The Washington Post National Weekly - May 12, 2019

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

. IN COLLABORATION WITH

ABCDE NATIONAL WEEKLY

The dawn of American slavery A look at the first African woman documented in Virginia. PAGE 12

2 MAY 12, 2019 SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

3 SUNDAY, May, 12, 20193

KLMNO KLMNO WEEKLY

WEEKLY

THE FIX THE FIX

Subpoena Subpoena reveals reveals GOP GOP concerns concerns A ARON B LAKE

A ARON B LAKE

party’s 2008 presidential party’s nominee 2008 presidential to offer an nominee to offer an occasional check on Trump occasional before check his on death Trump before his death last year. last year. n Tuesday, Senate Majority n Tuesday, Leader Senate Majority Leader We see this to a lesser We extent see this with to asome lesser extent with some Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Mitch declared McConnell (R-Ky.) declared current top-ranking Senate current Republicans. top-rankingSenSenate Republicans. Sen“case closed” on President “caseTrump closed”and on President Trump and ate Finance Committee ateChairman Finance Committee Charles E. Chairman Charles E. the Russia investigation. the On Russia Wednesinvestigation. On WednesGrassley (R-Iowa) isGrassley currently (R-Iowa) pressuring is currently pressuring day, we learned thatday, oneweof learned his powerful that one of his powerful Trump to relax hisTrump trade to warrelax and his eventrade war and even Senate GOP colleagues Senate disagrees.

GOP colleagues disagrees. presented him with presented an ultimatum. him with Senate an ultimatum. Senate As Axios first reported, AsSenate Axios first Intelligence reported, Senate Intelligence Appropriations Committee Appropriations ChairmanCommittee RichChairman RichCommittee ChairmanCommittee Richard Burr Chairman (R-N.C.)Richard Burr (R-N.C.) ard C. Shelby (R-Ala.)ard is clashing C. Shelby with (R-Ala.) Mulvais clashing with Mulvasubpoenaed Donald subpoenaed Trump Jr. Donald in recentTrump Jr. in recent ney over a disaster aid ney bill. overMcConnell a disaster has aid bill. McConnell has weeks. In doing so, weeks.

Burr injected In doing a rather so, Burr injected a rather even allowed some significant even allowed votessome rebuking significant votes rebuking unhelpful subplot into unhelpful an investigation subplot into on an investigation on the Trump administration the Trump on Saudi administration Arabia on Saudi Arabia which his fellow Republicans which his are fellow trying Republicans to are trying to and the president’s declaration and the president’s of a national declaration of a national turn the page. While it’s turn easy thetopage. dismiss While House it’s easy to dismiss House emergency on the southern emergency border. on the southern border.

Democrats’ nascent subpoena Democrats’ battles nascent withsubpoena the battles with the None of these has beenNone a knock-down-dragof these has been a knock-down-dragWhite House as partisan White politics, Housethe asfact partisan that politics, the fact that POST MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST Trump out fight between out fight and his between own party, Trump and his own party, a Republican chairman a Republican isn’t finished chairman either isn’t finished either MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON MELINA but Chairman the fact that these but situations the fact that regularly these situations regularly makes it much more difficult makes ittomuch arguemore that difficult it’s to argue that it’s Committee Senate Intelligence Senate Intelligence Chairman Committee boil overTrump reinforces boil the very over real reinforces concerns the very real concerns time to move on. time to move on.

Richard C. Burr subpoenaed RichardDonald C. BurrTrump subpoenaed Jr. Donald Jr. within the Senate GOP within aboutthe how Senate Trump GOP hasabout how Trump has We don’t know whatWe specifically don’t know Burr what is specifically Burr is himself conducted president.himself The ones as president. The ones colleagues less-potent have been colleagues corralled by have conducted been corralled by as interested in hearinginterested from Trump in hearing Jr. — just from less-potent Trump Jr. — just who have the actual who power have to the assert actual thempower to assert themTrump his base. Trump and his base. that it pertains to contacts that it pertains with Russians. to contacts withand Russians. and/or that aren’t so selves terrified and/or of their aren’tbase so terrified of their base Burr is the chairmanBurr of a is committee the chairman that of selves a committee Trump Jr. has told Congress Trump (including Jr. has toldBurr’s Congress (including Burr’s have stepped have on some stepped major forward issues.on some major issues. prides itself prides itselfand on his bipartisanship, acand hisforward accommittee in previous committee testimony) in previous that he testimony) thatonhebipartisanship, others, not so much.

The others, But it not suggests so much. But it suggests tions always tions toed the haven’t partyalways line. He toed theThe party line. He didn’t inform President didn’t Trump inform of his President meetingTrump of haven’t his meeting might, too, they didn’t might, feeltoo, so powerif they didn’t feel so poweralso said has seek alsoreelection said he won’t whenseekthey reelection whenif they with a Russian lawyerwith whoa promised Russian lawyer dirt onwhohas promised dirtheonwon’t lessneed andnot weren’t less and of weren’t the kindterrified of of the kind of he’s up in 2022, he’s up he in need 2022, notmeaning mind he mind terrified Hillary Clinton. But the Hillary Mueller Clinton. reportBut shows the Mueller report showsmeaning blowback Tillis, Flake, blowback Corker Tillis, and McCain Flake, Corker and McCain the into base question; quite so much. the base quite so much.

Michael Cohen has called Michael thisCohen into question; has called this have vocal received.

We may have never received. know We the may real never know the real The majority of Trump’s Themost majority vocalof RepubTrump’s most RepubDemocrats have suggested Democrats Trump have Jr. suggested might Trump Jr. might level of concern that exists level of within concern the that highest exists within the highest lican critics ininthe lican have critics chosen in the toSenate forgo have chosen to forgo have committed perjury. have Burr committed suggested perjury. in an Burr suggested anSenate levels ofoffered the GOP, the fact of the thatGOP, thosebut who the fact that those who reelection: Jeffthis Flake,reelection: of Arizona,Jeff offered Flake,his of Arizona, his butlevels interview with The interview Washington with Post Thethis Washington Post can speak out often do suggests can speak out there’s often much do suggests there’s much direct Trump criticisms most direct after Trump announccriticisms after announcPAST week that this isn’t PAST hisweek focus. that this isn’t hismost focus. more beneath the surface. more beneath the surface. ing issues, he wouldn’t ing reelection he wouldn’t in 2018. seek reelection in 2018.

But whatever the underlying But whatever issues,the theunderlying use the use seek Burr’s move Burr’s one move of themay mostbe one of the most Tennessee’s Bob Corker Tennessee’s was chairman Bob Corker of the was chairman of themay be of a subpoena ratchets of athis subpoena up. It suggests ratchets this up. It suggests significantwhen to date. significant he’s apparently to date.inAnd for he’s apparently in for Senate Foreign Relations Senate Committee Foreign Relations when he Committee he And Trump Jr. is resisting Trump a second Jr.date, is resisting but Burr a second date, but Burr some real pushback some a party real pushback base thatfrom has a party base that has began airing complaints began about airing Trump complaints and the about Trump and the from is insisting. is insisting. largely been convinced largely the Russia been convinced investiga- the Russia investigaWhite House. Corker White laterHouse. tempered Corker his later tempered his Burr’s move also reinforces Burr’samove long-standing also reinforces a long-standing tiontowas “hoax” and tion a “witch was a “hoax” hunt” from and a “witch hunt” from criticisms, but also opted criticisms, not tobut seekalso reelecopted not seeka reelecpattern among Senate pattern Republicans: among Senate When Republicans: When Day on One. see how Day he One. responds We’ll see to how the he responds to the tion. And John McCain tion. traded And on John hisMcCain stature traded his We’ll stature they have the power and theylatitude have the topower run afoul and latitude to run afoul pressure. n senior senatorasfrom the Arizona senior senator and thefrompressure.

Arizona nand the of Trump, they often of do Trump, — even theyasoften their do as — the even as their

BY

O

BY

O

LMNO KLMNO

CONTENTS

This publication was prepared This publication by editorswas at The prepared by editors at The Washington Post for printing Washington and distribution Post for printing by our and distribution by our partner publications across partner thepublications country. All articles across the andcountry. All articles and columns have previously columns appeared have in previously The Post orappeared on in The Post or on POLITICS washingtonpost.com andwashingtonpost.com have been edited to and fit this have been edited THE to fitNATION this format. For questions orformat. comments For questions regardingorcontent, comments regarding THEcontent, WORLD please e-mail weekly@washpost.com. please e-mail weekly@washpost.com.

