InLight Magazine: Spring 2021

2020-2021 SPECIAL ISSUE

THE ELECTION

EDMUND BURKE SCHOOL INLIGHT MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

01 03

FROM THE EDITORS Sigita P. and Kyra L. '21

BEFORE & AFTER Natalie Thorpe '21

06

POST-VICTORY CONCLUSIONS

07

WHAT IS HOPE? WHAT IS TRUST? AND WHO DESERVES IT?

Jack Jezior '26

Leah Winston '22

10 16

ASSORTED ART Izzy G '21, Helen K '21, Helen JH '21, Rebecca M '21, Kyra L '21

MEET THE EDITORIAL BOARD

FROM THE EDITORS

Dear Burke Community, What a crazy year 2020 has been! On top of everything, one of the most significant and polarizing elections in U.S. history took place nearly four months ago. We started this issue of InLight before the election with the intent to compile Burke’s pre and post-election thoughts and feelings. As a result, throughout these couple of months, we have learned more about the election process, explored a plethora of opinions and reactions that surround the politicization of human rights, mourned losses, and celebrated victories. We hope this issue gives you insight into the array of Burke experiences throughout this process, and we encourage you to stay involved in ongoing and upcoming elections.

Thank you, Sigita P. '21 and Kyra L. '21

PAGE TWO | THE ELECTION

AIDAS P. '22

&

BEFORE AFTER

NATALIE THORPE '21

BEFORE THE ELECTION RESULTS When thinking about this upcoming election, a huge thing that comes to mind is the reaction of the people once the election results roll out. Right now, our country is at a huge divide and it feels as if there will be a civil war of some sorts. If either of the candidates get elected, there will be a huge outrage regardless. The future of our country seems like it's at a huge fork. On the other hand, I don’t know how the country's political divide could’ve been avoided. With the racist history of the United States, for true racial justice, there would need to be an awakening for change.

People talk about how the first step of fixing something is admitting there is a problem. It's evident that the country has never gotten to that admission. This is also evident in the way the political parties are so separated. We created and grew this country with two sides. Maybe this anxiety is an overreaction, but I can’t help but think about it.

AFTER THE ELECTION RESULTS Now that the election has passed, the overwhelming anxiety feels at bay for the most part. However, my anxiety about the government and the possible Republican seats are a problem. I also am fearful of the angry Trump supporters acting with violence about the outcome. My anxiety about this election has made even more anxious thoughts.

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KYRA L '21

A LETTER TO BURKE Student and adult members of Edmund Burke School’s Affinity Groups crafted the following statement in response to the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. This statement both reflects how these events affected our school community and serves as a call to action to our community members, friends, and peer institutions.

On January 6, 2021, we witnessed a violent mob attempt an insurrection at the US Capitol, the seat of our democracy, in our hometown, Washington, DC. That day — in an effort to overturn the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President of the United States — thousands of American citizens committed chilling acts of violence fueled by white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, toxic masculinity, and anti-Asian, anti-immigrant, anti-indigenous, and anti-Muslim sentiments. These acts were on full display for the world to see, and made us fear for the future of our beloved country. That day, many of us feared for our physical safety and psychological and emotional well-being. That day, many of us waited for a demonstration of our nation's strength and accountability, for a commitment to upholding democracy and the law within the halls of our Capitol.

Instead, it took far too long for the insurrection to be put down, leaving us with images of mobs desecrating one of our country’s most sacred institutions, and contributing to five lives lost. This moment was an affront to the humanity of all Americans, especially black, brown, Jewish, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ Americans, and their allies, who seek to ensure that voices of all those who have been historically marginalized are heard, respected, and counted.

On this day, January 20, 2021, the inauguration of the duly elected President of the United States and our country’s first Black and Asian female Vice President, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence that we witnessed at the Capitol, and the lies that gave that day its form and the hatred that gave it life.

We will not stand in silence. We re-commit ourselves to the democratic ideals of equity and inclusion.

All voices must be heard for democracy to survive. With the transfer of power to the Biden-Harris administration, it is our hope that we move closer to the democratic ideals our founders envisioned.

