BUST. A feminist guide to the resistance by School of Feminism

Table of Contents 1

Revolution Girl Style Now! A woman’s guide to protest, activism, and civil disobedience from fierce babes who have been there before.

Reclaiming Her Time Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California shares how to reach the votes to impeach. By Jamia Wilson

12 Don’t Get Mad, Get Elected! A primer for women who are curious about candidacy. By Jill Miller Zimon 18 AMERICAN WOMAN Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour is helping keep the #resistance alive. By Sarah Sophie Flicker 20 Desperately Seeking Social Justice Meet three brave women who use detective work to expose dark money, border injustice, and hate groups. By Ian Allen 26 The Road Ahead Groundbreaking author, academic, and activist bell hooks weighs in on womanhood in the era of Donald Trump. By Lux Alptraum 30 Politically Correct During these troubled times, we could all use a crash course in Civics 101. By Elizabeth King 34 From Russia With Love Nadya Tolokno, of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot, shares her wisdom on turning art into protest. By Erika W. Smith

a feminist guide to

the resistance

Table of Contents 1

Revolution Girl Style Now! A woman’s guide to protest, activism, and civil disobedience from fierce babes who have been there before.

Reclaiming Her Time Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California shares how to reach the votes to impeach. By Jamia Wilson

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

Revolution

e l y t S l Gir Now! Experts on protest and resistance give their best advice for women who want to flex some political muscle over the next four years and beyond ILLUSTRATED BY Nicole Miles n 2016, a presidential campaign based on xenophobia, bigotry, misogyny, racism, transphobia, and fear won Donald Trump the presidency. And since then, he’s populated his administration with people who preach more of the same, which means voices of resistance need to be louder than ever. Of course, that can be easier said than done. That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide for creating real change. Whether you want concrete ways to organize your community, tips for making the most of a protest, inspiration from female activists of the past, or just some sweet tunes to inspire you while toppling the patriarchy, this resource will be one you can turn to for the next four years. Because getting complacent is not an option. As author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich said, “No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.” Ladies, it’s time to raise hell.

they Fought the law A primer on women and civil disobedience By Amber Ramanauskas

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress and NAACP activist, boarded a bus in Montgomery, AL, taking a seat just behind the “whites only” section. When the bus filled up and the driver ordered her to move so a white man could sit she refused, challenging Jim Crow laws. Parks was arrested, inspiring a 381day bus boycott and a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found bus segregation unconstitutional. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” Parks said. “No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Indeed, her refusal to acquiesce was a deliberate act of civil disobedience. There are many ways to protest within the law. But nonviolent civil disobedience, or principled action that purposefully risks arrest, is deeply woven into the fabric of America (just look at the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence). And women have long used the tactic as well. In 1630, Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for standing up for religious freedom. In 1872, before U.S. women had the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony was jailed for casting a ballot. And in the 1950s, social activist Dorothy Day refused to take shelter during government-mandated air-raid drills, an anti-war action that got her hauled away in a police wagon. Getting arrested for peacefully defying a law you believe

is unjust can help bring attention to an issue as well as instigate changes in the law. But knowing what could lead to arrest, and what the consequences may be, is crucial. Trespassing or disobeying a police officer’s order to disperse are two typical transgressions that could get you cuffed. The legal consequences of arrest depend on a variety of factors, including if you are on state property versus federal property (which determines whether state or federal laws apply to your case), your citizenship status, and how disobedient your actions are. If you plan to get arrested, carry valid ID and alert a friend so they can be prepared to post bail and contact an attorney. Going limp, or resisting arrest could add to the severity of your charges. Know that you have the right to remain silent. You do not have to write or sign any statements or speak to any prosecutors, district attorneys, or the police. Keep in mind that arrest and incarceration can result in loss of Pell Grants or federal benefits, impede employment and professional licenses, and create immigration consequences for non-citizens. Thankfully, most protests have legal collectives that can help advise you on the probable consequences and coordinate bail collection. Do your homework; knowledge is power. Amber Ramanauskas is a public defender in New York City.

march, sisters Tips for effective protesting By Eleonor Botoman

Keep this handy list of guidelines in mind the next time you hit the streets.

lic property. Blocking entrances or private property may lead to arrests.

Arm Yourself with Phone Numbers. Sharpie important digits on your arm. If you’re arrested, you’ll be able to contact your family or a lawyer (e.g. the National Lawyer’s Guild Arrest Hotline, 212-6796018) without a cellphone.

Pick Your Battles. If cops are yelling to get off the sidewalk, you should probably comply. You don’t have to be sweet to officers, but don’t antagonize them either.

Dress Smart. Wear comfortable shoes. Layer long-sleeve T-shirts to reduce painful exposure to pepper spray or rubber bullets. If you’re going to the front, consider wearing goggles and covering your nose and mouth with a kerchief.

Pack Properly. Bring a charged phone, ID, money, vital medicine (e.g. inhaler or EpiPen), bandages, and water. Put together a pepper-spray treatment kit: milk (in a spray bottle) relieves burning; Dawn dish soap and water (in a small bottle) helps clean chemicals off; and a small hand towel for patting (not rubbing!) affected areas.

Know Your Rights. Although the First Amendment protects our right to assemble, make sure the protest is on pub-

March Effectively. Avoid creating gaps. Cops will cut in to an open space to break up the crowd. Be aware of your surround-

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

ings. Police will put up barricades to force twisted, convoluted routes that confuse marchers. Look for exit strategies. Keep an Eye on Your Friends. Set up a buddy system and meeting points. Document Safely. If you see police abuses, you have the right to film them. Back up your footage in case your phone is damaged. If you’re unable to film, take down names and badge numbers. Help Each Other. Everyone has the right to protest, including children, the elderly, and the disabled. Keep an eye out for those most vulnerable, including people of color and LGBTQIA folks. Eleonor Botoman is a politically active sophomore at Barnard College.

the making of a movement A Q&A with Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter By Lisa Butterworth

Patrisse Cullors was only 17 when she staged her first protest, after getting harassed in a park for being with her girlfriend. In 2013, in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal for killing unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, she, along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, helped found Black Lives Matter, an activist movement that now has more than 40 chapters in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. Here, she tells us how to actuate change, what women bring to organizing, and how to fight in the face of despair. How much should intersectionality be considered when organizing? It should be the basis on which we understand how we organize. We are not one-dimensional. I’m not gonna show up to a conference about race and just talk about being black. I am a black, queer woman who was raised poor, and how I organize, understand the world, and how the world understands me is because of all those things. What tips would you give for making sure groups welcome people of different ethnicities, nationalities, and backgrounds? There’s no easy answer. On one hand, it’s about the people who are organizing being educated enough about why it’s important that we’re all at the table. On the other hand, it’s about people’s intentions. In this moment, it’s imperative that across race, gender, sexuality, and citizen status, we should be building together. Not to dissolve the specificities that come with being black or latinx, but to say we’re up against a bigger problem. Our movements have to come together and figure out, How do we ensure that Trump—and the team he’s built—doesn’t get another four years in office? What real change have you seen from your BLM work? We’ve changed the culture. We’ve made it a popular conversation and that is so huge. People believed that the rise of a black presidency meant that we lived in a post-racial society; I couldn’t disagree more. Black Lives Matter allowed for a new cultural phenomenon around what blackness is. Our movement has also put elected officials on notice and we’ve seen legislative change. But we’ve also seen a great rise in white nationalism. It’s not a coincidence that a Trump would be able to develop at this time. Historically, whenever black people have said enough is enough, white nationalism has risen. We can’t divorce history from this moment.

ing our neighbors, having circles, talking, creating together. We need to be able to be responsive, not just on social media but also in the streets. I also think we need an inside/outside strategy. We need to build real political power, whether it’s aligning ourselves with legislators we trust and believe, or taking some of our own folks and saying, “I think it’s time for you to run for mayor, for State Assembly.” Do you think women bring something unique to community organizing? Always. And I don’t think it’s because it’s biological, in the sense that we’re natural nurturers. But I do think because of our socialization and our relationship to patriarchy, our understanding of how to bring people together has everything to do with the team versus the I. What advice do you have for women who want to take action post-election? Where can we start? Honestly, anywhere. If you have a local Black Lives Matter chapter, join it. Do a Google search: women’s organizations in my city. If they don’t exist, start one. Start a meetup group that’s able to really have a conversation about this current moment; talk about your feelings, process, and then join something that is about changing the current conditions that we live in. What would you say to those who might feel overwhelmed by the amount of social change work that needs to be done? Feel overwhelmed. It’s overwhelming. And remind yourself that there are so many more people who want to see this place better off, who want to live in a world where black lives actually matter, where being Muslim doesn’t designate you as terrorist, where your native lands are protected and free from corporations, where children can live their lives without being gunned down in the street. So many of us want to see that. Remind yourself that we can feel overwhelmed today, and then we gotta work tomorrow.

What are the most effective ways BLM has actuated change? Is it social media, organizing in the streets? It’s all of it. We need to use all tools right now. What a powerful tool social media is, but we also need to be door knocking, meet-

come together A community organizing how-to By Mikki Halpin

There’s a saying in community organizing that if you want to be an activist, walk out your front door, go to your neighbor’s house, and start talking. It sounds simple, but that’s basically it. Community organizing is some of the most hands-on, sustainable, results-oriented kind of work you can do to change the world, and you can totally do it. Here’s how: Define community any way you want to. Maybe for you, “community” literally is the people on your block who want to get composting collection started. Maybe it’s a citywide group that wants to work to reopen ERs in neighborhoods that lack them. Maybe it’s your friends on Twitter, or the people who respond to your Facebook appeal. Or a bunch of strangers who come together based on a shared interest and a great idea. Whoever you feel comfortable with and share inspiration and goals with is your community. What’s your big picture issue? Pick one thing, whether it’s reproductive rights, food insecurity, immigrant safety, housing, war, water, environment, prison reform—choose something that speaks to you. You can go broad here.

to learn to deal with citizens who have mental health issues is a lot more likely to get a response than, “I want to do something about Aleppo.” People want to do good things and they like to be involved in good things. You are doing them a favor. Let your passion ignite theirs. Do your thing. It will be frustrating. Bands will flake on fundraisers. You will have to go to your local councilperson 20 times to be taken seriously. You will begin to hate everyone who stands in your way. Keep going. Persistence is how you turn impossibilities into possibilities.

Working within my community is the kind of activism that I find the most rewarding and sustainable. If you’re new to “activism” as a thing, it’s one of the best ways to get started.

Do your homework. Look into your issue, especially on the local level. What are the needs and challenges for success in that cause? Who is already doing good work? Talk to people. Go to some meetings and learn. What takes something big like “abortion” and turns it into a manageable issue to tackle? Set a goal. Find one thing that could make a difference; don’t decide on your own (see above). Does your local food pantry need an iPad to better track donations? Can you get the person in your state legislature who keeps introducing transphobic laws out of office? Is there an abortion clinic that needs escorts? Or a hospital in Syria that needs $40K to keep operating for one year? Enlist others. This is the knocking on doors part! (You can also use email.) And this is when it’s helpful to have a discrete goal. Asking someone to help you flyer for a fundraiser for 20 hospital beds or set up training for the local precinct

Do another thing. In the course of your fund drive, escort program set up, legislative advocacy, or whatever you do, you’ll see more ways and places you can help. Keep working on the local level but also look into ways you can make structural change on your issue. If you started out doing a pen pal program with juveniles in prison, maybe next you want to look at the way sentencing laws in your state are affecting juveniles, or advocate for guards in juvenile institutions to get better mental-health training.

