Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Think Outside
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The Block
VOL. 200, NOS. 5–6 | 2022
CONTENTS
7 40 46 54 79
The Brief Putin’s Very Meta The Long Time Off
Prisoner The metaverse will Game
31 What the detention of alter our lives. Possibly Jim Clyburn’s unsung
The View Brittney Griner says
about the clash of
for the better
By Matthew Ball
quest for Black
political power
superpowers The false promise By Molly Ball
By Sean Gregory of a play-to-earn
blockchain game
By Chad de Guzman
and Andrew R. Chow
62 72 △
Power Train Enjoying The View Andean flamingos
may be affected by
A new lithium mine in Argentina How Joy Behar both lithium mining
could fix EVs’ dirty secret gets away with it all and climate change
By Ciara Nugent By Belinda Luscombe
A Vietnamese electric-car company Photograph by
goes global by way of North Carolina Sebastián López
By Charlie Campbell Brach for TIME
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C O N V E R S AT I O N T I M E 1 0 0 H E A LT H S U M M I T
On the Covers
Illustration by Micah
Johnson for TIME
A matter of health
Looking for a
HOW LONG THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC and co-founder of meditation app Calm, specific cover?
will last is one of the biggest questions fac- and James Park, Fitbit vice president and Order your favorites at
ing the world at present—and one of the general manager, about their work at the timecoverstore.com
major issues addressed at the TIME100 intersection of health and technology.
Health Summit that took place on July 15. Park said Fitbit has helped him person- TA L K T O U S
At the summit, White House COVID- ally develop healthier habits, like spread-
19 adviser Dr. Ashish Jha said this pan- ing out exercise throughout the workday, ▽
SEND AN EMAIL:
demic will end, just as all previous pan- and Smith explained how, when Calm letters@time.com
demics have ended, but that’s not likely data showed usage spiked around 11 p.m. Please do not send attachments
to happen in the next few months. “We as people listened to meditations to fall
need to get to a point where we have vac- asleep, he worked to create a line of bed- ▽
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told senior correspondent Alice Park at James and Harry Styles. facebook.com/time
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the virtual event, which was sponsored by Representative Lauren Underwood, a
Fujifilm. He said such vaccines could still nurse and Democratic Congresswoman
be three to five years away, though that representing a northern Illinois district, Letters should include the writer’s
timeline might be sped up with strategic talked about the challenges of governing full name, address and home
investments, as the science is “moving since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned telephone, and may be edited for
very quickly.” Roe v. Wade in June. She called for the purposes of clarity and space
The TIME100 Health Summit also ad- end of the filibuster so that the U.S. Sen-
G R I N E R : P H O T O G R A P H B Y S T E P H E N G O S L I N G — N B A E /G E T T Y I M A G E S
dressed mental well-being. Michelle Wil- ate, which has a narrow Democratic ma- Back Issues Contact us at
liams, a mental-health advocate and for- jority, could take up the Women’s Health customerservice@time.com, or
call 800-843-8463. Reprints and
mer member of Destiny’s Child, opened Protection Act, passed by the U.S. House Permissions Information is available
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pression since the seventh grade—even tion protections into law. “The Senate Re- com. Advertising For advertising
though she didn’t receive an official di- publicans are united in their opposition rates and our editorial calendar, visit
timemediakit.com. Syndication
agnosis until her 30s. She told TIME100 to protect[ing] our health care despite the For international licensing and
Talks host Lola Ogunnaike that while her majority of the American people wanting syndication requests, contact
syndication@time.com
success did not “heal the pain” of mental this solution,” she told senior correspon-
illness, it gave her a way to afford therapy, dent Janell Ross.
hospitalization, and retreats. You can watch the entire summit at Please recycle
this magazine,
Executive editor John Simons inter- time.com/time100-talks. and remove
inserts or samples
viewed Michael Acton Smith, the co-CEO —OLIVIA B. WAXMAN beforehand
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‘WE PUT 35
OUR LOVE Age of An An,
the oldest male
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FOR
human care,
upon his July 21
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y B R O W N B I R D D E S I G N F O R T I M E ; S O U R C E S : D E L O I T T E ; N AT U R E E C O L O GY & E V O L U T I O N ; R E U T E R S ; C B S N E W S ; T H E W A S H I N G T O N P O S T; D E A D L I N E ; K S AT -T V
death at a theme
park in Hong Kong
CHADWICK
INTO THIS
FILM.’
RYAN COOGLER,
director, on BRETT CROSS,
July 23, on Black
Panther star
Chadwick Boseman,
who died in 2020,
‘I want it
ahead of the
release of a to be good,
teaser for sequel
Wakanda Forever and I wasn’t
sure I could
‘We know this may be be. I didn’t
sound too
very disappointing. We hope bad tonight ’
you’ll try our other delicious JONI MITCHELL,
frozen treats.’
singer, to CBS, on her
July 24 performance
at the Newport
Folk Festival—her
KLONDIKE, first since suffering
announcing July 25 it is discontinuing the Choco Taco a brain aneurysm
after nearly 40 years in 2015
C
alm down, it’s just a sunny day.” that the Po, has run dry, endangering this year’s harvest at thou-
was the refrain from a small but powerful sec- sands of nearby farms. This is just the beginning.
tion of the British establishment, as tempera-
tures in the U.K.—where summer highs rarely The auThors of the U.K.’s heat-minimizing editorials are a
reach 30°C (86°F)—topped 40°C (104°F) for the first time minority. But they hold great sway over the future of the gov-
in recorded history in mid-July. ernment. Following the resignation of Prime Minister Boris
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab of the ruling Con- Johnson on July 7, the Conservative Party is in the middle of a
servative Party told the public to relax and “enjoy the sun- leadership contest. The winner will be the next Prime Minister.
shine.” Conservative lawmaker John Hayes called people The two contenders left in the race have largely voted against
who worried about the heat “cowardly.” Right-wing news- measures to respond to climate change. They will now seek en-
paper the Daily Mail bemoaned that sunny day snowflake dorsements from right-wing media outlets that are skeptical of
britain had a meltdown. Another tabloid, the Daily Express, the U.K.’s 2050 net-zero target and frame fossil-fuel investment
offered a cheery spin on the U.K.’s famous wartime slogan: as the answer to the current crisis in energy prices.
“It’s not the end of the world: just The back-and-forth of right-
stay cool and carry on.” wing commentators and politi-
The Blitz spirit couldn’t stop cians functions as a closed loop
People want
runways from melting at U.K. air- that leaves out the vast majority of
ports, though, or help London fire- people who live in the U.K. Those
fighters put out blazes that raged twisting climate impacts into a
across overheated buildings, or give
schoolkids enough energy to learn. ‘freedom culture war claim they’re fight-
ing against progressive dogma,
For most people, sweltering in
homes designed for a different cli-
mate, the heat was oppressive and
from all the and for greater flexibility in how
we address our environmental
challenges. But that definition
disruptive, if not terrifying.
If you’re reading this in the U.S., things that of freedom amounts to a distrac-
tion, argues Tom Burke, a vet-
the disconnect might sound famil-
iar. The impacts of climate change will disrupt eran U.K. government adviser
and co-founder of climate think
our lives if we
have been politicized in American tank E3G. “There’s a whole group
public discourse since the 1990s. of the public who are really in-
Now the U.K. has imported what terested in freedom from all the
is an argument less about science
than culture. And money: Hayes don’t deal things that will disrupt our lives if
we don’t deal with climate change.
receives a nearly $60,000-a-year
salary from an oil trading com-
pany; the Daily Mail ran an op-ed
with climate They are in battle with a [smaller]
group of people who want the
freedom to burn all the fossil fuels
arguing against meteorologists’
“doom-laden” heat warnings, change.’ they want.”
The U.S. offers a warning for all
written by an energy-company —TOM BURKE, countries that allow their national
consultant. CO-FOUNDER OF CLIMATE THINK TANK E3G climate-policy debate to become di-
And like the mainstream U.S. vorced from how the public actually
right, U.K. conservatives have experiences its impacts: as weather
moved beyond questioning the has become more extreme, support
existence of climate change to disputing the need for ac- for policy action has increased. According to research pub-
tion. An editorial for the Telegraph claimed that the U.K.’s lished in April by Yale University, 87% of registered voters sup-
heat wave is a sign that efforts to stop global warming port tax incentives to make buildings more energy-efficient,
“are probably not possible,” so we should focus on adapt- 77% back tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicles or solar pan-
ing to it instead. els, and 74% want carbon dioxide regulated as a pollutant.
The problem is, at the rate global temperatures are rising, Yet Congress has failed to pass meaningful climate leg-
neither Brits nor the billions of people who live in more vul- islation, the effort repeatedly blocked in the Senate by a
nerable countries can adapt to the disruption that will take West Virginia Democrat who made a fortune selling coal.
place if we don’t also rapidly cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Meanwhile, in June, a bold new conservative majority on
P R E V I O U S PA G E : G E T T Y I M A G E S
The U.K.’s neighbors in Western Europe, one of the richest the Supreme Court sharply limited the EPA’s ability to
parts of the world, are already struggling to cope with even curb greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants.
today’s climate-change impacts. Extremely high tempera- As this historic summer continues, on both sides of the
tures killed some 2,000 people in Portugal and Spain over Atlantic, people will keep feeling the heat. The climate
one week in mid-July. In France, more than 75 sq. mi. of for- movement needs to work a lot harder to make sure those
ests have been destroyed in wildfires. Italy’s longest river, in power feel it too.
The Brief is reported by Anisha Kohli, Tara Law, Sanya Mansoor, Ciara Nugent, Billy Perrigo, and Julia Zorthian
THE BRIEF NEWS
NEWS TICKER
agreed to a deal on
July 23 that would
allow grain to be
shipped out of the
blocked Ukrainian
port of Odessa,
Papal apology
Pope Francis pauses in front of the site of the former Ermineskin Residential School in
Maskwacis, Alberta, on July 25 as part of a “pilgrimage of penance.” The Pope is meeting
with Indigenous communities during his tour of Canada to apologize for the church’s
harmful legacy. He has condemned, in particular, the system of largely Catholic-run
residential schools that aimed to eliminate Indigenous culture and were rife with abuse.
THE BULLETIN
U.S. manufacturers
$52 billion to produce
China’s mortgage boycotts spell trouble
semiconductor chips
CHiNeSe AUTHORiTieS ARe WORKiNG CONTAINING THE CRISIS A property-sector
to quell a mortgage boycott before it sends bust could have major implications for
shock waves across the entire economy. China’s wider financial system, which is
The protest was started by home buyers heavily exposed to real estate. Everything is
dismayed by a slump in property prices and at stake for jittery middle-class Chinese buy-
worried that indebted developers might not ers who have piled their savings into prop-
be able to finish their homes. Boycotts have erty. Regulators are urging banks to extend
now spread to hundreds of developments loans to property developers. Censors have
across the country. Plummeting prices also been working overtime to scrub men-
“may trigger social instability,” warns tions of the strikes. Experts are hoping that
Tianlei Huang of the Peterson Institute tough down-payment requirements—30%
for International Economics. is normal for first-timers—will mean that
most home buyers won’t walk away.
HARD HIT Developers were already suffer-
ing from a slump, with construction stalled A DEPENDENT ECONOMY The crisis strikes
on millions of apartments over the past at the heart of China’s development
year. In China, it’s common for buyers of model, which has used construction and
new properties to begin paying mortgages property sales to drive economic growth.
Russia said it would before construction is finished—and some Any attempt to reduce such investment
focus on building its of these buyers have stopped paying. The would cause growth “to slow sharply,”
COLE BURSTON — GE T T Y IMAGES
own space station, boycotts now threaten to leave struggling says Michael Pettis, a professor at Peking
property firms even more strapped for University. “In that case it is hard not to
cash. Property behemoth China Evergrande get caught up in a vicious circle, in which
Group defaulted on its debt in 2021, and less investment means less growth, and
at least a dozen other developers have de- less growth means less investment can
faulted on offshore bonds. be justified.” —Amy GUNiA
10 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
Crisis can break us
—or save us CLIMATE CHANGE
AI REVOLUTION
— FAREED ZAKARIA
CNN HOST
— JANE FRASER
CEO, CITI
— ADAM GRANT
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING
AUTHOR OF THINK AGAIN
BUSINESS
MA JA HITIJ — GE T T Y IMAGES
DIED
DIED
Paul Sorvino
The two most iconic
images of the actor Paul
Sorvino could hardly be
more different. In the
first, he’s slicing garlic
with a razor blade as the
ruthless Paulie Cicero in
Goodfellas. In the second,
he’s weeping inconsolably
at the 1996 Academy
Awards while his daughter
Mira dedicates her newly
won Oscar to him.
Sorvino, who died on
July 25 at 83, excelled at
playing both the mobster
and the softie, as well as
everything in between.
The son of an Italian Ivana Trump at her home in New York City in 2017
immigrant, he carved
out a five-decade acting DIED
career, appearing in more
than a hundred films, Ivana Trump
television series, and
plays. He received a Tony
Straight-talking style icon
Award nomination for BY DENNIS BASSO
That Champion Season
in 1973, played Henry IVANA TRUMP HAD A VERY DEFINITE STYLE. SHE WAS REALLY A
Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s product of the ’80s and early ’90s. She was tall, she was gorgeous.
