Special announcement for you on this lovely Wednesday: the weather is nice! Or at least it is where I live. Yesterday was also quite nice—I went roller skating and I could feel the snakeskin of seasonal depression slipping off my body. I hope the sun is shining just as bright in your corner of the world.

In alignment with the mood-boosting weather, today Paola Mendoza reports from her native Colombia on last weekend’s presidential primary and the shifting tides in Latin America. I can’t remember the last time I was so pumped about a presidential candidate, but Mendoza’s hope for the future of Colombia and their potential next vice president gave me chills–and I know it’s not from the cold because as I cannot say enough, the weather is good.

Also on the agenda today: a better way for your boss to celebrate Equal Pay Day. Do you feel fairly paid or is your job just sucking your life force and paying you in Starbucks gift cards? Let us know at [email protected]!

But first, let’s check in on the rest of the world.

 —Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

• On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addressed the US Congress and requested the country’s help to stop Russian attacks. Some specific asks were a no-fly zone over Ukraine, increased military and humanitarian aid, and a new “union of responsible countries” tasked with stopping these kinds of conflicts immediately. Zelenskyy also called on President Joe Biden to be a “leader of peace.”

• Peace, whatever that will look like, is allegedly close at hand. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that a “compromise” was in sight between Ukraine and Russia, which could see Kyiv deemed a neutral zone. President Zelensky says that the compromises being discussed in peace talks are becoming more realistic, but he still cautions patience.

• One year ago today, eight people were killed during a shooting at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, Georgia. In the last year, hate crimes against Asian people have increased over 300% partly due to misinformation over the coronavirus. If you’re in New York City tonight,  Wednesday, consider joining Governor Kathy Hochul, author Min Jin Lee, Asian American Federation founder Jo-Ann Yoo, and many others at the Justice for Asian Women rally in Times Square. It starts at 5 p.m. If you can’t make it in person, consider sending a donation to the AAF’s Hope Against Hate project here.

  AND:

• Congress is getting rid of Daylight Savings and I’m trying to think of a more useless thing that they could have done to avoid their actual jobs. Doesn’t anyone want to work!?

• Mass graves have been located in Syria, which may provide evidence of war crimes carried out by Bashar al-Assad’s government.

• Jane Campion done fucked up. But she’s sorry.

• Anyone else thinking of student loans again, now that we’re two months away from turning them back on? 

• Con-woman Anna Sorokin does not have time for deportation.

THERE’S STILL HOPE IN POLITICS

I Believe in Francia

How it felt voting for Colombia’s most progressive political candidate in years 

BY PAOLA MENDOZA

FRANCIA MÁRQUEZ CELEBRATING A HISTORIC NIGHT WITH GUSTAVO PETRO (PHOTO BY DARWIN TORRES) 

Last week, I boarded a plane and flew 2,486 miles from my home in New York City to Bogotá, Colombia, the city where I was born. I went there to vote in the Presidential primary elections—not just for any candidate, but for Francia Márquez.

Voting for Francia means voting for a Colombia that centers the most vulnerable, the most in need, those who have suffered at the hands of corrupt politicians, the 52-year civil war, and generational poverty. On election night, she looked into the cameras that surrounded her and spoke to the Colombian people. “I acknowledge the nobodies,” she said, “the nobodies of Colombia, those from the mountains, plains and neighborhoods of this country who accompanied us.”

Francia is one of those “nobodies” she was talking to on election night. She is an Afro-Colombian woman who was born in Yolombó—a small village where she grew up working in artisanal gold mining. Her activism began at 14, when she organized her community against the construction of a dam that would have dramatically altered the way of life for her people. Francia lost that battle but she refused to stop fighting for her community and her land. In 2014, she led a group of at least 80 women in a 350-kilometer march to the capitol to protest illegal gold mining. In 2018 she won the “Nobel Prize of environmentalism”—the Goldman Prize—for her work. Her activism has come at great personal cost. Colombia is one of the deadliest places on earth to be an environmental activist and in 2019 Francia survived an assassination attempt. 

Two years later, she launched her presidential campaign. Initially, the political establishment, the wealthy, and even some of her own community wrote her off—they said she was just an activist, she’d never held public office, she didn’t have experience. She’s also young (now 40), became a single mom as a teenager, and is the first Afro-Colombian woman to run for President. Everyone thought these qualities were a detriment; Francia believed they were exactly why she should be President. Last year I interviewed Francia for The Meteor and asked her what she would say to people who criticized her lack of experience. “The experience white men have has not allowed my family to live in dignity,” she told me. “Or my people. Or this country. So what experience are they talking about?… The experience that allows these powerful men to use violence against their own people and kill them?… Well, that experience I don’t want to learn.”