For me, working within my community (which I define in different ways at different times) is the kind of activism that I find the most rewarding and sustainable. If you’re new to “activism” as a thing, it’s one of the best ways to get started. You can totally change the world—just walk out the door. Mikki Halpin is the author of It’s Your World: If You Don’t Like It, Change It, and runs the Action Now newsletter, tinyletter.com/actionnow.

call of duty Take direct political action by simply picking up the phone By Emily Ellsworth

Since November, one message has become clear: people don’t want to wait for the next election to act, and social media activism isn’t going to cut it. I worked for Congress from 2009 to 2014 in a state office. My primary role was to listen to constituents and make sure the representative got their messages. I learned that many people thought their tweets and Facebook posts had a more significant effect than they actually did. If you want your voice to be heard, you actually need to use your voice. Here’s how to effectively call your elected official: Gather names and numbers. Know who your federally elected officials are. You have two senators and one member of the House of Representatives. Find their phone numbers by typing in your address at callyourrep.co. Stick to one message per call and one call per message. If using a script is helpful, create one with this formula: state your name and the city you live in, explain the one issue you are calling about and what you’d like your representative to take action on (use specific examples such as bill numbers), wait for a response from the staffer, and then explain why this issue affects you personally.

Be calm and polite. It’s OK to be nervous. You don’t need to make the phone call long for it to be effective. If calling isn’t an option, send a personal email or a letter. Make it as unique to you as possible so it will be read and properly recorded by a staffer. Keep it succinct and include what action you’d like to see from your representative. The first call is the most uncomfortable. If you’ve never called your representative before, you might not know what to expect. As someone who took those calls for six years, I can assure you that most offices know that it’s uncommon for people to call or contact their representative. They will be kind, take your message, and offer a statement from the representative if one is available. After you’ve made your first call, the next ones will be easier. Remember, the staff is there to listen to your message and make sure your elected officials listen as well. Emily Ellsworth is a former Congressional staff member. Her ebook Call the Halls: Contacting Your Representative the Smart Way (callthehallsguide.com) has even more info.

show them the money( or your time ) Donate to or volunteer with these crucial organizations American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org) Working through litigation and lobbying, the ACLU was created “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country.” Center for Reproductive Rights (reproductiverights.org) A legal advocacy group using Constitutional and human rights laws to advance reproductive freedom. EarthJustice (earthjustice.org) This environmental law agency fights for wildlife and land preservation, healthy communities, and clean energy.

Everytown for Gun Safety (everytown.org) A non-profit advocating for common-sense gun laws. International Refugee Assistance Project (refugeerights.org) A group working for the rights of refugees around the world. The Movement for Black Lives (policy.m4bl.org) A collective of more than 50 organizations, including Black Lives Matter, organizing around the needs of black communities. National Immigration Law Center (nilc.org) This L.A.-based organization is dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants.

National LGBTQ Task Force (thetaskforce.org) Founded in 1973, it’s the oldest org in the U.S. promoting civil rights for gay and transgender communities. Planned Parenthood (plannedparenthood.org) The embattled number-one provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare in the U.S. She Should Run (sheshouldrun.org) A non-profit working to get more women into public service and elected positions of leadership. Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org) A legal advocacy organization fighting for civil rights and against hate.

those who came before us A brief, inspiring list of women’s movements that forced change By Patricia Affriol

Women have been shaking things up and creating real change all over the world for as long as the patriarchy’s existed. It’s a powerful thing when we put our minds together and speak out against oppression. Just look at these examples for proof and motivation. Washerwoman Strike In 1881, thousands of black laundresses working in Atlanta, GA, went on strike for higher pay. It began as a small protest of 20 women and quickly grew to 2,000, thereby inspiring cooks, maids, and nurses to demand higher pay as well. The city caved, granting the women the wages they deserved. Australian Pub Protest Women in Australia weren’t allowed to drink in bars (the few pubs that accepted female patrons forced them to sit in a separate area and frequently charged them more). But in 1965, Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bogner marched into a pub and ordered a drink. When the barman denied them, the women chained themselves to the bar for the night, prompting a change in the law. Liberian Sex Strike In 2003, after 14 years of violent civil war, women in Liberia decided they’d had enough. That’s when Leymah Gbowee mobilized women to peacefully protest with sit-ins, public demonstrations, and… a sex strike, meaning they purposefully abstained from getting it on with their partners. Their actions inspired the warring parties to negotiate a peace deal and paved the way for the country’s first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Applebee’s Lactation Sit-In It’s illegal in Kentucky to ask a woman to cover up while breastfeeding, but that didn’t stop an Applebee’s manager from asking Brooke Ryan to put a blanket over her breasts while she was feeding her child. So in 2007, she organized a “Nurse-In,” with hundreds of women breastfeeding uncovered at more than 30 locations of the restaurant chain throughout the country, causing Applebee’s to immediately say that all nursing moms are welcome. Polish Abortion Demonstrations Last year, Polish legislators proposed a law that would completely ban abortion, even in cases of rape and threat to the mother’s life. In protest, on October 3, women across the country refused to go to work or do household chores, shutting down businesses, schools, and government offices for the day. Thousands of women dressed in black and marched in the streets, shocking politicians who immediately did an about-face and voted down the ban. Iceland Wage Gap Strike Despite being an incredibly progressive country, Iceland still lags behind on equal pay. So on October 24th, 2016, women walked out of work at exactly 2:38 p.m. (when 72 percent of the workday was finished) to symbolize the amount women are paid in comparison to men. Although nothing concrete has been passed, the government has pledged to make closing the gap a top priority. Patricia Affriol is an editorial intern at BUST and a regular contributor to bust.com.

sounds of the revolution Change-making music for fueling the fight By B-Side Brujas

1. “Viva La Raza” - zapata 2. “Rat Race” - ralfi pagan 3. “Pa’ Los Chicanos” - poncho sanchez 4. “Get Involved” - george soule 5. “Stand Up and Be Counted” - ghetto kitty 6. “Power To The People” - curtis mayfield

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

“Free At Last” - lee moses “Tell It Like It Is” - s.o.u.l “Anacoana” - cheo feliciano “O-o-h Child” - five stairsteps “This Land is Your Land” - sharon jones & the dap kings “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” - charles bradley

B-Side Brujas is an all-female-of-color vinyl DJ group based out of Oakland, CA, heavily influenced by soul, funk, old school, Latin, and Brazilian genres.

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

our bodies our choice The most fundamental way we can fight for our reproductive rights By Amelia Bonow

In early December 2016, Ohio lawmakers stealthily pushed two abortion bans through their legislative session. One, dubbed “The Heartbeat Bill,” would’ve banned abortion at six weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant, with no exception for rape or incest. If not vetoed by Ohio governor John Kasich, it would’ve been the most extreme restriction in the country. Instead, Kasich approved a law that bans abortion at 20 weeks, regardless of fetal viability. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ohio Representative Jim Buchy was asked the most innocuous gotcha question of all time: “What do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?” Buchy paused. “I don’t know,” he answered. “It’s a question I’ve never even thought about.”

The most basic level of culture change occurs in conversations—online, on the subway, at your book club, in a bar. Unwanted pregnancies happen—a lot—to every kind of woman: rich, poor, Democrat, Republican, devout, secular. And one in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime, for all sorts of reasons. Lawmakers are making decisions so fundamentally out of touch with the needs, values, and actual lives of their constituents in part because many anti-choice crusaders like Buchy have never thought about why women have abortions. Just as the concept of rape culture would seem outrageous to someone who doesn’t think they know anyone who has been raped, banning abortion might seem fine to a person who doesn’t think they know anyone who has had one. Banning abortion at 20 weeks probably seems reasonable if you’ve never had a conversation with someone who was forced to deliver a fetus with catastrophic abnormalities. Culture cannot see policies as inhumane if their human casualties are kept a secret. Politically, we are locked into a rough ride for four, maybe eight years. In addition to fighting to cling to the legal protections of Roe v. Wade, it’s time to double down on

addressing the toxic cultural conditions that have landed us at the precipice of eradicating abortion rights. It’s time to make our communities, our workplaces, and our families places where women can discuss their abortions and, in doing so, help those around them develop a more complex sense of compassion. Making incremental changes in the way we discuss abortion is going to look different for everyone. It might simply mean telling your family members that you are pro-choice. It might mean that when abortion comes up with your co-workers, you take things out of the abstract by describing the ways that you’ve seen abortion help women live their best lives. It might mean you decide to talk about your own abortion in ways that have traditionally been deemed inappropriate, which is pretty much all of them. With legal abortion on the chopping block for the first time in a generation, these suggestions might seem trivial and they certainly won’t be sufficient. But the most basic level of culture change occurs in conversations—online, on the subway, at your book club, in a bar. And as a society, it seems that we only decide to grant full human rights to disenfranchised groups once we realize that people like them are simply the people that we know. It shouldn’t be our job to teach people to listen, and framing disclosure as political imperative is problematic as hell. But finding ways to have a real conversation is the most reasonable place to start. Amelia Bonow is the founder of Shout Your Abortion, a decentralized network of individuals talking about abortion and creating space for others to do the same.

Reclaiming Her Time Congresswoman Maxine Waters currently serves as the U.S. Representative for California’s 43rd district. But in these troubled political times, she also serves as a beacon of hope, a force for change, and a powerful voice for the #resistance By Jamia Wilson // Illustrated By Mercedes deBellard

Representative Maxine Waters, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and the senior-most black congresswoman in the House, has been speaking truth to power for over 25 years. When the intrepid lawmaker is not making headlines for being one of the lone righteous voices advocating for the impeachment of Donald Trump, she’s taking action on Capitol Hill and in her home district—South Central, Los Angeles. A modern-day oracle who has been described as “always on the right side of history” by author and trans-advocate Janet Mock, Waters is a visionary who has championed the ideas and leadership of next-generation thinkers throughout her career. Long before she gained internet notoriety for “reclaiming her time” while questioning Trump’s double-talking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, she was an advocate for divestment against apartheid-era South Africa, a sage stateswoman who opposed the Iraq War, and has remained an unflinching force against injustice. On a Friday morning in September, I caught up with the policymaker over the phone. Before we got started, I asked her if I could join the chorus of millennials who affectionately refer to her as “Auntie Maxine” out of admiration and respect, and she obliged. The Missourian-turned-Californian, now 79, then shared her pro-tips for running for office, campaigning for issues that matter, laughing at haters, and getting Trump out of the Oval Office. Your high school classmates in the ’50s predicted you’d become Speaker of the House during a time when it was hard to imagine a woman of color in that position. What leadership strengths have you always had that you think helped you in your work and life? I came from a large family. I was one of 13 kids and we were always in a friendly competitive situation where we were competing for our mother’s attention, and who was going to wear what clothes and when. We always participated in sports. I attended the community center in the evenings and almost every day in the summer. I played basketball and volleyball and I’m a good swimmer. Those activities gave me the ability to meet challenges, feel confident enough to get people to listen to me, feel strong enough to speak up to people in power, manage difficult situations, and never back down just because I am a woman. How did you become politically active? I’ve always been interested in politics. My mother, although

. dec/jan 2018 . BUST

she was uneducated, was always interested. She followed the news and the ward chairmen who made the rules in St. Louis. I learned from her involvement in politics. After I moved to California, I started working at Head Start [a pre-school program for low-income families] after the federal government adopted a “war on poverty” initiative to help create opportunities for people who were working towards a better life. I became an assistant Head Start teacher and we lobbied to ensure we got the resources we needed, like supplies and better pay for teachers. This brought me into contact with elected officials and led me to become a better organizer. During those days, the people who organized around education and welfare rights were mostly African-American women who were bold and outspoken, and who went to city hall and school board meetings. I fell in love with them and what they stood for. I internalized what I learned from them. Later I went to work for a city councilman and became his chief deputy. And then when a legislator in Sacramento decided to retire, I was urged by women to run for that office.