Nixon and Lord Capulet in During that period, every major designer was clamoring to dress
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo her. She loved life. She loved beautiful jewels, clothes, and furs.
She left us too early (at age 73 on July 14).
SORVINO: WARNER BROS./E VERE T T COLLECTION; TRUM P: GILLIAN L AUB F OR TIME; DUKUREH: K ANE SK ENNAR — WARNER BROS.
+ Juliet, and starred for a
season on Law & Order. We first met when a mutual friend invited her to one of my fash-
Mira Sorvino said at ion shows. I was in disbelief. She had been at the front row of every
the 1996 Oscars that major fashion show in Paris and Milan; her husband Donald had
her father “taught me just built Trump Tower. That evening, she showed up and took her
everything I know about front-row seat in a beautiful gray cashmere outfit, dressed to the
acting.” nines. The show finished, and she came up to me and said: “I don’t
While perhaps best know you; I want to know you. I like your collection—well done.”
known for his hard-bitten
She arrived unannounced at my office the next morning
roles, Sorvino admitted
and told me she liked that I was working at 9:30 a.m. She said,
that he really preferred
show off his gentler side.
“You know, you’re cute. You’re not cute, actually, you’re rather
“I’m a poet,” he said handsome—a little chubby, but we could fix that.” She bought
in 2015. “I’m an opera seven coats. On the way out, she said, “We will be friends; send the
singer, I’m an author … bill to Trump Tower and write ‘Attention: To the Donald.’” Soon I
none of it is gangster.” was escorting her to the Met Gala and fancy dinners. It was just un-
A d R Ch believable. We became real friends. We weren’t just “chit chit kiss
kiss” at a party friends. She was clearly not going to tell you what
you wanted to hear. She was going to tell you what she thought.
Divorce is always a difficult thing, but as time progressed, she
and Donald were able to maintain a solid relationship. That’s be-
cause they chose to rise above their differences and do it for their
children and grandchildren. Ivana was a career woman, but she
was also dressed 24/7. I imagine her philosophy as being: if you
can’t do it in five-inch heels, then don’t bother doing it.
Basso is a designer
9 out of 10 cyberattacks
begin with a phishing link
WORLD
Democratizing
real estate investment
BY NICOLA CHILTON
velopers and encountered what he describes as a lack of accessible, and completely global.
transparency. “I was seeing retail investors not getting the
best deals, putting their life savings and children’s college
funds into the wrong property,” he says. To counter this,
the company is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services
16 TIME August 8/August 15, 2022
A weak password is the
biggest threat to online security
worked hard to be transparent about the limi- —EMILY OSTER lowed her children’s stages of life, I ask
ON THE STRONG REACTIONS
tations of the data we collected on COVID in TO HER WORK ON if she might one day graduate out of
schools. I thought it was substantially better SCHOOL REOPENINGS this space. She smiles. “There’s always
than any of the information that was out there menopause.”
19
T H E B R I E F H E A LT H
When a person calls 988, a certified counselor at a call or residential facilities for longer-term care.
center, ideally located near that person, will attempt to Those settings are more appropriate for people
guide them through the crisis. This will be enough to with mental-health crises than where they currently
mitigate most situations, but when more help is needed, end up: in the emergency room, jail, or, in the worst
dispatchers will send a mobile crisis team made up of cases, the morgue, if the incident escalates violently.
mental-health experts and peer-support counselors, people “Most of the country still relies on 911 to manage
who have recovered from their own mental-health crises mental-health crises,” says Dr. Ashwin Vasan, New
and help others in similar situations. If those interventions York City health commissioner. “988 represents
aren’t sufficient, 988 will also direct people to stabilization probably the most potentially transformative federal
facilities—mental-health centers where trained staff can legislation in mental health that we’ve seen in decades.”
observe and provide additional counseling and support— But there are massive hurdles to turning that vision
24 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
funds the lifeline and is helping states implement 988.
The new crisis line represents the first major
investment—$432 million from the federal government—
in mental-health services in the country in decades, and
it couldn’t come at a more crucial time. Mental-health
struggles among Americans have reached unprecedented
levels because of the pandemic and the widespread
anxiety, depression, and emotional stressors that have
resulted from lockdowns, disease, and job losses. Rates
of depression and anxiety among adults in the U.S. were
four times as high from April 2020 to August 2021 as they
were in 2019, according to federal data; every 11 minutes,
an American died by suicide in 2020. Rates of depression
and anxiety are rising especially quickly among teens.
Mental-health professionals are struggling to keep up
with the demand.
988 could help shoulder some of it. “There may be
a wait list for counseling, but if you’re in a crisis, you can
reach out and talk to someone right now,” says Shelby
Zurick Beasley, associate director of crisis services at
Provident Behavioral Health, a nonprofit community
mental-health center in St. Louis.
The transformative potential of 988 is huge, says
Dr. Margie Balfour, chief clini-
cal quality officer at Connections
‘This is Health Solutions, a nonprofit
mental- provider of behavioral-health
services in Tucson, Ariz. “This is
health mental-health crisis care’s carpe
crisis care’s diem moment.”
carpe diem Since it launched in 2005, the
moment.’ National Suicide Prevention Life-
—DR. MARGIE
line network has provided critical
BALFOUR support in de-escalating urgent
mental- and behavioral-health in-
cidents. A 2018 study of lifeline
callers who were interviewed anonymously found that 80%
said follow-up calls from counselors made them feel sup-
ported and diverted them from carrying out suicide plans.
But even as the demand grew, a lack of funding prevented
it from expanding.
In 2018, Congress passed the National Suicide Hot-
line Improvement Act to explore a three-digit, easy-to-
remember hotline number so more people could access
help. In 2020, 988 was designated as the new digits to dial.
Along with the number, the federal government is
into reality. 988 will require building a compassionate providing significant grants to states to increase their
crisis-response system in a country that has historically crisis call-center capacity. The American Rescue Plan
underfunded and dismissed mental-health services. of 2021, which was passed to offer emergency funding
Funding, staffing, and insurance reimbursements will to address the pandemic, included $105 million in
all be a struggle. “We are sitting in the context of a additional funding for mental-health resources to enable
system that is fragmented and frankly has a lot of gaps the transition to 988. But such funds are finite, and it’s
in terms of providing services for individuals,” says now up to states to find additional money to continue
John Palmieri, director of 988 and behavioral health supporting the centers after the grants run out. While
crisis at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health states reported in spring 2021 that their collective pot for
Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. supporting call centers was around $30 million, in the past
Department of Health and Human Services, which year, legislatures have committed additional funds and
ILLUSTR ATION BY SAM PEET FOR TIME 25
T H E B R I E F H E A LT H
have now allocated $200 million for implementing 988. mental-health issues have been resolved. Connecting
The vision for 988 requires a total reimagining of crisis people to additional care is crucial to making the system
support—and, by extension, of public safety. Across the effective. “We know the safety net is riddled with holes,
country, armed law-enforcement officers are currently the and people are falling through that net every single day,
default responders to almost every situation; a 2015 study whether they end up on the street or in jail,” says Matt
found that the mentally ill were shot by police at a rate 16 Kudish, executive director at the National Alliance on
times that of other civilians. SAMHSA is urging states to Mental Illness New York City Metro. “It isn’t just about the
train 911 dispatchers to recognize and route mental-health crisis response, but about what happens next, and after-
emergencies to 988, where trained professionals can take ward. How do you sustain a person’s wellness? Who sup-
over. Another priority is adding mobile crisis teams—which ports this individual’s recovery in a meaningful way?”
988 responders can deploy instead of law enforcement or To encourage states to make greater investments
emergency medical in follow-up care,
personnel—as well as a SAMHSA and Vibrant
network of stabilization have provided states
facilities. with minimum qual-
Early data suggest ity standards, such
that interventions like as answering 90% of
these are effective. In calls locally and in the
June 2021, for example, WASH.
first 30 seconds. Yet
New York City began only 16% of state and
MONT. N.H. MAINE
N.D. VT.
MINN.
testing an experimental ORE.
IDAHO MASS.
local mental-health
WIS.
program that sends WYO.
S.D.
MICH.
N.Y.
R.I.
CONN.
program directors
a mobile crisis team NEV. NEB.
IOWA PA. N.J. said they had received
consisting of a social UTAH ILL. IND.
OHIO
DEL.
MD.
adequate funding to
worker, peer counselor, CALIF.
COLO.
KANS. MO. KY.
W.VA. VA.
support their states’
and EMT to address N.C. 988 plans, the RAND
TENN.
mental-health calls in ARIZ.
N.M.
OKLA.
ARK. S.C.
survey found.
Harlem and the Bronx. MISS. ALA. GA. While police
When 911 responded TEXAS LA. budgets have
to mental-health calls ALASKA
risen steadily for
from January to March HAWAII FLA.
decades, funds are
2022, 87% of people proving scarce for
involved were dropped an innovation that
off at emergency would lighten their
rooms. But the mental- burden while saving
health-crisis response lives. Currently, only
team transported only 59% of cases to the ER. They were Medicaid reimburses for crisis services like mobile crisis
also able to provide a broader range of services, including teams; Medicare and most commercial insurers do not,
on-site counseling and referrals to follow-up care in the which means that states must subsidize that service even
person’s community. for people who are insured. And while many psychologists
and community-based facilities are interested in
MOST STATES, however, aren’t prepared to activate 988 call partnering with 988, they are provided little financial
centers at the capacity that’s needed, let alone launch more incentive to do so. The hope is that 988’s popularity
services. Vibrant Emotional Health, which operates the will persuade legislators to demand parity in coverage
network of lifeline call centers, estimates that 988’s call vol- from commercial insurers, says Kevin Ann Huckshorn, a
E R I N W O O D I E L— A R G U S L E A D E R / U S A T O D AY N E T W O R K / R E U T E R S
ume will increase by 50% in its first year, but current capac- registered nurse with RI International, a nonprofit that
ity is already strained. As many as 17% of callers over the operates a national network of mental-health facilities.
past year hung up within the first 30 seconds after failing to States are scrambling to fund 988 centers and the
connect with anyone, according to Vibrant. When local call resources they provide in several different ways. Some
centers are too busy to pick up, the call is routed to a na- have begun leveraging dollars available through Medicaid
tional backup center, and wait times for those lines can be expansion plans or mental-health block grants from the
even longer. 988 will also support text and chat—but about federal government, but those aren’t always sufficient.
60% of states don’t yet have the technological capacity to More continuous forms of funding, like fees collected from
provide robust services across all three platforms, a RAND cell-phone users—similar to the fees charged to maintain
Health Care study found in June. 911, which generate more than $3 billion annually—are
And reaching 988 is only the first step. While counsel- another option. (Virginia is the first state to pass legislation
ors can de-escalate about 90% of emergencies by phone, to make these charges; others, including Nevada and Utah
according to Vibrant’s data, that doesn’t mean the caller’s have created commissions to explore this revenue stream.)
26 TIME August 8/August 15, 2022
△
And legislators in Washington State passed Trained crisis Ultimately, the best way to persuade
a bill to require insurers to cover the cost of counselors take calls insurers to cover crisis care, and states to
crisis-response services. in Sioux Falls, S.D. budget additional resources, is proving that
doing so saves money in the long run. Already,
To illusTraTe 988’s poTenTial to some pilot studies show that this investment
transform this kind of care, advocates point to Arizona, is more cost-effective than having people cycle repeatedly
whose legislature has budgeted for mental-health crisis through the criminal-justice system or hospital emergency
care since 2009. The funds support mobile crisis teams departments. 988 now provides a unique opportunity to
and reimbursement for care provided by a network collect data on a large scale.
of facilities. For example, the Phoenix metropolitan Tonja Myles knows how life-changing better crisis
area, which includes a population of nearly 5 million, care can be. Being treated compassionately by a trained
operates 30 mobile teams run by a variety of providers professional during her own emergency saved her life.
and mental-health facilities. Medicaid covers these During her stay at the mental-health facility in 2016, she
services for beneficiaries, and the state subsidizes the had a profound realization. “I realized that all the pain
costs for people who are uninsured or privately insured. I had been carrying, that I thought would die with me
The state’s fund also pays for care facilities that accept if I killed myself, would only transfer to my family and
people for longer-term care, regardless of their insurance friends,” she says. “And I never want anybody to be in that
status—which eases the responsibility for officers to kind of pain.” As a result of her experience, Myles sought
serve as “street corner psychiatrists,” says Kevin Hall, therapy, got a PTSD diagnosis, and started medication.
assistant chief of the Tucson police department. Tucson She now works as a pastor and a peer-support specialist,
has also started embedding behavioral-health clinicians helping others in crisis.
in 911 call centers to help dispatchers determine if a “I never thought I would see anything like 988 happen
caller needs to be connected to 988 rather than law in my lifetime,” she says. “While it is a call for help, it also
enforcement or emergency medical support. Replicating has to be a connection to hope.”
such investment won’t be possible in every state, but
officials from other states have consulted with Arizona’s If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-
administrators. health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988
27
LIGHTBOX
Hitting home
The fast-moving Oak Fire—pictured engulfing the dining
room of a home in Mariposa County, California, on July 23—
charred more than 18,000 acres near Yosemite National
Park in just three days. Cal Fire officials warned that the
unpredictable behavior of the blaze, which fed on extremely
dry vegetation—a problem aggravated by climate change—
is “really unprecedented.” As of July 27 the fire had burned
dozens of homes, threatened some 1,400 structures,
and forced more than 3,000 people to flee.