If you have a If youCOVER have a STORY question about printingquestion quality, wish about toprinting subscribe, quality, or wish to subscribe, or ENTERTAINMENT would like to place a hold would on delivery, like to place please a hold contact on delivery, your please contact your BOOKS local newspaper’s circulation local newspaper’s department.circulation department. OPINION © 2019 The Washington Post© / Year 20195,The No.Washington 31 Post / Year 5, No. 31 FIVE MYTHS

WEEKLYWEEKLY

CONTENTS 4 8 10 12 16 18 20 23

ON THE COVER NineteenthON THE COVER NineteenthPOLITICS 4 century on shackles are seen on THEcentury NATIONshackles are 8 seen display in the Freedom House in the Freedom House THEdisplay WORLD 10 Museum in Alexandria, Va. Photo Museum in Alexandria, Va. Photo COVER STORY 12

by MATT MCCLAIN of The

by MATT MCCLAIN ENTERTAINMENT 16of The Washington Post Washington Post18 BOOKS OPINION 20 FIVE MYTHS 23

3 SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

SUNDAY, May, 12, 2019 20

KLMNO WEEKLY

OPINIONS

We’re in danger of killing our planet’s biodiversity HELAINE OLEN writes for Washington Post Opinions, focusing on politics, economics and American life.

On Monday, the United Nations released a report declaring that upward of 1 million plant and animal forms of life are on track to become extinct within the next several decades, as a result of human activity.

“Grave impacts on people around the world are now likely,” the report dryly summarized. As Robert Watson, the British scientist in charge of the report, explained, “We are indeed threatening the potential food security, water security, human health and social fabric” of our lives. ¶ Translation: We are killing off the life that makes human life possible. Unless we change our ways fast, our existence is going to become increasingly precarious. And not surprisingly, we’re not approaching this fast­coming catastrophe with anything near the urgency it needs.

Biodiversity is all life on Earth, from blue whales to the flies that buzz about us. It’s the fish and large mammals many of us eat, but also the flora that protects the streams and oceans, and the microorganisms we cannot see but are vital for health of the planet. Many species are in increased jeopardy as a result of human actions such as industrial agriculture and claiming wetlands for real estate development. As a result, an ever increasing number are likely to die off within a matter of decades. This is separate from the impact of climate change, though climate change does worsen the situation by causing even further damage to the ecosystem. As The Post’s Darryl Fears put it, “The warming climate is a major driver that is exacerbating the effects of overfishing, widespread pesticide use, pollution and urban expansion into the natural world.” All that, in turn, also kills off unique forms of life.

Yet the report also makes it clear this predicted mass

biodiversity extinction is not inevitable. We can still avoid much, if not all, of this. Current economic incentives often favor nature destroying activities that make species extinctions more likely, but different government and financial policies could discourage the actions that are causing the biodiversity apocalypse, while promoting more life sustaining undertakings.

The U.N. report makes clear this is a worldwide problem, and the United States is hardly the only country to blame. Still, we are the world’s leading power, and it’s incumbent on us to set the example. If we won’t do the right thing, what hope is there anyone else will?

But good luck with that. The Trump administration is doing its darndest to ensure the future is as horrifying as it possibly can be. President Trump has repeatedly denied the reality of global warming, is yanking the United States from the Paris climate agreement, and is attempting to roll back stringent

JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

Scientists and volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences perform a necropsy on a beached gray whale on April 23 in Tiburon, Calif. The Trump administration is looking to strip key provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

auto emissions rules. The administration’s stance on the threat facing living species is all too similar. It’s looking to strip key provisions of the Endangered Species Act. At the same time, funding to enforce the act is a fraction of what it needs to be, and the Trump administration is proposing cutting it significantly further.

Many of these policies are cheered on by big business, who detest any regulations that impede short-term profits. But voters are part of the problem, too. Americans agree that protecting and securing our environment is a high priority, but we also assert that we need to grow the economy. Many are also infected by a collective societal weariness. Even as many millennials rally around the concept of the Green New Deal, which would address some of the issues raised by Monday’s report, all too many of their elders who should know better refuse to

recognize the urgency of the situation. Every time a politician of either political party makes fun of the Green New Deal, calls it unrealistic or makes a nonothing comment about it, they are making it more likely that our future will be dire indeed.

Yes, it’s human nature to get obsessed by the trivial and the immediate. We live in the present and do not make sacrifices for our own future well-being easily, never mind the well-being of future generations.

But if we do not attempt to save our planet’s biodiversity, it will eventually take apart our economy as more and more of us are forced to struggle for survival. To refuse to take meaningful action to address that reality is an expression of contempt for the future. It’s a giant insult to all of humanity, but especially our children and grandchildren who will be forced to live with the consequences of our current inaction. n

4 22

SUNDAY, May,12, 12, 2019 2019 SUNDAY, MAY

KLMNO WEEKLY

OPINIONS

BY HORSEY FOR THE SEATTLE TIMES

The stresses of married mothers LIANA C. SAYER AND JOANNA R. PEPIN Sayer is head of the University of Maryland Time Use Laboratory.

Pepin is a postdoctoral fellow at the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Motherhood provides satisfaction and meaning to many women, but it has never been easy, often demanding hard work and sacrifices.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that when a mother lives with a husband or male partner, her load is lighter because she has someone with whom to share parenting and other responsibilities.

But when it comes to housework, that turns out not to be true.

We have analyzed data from more than 20,000 mothers who responded to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS) between 2003 and 2012 — and our research showed that when there’s a man in the house, mothers spend more time cooking, cleaning, shopping and doing laundry than their singlemom counterparts.

This is the case even when a mom brings home the proverbial bacon. Related research analyzing data from ATUS surveys between 2008 and 2012 shows that after working a full day, married mothers who are the sole breadwinner do almost an hour of housework on average compared with about 11 minutes from married fathers who are the sole breadwinner. Even on their days off, breadwinner moms don’t take a break, doing three times as much cooking, cleaning and laundry as breadwinner dads.

The reasons for this are not entirely clear but may be tied to deep-seated societal views about what is expected of a wife and mother, reinforced by moms’ own expectations about themselves.

Our research, and that of our colleagues, indicate moms put housework ahead of their own leisure and sleep because they feel personally accountable for providing a home for their families.

Single mothers feel just as strongly about providing a good home for their children but don’t have the added pressure of living up to the idealized notions of superwomen wives who produce sparkling dishes, spotless floors and flawless meals, all while supervising homework, helping sell Girl Scout cookies and making sure the science project is finished on time. These patterns are consistent among working mothers on all levels of the

BY DANZIGER FOR THE RUTLAND HERALD

economic spectrum, including those with strong feelings of equality in other parts of their lives.

In general, it’s widely understood that women are socialized to organize and prioritize our activities and labor around the preferences of others, most typically our children and family members. The unexpected twist that emerged from our analysis is the way in which the presence of a man impacts these tendencies.

Yet, we — as a society and as individual women — can’t pin the blame on men.

Yes, as many women will tell you, men may be doing things that create additional housework.

But they are also less demanding than women in terms of their expectations for themselves and us.

It’s also true that married moms don’t always take advantage of other sources of help around the house: For example, the research indicates children do more housework when they live with a single vs. a married mother.

What’s clear is that women’s increased economic contributions to the family have not relieved them of the traditional wife and mother responsibilities. Even as women

have taken on more traditional male roles outside the home, societal norms about what’s required of wives and mothers have ratcheted higher.

Meanwhile, even when fathers do want to do more around the house, many workplaces have become more demanding, expecting long work hours and “always available” commitment.

Though these findings certainly challenge the notion that having a live-in partner relieves the burdens of housework, they are not meant to imply that single moms have it easier than those with partners.

There are many factors beyond housework that create stress and challenges for single mothers.

And financially advantaged women, regardless of marital status, can afford to offload many of the tasks they don’t want to do.

