Focus Magazine | April 2021

April 16, 2021 • A ReMarker publication

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STAFF Editor-in-Chief Cristian Pereira Contributing Editors Jamie Mahowald Robert Pou Siddhartha Sinha Writers Alam Alidina William Aniol Toby Barrett Morgan Chow Trevor Crosnoe Ian Dalrymple Nikhil Dattatreya Shreyan Daulat Jack Davis Grant Jackson Rajan Joshi Arjun Khatti Keshav Krishna Myles Lowenberg Henry McElhaney Luke Nayfa Peter Orsak Luke Piazza Matthew Reed Will Spencer Sai Thirunagari Austin Williams Dillon Wyatt Jonathan Yin Eric Yoo Han Zhang Photographers Ekansh Tambe Jerry Zhao

nside Featured

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Then and now

Centuries after their work, how would the Founding Fathers view today’s political climate?

Censorship

The state of social media in light of the banning of former President Donald Trump.

Elections

The two sides of election security in light of past presidential elections.

Immigration

The stories of immigrants and their children who have come to America.

The Reasons

April 16, 2021

4

Why

Why talk about democracy?

The Context

The Situation

The People

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Charting the history of democracy in the United States from 1776 to 2021.

Examining how a divisive Americans’ everyday lives.

Upper School history instructor Dr. Bruce Westrate on what it means to be an American citizen.

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22

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The details of the presidency and the job’s evolution since the birth of the nation.

Jamie Mahowald and SeMaj Musco share their thoughts on partisanship and the Capitol riots.

Timeline

Executive power

Polarization

Opinions

Inflection point

Defending democracy

A behind-the-scenes look at what it means to protect democracy through force.

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Explaining the interaction between the three branches of government that uphold our democracy.

Upper School history instructor

The Editorial Board communicates its opinions on the Capitol riots and Congressional action.ction.

The branches

Two-party system America’s two-party system.

Editorials

D.C. DIARY

‘Hundreds of notifications flooding my phone.’

I

never loved politics when I was growing up. I never knew the battleground states. I didn’t understand how important the CubanAmerican demographic in Miami-Dade county was in predicting the next president.

All I knew was Texas always went red and California always went blue. all that comes to mind when I think about November 2008. humanities homework and barely had time to look up from his desk, head mom’s face.

Recent events st

We are faced with some of the most op

Democracy is at a fragile point in our co

Persistently challenging elections is the most dangerous thing for d

It hurts that so many America

It’s sad that there are peopl

But this is surprising, because it refl

at 8 a.m. in complete silence.

But every moment after Nov. 3, 2020 was a time I will never forget.

Throughout the college admissions process, I always knew I wanted to go

The world of politicians isn’t one m

More to the point, it becomes near-impo

never took into consideration that I was going to be at the epicenter of one of the most consequential and important presidential elections in American history.

I spent Nov. 3 lying on a blanket on a friends’ on the hour after 3 a.m. to see Trump’s lead in key states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia shrink by the thousands.

A couple days before, my roommates and I were standing in a 34-minute Target check-out line.

My initial reaction can be

I’m disappointed in the cowa Events like these belong in history,

Freshman at Georgetown University

It is no surprise that these blatantly of our capitol incited by the Pre

empty. The essentials hard to come by.

Leading up to that momentous day, I walked around Georgetown and D.C. to see local businesses closing shop and boarding up windows, preparing for what seemed like a natural disaster and utter chaos to ensue.

But that chaotic destruction never came. What took its place was something indescribable.

The vast majority of Ame spectrum, far left and far

phone in my pocket and ran to the Metro station with two of my

As the events unfolded mid-afternoon on Jan. 6, 2021, ReMarker

I want to urge everyone to be extremely

If we don’t learn to have civil discus

out of the Metro car, ran up the escalators and were greeted by the sounds I spent the next three hours covered in champagne and surrounded by people of all ages, races, ethnicities and political beliefs, cheering, yelling, eight years earlier.

About two months later, I couldn’t believe everything I was watching on my laptop when I was in Dallas.

The sheer horror and disgust that was on display on Jan 6.

I didn’t end up doing any work that day. I spent it texting friends who already moved back to DC for the spring semester, making sure that they were safe.

I can’t even describe or explain what that day represented in American history. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it.

It was the most un-American event I will ever see in my life. don’t need to be to know that.

Sam Ahmed ‘20 is a freshman at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, studying international political economy and Chinese. He was ReMarker editor-in-chief in 2019-2020.

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— raw and unedited — as the events of that

summed up in a single sentence. This America is not my America.

tripped me of the privilege of ignorance.

pen and egregious instances of criminal negligence and borderline sedition the US has ever seen.

ountry right now, and I think challenging its methods is a violation of everything our country stands for.

s like this with literally no evidence (and millions of people actually believing you) democracy, and we’ve unleashed something that will never completely go away.

ans probably believe with their whole heart that there was genuine fraud.

le defending the actions of these people, no matter party affiliation.

flects not the wills and caprices of one person but rather an entire class of Americans.

most people would say is filled with the most morally righteous and honest people.

ossible to look at them (rioters) and say that they are your neighbors, your loved ones, your family.

ardly Congressmen who are continuing to pledge their loyalty to Trump. , fiction, other countries — the French Revolution, Star Wars, Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli.

y authoritarian attempts to override a fair election resulted in a deranged insurrection esident himself at a rally. The way to heal our nation is not to tolerate these acts.

ericans would never do something like this, but the extreme the right, continue to paint a picture of divisiveness in our country.

careful when making racism accusations. Those should only be made when racism is actually at play.

ssions and express our views articulately to the people on the other side, we won’t survive.

1.6.2021 Jan. 6, 2021.

THE REASONS 5

TIMELINE

Charting the history of democracy in the United States from 1776 to 2021.

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THEN AND NOW

Centuries after their work, how would the Founding Fathers view today’s political climate?

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EXECUTIVE POWER

The details of the presidency and the job’s evolution since the birth of the nation.

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THE BRANCHES

Explaining the interaction between the three branches of government that uphold our democracy.

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C the

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ontext B

efore diving into the topic of ‘Preserving Democracy,’ it is important to understand the foundation upon which this country was founded. It is important to contextualize current events to better understand how they fit into the bigger picture. The following pages that make up this section should provide a backdrop, if not a refresher, on certain elements of this experiment called the American democracy.

THE CONTEXT 7

LOOKING BACK

The United States has a long and complex history of evolving democracy, ranging from upset elections to discriminatory Supreme Court decisions. Here’s a look at some of the most important events, since the founding of the first legislature in the country.

The House of Burgesses is established original states.

legislature in the future United States.

July 7, 1619 Washington delivers his Farewell

July 4, 1776 George Washington is sworn

of the United States.

Dec. 3, 1800

of the United States.

Sept. 19, 1796

April 30, 1789

United States.

Feb. 3, 1803

June 8, 1866

18651877

Feb. 3, 1870 8 FOCUS

March 1, 1781

the United States.

Dec. 2, 1828

1856

Nov. 3, 1884

Nov. 6, 1800

Jan. 6, 2021

Oct. 26, 2001

Dec. 12, 2000

Jan. 13, 2021

May 20, 1993 The National Voter Registration

tightening national

Jan. 23, 1964

Feb. 17, 1962

March 26, 1962

Jan. 1, 1965

July 1, 1971

1945

establishes that US

1927 1912

Aug. 18, 1927 Nixon v. Herndon ruling that laws

Roosevelt and Taft.

THE CONTEXT 9

THEN NOW

&

In 1776, only 2.5 million people lived in the newly-formed United States of America. Through the decades, its demographics, economy and culture have shifted — considerably.

Needless to say, we live in a completely different country.

But how exactly have our politics changed?

Founding Fathers: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson

T What would the Founders think about the politics of today?

At the birth

According to Brands,

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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...

What it means and why it’s important:

Foreign counterexample: Islamic Republic of Iran

Source: Iran Press Watch Fourth Amendment unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Politicians of Today: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden What it means and why it’s important:

Foreign counterexample: Republic of South Africa

Source: Mondaq Twenty-Second Amendment, Section One

What it means and why it’s important:

Foreign counterexample: Russian Federation

STORY Axel Icazbalceta ARTWORK Morgan Chow

Source: AP REPORTING Axel Icazbalceta, Han Zhang

THE CONTEXT 11

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THE PIT OF EX EC UT IVE PO WER

Does a recent spike in executive actions mean the president has accumulated enough power to bypass Congress altogether?