†
$29 Save $170
®
WORLD
IRAN IS ON THE
CUSP OF A BOMB
BY EHUD BARAK
INSIDE
31
THE VIEW OPENER
The alternative is a new and severe own regime the same way. That may nuclear themselves.
change for the worse in the security open the road for the nightmare sce- The ayatollahs are not going to con-
balance of the Middle East. Iran is al- nario of a crude nuclear device in the trol Iran forever. The Iranian people
ready a tough and bitter rival, operat- hands of a terrorist group. are a great people and great civilization
ing against Israel and others directly What is to be done? Look reality from the dawn of history. They were
in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, in the eye, and act upon it. If a new Israel’s best friends in the region just
while spreading terror, chaos, and in- agreement with Iran, even a dubi- 45 years ago. We have to stand firm
surgency. However, bear in mind that ous one, helps preserve the NPT, that and contain the Iranian Islamic Repub-
creating a preliminary nuclear arsenal would serve useful purposes. But lic. At a certain point, hopefully sooner
can take a decade or more; it becomes more important, the U.S. must estab- rather than later, it will collapse and a
a potential existential threat to Israel lish a small club of relevant states, new chapter will be opened. Let’s work
only in the longer term. Realistically Israel among them, and make sure together toward it.
speaking it’s not about dropping a that high investments in intelligence
weapon on Israel. The Iranian mullahs minimize the risk of missing any cru- Barak is the former Prime Minister
are fanatics and extremists, but not cial developments. A lot should be of Israel
The View is reported by Solcyre Burga, Leslie Dickstein, Anisha Kohli, and Julia Zorthian
THE RISK REPORT BY IAN BREMMER
33
THE VIEW INBOX
By Kyla Mandel
THE DARK JOKE BOUNCED AROUND Biden’s Build Back Better plan with
the Capitol when Senator Joe Man- plenty of strings attached. Man-
chin announced on July 25 that he chin didn’t like parts of the first
had tested positive for Covid-19 one, but promised to like the sec-
and was isolating: it was an excuse ond one—that is, until the sequel
for the West Virginia Democrat to also ran afoul of his need to scuttle
skip a second consecutive lunch huge swaths of Democrats’ agenda,
with colleagues openly critical of such as a tax hike on the wealthy.
his unreliability. So Manchin pivoted, and tried a
There’s one problem with Dem- third time to outline what he could
ocrats’ rage. Manchin has always accept, and Democrats acquiesced.
been a proud fly in the legisla- And then again the proposal ran
tive ointment, an unrepentant aground, because in Manchin’s
naysayer to party orthodoxy who mind, more government spending
doesn’t much care about his re- would only hasten inflation.
lationships in the Capitol. And Welcome to governing in 2022,
that’s why he will probably be the with Prime Minister Manchin run-
last statewide elected Democrat to ning the show. The entire country’s
represent West Virginia for a long agenda is set by the one Senator
time: he values his constituents’ who stands in the breach. The Sen-
contempt of Washington far more ate is split 50-50, and on matters
than he fears his colleagues’ con- extraneous to the budget, a 60-vote
tempt. And when it comes to Presi- threshold is needed. However,
dent Joe Biden’s frustrations with
Manchin’s singular and capricious
‘This is a guy who
J. SCOT T A PPLE WHITE— A P
◁
Manchin talks to reporters
outside a hearing room
at the Capitol on July 21
NATION
41
WORLD
P R E V I O U S PA G E S : S O U R C E P H O T O S : E T H A N M I L L E R — G E T T Y I M A G E S ; K E N A K R U T S I N G E R — N B A E /G E T T Y I M A G E S ;
alienation, she has served as inspira- ling, and daughter, and teammate, and
tion, especially to fellow members of friend. And now this. “The toughest mo- Those close To Griner worry that
the LGBTQ+ community, for how to live ment during this ordeal is when I stop the longer she remains imprisoned, the
out loud and proud. Now, “wrongly de- to think about how BG is doing,” Gri- more likely the psychological trauma
tained” in the euphemistic lingo of in- ner’s wife Cherelle writes to TIME in an she’s spent a lifetime shedding returns.
ternational diplomacy, Griner unwit- email. “Those moments are overwhelm- She grew up in Houston, the daughter
tingly has come to stand for even more. ing, and I’m consumed with emotions.” of local sheriff and Vietnam-veteran
Griner is the most visible detainee Though her fate remains uncertain, father Raymond, and homemaker
T H E S E PA G E S : A L E X A N D E R Z E M L I A N I C H E N K O — P O O L /A F P/G E T T Y I M A G E S
among thousands taken by Russia July delivered moments of hope for mother Sandra. As a girl, Griner liked
amid its invasion of Ukraine this year, Griner. After Griner, who faces a po- fixing cars with her dad. She wrestled
a high-profile prisoner exploited by a tential 10-year prison sentence, wrote her dog in the mud. Her mom got her
regime looking to showcase the lim- Biden a July 4 letter urging him to bring Barbie dolls. Griner cut off their hair
its of American power. Her imprison- her home, the President and Vice Pres- and painted them green and black.
ment advances President Vladimir Pu- ident spoke to Cherelle, publicly sig- Griner began to realize she was dif-
tin’s efforts to humble U.S. President Joe naling the priority of her case. In her ferent. “Everybody always talks about
Biden, who has been simultaneously courtroom cage, she held up a photo how we should celebrate the things that
criticized for failing to win Griner’s re- of the WNBA All-Stars who played a make each of us special,” Griner writes
lease and for prioritizing her case over whole half wearing her Phoenix Mer- in her 2014 autobiography, In My Skin.
those of other long-detained Americans cury jersey. There were courtroom tes- “The problem is, a lot of people are
abroad. At home, Griner’s detention timonials from friends on UMCC Ekat- full of crap when it comes to following
has fueled outrage at the lack of equal erinburg, the Russian team for which their own advice.” Kids would poke at
rights for LGBTQ+ and Black people, she plays during the U.S. off-season. In her chest, asking if she was a boy. She
42 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
understandings of sexuality that are
contrary to biblical teaching.” After Gri-
ner went out with her girlfriend on Val-
entine’s Day, Mulkey chastised her for
failing to “keep your business behind
closed doors.” A spokesperson for LSU,
where Mulkey now coaches, did not re-
turn an interview request from TIME;
Baylor chartered its first ever LGBTQ+
group this April.
Living in the shadows stressed Gri-
ner out. On occasion, her anger would
appear on the court. As a freshman,
Griner received a two-game suspen-
sion for punching a Texas Tech player,
breaking her nose. Mulkey ordered
Griner into therapy after that incident;
she found talking to someone helpful,
and continued with therapy through
adulthood.
In 2013, the Mercury selected Gri-
ner as the top overall pick. On the court,
Griner at first deferred to Taurasi, an all-
time great. “She’s the most unselfish
superstar player I’ve ever been around,”
says Taurasi. “I would have to get into
her to demand the ball.” The Mercury
won the WNBA title in 2014, Griner’s
second year in the league.
△ Things got rocky in her personal life.
drew pictures in a notebook in her bed- An officer removes Griner’s Griner married former WNBA player
room: someone was always crying. Gri- handcuffs before a July 26 court Glory Johnson in 2015, despite their
ner wept into her stuffed animals. She hearing outside Moscow both being arrested after an argument
scribbled down thoughts like Please just turned physical just weeks prior. Gri-
make me normal when I wake up. ner filed for an annulment after 28 days.
Griner never played organized bas- “The biggest thing during that is she did
ketball before high school. She joined have a job for very much longer.” Some not want to feel like a failure,” says Roy:
the volleyball team in the fall of her first of her high school stats—like 25 blocks “Where do I go from here—where peo-
year at Houston’s Nimitz High. During in one game—were cartoonish. ple don’t think I’m this monster?”
a game, basketball coach Debbie Jack- During her senior year, Griner’s fa- Griner’s physicality on the court be-
son spotted the 5-ft. 10-in. freshman and ther learned his daughter was gay. “You lies her more personable nature. When
asked her to try out for hoops. “I remem- can pack your bags and get the f-ck Cherelle first met Griner, at Mooyah
ber the first day she shot the ball,” says out!” she says he told her. Griner stayed Burgers on the Baylor campus, she was
Janell Roy, a high school teammate who at the home of her assistant coach for struck by how she seemed to know
would become Griner’s lifelong best seven weeks. Tension lingered, though every employee. “She often will go eat
friend. “It was terrible. We were like, her father has grown more accepting. her lunch in the employee lounge at the
‘Yo, you really can’t play!’ ” They are now very close. arena in Phoenix with the security, be-
Her skills improved as she sprouted Griner committed to Baylor, the cause she says, ‘I want to know all my
nearly a foot in high school. A 2007 world’s largest Baptist university. Dur- co-workers,’” says Cherelle.
YouTube clip, featuring her slamming ing her junior year of high school, Gri- When partnering with a local non-
it home, was an early viral hit. Diana ner told Baylor coach Kim Mulkey she profit, the Phoenix Rescue Mission, to
Taurasi, Griner’s future pro teammate was gay. “As long as you come here and drive around the city delivering shoes to
with the Phoenix Mercury and over- do what you need to do and hoop, I don’t those in need, she once opened the doors
seas, recalls watching the video from care,” Mulkey said, according to Griner’s of a van, grabbed boxes of shoes, and
Russia, where she was playing at the book. But Mulkey, Griner says, acted took off toward a group of homeless peo-
time. “These were grownup dunks,” says different once she got to campus. Gri- ple. “It wasn’t, ‘You guys go first,’” says
Taurasi. “We were just like, ‘Well, that’s ner was unaware that Baylor prohibited Danny Dahm, street-outreach supervi-
the future of basketball. We might not “advocacy groups which promote sor at the mission. “She was like, ‘Let’s do
43
WORLD
this.’ She wasn’t afraid to touch people.” Belyakova testified it was “difficult to
Griner also has a goofy side. “She’s overestimate” Griner’s contribution to
one of those who will throw a ball Russian basketball. “She is currently,”
at you in the middle of the aisle at said Belyakova, “the most beloved
Walmart, and take off running,” says player in Russia.”
Roy. Griner appreciates the “big per- Putin doesn’t seem to care. Since
son in tiny contraption” sight gag. She the days of the Soviet Union, Russia
once skittered around the sales floor has stoked American racial divisions
of the Mercury offices on a motorized for its own gain. In the 1960s, Soviet
tricycle, waving to team employees. newspapers covered the civil rights
Mercury players spend a day working movement, pointing out the hypocrisy
at a grocery outlet that sponsors the of a democratic system that preached
team. “She’ll end up in a shopping cart freedom to the world but treated its
every year, like a 5-year-old would but own Black citizens so poorly. A 2019
with her 6-ft. 9-in. legs hanging out,” Senate Intelligence Committee report
says Mercury president Vince Kozar. found that Russian operatives created
“And every year she ends up on a mi- social media accounts and advertise-
crophone asking for a price check on ments discouraging Black Americans
green beans, or something else that she from voting, in order to boost the can-
doesn’t actually need.” didacy of Donald Trump.
The slights that once stung now roll Griner’s arrest has already flared ten-
right off her. “She doesn’t let that sh-t sions in America. “If this was LeBron
faze her,” says Olympic teammate Sue James, Tom Brady—you can go into any
Bird. “There are times when she would professional men’s sport—if this was a
get mistaken for a guy. She would walk man, he would have been home by now,”
into a woman’s bathroom and someone Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mys-
would stop her and be, ‘Oh, no, this is tics tells TIME. “It would have been a
not your bathroom.’ I’ve heard people priority. Unfortunately, BG has fallen
call her sir at an airport. ‘Excuse me, sir, into that realm being a woman, being a
can you come this way?’ She’s just like, gay woman, being a gay Black woman.”
‘Whatever.’ She almost has a vibe about When James himself wondered aloud, on
her. ‘No one’s going to ruin my day.’” his talk show The Shop, if Griner would
“She lives in peace,” says Staley. even want to return to America—“How
“She’s been through things in her life, can she feel like America has her
trials and tribulations. Yet no one’s going back?” he said—conservatives pum-
to shake her equilibrium. That’s who meled him as anti-American. He National Security Council under Pres-
you love.” tweeted a clarification that he “wasn’t ident Trump. With Biden’s approval
knocking our beautiful country.” ratings sinking to new lows, Putin may
Griner has spent her WNBA off- Putin delights in such rancor. “He’s be loath to release Griner and hand his
seasons since 2014 at the gateway to creating mischief and mayhem,” says counterpart any semblance of a PR win.