The superwoman ideology that reinforces mothers’ patterns of prioritizing household work at the expense of leisure and sleep has negative consequences on health and well-being. Less sleep is associated with stress, weight gain and other health issues. Is it any wonder that in terms of health outcomes, marriage has been shown to benefit men more than women?

Something worth pondering this Mother’s Day. n

5 21

SUNDAY, May, 12,12, 20192019 SUNDAY, MAY

OPINIONS

KLMNO WEEKLY

TOM TOLES

Our primary process is broken BRIAN KLAAS is an assistant professor of global politics at University College London, where he focuses on democracy, authoritarianism, and American politics and foreign policy.

In nine months, fewer than 200,000 Iowans will cram into a series of high school gymnasiums and church basements. They won’t look much like a mirror of America. A disproportionate number of them will be rural farmers. And yet, it’s a pretty good bet that a tiny, unrepresentative sliver of Iowans will decide the next Democratic nominee to be the president of the United States.

The presidential nominations process is broken. Most democracies have a leadership nomination process that lasts weeks or months; in the United States, it’s measured in years.

Most democracies give equal weight to voters regardless of where they live; in the United States, the decision is almost always made in two small states that represent just over one percent of the total population.

But perhaps the most bizarre aspect — and the easiest to reform — is the presidential primary calendar. The fact that the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary are always first in the nation isn’t just unfair; it’s also undemocratic.

Since 1972, only one majorparty presidential candidate has won his party’s nomination without winning either Iowa or New Hampshire (Bill Clinton in 1992). There have been 18

competitive races to be the Republican or Democratic nominee for president in that period. In 95 percent of those races, the path to victory went through either Iowa or New Hampshire. All four of the most recent Democratic nominees won Iowa.

That’s a problem — because you’d be hard-pressed to pick two states that are less representative of the U.S. population. The United States is 61 percent white, compared with 86 percent of Iowa and 91 percent of New Hampshire. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans is Hispanic or Latino.

In Iowa, it’s 1 in 16, and in New Hampshire, 1 in 27. And finally, nearly 1 in 7 Americans is African American. In Iowa, it’s 1 in 26, and in New Hampshire, it’s 1 in 62.

Furthermore, the Iowans who participate in the caucuses aren’t even representative of Iowa. Only 7 percent of eligible Iowans

participated in the highly competitive 2016 Democratic caucus. And there are skews within that group, too. A single parent juggling two jobs has a harder time setting aside a few hours walking around a gymnasium simply to have his or her voice heard.

One study found that each Iowa caucus-goer and each New Hampshire primary voter has between four and five times the impact on the nominee from those who vote on Super Tuesday, several weeks later.

Regional bias is a problem, too.

What about the South and the West?

There is, however, one significant virtue of the current system. Rather than having a single national primary — which would ensure that only the established front-runners and prolific fundraisers could win —the early small-state model is a good one. It allows lesser-known candidates (such as Barack Obama in 2008) to emerge. But it’s simply indefensible for it to always be the same two unrepresentative states.

Twenty-seven states have a population below 5 million. They should be put into a lottery system, in which four states out of those 27 would be randomly selected to go first — one from the

West, one from the South, one from the Northeast and one from the Midwest. The South and Northeast would be paired together for the first day of voting; the Midwest and West for the second. In each subsequent election, the regional order would flip. And if a state won the lottery in 2020, it wouldn’t be eligible to win it in 2024.

Then, the remaining 46 states should be divided into four groups of similar population size and with regional proportionality.

Four Super Tuesdays would follow, every two weeks, representing such large delegate counts that even the last one could prove decisive. Whichever bloc of states went first in 2020 would go last in 2024, creating a rotation based on fairness rather than an arbitrary calendar.

There are other proposals for reforming the primary system, such as the American Plan, the National Plan and the Rotating Regional Plan. Whichever plan is adopted, it must be based on fairness, regional representation and demographic balance, while ensuring that the nomination process is competitive.

Over time, tradition has supplanted rationality, and our broken system has become entrenched. Fixing it is long overdue. n

6 SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

SUNDAY, May, 12, 2019 23

KLMNO WEEKLY

FIVE MYTHS

The filibuster BY

R ICHARD A . A RENBERG

The procedural rule requiring 60 votes, in most cases, to end a filibuster — to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on a pending bill — is a defining, frequently maligned feature of the Senate.

But while most of us have heard of the filibuster, myths about what it is, and isn’t, abound. Here are five.

MYTH NO. 1 The filibuster is unconstitutional.

There’s nothing in the Constitution that proscribes a filibuster. Article I, Section 5 says, “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.” In Common Cause v. Biden (2012), the plaintiffs argued that the Constitution lists only five situations requiring supermajority votes (more than a simple majority) — ratification of a treaty, removal of a member of Congress, conviction of an impeached president, a constitutional amendment and a veto override — and therefore it’s implied that all other votes must be by simple majority. But U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan found that the Constitution contains no “requirements regarding the proper length of, or method for, the Senate to debate proposed legislation.”

MYTH NO. 2 A filibuster is a long-winded speech.

We often think of a filibuster as one legislator rambling along, alone on the Senate floor, in symbolic defiance of the majority.

A speech isn’t necessary to filibuster. When the 100-member Senate faces a cloture vote to end debate, if 41 or more senators decide to vote no, they can deny the necessary 60 votes. There are a few exceptions, such as budget reconciliation (today, an oftmisused loophole), a process that permits legislation on budgetary matters to proceed

with time-limited debate, without the possibility of a filibuster — the process used by Republicans in 2017 to pass a tax cut over Democratic opposition.

MYTH NO. 3 Ending the filibuster would end gridlock.

But leaving most questions to a simple majority vote would render the Senate much like the House of Representatives, with tightly controlled debate time and restrictions on amending legislation. Once the majority no longer needed to negotiate with the minority to pass bills, compromise would become more elusive, not less, unless one party controlled both houses and the White House.

And even when bills pass in the Senate, opportunities for gridlock remain. The filibuster played no role, for instance, in the partisan gridlock that killed the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill in 2013. A bipartisan majority passed it in the Senate, but the Republican speaker, John A. Boehner, refused to take it up in the House.

MYTH NO. 4 The filibuster came about by accident.

An oft-cited theory of political scientist Sarah Binder traces the origin to Vice President Aaron Burr’s 1805 recommendation to, in her words, “Get rid of the previous question motion,” as part of his attempt to streamline Senate rules. Today, we understand such a motion on the floor of a legislative body as requiring, if adopted by simple

JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

A worker prepares cots in the Capitol’s Strom Thurmond Room in 2005 as Republican senators got ready to spend all night discussing judicial nominees and the use of a filibuster with Democrats. Contrary to popular belief, a filibuster is not just a long-winded speech.

majority, an end to debate and triggering a vote on the pending matter. So when the Senate, in 1806, followed Burr’s suggestion, it presumably left no way to end debate without the concurrence of all senators.

It’s a stretch to say this accidentally created the filibuster, particularly when the Senate has hung onto that “accident” for more than two centuries.

A 1962 Senate report based on the work of Harvard University professor Joseph Cooper concluded that the previous question rule“was not in practice used as a cloture mechanism.”

Until the adoption of the cloture rule in 1917, there was no way to end debate until all senators were prepared to vote.

MYTH NO. 5 The ‘nuclear option’ changed Senate rules.

It’s true that in 2013, thenSenate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) used a parliamentary maneuver dubbed the “nuclear option” to reduce

the number of votes needed to invoke cloture and end debate on nominees from 60 votes to a simple majority. In 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did the same.

But no formal Senate rules were rewritten.

What Reid and McConnell did in each instance amounted to parliamentary sleight of hand: They raised a point of order on the floor deliberately misstating the rule, leading to the presiding officer denying that point of order and the Senate, by simple majority, overturning the presiding officer’s ruling on appeal, creating a new precedent reinterpreting the application of the rule for practical purposes — but not changing any words in the rule book — which, under the Senate’s byzantine procedures, has the same effect. n Arenberg, a visiting professor of political science at Brown University, is the author of “Congressional Procedure: A Practical Guide to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress.”