O

n the day he was inaugurated, President Joe Biden signed 16 executive orders dealing with everything from immigration to ethics to the census. That’s the most executive orders ever signed into law by a president on

But Biden’s use of executive orders wasn’t just brought on by a national crisis — only three of the 16 orders had an increase in the powers of the executive branch as it works less productive over the past few decades. Last year, the 116th Congress enacted 344 laws, far less than the 106th Congress respectively.

University of Texas at Austin who has written six presidential biographies, sees congressional inaction as playing a key role in the need for increased executive power. greater power than previous presidents,” Brands said, “largely because Congress has either abdicated its authority — often in the name of national security — or because Congress has been deadlocked and unable to pass laws, leaving presidents to act on their own.” extensive — the power to sign or veto legislation, to grant pardons, to command the armed forces and to enforce laws The administration began to justify actions under the “Strong Unitary Executive Theory,” stipulating that Congress had little power to oversee actions within the

The theory potentially allows the President an almost book Broken Government that “in its most extreme form, unitary executive theory can mean that neither Congress nor the federal courts can tell the President what to do or how to do it, particularly regarding national security matters.” powers was simply the latest cycle of a much longer debate over the power of the executive branch.

“There has always been a presumption that the president controls the executive branch,” Brands said. “But how far that control extends has been debated over time.”

Brands sees executive power as expanding after crises in

“Every wartime presidency has expanded executive power,” Brands said. “The growth has been driven by the with Congress.”

The numbers bear this out. The presidents immediately

History instructor Dr. Andrea Hamilton credits

people — even though he’s a very elite person and a very walk, but he was able to do so through pretty extensive use of executive power.” similar role. But she believes constraints exist on the Biden administration that

after a conservative period and caring for know that people are with him in the same way or that he is going to get the executive know that as many people perceive [the Other constraints — mainly congressional and court action — also prevent any one president from attaining too much executive power.

“Just as the Supreme Court overturned

There has always been a presumption that the president controls the executive branch.

But how far that control extends has been debated over time.

H.W. BRANDS History Professor at the University of Texas at Austin

especially with this court — of the same thing happening to Biden.”

But Brands believes action to curb executive power should ultimately take place in Congress. Congress acts as the most powerful branch of government, with the ability to creates and produces more policy, there’s less need for “Congress should revoke the authority it has ceded to presidents — on trade, on immigration, on war and on a dozen other issues,” Brands said. “Until Congress gets its act together, presidents will continue to exercise more power than the Constitution intended for them to.”

STORY Alam Alidina, Matthew Reed PHOTO Creative Commons

THE CONTEXT 13

THE BALANCE start here

Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has 435 members, divided among the states by population. The Senate has 100 members, two for each state. Each body has different powers, but they both must ratify any bill that will become a law.

H.R. 68

S. 68

In committee, members — usually with a particular interest or expertise in the issue being discussed — refine a bill so it’s ready to become a law.

Any Senator or Representative can introduce a bill.

After the bill has H.R. 68 been inroduced, it is assigned to a committee for further review.

S. 68

The committee then votes on the bill. If it passes, it proceeds to the floor of either the House or the Senate.

Amendment Amendment

H.R. 68

On the floor of the House or the Senate, individual members can add amendments to a bill. Those amendments are voted on, and then the whole bill is voted on.

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Amendment Amendment

S. 68

OF POWER

GRAPHIC Jonathan Yin

After the bill is signed into law, it can still be contested in the courts. If a case is brought before the Supreme Court that involves a law, the Court can overturn it if a majority of the nine justices find it to be unconstitutional.

The President can choose to either veto the bill or sign it into law. A veto can be overturned by a 2/3 majority of Congress.

Bills that do not make it out of committee or are voted down on the floor of the House or the Senate are dead.

New Bill

When a bill has been ratified by both chambers of Congress, it can proceed to the White House.

If the bill passes on the floor of one chamber, it is then voted on on the floor of the other.

THE CONTEXT 15

CENSORSHIP

The state of social media in light of the banning of former President Donald Trump.

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POLARIZATION

S

Examining how a divisive political everyday lives.

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OPINIONS

Jamie Mahowald and SeMaj Musco share their thoughts on partisanship and the Capitol riots.

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TWOPARTY SYSTEM

Upper School history instructor Page 24

ELECTIONS

The two sides of election security in light of past presidential election cycles.

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the

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ituation A

controversial 2020 presidential election paired with the Capitol riots of Jan. 6 have brought our attention back to the very foundation upon which America was built: democracy. The following pages of this section examine how that democracy has stood up over time and how we, as American citizens, can preserve it — and perhaps even facilitate its success.

THE SITUATION 17

CENSORED When social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter banned former President Donald Trump from their

platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, they cited “hate,” “violence” and “misinformation” as reasons for his removal.

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E

very American has enjoyed the right to free speech since the inception of the Constitution in 1787. It was

gray area that surrounds the issue.

Virginia Commonwealth University

that there are times when censorship is necessary.

The Chicago Tribune found out that we had

sector actor. Therefore the First Amendment does not safety of others.

In 2008, 10 percent of Americans had at least one social media profile.

In 2021, that percentage is now...

79% STORY Ian Dalrymple, Shreyan Daulat, Robert Pou PHOTO Ekansh Tambe

Facebook banned Trump from posting on his Facebook account, to ensure a smooth political transition on social media during the transfer of power to President Biden.

YouTube is censoring videos that claim that voter fraud impeded the election results, and the company is penalizing users who post election misinformation.

Instagram followed its parent company, Facebook, and banned Trump from his Instagram account in January until Presdient Biden was officially inaugurated January 20.

Twitter permanently banned Trump’s account after reviewing the former president’s tweets and denouncing any incitement of violence.

Parler is a social networking app that has a large user base of Trump supporters, conspiracy theorists and far-right fundamentalists. It has taken no action against Trump.

Source: Axio.com

Source: Statista.com

Amazon and other big companies such as Apple have stopped providing Parler with cloud services and resources becuase of the violent content on Parler’s website that infringes Amazon’s terms of service.

THE SITUATION 19

MEDIA

In a social-media-dominated world, platforms provide users with a method to voice their opinions and are able to respond with targeted ads or content reltaed to their views, creating bubbles where users are only exposed to ideas and people who agree with their own opinions.

A

political conversations have become even more pronounced. These platforms have turned into battlegrounds for ferocious political debates, and the question arises of how this polarization came to be.

For Berndt Mader ’97, owner of The Bear, an Austin-based media production company, this polarization starts with active political involvement.

“I’m noticing how politics gives us the platform and the language to dislike each other and to be polarized,” Mader said. “If you’re not engaged on a political level, if you’re not talking about politics or policy, you tend to get along more with people.”

Mader believes the rhetoric surrounding this division forgoes many similarities between Americans.

“Most people have families my age and you’re trying to get ahead in life, you’re trying to make some money, you’re trying to save, you’re trying to invest in college or your retirement,” Mader said. “There’s just so much we have in common that it’s annoying to me more and more that we have the language of politics and language of being for or against a guy named Trump to divide us.”

Mader thinks the programming of large media corporations puts users in a bubble of their own political opinions.

“In terms of media that I’ve noticed, for the social media

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giants of Facebook and Google and YouTube, their algorithms are really horrible,” Mader said. “They’ll keep feeding you the YouTube and Facebook does.”

Miguel Plascencia ’15, a multi-media director at Nimaroh, an advertising agency in Austin, notices this bubble in Tik Tok, where he boasts around 600,000 followers.

“A lot of people love Tik Tok because it’s so decentralized,” Plascencia said. “You don’t have to have a large following to get to go viral, you don’t have to see the whole spectrum of people’s beliefs, it’s really just whatever you believe in. And then somehow the algorithm just ends up creating a bubble around you.”

In addition to creating this bubble, social media companies use data to keep users hooked to their app, reinforcing users’ “They’re just gonna keep feeding you what they track,”

DIVIDED

As presidents take more to social media than ever before, both mainstream and social media have become increasingly polarized, yielding widespread and extreme division in Americans’ political ideologies.

Mader said. “They’re tracking what is popular, what’s intriguing, and what is drawing eyeballs, and they’ll just keep setting you up with the next thing. They just want you to never leave because they get paid when you watch the preroll or the banner ad, or whatever it is alongside of it. They’re getting paid for that. It could be 10 cents, 30 cents, 50 cents, but that’s their goal.