Siberia, playing for UMMC Ekaterin- Fiona Hill, the former senior director “What I and others fear,” says Hill, “is
burg, a club that pays Griner the more for European and Russian affairs on the that the more she can become a wedge
than $1 million salary unavailable to her issue, the more Biden and the White
in the U.S., where she’ll make $228,000 House gets castigated, the more valu-
this year. “BG loved playing in Russia,” able she becomes for them to keep.”
says Cherelle. “They value women’s bas- After an initial strategy of quiet
ketball.” Griner took great pride in win- wrangling to free Griner, the U.S. gov-
ning four Euroleague championships. ‘She lives in ernment has raised the volume on her
“She called Yekaterinburg her second
home, and this is not an empty phrase,” peace ... No one’s case. Russian officials have publicly
stated that they don’t appreciate the
Maxim Rybakov, UMMC Ekaterinburg’s going to shake pressure. “The Biden Administration
general manager, testified at a July 14 needs to rein it in,” says Jason Poblete,
court hearing. “Even after the warn- her equilibrium. an attorney who has represented U.S.
ing from the U.S. intelligence agencies,
Brittney was determined to continue
That’s who citizens held hostage abroad. “They’ve
made a big mistake escalating it the way
playing for the team.” you love.’ that they did.”
He called Griner the team’s “moral —DAWN STALEY, U.S. OLYMPIC For now, the U.S. feels the ball is
leader.” Her Russian teammate Evgenia BASKETBALL COACH AT 2020 GAMES in Moscow’s court. In late April, the
44 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
government efforts to disincentivize
and deter the taking of Americans can-
not be done on the backs of those al-
ready imprisoned.”
Reed, a former Marine accused of as- official. Biden’s approval of an exchange While her loved ones fear for her
saulting a Russian police officer; Reed of Bout for Griner and Whelan was first mental health, they also believe that all
had spent 985 days in Russian deten- reported by CNN. the strife she’s faced—being taunted
tion. Russia has previously called for Bout’s inclusion in any trade proposal because of her appearance, rejected
the release of Bout, who was convicted signals Griner’s importance to Biden; the because of her sexuality, assumed to
of conspiring to sell weapons to terror- pro-swap advocates, for now, are win- be something she’s not—have pre-
ists in 2011 and sentenced to 25 years ning out. Mickey Bergman, vice presi- pared her to meet this awful moment.
in prison. The U.S. judge in Bout’s case, dent and executive director of the Rich- “People don’t even know how much
Shira A. Scheindlin, told TIME that if ardson Center for Global Engagement, she has already pushed through,” says
she weren’t restricted by minimum sen- traveled to Moscow with former U.N. Roy. “For me to know her past jour-
W N B A : M A R Y K AT E R I D G W AY— N B A E /G E T T Y I M A G E S
tencing guidelines, she would have given ambassador Bill Richardson in February ney, and some of the things that she’s
Bout some 10 years, which is now about to meet Russian officials about Reed’s dealt with, I can tell you that my sister
the length of time he’s been in prison. and Whelan’s cases. He cites a 2018 is not going to come back weak. That’s
Some Biden Administration offi- Rand Corp. study concluding “there for sure. She’s only going to come back
cials fundamentally oppose prisoner is little historical evidence to support stronger.” —With reporting by Brian
swaps, fearing they may further incen- the contention that a no-concessions Bennett, Vera Bergengruen, and
tivize hostage-taking abroad. And let- policy reduces kidnappings.” MaSSiMO CaLaBreSi/WaShingtOn;
ting go of Bout has been a tough sell for Arguments to the contrary are SOLCyre Burga, Mariah eSpada,
those focused on human rights, inter- “intellectually lazy and morally bank- and SiMMOne Shah/neW yOrk; and
national crime, and other matters. But rupt,” Bergman says, “because the Mariia VynOgradOVa/LOndOn □
45
T
TECHNOLOGY
SO WHAT IS THIS FUTURE? Think of the 1935 3D internet might be to our global economy,
we didn’t know the value of the internet. But
verse as a parallel virtual plane of existenc have some view to the answer. As internet
spans all digital technologies and will even co ctivity and computer processors have im-
control much of the physical world. This con d, we’ve shifted from colorless text to prim-
helps explain another common description web pages and web blogs, then online profiles
metaverse as a 3D internet—and why establ Facebook page) and video-based social net-
it is so hard, but also likely to be worthwhile , emojis, and filters. The volume of content
The internet as we know it today spans n oduce online has grown from a few message-
every country, 40,000 networks, millions posts, emails, or blog updates a week to a con-
plications, over a hundred million servers, a tream of multimedia content encapsulating
a billion websites, and tens of billions of de ves. The next evolution to this trend seems
Each of these technologies can coherently
sistently exchange information, find one an
1981 to be a persistent and “living” virtual world
not a window into our life (such as Instagram)
“on the net,” share online account systems an lace where we communicate (such as Gmail)
(a JPEG, an MP4, a paragraph of text), and ne in which we also exist—and in 3D (hence
interconnect (think of how a news publisher cus on immersive VR headsets and avatars
eady, nearly a hundred million people a
n to Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite
Thi k f th platforms that operate tens of milli
onnected worlds, which support
m 1986 irtual identity, virtual goods, an
ons suites, and can be accessed
a s. Most time in these platform
e—playing games, attendin
p starting to see people go
s S A CATEGORY w
by the di
t 83
later, “
of w
2020 entral company gains control of [the metaverse],
y will become more powerful than any gov-
nt and be a god on earth.” It’s easy to find
T claim hyperbolic. But according to Citi and
m G, the metaverse could generate as much as
p illion in revenue per year by 2030. Mor-
s anley has estimated $8 trillion in both the
P nd China, while Goldman Sachs projected
s en $2.5 trillion and $12.5 trillion globally;
m ama is nsey forecasts $5 trillion. Jensen Huang, the
ro y the s er and CEO of Nvidia, which ranked as one
fo 70s, nu 10 largest public companies in the world for
o
b
ed tha
profite 2020 of 2022, believes the GDP of the metaverse
entually exceed that of “the physical world.”
b ach de here that fears of a dystopia seem fair, rather
th as doe alarmist. The idea of the metaverse means
fu act. r growing share of our lives, labor, leisure,
wealth, happiness, and relationships will be
T erne inside virtual worlds, rather than just aided
b work o gh digital devices. It will be a parallel plane
e nd ind tence that sits atop our digital and physical
d hese m mies, and unites both. As a result, the com-
n cused s that control these virtual worlds and their
ta d help l atoms will be more dominant than those
s anothe ad in today’s digital economy.
in ate on f e metaverse will thus render more acute
te e bene of the hard problems of digital existence
th ne cou such as data rights, data security, misinfor-
c y devi n and radicalization, platform power, and
a appiness. The philosophies, culture, and pri-
s from of the companies that lead in the metaverse
ng clos 2021 herefore, will help determine whether the
rietary is better or worse than our current moment,
net en than just more virtual or remunerative.
ng more the world’s largest corporations and most
also preve ious startups pursue the metaverse, it’s es-
telecom co l that we—users, developers, consumers, and
ss is also w —understand we still have agency over our
democratized and the ability to reset the status quo, but
y of the most va f we act now. Yes, the metaverse can seem
orld today were fou ing, if not outright scary, but this moment
internet era. nge is our chance to bring people together,
to imagine how differe nsform industries that have resisted disrup-
e if it had been created by m nd to build a more equal global economy.
conglomerates in order to sel
ds, or harvest user data for profi
2021 ch about the future is uncertain, just as the
et was in the 1990s and 2000s. But we can
corporate internet” is the current e stand how the metaverse is likely to work
n for the metaverse. When the interne hy; which experiences might be available
rn, government labs and universities were why, and to whom; what might go wrong
tively the only institutions with the computa hat must go right. And we can use this in-
talent, resources, and ambitions to build a tion to shape the future, just as Big Tech
work of networks,” and few in the for-profit here are trillions of dollars at stake, as exec-
imagined its commercial potential. None of are wont to remind us—and, more impor-
true when it comes to the metaverse. Instea our lives.
being pioneered and built by private busine
In 2016, long before the metaverse was ser tech executive and founder, is the author of
contemplated by corporate executives world Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize
Epic Games’ Sweeney told VentureBeat, “ thing, from which this piece is adapted
50 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
A screenshot of
the crypto game
Axie Infinity
of dollars dow
ing the game
ful, he says,
the dozen pla
this story. “I
I became mo
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The story
serves as a ca
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reinforced p
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ideas like Ax
promise—bu
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At first bl
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earning pote
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transactions
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had raised m
52 Time A
◁ eco-
Samerson Orias, r was
with fellow former with
player Jonathan A sers
ned
the
investors includ
firm Andreessen mak-
The game ini xie’s
pact in the Phil cing
players there mad gin,
user base. Rou They
Southeast Asian the
people lives be ney
and its economy and
on some 2.2 mi
who send money oney
pandemic shut b ock-
and slashed jobs the
were sent home. DAO
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omy, many resor But
making schemes the
Owen Convoc xie’s
heard murmurs a pto’s
tential for month aybe
he decided to ent will
he earned $487. H But
to buy his own A on to
the total cost 60 ays.
The early pan told
players like Con rad-
news coverage a way
sands of new pla lars
as the game’s po reds
servers pointed ends
structure was un ini-
of SLP necessit ters
tinually buying Axie
scheme. Sky Mav d re-
edged in its whi ome
was “dependent xies,
“Focusing on ” he
through early in
a Ponzi scheme ame
Sky Mavis wrote after
“Axie Infinity’s m Her
vide entertainm lud-
As the price ying
shoot up last su e to
players found th
ford the cost of p yaki
monsters. So an food
emerged in whic hav-
known as “mana hed
monsters and t Axie,
“scholars,” who w g by
work of leveling □
53
K INGMAK ER
POLITICS
▷
Clyburn, the House majority whip, says he prefers
making headway to making headlines
network he’s nurtured. Brown got her and before that played a key role in put- dynamic. “A lot of people wanted to be
start in a Congressional Black Cau- ting South Carolina near the top of the chairman,” Clyburn tells me. “And quite
cus (CBC) training program Clyburn primary calendar in the first place. His frankly, nobody will admit to this, but
helped create; her boyfriend is Cly- friends serve in top posts across the it’s the same thing I had when I ran for
burn’s political adviser Antjuan Sea- Administration and party. Democratic whip. A Black guy from Mississippi,
wright. The entire afterparty—which National Committee chairman Jaime ain’t from an Ivy League School—they
will turn into a raging dance-off before Harrison, who Clyburn pushed for the won’t say it, but they think it: ‘He can’t
the night ends—is packed with people post, and who was just 29 when Clyburn chair this.’” Pelosi ignored the whispers,
Clyburn has prodded into politics: local made him the first Black executive di- and Thompson has been widely praised
party officials, members of district ex- rector of the House Democratic caucus, for his coolheaded handling of the com-
ecutive boards, city council members says a large percentage of Black Ameri- mittee’s hearings, proving what Clyburn
from across the state, county auditors cans in politics today can trace their po- knew all along: “Bennie is perfect for
and coroners. “I thought politics was sitions to Clyburn. this,” Clyburn says. “He’s unflappable,
all deceitfulness and lying, and I didn’t A few months ago, when numer- and he ain’t searching for the limelight.
want any part of it,” Anthony Thompson ous congressional Democrats were He’s just doing his thing.”
Jr., a thin Columbian in a salmon-pink clamoring to chair the high-profile se- The episode bore all the hallmarks of
suit, tells me. “He made me see that you lect committee investigating the Jan. 6 Clyburn’s style. As usual, he was quick
have to be part of the system to make riot, it was Clyburn who urged Speaker to suspect a Black person wasn’t get-
change.” After training in one of Cly- Nancy Pelosi to name his best friend, ting his due, and quick to do something
burn’s mentorship programs, Thomp- Congressman Bennie Thompson— about it. As usual, he pulled strings to
son now serves as second vice chair of native of Bolton, Miss., graduate of his- arrange the outcome he thought best for
the local party and started its first dis- torically Black Tougaloo College—its his party and country. As usual, he did
ability caucus. chairman. In the whispering campaign not seek public credit; as usual, the im-
Clyburn’s influence in Democratic that ensued, Clyburn sensed a familiar pact was notable. From poverty relief to
politics is as far-reaching as it is un- funding for historically Black colleges
sung. Today, he’s widely credited with to rural broadband, he’s the source of
swinging the 2020 presidential primary many significant policy achievements,
Campaigning for Brown and the conser- or voting-rights legislation. White su- seem content to call attention to prob-
vative Democrat Henry Cuellar against premacy and racial dog whistling seem lems without getting into the trenches
more liberal candidates, he’s been called ascendant; 10 Black people were killed to fix them.
a corporate sellout and worse, accused at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket in May “You know, this party of ours is
of doing the bidding of his donors in de- by a white gunman who allegedly tar- catching so much flak, because there’s
fense contracting and the pharmaceu- geted them for their race. A school dis- this contest: How many people get the
tical industry. At a campaign event in trict in Pennsylvania, Clyburn notes, most hits on social media? How many
Charleston in May, he was heckled by a recently banned children’s books on people get the biggest headline?” he
far-left primary opponent over repara- King and Rosa Parks. “If that ain’t Hit- says. “One guy is running against me
C O U R T E S Y F R I E N D S O F J I M C LY B U R N ; C O U R T E S Y T H E O F F I C E O F M A J O R I T Y W H I P J A M E S E . C LY B U R N ; A L L I S O N S H E L L E Y— G E T T Y I M A G E S
tions. “We need those who are willing to lerism, tell me what is,” Clyburn says. right now in the primary, saying I’m
fight fervently for Black people that are “That’s what this country is coming to.” not progressive enough. Show me one
not so committed to the establishment,” Is the point of liberation to not be thing in my record. I get A ratings from
says Amara Enyia, policy and research shut outside any longer, to gain access all the labor unions. I get an A rating
coordinator for the Movement for Black to the levers of power? Or is it a fool’s from the NAACP. Where am I not pro-
Lives. “Clyburn was very instrumental game to try to win by the rules of a sys- gressive? I’m not progressive to them
in influencing people’s decision to vote tem designed to oppress? “Progress in because I don’t call people names. Be-
for Biden. As we look back on that now, this country has never moved on a linear cause you ain’t gonna see me on TV yell-
people are really wondering, OK, this plane,” Clyburn says. “It goes forward ing at somebody, trying to get a head-
was supposed to be the best decision. for a while. And then it goes backward line. I spend my time trying to figure out
How has that manifested in my life?” for a while.” how best to hold on to this majority and
In our interviews, I ask Clyburn his get things done. They’re having a con-
thoughts on the status and trajectory of The following morning, Clyburn test on who can yell the loudest.”
