If A Product is Culturally Appropriative Appropriation is a knee-jerk reaction. Learn more about the products you see that raise red flags - the intentions behind them, the culture they are representing, and the significance of the aesthetic in its original cultural context. After learning about these things, consumers can determine whether or not a product is actually harmful or if this product can be used as a tool for cultural sharing. Evaluate your own intentions. In the words of Wang, when you interact with the products or aesthetics of another culture, “You’re actually engaging with a community of people rather than just the art.” What is the context of this product, hairstyle, or fashion accessory? Who is actually wearing the product or creating this? Do you have a story to tell with this product, or could that story be better told by others? “I understand cultural appropriation as my non-white friends and educators have taught me. My understanding has certainly evolved as my knowledge grew,” Leatherby said. As is the theme of all of these points, general education about appropriation, and engagement with those affected by appropriation is a great way to avoid harm. From that education, you can decide for yourself what is and isn’t harmful.

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Drake Political Review Volume 6 Issue 1

Articles inside

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE RICH AND POWERFUL: WHO IS JEFFREY EPSTEIN?

TRUE BUT MISLEADING

LET’S TALK [LOCAL] POLITICS WITH NICK MILLER

FROM NEWS MEDIA CELEBRITY TO PRIME MINISTER, WHO IS BORIS JOHNSON?