Their goal is to make money, all driven at a Plascencia attributes part of the allure of social media to the comfort that various apps allow users to feel while using their platforms.

“A lot of people want to go on social media, they’re not going to feel uncomfortable and when you’re confronted with these beliefs that contradict what yours are, you feel very uncomfortable. It makes me want to swipe away, it makes you want to just go to the next one, you want to block that person instead of confronting them.”

Now with a larger presence in mainstream I’m noticing how media, politics gives us the Plascencia platform and the better understands language to dislike the mental toll each other and to be of presenting polarized. himself on the internet.

BERNDT MADER ’97 “It has Owner of The Bear

AROUND

AROUND

30% OF

40% OF

FEEL

FEEL

THREATENED

THREATENED

BY THE

BY THE

PARTY

PARTY

production company

changed my perspective of social media and how a lot of things can be skewed,” Plascencia said. “There are a lot of assumptions that people make about other people’s lives on social media. I’ve gotten hate for a couple videos, and I’ve gotten really mean messages, and it’s really opened my eyes to how dangerous social media can be for your mental health, for your overall opinion of yourself sometimes.”

Plascencia believes political commentary on television, however, should be held to a higher standard to avoid polarization.

“With the news outlets, there’s a higher degree of responsibility,” Plascencia said.

“When you show your biased opinions, when you start reporting on the news in a way that leans one way or the other, it’s very irresponsible. The news is there just to be able to report in a very unbiased way, and if someone prefers to get their news in one way or the other and they’re only being fed this one narrative, it’s very destructive. Especially for people who only use that news to get there, that’s their only source of information that can be really damaging to us as a nation.”

STORY Toby Barrett, Morgan Chow PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Jonathan Yin, Evan Lai

Source: Pew Research Center

THE SITUATION 21

TALKS WITH MY FATHER “First, this great and glorious country was built up by political parties; second, parties can’t pieces, the government they built up must go to pieces, too; fourth, then there’ll be hell to pay.”

––George Washington Plunkitt, A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics

J

ulia Louis-Dreyfus sat a few rows in front of me at my cousin’s college graduation a few years ago. Maybe she had a son or niece or second cousin, once removed graduating –– I’m not sure. But as soon as my mom pointed out her signature high-octane, semi-political, you-could-sell-a-lockof-this-on-Ebay-and-pay-three-months’-rent hairstyle in the seats before me, I had trouble actually focusing on the speaker, television writer Greg Berlanti (though I’m sure your speech was exceptional, Mr. Berlanti).

At a reception several hours later, I made a point to tell her how much I adored her work as Elaine Benes in Seinfeld, and especially as Senator-turned-Vice-President-turned-Presidentturned-Public-Disgrace-turned-President-again Selina Meyer in the TV show Veep. but I knew I was special enough to make my commendations memorable, though I’d be surprised if our micro-interaction held any place in her memory (she was exceedingly kind, so I can’t complain either way). Our conversation lasted all of twenty seconds, and at the end I asked if she would take a second to “impersonate” Selina –– a demonically corrupt, power-infected politician–– and though she looked at me with amused dread, she uttered in faux Presidential tone Selina’s signature ruse: “Politics is about people.”

And laughing along seemed like the shrewd thing for me to do as somebody from across the room beckoned her over, her departing smile torn between genuine Julia Louis-Dreyfusness an actress could believe herself.

I’m not from a political family like the Roosevelts or Kennedys or Bushes. I have no political connections, save a great-greatuncle who was the mayor of a California town that doesn’t exist anymore. I was not pumped from the start with political blood –– no “silver tongue,” no orchestrated grooming, no inferiority complex with an older brother who got my dad’s name and all But like many other American families, mine talks about politics. A lot. If I’m late on a homework assignment, it’s probably because I was stuck at the dinner table for two and a half hours, parrying my father’s claims about the reliability of government-driven climate research with this article I found from the Cato Institute –– and they’re libertarian too, Dad! I may not speak politic with the swiftest possible persuasion, I admit. I stumble. I emote. I ad hominem. I’m working on it.

But those talks (yells, sometimes) have made me politically aware in a way that I wouldn’t be if my parents agreed with me on every issue and weren’t –– let’s face it –– just as stubborn as I am. I couldn’t vote in this past election (a grievance I blame entirely on my parents’ inconsiderate negligence to birth me just a few months earlier), so I urged those of age I knew to register, I walked a few of them through the process, I attempted to work at the polls (my applications sadly did not go through) –– I did everything I thought I could. My dad still votes, even though he believes that every politician is a mini-Selina Meyer, looking to cash in on the next electoral payday.

With a few exceptions, every time I read a book or article on

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achingly long college essays, and once you’ve gleaned the lines what the rest of the article is going to say with alarming paragraphs, I will have failed.

So, in that spirit, I’d like to share one of my hypotheses.

Were you to tune into one of our family dinners, I’d appear to agree with my dad on almost nothing politically. Among our only plots of common ground is opposing the death penalty –– I believe it’s inhumane; he believes the government should not have the right to kill. Few moments of harmony elsewhere.

I can’t remember what issue we were discussing that night.

I think it had to do with guns. But I remember we both realized almost simultaneously that we were hurling nearly identical arguments at each other, refuting what we ourselves were saying, because we saw aisle. It was a synthetic issue –– madeup resentment formed from a made-up argument.

And herein lies the lesson: Many arguments are synthetic.

Most people don’t care about politics JAMIE MAHOWALD at all –– the Selina Meyer kind, anyway.

Managing Editor That sort of politics doesn’t have issues.

It doesn’t have authentic hostility or hostile authenticity. It has only the business of politics –– the behind-the-scenes, Little Magician kind of orchestration in which people are collateral damage.

I don’t mean to demonize that kind of political operation.

It’s a living, and the way our country is set up. George Plunkitt is right: if the partisans go, the government goes, too. And it’s unfortunate for representative democracy, but until I become Plunkitt’s ideas were wrought in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. At a time when political divisions were higher than they’d ever been, he learned to take advantage of them for his own advancement, and he narrated his triumphs in the most sincerely corrupt way possible so that we, the future generations, might pay attention. Selina Meyer did the same thing.

That kind of machination feeds on low political involvement and high resentment toward those not in one’s imaginary box because only then can it disregard the muddy hindrance of actual issue-driven policy. It requires that we see life as political, striving to stay there, and the earlier we quit, the more respect we eke out.

Partisanship is not an aberration destroying our country; of the world, whose livelihoods depend upon late-night kitchen table screaming sessions and who thrive only on divisiveness and polarization.

But it’s not our job to make villains out of those politicians.

It’s our job to live our lives and talk to each other in such a way that their livelihood has no reason to exist.

Then, and only then, are politics about people.

OPINION Jamie Mahowald

EDITORIALS OPINION WHO WE ARE

S

o... what exactly led us here? Where do we go from here?

How did our democracy get to this point? These questions and many more have come up in the months since the U.S. Capitol was invaded. This mob not only had the audacity to illegally enter a government building but also live-streamed and various ways. This event led to the deaths of four rioters and a days shocked the nation, but what was particularly shocking to a large number of people was the response by law enforcement.

Or, better put, the lack of such a response.

The FBI warned the day before the riot that an “armed uprising” was planned by extremists. Congresswoman Maxine Waters raised concerns to the former Chief of Capitol Police days before. Despite these warnings and cautions, the police presence for the event was weak and government aid was reportedly withheld. This was a stark contrast to the Black Lives Matter protest over the summer.

Over the summer, there were National Guard Troops on the Lincoln Memorial. National Guards were sent by the federal government to disperse a peaceful and lawful protest to make way for the former President’s walk to St. John’s Church. I viewed that on live television as it occurred. 88 protestors were arrested on a June 3 protest compared to only 26 arrested on the day of the Capitol riot. These examples were only in Washington D.C. The hypocrisy in this response doesn’t only draw me back to last summer, but into a deeper dive into our country’s history.

This is nothing new for black Americans. The Reconstruction era brought in the Ku Klux Klan along with widespread terror including murdering and lynching to southern Black families with no repercussions or accountability on the part of the transgressors.