Black political power in America. Four- sits in a back room of the convention Clyburn was born in 1940 in Sumter,
teen years ago, the election of the first center where the state party is hold- a racially divided town of 10,000 in cen-
Black President vindicated his abiding ing its annual meeting, eating a sugar tral South Carolina. His father was a fun-
belief in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, cookie and pouring a bottle of Diet Coke damentalist preacher, his mother a beau-
but today he is less sanguine. Over the into a plastic cup of ice. The tension be- tician and entrepreneur. Both fought
course of his six decades in politics, tween outside passion and inside power against Jim Crow and encouraged their
from 1960s sit-ins to the heights of con- is one as old as protest itself, and was three sons to dream beyond the limita-
gressional leadership, Clyburn has seen a perpetual point of contention in the tions placed on them. In 1960, as a stu-
many things change for the better. But civil rights movement Clyburn came up dent at South Carolina State College and
these days the momentum seems to have in. His own father thought his youth- leader in the newly founded Congress on
shifted. The Black Lives Matter move- ful militancy was too aggressive. But Racial Equality, Clyburn led a march of
ment drove unprecedented millions today, at a crucial moment for racial jus- 1,000 students through Orangeburg to
into the streets but did not succeed in tice in America, Clyburn frets that the demand the desegregation of local es-
spurring Congress to pass police reform balance is out of whack—that too many tablishments. Officers commanded the
57
POLITICS
quiet, orderly marchers to stop “disturb- Clyburn wrote in his 2014 memoir,
ing the peace,” but said nothing to the Blessed Experiences: Genuinely South-
howling white mob pursuing them. The ern, Proudly Black. When he left the
police turned fire hoses on the protest- post after 18 years, he was under no il-
ers and slammed Clyburn into a cruiser; lusion he had solved the problem, but
it took all his self-control to maintain felt that “we had created an imperfect
his commitment to nonviolence as 388 reality where there had previously been
marchers were arrested. only an idealistic dream.”
With the local jails full, some were The work was controversial—and
housed for days in an outdoor stockade, dangerous. In the 1980s, when Cly-
wearing wet clothes in freezing weather, burn began advocating for the removal
passing around cigarette lighters to of the Confederate battle flag that flew
warm their hands. As Clyburn waited over the state capitol, he spent five years
at the courthouse for his bond to be under police protection for the threats
posted, a petite coed offered him a ham- he received. The situation came to a
burger. They were married 15 months head in 2000, when Clyburn helped
later. (Emily Clyburn, his closest confi- broker a compromise between the
dante and toughest critic, died in 2019.) NAACP and the Republican state legis-
But his impulse was always to be- lature to place the flag in a less promi-
come part of the system. In 1970, Cly- nent spot on the capitol grounds. But at
burn helped John West, a racially mod- the last minute, the NAACP pulled out
erate white Democrat, secure the Black and called the deal unacceptable. The
vote in his gubernatorial run against a legislature retaliated by putting the flag
Republican backed by the segregation- in an even more conspicuous spot. By
ist Senator Strom Thurmond. After he refusing to compromise, the activists
won, West appointed Clyburn to chair ended up worse off than they started.
South Carolina’s newly created Human For years, Clyburn and the NAACP con-
Affairs Commission, an agency charged tinued to trade barbs. (In 2015, after
with mediating racial disputes in the nine parishioners were murdered at a
wake of desegregation and the Civil Black church in Charleston by a young
Rights Act. At 30, Clyburn was the first white supremacist, legislators finally re- civil rights attorney and judge Mat-
Black man to serve in the state cabinet, moved the flag.) thew J. Perry, over the objections of
managing a staff largely composed of In 1992, having already run for state Clyburn’s new congressional colleague
older white people. and local office unsuccessfully three Thurmond, who wanted it named after
Clyburn was perpetually at the cen- times, Clyburn decided to seek the himself. Clyburn leveraged his relation-
ter of a firestorm, simultaneously beset state’s newly created majority-Black ships with Republicans to overpower
by Black activists who thought he was congressional seat. This time, he de- Thurmond while using his vote on
too compromising and white conserva- feated four other well-qualified Black other issues as a bargaining chip to get
tives determined to undermine and ulti- candidates by a wide margin, becom- the fiscally conservative Clinton White
mately abolish the commission. When a ing the first African American to rep- House to fund the project. On another
young Black man killed in a hit-and-run resent South Carolina in nearly a cen- occasion, he managed to secure a cov-
was rumored to have been murdered tury. The first bill he authored created eted slot on the Appropriations Com-
and castrated, Clyburn authorized an a new federal courthouse named after mittee—then voluntarily gave it up in
exhumation and autopsy that showed his childhood hero and mentor, the exchange for votes on other priorities.
he was not, then castigated the rumor- As a result of gambits like these, Cly-
mongering activists for needlessly di- burn had plenty of favors to call in when
viding the community. When white he ran in 2003 for a position in House
cadets at the Citadel military academy
terrorized a Black classmate, dressing
‘WE CAME FROM THE leadership. With the unanimous sup-
port of the CBC, which he had chaired,
in white sheets and waking him in the BACK OF THE BUS TO THE Clyburn won in a rout. In 2006, he be-
seems to be simultaneously half-joking to the prestigious D.C. Circuit Court in- and you have to recognize that you may
and deadly serious. In Washington, he stead. Clyburn originally urged Biden not have immediate success, but you
dines most nights at the private Na- to appoint Fudge to a different Cabinet have to have constant focus,” Pelosi
tional Democratic Club with Thomp- post, Secretary of Agriculture, instead tells me. “Clyburn is a person like that—
son; Housing and Urban Development of HUD, which Fudge publicly derided though he prefers immediate success.”
59
POLITICS
When Clyburn held his 27th annual Gregg “Marcel” Dixon from rural that progress is guaranteed, but he’s
World Famous Fish Fry in June 2019, Ridgeland, tells me Black Americans all too familiar with the persistent illu-
nearly the entire Democratic presiden- are worse off today than they were dur- sion. “I’ve heard it said so often: ‘Well,
tial field schlepped to Columbia to make ing the civil rights movement because all we have to do is have a few funer-
their pitch to the early primary state’s leaders like Clyburn have sold them out. als,’” he tells me. “‘The younger white
predominantly Black electorate. The “How much time are Black people sup- people think differently.’ No, they don’t.
visit doubled as a chance to kiss Cly- posed to wait for progress?” Dixon says. No, they don’t.”
burn’s ring, even though most suspected Running on a platform of massive repa- In 1985, Clyburn traveled to Dayton,
his old friend Biden had the inside track rations that would allow African Ameri- Ohio, to speak at a conference also fea-
to his endorsement. From a massive out- cans to build institutions separate from turing Clarence Thomas, then President
door stage, 21 candidates addressed an white society, Dixon got about 4% of the Reagan’s chair of the Equal Employment
overheated, jostling crowd. More than vote in the June primary. Opportunity Commission—the federal
4,000 pounds of fish were consumed. Inside the gym, Clyburn tells the agency with jurisdiction over state com-
This year, after two years of crowd he’s tired of hearing that Dem- missions like the one Clyburn headed.
COVID-19 cancellations, Clyburn de- ocrats haven’t done anything. “We Clyburn was there to speak in favor
cided against holding the fish fry in its need to talk more about our accom- of affirmative action, which he knew
full glory, replacing it with a number plishments,” he says, brandishing a Thomas opposed. Rather than stage a
of smaller events, such as today’s low- flier that lists some of the projects he’s confrontation, he tailored his remarks
country boil in Columbia’s historically to appeal to Thomas, citing their shared
Black Greenview neighborhood, where Southern backgrounds and quoting Lin-
he has long made his home. Some saw coln. A more aggressive speech would
the potential end of the tradition as a
sign Clyburn is making plans to retire. CLYBURN’S INFLUENCE have delighted the national media in
attendance—but might have alienated
He tells me he is, but won’t say when,
and plans to serve the two-year term
IN DEMOCRATIC POLITICS an important federal agency whose help
Clyburn was likely to need in the future.
for which he’s currently running, even IS AS FAR-REACHING Clyburn thinks often about the con-
if Democrats lose the House.
The contrast with the 2019 festival is
stark: a few dozen locals sitting in fold-
AS IT IS UNSUNG trast in worldviews between himself
and Thomas, now the archconserva-
tive senior Justice on the U.S. Supreme
ing chairs in a half-empty community- Court, he tells me in his D.C. office. In
center gymnasium, eating the mix of interviews and a memoir, Thomas has
shrimp, corn, and potatoes from a few gotten funded: money for Black col- recounted being sternly lectured by the
steam trays at the side of the room. leges and community health facilities, grandfather who raised him never to
Media outlets from all over the world hospital upgrades and veterans centers, look a white person in the face. “Every
covered the presidential event, but this rural broadband. The $20 million Lake time I think about him, I think about
time there are just a few local report- Marion Regional Water Agency, which how different it is for young people
ers in attendance. Taking questions brought potable water to much of his whose parents had, for whatever reason,
on the way into the gym, Clyburn de- district for the first time. Heritage- a lack of vision for the future,” Clyburn
livers an impromptu lecture on politi- preservation corridors and national says. “So every time I see him or read his
cal communication. Democrats’ big- parks. Affirmative-action provisions opinions, I think, ‘That’s the difference
gest challenge, he opines, is “spending for government hiring. His “10-20-30” between us. His indoctrination was to
a little more time understanding peo- funding formula, which specifies that be less than.’”
ple’s habits, people’s aspirations, under- 10% of federal spending be reserved Clyburn’s education was the oppo-
standing how to talk to people on their for areas where at least 20% of the pop- site. His father once slapped him for
own terms.” The party, in other words, ulation has been below the poverty line cowering from an adult’s handshake
sounds out of touch with regular people. for 30 years or more. The formula now and told him to always look people in
Clyburn has been harshly critical of the applies to 15 appropriations accounts— the eye. The Rev. Enos Clyburn told
“defund the police” slogan embraced by little provisions tucked into bigger bills his congregation, “No matter how long
some on the left, comparing its politi- that can have a major impact. Headway, you’ve been down, getting up must al-
cally damaging resonance to the “burn, not headlines, as he likes to say. ways be on your mind,” the Congress-
baby, burn” chant of the 1960s. This is the change Clyburn practices man recalled in his memoir.
Many liberals today feel let down and preaches, the unsexy work of im- His father, Clyburn wrote, “viewed
by congressional Democrats, who they proving people’s lives, little by little, pessimism as a human weakness
accuse of offering little but thoughts and keeping at it through setbacks. No with no place in his faith.” It can be
and prayers as mass shootings prolifer- single piece of legislation, no revolu- hard to believe in progress at a time
ate, Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the tion, not even a single election can solve like this. But to Jim Clyburn, there
climate burns. Clyburn’s primary op- problems that have mounted through is no other way. —With reporting by
ponent, a 37-year-old teacher named centuries. Clyburn has never believed Simmone Shah/new York □
60 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
“The ability for technology to extend care outside
of the hospital can be really revolutionary.”