77

SUNDAY, May, 12,12, 20192019 SUNDAY, MAY

POLITICS

KLMNO WEEKLY

Illegal border crossings keep climbing BY

N ICK M IROFF

T

he number of bordercrossers taken into U.S. custody topped 100,000 for the second consecutive month in April, U.S. border officials said Wednesday, deepening the crisis that has derailed President Trump’s immigration agenda and has defied his myriad attempts to fix it.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained 109,144 migrants along the boundary with Mexico last month, a 6 percent increase from March, as monthly arrests reached their highest point since 2007. Unauthorized border crossings have more than doubled in the past year, and they are on pace to exceed 1 million on an annual basis, as Guatemalan and Honduran families continue streaming north in record numbers with the expectation they will be quickly processed and released from custody.

“Our apprehension numbers are off the charts,” Carla Provost, chief of the Border Patrol, said in testimony to senators in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.

“We cannot address this crisis by shifting more resources. It’s like holding a bucket under a faucet.

It doesn’t matter how many buckets we have if we can’t turn off the flow.”

Trump has treated the monthly publication of border enforcement statistics as a performance index for his administration’s immigration policies. The steady drumbeat of bad news has left him fuming and his administration scrambling for solutions.

Trump’s fury contributed to the removal of Kirstjen Nielsen as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security last month as part of a wider shake-up at the agency, with Trump vowing to go in a “tougher direction.”

Toughness, for Trump, includes the deployment of razor wire, thousands of U.S. soldiers and plans to build hundreds of miles of barriers, as well as threats to close the border entirely. But physical measures have

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS

Number topped 100,000 for second month in a row, defying Trump’s demands for ‘toughness’ done little to discourage Central Americans who are fleeing grim poverty, endemic violence and crop failures and see their relatives and neighbors successfully completing the journey to the United States.

White House officials have since turned to tightening the asylum claim process to make it more difficult for migrants to seek refuge in the country, have vowed to crack down on visa overstays and are considering several options that would allow the administration to detain families longer and deport migrants in the country illegally faster.

Yet the evidence of the U.S. immigration system being overwhelmed continues to build.

DHS officials for the first time this past week said the agency is running out of space to jail single adult migrants, who arrived in April at the highest level in five years. One DHS official warned of a complete border breakdown if single adults who cross illegally can no longer be detained and

deported.

DHS officials already have declared a “breaking point” for U.S. border agents and infrastructure, with court rulings and a crunch of detention space forcing them to release the vast majority of migrant family members and children into the interior of the United States. Border officials view single adult migrants as the one remaining demographic they can deter by “applying consequences.”

“If we were forced to release single adults, our prediction is you would see a draw or a flow that we’ve never seen before in our history,” the DHS official said.

May has historically been one of the busiest months of the year for illegal crossings, and officials say the number of migrants taken into custody has drifted even higher in the past 10 days.

There was a relatively modest uptick in the rate of border interdictions last month — after a 35 percent jump from February to March — but U.S. officials are

Border Patrol agents search for bordercrossers near the Rio Grande outside Palmview, Tex., last month.

bracing for the numbers to go as high as 150,000 per month this summer if their deterrence efforts do not work.

The migrant families who cross the border appear to know that they have a relatively easy path to release into the United States, and they have been turning themselves over to U.S. agents, the first step in starting an asylum application process that protects them from quick deportation.

The share of those bordercrossers who show up in large groups has put additional strain on U.S. agents. Border Patrol has taken in 135 large groups consisting of 100 or more migrants in the past seven months, 10 times the total during all of 2018, according to the latest statistics. On April 30, a group of 421 adults and children crossed in the El Paso area, the single-largest group CBP has ever seen, officials said.

Officials say many of the migrants continue to stream north from Guatemala and Honduras, countries where massive numbers of residents are fleeing extreme poverty and domestic perils.

“Guatemala and Honduras have seen over 1 percent of their total population migrate to the U.S. in the first seven months of this fiscal year,” acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan, Nielsen’s replacement, said in a speech Tuesday that outlined his border strategy. “One department of Guatemala, Huehuetenango, has seen almost 35,000 of its residents — close to 3 percent of the population — migrate to the U.S. in that time frame.”

McAleenan has been working with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, on an immigration bill that will contain provisions to overhaul the legal immigration system as well as measures to address the current crisis. McAleenan said it was part of “an aggressive and holistic strategy” that would require “working together” with Mexico and Central America to achieve results. n

8 10

SUNDAY, May,12, 12, 2019 2019 SUNDAY, MAY

KLMNO WEEKLY

WORLD

China pushes for babies; many resist B Y A NNA F IFIELD in Nanchuan, China

W

hen she started her job nine years ago, Liu Fang’s work involved making sure the women from her village did not have unauthorized babies.

If they had a girl or a disabled child, they were allowed another chance. If they already had two children or a boy, Liu handed out condoms and urged the women to get an intrauterine device. If they got pregnant again, she would encourage them to have an abortion.

As the representative of AllChina Women’s Federation for Nanchuan — a township of 6,000 people on the outskirts of a small village, on the outskirts of a small city, on the outskirts of a provincial capital in central China — Liu was entrusted with keeping down the population in her little patch of a country with 1.4 billion people.

Her job performance was evaluated by the number of births in her district — the fewer, the better.

Today, her job could hardly be more different. After the Chinese government abandoned its one-child policy three years ago, Liu’s mandate has changed from making sure local women don’t have too many babies to actively encouraging them to have more.

There’s just one problem: Now, most people don’t want to have more than one child anymore.

“Raising a child just costs too much,” Liu said with an air of resignation.

For 36 years, the ruling Communist Party enforced an extreme form of social engineering to regulate birthrates. It was part of a strategy to simultaneously grow the economy and improve living standards. It was easier to increase income per head, the policymakers decided, when there weren’t so many heads.

Across China, propaganda slogans carried messages such as: “If you want to become rich

YAN CONG FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Beijing’s one-child policy is gone, but many people cite cost in their reluctance to have more quickly, have fewer children.”

Although it was commonly known as the one-child policy, it was, in fact, more of a 1.5-child policy. In the countryside, where children had long been necessary to help with farm work, couples were allowed to try again if their first child wasn’t an able-bodied boy.

The policy was applied more strictly in the cities, where property and school spaces came at a premium.

Additional children would not be allowed to go to public school or receive public health care.

There have been almost 400 million abortions in China since the one-child policy was introduced in 1980, according to health commission statistics.

The idea worked. Today, there are 100 million only-children under the age of 40. Income has risen from about $200 per capita in 1980 to about $10,000 today.

But it worked too well.

‘A national issue’ China’s population is forecast to peak at 1.45 billion as early as 2027, then slump for several decades. By 2050, about onethird of the population will be over the age of 65, and the number of working-age people is forecast to fall precipitously.

Where China once blamed all its problems on having too many people, it is now facing new problems associated with having too few young people.

The significance of a Chinese population that has started to decline and is rapidly aging cannot be overestimated, said Yi Fuxian, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“A great nation with thousands of years of history and a brilliant civilization is rapidly degenerating into a small group of the old and the weak thanks to these wrongheaded populationcontrol policies,” he said.

Authorities in Beijing have

Zhou Jing, left, reaches for her 2year-old son, Xiao Kaixi, during a swimming class with other families in Wuhan.

come to the same conclusion and done a sharp about-face. They moved to a two-child policy in 2016, then last year they suggested they would drop limits all together.

Where they were once told it was a couple’s patriotic duty to have only one child, now good Chinese people should have at least two.

But it turns out that government policies have little influence on procreation in modern China.

The country’s family-planning authority had forecast 20 million births in 2018, anticipating a baby boom after the end of the one-child policy. Instead, there were only 15.23 million births in China last year, a whopping 2 million fewer than in the previous year.

It all comes down to the economy. As China has transformed, living costs have skyrocketed, especially in the big cities, and long work hours have become the norm. The 20-somethings of today, knowing their quality of life is better than their parents’ generation, want their children to experience a similar leap in living standards.

“All of us want another child.

We want someone to keep him company,” said Zhou Jing, a 29-year-old mother in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Her 2-year-old son Xiao Kaixi was ricocheting around a bright children’s recreation center, where he had just finished a $30 gym class conducted in English.