We stand in support of the rule of law, the peaceful transition of power, and a fair democracy that embraces all Americans.

As members of a diverse school community – where we deliberately bring together students who are different from one another – we are committed to standing up for truth and human dignity and challenging malignant misrepresentations of these values in all the spaces we inhabit. At Burke, we vow to educate, organize, protest, and lead the way towards a more equitable, inclusive, and truly democratic country.

-- Head of School Damian Jones & Asian Students Association, Black Girls Meet, Black Student Union, Boys Leading Boys, Examining White Privilege & Allyship, Feminist Cooperative, Immigrant Family Affinity Group, Jewish Affinity Group, Middle Eastern American Students, Mixed Race Affinity Group, Muslim Student Association, Middle School Students of Color, Students Supporting All Sexualities & Identities, & Young Black Men

JACK JEZIOR '26

POST-VICTORY CONCLUSIONS

It is a partially cloudy day and I am playing a video game with my friend after days of anxiety and sleep deprivation. I get a call from my dad. I hear horns honking in the background and people cheering. “Biden Won!” he says. I can’t believe it. My pessimism had gotten the best of me and I was preparing for yet another term of a Trump presidency. But here I am, with Joe Biden as projected president-elect.

Now I’m not happy that Biden won. I feel like he is a candidate that will not bring progress to the US. However, it was a cathartic moment to learn that Trump was going to leave office. It might’ve just been me, but it seemed warmer when I walked outside. The sun was shining and people were waving, cheering, and holding up signs.

After the celebration settled down, I realized that it wasn’t as much of a victory as I had first figured. The Democrats lost some seats in the House of Representatives, the Senate is going to be decided on a single runoff election in Georgia, the Supreme Court is packed with conservative judges, and Joe Biden probably won’t be able to pass anything for the next two years because the Senate and the Supreme court are both majority Republican. If anything, there might be a greater negative impact.

I also realized how wrong the major media was in predicting the election.

Everyone was talking about “a Biden landslide,” including me! The most likely outcome according to the major poll tracking website, www.fivethirtyeight.com, was a 350 electoral vote win by Joe Biden. It turned out to be much less.

Still, in the end, hope must be maintained. Many things might be on the line, including the integrity of future elections, abortion rights. and more. But good things are still happening. It looks like the ACA (The Affordable Care Act) is going to pass the Supreme Court and other cases as well. Trump’s claims of a false election are getting less and less traction. There is still a chance of the Democrats winning the senate. If these good things continue, then America might be on the right path for positive change.

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KYRA L. '21

WHAT IS HOPE? WHAT IS TRUST? AND WHO DESERVES IT? LEAH WINSTON '22

I have a reputation in my family for being extremely talkative. I am curious about the things occurring around me. When I was younger my parents always found a way to answer my questions to the best of their ability. However, as I’ve matured, I have become the depth of my questions have shifted. I no longer ask why the sky is blue. I wonder why this country that I love, has never seemed to love me back. The older I have gotten and the more aware I have become I have started to accumulate questions my parents can no longer answer.

What is “normal”? Why do our “normals” seem so different? Will people treat a movement for black lives as a trend and simply eventually forget it?

A couple of weeks ago, a teacher told me the quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” What are we, as a country, going to do differently? Even if our administration changes in a few weeks, things cannot NOT stay the same.

America is systematically racist. We can see the effects in education, housing, healthcare, voting rights, and the “justice” system.

My hope is that even if Biden wins, things do not go back to “normal.”

Normal does not protect black people from getting killed, or immigrants trying to have a better life, and it does not right the wrongs done to Indigenous peoples.

Things can not stay the same. To me, “normal” is the continued oppression of minority groups while other people have the privilege to ignore its existence. Even though it feels extremely weird to write this, there are some things that the Trump administration has done that I am grateful for. It seems that his presidency has awakened our country and sprang people to action. BIPOC communities had been protesting and working against oppression long before Trump. However, it seems these fights occurred without significant systemic change and support from the masses.