In 1921, in response to racial tension and the economic advancements of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK, mobs of white residents were given weapons and authority by law enforcement to attack Black residents and destroy the city. due to the history being intentionally erased. Thousands of Black residents were left homeless and disenfranchised. Over America were decimated. The destruction would total around $32 million in today’s currency. This event is largely considered

&

the worst incident of racially-motivated violence in American history. There was no accountability. beaten on their way from Selma, AL to the state capitol. The demonstrators were charged by horses, beaten with nightsticks, the many brutalized bodies, a 14-year old girl was left needing skull fracture and carried the scars until his passing last year.

These events were displayed on televisions across the world and became known as Bloody Sunday. The state police of Alabama were the aggressors. There was no accountability.

13 members of the Black-militant group MOVE and an only dropped two bombs on the house but made the decision

Additionally, the nearby residents who had been previously evacuated were left was ever charged for the attack. There was no accountability.

SEMAJ MUSCO

Deputy Editor

When we look at the violence instigated at the Capitol and the response to said violence by those in charge, we must also look at the history that led us to this point. When looking at the historical precedent, there is a clear juxtaposition when examining the treatment of minority and white demonstrations.

The history is clear, and the events we all witnessed over the past year are extremely clear. The civil rights movement especially when it comes to law enforcement.

Taking this into consideration, as we move forward and confront the ugliness we saw on Jan. 6, we have to ask ourselves: Was the Capitol riot really an aberration?

Or was it exactly who we are?

OPINION Semaj Musco

THE SITUATION 23

EDI TORI ALS

& OPIN

ION

DR. ANDREA HAMILTON • History instructor, appointed 2019 • MA in history from Indiana University and PhD in history from Tulane University • BA in history and English from SMU, graduated magna cum laude

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• Author of four publications focused on history of girls’ and women’s education • Taught at Southern Methodist University’s University Honors Program, Tulane University, Indiana University and Houston Community College

REFLECTIONS ON TWO PARTIES

by Dr. Andrea Hamilton

It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.

— GEORGE WASHINGTON ON ‘POLITICAL FACTIONS’ IN HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS, 1796

A IN CONTRAST,

EVEN THOUGH

same

THE SITUATION 25

T

he 2020 Presidential Election and the controversies sparked by former President Donald Trump turned the nation’s focus towards the way our elections work.

Registration deadlines, the counting of mail-in ballots and other voting

Though voting is an integral part of our democracy, many Americans see the elections process as a mysterious affair shrouded in unkowns.

Bayoud claims that his decision will always anger one side of the political dispute, but the secretary of state — and any election

last election.

So who resolves these disputes on the state level? Who makes the calls about what votes to count and when to stop counting?

That duty falls on the Secretary of State.

the politics.

“When you make a decision about an issue, you’re bound Republicans in East Texas weren’t happy with my decision to

DURING HIS 1989-1991 tenure as Texas Secretary of State, George Bayoud played an instrumental role in the state’s elections.

but my political party should not matter. You’re there to make the GEORGE BAYOUD

Bayoud said. “The Secretary is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the governor, and so from one administration to the next – and even during a single administration – the individual serving in this capacity changes. However,

transparency in Texas’s polling process.

“During an election, typically you’ll have a Democratic and Republican observer or representative at a lot of the polling places, which I think is

Former Texas Secretary of State

“The county election remains the same and is an extremely professional and capable group of

at the local level are charged with putting on elections across the state, and the Secretary of

of state, Bayoud and the critical work The United States is meant to be a country governed by the will of its citizens. To accomplish that goal, spent time traveling they do. It worked well elected officials must work to keep elections fair through legsilation and enforcement. around Texas, when I served in that encouraging eligible Texans to register to vote. But during elections, his position feels the heat of the state’s and sometimes the country’s spotlight: the Secretary of State must ensure that Texas’ legislative laws are applied and interpreted ANOTHER ONE OF uniformly.

Bilingual Program Coordinator Laura Varela, attests to the precautions put in place by the state to ensure the fairness of elections.

“The Secretary of State always advises us on what we should be on STORY Henry McElhaney, Will Spencer GRAPHICS Will Spencer

26 FOCUS

poll watchers. There are managers at polling locations and reinforcements of the law and personnel inspecting and Claims of fraud and malpractice arise during every election, but the 2020 Presidential Election saw conspiracy theories and false claims rise to the national spotlight at an unprecedented level, especially with the rise in mail-in ballots due to the ongoing pandemic.

“Obviously, the mail-in ballot situation in other states has caused consternation, and I understand that. But I do not believe there was fraud in this election. There will always be

Since Bayoud retired in 1991, many changes have been made to the election process. To help voters adjust to these changes, Varela works to recruit bilingual citizens so the election English. with the federal regulation to have voter that’s coming in, that has that language barrier that they might not understand — they’re there to

paranoia surrounding election integrity, Varela believes that educating the community about the election process is the best solution.

“We’re trying to focus more on the educational aspect of educating the community of the entire process from beginning to end for whoever’s they know that the departments have integrity. Even during COVID, we’re having virtual meetings, and we’re planning to also have virtual community events, so we can educate the

community on election integrity, representatives

ON LOBBYING Though politicians swear to represent the interests of their voters, their stances on issues are often swayed by wealthy and influential third parties with special interests. Does lobbying have a place in democracy, or is it just legal bribery? braham Lincoln once famously described the More than a century later, it’s unclear whether his statement has held true, prompting an important Does our government actually represent us, or has it been compromised by the interests of large corporations and private industry?

Safal Joshi, father of senior Rajan Joshi, spent years as a lawyer for TXU Energy, a retail electricity provider.

In his time there, he got more insight into lobbying and how it works.

“Lobbying is when corporations or interest groups try to meet with legislators Joshi sees an imbalance of power and accessibility as the biggest concern in the fairness of lobbying.

“The downside of lobbying is that often its companies and individuals that have money and can pay lobbyists that get their voices heard more than the Joshi said. “So, the lobbyists are From a legal perspective, varying laws on lobbying throughout the country creates even “One issue is that some people want to limit the amount of money spent on lobbying because that results

lobbying. He believes that the practice can be a valuable tool for legislators.

“Lobbying can be important because it helps

state legislators on the subject.

“In the county, the Commissioner’s court also did an advisement earlier in January to go to the Secretary of State

Joshi said. “Not every congressman or legislator is knowledgeable on the issues they’re legislating on, so

Varela said. “We want everybody to know how elections actually

Recognizing both the advantages and disadvantages of lobbying, Joshi sees the practice as a tool with

Bayoud, however, continues to trust the administrators of Texas counties to keep our elections safe and fair.

“The counties do a very good job ensuring the integrity of

“It’s important for legislation to use informed input important for corporations to have a voice to change legislation and help their industries work well, but some would argue that it gives them too much say in how it is STORY Will Pechersky, Rajan Joshi, Trevor Crosnoe

THE SITUATION 27

Threatening the vote Throughout American history, democracy has been threatened by voter suppression, gerrymandering and discriminatory laws, among many others, limiting the power of the American people’s voice. Democratic Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson, who represents District 16 and the school, is pushing for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and to protect the integrity of elections.

A NATHAN M. JOHNSON

Texas State Senator

Elections have been

Washington Post

The

STORY William Aniol, Austin Williams, Myles Lowenberg PHOTO Creative Commons

28 FOCUS

Election SEC RITY D

With the rise of mail-in voting, Americans have increasingly questioned the validity of the 2020 election. While little to no evidence to support these claims was found by dozens of lower courts and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, election security has remained a concern for many citizens.

How do we ensure election security?

With the 2020 election’s

ETOV

DOMINION VOTING MACHINES

MAIL-IN VOTING

BALLOT COUNTING

STORY Luke Piazza, Peter Orsak, Arjun Khatti GRAPHIC Jonathan Yin

AUDITS

THE SITUATION 29

INFLECTION POINT

Upper School history instructor Dr. Bruce Westrate on what it means to be an American citizen.

Page 32

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY

A behind-the-scenes look at what it means to protect democracy through force.

Page 34

IMMIGRANTS

The stories of immigrants and their children who have come to America for a better life.

Page 38

EDITORIALS

The Editorial Board communicates its opinions on the Capitol riots and Congressional action.

Page 44

30 FOCUS

P the

P

eople W

hile democracy relies on an entire population, represented by a legislative body, to be effective, the value of the individual cannot be underestimated. It is the individuals who cast their votes, who talk politics at Thanksgiving and who make the small, everyday decisions that preserve our democracy.