Some parents spend $15,000 a year bringing their toddlers to English, piano, dance, art and gymnastics classes, the manager said, noting that Wuhan isn’t Beijing or Shanghai.

Many Chinese parents would prefer to channel all of their resources into just one child.

In a 2017 survey of working mothers by Zhaopin.com, one of China’s biggest job websites, only 22.5 percent said they wanted a second child. Nearly three times that number said they did not want more than one. n

12,12, 20192019 8SUNDAY, May, SUNDAY, MAY

KLMNO WEEKLY

99 SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

8

NATION

KLMNO WEEKLY

NATION NATION

KLMNO WEEKLY

Antiabortion A push to ‘make billspeace’ gain momentum with the river Antiabortion bills

BY F ERANCES MILY WS AXTEAD T HIBODEAUX S ELLERS AND A NNIE RIANAGE OWEN UNJUNG C HA

in Davenport, Iowa onservative governors and legislators using he Half Nelsonarerestaunew highlywellrestrictive rant was stocked abortion laws aborand spiffy fortoitsgetofficial tion back in front whatweek, they opening theofother believe is the most to friendly U.S. an upscale addition the locally Supreme Court in decades. owned businesses that anchor Sixteen states have passed or this riverfront city. areBut scrambling to pass bans on then a temporary flood abortion after a doctor can tordebarrier breached, shooting tect theyfrom call “a heartrentswhat of water thefetal Mississipbeat in through the womb,” usually at pi River the restaurant’s about weeks, many kitchensix toward the before custom-built women they tile and know walnut bar.are Bypregnant. the time That includes Georgia, where the river crested here May 2, Republican Gov. Brian co-owner Matthew OsbornKemp baresigned a “heartbeat bill” overseeinto law ly had time to nap while on ingTuesday. pipes, pumps and generators Separately, a shouting and ferrying inafter supplies by boat. match and a decision to table an For years, Davenport was the amendment on on Thursday, the only major city the Upper Alabama Senate is poised to vote Mississippi to resist permanent this on legislation that flood week protection, opting instead could the nation’s sound strictfor anbecome environmentally est abortion law and would imapproach of “embracing” the natpose whatofis the in effect near-total ural flow river awith parks, ban. wetlands and flood-friendly In a countermove, lawmakers buildings. in aThat growing number states are strategy had of been strikracing to amenduntil state constituingly successful this month, tions a backstop for when to theprovide city’s system of removthe overturn able possible barricades failed ofto Roe v. withWade, the river’s 1973 Supreme Court stand the rise, fueled by ruling thatrain, established a womprolonged snow melt and an’s right to an abortion. saturated ground.

Vermont Tuesday The riveron crested at passed a recorda bill that would enshrine 22.64 feet, beating the abortion previous rights state constitution, record in setthe in 1993, according to with similar legislation in the the National Weather Service. works 12 other several states, includWater in inundated downing Mexico, Nevada and townNew blocks, and about 30 resiRhode Island. dents had to be rescued by boat.

With end of the state But it’sthe the long-term threat — legislative season sight, politifrom bigger and in more frequent cians ends by of the politifloods,on both spurred extreme cal spectrum are preparing for weather and riverfront developthe to come beforesome the mentissue — that is making Supreme residents Court. lose faith in the tempoTom McClusky, president of rary barricades.

March for to Life “I used be Action, neutral,”which said opposes abortion, said bills that Mike Osborn, Matthew’s father, ban sixrestaurants weeks “lay who abortion owns twoafter other the groundwork for pushing the in the area and describes the Half envelope even farther” and Nelson asofalife $1.4 million investthat antiabortion movement ment.the “Now I’m in favor of a flood is looking to Supreme Court wall.”

Chief Johnowner G. Roberts Jr. RickJustice Harris, of the and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh neighboring Bootleg Hill tapto provide a resolution room, was more outspokentoas the his

and “Georgia decided is atostate “make that peace” values with life,” its Kemp river, said creating before aputting scenic nine-mile his signature riverfront to the Life in the Act.proc“We stand up for those who are onservative governors ess.

“We have to speak a beautiful for themselves.” riverfront and legislators are using unable Doctors want itwho to keep oppose it that the legisway,” new highly restrictive and lation mayor say that said. what “If appears we put to upbea abortion laws to get abor- the a heartbeat wall itatwill six weeks push the is simply water tion back in front of what they flood a vibration Arkansas, of developing Louisiana tissues and believe is the most friendly U.S. into Missouri that couldand not make exist without their probthe Supreme Court in decades. mother. worse.”

That vibration is a mediSixteen states have passed or lems term called “embryonic idiosyncratic cardiapare scrambling to pass bans on calDavenport’s ac activity.” to flood control dates abortion after a doctor can de- proach Themore Georgia than bill half made a century, natect what they call “a fetal heart- back tional city headlines leadersafter investigated actress beat in the womb,” usually at when and possibility women’s rights of building activist a perAlabout six weeks, before many the yssa Milano flood hand-delivered wall following a women know they are pregnant. manent letter todisaster Kemp’s in 1965. office last That includes Georgia, where flooding Residents to protest resisted it. The the letter idea, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp month was signed there was by 50 littlecelebrities appetite signed a “heartbeat bill” into law and among who vowed the to city boycott council’s the state, fiscal on Tuesday. which has a growing for such television an expenSeparately, after a shouting conservatives industry, infrastructure if the billproject, was signed said match and a decision to table an sive into law.

Goodman, assistant city amendment on Thursday, the Teri ALYSSA POINTER/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/ASSOCIATED KC MCGINNIS FOR THE WASHINGTONPRESS POST Like some of the other upriverversions, town of Alabama Senate is poised to vote manager Georgia’s law whoseincludes father helped excepthis week on legislation that Dubuque, tions forthe incest, plan.rape and situacould become the nation’s strict- develop Instead, of medical the town futility built or where floodest abortion law and would im- tions the health buildings of the mother and created is at pose what is in effect a near-total friendly parks stake. and But marshes unlike in thelow-lying others, ban.

Georgia’s so says seasonal a fetus floodwater is a “natuIn a countermove, lawmakers areas ral person” have aand place “human to go. They being” set in a growing number of states are would up once removable a heartbeat aluminum is divided detected. flood allows $1.6 billion authorities in damage to investigate in racing Iowa. toRick Protesters Harris rally owns the debate that has America amend state constituLast month, its historic the Kansas ballpark Suoutside of Bootleg Hill taproom for walls women On April who11, miscarry, Iowa and Gov.one Kim in to provide foraround decades. tions a the backstop preme keep itCourt dry. the Georgia in Davenport, State Iowa.

Texas that(R) Reynolds would declared allow a state capital “What we’druled like to that do is change the of possible overturn of Roe v. to Mike Clarke, asoformer fundamentalDavenCapitol He said building the city fails punishment for emergency in those Scott receiving County, the constitution culture that no family Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court state’s ly protects public abortion works director rights, who blockis following to take responsibility the signing or performing where Davenport an abortion. is located — that facing this situation would think ruling established a wom- port now ingofaanthe state official lawin that St. aimed Beach, to he of problems “heartbeat related bill” one “This of 61isIowa an extremely counties suffering dangeroption of Pete abortion,” an’s rightfor toaan abortion. restrict saida that common the city’s procedure. custody of by the to Republican temporary Gov. ous time from soaked for women’s ground health and epic all said.

Vermont on Tuesday passed a Fla., waterfront leastAmerican nine has states been in “visionaddiBrian barriers. flood Kemp on abortion itsAt around the country,” Wen said. floods.

The Civil Liberties bill that would enshrine tion to Kansas have constituGeorgia, Less than which a monthpreviously later, she in Tuesday.

Union and other critics including rights the stateThe constitution, ary.”

“The that idea specifically is you have haveprotect to work a legislation bans in the tions bannedthe toured abortion floodedafter downtown 20 weeks medical lobbies called bans withof similar legislation woman’s right andto leave an six abortion, nature to — once a includ- with of pregnancy, this eastern Iowa is the cityfourth of 103,000 state in abortions onnature abortions after weeks works 12 other states, according its thing, toand state not struck stand high in court her by heartbeat can and do to enact in a golf acart six-week with Mayor ban in Frank 2019.Newfetal which have been down ing Mexico, Nevada way,” rulings: Clarke Alaska, said.