Systemic racism existed before Donald Trump. Were you aware of it? Were you actively fighting it? Or was the election a wake-up call for you, and your family, and your friends? In my opinion, Trump’s his presidency has forced many of us to examine our privileges and decide if we were okay with living in a country that benefited some at the expense of many.

Will the protests from this summer create lasting effects? Will things ever change? Is a majority of our country even ready to accept change?

The first time I went to a protest, I was ten years old. My dad and I marched in the streets of DC with Al Sharpton and mothers of people killed by police brutality and racism. I struggled to keep up with my dad while the cold winter air hit my face. I held up a sign with Trayvon Martin’s name on one side and Micheal Brown’s on the other. I was surrounded by anger and frustration, but the crowd was still filled with hopeful energy. We marched through the streets screaming, “No justice! No peace!” and “I can’t breathe!” One thing I quickly noticed was that the demographics of the protest were not proportional to the diversity of our region. However, while participating in a protest six years later, I noticed a difference in the demographics of those attending. Our country seemed to wake up this summer. People who had previously ignored the sounds of our screams seemed inspired to participate.

I was astonished by the number of people who looked nothing like me, marching in the street and affirming the value of my life and other black lives.

The representation of solidarity filled me with the hope that people were listening and that things would finally change.

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Then, a few weeks ago, I seemed to crash back down to reality. On September 23, 2020, there was a nervous energy that filled my home. We were all anxiously waiting for the verdict about Breonna Taylor’s killers to be released. I was checking in with my dad every half hour before the verdict was announced. I kept saying, “It's going to happen this time. She will get justice! I can feel it.” He just looked back at me with sad, knowing eyes. Deep down I had a feeling that the pattern of a lack of accountability would continue, but I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. I wanted to believe that they would do what was right. I was wrong. Breonna Taylor never received justice. The officers that murdered her were only charged for the bullets that they missed, not the ones that ended her life. They were held responsible for possibly endangering her neighbors’ lives but not for the six shots that took Breanna Taylor’s life. Unfortunately, this is something that I have seen far too many times. I was let down when George Zimmerman did not go to prison for killing Trayvon Martin and when the killers of Tamir Rice, Aiyana StanleyJones, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Stephon Clark, Mike Brown, Philando Castile, Rekia Boyd, and many more, were let free. It seems that every time America is at a crossroads between affirming the value of black life or perpetuating systems of oppression, it chooses the latter.

Why are BIPOC communities expected to swing elections, yet continue to be left behind?

I wrote the words above about a week and a half before the 2020 election occurred. Since then, the stats from the election exit polls have weighed heavily on me. At that time I felt confident that Biden would have a staggering victory and we would be able to celebrate on election night. I believed that our country had finally gotten to the point where we saw Trump and his administration for what they were and the election would be a repudiation of them both. I was wrong. Well, I was actually right about one thing: Our country most definitely saw Trump and his enablers for what they were For many, either his bigotry and corruption were not dealbreakers or they agreed with his actions. That realization hurts. Even though Trump will no longer be president, I will never forget the 70 million people who still voted for him. It should not have been that close.

Did people forget about the separation of kids from their families, the removal of protections for LGBTQ+ communities, the banning of people from Muslim countries, as well as the enabling of white supremacists? And I didn’t even mention the cloud of corruption that has been a permanent fixture in his administration.

Many political consultants stressed that Biden needed to win white suburban women voters to beat Trump. According to The New York Times, in the 2020 election 55% of white women voted for Trump. Despite that fact, Biden still won.

Biden won because of BIPOC communities. We would have had a totally different outcome in this election if black voters

in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit had not come out in enormous numbers. Or if Indigenous and Latinx voters had not come out to help flip Arizona blue. Biden received 87% of the vote from black voters and 90% from black women, the highest among any block of racial and ethnic groups. Ironically, these groups are continuously marginalized and overlooked in our country despite their constant contributions to our society. I truly hope this country does not forget how black voters saved this election.

Where do we go from here?

It is not enough to say, “Thanks black women” on Instagram and forget about us five minutes later. We cannot take black communities and black voters for granted.