We organized a campaign that was run by women, and we did creative and innovative things because we were running against the establishment, we were running against the men, and the seat I was running for had already been identified by the establishment as one for a man to run for. We went up against them, and that was the first office I was elected to, the California State Assembly, back in 1976. What does feminism mean to you? I served for 14 years [in the California State Assembly], and during that time I became involved in the feminist movement. I was involved in the National Women’s Conference that was created when President Carter was elected. All these women, led by Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem and Patsy Mink, got together to exercise influence on the Carter administration. I met Gloria Steinem at that conference and she invited me to serve on the Ms. Foundation board. Work-

are saying it, you will start laughing, and you’ll understand more than anything that they don’t have the right to say what they are saying. When you can laugh about people who have the audacity to criticize you, you are almost there. People who criticize you want to shut you down, want you to go away, and don’t know how to deal with you intellectually. I get criticized. The right wing has organized to try and shut me down. It doesn’t matter to me. I keep right on going.

You spoke at the historic Women’s March, and you also partnered with their team on the Women’s Convention whose theme, “Reclaiming Our Time,” was inspired by your words. Tell me about being part of the Women’s March movement. I was thrilled to be involved with the Women’s March following the inauguration. It was inspiring. It was exciting. I was a part of the early feminist movement where we were considered “bra burners” and “man haters” and on and on. I’ve always been concerned “People who criticize you want to shut you down, that there’s been a gap between what we want you to go away, and don’t know how to deal with were doing back then, and now. It seemed as if there was a move to encourage women you intellectually. I get criticized. The right wing has to have careers in corporations where the rules were: you dress well, you do well, you organized to try and shut me down. It doesn’t matter speak well, and you don’t make any waves to me. I keep right on going.” because you don’t want the men thinking you hate them. There was a big lull in the feminist movement but it has now been reinvigorated. That ing for the Ms. Foundation, I had the benefit of seeing proposals coming in from various women’s organizations. I took march with over 750,000 women sent a strong message that women do care. We care about freedom of choice and the some of those proposals to the California legislature, and ability to have all different kinds of careers. It was a great that helped me develop policy around the ideas that were experience for the country and for women. being shared. Serving on the boards of both the Ms. Foundation and on the Essence Magazine board taught me a lot Your commitment to fighting for the impeachment of about negotiation and how to analyze public policy. Now I’m Donald Trump is steadfast and unapologetic. How can grounded and know a lot about who I am. And I try to use my everyday people join the fight? voice to say things I believe in, even when it is not popular. People say he should be impeached, but I don’t have people adopting resolutions of impeachment and sending them to You have said you will not be intimidated and you althe House and the Senate. Just think, if there are organized ways prevail. That inspires me and many other womefforts, and you get people to sign in on a resolution of imen—specifically black women—every day. I’ve been told I am too angry, too loud, and too much for refusing peachment from women’s organizations, labor unions, and churches, it would have a great impact on both the House to make myself small to make others feel comfortable. and the Senate and with both Democratic and Republican How do you keep going in the midst of attacks, threats, leadership. They need to see these letters and organized and insults to your dignity and humanity? efforts to support impeachment coming in. Obstruction of First of all, women should try very hard to get in touch with justice and collusion are the basis of why we want impeachthemselves. Who am I? What do I really like? What would ment, and others are adding Joe Arpaio [the former sheriff I like to do? Who are the people I respect and look up to and who Trump pardoned] and the lack of response in Puerto what qualities do they have that I can internalize? Build confidence, get in touch with yourself, get grounded, examine your- Rico to the list. We have put together our resolution on impeachment, and it includes the basics of the emoluments self and be who you want to be. Put yourself in places where [the clause of the Constitution that restricts members of the people are doing what you want to do. African-American government from receiving gifts from foreign states withwomen particularly will be called aggressive. They will talk out the consent of the United States Congress]. Let’s keep about your looks and will say anything. But once you have spreading it around to House and Senate leadership, both confidence and you like yourself, it doesn’t matter what other Democrat and Republican. people are saying. And often when you look at the people who 52

. dec/jan 2018 . BUST

. june/july 2017 . BUST

It’s no secret that our government is full of old, white men. The time is now for us to get in there and change that. This running-for-office primer will have you hitting the campaign trail in no time By Jill Miller Zimon // illustration by camila rosa

ou can’t scan social media right now without seeing headlines about women running for office, a phenomenon known as the “Trump bump.” And it couldn’t happen a minute too soon. Women remain dramatically underrepresented in elected offices across every level of government. According to Pew Research Center data, women comprise just 19.4 percent of the U.S. Congress. A corresponding report from Pew notes, “While this share is nearly nine times higher than it was in 1965, it remains well below the 51.4 percent of women in the overall U.S. adult population.” Plus, with Trump in the White House, not only is getting involved more important than ever, but it also goes to show that apparently political office—even the highest in the land—requires very few qualifications. Thankfully, the election lit a fire under our collective ass. Less than 24 hours after the January 21 Women’s March on Washington, 500 women gathered at a D.C. hotel and partici-

pated in a “Getting Ready to Run” training program. Andrea Dew Steele, the president and founder of Emerge America, an organization that offers running-for-office training courses for Democratic women, says applications for their sessions increased 87 percent after Election Day. And according to The Washington Post, more than 11,000 women have reached out to women’s candidate training program Emily’s List this year saying they are interested in running for office. The general understanding among organizations striving to get more women in office, is that men wake up and say, “Hmm, I think I’ll run for office today,” while women say, “I’m not experienced enough, I don’t have the right education, I can’t raise the money,” and a bunch of other excuses. But chances are, like many women, you’ve already been advocating successfully for yourself, for issues, and probably for others without ever realizing that those proclivities and that experience make you a viable candidate to run for office. As a 46-year-old, freelance-writing mother of three 49

school-aged kids involved in a variety of causes and my kids’ schools, I didn’t see it either. Then I realized my city, an east side suburb of Cleveland, OH, had an unconstitutional ordinance about political yard signs. I got them to repeal it, and a local weekly paper named me “the most influential person in town.” “Ha!” I replied, but my husband urged me to stop emailing the mayor about what I thought he should be doing, and instead, run for office so I could do it myself. Although I didn’t go for the mayor’s job, nine months later, I won a seat on the City Council. Since then, I’ve run against

an incumbent in a primary for the Ohio statehouse, and then ran the state senate general election campaign for a firsttimer, a full-time working mother of two young kids. In other words, you can run for office, too. And you should. What better way to have your voice heard by our government, than by being in government yourself? Plus, for many offices, besides citizenship, voter registration, and residency requirements, the main qualification is passion. So once you’re adequately encouraged, how do you begin? Here are answers to give you a good start. Because when women run, women win.

Office Space What Kinds of Positions Are Out There?

or rules for eligibility, and more. It’s critical to spend time nce you’ve made the decision to survey election reviewing these rules and deadlines. Challenging a candiopportunities, you need to ask yourself how much time you want to spend in the job once you date’s filings or eligibility is one of the first ways opponents will try to knock you off before the game has even begun. Do win, and how much time you’re willing to carve you live in the right location for the office you’ve selected? out in order to do so. Whether you’re running for a school Have you lived there long enough? Are you running with board or Congress, the only difference is a matter of scale: your legal name or have you changed it to maximize recogHow much money can you raise, and how many volunteers nition, a move that might draw attempts to disqualify you? can you attract? Additionally, are you ready to give up your day job, or are you planning on keeping a hand in your career People get thrown off ballots for these and other reasons. Make sure you’re not one of them. outside of elected office? You’ll want to settle these quesYou should also gather info about whether a position tions at the start, so voters can tell whether as a candidate, has a salary or stipend, how much it might be, how many you have a fire in your belly. If you truly don’t, and aren’t hours it takes to do the job, willing to make some sacriwhether the time commitfices, don’t run yet. Whether you’re running for a school ment is defined by a city According to U.S. Cenordinance or simply past sus data from 2012, there board or Congress, the only difference practice, how many comare around 90,000 state and is a matter of scale: How much mittees you’ll have to be on local governments, with (and their time commitmore than 511,000 elected money can you raise, and how many ments), and so on. Often, offices. Barely two percent volunteers can you attract? thanks to a lot of open data of Americans ever run for on public sector salaries these seats, and those aren’t and positions, an internet search will turn up this informabad odds, if you think about it. The options range from the tion. But two other quick ways to get answers are to attend local level (school board, city council, and county commismeetings of the political body you hope to join and ask sioner), to the state (treasurer, auditor, attorney general, current officeholders questions, and to check the entity’s and governor), and federal (senator, representative, and, of charter or ordinances, especially the sections that describe course, president). The “everything in between” can also the responsibilities. My city’s finance director jokingly told vary by location, with advisory neighborhood commission people that I spent 100 hours per week working for the city seats in Washington, D.C., township supervisors in Pennsylcouncil in my first year. While that’s not entirely true, I did vania, and even dogcatcher positions in Vermont. often wake up in the middle of the night and write emails to Start your research at runforoffice.org: type in your him with all sorts of questions and ideas because the first address and up pops a full list of elected seats in your area. year is the toughest, thanks to the learning curve. In reality, Each one is hyperlinked to a description, complete with very few local elected jobs are full-time, unless the relevant information about the seat’s next election, the dates for fillaw says so. The National Conference of State Legislatures ing your declaration of candidacy, “application guidelines”

. june/july 2017 . BUST

(ncsl.org) has a great map that highlights how dramatically different states are when it comes to their legislature’s work hours. California, New York, and Pennsylvania are among the few states that employ full-time, well-paid staffs. However, statewide offices like treasurer, attorney general, and auditor are usually full-time. Matters of pay vary just as widely. In New Hampshire, state legislators make $200 (!) per two-year term. Meanwhile, in Ohio, state legislators’ base salaries are around $60,000, while the city of Cleveland’s council members earn $74,000. My experience in a small suburb? From 2010 through 2013, my annual council salary was $8,200. So it really can range from pennies on the hour to having fivefigure expense accounts. You should verify any info you find with a visit to your county board of elections and your state’s secretary of state websites. Other options include contacting your local or state political party. They usually maintain lists of elected individuals, though they’re not always posted on their websites, many of which are outdated and challenging to scour

for information. In many cases, you’ll need to go retro and pick up the phone—much of running for office still relies on people and paper. As you browse the titles and timeframes, remember that there is never a perfect time or perfect seat. Winning elected office is about making your own luck and remembering that people who want to see you in office also want to see you do the things you need to do in order to get into office: maybe you want to start with an appointment to a nonpaying local, county, regional, or state board or commission. These positions won’t require the time or money needed to run for larger office and are usually posted on your local government’s website either through open calls for applicants or in a listing of open spots. Often times there are forms online that you can submit to show your interest once something comes up. If you don’t hear back, call. This advice is going to apply to every step along the way to becoming president: you will have to be the aggressor. You cannot wait for people to call you back because you’re worried about pestering or nudging someone.