“Davenport’s California, be detected.

Similar on Klipsch “heartbeat” Friday. They bills gotare out in to Island. at least two courts — draconian, Rhode Florida, a fantastic Iowa,and job Massachusetts, of doing that. the works wade into the in street 10 other nearstates the Half — the end of the state done unscientific part of a deliberWith Minnesota, inMontana, antoargument with JerMissouri, Nelson to take Tennessee, a closer Florida, look at ate get strategy pass New increasingly legislative season in sight, politi- Don’t seyradical and In an New argument with man Illinois,cars flooded Louisiana, and chat briefly Maryland, with on both ends of the politi- nature. laws inMexico. hopes ofOther getting cians states, nature, including nature the wins Connecticut, 100 perMinnesota, business owners.

New York, South the issue before U.S. Supreme cal spectrum are preparing for and Delaware, of theThey time.”

Hawaii, Maine, Carolina Klipschand said West city leaders Virginia plan —issue to come before the cent Court. have vowed to bring the Maryland, But he faulted Nevada, the city New for York, not according to thoroughly to review the Guttmacher the failure a lawsuit targeting the legislaSupreme Court.

Oregon and topromised prepare for have this Institute. of the Hesco A federal temporary judge barrier, has tionenough — andWashington electoral Tom McClusky, president of doing statutory flood. riveraborwas already made of blocked collapsible Kentucky’s wire baskets law. for Life Action, which particular paybackprotection as well.The for March tion Leana rights, back Wen, by according only one to row thethe Otherwith filled courts sand. struck Klipsch down said simihe abortion, said bills that held president of opposes Center temporary for Reproductive barriers, butRights.

Clarke lar laws the thinks that barriers were recently might Planned Parenthood Action ban abortion after six weeks “lay of In January, he thinks city lawmakshouldthat enacted have faltered in Iowa afterandstraining North Fund, said New inthe anYork interview the groundwork for pushing the said ersthe passed stacked a law them removing at least two of Dakota.the rising river for about against Georgia legislation isbarripart envelope of life even farther” and have ersa for women seeking to get300 40Signing days. the bill in Georgia larger landscape of nearly thatonthe antiabortion movement deep.

“They didn’t later inbills position pregnancy, themand so Tuesday, Yet, heKemp said, said the he cityis remains upholdantiabortion introduced is looking to Supreme Court abortions Virginia formoved the the same, pro- of ing his promise committed to the path to Davenport enactChief the Justice John G. Roberts Jr. selves far this yearflood-fighting into36do states.

Many sparking outrage the far-reaching level from conservathat was “toughest set itself onabortion decades ago, bill when inand the itJustice Brett M. Kavanaugh tection them to contain provitives. he as said. country.” a plan to build levees spurned n such n in Georgia that sions, one to provide a resolution to the necessary,”

BY E MILY W AX- T HIBODEAUX AND A RIANA E UNJUNG C HA

C T

C

Amid bigger and Conservative lawmakers more frequent hope restrictive floods, Iowa statecity laws will get debates whether issue back goinginwith front the of flow Supreme is enough Court sons and debate that employees has divided swept America water for decades. through holes drilled in the new floor.

“What we’d like to do is change the“It’s culture a fool’ssoerrand,” that no he said family of facing the temporary this situation barriers. would “The think city of the take doesn’t option responsibility.” of abortion,” he said.

All agree that the challenges ahead The are American immense Civil andLiberties univerUnion sal.

Davenport’s and other critics conundrum including is medical lobbies America’s — not haveonly calledalong bans on abortions mighty waterways after six but weeks also on — which havecreeks suburban been struck that burst down by in at least two sudden fury courts through — new draconian, develunscientific and part of a deliberopments. ateInstrategy St. Louis, to pass theincreasingly U.S. Coast radical cut Guard lawsoffinahopes majorofcommergetting the issue cial artery before whenthe it U.S. shutSupreme down a Court. They five-mile stretch haveofvowed the Mississipto bring a lawsuit pi River lasttargeting weekend the afterlegislait rose tion to one—ofand the highest promised levels electoral since payback 1993.

Some as well. shippers say they fear theLeana Mississippi Wen, president won’t beoffully the Planned until reopened Parenthood June.

Action Fund, Iowa’s saidlatest in anflood interview comesthat as the Georgia towns on the legislation other side is part of the of a larger state arelandscape still recovering of nearlyfrom 300 antiabortion levee breaches billsalong introduced the Misso far this souri River, year which in 36 states. plunged Many large of them contain swaths of the far-reaching Midwest underwaprovisions, ter in such March, as one causing in Georgia more than that

Conservative lawmak laws will get issue bac

allo wom Tex pun or p “ ous aro G ban of p to e Sim the Mis Illi Min Car acc Ins alre Oth lar ena Dak S Tue ing “tou cou

10

SUNDAY, May, 12, 2019

COVER STORY

A symbol of slavery and survival Angela was brought to Jamestown in 1619 — it marked the beginning of a subjugation that left millions in chains

B

BY DENEEN L . BROWN

y the time Angela was brought to Jamestown’s muddy shores in 1619, she had survived war and capture in West Africa, a forced march of more than 100 miles to the sea, a miserable Portuguese slave ship packed with 350 other Africans and an attack by pirates during the journey to the Americas. ¶ “All of that,” marveled historian James Horn, president of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, “before she is put aboard the Treasurer,” one of two British privateers that delivered the first Africans to the English colony of Virginia. ¶ Now, as the country marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of those first slaves, historians are trying to find out as much as possible about Angela, the first African woman documented in Virginia. They see her as a seminal figure in American history — a symbol of 246 years of brutal subjugation that left millions of men, women and children enslaved at the start of the Civil War. ¶ Two years ago, researchers launched an archaeological investigation in Jamestown at the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America to find any surviving evidence of Angela. ¶ She is listed in the 1624 and 1625 census as living in the household of Capt. William Pierce, first as “Angelo a Negar” and then as “Angela Negro woman in by Treasurer.” By then, she had survived two other harrowing events: a Powhatan Indian attack in 1622 that left 347 colonists dead and the famine that followed.

11

SUNDAY, May, 12, 2019

Angela, the first African woman documented in Virginia, is listed in the 1624-1625 Jamestown census first as “Angelo a Negar” and then as “Angela Negro woman in by Treasurer.”

PHOTOS BY MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

12 14

SUNDAY, May,12, 12, 2019 2019 SUNDAY, MAY

KLMNO WEEKLY

COVER STORY

Yet little is known about her beyond those facts.

“It is presumed she was youngish — maybe in her early 20s,” said Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a history professor at Norfolk State University and co-author of “Black America Series: Portsmouth, Virginia.” “Angela was her Anglicized name. We don’t know what her original name was.”

“If they find the remains, we can know how old she was when she arrived,” Newby-Alexander said. “Did she have children? What did she die of? We will know more about this person, and we can reclaim her humanity.”

‘Horrible mortality’

The transatlantic slave trade was already more than a century old and thriving when the first Africans reached Virginia.

“The trade is full-blown in 1619,” said Daryl Michael Scott, a Howard University history professor. The Portuguese controlled much of the market, transporting “huge numbers of Africans taken from what becomes Portuguese Angola.”

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people from Kongo, Ndongo and other parts of West Africa were being shipped each year to Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas. The total number of Africans captured and transported to the Americas between 1501 and 1867 would eventually grow to more than 12.5 million.

Angela was taken captive in 1619 during a war in Kongo. She was forced aboard a slave ship, the San Juan Bautista, in Luanda, then a bustling slave-trading port on the coast of West Africa, according to Jamestown Rediscovery.

The ship was headed for Vera Cruz, on the coast of Mexico.

“The ship was overcrowded,” Horn said. “It suffered horrible mortality on the voyage to Vera Cruz.” More than 120 Africans aboard died en route.

In the middle of passage, the slave ship was attacked by two English pirate ships — the Treasurer and the White Lion. The pirates climbed aboard the Bautista, hoping to find a bounty of gold.