THE PEOPLE 31

EDI TORI ALS

& OPIN

ION

DR. BRUCE WESTRATE • Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Master Teaching Chair in humanities • BA, MA, PhD in history at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor • Author of The Arab Bureau: British Policy in the Middle East

32 FOCUS

• Author of four published columns, including Another Confederate Soldier Falls, published in the National Review • Taught or presented at University of Oxford, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Texas at Austin and Purdue University

INFLECTION POINT

by Dr. Bruce Westrate

I

What does it mean to be a good American citizen? Indeed, that question, now lying at the core of our current troubles, begs a certain

1984

would seem a red line for any citizen of this of what you say but defend to the death your

I cite will, by some, be assailed as defending

In terms of intrinsic worth and deference,

guilty, racist nation embedded in the withered TRUE CIVILIZATIONS

is e pluribus unum Unless we choose to court chaos, American citizens should both embrace and celebrate

we all understand the United States to be Owing to the miraculous eighteenth-century

notwithstanding the banshee wails of those

connecting Boston and Richmond, of the seem to dramatically refute the scurrilous STILL,

THE ROLE

also undergirds the guarantee of equality

about the last honorable Roman standing at the bridge, guarding the city gate alone,

enthusiasm for muzzling, or muting freedom of

of both limitless elasticity and censorious

So out spake brave Horatius, the Captain of the gate To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late Then how can man die better, than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods.

It is from such words as these, that we

THE PEOPLE 33

DEFENDING THROUGH In light of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and President Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair Scott Hunt and head varsity wrestling coach Reyno What did you do in the State Guard?

In Texas, we have the Texas Military Department, of which there are three branches — the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard and the Texas State Guard. I was in the Texas State Guard. It all falls under the same command out of Camp Mabry in Austin, but as a State Guard member, I was not in a position where I would be deployed into a combat role overseas. Our primary mission[s] [were] disaster relief, defense support to civil authorities [and] command and control — that kind of thing. My primary deployments revolved around hurricanes, the last one being Hurricane Harvey, when I was activated for three weeks.

Why did you join the State Guard?

I was about 42, and I had gotten to a point in my life where I’d accomplished a lot of the things that I had set out to do when I was younger. I was at a point where I was

had done or regretted not doing?’ The one thing that stood out for me was not serving my country.

I was still able to get in as a 42-year-old. I

Candidate School.

How do your experiences in the State Guard affect how you view the deployment of about 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., for President Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20?

I feel for all of these National Guardsmen who got sent to D.C., because it’s incredibly disruptive.

The District of Columbia National Guard, Maryland National Guard and Virginia National Guard — they’re always there. I’ve been to three inaugurations, and there’re always about 10,000 National Guard troops. That’s not out of the ordinary.

I can tell you from personal experience: there is so much law enforcement in D.C.

that the people who made the decision to bring in 24,000 troops [were] trying to make a statement.

They were there as a show of force.

How does the Posse Comitatus Act relate to the inauguration and the military’s role in our democracy?

Posse Comitatus is a law that prohibits the use of U.S. military forces against U.S. citizens.

National Guards around the country fall under the command of their governors, so their commanderin-chief is the governor of their state. In that capacity, they’re under what’s known as Title 32.

That means they’re paid for by the state, funded through the state budget and under the control of the state and National Guard Bureau. National Guard troops can be placed under Title Ten, [which] means they’ve been federalized. Now the troops, even though they’re National Guard, National Guardsmen were brought in even though there’re tens of thousands of active-duty troops right there in the D.C. area because the active duty troops can’t legally do much of anything.

Governors willingly sent National Guard troops.

But Posse Comitatus doesn’t apply to National Guard troops under Title 32. In that role, they can provide Defense Support to Civilian Authorities, can be used in a law enforcement capacity. The thing that’s really, really important for people to understand. Regardless of whether you’re an many people consider that oath to be something for life — to the Constitution to follow the lawful orders of the commander-in-chief or persons appointed by him.

Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair Scott Hunt BULLSEYE Hunt served in the Texas State

Guard until February 2019, his main deployment being in Houston for Hurricane Harvey in 2017. During his time in the State Guard, he did competitive military marksmanship, competed in combat matches and trained for pistol, rifle, sniper and machine-gun competitions with National Guard, Air National Guard and Special Forces troops. He balanced his faculty responsibilities with his stated obligations for the State Guard, which were to report to either San Antonio or Austin one weekend a month.

34 FOCUS

DEMOCRACY FORCE Arredondo ‘87 reflect on their experiences to weigh in on the role of military power in politics and our nation’s democratic government.

Continued on Pages 36

Head Varsity Wrestling Coach Reyno Arredondo ‘87 SALUTING THE FLAG Arredondo

’87 (left) graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and had a 30-year-long military career until he joined the 10600 Preston Rd. faculty in 2017. In his time in the military, he was deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Arredondo worked to facilitate relations between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments for the Baghdad Security Plan from 2006 to 2008. He also worked to negotiate peace between the Kurds and Turkey in October 2007.

What do you see as the role of the military in upholding our form of government?

For me, and this is personal, the role of wars. Also, it is to uphold the security of our sovereign nation against enemies, both foreign and domestic. However, there are certain limitations that are governed by the Posse Comitatus Act, as well as just not crossing a boundary or utilizing military assets in a harmful way that could actually bring detriment to our country.

In light of the Capitol riots, how does the military connect with politics?

Domestic terrorism is when we have any kind of group, regardless of political party, subverting our local, state or federal governments. That should never be allowed.

Over the last year in our country, violence in some of our cities/states was allowed to occur; in a certain sense, some politicians supported it. When they let that proceed, to me, it set a horrible precedent, which manifested in violence on our Capitol. It crashed into a political framework that has not helped

our political climate at all. That being said, the military and even terrorists — I say just terrorists in general — can also be viewed as a piece of the political arm, just the violWent piece of a political arm.

What sort of political rights do soldiers give up when they enter the military?

The use of military force is a form of politics.

It is another option that our politicians have to utilize. And it’s normally selected because talking or our ability to have discourse with another country or group fails. Therefore, you’re crossing the threshold, so in lieu of diplomacy the politicians utilize the military.

It is very important to understand that from the United States’ perspective, the military is subordinate to the political leadership. As long as that’s maintained, we are in a great place.

Having been in the military, you become nonpartisan. We all have inalienable rights.

Well, as a soldier, sailor, airman or marine, you

wearing my uniform, I do not talk about politics and do not go to political rallies. I can attend those if I’m not at work and if I’m not in my uniform.

By that standard, it minimizes your political discourse — not that you can’t have political

abide by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

From a political perspective, you subordinate your political views to ensure your uniform has about our country is the professionalism by which our military goes about its business.

commander-in-chief, regardless of who that commander-in-chief is and regardless of their

When you see active soldiers, even reserve National Guard, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, talking out about whatever administration, that is illegal when they’re in their uniform. We’ve seen that occur over the last few years. For me, having served 30 years and maintained a nonpartisan view towards life in my profession, to see that is unnerving. One of the things that’s very important, too, about leadership is ensuring that the standards are set and followed. incumbent upon all leaders to ensure all standards are met by everyone — not just somebody that I like or dislike.

STORY Sai Thirunagari, Grant Jackson PHOTOS Courtesy Scott Hunt, Reyno Arredondo, Dylan Birch, Edward Ro

THE PEOPLE 35

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY Two recent alumni – Dylan Birch ‘09 and respectively, in the armed forces share their in protecting and preserving democracy.

Dylan Birch ‘09 HONORED Graduating from West Point a few years after his time at 10600

Preston Rd., Birch (left) was one of the 5,000 American troops deployed before the end of the Iraq War. During his time in the Army, Birch rose up the ranks from cadet to captain before leaving for a job at Morgan Stanley, where he now works in oil and gas corporate-client banking.

biased, whether it be one political party or the other. It’s extremely source that doesn’t have a political angle.

Do you feel an added responsibility or pride for your country having served right now?

In light of The Capitol Riot and President Biden’s heavily defended inauguration, how does the nation’s current political climate make you feel about your path you served in the armed forces?

Dylan Birch: I would say it’s less to do with the Capitol and more to do with the overall political climate amongst everyone. It’s almost like everyone has a sports team, and there are two sports teams in the country. When your sports team does something good, you cheer them on, make fun of the other side, and then when your sports team does something bad, you ignore it and say, “Oh well, we’ll forget about it.” Both sides do that nonstop nowadays, plus there’s social media.