Real Advice From Real Candidates Nickie J. Antonio minority whip , ohio state representative

“Make peace with fundraising. You are not asking for a handout. You are asking for a partnership because you’re asking someone to help you help the community. You’re asking someone to participate in their democracy through their sharing of resources and that includes financial resources.”

Janine Boyd ohio state representative

“No matter what, take care of yourself. Yoga, running, walking, cooking, spending time with loved ones or girlfriends or guyfriends, writing, reading, joining a choir— whatever it is that helps you stay innovative. Focus, refocus, stay on course, think outside the box, and remain diligent, while also keeping healthy and sane.”

Alejandra Campoverdi former congressional candidate and women ’ s health advocate

“Make sure that you do the intro-

spective work on the front end. Why are you running? What’s important to you? Where does [your desire to run] come from? Getting crystal clear on your motivations is going to make your campaign visceral and authentic at a time when that’s what people are looking for.”

to get it. Show up, pay attention, do your homework. Have a full understanding of what’s going on so that when you do show up, people will know you have a valuable voice.”

Sara Spock Carlson

“As a woman of color, people do not expect me to be the legislator when I walk into the room and that often leads to some very uncomfortable conversations for the person who assumed I was an intern, page, staff person, wanderer, or vagabond. But it’s not my duty to make them realize that there are women of color in positions of power.”

candidate for ferguson township supervisor , ward 3 , pennsylvania

“If you’re feeling tentative, start small. Meet your neighbors, find out about the issues on their minds. Attend council and township meetings to learn more about your community and the inner-workings of local government. Know your strengths and passions, and get involved in local chapters of organizations supporting those causes.”

Stephanie Howse ohio state representative

“Stop waiting to be invited to the table because if you’re waiting for an invitation, you are never going

Emilia Strong Sykes assistant minority whip , ohio state representative

Faith Winter colorado state representative

“I hate when people say you need thick skin to be in politics. I don’t have thick skin. In fact, I want people to run who feel the hurts, pains, joys, celebrations, and struggles of their community. I tell women, ‘You don’t need thick skin. You can be like me and have resilient skin.’”

prep talk What to Do Before Throwing Your Hat in the Ring

Another preparation basic includes assessing your s you become familiar with the options, networks. You are going to need lists of people who you there are a number of questions to keep in will ask for money (most of which will go toward voter mind. What do you like to do, and what’s required of the role? What area would you have outreach, like mailers and ads), who you will ask to volunteer, and who will walk across fire for you. Do you have to represent and who lives in those communities? Is an incumbent going to be running or will it be an open seat contact information collected already, or do you need to do a lot of information gathering? Be prepared to make these (which can be easier to win)? Who might your opponents be? How do you feel about asking people for mon- lists as complete as possible as early as possible, because you will find yourself going ey to help you win? What back to them repeatedly does your schedule look Whatever aspects might cause you throughout your run. This like and are you willing to be realistic about plananxiety, anticipating and planning ahead advice was given to me about three months before ning your time around a for them is the key to making it all work I announced my run for campaign? How will encity council, and the time tering the campaign afand leading you to a win. put in then literally helped fect a significant other, me raise tens of thousands your children if you have of dollars, and earn tens of thousands of votes. them, or other people you might take care of ? This litany of considerations may seem overwhelmYou can answer some of these questions on your ing, but no single response to any of these questions own, but for many of them, you are going to want to should make you consider yourself disqualified. Instead, speak to people with experience—either in elected ofthey are factors to be taken into account from the outset. fice, helping people run for office, or both. Talk with Whatever aspects might cause you anxiety, anticipating these folks early on, but don’t let them scare you. You and planning ahead for them is the key to making it all want them to tell it like it is and help you put together work and leading you to a win. the best plan possible.

trail blazing Launching a Political Campaign

he most important step to complete before you launch your campaign will be developing your campaign plan. The elements of that plan should be, at a minimum: a budget, a fundraising plan, a messaging plan, a campaign team, research on yourself and your opponent, and a voter contact plan. A running-foroffice training program (see our resource sidebar for options) will inevitably cover each of these elements and I highly recommend finding one suited to your

. june/july 2017 . BUST

needs, whether it’s just to get an idea of this life, or for hands-on skill training. I attended three different programs before I won my city council seat, and completed two others while I ran for the Ohio statehouse. The costs will vary from free (for some webinars) to a few hundred dollars. But scholarships do exist and many programs are aggressively seeking women, people of color, and millennials. State and local political parties, women’s caucuses, and higher education institutions are in-

creasing their offerings as well. Books and online resources, like downloadable handbooks and manuals, are helpful, too. One paperback I keep by my bedside (really) is How to Win a Local Election by former Ohio judge (an elected position), Lawrence Grey. His style is informal yet complete and the book’s full of examples and samples of communications to constituents, calculations for determining the viability of a candidacy, and checklists to make sure you stay on track. One adage you will often hear throughout your research is that if you don’t write down your cam-

paign plan, you don’t have one. In my experience, that is true. And the reason is that your opponent is going to do everything she can to keep you from sticking to your plan. If you don’t have it written down, it is far easier to get thrown. As you pull together your strategy and effort, keep in mind that running for office involves making hundreds of decisions, often one right after the other. It’s not for the faint of heart. But what will keep you going is one simple question that is especially important now: If you don’t run, are you ready to accept the alternative?

get your learn on Bold Progressives

New American Leaders Project

Who: All genders, Progressives

Who: All genders, Nonpartisan, Focus on first- and second-generation Americans What: Training program (“Ready to Lead”)

boldprogressives . org

What: Support and training programs

Rutgers University’s Center for American Women in Politics cawp . rutgers . edu

Women, Nonpartisan What: Voluminous information on women and politics, training programs Who:

EMILY’s List emilyslist . org

Who: Women, Democrats, Pro-Choice

What : Support, training, and funding for

candidates nationally and locally

Higher Heights

higherheightsforamerica . org

Higher Heights Leadership Fund higherheightsleadershipfund . org

Black women, Progressive What: Support and networking opportunities Who:

Ignite National ignitenational . org

Who: High school and college women, Nonpartisan What: Training and support to increase civic

engagement and service in public office

newamericanleaders . org

Run for Something runforsomething . net

Who: Under-35-year-olds, Progressives

Will direct people to trainings by other organizations; some campaign contributions forthcoming; networking, advice, support

What:

She Should Run sheshouldrun . org

Women, Nonpartisan Portal to nominate women to run for office; support and training; new online program “She Should Run Incubator” targets girls, their parents, and women at the “thinking about it” stage

Who:

What:

Victory Institute victoryinstitute . org

Who: Openly LGBTQ, Nonpartisan What: Support and training

Vote Run Lead voterunlead . org

Who:

Women, Nonpartisan

What: Support and training; free webinars

Latino Victory Project

Wellstone Camp

Who: Latino men and women, Nonpartisan

Who:

latinovictory . us

What: Supports and trains candidates

wellstone . org

All genders, Nonpartisan (leans progressive)

What: Widely considered one of the best training

programs and support organizations

american woman Social justice activist and Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour gets real about hard conversations with her kids, what’s next for the movement, and why the resistance is female

By Sarah Sophie Flicker // Photo by Kristen Blush You may not know Linda Sarsour by name, but it’s likely you recognize the 37-year-old civil-rights champion as one of the most visible co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington. The Brooklyn native, a daughter of Palestinian immigrants, began her career in activism by joining the Arab American Association shortly after 9/11, while her three children were small, eventually becoming their executive director. And advocating for the Muslim community—she was instrumental in getting N.Y.C. public schools to observe two important Islamic holy days—was just the beginning. She’s a defender of women’s rights, a political progressive (she endorsed Bernie Sanders), and a criminal justice reform advocate as well. As one of the Women’s March national organizers, I spent months working together with Sarsour, and quickly came to see her as the backbone of our movement. At a time when simply wearing a hijab in public is a revolutionary act, she is incredibly outspoken, making her a lightning rod for sensationalized headlines, online trolls, non-stop vitriol, and overblown controversies that try to undermine the work she does. While weathering these storms, she comes through consistently to lead and nurture. I have been enraged by the amount of hateful rhetoric she has been subjected to—she’s been unfairly accused of everything from anti-Semitism to anti-feminism—but even more painful has been witnessing the terrifying level of threat (including death threats) that she and her family have had to face. Sarsour always advocates for vulnerable communities, so it was no surprise that a large group of progressive groups launched an #IMarchWithLinda campaign to show their solidarity. As our country grapples with extreme Islamophobia (emboldened by our current administration), Sarsour is constantly showing up not only for her own community (she helped raise funds for the burial of Nabra Hassanen, the teen murdered after leaving a Virginia mosque), but also for many others, continuously organizing for fair minimum wage, police accountability, voter engagement, women’s rights, and a myriad of other causes. She is a tireless problem solver and unflagging advocate on behalf of marginalized people. At the Women’s March, we often cited the famous Coretta Scott King quote, “Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.” In my mind, Sarsour truly embodies this soul. Here, we sat down as friends and fellow mothers, and spoke about things Sarsour rarely gets to talk about in the press. It was a pleasure. 66

. aug/sept 2017 . BUST

What is something you wish folks knew about you that no one ever asks? I don’t get to talk about my kids enough in the press. My son is about to go to college, I have a daughter who is a junior in high school, and I have a daughter who is in seventh grade. They are the reasons I do this work. So often, people see me as this activist speaking on behalf of this whole group of people, when in reality, I’m trying to protect my children. How does being a mom inform the work you do? How do you talk to your kids about this stuff? Being a mom informs every part of my work. It’s why I come to the movement with a lot of love in my heart. I come to the movement seeing other people’s children as my own children. And the work I do requires a lot of hard conversations with my kids. My daughter asked me many times growing up, “Why do they hate us?” And I say to her, “No, not everybody hates us. They don’t hate you. They just don’t understand a lot of parts of you.” Being able to take how kids are feeling and contextualize that in a way that makes them feel good about themselves is important. Why do I stand up for black lives? Why do I support immigrants who are undocumented? Because it helps my kids understand that these are our neighbors, our family, our community. I invest in those hard conversations. I think it’s important. So the big burning question is, where do you see the resistance going? The Women’s March was the catalyst. We brought every single issue to the forefront and showed the whole world that we can say, “Black Lives Matter,” we can support our undocumented brothers and sisters, we can stand up for LGBTQIA rights and women’s rights, and we can protect our Muslim brothers and sisters all at the same time—and we can continue that work moving forward. The resistance is female. It’s led by women. It is full of radical love. It is full of fierceness and it’s gonna be consistent. We’ve already proved that. There is so much more to come. What does it mean when you say the resistance is female? Women bring a lot of love and language that brings people together. We have seen the power when women lead. We are always negotiators, consensus builders, storytellers, and those skills are in fact what are fueling the resistance and making it stronger right now.