Instead, they found humans, desperate people. The pirates took 60 or so Africans, splitting them between the White Lion and the Treasurer. Historians surmise that the pirates took the young, healthiest captives. Angela was among them.

“I’ve got no evidence that she was young,” Horn said. “I base it on the general model that slavers would try to take the younger people, including children, women and males they would get the most money for. That is a chilling aspect of the slave trade. People are being treated like livestock. The capability of women to have children was in slavers’ minds. To survive a journey like that, my own sense is she was young and possibly very young. Where there is no evidence, it is fair to speculate.”

Weeks later, the White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, near Hampton, Va., where its captain traded the enslaved people for food.

The arrival of the White Lion was reported

by colonist John Rolfe, who is best known for marrying Pocahontas in 1614. He wrote: “About the latter end of August, a Dutch man of Warr of the burden of a 160 tunes arrived at Point-Comfort, the Comandors name Capt Jope, his Pilott for the West Indies one Mr Marmaduke an Englishman. … He brought not any thing but 20. and odd Negroes, w[hich] the Governo[r] and Cape Merchant bought for victuall[s].”

The Treasurer was next to arrive. A number of historical accounts reported that the Treasurer turned around quickly after being anchored near Point Comfort, avoiding an order by the governor to detain the ship and question its captain “about his involvement in acts of piracy in the Spanish Indies,” according to Horn.

The Treasurer, these accounts reported,

Clockwise from top: The Angela Site where excavation work is taking place at Jamestown; remnants of the slave ship Sao Jose on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington; Jamestown in Williamsburg, Va.

headed for Bermuda before returning to Virginia. But Horn says new evidence he found in December while researching archives in London show that the Treasurer arrived in Virginia four days after the White Lion with 28 to 30 Africans that had been captured on the Portuguese slave ship.

“This is the first time documentary evidence shows that the Treasurer did, in fact, leave enslaved Africans in Virginia,” Horn said in an interview. “There is a lot going on here on the part of the English to obscure how many Africans are taken and how many arrived in Virginia. … The Treasurer left two or three Africans in August or the fall of 1619.”

One of those two or three Africans was Angela, who wound up in the household of Pierce.

13 15

SUNDAY, May, 12,12, 20192019 SUNDAY, MAY

COVER STORY NORT H A M ERICA

THOUSANDS OF FORCED JOURNEYS IN 1619

Jamestown

During the journey, Angela was captured by English pirates, who brought her to Virginia.

ATL AN T I C

5,3 33 en sl

O C E AN

ed av

pain

7,248 to

New Granada

San ta M art a

SOUTH AME R I CA

z

and

Ca rta

gen a

Angela was taken captive and forced aboard a Portuguese slave ship.

Portuguese Brazil

Luanda

s os Aire uen B o 2t 36

Source: Slave Voyages

‘Slavery in the midst of freedom’

Angela’s arrival coincided with another milestone in American history: the meeting of the first General Assembly in Jamestown’s newly built wooden church. The assembly is billed by Jamestown Rediscovery as “the oldest continuous law-making body in the western hemisphere.”

The legislative body was made up of the governor, his four councilors and 22 burgesses elected by every free white male settler in the colony. Its work from July 30 to Aug. 4, 1619, represented the nation’s first experiment with democracy, and its 400th anniversary is being marked this year.

It is a great irony, Horn said, that American slavery and democracy were created at the same time and place.

He said that “1619 gave birth to the great paradox of our nation’s founding: slavery in the midst of freedom. It marked both the origin of the most important political development in American history, the rise of democracy, and the emergence of what would become one of the nation’s greatest challenges: the corrosive legacy of racial discrimination and inequality that has afflicted our society since its earliest years.”

The conditions endured by settlers and enslaved people alike were awful.

The colony, which had been established in 1607, stretched from Point Comfort to what is now Richmond. There were plantations scattered for about 100 miles along the banks of the James River. Jamestown itself probably had a

Portuguese Angola

In 1619, more than 18,000 Africans were enslaved.

LAUREN TIERNEY AND ARMAND EMAMDJOMEH/THE WASHINGTON POST

population of about 100.

The colonists had, at one point, nearly been wiped out. In 1609, they were under siege by the Powhatan and facing starvation that led to cannibalism. Capt. John Smith described that horror in a 1624 letter: “October 1609 — March 1610, there remained not past sixtie men, women and children, most miserable and poore creatures; and those were preserved for the most part, by roots, herbes, acornes, walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish: they that had startch in these extremities, made no small use of it; yea even the very skinnes of our horses.

"Nay, so great was our famine, that a Salvage we slew and buried, the poorer sort tooke him up againe and eat him; and so did divers one another boyled and stewed with roots and herbs: And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered [i.e., salted] her, and had eaten part of her before it was knowne.”

Angela lived through what is called the “Second Starving Time.” “Many people died during the Second Starving Time,” Horn said.

“There isn’t enough corn to support” the large numbers of arriving settlers. “You have a period where food prices, particularly for Indian corn, are astronomical. A lot of poor servants and white indentured servants perished or died of disease. It is a grim period.”

Angela probably survived because she lived on the plantation of Pierce, one of the wealthiest men in the colony. “We know some Africans died during that period,” Horn said. “We know there were 32 Africans living in the colony in

WEEKLY

“1619 gave birth to the great paradox of our nation’s founding: slavery in the midst of freedom.”

James Horn, president of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation

u Cr

Santa marta Cartagena

AFRICA

ra Ve to

Ne wS

le op pe

Vera Cruz

765 to S pa nis 5,0 hC 26 to N ar ibb ew e Sp ain an

EURO PE

KLMNO

1620. We know only 23 Africans were living in the colony in 1625.”

But by 1626, Angela disappears from the census records. Her fate is unknown.

Jamestown Rediscovery recently released an illustration depicting Angela, circa 1625, standing on the banks of the James River as ships are anchored in the background.

“We wanted to provide a setting for Angela that reflected what was going on in Jamestown at the time,” Horn said. “She would have been living in Jamestown six years around 1625, which is a good date for the drawing.

She certainly would have been dressed in English clothing. The dockside, it is quite possible she would have spent time down there, which was a few yards from the Pierce house.”

Horn said the artist wanted to give Angela a sense of dignity and autonomy. She is not dressed in rags.

“Her clothing would not have been fancy,” Horn said, “but everyday working clothing.

Essentially, she is dressed in the clothing of a working young woman for the Pierce family.”

The illustration allows viewers to fill in the gaps in history, paying due to the colony’s first documented African woman.

“I see her not so much as a kind of Eve figure for Africans,” Horn said. “There were other Africans in the colony in Virginia. I see the significance of Angela being able to put a name to her and identify her in a place.”

And to remind Americans 400 years later what she managed to survive. n

14 18

SUNDAY, May,12, 12, 2019 2019 SUNDAY, MAY

KLMNO WEEKLY

BOOKS

Vivid, intimate stories of 9/11 N ONFICTION

l

REVIEWED BY

K AREN A BBOTT

F FALL AND RISE The Story of 9/11

By Mitchell Zuckoff Harper. 589 pp. $29.99

or those of a certain age, it is strange to think of Sept.

11, 2001, as distant history.

Yet an entire generation has no living memory of that day’s events, which reverberate as strongly as ever in our messy, complicated present. Early in “Fall and Rise,” Mitchell Zuckoff’s remarkable and groundbreaking book about 9/11, he invokes the most obvious historical parallel: the attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years earlier, which also claimed thousands of lives and hurtled America into war. “Hindsight furnishes us with perspective on the crisis,” Zuckoff writes, quoting historian Ian W. Toll, “but it also undercuts our ability to empathize with the immediate concerns of those who suffered through it.” Zuckoff, a former reporter for the Boston Globe, states that his intention is not to address the “why” of the attacks, by probing into the mindset of Islamist militants, but to offer a more intimate perspective of the tragedy for those who lived through it and to create “something like memories” for everyone else.

