Letter From the Editors: Fall 2020 Issue XI

Dear readers,

It is safe to say that this year and this semester have been unlike anything any of us have experienced before. We often see headlines in newspapers or on television and think about those affected by the events narrated. But this year, for one of the first times in history, a news headline has affected not a specific group of individuals or a community, but the entirety of our world. Never before have we simultaneously felt so distanced from each other yet so linked with the world at large. From our personal lives to our economy, inequalities and racial relations, climate change and the COVID-19 global pandemic have altered our lives and will impact us for years, decades, and even generations to come. 

Beyond the unfathomable pain and grief that the virus itself has caused millions around the world, this pandemic set the stage for the most important wave of social activism in recent history, as it exacerbated income disparities, health care inequality and systemic racism in the United States and around the world. The protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in May not only occurred during a global pandemic but during an election season that polarized the United States in such ways that many wondered if it was on the brink of a new Civil War. This unrelenting political fight resulted in a victory for Joe Biden, a 77-year-old white man who inherits the hopes and pressures of a dynamic, polarized, and diverse young generation who yearns for justice and social change more than ever. This generation, our generation, is also the one who will lead the fight against climate change to protect an environment threatened by wildfires in Australia, Brazil and California, the constant rise in sea level, and the unimpeded destruction of our natural world. This generation is also the one who took to the streets to protest a failing government in Lebanon, police brutality in Nigeria, and to call out and sensitize people around the world to the Chinese government’s roundup of Uyghur Muslims into work and reeducation camps. Despite these news headlines and the impact that they’ve had on our lives, our resilience has shown that our generation can overcome the challenges of today and tomorrow. 

This semester, the Arcadia Political Review, like all other student groups on campus, coped with the challenges of a virtual semester. Through zoom meetings with people both on campus and remotely from Long Island, Houston and Geneva, our board members, editors, layout team, and writers have worked hard to come up with what we hope to be a special print for a unique semester. 2020 will be etched in history books and we are proud to give Wesleyan students a platform to reflect upon what happened throughout this year through the work of our talented writers who, more than ever, yearned to give their perspective on current affairs. For the first time ever, Arcadia has merged an entire year’s worth of content into a single comprehensive issue. Shutdowns from COVID-19 thwarted our most ambitious semester to date last Spring, but we at Arcadia were committed to publishing the pre-election works of all of our writers in 2020. These are our generation’s voices; these are our peer’s voices; these are our voices. 

Enjoy and stay healthy.

Gabe Goldberg  and Marcel Thompson

Editors-in-Chief