DESPERAT ELY SEEKING

SOCIAL JUST ICE

When the highest officials in government don’t have your back, the work of private citizens who do is all the more crucial. Meet three women who are working to make our world a better place by exposing dark money, border injustice, and hate groups

BY IAN ALLEN // ILLUST RAT ION BY ASHLEY SEIL SMIT H

HEN DONALD TRUMP swept into the White House this past January, he left those of us who prioritize facts, transparency, immigrant rights, and equality feeling overwhelmed and unsafe. In an ideal situation, the government would be addressing our concerns, but since the new administration is merely exacerbating them, many are looking to private-sector advocacy groups for help. That’s where Lisa Graves, Vicki B. Gaubeca, and Heidi Beirich come in—three brave and brilliant social justice detectives working diligently to keep America great. They seek to shed light where there

. APR/MAY 2017 . BUST

was previously none, bringing their discoveries about the unsavory side of political influence, escalating border tensions, and radicalized racism to the attention of reporters, lawmakers, law enforcement officers, and activists. Sometimes change comes quickly, but more often than not, the enemy counters or simply adapts to the changing environment, and the war wages on. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” One thing, however, is immediately clear: Armed with facts and hell-bent on protecting the public, these women are soldiers in the cultural trenches, and we need them now more than ever.

L IS A G RAVES THE DARK MONEY DIVINER

“I

don’t know what Donald Trump thinks, aside from what he tweets, but I think he is deeply deceitful and deceptive. Throughout the campaign, he talked about draining the swamp, and instead, he’s stocking the swamp and locating it in the Rose Garden, just outside the White House,” says Lisa Graves. And she would know. Graves is the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a watchdog group with a nose for sniffing out corporate bad guys, enlisting whistleblowers, and shedding light on secretive, misleading campaign contributions, known as “dark money.” She’s the country’s foremost expert on big-money political shenanigans, with decades of experience in government. (She served in Janet Reno’s Justice Department, and worked with Senator Patrick Leahy to vet President George W. Bush’s nominees to the federal bench.) Graves comes off as congenial and polite, but don’t let her well-cultivated demeanor fool you—she’s a legit badass. Working out of an office in Madison, WI, Graves and her gang of 12 staff members hound D.C. baddies at every turn, constantly looking, as Graves puts it, to “uncover corporations and CEOs who want to keep their influence on politicians and on public policies secret from ordinary Americans, whose rights and opportunities are being undermined.” They truly follow the money, which means extensive research in-office and in the field, resulting in about 3,000 public records requests each year for information from state and local governments, which gives them the ability to scrutinize communications between corporations and public officials. Graves points to “the terrible Citizens United decision” for generating so much work—the 2010 Supreme Court case on campaign finance brought about a huge change that enabled wealthy individuals and big corporations to pile unlimited amounts of cash on political campaigns, without disclosing their identity. Graves offers up, as a particularly gross example of this kind of dark money, her 2012 discovery of the funding sources of a non-profit group called Independent Women’s Voices. The group, which is still in existence, first stepped into the spotlight by throwing its weight behind conservative Scott Brown’s bid to replace liberal lion Ted Kennedy in the Senate. Massachusetts was suddenly flooded with pro-Brown robocalls and TV ads featuring these “independent women’s voices.” Graves and her team looked into public records, which, at the time, revealed a list of the non-profit’s top contributors. “The funders weren’t from Massachusetts, they weren’t independent, and they weren’t women,” she says. “It was actually fewer than a dozen wealthy men’s voices.” Graves’ group

. APR/MAY 2017 . BUST

“The funders of ‘Independent Women’s Voices’ weren’t independent, and they weren’t women. It was actually fewer than a dozen wealthy men’s voices.”

blasted press releases to the media, revealing that almost 90 percent of IWV’s funding came from men, and that all of their donors were Republicans. Laughing a little, she adds, “It’s hilarious and outrageous.” The organization has since changed their privacy settings, but these traditional dark money contributions have, in recent years, been “enhanced” by an even more treacherous trend. “In 2011, right after the Tea Party election, a lot of states became more right-wing, and a lot of right-wing legislation started passing really quickly,” explains Graves. “It turned out [those right-wing lawmakers were funded by a] group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which had been operating for a number of years in obscurity.” Fueled by the money of notorious billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, the organization was bringing together corporate lobbyists and elected state officials for highly secretive meetings. In the meetings, lawyers from member corporations would propose legislation that served their business interests—often in direct opposition to public interests—and the lobbyists and legislators would then vote on these “model bills.” If the proposed bill was approved, the legislators would dutifully introduce it on the floor of their state legislature to become law, and ALEC would reward them with lavish campaign contributions. One bill was even submitted by a lawmaker still on ALEC letterhead (oops). Graves was among the first to pull back the curtain on the group, revealing their deeply disturbing practices and membership list. As a result of their exposure, Coca-Cola, Ford, Expedia, the AARP, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car were among the corporations to cut their ties to ALEC. Sadly, ALEC is still around, cranking out corporatewritten bills, which, Graves concedes, “is symbolic of the normalization of corruption that has infected public policy. Many of the most regressive, right-wing CEOs and companies have used it to advance their narrow and extreme personal agendas.” It’s a trend that will surely only increase. “They were thrilled with Trump’s election,” Graves says. “They were jubilant at their meeting last year, about the idea that they have ALEC people influencing the government, at every level, including the Trump administration. A number of people who he has chosen for leadership positions have strong ALEC ties, including his Vice President, Mike Pence.” Luckily, this only inspires Graves to work harder. “Even though we live with a post-fact President, most Americans are not beyond facts and care deeply about wanting our world to be a better place,” she says. “I fundamentally believe in democracy. Some might think that’s naïve. But I feel like the core principles of our democracy are under assault.”

“I remember a time when we were just neighbors with Mexico. But the narrative about Mexico has changed dramatically. It’s very discouraging.”

VICKI B. GAUBECA THE BORDER RIGHTS FIGHTER

icki B. Gaubeca is taking a decidedly rational approach to the Trump dilemma. “I think a lot of us are just sort of like, OK, reality has set in,” she says, “and now we have to figure out the difference between the political rhetoric and what might happen.” As Director of the Regional Center for Border Rights for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, located in Las Cruces, she is tasked with keeping an eye on the officials who regulate those going back and forth across the U.S.’s southern border. It’s easier said than done. The U.S. Border Patrol is one of the largest police forces in the world, with 21,000 agents. Gaubeca’s group is on call 24/7, traveling the border, inspecting immigrationholding facilities, compiling research data, giving guidance to law enforcement, and occasionally bringing lawsuits, looking to correct illegal behavior on the part of the government. Now, her job is about to get much more difficult. “The Border Patrol union came out in strong support of Trump. It was the first time they ever came out in support of

a candidate,” Gaubeca says with a sigh. During the Obama years, her organization was able to get a number of reforms in place, including the new requirement that immigration officers safeguard and inventory the belongings of deported individuals. She wonders whether the union’s support of Trump was pushback for the progress she’s fought for. But one of her biggest battles is fighting the public’s misconceptions about the border. “People think that it’s violent or that we’re just a rural, arid desert,” she says. “Few know that there are 15 million people living here, some in large urban areas like San Diego and El Paso, which are among the safest cities in the nation and are vital centers of trade, commerce, and tourism.” Of course there are problems, too, with conflicts arising between border agents and the communities they serve. The worst cases are violent: Since January 2010, at least 50 individuals have died at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, according to ACLU reports. At least 19 of those were U.S. citizens, and six were people standing on Mexican soil. When asked why these shootings happen, Gaubeca says flatly, “In most of them, [the officers] allege that the person was throwing a rock.” She explains that the border patrol’s go-to legal defense is that “the agent was standing on U.S. soil, but the bullet landed in Mexico, so, well, that’s outside of the U.S. Constitution.” She adds, with no small amount of sarcasm, “I suspect that there’s some underlying racism in it since I don’t think that argument would fly if that person was a Canadian citizen standing on Canadian soil.” Soil, and the laws governing particular patches of it, underpins the broader fight Gaubeca finds herself in the middle of. There is an archaic statute still on the books, which allows the border patrol to set up checkpoints “within 100 miles of the border.” They started going up a couple of decades ago. “It’s really preposterous that they even exist,” she says. “Traffic is pulled over and the border patrol agent goes up to your window and asks, ‘What is your citizenship?’” Graves points out that, according to ACLU research, the checkpoints have resulted in “very few arrests of immigrants who were in the United States without proper work authorization. The vast majority are American citizens, arrested with small quantities of drugs.” The community pushback against the checkpoints is often motivated, in part, by day-to-day concerns that wouldn’t even occur to most Americans, like the dramatic drops in real estate values caused by the huge traffic snarls around the checkpoints, or the impact on local retail. “People don’t realize that a lot of Mexicans travel up to do their shopping in the U.S.,” she says. But the checkpoints, and their propensity for racial profiling, are too frustrating for many. This has had a chilling effect on the economies of the border

. APR/MAY 2017 . BUST

region, and Gaubeca works tirelessly to mitigate the fallout. Now, however, there’s mounting pressure on the progress she can make. “Build the wall!” is now a familiar refrain. Gaubeca scoffs good-naturedly at the ignorance behind the chant, and explains that “the wall” already exists, except in places “where you physically can’t build a structure, because there is a river, or a canyon, or sand dunes. Or, it’s just an uninhabitable place that, to get there, would be like walking in the desert for days.” But there’s a bigger issue. The wall is a “solution” to a problem that doesn’t exist. Net migration from Mexico to the U.S., according to Pew Research data, is currently at a negative, with more Mexicans leaving the States than coming in. Gaubeca is wistful in her contemplation of the disparity between this reality and its perception. “I remember a time when we were just neighbors with Mexico. But the narrative about Mexico has changed dramatically,” she says. “It’s very discouraging.” Yet, Gaubeca is optimistic. “My hope is that we can get back to being neighbors,” she says. “I do think that we have these fundamental, core principles of justice, and equality, and that’s not necessarily true for other countries in the world. I’ve seen that that’s not always true. But, I still believe it’s true. I still believe we can get there. I think that’s what keeps me going.”