Candidates should work to earn our votes just like they work to earn the votes of wealthy, white, moderate democrats.

Politicians should not only come to our communities to explain how their policies would benefit us but also convince us they will work to implement them. They need to value our lives outside of election season.

We all need to advocate for progressive policies and politicians that will truly bring change to our communities. And we need to fight for, and actively invest in black communities outside of election years. We can donate to mutual aid funds and other grassroots organizations. We can educate ourselves using the many resources available from amazing black creators, and use our voices to uplift those of other BIPOC community members. It has been made abundantly clear that white supremacy and systems of oppression are still alive and well in this country and it is our responsibility, as a societal whole, to work together to dismantle them.

IZZY GARCIA '21 This piece describes the current political climate in relation to this past election. The news can be extremely draining and worrisome because the future is so unpredictable. The expression on this man's face represents the feelings of hopelessness and frustration. In addition, I decided to use a method called pointillism to evoke a feeling of separation because our country is so divided.

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AIDAS P. '22

HELEN KHURI '21 This piece was inspired by the idea of war and love. Today the United States is so incredibly divided based on political beliefs that we have lost the ability to coexist.

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HELEN JENTOFT-HERR '21 This collage illustrates the power hierarchy of world leaders. Using a surrealist style, I used the figures size to symbolize status. Today, rather than being equal, people are looking for others to look down upon, as shown in this piece.

RAISING AWARENESS AS A MECHANISM FOR POLITICAL CHANGE "Awareness-raising is a process that seeks to inform and educate people about a topic or issue with the intention of influencing their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs towards the achievement of a defined purpose or goal. It can mobilize the power of public opinion in support of an issue and thereby influence the political will of decision makers." (*SDG) *The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs were set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.

REBECCA MERONEY '21 I am extremely passionate about climate change. The fires that have taken place in California are taking people's homes and lives. I created this piece to raise awareness on the topic of climate change. The world’s leaders need to start acting to counter climate change because of how serious this issue is.

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NO DRAMATIC EXITS

KYRA LAYMAN '21

In action movies, characters typically have a scene where they confidently walk away from a building (slo-mo optional) just as it explodes behind them. As cool as those scenes are, that's the stuff of movies, not reality. Our building– our home– is burning, but unlike the movies, we can't pack up and leave the ensuing destruction for someone else to deal with. Our time to act is now, and we won't get a dramatic exit.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN POLITICS? WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET INVOLVED AND STAY UPDATED ON THE CURRENT NEWS, BUT DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START? Check out these resources and jump in!

BRANDON C. '21

NEWS WANT SOME GOOD OLDFASHIONED HEADLINES? For the most reliable news, check out: The New York Times The Washington Post Politico The Associated Press PBS CBS Reuters The Hill CNN AIDAS P. '22

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INSTAGRAM WANT TO ADD SOME NEWS & EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL TO YOUR FEED? NEWS @nytimes @washingtonpost @politico ADVOCACY & EDUCATION @impact @intersectionalenvironmentalist @soyouwanttotalkabout @futureearth @diversifyyournarrative @antiracismdaily @votesaveamerica AIDAS P. '22

OTHER STILL NOT SATISFIED? WANT MORE? PODCASTS The Daily - The New York Times Pod Save America - Crooked Media* NPR Politics Podcast - NPR The Rachel Maddow Show - MSNBC* TWITTER @washingtonpost @AP @senatefloor @housefloor @crookedmedia* @podsaveamerica* *we understand that these sources are left-leaning, but they are among the most popular in the Burke Community!

KYRA L. '21

OUR TEAM

MEET THE INLIGHT EDITORIAL BOARD!

KYRA LAYMAN '21 CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF & LAYOUT DESIGN

SIGITA PUSKORIUS '21

STEVEN LEE

CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

FACULTY ADVISOR

INGRID GRUBER '22

HELEN KHURI '21

MONTANNA NORMAN '22

COMPARISON CORNER

ARTS EDITOR

CULTURAL AFFAIRS

SPECIAL THANKS TO DAMIAN JONES & JULIA H. CAIN

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