Part of Zuckoff’s challenge is to distinguish his book from a crowded and ever-growing field.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 are not only the deadliest in U.S. history but also the most dissected and documented. The most similar book to Zuckoff’s in tone and scope is Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn’s “102 Minutes,” which focuses on the experiences of those inside the twin towers. Zuckoff includes and expands upon this landscape, delving into events at three airports, on the four hijacked flights, inside the Pentagon, at the Northeast Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y., and at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in rural Pennsylvania. He also smartly begins his narrative on the evening of Sept. 10, capturing the cozy banality of everyday life that precedes the impending horror.

MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York City firefighters work amid the rubble of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Fall and Rise” is an ambitious undertaking, setting out to be an exhaustive, prismatic chronicle of 9/11. Impressively, Zuckoff pulls it off. He deftly employs novelistic tools to create and maintain suspense (a difficult feat when the story’s outcome is universally known): foreshadowing, cliffhangers, and an evocative homing in on details both heartbreaking and macabre. A 2-year-old girl, excited for her first trip to Disneyland on United Airlines Flight 175, tucks her stuffed rabbit under the covers so he’ll be safe until her return. Ziad Jarrah, the hijacker of United Airlines Flight 93, drafts a goodbye note to his fiancee. Shortly before that morning, a passenger on Flight 175 gives his wife specific instructions should he die: “You invite all my friends and you drink Captain Morgan and

you live.”

Following the four crashes, the narrative both broadens (witness President George W. Bush at Booker Elementary School and Vice President Richard B. Cheney being whisked off to an underground bunker) and becomes more personal. While the general aftermath of 9/11 is standard knowledge, the characters’ individual fates are not, and the reader follows each of their plights with heart-stopping anticipation. How would aspiring actor Chris Young, on a temp job in the North Tower, escape from an elevator? What would happen to the firefighters of Ladder Company 6 and their injured charge, Josephine Harris, as the North Tower collapsed around them? Would Rear Adm. Dave Thomas find his best friend and colleague amid the smolder-

ing wreckage of the Pentagon?

“Fall and Rise” evokes the work of Walter Lord. Speaking of his research for “Day of Infamy,” his classic 1957 book about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lord explained: “I wanted to get from people ‘the way it really was,’ but also ‘nothing political, no strategy, no tactics’. . . .

I wanted the accounts of a mix of people to make the book come alive — history not just from the point of view of the leaders but from the point of view of those who were really there.” In this same way “Fall and Rise” comes alive, reconfiguring and preserving the memories of that day in a vital and unforgettable account. n Abbott is the author of, most recently, “Liar Temptress Soldier Spy.” Her next book, “The Ghosts of Eden Park,” will be published in August.

159

SUNDAY, May, 12,12, 20192019 SUNDAY, MAY

NATION

KLMNO WEEKLY

A push to ‘make peace’ with the river

BY F RANCES S TEAD S ELLERS AND A NNIE G OWEN

in Davenport, Iowa

T

he Half Nelson restaurant was well stocked and spiffy for its official opening the other week, an upscale addition to the locally owned businesses that anchor this riverfront city.

But then a temporary flood barrier breached, shooting torrents of water from the Mississippi River through the restaurant’s kitchen toward the custom-built tile and walnut bar. By the time the river crested here May 2, co-owner Matthew Osborn barely had time to nap while overseeing pipes, pumps and generators and ferrying in supplies by boat.

For years, Davenport was the only major city on the Upper Mississippi to resist permanent flood protection, opting instead for an environmentally sound approach of “embracing” the natural flow of the river with parks, wetlands and flood-friendly buildings.

That strategy had been strikingly successful until this month, when the city’s system of removable barricades failed to withstand the river’s rise, fueled by prolonged rain, snow melt and saturated ground.

The river crested at a record 22.64 feet, beating the previous record set in 1993, according to the National Weather Service.

Water inundated several downtown blocks, and about 30 residents had to be rescued by boat.

But it’s the long-term threat — from bigger and more frequent floods, spurred by extreme weather and riverfront development — that is making some residents lose faith in the temporary barricades.

“I used to be neutral,” said Mike Osborn, Matthew’s father, who owns two other restaurants in the area and describes the Half Nelson as a $1.4 million investment. “Now I’m in favor of a flood wall.”

Rick Harris, owner of the neighboring Bootleg Hill taproom, was more outspoken as his

KC MCGINNIS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Amid bigger and more frequent floods, Iowa city debates whether going with the flow is enough sons and employees swept water through holes drilled in the new floor.

“It’s a fool’s errand,” he said of the temporary barriers. “The city doesn’t take responsibility.”

All agree that the challenges ahead are immense and universal. Davenport’s conundrum is America’s — not only along mighty waterways but also on suburban creeks that burst in sudden fury through new developments.

In St. Louis, the U.S. Coast Guard cut off a major commercial artery when it shut down a five-mile stretch of the Mississippi River last weekend after it rose to one of the highest levels since 1993. Some shippers say they fear the Mississippi won’t be fully reopened until June.

Iowa’s latest flood comes as towns on the other side of the state are still recovering from levee breaches along the Missouri River, which plunged large swaths of the Midwest underwater in March, causing more than

$1.6 billion in damage in Iowa.

On April 11, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) declared a state of emergency in Scott County, where Davenport is located — one of 61 Iowa counties suffering from soaked ground and epic floods.

Less than a month later, she toured the flooded downtown of this eastern Iowa city of 103,000 in a golf cart with Mayor Frank Klipsch on Friday. They got out to wade into the street near the Half Nelson to take a closer look at flooded cars and chat briefly with business owners.

Klipsch said city leaders plan to thoroughly review the failure of the Hesco temporary barrier, made of collapsible wire baskets filled with sand. Klipsch said he thinks the barriers might have faltered after straining against the rising river for about 40 days.

Yet, he said, the city remains committed to the path Davenport set itself on decades ago, when it spurned a plan to build levees

Rick Harris owns the Bootleg Hill taproom in Davenport, Iowa.

He said the city fails to take responsibility for problems related to the temporary flood barriers.

and decided to “make peace” with its river, creating a scenic nine-mile riverfront in the process.

“We have a beautiful riverfront and want it to keep it that way,” the mayor said. “If we put up a flood wall it will push the water into Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri and make their problems worse.”

Davenport’s idiosyncratic approach to flood control dates back more than half a century, when city leaders investigated the possibility of building a permanent flood wall following a flooding disaster in 1965.

Residents resisted the idea, and there was little appetite among the city council’s fiscal conservatives for such an expensive infrastructure project, said Teri Goodman, assistant city manager of the upriver town of Dubuque, whose father helped develop the plan.

Instead, the town built floodfriendly buildings and created parks and marshes in low-lying areas so seasonal floodwater would have a place to go. They set up removable aluminum flood walls around its historic ballpark to keep it dry.

Mike Clarke, a former Davenport public works director who is now an official in St. Pete Beach, Fla., said that the city’s custody of its waterfront has been “visionary.”

“The idea is you have to work with nature and leave nature to do its thing, and not stand in her way,” Clarke said. “Davenport’s done a fantastic job of doing that.

Don’t get in an argument with nature. In an argument with man and nature, nature wins 100 percent of the time.”

But he faulted the city for not doing enough to prepare for this particular flood. The river was held back by only one row of temporary barriers, but Clarke said he thinks the city should have stacked them at least two deep.

“They didn’t position themselves for the flood-fighting protection to the level that was necessary,” he said. n

16

SUNDAY, May, 12, 2019

The Wenatchee Valley Visitor Guide Spring & Summer 2019 Edition 3

y Visitor Guide e ll a V e e h tc a Wen

2019

Springer Summ elan Featuring lley | Lake Ch Wenatchee Va e Methow | Th sin Leavenworth | Columbia Ba n ga no ka O The

Supplement to

Presenting sponsors

New! Pick up a copy of the new 2019 Spring/Summer Visitors Guide, filled with activities, events, places to visit and hundreds of things to do over the spring and summer months.

Whether you enjoy hiking, waterskiing, wine-tasting, touring, shopping, or just daytripping in interesting places, you’ll find plenty of great ideas and places to visit in the North Central Washington region.

Covering the areas of the Wenatchee Valley, Lake Chelan, Leavenworth, The Methow, The Okanogan and the Columbia Basin, even long-time residents will find new places to discover in our region.

You may also enjoy a digital copy at wenatcheeworld.com/vg/2019

wenatcheeworld.com