H E I DI BE I R I C H THE NEO -NAZI HUNTER

eidi Beirich is the Director of the Intelligence Project at Southern Poverty Law Center and is, among other things, America’s top neo-Nazi hunter. “I lead the division that tracks hate and extremist groups,” she explains. “We have a team of 16 people who work constantly to monitor their websites and publications. Our goal is to compile this information for the public, so we are all aware of what these folks are up to and the threat they pose.” SPLC’s quarterly publication, the Intelligence Report, provides comprehensive updates to law enforcement agencies, the media, and the general public. During Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, his campaign, on multiple occasions, posted or repurposed materials that could be traced back to the kind of groups Beirich tracks. There was the anti-Semitic image of Hillary Clinton with a Jewish star and money, under the banner, “History Made: Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” Then there was Pepe the

PHOTO: VALERIE DOWNES/SPLC

“People don’t realize the size of the white supremacist movement. Stormfront— the oldest and largest hate site on the web— has 300,000 registered users.” Frog, a cartoon hijacked by white supremacists, who made an appearance on Trump’s shoulder in a mock-movie poster advertising “The Deplorables!” Beirich’s team led the fight to draw attention to the importance of these incidents, harnessing the power of SPLC’s social media and press machine, to hold Trump and his supporters accountable for their incriminatory associations. “Although we like to think that Donald Trump is this phenomenon that came out of nowhere, he’s not,” Beirich says. She argues that racism has always been a part of conservative tenets. “If you think of conservatism as conservation of existing principles, then, if the status quo is to discriminate on the basis of race, that becomes something you are conserving, right?” she says. “I don’t think it’s a [coincidence] that Republicans have been the ones to attack affirmative action, bussing policies, and so on.” Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes far-right hate groups into 11 different categories: anti-immigration, anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim, anti-government, Christian identity, Holocaust denial, Ku-Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and white nationalist. “People don’t realize the size of the white supremacist movement,” Beirich says. “Stormfront—the oldest and largest hate site on the web—has 300,000 registered users.” If you include other sites, “we’re talking about a few million people.” Beirich views them as an “existential threat” to the United States, stating, “White supremacist thinking, since the founding of the country, has always been the thing that has hampered real democracy. Whether it’s slavery, the way our voting was warped by slavery and the three-fifths rule, or the re-imposition of black oppression after the Civil War, which really was legal until the mid-1960s when we passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and the Immigration Act,” she says. “We didn’t have a real democracy, if you just think about

citizens being able to vote, until those things were upended.” Beirich’s job is also getting harder, due as much to changes in technology as to changes in the White House. “With Dylan Roof, the Charleston church shooter, we have our first-ever completely online-radicalized white supremacist mass murderer. He had no connection to groups at all. He went online, he read websites, and that’s how he learned to hate black people,” she says. “It’s literally a kid who spent two-and-a-half years in his room reading what his stepmom called ‘Internet evil.’ I’m not sure how you find that guy.” Southern Poverty Law Center is located in Montgomery, AL, in the heart of the Deep South. Does she worry about her safety? Well, sorta. “At my home, I have to deal with cameras, and sometimes security guards, protecting me,” Beirich says. “Most of the white supremacist leadership knows me by photo, and I know that because they put terrible things about me on the Internet.” She laughs when she says this, but the danger is clearly real. There’s a track record of violence against SPLC; about 40 people are currently in prison for trying to either blow up the building or kill co-founder Morris Dees. “We get anonymous death threats and hostile phone calls and shitty emails all the time,” Beirich says. “Sometimes they specifically name people like me and sometimes they don’t. It’s a reality that we take into account.” Like Graves and Gaubeca, Beirich draws courage from her convictions: “It’s a little hard to explain. But you become very passionate about things that you know are just so wrong, and yet they live on, regardless of how many times they’ve been shown to be destructive and terrible,” she says. “We’re talkin’ about things like genocide here. To think that that stuff lives on is just, a) unacceptable, and b) somebody’s gotta take care of it. Somebody’s gotta do it.”

The Road Ahead Writer and activist bell hooks helps us process the post-election state of feminism, and tells us how to move forward in the era of Trump By Lux Alptraum // Photos by Jesse Fox

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

2016

was supposed to be a banner year for women; the year female voters helped Hillary Clinton finally break through that “highest, hardest glass ceiling” to reach the Oval Office. Instead, Americans woke up on November 9 to discover that Donald Trump, a ruthless personification of the patriarchy, had been elected president. As many disillusioned feminists tried to make sense of what it all meant, BUST reached out to one of the pioneering voices of intersectional feminism, and one of the movement’s most influential thinkers: author and activist bell hooks. For more than three decades, hooks has examined the overlap between racism, classism, and sexism, publishing more than 30 books on the topic (including Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism and Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center). She also founded the bell hooks Institute at Kentucky’s Berea College, which works to better understand “the ways systems of exploitation and oppression intersect.” Here, we chat with hooks about the rise of Trump, the problem with benevolent patriarchs, and where we go from here. It’s hard not to feel like Trump’s election is a huge defeat, a sign that America is eschewing feminism for someone who openly rejects women’s bodily autonomy and the idea that women have value outside of their appearances. It’s absolutely evident that so much of the anti-Hillary Clinton campaign was rooted in misogyny and woman hating, and that in many ways she became a symbolic representation of feminism. So many patriarchal men, especially white men, really felt like feminism had taken something from them. And I think for those groups of people, Hillary Clinton losing was a sense of victory, like they were getting some patriarchal power back. But patriarchy has no gender. There were many, many women who did not support Hillary Clinton or vote for her. We can’t see this as being about one, individual, male misogynist and hater, but the whole structure of our society. Masses of people really hate and fear empowered women. It feels like we had a false idea of the progress women had made, and this is a reminder that there’s so much work to do. Exactly. I felt very strongly that there’s been a feminist backlash going on for some time. Why are we shocked? I

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

wasn’t shocked. Patriarchy has not been deeply challenged enough and changed. It was just about patriarchy getting a publicly sanctioned voice and silencing a feminist voice, as if there was this war that was going on. And then patriarchy could feel like, “We are going to win this war.” It’s funny because one of my best women’s studies colleagues here at Berea would always be frustrated with me because I would tell her that I felt very strongly that sexism and misogyny actually posed a greater threat to black women and all women than racism. She just thought, “Well, that’s ridiculous.” She’s black. The night of the election she called me and was like, “You’ve been right all along.” The sexism is so deeply, deeply embedded. If you think about public discourses on race in this past year, where are the big public discourses on feminism? They don’t exist. So many progressive organizations primarily hire white men. It wasn’t lost on me that Bernie Sanders’ senior staff was primarily white men. Bernie Sanders isn’t saying anything about feminist politics. He’s not integrating any kind of feminist poli-

“I felt very strongly that there’s been a feminist backlash going on for some time. Why are we shocked? I wasn’t shocked.”

smart and analytical woman who will of course have a voice that’s heard. Even though so many people were deeply moved by Michelle’s speech supporting Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, even that speech still contained this heteronormative mom-ism idea. As though sexism outrages us because it offends our sense of decency, and not that it offends our sense of justice, of what women and girls deserve. We saw that happening again and again, this focus on a patriarchal mom-ism.

bell hooks at the bell hooks Institute in Berea, KY

tics into his vision. I think the important thing is that we see this as the continuum of patriarchal power reasserting itself, and not as though Trump invented it or makes it possible—because it has been there. It’s been there, in Hillary Clinton’s husband and all of these men—except that Hillary Clinton’s husband and Barack Obama became the benevolent patriarchs. They’re the patriarchal men we can love. Early on, when Barack Obama became president, people were asking him, “Well, is Michelle Obama going to influence you, is she going to come to meetings?” I kept waiting for him to say, “She’s as much a citizen as anybody else and she has a right to her opinions and thoughts.” Instead, he went along with the idea that no, she will be doing her wifely, motherly duties. And not, yes, this is an amazingly

Even when there’s not misogyny, there’s so much benevolent sexism— in the response to the whole “grab her by the pussy” thing, men expressed their outrage over the incident by saying things like, “That could have been our wives and daughters he was talking about.” To me, that’s just as problematic as the sexual objectification they were denouncing. And it reinforced a heteronormative vision of decency, not a powerful, passionate argument for justice and for where we stand as people who are advocates of feminist politics. Which is not about whether you’re a mom or not, it’s about the whole question of whether we can exist without being seen as second-class citizens. This heteronormative vision of parenthood is part of that. Where do we go from here? What advice do you have for feminists who want to smash the patriarchy? I think that we have to restore feminism as a political movement. The challenge to patriarchy is political, and not a lifestyle or identity. It’s as if we have to return to very basic education for critical consciousness, around what visionary feminist politics really is about. And let’s face it: visionary feminist politics is not about having a woman president. It’s about having a person of any gender who understands deeply and fully the need for there to be respect for the embodied presence of males and females, without subordination.

. apr/may 2017 . BUST

politically correct Does our current political situation have you wishing you’d paid more attention in civics class? This 101-style breakdown of the U.S. federal government will fill in the blanks so you can understand who’s got what power, and how you can change things By elizabeth king illustration by molly egan Government is confusing. If we’re going to talk politics, it’s important to note that right off the bat. This stuff is

messy and complicated, and it’s easy to get bogged down in all the rules and minutia. But don’t worry; it’s possible (and more important than ever) to get a good grasp on how it all works, especially since the basics haven’t changed since 1787 (for better or worse). And you know what they said on Schoolhouse Rock: knowledge is power! There’s a lot of back and forth about whether the United States’ government is a democracy (a government by and for the people) or a republic (where the “supreme power” lies with the people who have the right to vote for leaders). We can actually consider ourselves a democratic republic. However, it’s important to note that we don’t have a direct democracy, where laws are decided and leaders are elected based on a majority vote by the people. We have a representative democracy, which means we vote for leaders who make policy decisions for us. Some of these leaders nominate other leaders without our vote at all, and they can be found throughout the three branches of government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. Each branch is subject to the Constitution, that ol’ “We the People” missive, which laid out the laws that govern the nation and established the branches, meant to check and balance each other’s influence and power—more on that later. First, let’s dive into each branch: who the heck is running our government and what are they responsible for?

Executive

Many people think of the executive branch as the most powerful part of the government, and in some ways it is. The president heads this branch, all of government, and is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Here’s how the presidency works: every four years, elections are held to choose the next president. But before registered citizens head to the polls, politicians (and apparently doctors, business people, and washed-up reality TV stars) who wish to run for president must file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. The Constitution requires that presidential candidates be native-born U.S. citizens,

Branch

have spent at least 14 years living in the U.S., and are 35 years or older. The president is allowed to serve only two terms, for a total of eight years (which feels kind of like forever at this point, doesn’t it?). It’s not the popular vote that determines the winner of the election, however, which was made blatantly clear this past November. Rather, the president is officially chosen by the Electoral College. So who the hell are these people picking our president? The Electoral College is made up of party representatives in each state (who are nominated and voted on by state party committees). The number of college electors a state has is determined by its population. States with more people (e.g. California, Texas) have more electors than smaller states (e.g. Delaware, Hawaii). The candidate who 47

wins the majority of the votes in the state theoretically wins all of the Electoral College votes (with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, where they can be split). I say theoretically because the Electoral College does not cast their votes until more than a month after Election Day, and electors aren’t required to vote for the nominee who won their state. But electors going rogue is very rare, and unlikely to overturn the expected results. To secure the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 out of a total of 538 electoral votes. While the executive branch is not tasked with voting on legislation (except for the vice president, who can break ties in Senate votes, à la Mike Pence’s deciding vote in the appointment of controversial Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos), the president does have the power to create policy by way of signing executive orders—hello, travel ban. These are legally binding documents that do not require pre-approval from Congress (we’ll get to Congress next) and can basically order just about anything the president wants. Though federal courts can temporarily freeze orders, the only way to permanently kill one is to have it revoked by a subsequent president or declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (more on that system later, too). The executive branch also includes the vice president, who is chosen by a presidential candidate during their campaign, to be their right-hand advisor and leader of the Senate. The VP also takes over the presidency should the president die, get impeached, or otherwise be unable to serve. The president’s cabinet—essentially an advisory committee of 15 positions that lead various departments—is also part of the executive branch. Cabinet members are nominated by the president, and must be confirmed by the Senate, which is literally the only requirement for being sworn into the position. All cabinet members advise the president on matters related to the responsibilities of their respective departments, which vary in size depending on the departments’ budgets, from several thousand employees (Department of Education) to several million employees (Department of—what else?—Defense).