: time.com/time100-talks
Featuring:
BY CIARA NUGENT/ANTOFAGASTA DE LA SIERRA, ARGENTINA
On nOrThern VieTnam’s red riVer $980 billion by 2028. VinFast is not Center for Strategic and International
Delta, the world’s most ambitious alone in craving a slice of that pie, and Studies. “There has never been anything
electric-vehicle (EV) upstart occupies is aggressively targeting the U.S. and of this size in Vietnam. It’s overwhelm-
a factory complex fringed with mango European auto markets. To succeed, it ing at one level because now you can do
trees and palms. Outside VinFast’s plant needs to either unseat Tesla or persuade everything with VinGroup.”
by the port city of Haiphong, fishermen gasoline-car drivers to switch over. It’s almost a state within a state, at
in conical hats still plumb mudflats That’s no small feat: China accounts for least for the upscale. A well-to-do Viet-
for grass carp and tilapia; inside, each about half of the global market for EVs, namese can be born in a VinMec hospi-
car negotiates an overhead ergonomic yet none of its firms have tried to broach tal, study at a VinSchool, live in a Vin-
conveyor assembly line measuring the U.S. despite plowing tens of millions Home, shop at a VinCom mall, graduate
2.5 miles. A gauntlet of 1,250 robot arms, of dollars into feasibility studies. from VinUni, vacation at VinPearl re-
twirling like pneumatic ballerinas, adds sorts, and, perhaps, become one of the
some 3,000 components and welds SkepticiSm iS natural when it leviathan’s 40,000 employees.
rivet after rivet in a flurry of sparks. comes to the congested global EV in- And now, they can commute in a Vin-
Everything here is top of the line: dustry. No sooner does one startup Fast electric car, EVs having emerged as
machinery sourced from Germany, steal a march on rivals than its latest the vehicle for the firm’s ambitions to
Japan, Sweden. Welding is 98% auto- funding round burns up and another leap from domestic to international. In
mated. Capacity is 250,000 cars a year. overtakes it. Today, the U.S. industry June 2018, VinFast purchased a GM fac-
Impressively, instead of individual as- has consolidated behind Tesla—worth tory outside Hanoi and, by licensing in-
sembly lines tailored for each vehicle, some $750 billion and turning its co- tellectual property from GM and other
the facility can simultaneously assemble founder, Elon Musk, into the world’s auto giants like BMW, began produc-
multiple models on the same line. Even richest man—and legacy automakers ing its first gasoline VinFast vehicles
more impressively, Google Maps shows are belatedly turning to a market whose less than a year later. These initial offer-
that half of the 877-acre site sits beneath importance is soaring alongside global ings were essentially ciphers of Western
the South China Sea—a quirk because it oil prices. How does a parvenu from the brands—specifically a Chevrolet Spark
was reclaimed from the waves and made technological backwaters of Vietnam compact and a BMW 5 Series sedan and
operational in just 21 months. seriously expect to compete? X5 SUV. Because of clever marketing
VinFast CEO Le Thuy likes to joke It’s a huge challenge. But VinFast’s and low costs, they proved immensely
that not even the Mountain View, Calif., parent VinGroup is no ordinary firm. popular, capturing 17% to 19% of each
behemoth can keep up with the EV mak- Controlled by Vietnam’s richest man, market segment’s share domestically.
er’s lightning pace. “At the start, every- Pham Nhat Vuong, VinGroup is the They were also essential learning steps.
body said that building cars in two years country’s largest conglomerate, with a Beginning in August, VinFast will
was impossible. Some even called us total market value of $24.4 billion. Its switch to exclusively manufacturing
crazy,” she says. “But we launched 2020 revenue accounted for 2.2% of the EVs. The company is also set to build
three car models in those 21 months.” national GDP, and its reach is staggering. a $4 billion factory in North Carolina
The global EV market was valued “It’s a remarkable story,” says Huong and is scouting for a European plant.
at $185 billion in 2021 and is expected Le Thu, principal fellow at the Perth The 2,000-acre site in Chatham County
to rise by 24.5% annually and reach USAsia Centre and adjunct fellow at the plans to start by producing 150,000
68 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
△
electric vehicles annually beginning in An aerial view of the VinFast of manufacturing, formerly with GM.
July 2024, creating 7,500 jobs. It’s the manufacturing plant in Haiphong, The firm also has some rather influ-
largest single foreign direct investment Vietnam, on July 6 ential champions. In late March, Presi-
in the state’s history, and indicative of dent Joe Biden tweeted that VinFast’s
the scale of VinFast’s ambition, which U.S. investment plans were “the lat-
is “to become one of the top global EV monthly fee. Once the battery life de- est example of my economic strategy
makers in five to 10 years,” says Thuy, grades to 70%, VinFast swaps in a new one, at work.” Within days, VinFast says,
also a deputy chairperson of VinGroup. free of charge. “Investors really like this it had almost 10,000 preorders from
“We think that we can be as good as any- kind of business-model story,” says Yale customers in the U.S. “We keep joking
body in the world.” On July 14, VinFast Zhang, an auto-industry analyst based in that President Biden is the best sales-
opened its first six overseas showrooms Shanghai. “The question is, you need to man that we’ve ever had, and we didn’t
in California, including a flagship store source more batteries to make it work.” have to pay,” says Thuy. It doesn’t stop
in Santa Monica. Its first two models set It’s a bold play in an extremely com- there. When Thuy attended the Select-
for the U.S. market are sleek-looking petitive field. But despite VinFast’s in- USA investment conference in late June,
SUVs, the VF8 and VF9. “It’s a solid car, experience and lack of core technolo- she was delighted when most of a five-
no rattles or anything that would indi- gies, it has much deeper pockets than minute speech by U.S. Commerce Sec-
cate a problem,” says Michael Dunne, many new entrants into the EV market. retary Gina Raimondo was dedicated
founder of the ZoZoGo EV market intel- VinGroup has so far plowed $6.6 billion to VinFast. “I’m amazed by the level of
ligence firm, after a test drive. “But the into VinFast, and assembled a leader- support that we’ve received from the
U.S. market is not for the fainthearted.” ship team headhunted from firms like U.S. government,” Thuy adds.
VinFast wants to entice American EV Ford, Renault, GM, and BMW. The styl-
shoppers with a unique proposition: a ing is by Italy’s Pininfarina; the dash- VinFast’s american adVenture
10-year warranty and a sticker price that board displays by LG; the batteries by dovetails with the economic and geo-
doesn’t include the cost of the battery— Samsung. “We leased IP from BMW, strategic priorities of Hanoi, which aim
an EV’s most expensive component. In- and so that immediately became the to turn Vietnam into an upper-middle-
stead buyers will have the option to lease standard we worked to,” says Shaun income economy by 2030 and a high-
batteries from the company for a small Calvert, VinFast deputy CEO in charge income economy by 2045 by enhancing
PHOTOGR APHS BY LINH PHAM FOR TIME
advanced manufacturing capabilities. bargaining power in Vietnam and en- working style became apparent. Rather
Already, most of the Samsung Galaxy hance his political status,” says Hiep. than waiting for layers of local, regional,
smartphones sold in the U.S. are as- Known for shunning the limelight and international management to
sembled here. But rather than rely on and demanding high standards, Vuong greenlight decisions, “as a chief deputy,
foreign companies, the priority among is also a champion of women in a region I have direct communication with our
Hanoi politicians is to build strong local where sexism is notoriously rife, espe- CEO. The approval layer is almost flat.”
champions. “They want companies like cially in business. Four of VinGroup’s
VinGroup to take the lead in the na- six vice chairpersons are women, includ- It Is, of course, symbolic that
tional economy,” says Le Hong Hiep, a ing Thuy, who joined VinGroup from the Vuong’s first venture since returning
senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak now defunct Lehman Brothers invest- from Ukraine became the hub for his
Institute in Singapore. ment bank, where she was vice presi- new foray overseas. Given Vuong’s ties
At the center of this ambition sits dent covering Asian markets. Asked with both Russia and Ukraine, his per-
Vuong, the oldest of three children, who about Vuong’s leadership style, Thuy spective on Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24
grew up poor in Hanoi with his mother replies, “Vision, strategy, discipline, full-scale invasion has been subject
running a tea stand and his father and a lot of humanity . . . We only do to much conjecture. Vuong, who de-
serving in the Vietnamese army’s air- things that have a big social impact.” For clined an interview request, has not
defense division. His talent for math led Huong, Vuong is “one of those visionary commented publicly on the war in
to a scholarship to study engineering at entrepreneurs. Maybe you could com- Ukraine, though a close confidant says
Moscow Geology University. After the pare him to a Vietnamese Elon Musk.” he is “heartbroken.” Retaining deep
collapse of the Soviet Union, he moved It’s an obvious comparison given ties with both nations, VinGroup has
to Kharkiv, Ukraine, where he set up a Vuong’s increasingly laser-like focus on helped arrange visas for Russians who
Vietnamese restaurant. But soon he di- EVs. In December 2019, VinGroup sold have faced European travel restrictions.
versified into instant noodles flavored off its VinMart chain of convenience Vuong’s discretion mirrors that of
with spice blends from his homeland, stores. Last May, VinGroup announced Vietnam’s government, which has long
eventually exporting to 29 countries. the shuttering of its consumer-electronic rooted its security in maintaining rela-
Fortune swiftly followed. Today, the arm, VinSmart, despite having secured tions with all great powers, and is es-
brand he founded, Mivina, remains syn- 17% of the domestic smartphone mar- pecially wary of enraging the Asian su-
onymous with noodles in Ukraine, like ket by then and marketing four mod- perpower to its north. For Vietnam’s
Xerox for photocopying in the U.S. In els in the U.S. through AT&T. Instead, leaders, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was
2010, Vuong sold his company to Nestlé the conglomerate said it wanted to seen as “validation of their approach to
for a reported $150 million, returning “mobilize all resources” into VinFast. China,” says Alexander Vuving, a pro-
to Vietnam ready for a fresh challenge. As the pandemic rumbled on, with fessor at the Asia Pacific Center for Se-
His first domestic venture was a Vin- borders closed and even domestic tour- curity Studies in Hawaii. For Hanoi, the
Pearl beach resort on Hon Tre Island ism curtailed, the group’s VinPearl re- lesson of Kyiv’s flirtation with the West
off Nha Trang. A flurry of plush real es- sort on Hon Tre Island became an en- was that it jeopardized the nation’s sov-
tate developments followed, includ- gineering hub. Over a thousand VinFast ereignty and security. “They know their
ing Ocean Park, a complex of 45,000 engineers and their families were en- position next to China is very similar.”
villas and apartments around an arti- sconced on the island from May to Oc- Still, that neutrality has been buf-
ficial sand and seawater beach in cen- tober 2021 to work together uninter- feted by the invasion. Vietnam still pur-
tral Hanoi. Today, VinGroup boasts 27 rupted 24/7. “At least we had the golf chases around 80% of military hardware
urban complexes and 83 shopping malls course to occasionally play on!” says from Russia, and it abstained on the
across Vietnam. Vuong developed a rep- Hoang Vu Nguyen, VinFast chief dep- U.N. motion to condemn Russia’s inva-
utation for bold business decisions and uty of power train and a Ford veteran. It sion. Yet it is an uncomfortable position
for pivoting quickly. VinGroup nixed a was here the differences of VinGroup’s for Vietnam’s leaders, and investments
foray into airlines in January 2020 as the like VinFast’s North Carolina factory
pandemic took hold; Vuong repurposed that build goodwill in the U.S. Congress
a factory to make low-cost ventilators. offer a welcome counterweight.
VinFast’s overseas expansion also VinFast’s U.S. investment “serves
provides protection for Vuong, whose the geopolitical objectives of Vietnam,
elitist, capitalist Vin empire chafes with which is to cooperate with the U.S.,
some of the ruling Communist Party’s boost ties, and balance trade,” says
old guard. In 2019, Vuong’s younger ‘We think that Vuving. A touted U.S. IPO for VinFast,
brother was sentenced to three years
for bribery, and a purge of wealthy ty- we can be as good for one, is possible only with the explicit
approval of the Vietnamese Communist
coons has gathered pace since, mirror- as anybody in Party. “The Vietnamese government has
ing a similar campaign in China. “If he been super supportive,” says Calvert.
is successful overseas, and especially in the world.’ Geopolitics underpins the U.S. posi-
the U.S., that will strengthen Vuong’s —THUY LE, CEO OF VINFAST tion too. As Washington’s relations with
70 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
△
Beijing enter a deep freeze, the White Assembly robots put together might of Tesla? Given the scale of the
House is keen to cement ties across the car bodies at the VinFast nascent EV market, it might not have
Asia-Pacific region—even though, po- manufacturing plant on July 6 to. “The real competition of EVs like
litically at least, China and Vietnam are VinFast are not Tesla,” says Stephanie
very similar beasts: regimes ruled by Brinley, principal analyst at S&P Global
communist parties with scant respect neighborhood, chiefly retaining influ- Mobility. “The real competition is
for rule of law or human rights. Vietnam ence in Laos and Cambodia. “China is internal-combustion-engine owners,
currently holds at least 208 political competing strategically with the United getting those guys to jump on board.”
prisoners, according to the 88 Project, States; Vietnam is cooperating strate- VinFast and Vietnam are confident
a rights watchdog that has documented gically with the United States,” says that they can. On a cruise for VinFast
“a concerted crackdown on dissent that Vuving. Vietnam also frequently clashes investors tracing the jagged limestone
has worsened in recent years.” with Beijing over disputed islands in karsts of northern Vietnam’s Ha Long
A key difference, of course, is that the resource-rich South China Sea, and Bay, a musician in silk ao dai strums a
China’s ambitions on the global stage memories of China’s ill-fated invasion whining version of the Eagles’ “Hotel
present a direct challenge to U.S. hege- of 1979 burn brighter than those of California” on the single-stringed
mony. President Xi Jinping’s avowed de- American misadventure in the region. zither, as a DJ cranks up a thumping
sire to reclaim “center stage in the world” Today, approval of the U.S. among Viet- bass track. It’s a scene that telegraphs
undermines American interests from namese stands at a staggering 84%. where this Southeast Asian nation
Europe to the Pacific, Latin America It is comfort born of knowing its now wants to be: a business-friendly,
to Africa, most egregiously spotlighted place in the world. While China’s leaders tech-savvy industrial powerhouse.
by his backing of Putin’s invasion. On leverage the “century of humiliation” The next South Korea, if you will, an
Feb. 4, the House of Representatives wrought by colonial powers to justify a ambition that feels explicit, given the
passed the America COMPETES Act resurgent and toxic nationalism, Viet- DJ’s K-pop-inspired peroxide mop. “A
to better challenge China technologi- nam has no such baggage; over the past lot of people in Vietnam take pride in
cally, economically, and diplomatically. century, this plucky nation has bested VinFast, and they want to support the
“If you’re Xi Jinping, you have to make French, American, and Chinese invad- project, and they want us to be suc-
the world safe for autocrats,” one top ers. Vietnam is under no illusions about cessful,” says Thuy. To electrify Amer-
State Department official tells TIME. who it is: the toughest, scrappiest little ica’s “dark desert highway” with Viet-
Any geostrategic ambitions Viet- guy in a rough neighborhood. But can nam’s red star. —With reporting by
nam harbors are reserved for its own its premier company compete with the EloisE Barry/london
71
Behar, backstage
with guest co-host
Ana Navarro, just
signed a new three-
year contract, at 79
PHOTOGR APH BY
PETER FISHER
FOR TIME
C U LT U R E
No Filter
After 25 years on The View, Joy Behar knows
the strong reaction she provokes in people.
