EDITOR’S NOTE
CARRYING THE TORCH
A
simple truth of magazine publishing is that it does not decision of her college students to choose careers as cops. And take place, like so much else, at the speed of light. There Gabbriel Schivone looks at how rebels can emerge within the is a lag, especially for monthly and bimonthly periodi- ranks of law enforcement. See also our investigative report, by Minnesota writer David cals, between when an issue goes to press and when it arrives Lamb, on the use of personality tests by major companies to in subscribers’ mailboxes. That’s true even when the President’s appointee to the Postal Service isn’t trying to slow things down. make hiring decisions—tests which may be serving to screen This lag is actually one of the neat things about magazines. It out the same racial groups these businesses claim they are trying forces us to focus on the bigger picture and not merely the latest to attract. Sharon Johnson examines the plight of the millions of Americans who have thing that’s happened in lost employer-based the news. That’s a welhealth coverage due to come respite from the COVID-19. And Stebreakneck pace foisted phen Nash explores the on the national conU.S. Fish and Wildlife sciousness by a presidenService’s sorry failure to tial administration that protect the red wolf. seems intent on causing Finally, we go to a crisis a day, sometimes school, with pieces by more. Lexi McMenamin on a As this issue of The new brand of campus Progressive goes to press activism, school reon November 18, the former Jesse Hagopian presidential election is on how the Black Lives all over but the shoutMatter movement can ing, but there is plenty help propel real change of that. By the time subin schools, and Jeff Bryscribers read this, the From left: “Fighting Bob” La Follette, Kerstin Vogdes Diehn, Bill Lueders, Daniel Libby, Emilio ant, the lead fellow of defeated Donald Trump Leanza, Norman Stockwell, Kassidy Tarala, and Elizabeth Miller in a virtual gathering with the aid of The Progressive’s Public might have fired his en- computer software. (For information on how to get your own Progressive face mask, see page 71.) School Shakedown projtire administration, directed his followers to erupt in violence, and begun bombing ect, on the nation’s bungled response to COVID-19 in schools. Two honorable mentions: On October 26, writer James Goodthe blue states. Or he might have graciously conceded, congratulated the winners, and set out to ensure a smooth transition. man received the 2019 David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy Just kidding about that last one. The prior issue of The Progressive was devoted to documenting at the Harvard Kennedy School, largely for his work in recent the sorry record of the Trump Administration on everything years covering immigration for The Progressive. The well-attendfrom foreign policy to the environment to the rule of law. It was ed virtual event, which can be viewed at shorensteincenter.org/ an appropriately depressing picture, in advance of the possibility david-nyhan-prize-for-political-journalism-webinar, was hosted that Trump might get four more years. This issue, in contrast, by Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs, the former ediseeks the light at the end of the tunnel—a new era of opportunity tor-in-chief of Time magazine. And “A Letter to My Niece” by Ariel Felton, which we proudly for progressives. presented in February 2019, was listed as a notable essay in the One focus is the reform of the criminal justice system. (The key word in this phrase, remember, is not “justice” or even just-published book The Best American Essays 2020. These are proud moments for The Progressive and its staff, re“criminal,” but “system.”) Victoria Law writes about the aging of the nation’s prison population, and the chance it creates to minding us of the torch we are called on to carry into the future. show mercy and common sense. Renée Feltz reports on the desperate use of hunger strikes by immigration detainees, and the punishment it outrageously occasions. Sarah Lahm examBill Lueders ines how and why hopes have waned for fundamental changes Editor in policing in Minneapolis. Eleanor Bader wrestles with the THE PROGRESSIVE | 5