A number of non-cabinet agencies reside in the executive branch, too, like the Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces environmental regulations. And the president has other advisors beyond the cabinet as well. For example, Trump appointed Steve Bannon (formerly of right-wing propaganda site Breitbart) as his chief strategist, a position solely at the president’s discretion. The same is true for the president’s Chief of Staff—currently Reince Priebus—and other senior advisers the president leans on for support (like Jared Kushner, who’s married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka). Whew! Clearly this branch has a lot going on, but there’s (usually) not much legislative action on this level of government. That’s where this next branch comes in.

legislative

While the executive branch is made up of many positions filled by one person each, the legislative branch consists of two main positions filled by many different people. The two bodies of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, comprise the legislative arm of government and are charged with deciding what becomes law and what doesn’t. So who fills the Senate and the House? The Senate is made up of two senators per state, for a total of 100. The House is much bigger than the Senate, as representatives are determined by each state’s population size. For example, California, the nation’s most populous state, has 53 representatives in the House (yowza), whereas 7 less-populated states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming) each have only one representative. These folks are lead by the Speaker of the House (currently Paul Ryan), who is elected by House members. The idea is that Senators and Representatives look out for the best interests of their constituents at home. (Though the truth is, of course, much more complicated. Google “congressional lobbying” and brace yourself.)

Branch

executive cabinet Secretary of State: Handles foreign affairs on behalf of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury: Advises about financial, economic, and tax policies.

Secretary of Defense: Second only to the president when it comes to direct power of the military. Attorney General: Provides legal counsel to the prez, government agencies, and legislatures, and heads the Department of Justice. Secretary of the Interior: Leads the department responsible for managing the country’s land, wildlife, and natural resources. Secretary of Agriculture: Runs the USDA and oversees the nation’s farming industry. Secretary of Commerce: Advises on foreign and domestic commerce as well as U.S. job creation. Secretary of Labor: Heads the department that enforces laws related to workers, unions, job seekers, and retirees. Secretary of Health and Human Services: Heads the department

. apr/may 2017 . BUST

concerned with health matters such as insurance and Medicaid, as well as welfare and income security. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Oversees the nation’s housing needs, including community development and affordable housing. Secretary of Transportation: Deals with policy related to transportation. Secretary of Energy: Heads the department that deals mostly with environmental policies. Secretary of Education: Advises on education policy matters and heads the department responsible for improving the public school system. Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Oversees the department that provides a variety of services, including healthcare, to veterans. Secretary of Homeland Security: Advises on matters related to protecting the U.S. from foreign and domestic terrorism; this department’s also responsible for responding to natural disasters.

judicial

The highest court in the nation is the Supreme Court (often referred to as SCOTUS). Supreme Court Justices, like cabinet members, are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. However: Supreme Court Justices serve in their position for life (long live Ruth Bader Ginsburg!) or until they choose to retire (they can also be impeached and removed by Congress). Getting a Justice into the Supreme Court is one major way presidents can have a long-lasting impact on policy. Congress has the power and discretion to determine the size of the Court; it has been as few as six, though it’s been nine since 1869 (in actuality, we’ve had only eight justices since Antonin Scalia died suddenly in early 2016, but President Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat). The Supreme Court gets around 7,000 requests to hear cases each year, but only hears about 80 of them, and decides

Branch

an additional 50 cases or so without hearing them, according to supremecourt.gov. The Supreme Court primarily hears cases that involve interpretation of the Constitution, and thus have an impact on the whole country, and not just the individuals who bring the case before the Court. This means that legislation passed by Congress (or at the state level, as was the case that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage), that is constitutionally questionable, can potentially be heard by the Supreme Court, which can effectively do away with the law. The Supreme Court uses “the rule of four” to determine whether it will hear a case: if four justices think it should be heard, the parties are allowed to present their case. The Court issues a writ of certiori, a legal order that requires the lower courts that previously heard the case to send over their records. Then, each side writes up a brief before oral arguments are heard. Justices often ask attorneys questions throughout the arguments. When the arguments are over, the Justices convene to discuss the case and the majority opinion ultimately determines the decision. One Justice on the majority side writes up the majority opinion, a document that lays out all the reasons for the decision. The minority side writes up their own opinion, called a dissent, explaining why they disagree with the majority. The primary checks on the Supreme Court come during the Justice nomination process, but after that, the Supreme Court’s decisions are literally the law of the land. Congress and state-level legislature can pass laws that lessen the impact of Court rulings (like how states pass laws that make it all but impossible for abortion clinics to stay open), but only the Supreme Court can overturn its own ruling.

And how do these folks get their jobs in the Capitol? Both senators and representatives are elected by residents of the state they represent, but in different ways, and often at different times. Senate races occur every six years and voters registered anywhere in the state can vote in them. Candidates for the House of Representatives run in their district, which can be thought of as a zone within a state, and are voted on by residents in their district every two years. Both senators and representatives can serve unlimited six- and two-year terms, respectively. Now on to what Congress gets up to. Congress is responsible for passing federal laws, all of which start out as bills— drafts of would-be laws sponsored by members of Congress— and are then presented to the House. There, the bill is taken to a Committee of experts in the House who pore over and research it; in some cases, the bill goes to subcommittee for extra expertise. Once the Committee is satisfied, the bill is reported to the House, debated, and changed some more before the House takes the bill to a vote. If the bill passes the House, it goes to the Senate, where it undergoes much the same treatment: it goes to a Senate committee, is debated on the Senate floor, and is then voted on by senators. Next stop for the bill? The White House! The president can either sign the bill, making it a law (finally!), or veto it. In the event of a presidential veto, the bill can be voted on once again by members of Congress. If two-thirds of the House and Senate vote in favor of the bill, the veto is overridden and the bill becomes a law, a clear check on the president’s power. Likewise, the president has a check on Congress, and can veto bills that don’t fit his/her agenda. To give you a sense of how few bills successfully make it through this process, according to govtrack.us, the 114th session of Congress (January 6, 2015 – January 3, 2017) introduced 12,063 items of legislation. The total number of enacted laws? Just 329. But what if a law doesn’t seem right, or citizens are concerned that a law will be harmful once implemented? This is where the courts, located in the judicial branch of government, come into play.

While all of this may seem to work out nice and neat on paper, it’s important to understand that government is messy, and checks and balances don’t always work the way we might hope. For example, imagine a very conservative bill presented to a House comprised of a majority of Republicans. A nice check would be a majority of Democrats in the Senate to alter the bill’s contents or shut it down completely. However, if the Senate is also majority Republican, the bill is likely to sail through, and if the president is a Republican, the bill is likely to become a law without any meaningful opposition. The law could always then be taken before the Supreme Court, but if the Court is made up of conservatives, there’s no remaining recourse until the composition of federal government changes and the law could potentially be repealed. Remember earlier where we talked about Senate and House elections? They’re crucial. A number of seats are open in Congress and will be voted on during the 2018 mid-term elections. Check to see when your Senators’ and Representatives’ terms are up and if they’re facing re-election this year. Voting is the most effective way to turn the tide. Suffice it to say, a lot goes down in Washington that we the people are not privy to and don’t have any direct control over. But that’s why it’s super important to stay apprised of current events and get involved at the local, state, and federal levels of government. The government is supposed to work for us, so let’s make sure it does. 49

from russia 36

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

with love â&#x2122;¥ 37

Five years ago, Nadya Tolokno and members of her punk band Pussy Riot were sent to prison for public acts of feminist activism. Today, she’s free and louder than ever. Here, she talks about rising up, getting rowdy, and pissing off repressive presidents By erika w. smith

utfitted in colorful dresses, tights, and—most importantly—balaclavas that hid their faces, a group of fierce young women became activist icons overnight when they were arrested for performing a song in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, protesting the repressive antichoice and anti-LGBT policies of Vladimir Putin. Calling themselves Pussy Riot, the group was part punk band, part performance art collective, part activist group, and completely feminist. And even though that performance in 2012 lasted less than a minute before the women were pulled offstage, their lyrics—including the phrases, “Mother of God, banish Putin,” and “Mother of God, become a feminist”—led to an arrest that reverberated worldwide. Pussy Riot became an international cause celebre when three of its members—including leader Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, aka Nadya Tolokno—were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” Their high-profile case caught the attention of Madonna, Björk, and Peaches, and sparked weeks of headlines, a book, and a documentary. Pussy Riot was everywhere. Five years later, Pussy Riot appears to be more relevant than ever. Today we have an American president who shares quite a few deplorable views with Putin: Like Putin, President Trump is anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-everything that feminists stand for. And Tolokno, 27, recognizes it. The morning after Trump was elected, she tweeted as Pussy Riot, “Putin just woke up and he’s screaming in fucking ecstatic happiness right now.” It wasn’t Tolokno’s first comment on U.S. politics—far from it. In 2015, she and another member of Pussy Riot released a song and music video about the murder of Eric Garner called “I Can’t Breathe.” And just before the election, Tolokno released a trio of political music videos as a solo artist. Along with the girl power anthem “Straight Outta Vagina” and the Russian-language track “Organs,” there was a song called “Make America Great Again” that predicted the horrors of a Trump presidency. In the latter video, a broadcaster on “Trump News Network” announces bans on Muslims, Mexicans, abortions, and any language other than English. The announcements are interspersed with scenes of Trump posturing in the White House and police stripping and torturing a protester. Tolokno plays every part. As President Donald