It’s tough to see this kind of division, because no one can sit down and have conversation and have a beer anymore. And no one can really show maturity and just realize, “Maybe if I just keep my mouth shut and listen for once and do my own research or hear another person’s perspective, then maybe I’ll learn something.”

Social media has a large role in people not being able to do that, because you can’t look at a person in the face. The media is extremely

36 FOCUS

DB: No. In the military, we get taught to be apolitical. The majority of the military is Republican, but at West Point, and in particular to be apolitical. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what political party is in power.

We are serving them. We need to be mature about that and still execute the same job. At the end of the day we’re serving to protect the Constitution and the people, whatever belief is in the country. I actually didn’t vote while I was voted in was 2020. I was in Iraq in 2016. I just thought I should stay apolitical.

Do the recent events give you a different or changed perspective of the importance of the armed forces in any way?

DB: No, because at the end of the day, the military’s job is still the same, whether people are calling the Capitol rioters or Black Lives Matter domestic terrorists. Compared to what I got to see over in Iraq, it’s just not comparable to the atrocities you’ll see over there. Rioting is absolutely horrible, but people have made it over politicized. I think the military will always be there to help protect when called, but I don’t think our role changes because of what we saw at the Capitol riot. Hopefully, the media and

social media take a lesson against each other, creating situations like the ones we saw over the summer and during the Capitol riots. We’ve essentially normalized rioting.

What do you see as the role of the armed forces in upholding our form of government?

DB: Our role should be a passive role. We’re only there or should only be called for extreme circumstances. There’s no reason that our civilian police force or our intelligence agencies can’t handle anything domestic. The best way to describe it is a passive guardian. The need is when times get really tough. But odds are, you’re not going to need us. We’re just going to be their oversight. Hopefully some people can see the value of listening to some of our military leaders without it getting political because these are some of the most mature, level-headed people that you’ll meet. Pretty it develop and calmly come up with a plan.

Our generals and admirals have a lot of those qualities to be mature and let the situation develop and come up with a well thought out response that considers all angles. I think they make great politicians.

Are there any values or ideals that are emphasized at the Academy?

DB: At the Academy, the most heavily emphasized thing was doing the right thing when no one is watching. That was pretty heavily emphasized. If you look at our honor code, which a lot of colleges have adopted, it says, “A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those that do.” That’s obviously heavily emphasizing to have a moral and ethical back in all your decisions. Another one is as a leader: don’t tell your organization to do something that you yourself wouldn’t do, a thing that was very heavily emphasized.

THROUGH FORCE Edward Ro ‘18 – with pasts and futures, thoughts and beliefs on the role of the military Continued from pages 34-35 What do you hope to achieve from your time in the Academy and then your time in the Air Force, and what impact do you think you’ll have by serving in the Air Force?

Edward Ro: Something I’ve learned at the niche and really try to make a big impact in a small community. Currently, I’m a member of the Air Force parachute team, The Wings of Blue. Every summer, we teach hundreds of cadets to perform We take them from not knowing anything about skydiving to jumping out of the plane on their own in about four days. As a jumpmaster and a member of the parachute team, I am a teacher of ten to 12 cadets, and everything I teach, they will take with them to jump in a life-or-death scenario. All they have is what I tell them. In that way, I really in that small community, and that’s what I hope to do when I graduate here and go to the Air Force, whether I’m in charge of a squadron or a group.

In light of the Capitol riot and President Biden’s heavily defended inauguration, how does the nation’s current political climate make you feel about your path currently serving in the armed forces?

ER: The Capitol riot and the inauguration were a hot and controversial topic for the military. I read an NPR article the other day, and it said one in Forces or currently serving in the Armed Forces. It’s important that a democracy like America has an doesn’t seem that way right now. Freedom of speech is a huge part and privilege that we have as Americans, but when we put on our uniform, we have to remember that we’re a part of an organization and something that’s bigger than and your opinions, we have to remember we’re part of the military and we have to represent them.

Do you feel an added responsibility or pride for your country?

What do you see as the role of the armed forces in upholding our form of government?

ER: It’s important to note that our job is to protect this democracy, not to make decisions on it. It would be incredibly destructive for the military to lean politically one way or the other. It’s important that when such controversial topics come up, we have our opinions but we don’t pick a side on the matters. We’re just doing the big picture work in protecting America and our allies.

Edward Ro ‘18 IN UNIFORM As a current student at the Air Force

Academy pursuing a bachelor of science in operations research, Ro wanted to pursue the same “whole boy” education he found here.

Beyond academic rigor, Ro sees his present and future in the Air Force as one of teamwork and selflessness.

How does the Air Force’s role compare to other components of American armed forces?

ER: Recently in the news, you guys have heard about the creation of the Space Force and how it’s a subsection of the Air Force. Everything that the Air Force does right now is uncharted territory. Cyber space, all of that is within the realm of the Air Force. The future is really bright with the Air Force, and a lot of rules haven’t been set yet in the territory that we’re going into. As the pioneers of this new form of protection and warfare, we have to set the tone, create critical paths so that others after us can follow correctly. That’s what separates us from the rest of the armed forces.

How does what you learn at the Academy make you feel about our nation’s democracy?

ER: We have three core values here at the Air Force and excellence in all we do. All three apply very well to the way we should live our lives every day. Always live truthfully, put others and your organization before yourself and do your best in all you do. I think those values align very well with living our lives.

ER: Yeah, I think a lot of this polarization recently comes from a sense of people not feeling safe or stable here. That’s obviously a huge part of the military: to protect Americans and our rights. So

THE PEOPLE 37

MOSCOW, 1991.

All immigrants have something in common: a reason to immigrate. No family living in peaceful happiness picks up and flees to foreign lands on a whim.

Whether problems with political regimes, poor standards of living or promises of better opportunity, all immigrants have a reason for being so.

Daredjan “Baya” Kakouberi found herself in the United States in the strangest possible time that a citizen of the Soviet Union could be in the United States.

“In my particular case,” Kakouberi said, “it’s a little bit different from usual.

I never planned to emigrate. I had a career [as a concert pianist]. I didn’t know what this career would look like in 10 years, but at least I had some decent places to work. I ended up here by accident. I came here to play a concert. It was 1991. And two days later, the Soviet Union collapsed.”

38 FOCUS

T

he events of 1991 were a culmination of several years of instability in the country that ended with the dissolution of the union into 15 sovereign nations, accompanied by brutal civil wars in peripheral nations like Kakouberi’s home country of Georgia.

In December of 1991, though, Kakouberi was playing a concert in Cleveland, while her husband Karren Uglunts remained in Moscow.

“The public meetings and demonstrations started to happen,” Uglunts said, “and I got worried.

fellowship in San Antonio –– she was in New York at that time –– and my position allowed me to come to visit through a program created between the US and the USSR.” Living at the center of Moscow, Uglunts recalled the chaotic scene of “drunken Boris Yeltsin on a tank” as a signal that unstable times were ahead. But comparing the atmosphere of New York –– a city at the time ridden with crime and social issues –– to that of Moscow’s left Uglunts’s future path unclear. “[Baya] talked to me for about three hours,” Uglunts said, You can manipulate “explaining that New York is not one person for an the United States, and that might be a good thing. Any entire lifetime. You actually authoritarian regime’s capital is can manipulate squeaky clean, so coming from is a shock. And then you a small group of Moscow come into New York, and there

people for quite a long time. But you can’t manipulate everybody forever.

papers everywhere –– in New York circa 1990, 42nd Street was operational, but it was not family friendly.”

But even with Russia’s upheaval pushing them toward KARREN UGLUNTS President at CharismoUSA the United States, the couple had Corp. and immigrant to the another issue –– Kakouberi’s son, United States from Russia Vladimir Bogachev, was still in Georgia.

“There was extreme restriction from both sides,” Kakouberi said. “At that time, I was only starting my immigration process. So I was in between countries, and they needed someone to stay there as a guarantee that I would come back to Russia. It was legal for that to happen, but he was six years old, and there was a war in Georgia.”

Georgian.

“And while Baya and I were here,” Uglunts said, “we had to move him from Tbilisi to Moscow, and he started to learn Russian for one year. Then when we tried to get him over here –– we had to try twice; he he’s speaking English, and fast forward twenty years, he has an accent in Russian.”