She’s fine with it
By Belinda Luscombe
C U LT U R E
P
eople have many issues wiTh Joy Behar, BuT
here is one that has gotten scandalously slight atten-
tion. Joy Behar is a bad driver. A person sitting in the
back of her SUV to, say, drive a short distance on flat
roads, will get nauseated, which will significantly im-
pede that person’s ability to carry out such journalis-
tic duties as noticing whether Behar stops and starts
so much because in two months she’ll be 80 and her
reaction time has slowed, or because she doesn’t care
how she makes people feel.
The View co-host has agreed to go yard-sale shopping near her home
in the wealth-soaked Hamptons area of Long Island. Behar, the publicist
says, loves yard-sale shopping. But she doesn’t seem that thrilled. We are
among the first to arrive at a modest spread in Sag Harbor, and the home-
owners appear a little confused that the pile of castoffs in their garage has
somehow attracted a celebrity. Behar keeps her sunglasses on and does not
linger. “Do I know you?” someone asks. “I don’t know,” says Behar in that
voice. “Was it that night in Paris?” It’s a perfect answer; everyone laughs,
and yet it’s abundantly clear the conversation is over.
Thus loosened up, Behar leans over a stroller. “Is this doll for sale?” she
asks, before doing a pretend double take. “Oh. It’s a baby.” There is an ap-
preciative titter from the parents, and one gets the sense that this is a line
that will be repeated at birthday parties for years to come. Unless of course
the parents are fans of former President Donald Trump, in which case there
will be headlines on Fox News: Joy Behar Disses infanT!
Finding a compelling and amusing thing to say on demand and with-
out offending anybody is a high-wire act, and Behar has been walking that
tightrope on camera now for 25 years, more or less successfully—although
often less. Just days after our yard-sale trip, she told Lindsey Granger, a
Black gun-rights supporter and guest host on The View, that U.S. gun laws
would change “once Black people get guns.”
As if a drawbridge had been lowered, the critics swarmed in. “I think Joy
Behar is just ridiculous,” Byron Donalds, a Representative from Florida’s
19th District, said to Fox News Digital on June 10. “What she said is a lie,”
former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Sean Hannity. Other con-
servative pundits call her racist or at least ignorant, observing that 25% of
African Americans own guns and the number is rising, which led progres-
sive media to point out that white people outpace any other race in gun own- sudden, that picture became verboten.”
ership. Another day, another spat sparked by a grandmother from Brooklyn. After the interview, The View’s
Behar claims her comments are never designed to provoke. “I just say publicist, who earns every dollar just
what I say,” she says over takeout Caesar salad in her comfortable but not looking out for Behar (let alone co-hosts
very lavish Manhattan apartment. “And then they’re upset with me. I’m Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, and
their favorite target over at Breitbart and Fox.” Sara Haines), sent me a follow-up com-
Just saying what she says gives her attackers plenty to work with. She ment from Behar. “I would never do that
suggested former Vice President Mike Pence might be mentally ill because now. I understand it’s offensive.”
he said Jesus spoke to him. She accused Republicans of being “against ba- In all, there is more than enough
bies” over the formula shortage. She called GOP Representative Lauren material from both sides of the politi-
Boebert’s Christmas photo (which featured children with guns) “obscene.” cal fence to mount a campaign to ban-
But she also frequently says things that could rile her allies. She made ish Behar to the Hamptons for good.
a lewd joke when Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come And yet she occupies the same catbird
out as gay. She made fun of a nurse for wearing a stethoscope. She even seat she has for almost 2½ decades. In
has her own blackface incident. In her youth Behar went to a Halloween May, she renewed her contract with
party as what she calls “a beautiful African woman.” The View, which leads the ratings for
“For me, it was like, ‘Look at how pretty I can look as a woman dressed daytime talk shows, for another three
PETER FISHER FOR TIME
like this,’” she says. “It wasn’t anything close to blackface. It was bronzer, years, for a reported $3 million a year.
which I used with my natural curly hair. And the Black community had my Goldberg had to sit out hosting The
back because they understand what blackface is.” She adds that a Black pro- View for a couple of weeks for saying
ducer was the first to put the photo on the air 20 years ago. “And then all of a the Holocaust “was not about race,” but
74 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
audience, and progressives, including
Behar, decline to award any points.
One of the reasons the darts don’t
score is that Behar, unlike, for instance,
Ronan Farrow or Anderson Cooper,
took the hard way up. Born Josephine
Occhiuto in Brooklyn, she grew up in
a walk-up tenement building. In the
summer, she would put her pillow in
the fridge to cool it down. “And then in
the winter,” she says, “you were freez-
ing because the heat never made it up
to the fifth floor.” Her mother operated
a sewing machine in a local shop and
her father drove a truck for Coca-Cola.
What the family lacked in resources,
it made up for in affection—and ec-
centricity. “My mother used to say,
‘Make sure you sweep the house thor-
oughly or you’ll marry a bald man,’”
says Behar. Her father was a gambler—
a habit he couldn’t afford. (His daugh-
ter can and does, mostly playing black-
jack and craps in Atlantic City, N.J.)
Her grandmother and two unmarried
aunts lived two floors down, and she
was the adored only child of the clan,
regularly called upon to entertain the
adults. “I cannot say that I had a dys-
functional family,” she says. “I’m more
like Mel Brooks, who basically said of his
family that they were crazy about me,
and I just wanted to get more of that.”
She was the first in her family to go
to college; before long she was mar-
ried with a daughter, and teaching
△ high school English. What she enjoyed
“My whole career has been me “The View needs her more than she most was working with students who’d
being me,” says Behar. “So why needs to do it,” says Ramin Setoodeh, had an entanglement with law enforce-
would I change it? It’s the thing co–editor in chief of Variety and au- ment. “Kids would get out of prison
that works.” thor of a book about the show, Ladies after setting their parents on fire,” she
Who Punch, “because she’s such an es- would later joke, “and they would be
Behar has mostly remained immune to tablished brand. She has been a fixture sent to me to learn the difference be-
any punishment beyond offering regu- on daytime television almost as long as tween who and whom.”
lar apologies, some of which, she has Regis Philbin or Oprah Winfrey.” A brush with mortality from an ec-
openly admitted, she doesn’t mean. topic pregnancy brought her the real-
Meghan McCain, the most recent To some conservaTives, that ization that she had only one life to get
conservative host, has cited Behar’s Behar has not been canceled yet is what she wanted, and what she wanted
cutting remarks as one reason she left evidence of hypocrisy. But it may ac- was an audience. Newly divorced from
the show. (Following a long search, for- tually be evidence of something else: Joseph Behar, she began to do stand-up
mer Trump Administration spokesper- that Behar plays a useful role in the in the early ’80s, when no venue would
son Alyssa Farah Griffin has reportedly current media ecosystem. Her age, book more than one female comic
been chosen as the new occupant of the willingness to offend, and impen- per night. “Stand-up comedy, espe-
rightmost chair, though a View spokes- etrable hide make her a sturdy dart- cially for a woman in those days, was a
person would not confirm this.) In an board in the rowdy dive bar political particularly suicidal occupation,” says
era when most women on TV still find discourse has become. Conservatives Behar. “I did some garbage-y gigs for,
their opportunities drying up after 45, throw sharp objects her way to whip you know, a hundred bucks, where I had
Behar is She Who Cannot Be Canceled. up outrage (and traffic) among their to drive to the bowels of New Jersey. I’d
75
C U LT U R E
get lost on the Jersey Turnpike.” She ally. She has had two of her own shows (and echo her husband’s false claims
had inconsistent success, but it taught canceled and was even let go from The about Barack Obama’s birth certifi-
her a lot, including how to handle peo- View in 2013. “I was glad to be fired,” cate). Goldberg too has said he was her
ple who don’t like you and how to keep she says. “I basically was sick of the friend. But Trump the candidate was
going when jokes don’t land. And it of- show at that point for some reason, I not a man Goldberg and Behar recog-
fered a reward she did not expect. don’t even remember why.” Accord- nized; they pulled out all the stops in
“You have a power when you have ing to Setoodeh, while the also-fired their coverage. The ratings rose. So did
that microphone,” she says. “People Elisabeth Hasselbeck wept, Behar was the negative attention on Behar.
don’t like it. They don’t like it that I’m blasé, and offered to leave that day. Goldberg took heat as well, but the
a powerful person on The View, say- “She doesn’t hold a grudge,” says attacks on her were perhaps softened by
ing things that they don’t like, but I’m Hostin, adding, “I think because she the fact she was an established celebrity.
sorry, that is where I’m at. I’m a power- doesn’t remember what happened the Despite her many years on the air, Behar
ful person on The View; I was a power- day before.” Her co-hosts often remind seemed to come out of nowhere, yet had
ful person as a comedian holding a mi- her of a recent insult leveled against her the nerve to deliver opinions as if they
crophone. Too bad.” and she just shrugs it off. “That’s how were worth something.
she’s been able to deal with this show.
One Of the less garbage-y gigs Behar She just leaves it at the table and then As BehAr’s mOckery of Trump gath-
scored was Milton Berle’s 89th birthday. moves on for another day.” ered steam, so did her detractors. There
She did a bit about how hard it was to By 2015, The View’s ratings were are now a dozen anti-Behar pages on
attract men. Salman Rushdie was under slipping, Trump was running for Presi- Facebook (most of them tiny). She is
a fatwa and had married three times, dent, and a new slate of producers were a constant presence in stories on Fox
but women still couldn’t get guys. (Ac- handed the reins. They asked Behar to News’ digital outlet, and they sit atop a
tually, Behar was dating middle-school come back. “I just knew that we needed viper’s nest of comments. Kid Rock re-
math teacher Steve Janowitz, whom to get back into the cultural conversa- leased a video in which he makes an ob-
she eventually married, and who is, as tion,” says Hilary Estey McLoughlin, scene gesture at her face. Former White
her mother predicted, a little bit bald.) the executive producer who champi- House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany
Barbara Walters, then plotting a new oned her return. “And I knew she was compared the President to her in May.