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

Trump, a yellow wig covers her brunette bob, and she frames her large, dark eyes with red and white eye shadow. Her full lips are covered in bright blue lipstick—lips a Russian Orthodox official once said marked her as “a demon with a brain,” adding, “She’s a strong demon. You can tell by her lips, by her mouth. It means she’ll fight to the end.” At least in one respect he was right. In the years since her arrest, Tolokno has been imprisoned, gone on a hunger strike, been separated from her husband and young daughter, been beaten, and had her eyes burned with spray paint. And she’s still fighting against despotism—not only in her native Russia, but also in the U.S. and worldwide. On the morning of November 8th, Tolokno knew something wasn’t right. It was the day after her 27th birthday—a day that has always held special significance to her, because besides being her birthday, November 7th was the day of Russia’s October Revolution in 1917. It’s a holiday that, when Tolokno was a child, Putin banned out of fear of an uprising, replacing commemoration of the revolution with something called “Unity Day.” It’s also the day that, before Pussy Riot, Tolokno took part in one of her favorite protest actions with the art group Voina: laser projecting a skull and crossbones onto the Russian Parliament. “The day after my birthday this year, I was waiting for my gift, which would be the first female president,” she tells me over the phone from L.A., where she spends a lot of time when she’s not in New York or Russia. “I went to the gym and my trainer made my butt hurt so much that I was suffering the whole day. You know how some people have a gut feeling? I had a butt feeling that something was about to go wrong.” When things did go wrong, she wasn’t surprised. “I had it in the back of my head. I had this irritating, small thought that it could happen, and all the guys around me, they didn’t believe that it could happen at all,” she says. “But after 16 years of Vladimir Putin, I know that terrible political things can happen. I didn’t believe that I could ever end up in prison, because I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m doing nonviolent, political, symbolic, artistic action. Nothing bad could happen to me.’ And then I ended up in prison.” Tolokno’s nonviolent, political, symbolic, artistic actions didn’t start with Pussy Riot. In fact, she remembers doing a version of protest performance art as a small child at school. “I would take a pile of garbage to school and put it on different objects—on the drawings, on the chalkboard. I saw that as the

previous spread: TUX JACKET: WILD FANG; SILK BLOUSE: YVES ST. LAURENT; VINTAGE TIGER BELT: LAIZE ADZER; KILLSTAR MOUSETRAP BALACLAVA: DOLLSKILL.COM; UNDERWEAR HAND-PAINTED BY NADYA; TIGHTS: stylists own.

photos by jeaneen lund // styling by kime buzelli // makeup by will lemon

PANTSUIT: RALPH LAUREN; METALLIC SHOES: PSKAUFMAN; WILD FEMINIST T-SHIRT: WILD FANG; jewlelry: VINTAGE.

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

proper way of expressing my feelings about school and the way they wanted us to learn things.” Tolokno grew up in Norilsk—a mining town that has the dubious honor of being the world’s northernmost city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. For about a third of the year, snow storms rage in Norilsk; the sun never sets from late May through late July; and temperatures can drop to 60 below zero Fahrenheit. Besides being one of the coldest places on earth, it’s also one of the most polluted, ranking eighth in the world in 2007. Over 1,700 miles from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Norilsk is by no means a cultural center. “When I was a teenager, I was looking for something that would empower and excite me because I was living in a really small, provincial Russian town and it wasn’t easy to find these things,” she says. Tolokno’s life changed when the city invited two contemporary artists to the town for a fair. “These guys, they made me love classical poetry and contemporary art,” she explains. As a result, she moved to Moscow to attend college, studying philosophy at Moscow State University. She also got into gender studies, working on improving her English so she could read Judith Butler, as there were no Russian translations of Butler’s work. It was at Moscow State University in 2007 that Tolokno first became involved with performance art and activism, joining the art protest group Voina. It’s also where she met her husband,

19 while pregnant with her daughter Gera. “That’s my recipe for everything in life. If you want to be more powerful, just combine everything that you know—and it works.” “After I had my daughter, I became a much stronger feminist than I was before,” she says. “Because for some weird reason, when you have a baby, everybody starts treating you just as a mother. I didn’t want to just be seen as a reproductive machine, even though I had her. I didn’t want her to think of me as a reproductive machine. I wanted her to see me as a person. When your kid is really little, you have to give a lot of your life to your kid. But you still want to do art, and you still want to study, and you still want to see your friends, so you have to figure out how you can do it all in one hour. After that, I became a much more productive person.” Tolokno first started incorporating feminism into her art in 2011 when she led a months-long performance piece in which female Voina members kissed female police officers as a response to the rampant violence and corruption plaguing Russian law enforcement. “The first thing you want to do” when you see a police officer, Tolokno explains, “is to punch him in the face. But because I believe in nonviolence, I don’t do that, because it will cause more violence. So it’s a gesture of goodwill: I wanted to kiss the police instead of punching them in the face.” Male Voina members refused to participate in the action, so Tolokno gathered “a group of girls” who spent the next three months planting kisses on female officers—it took a while because it was so difficult to find women on the police force. “That was when we started to be not just political, but feminist,” Tolokno explains. Pussy Riot came into being later that same year. Tolokno and a friend and fellow Voina member, Yekatrina (Katya) Samutsevich, had agreed to give a talk on punk feminism; while researching, they got into riot grrrl, and decided to make their own Russian punk feminist band. “We were listening to ‘Rebel Girl,’ the Bikini Kill song, and we basically just stole what they did,” Tolokno says, laughing. She and Samutsevich recorded their first song, “Kill the Sexist,” on their phones in Samutsevich’s bathroom at four a.m., while Samutsevich’s dad tried to get them to stop. “I think it was the proper environment for starting a punk band,” Tolokno says. “The sound quality was really shitty, and I’m so proud of it.” Tolokno still draws a lot of inspiration from the American riot grrrl movement of the ’90s. “They empowered me a lot because I found out that you actually don’t have to be perfect to make music, to make art, to express your ideas,” she says. “I know it sounds pretty banal, but I know a lot of people who would just not trust themselves. They would say, ‘No, I couldn’t do art because I don’t have the proper technique.’ Fuck technique. If you have passion, if you have excitement, you can do art.” After Pussy Riot was formed, there was no question that they would perform, and not just concerts. Pussy Riot—which

PINK CAPE TOP: CHRISTINE ALCALAY; VINTAGE BEADED BOW COLLAR NECKLACE: COPPOLA E TOPPO.

“After I had my daughter, I became a much stronger feminist than I was before, because for some weird reason, when you have a baby, everybody starts treating you just as a mother.” Pyotr Verzilov. The two bonded over a discussion of Buddhism while Tolokno was helping her suitemates study for a religion exam. “Pyotr had lived for several years in Japan, so he knew something about Buddhism,” Tolokno says. There was an immediate spark, “And I just couldn’t help myself from talking to him the next day.” They began dating, and she says she knew it was real love when he gave her his books. “The thing that made me fall in love with him was when he gifted me his library, which was precious,” she says. “It was all French philosophers, which I adored at that time. My heart was bought with that library.” In 2008, the couple married. And after Putin was “elected” again that year—although Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term, the person who did win the election, Dmitry Medvedev, appointed Putin Prime Minister—the group expanded from rallies to art performances. One notable action involved members of the group having public sex in Moscow’s State Museum of Biology to protest Putin’s stated desire for Russian women to procreate more. “We combined art and politics,” Tolokno says of that performance, which she carried out at age

“I was scared after I was attacked.... But you cannot allow your fear to make your life unproductive, and it was really important for me to keep doing my art.” Riot didn’t get to carry out their next planned performance at Parliament—where an unnamed Pussy Riot member worked. “When they arrested us, I wasn’t sad that I was losing my freedom,” Tolokno says. “I was sad that we weren’t going to be able to do the action in the Russian Parliament, because I expected that one to be really radical.” Once Tolokno landed in prison, however, the seriousness of her situation became much clearer. After a trial that lasted several months, Tolokno was separated from Alyokhina and sent to a notoriously harsh women’s penal colony called IK-14. During her time there, she went on a hunger strike over the prison’s brutal slave labor policies and smuggled letters out to the Russian philosopher Slavoj Žižek (their correspondence was later compiled in the book Comradely Greetings). Because her mail was read, Tolokno had to be ingenious about writing her letters. She would compose them secretly while at her sewing machine, then “I would be going to see my lawyer and I had them in my panties,” she explains. “Sometimes there would be a search and they would take them from me and I would have to write another one. It was a time-consuming adventure.” The experience was enough to break anyone, but speaking to Tolokno now, it appears to have only made her stronger. “When you don’t eat for some time, it works like a drug,” she 42

. feb/mar 2017 . BUST

says of the bravery she had to summon during the nine-day hunger strike that left her hospitalized. “You get the jitters. Creativity came to my prison cell and I understood that finding my creativity was my way to overcome. Another thought that really helped me when they would beat me and not allow me to eat or drink was that I had to go through difficult situations to get an understanding of how things really work. I started to think about my prison term as an important lesson for me.” One would assume that after her release from prison, Tolokno would flee the country. But instead, she stayed, and still spends a significant amount of time in Russia, despite being attacked twice since her parole. Tolokno and other members of Pussy Riot were whipped by police when they attempted to stage a performance at the Sochi Olympics, and a month afterward, along with Alyokhina, she was attacked by a gang of men wielding garbage and spray paint, which temporarily damaged her eyes. Though Tolokno now considers herself a citizen of the world, she remains a presence in Russia as well, launching an independent media platform with other Pussy Riot members and working on prison reform. “I think it’s a natural thing for a human being to have some fear,” she says of her decision to stand her ground in her home country. “It’s a natural reaction; you would be dead if you did not have any fear. I was scared after I was attacked. For two months, if I was alone on the street and someone was approaching me, I would start to think about how I could run or how I could protect myself. But you cannot allow your fear to make your life unproductive, and it was really important for me to keep doing my art. Sometimes you just have to forget about it— or learn to protect yourself. Just go take boxing lessons.” That fear may also be why Tolokno sees some positives in Trump’s election. “I love to fail, strangely,” she says, “because it gives me energy to fight and to understand more about the world I live in. I’ve never felt more politically engaged than I do now. Probably the only other time I felt this politically engaged was right before Vladimir Putin was about to be so-called elected for his third term.” She’s now reading up on political science and “trying to figure out what we can do with this new world we share with neoconservatives,” she says, naming not only Trump and Putin, but also France’s Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and Brexit. Her daughter Gera, now 8, also feeds her optimism. “She asked how long Trump will be in power, and I told her four years most likely,” Tolokno says. “She said, ‘That’s OK, I will be 12 years old then, and while he’s in power, we will do a lot of things to stop him from doing hurtful things to us.’” Obviously, Gera isn’t alone. Millions of us want to do what we can to stop the Trump administration from doing hurtful things. And as a veteran of political uprising, Tolokno has some advice—get weird. “My strange punk advice is to mix everything that you know and everything that you care about into one thing, because I’m tired of all these conversations about art and politics. Why do you have to separate them?” she asks. “Think about the three weirdest things that come into your mind and then combine them into one artwork. If you keep it minimalistic and don’t add a lot of obstructing details, believe me, it will be good.”

VINTAGE SWEATER: NEW/FOUND; EARRINGS: SIERRA KEYLIN.

had a fluctuating membership peaking at around a dozen women in 2012—performed a handful of times before the infamous church performance, staging two-minute shows in the Moscow subway, atop luxury stores, and, most notably, in Red Square. “We were coming from performance art backgrounds, so it was as natural as eating or pooping for us to make performances,” Tolokno says. “The difficult part was for us to make songs!” The Red Square performance brought Pussy Riot some attention, but nothing close to the notoriety they received after Tolokno, Samutsevich, and Maria (Masha) Alyokhina were arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. (Samutsevich was released early; Tolokno and Alyokhina both served 21 months of their sentences.) Tolokno insists that the church performance was not their best. “For me, it was a big disaster, but more of an artistic disaster because I knew we could do better,” she says. “The action that I really loved was the one in Red Square. So when they arrested us, I was like, ‘Why did you arrest us for this action? It’s not the best. You could have picked a better one!’” She also expresses disappointment that Pussy