This was the reason I flew to my homeland to vote for Francia. I left Colombia when I was just three years old, but I have always had a strong connection to it—my mom would send me back to live with my grandmother for the summers so she could work in the United States. When I was 14, I came back to live in Colombia for three years—three years that saved my life, that allowed me to connect with my people and my history, that provided me safety and security when I was at my most vulnerable. I owe such a debt of gratitude to this country. The least I can do is participate in building a better future for all Colombians—and so I always return to vote.

“The experience white men have has not allowed my family to live in dignity”

Election day was warm and sunny in Bogotá. There were streams and streams of people walking into the convention center on the Sunday my cousin and I went to vote. I showed security my cedula (Colombian ID), and off I went to find table 99. The beautiful thing about voting in Colombia is that you don’t have to be registered to vote, which is what should happen here in the U.S.—if you’re 18, the legal voting age, you can vote. And unlike the U.S., there are pictures of all the candidates, and you simply mark an X over the person’s face. It was thrilling to put my X over Francia’s picture—a historic moment for her, and for the whole country.

When the votes were tabulated that night, the leading candidate in Francia’s party, Gustavo Petro, got over four million votes, and she received 781,865, which is a lot in Colombia. It is an extraordinary feat that Francia Márquez came in third place behind Petro and Federico Gutiérrez, a right-wing candidate; she had more votes than three-time presidential candidate and former mayor of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo, and beat a handful of other well-known men from the political establishment. The headline of the night was that Francia dominated—and a new political force was born in Colombia. If she is selected as Gustavo Petro’s vice presidential candidate and if they win in May, she would be the first Black woman VP in our country’s history. And regardless, I believe Francia is on her way to one day being La Presidenta of Colombia.

ELECTION DAY IN COLOMBIA. WHO DO YOU THINK SHE VOTED FOR? (PHOTO BY DARWIN TORRES)

That’s the celebration for me: that Francia continues to show the power of the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities in a country that excludes and abuses them; the strength of feminism; and the audacity of being unabashedly progressive, pro-choice, and pro-environment in everything she fights for. She is a political candidate for the future of this country.

Isn’t this what’s needed everywhere? Our world feels like it’s collapsing—we’re still in the throes of a pandemic, we’re on the verge of a massive war, it’s scary and it’s exhausting. I don’t want the same leadership. I want something different. I want women’s leadership—progressive women’s leadership. And it is Latin America that is showing the world how this is done.

In the U.S., rights are being taken away from so many people, and the rise of the white conservative woman is aiding and abetting that. But in Latin America, Honduras just elected its first female president, Xiomara Castro, who’s a socialist; Chile recently elected its youngest President, Gabriel Boric, who ran on a feminist socialist platform; and feminist values are sweeping Latin America with the Green Wave movement for reproductive rights. So often in the U.S., we don’t look to others—we think we know more than everyone else in the world. But right now, we need to look to the south for a roadmap.

I look to Francia.

WERK

Does Your Job Deserve You?

Before you go… let’s chat Equal Pay Day

This week marked Equal Pay Day, the day when women (on average) famously have to work each year to make what men made the year before. For Black women specifically, the day doesn’t roll around till September 21; for Latinx women, it’s practically a whole year later, on December freaking 8! Years ago, I worked for a wonderful feminist boss who christened that day National Go Ask For a Raise Day (I did), and that’s always a good way to spend the holiday, but… what if we didn’t have to spend so much time advocating for and improving ourselves at work?

Last week I went to a book event for Reshma Saujani, author of the new book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work, and Daisy Auger-Dominguez, author of Inclusion Revolution. And the thing that got the most applause in the room was when they both told the audience to just stop trying to be better. “I don’t want to hear another word about mentoring, or how to get over imposter syndrome, or how to work ‘harder faster,’” said Reshma. “We’re already showing up overqualified. They need to deserve us.”

I’ve got nothing against work advice for women; I’ve given it, taken it, and do office hours on Sunday afternoons with folks interested in media (DM me). But as Reshma noted, half the time women already have more skills and qualifications than the job requires; what’s missing is a workplace that’s worthy of us—with paid leave and child care to accommodate our lives. (The pay gap increases sharply, especially for women of color, when you have a child or take on other caregiving responsibilities.)

All this is no surprise—it’s part of what’s fueling the Great Resignation. But in a week where billionaires told us to pull up our bootstraps, it’s a good reminder. Maybe your boss (and your Senator) should take that leadership course instead.

—Cindi Leive

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