For Kakouberi, the greatest test to the political makeup of the Soviet Union was the impossible lengths to which 15 separate countries tried to act like one.

Russia. We lived under this umbrella –– one that’s impossible for anyone to live under –– of the illusion of brotherhood; we just coexisted.”

That umbrella collapsed in 1991, sinking into civil war for each of the 15 republics.

“In that situation,” Kakouberi said, “I just needed to bring my family away as fast as I could.”

As for differences between politics in the United States and Russia, a great deal of the responsibility lies in the censorship of Russian media.

“There are 11 time zones in Russia,” Uglunts said, “so when it’s daytime in Vladivostok [a city in Russia’s far east], it’s night time in the western portion, where most Russians live. And by the time news reaches this portion of Russia, it’s heavily scripted. If they don’t like something, they’re immediately sending messages to the stations to take it out.”

Russia’s current political center of gravity revolves around Alexei Navalny, a lawyer and leader of a political opposition against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You could not say the word ‘Navalny’ on Russian television,” Uglunts said. “But about 32 percent of Russians have seen the documentary about [a scandal involving] Putin’s palace, and 12 percent have heard about it. That means that about 45 percent know about the corruption. But if you go back even two years ago, only three to knew about Navalny.”

One of the most prounounced changes Uglunts has seen in the political culture in Russia, however, has been with the mindset of young people.

“I talked to a friend of mine after she picked up her friend’s son, who’s 17 or 18 years old, from the police precinct,” Uglunts said. “He was arrested in a demonstration. And this guy is talking about how excited he is to be on TV. For a teenager, that’s cool, because they don’t understand the magnitude of what they’re involved with in a country like Russia. people who are very unhappy with what’s going on there.”

STORY Jamie Mahowald PHOTOS Courtesy Daredjan Kakouberi, Karren Uglunts

THE PEOPLE 39

LENINGRAD, 1977.

Compared to Uglunts and Kakouberi’s path to the United States from the former Soviet Union, Gary Levinson’s was ‘shorter, but much more complicated.’

A

month after his tenth birthday, in August 1977, Gary Levinson’s family decided to pursue the Israeli Law of Return program that declared “every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh [immigrant].”

To be a Russian Jew at any point in Russian history presented challenges, and the immigration process from Russia in the late 20th century was no exception.

“Not only did my parents have to apply through a third party and be approved by yet another party,” Levinson said, “but any knowledge of such applications, whether it was approved or disapproved, would result in them losing all status in the Soviet Union.”

At best, a Jewish emigrant would be stuck on the street, soliciting help from charity or relatives; at worst, he’d be placed in a Siberian labor camp. But as a family of musicians –– Levinson currently serves as the Senior Principal Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra –– the Levinsons saw an imperative to leave Russia.

“They’d say that if you have a talented kid at any kind of a musical instrument,” Levinson said, “you can forget that that kid can accomplish what his parents accomplished in the Soviet Union. It’s just not going to happen. If they’re not very good at what they’re doing but have connections, there’s a lot more leeway. But if they’re good at it, then you’ve got to go to the West.”

So the family, traveling through Budapest, Vienna and Rome, sought the help of HIAS, a humanitarian organization that aided Jewish immigrants. But by the time they left Russia, they learned they could go anywhere –– not Kippur war were still raging.

“Since there was no job waiting for anybody anywhere,” Levinson said, “they wanted to try it for Canada, where at least my father, who’s a very famous double bass player, had an opportunity to make a living.”

From Canada, Levinson moved with his family to Minneapolis before attending the

40 FOCUS

in Dallas. Looking back on the nuances of the professional music business –– an industry his family has known intimately –– as a microcosm

Probably the greatest thing you could be given as a musician in Russia was the opportunity to play in the West.

GARY LEVINSON Senior Principal Associate Concertmaster, Dallas Symphony Orchestra

systems.

“In America, potential was being auditioned,” Levinson said. “I don’t know that potential was big in Russia. And, in fact, I know that with [socialist revolutionary Arkadi] Kremer, it was highly discouraged. If you had average ability but very high potential, they would rather have somebody whose ability and potential were both average. They didn’t want that person to stick out and make noise.”

For Levinson, among the Soviet Union’s fatal people it wants in the country to stay in the country –– a theme Uglunts and Kakouberi noticed as well.

“If your nation’s government is looking at its economy as a way of just doing menial work and not rewarding talents,” Levinson said, “ whatever that talent may be –– could be doctors, could be lawyers, could be thinkers –– those people can go somewhere else where they are being rewarded.”

In places like these, Levinson believed, it’s not a question of locking everything down and forcing the right people to stay.

“It’s a question of creating an environment in your nation that is conducive to the people you’re trying to keep in there,” Levinson said. incentivizes other people to do what you want them to do, not put a gun to their head.”

Levinson also recalls the struggles of David Oistrakh, a Soviet violinist and one of the most famous classical musicians from Russia in the early 20th century.

“He made about 100 U.S. dollars per concert,” Levinson said.” And Goskontsert, which was the Russian management, took everything else.” (Continued on next page) And when Oistrakh wanted to buy a violin

of his own, Levinson recalled, the Soviet the public sector from his out-of-pocket earnings. until then. And he was the best of the best.”

The lack of artistic incentive is doubly frustrating in a country like Russia that remains uniquely invested in the arts.

“When we were in St. Petersburg, the conservatories, the concert halls, the ballet halls — every one of them was packed with people at the same night,” Levinson said. “The arts give them hope.... but, like with Oistrakh, unless you’re fully corrupt, you’re just not going to be appreciated for what you’re capable of doing with those people. The incentive is removed.

Eliminated.”

But even taking incentives into account, Levinson saw one of the fatal issues of Russian democracy –– and in its relation to American democracy –– as a plain lack of interest.

“We had an interesting incident when we were in Russia in ’19,” Levinson said. “So we were at a dinner with some people. Both very educated, highly real-estate involved people. And within two seconds, when we sat down, they said something like, ‘We’re so relieved you’re here, because everyone on the news tells us that the United States is busy preparing an attack on the Russian Federation.’”

“And I said to them, ‘I’m not aware that we’re mobilizing anything. Plus, if you just look at the satellite picture of the earth, it’s kind of hard to sort of avoid that.’”

“And they say, ‘Oh, why would I do that?

Well, we hear it in all of the newspapers here.’”

“Unlike a place like China, they’re not blocking any of these sites. And everybody’s got everything. But there’s no interest. No interest in

Gary Levinson as a conductor and violinist in the United States and Soviet Union.

No one told them not to.”

STORY Jamie Mahowald PHOTOS Courtesy Gary Levinson

THE PEOPLE 41

Pithou Nuth’s refugee card when he arrived in America.

ESCAPE FROM CAMBODIA

Pithou Nuth spent his ‘middle school’ days facing hunger and oppression, working in Cambodian labor camps and fighting for his survival every day for six long years.

P

ithou Nuth, father of senior Andrew Nuth, had a tough childhood.

That might be an understatement. A workout can be tough. A test can be tough. This was beyond tough. Nuth walked, barefoot and starving, from one edge of the country to the other. Along the way, he saw his father for the last time. He witnessed corpses lining the side of the highway. He watched his grandparents slowly wither away and die. He saw his youngest brother perish from diarrhea and lack of medicine. Helpless and focused on his own survival, all the young boy could do was look on.

In 1975, the Marxist-Leninist Khmer Rouge regime came to power in Cambodia. Led by Pol Pot, an improvement to the corrupt, American-backed military dictatorship before it.

“There was a lot of corruption, and many people were rooting for the Khmer Rouge to take over and start a new regime,” Nuth said. “At least they would help rebuild the country and we would live happily ever after. That didn’t happen.”

Soon after, the Khmer Rouge forced residents countryside.

“They told us that the Americans were going to bomb the city,” Nuth said. “That was their propaganda. There were young soldiers going around the city with AK-47s and M-16s, so we didn’t have much of a choice, really. They told us we would be back in two or three days at the most.”

It soon became clear Nuth’s family would have to wait much longer, sheltering in a Buddhist temple. The days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Yet, it didn’t have to be this way in Royal Cambodian Air Force, could have moved the family to the United States because of his ties to the American military. However, he ultimately decided against this.

“My father was a patriot,” Nuth said. “He chose to stay because the Khmer Rouge were also beliefs. They didn’t like the military dictatorship, but a lot of the population didn’t like it because of their corruption.”

