đ It's Not a Conspiracy, It's a System đ
A homemade "get out the vote" poster on North Vancouver Ave, Portland.
I was traveling in South America the month that Donald Trump was inaugurated and everyone had one question for me:
âPorque votaron a Trump?â
âWhy did you guys vote for Trump?â
âWell,â I would answer, bluntly. âMostly white people voted for him, motivated by racism and fear of immigrants. There is also lot of misogyny, people hate Hillary Clinton. And people with a lot of power in the United States see that the dynamics in the country are changing and they think Trump will turn the country back to how it was in the 1950s.â
âBut also, itâs worth pointing out that only half of Americans voted.â Voter turnout was lower in 2016 than it had been in 20 years. Pundits like to say that people donât vote because theyâre lazyâespecially young people, who donât even register to vote.
But the lack of voting isnât by accident, itâs by design. Whenever someone would ask about Trump, I would launch into a rant about all the ways that American democracy is designed to actually keep people from votingâespecially poor people and people of color. Election Day is on a Tuesday, when most people donât get the day off work and you have to show up in person at a specific location to vote. For teachers, nurses, and servers, getting out to vote means waking up at dawn or taking time off work without pay. You have to register to vote usually over a month in advance and, if you move, your registration becomes invalid. Voting guides are often not published in languages other than English. Â Then thereâs voter ID laws. And laws that strip voting rights from people with criminal records. Non-Americans were often so bewildered by this slew of anti-democratic policies that I wound up downloading a series of charts to my phone so I could show them to taxi drivers or Tinder dates or German hikers or whoever else asked. Look! In Florida, the biggest swing state of them all, 21% of Black adults are banned from voting! âBecause of laws passed during the Jim Crow Era that specifically aimed to disenfranchise Black people! GAAHHHH!
Iâm not a conspiracy theorist. Iâm an anti-capitalist. All of these policies add up to elections that are intentionally designed to make it harder for the Americans who would be most likely to vote for change to actually cast a ballot. The obscenely wealthy white people who, by and large, write our laws, donât want poor people voting. They donât want people of color voting. They make plenty of money when only 50% of Americans turn out to vote. Â The laws could be changed to make it easier to vote. When Oregon passed a little law that automatically registered people to vote at the DMV, it swiftly increased voter turnout more than any other state.
Does voting actually matter? In a two-party system where weâre usually stuck choosing between the lesser of two evils, itâs easy to get hopeless and feel like showing up to the polls is just clocking in on a scam-job. But I always think: If voting didnât matter, why would people at the top be trying so hard to make it impossible?
This Week's Comic
Stuff I Made
Comic - I reported a new comic about reproductive rights in the state that ranks worst for womenâs health: South Dakota. I was inspired over and over while interviewing women who work to protect abortion access in South Dakota, despite living with constant threats and fear. Whatâs happening in South Dakota could happen everywhere in the country if Republicans sweet the elections.
Comic - I also edited artist Sage Coffeyâs comic about transgender people running for office. Iâm glad we got this piece out in the world right before the election!
Â
Stuff I Love
Voting By Mail - In Oregon and Washington, your ballot arrives in the mail and we have weeks to fill it out before election day. I love this system because it dramatically increases voter turnout but also because it means I can have friends over to talk about every issue on the ballot while we drink and fill out our votes. I'm writing this email from a Seattle coffee shop and the guy at the table next to me is filling out his ballot right now. What a great Sunday-morning activity! Every state should have vote by mail. End of story.
Upgrade Soul - My favorite graphic novel of the year so far is cartoonist Ezra Clayton Daniels' compelling and emotionally complex sci-fi story about an elderly couple who try to cheat death. Pick it up!
Lizzo - It has come to my attention that not all of my friends are listening to Lizzo?! She is the greatest rapper, flutist, and Ursula-lover of our time! Start with âGood as Hellâ and work your way through the rest of her work from there. Also, while Iâm recommending rappers, please listen to this Noname song and take note of the brilliant lyrics.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Real talk, all I have been doing with my nights is trying to keep my partner Ben awake long enough to watch episodes of new Netflix series Sabrina. I love the world of this show, like how witches shout âpraise Satan!â when good things happen. Also, the outfits are top notch. I would cosplay any character in this series.
Lentil Soup - âtis the season for some healthy glop. True story: the first time I went to a comicon, I had enough money for a ticket but not enough money for food to eat during the festival. So I decided to make a giant batch of lentils and just bring them in Ziploc bags to the festival to be my food all weekend. They are so cheap! And so high in protein! The perfect food! I made it through one bag and one day of this all-lentil diet before going insane and pledging to never eat lentils again. But I just read this coconut curry lentil soup recipe in an issue of Bon Appetit that a former roommate subscribed to and is now his ongoing legacy in my life. It looks good enough to win back any lentil hater.
Someone to Know
Erika Moen
For as long as Iâve been reading books, Erika Moen has drawn honest and insightful comics about sexuality and relationships. What started off as a diary comic about her life has evolved into a decade-long career penning stories that shine a light on taboo subjects. Now, she and her partner have a new book out! Drawn to Sex is a collection of sex-ed comics. If you canât make it to the release party in Portland on November 15, pick up a copy online.
Something to Do
Try not eating meat for a week. I've mostly vegetarian since high school, when I read an article about how factory farms are really bad for the environment, the economy, and the animals, and vowed, "Never again!" But I try not to be evangelical about it. Food ties deeply into culture, history, and identity. I'm not out here to judge anyone for what they eat or why. But I do think Americans and other people in wealthy countries consume far more than our fair share of resources by eating a ton of meat. So here's my challenge for this week, if you're a meat-eater: Over the Thanksgiving turkey-mania season, try to go a week without eating meat. Anything you can do to cut your meat-consumption will help you have less of an impact on the environment. It's easier than you think to not eat meat for every meal. Here's a recipe for Breakfast Nachos to get you started.
Â
Iâll write to you next week! In the meantime, keep in touch on Instagram and Twitter, okay? If this is your first time seeing this newsletter, you can subscribe here.