Several months later, the Khmer Rouge regime like Nuth’s father, to return to Phnom Penh to help

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the struggling nation. But as far as Nuth knows, his father never made it.

“The plan was for him to go and help rebuild the country and then for us to come after him,” Nuth said. “[When he left for Phnom Penh] was the last time we ever saw him. Most likely, he was executed on the highway to the capital. Some [military personnel] were imprisoned in the capital, used for intelligence, tortured and then executed, but my aunt went back after we were liberated, and To this day, Nuth doesn’t know the exact fate of his father. Like many victims of the Cambodian Genocide, he disappeared without a trace.

Without his father, the monks forced Nuth and the rest of his family out of the temple. Nuth’s family followed the highway across the country, eventually ending up in Battambang Province along the Thai border.

“We had to go from village to village and worked in labor camps, digging dikes and clearing the jungle,” Nuth said. “Some time along the way, my grandparents passed away. They were sick and didn’t have much to eat. So we moved on to another village and another after that.”

The Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge and the versions of communism. In 1979, tensions came to a head, and Vietnam invaded Cambodia, liberating Nuth and his family. They journeyed to a refugee camp in Thailand in search of food. Ultimately, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas sponsored his family to settle in Carrolton, TX. Nuth and his brothers joined Newman Smith High School, and the hydrants,” Nuth said. “We got here in July, and my sponsor took us to get enrolled in school. They put me and my brothers in ninth grade because they didn’t know what to do with us. We’d been out of school since 1975. Now, it was 1981, with six years of living in the jungle and in labor camps.”

Throughout ninth grade, Nuth took ESL classes to learn English. He lacked a basic understanding of American history and government.

“At that age, I was focusing on making my English better at school, and I didn’t really know the political system,” Nuth said. “Actually, when [former President Ronald] Reagan got shot, we all thought

Pithou Nuth (left) with former President George W. Bush at the Samritan Inn Gala.

Nuth in his camp (left), holding up his identification numbers. we had to go back to Cambodia because they will shut down the immigration program.”

Nuth only began studying other subjects, such as United States history, in 10th grade. He didn’t take a course on the United States government until senior year. He didn’t have a good understanding of American democracy or politics, but he was “I just was happy I was here,” Nuth said. “I worked at Jack in the Box, so I had a free hamburger pretty much every day. At that time, I couldn’t care less about politics. I was safe, I got to go to school and we had food to eat.”

Nuth and his brothers worked hard and excelled in high school, earning the nickname “The Fabulous Nuth Brothers” for their academic achievements.

Still, the decision to go to college wasn’t easy. It would mean paying tuition and being unable to earn money to support his mother. But Nuth eventually found his way to the University of Texas at Austin struggled. The A’s he earned in high school turned into C’s in college. College also presented Nuth an furious” high school experience.

“I had to pinch myself because I felt so fortunate,” Nuth said. “Sometimes, I would get up in the middle of the night from nightmares, thinking that I was back in a labor camp when I was really laying on my bed in my dormitory.”

In the years since graduation, Nuth has found success as an entrepreneur. He’s married and has two kids. By his own admission, he’s lived the American dream. The once-shoeless child focused on survival met the leader of the free world, former President George W. Bush, at a charity event.

Although he believes things aren’t perfect here, Nuth is still glad to live in America.

“We were very fortunate to come to the United States,” Nuth said. “A lot of people had to return to Cambodia after the refugee camps were closed.

In Cambodia, Prime Minister [Hun Sen] has been there for nearly forty years. During their last election, he basically shut down the opposing party.

When you compare the two systems, the United States is so much better. I’m very happy to be here.”

STORY Keshav Krishna PHOTOS Courtesy Pithou Nuth

FLEEING A COMMUNIST CUBA

Left: Martin and his family in 1966 when they picked up his grandmother from Cuba.

Below: Martin, his father and his sister in early 1962, shortly before they left for the states in July of 1962.

Math instructor Cory Martin and his family left behind their wealth and power in communist Cuba for a chance at a better life in America.

H

is parents had everything in Cuba.

His grandfather was a senator under Fulgencio Batista. His family owned a massive sugar and rice plantation. They were among the top one percent of the population.

As Fidel Castro began to gain power, and the country began to fall to communism, his family was forced to make a decision.

Drop everything they owned and come to America or remain in the upper class in a communist country?

So, on July 17, 1962, when he was only 42 days old, math instructor Cory Martin and his family took a single suitcase on the Castro locked down the country.

He first lived in Miami and became a part of the large Cuban population there.

“Especially in certain parts of Miami,” Martin said, “you didn’t have to speak English. You could

parents insisted we spoke English so we could learn as much as we could. It was very we had the great fortune of growing up in the United States.”

Martin grew up and attended school in Mesquite, spending summers in Florida with his family. He then went to SMU for college, taught boarding school in Virginia and then came back to Dallas to teach here after graduate school at the University of North Texas.

The biggest challenge Martin says he faced was the preconceived notion people had “Once I got to know people, it wasn’t an issue,” Martin said. “But speak Spanish, so many thoughts would race to their head about who I am, most of them being stereotypes about being poor and uneducated.”

His parents were extremely anti-communist because of the conditions that they came from.

People in fact preferred Spanish. But outside of Miami, like when I came

CORY MARTIN

Because of the large Mexican choice to leave their life in Cuba Math Instructor population, Martin says many out of their fear of what the Texans made assumptions about him country would become. and his family despite his mother studying to “We didn’t come for a better life,” be a lawyer and his father graduating from Martin said. “We left a better life. You Vanderbilt as a mechanical engineer. don’t realize it as much growing up, but the “If you spoke Spanish, everyone just whole experience of losing everything and assumed you were Mexican,” Martin said. immigrating to a new country has had a great “Not just that you were Mexican but that you were poor and uneducated.”

Leaving communist Cuba led to his family Growing up, he was forced to stick with the small community of Cubans in Dallas. hand what communism could do to a country “The Americans generally just assumed I was Hispanic,” Martin said. “But I was “They were very anti anything generally white enough that I was not communist,” Martin said. “They opposed embraced by the Hispanic community, so we anything the Soviets did and did not want stuck with the small Cuban community.” to see the spread of communism anywhere His family did their best to assimilate in in the world, especially because it took America as soon as they arrived. everything from them and forced them to “At home, we only spoke Spanish,” start a new life.”

Martin said. “But when we went out, my Living in America, his family was

patriotic. Having experienced living in Cuba, his parents believed this is the best country in the world. to play soccer,” Martin said, “my parents told me to go experience it and enjoy it. But United States.’ The standard of living and the way of life is not easily duplicated anywhere else in the world.”

STORY Eric Yoo PHOTOS Courtesy Cory Martin

THE PEOPLE 43

EDITORIALS OPINION

&

Former President Trump must be held accountable for role in Capitol riot

I actions have

CONSEQUENCES

44 FOCUS

Former President Donald Trump and his successor, President Joe Biden.

Biden administration must deliver on promises, facilitate swift recovery

W looking to

OUR FUTURE

THE PEOPLE 45

46 FOCUS

4.16.2021

April 16, 2021.

It’s been over three months since the U.S. Capitol was stormed by violent mobs. Our country still faces an enormous excess of issues.

Recent legislation passed in Georgia has serious implications of voter suppression, members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community face unprecedented discrimination and gun violence is at an all-time high. Americans still feel that their systems are injured, their politicians are spineless and their rights are at risk.

Societies repress speech, oppress minority groups, succumb to the perils of tyranny and foster a political bureaucracy so frustratingly incompetent that the television series Parks and Recreation was able to successfully satirize it for seven seasons. Societies are fragile.

But they’re necessary. Societies bring community, common culture, opportunity and a sense of belonging. As humans, we need those things.

Our systems may be functioning slower than they’ve ever been, our politicians may be more polarized than they’ve ever been and our fight for equality may not be over, but our government has not collapsed.

This is my last Focus magazine as editor. These are the last few words that I’ll publish before I pass the torch.

I want to leave you all with a message of hope.

I have hope that these are just growing pains. I have hope that our greatest days are ahead of us. I have hope that the great American experiment was not a failure.

Only time will tell.

CRISTIAN PEREIRA

Editor-in-chief

AFTERMATH 47

“For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say: No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation.”

– George H. W. Bush