TV show made by and for intelligent going to be the person who could ac- “Biden sounds a lot like Joy Behar,” she
women, was among the guests. She de- tually do that. She’s always been the said on the Fox News show Outnum-
cided to give Behar, then 54, a shot. person who says what the audience bered. “It’s never a good thing to sound
Behar was hired to be the comic is thinking but is afraid to say.” Thus like Joyless Behar.”
relief—she did Monica Lewinsky began the feud between Trump and Behar professes to be indifferent to
jokes—but during the Bush Administra- Behar, who had been on good enough the invective: “I don’t go looking to see
tion, she started to develop a more artic- terms that in 2003, in one of his 18 pre- what they say about what I say.” Mostly,
ulated political position. “Her persona in presidential appearances on The View, she claims, she’s trying to land a joke.
our culture has evolved as politics have he let her pull his hair. (It was also the But humor can cut both ways. “Be-
evolved,” says Setoodeh. “She didn’t outlet on which he made his notorious cause she’s funny, she’s more threaten-
start out as a polarizing figure or even a quip about dating Ivanka.) ing,” says Susie Essman, who came up on
political figure. She was the comedian.” Behar had been to Trump’s second the New York City comedy circuit with
One of the keys to Behar’s longev- wedding; she’d had Melania on her Behar. “Not only can she give her opin-
ity is that she takes nothing person- HLN show to tout her line of jewelry ion, but she can zing, and when you can
76 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
zing, it’s more powerful.” Funny, more- having Botox and fillers, the fact that frustration because of the different re-
over, is in the eye of the beholder: “If she’s started drooling, a weeklong diet turns their labor and skills have gener-
you don’t hear any laughter,” said right- that did nothing, that she has been in ated, not just in income—though there
leaning comedian Greg Gutfeld recently therapy since high school, and her hopes is that—but in their ability to get heard,
during a show with no studio audience, that her husband still “gropes me a little to get people to care about the issues
“just pretend you’re watching Joy Behar bit.” She’ll even talk money. Somebody each considers important. He acknowl-
do stand-up.” stopped her on the street recently and edges that this is not Behar’s fault, but
It probably doesn’t help her image accused her of being a socialist and hat- thinks she should care more. “It’s the
among her male detractors that Behar ing the rich. “So, I’m not a socialist,” she out-of-touch part that bothers me.”
fits the mold of other reputed scolds— says. “I own a couple of houses.” Being the scapegoat for America’s
mothers-in-law, ex-wives, librarians, most pernicious difficulties is quite a
grandmothers, grammar- correcting One Of the facebOOk pages, Joy lot for a comedian to carry. Being able
English teachers, female surgeons gen- Behar the Worst Show on TV (with 85 to opine authoritatively on subjects as
eral. Her voice has been referred to as followers), is run by Joshua Maroney, wide-ranging as how to fix America
“a fine Italian whine,” but also “a decent a 43-year-old oil-refinery worker from (abolish the Electoral College), who
paint remover.” Smackover, Ark. Maroney, who has makes the best TV (the Brits), and
But ultimately, say Behar and her co- never voted for anyone, including how to appear on a talk show (don’t
hosts, she’s untouchable, because she Trump, is probably not The View’s key hog the ball) is quite a lot to expect of
means well. “This whole idea of can- demographic, but he often works night a woman on the cusp of her ninth de-
celing people for what they say, I’d say shifts, so he’s home during the day and cade. And being funny on live TV in an
the answer to that is, What was your in- catches the show. Maroney doesn’t post era when it’s possible to get slapped in
tention?” says Behar. “Everything that I much, but he says he gets “thousands” the face for a misplaced joke is not for
got into trouble for was not intentional.” of messages from like-minded folks. the fainthearted.
On the nurses: “I didn’t understand Behar first irked Maroney—and this But Behar doesn’t seem to mind. “I’m
what I was saying, to tell you the truth, may sound familiar—by running her sort of on extra time now. I don’t have
right? That’s the thing about the show, mouth. “She straight said I was ignorant to work. I don’t have to be on television.
it could be an accident in the moment, because of where I lived,” he says. “And I don’t have to have the microphone.
you’re looking at something, you say she didn’t say it like once for a 30-second They want to give it to me, I’ll take it.”
something, and then it’s taken com- blip. She said it for months. I live [in the She’s heard all the insults. She doesn’t
pletely out of context.” Everybody, South] so I must not be educated.” But as care what you say about her looks or
she contends, knows she’s pro-nurses. he talks, it becomes clear his beef is not her jokes or her opinions. Behar is legit-
On Pence: “I had no intention of deni- really with Behar. He estimates he’s lost imately a bad driver—even her husband
E V E R E T T C O L L E C T I O N ; A B C ; G E T T Y I M A G E S (2)
grating anyone’s religion. I was talking 26 friends to suicide. He takes 16 or 17 thinks so. It’s not that she doesn’t care
about—that was almost a joke.” After pills a day after “getting rolled up twice about how people feel; she just doesn’t
sponsors began to pull out of the show, in Afghanistan.” His memory is jumbled care about how they feel about her. As
she apologized to him, ex-Catholic to after three concussions. His right hand we leave the yard sale, I ask if she will
ex-Catholic. “He understood what I was doesn’t work well, and he thinks “it miss the fame when inevitably she can’t
doing,” she says. would be nice if I can go less than 200 be on The View anymore. “Not really,”
It’s demonstrably true that Behar is miles from my house to a psychiatrist, she shrugs. “You know what they say—
unguarded. In the course of a post-show which I’ve asked for numerous times.” the show must go off.” —With reporting
interview, she is happy to talk about Behar is the repository for Maroney’s by Julia Zorthian
77
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Time Off
CHANGING TV
FROM THE
RESERVATION
BY ANDREW R. CHOW
THE LAST WHITE MAN A GAY ROM-COM FROM RON HOWARD TELLS A
REIMAGINES KAFKA SEX AND THE CITY’S CREATOR THRILLING RESCUE STORY
W
hile brainsTorming funny scenes for
the second season of his FX comedy series
Reservation Dogs, Sterlin Harjo turned to the
memory of his grandmother’s deathbed. It’s
not that Harjo was callous about her death—far from it. He
had sat by the ailing matriarch for a week with his extended
family before she died, 11 years ago. While she slept, they
sang songs and swapped stories into the wee hours of the
morning. When she finally roused one day for a cup of cof-
fee, they sat around, cracking jokes and making her laugh.
When she died a couple of days later, Harjo grieved, but
he also felt a sense of closure. “It’s a beautiful way to go:
having a community that loves you, singing for you, help-
ing you as you exit this place,” Harjo said during a Zoom
interview from his Tulsa, Okla., office. “It brings out these
better versions of who we are.”
For Season 2 of Reservation Dogs, Harjo and actor-
writer Devery Jacobs co-wrote an episode based on this
experience. In the episode, the show’s rural Oklahoma
Native community—inspired by Harjo’s own Oklahoma
upbringing—comes together to surround an elder in her
last days. For such a heavy topic, it’s surprisingly funny and
uplifting, with filthy jokes told, truces gently forged, and
strong, idiosyncratic voices arising from every corner of the
room. It’s this penchant for bold, communal storytelling—
buoyed by themes and story lines that might seem counter- △
intuitive to mainstream audiences—that makes Reservation Devery Jacobs don’t do much: they sell meat pies,
Dogs one of the most compelling shows on television. And and Sterlin Harjo scrap with neighboring crews, hunt
its arrival has coincided with other Native stories thriving filming Season 2 of deer, and fail driver’s tests. (And yes,
on the small screen, from the Peacock sitcom Rutherford Reservation Dogs they love Quentin Tarantino, as the
Falls to AMC’s thriller Dark Winds. title’s homage to Reservoir Dogs sug-
Critics, fans, and film icons have agreed on Reservation gests.) They’re joined once in a while
Dogs’ quality and originality: it won Peabody and Gotham by a stoner uncle, a naive policeman,
Awards and received the “universal acclaim” tag on Meta- and the spirit of a 19th century warrior
critic. Following the show’s snub at the announcement who is far goofier than the stoic (and
of this year’s Emmy nominations on July 12, Guillermo often racist) archetype familiar to au-
del Toro tweeted, “Nominated or not, RESERVATION diences since the advent of movies.
DOGS is one of the best things on the tube.” Harjo, who is Seminole and Mus-
But Harjo isn’t making Reservation Dogs for the ac- cogee Creek, grew up in Holdenville,
colades. He wants to use it to tell real stories, and to give Okla., getting into similarly mun-
other Native filmmakers a pathway to success. He wants to dane and hilarious hijinks. He initially
do for his Oklahoma what Matt Damon and Ben Affleck did wrote Reservation Dogs as his own ver-
for South Boston in Good Will Hunting, he says: to lift up a sion of Friday; just as Ice Cube and DJ
community that most outsiders hadn’t considered worthy Pooh wrote the laid-back 1995 stoner
of heroic main characters. And he’s doing it by integrat- comedy in part to counteract the vio-
ing his collaborators and community into the process in lent reputation of South Central L.A.,
ways that few creators do. His unorthodox approach might Harjo hoped to show a funnier and
serve as a template for other underrepresented groups as wholly modern side of Oklahoma
they strive to generate lasting growth, respect, and success “rezzy” kids. Many of his experiences
through nuanced representation onscreen. growing up are depicted directly in
“We can’t leave it up to Hollywood to give people the the show. “Mark Schwartzbard, our
opportunity, because they don’t know these people,” Harjo director of photography, always jokes
says. “We are part of this community, and it makes every- that we’re making a really big-budget
thing better if I bring people along.” documentary,” Harjo says.
While Friday is a crucial touch-
The hearT of ReseRvation Dogs is a group of four teen- stone for Harjo, it’s where his L.A.
age friends who live on an Oklahoma reservation. Like a aspirations end. For years, the film-
younger, boonies-set version of the Seinfeld quartet, they maker was told that he needed to
80 Time August 8/August 15, 2022
half his crew from his home state. Be- ers’ room spent its first six weeks just
fore shoots, he asked people from the swapping stories and spitballing ideas.
community to sing Native songs, pray, “We would throw out all the things we
and give a blessing. know in our lives and our communi-
These decisions were not just sym- ties’ lives: ‘One time, my auntie did
bolic but also transformative for much this,’ ‘I used to [install] roof[s] back in
of the cast and crew, who were used the day,’ going to Indian health confer-
to grinding through cutthroat on-set ences to party,” Chavez says. “What
atmospheres. “I’ve done shows in you see reflected onscreen, they’re all
L.A.; there’s a sense that people are weaved together.”
machines at every level,” says Tazbah While in production, Harjo kept
Chavez, who directed her first ever the creative pressure on, ripping up
episode of television for Reservation scripts at the last minute—including
Dogs’ debut season, and has since been the season finale—and challenging
promoted to co–executive producer. himself, his writers, and his actors to
“When people feel respected and rely on their improv chops to forge
taken care of, the work each person less expected and more honest sto-
puts in comes out in what you see.” ries. The result is a season filled with
curveballs, from the aforementioned
The show’s uTTer disinTeresT in death episode to ritualistic Tom Petty
typical Hollywood storytelling is evi- sing-alongs to the integration of Na-
dent from the jump. Speech cadences than Apodaca, the jovial skateboard-
and punch lines land in unexpected ing, Ocean Spray–drinking TikTok
places; narratives meander; magic is star. (“There’s not a lot of Native Tik-
treated as a matter of fact. The show Tok stars out there,” Harjo says.)
nevertheless thrived in front of a Some high-profile guests pop in
move west in order to make it in the wider audience. TIME’s Judy Berman for scenes, including Marc Maron and
industry. Instead, Harjo remained in was one of the many critics who called Megan Mullally. But Harjo’s focus was
Tulsa, making movies on shoestring its first season “one of the year’s best squarely on two things: bringing his
budgets about Native characters. They new comedies,” praising its mix of communities’ stories to life, and giv-
garnered critical praise but minuscule “absurd humor with gritty realism.” ing new opportunities to his cast and
audiences. Harjo defined success by But Harjo worried that the show’s crew. “I was the person no one opened
whether his community liked them, very success would breed compla- doors for,” he says. “So it’s my duty
and whether their critical acclaim en- cency. When it was greenlighted for a and my job to open those doors.”
sured that he could make the next one. second season last fall, he doubled the Devery Jacobs, who plays the co-
Then his longtime friend Taika writers’ room from six to 11 and mostly lead role of Elora Danan, nabbed her
Waititi—the Maori Oscar-winning di- abandoned the main plot device. He first TV writing credit this season.
rector he’d met through the Sundance then challenged this expanded group “I nearly had a heart attack,” she says.
Institute, who now helms blockbust- to reject previous winning formulas in “But I felt so welcome and encour-
ers like Thor: Love and Thunder— favor of stranger experimentation, and aged in that room. And so many of us
helped him land a pilot for Reserva- to bring themselves and their stories wouldn’t have gotten these opportuni-
tion Dogs on FX. (Waititi is also a fully into the process. ties had it not been for Sterlin putting
co-creator and an executive producer “We almost fell into ‘We know his hand out and bringing up his com-
on Reservation Dogs.) Harjo could what we’re good at,’ without tak- munity with him.”
have used the opportunity to “pro- ing the next step and saying, ‘Is that After years of seeing themselves
fessionalize”: to hold casting calls on too easy?’” he says. “Season 1 was on mostly portrayed as stoic or tragic, the
Hollywood back-lot stages, seek out a trajectory. So how do we flip that Native filmmaking community is fi-
brand-name TV directors, maybe add and mess all of that up?” The writ- nally getting a chance to show off its
a relatable white main character as a range. Chavez, who has directed seven
surrogate for non-Native viewers. more episodes of TV since Harjo first
Instead, Harjo defiantly dug even ‘We can’t leave it up gave her a shot last year, hopes the
deeper into his roots. During our in- movement will continue to spiral out-
terview, he holds aloft a shirt that he to Hollywood to give ward. The various shows on air today,
printed for his production company: people the opportunity, she says, “are reservation-based shows
we don’t give a sh-t how you do because they don’t that are nothing alike. We’ve shown
SHANE BROWN — F X
it in l.a. He scouted for acting talent our stories are viable and universal—
on reservations, took a chance on first- know these people.’ and I hope we can keep making what-
time actors like Lane Factor, and hired —STERLIN HARJO, RESERVATION DOGS CREATOR ever we want to make.”
81
TIME OFF REVIEWS
One Of the Oldest criticisms Of 50th birthday. The same day, Colin
the Sex and the City franchise is that it quietly moves out of their apartment.
isn’t really about women. According to Then he dashes Michael’s hopes of
this theory, the four main characters are reconciliation—in a text message. △
secretly avatars for gay men like creator Michael’s single friends drag him
Darren Star and executive producer Mi- into a gay dating scene reshaped by
chael Patrick King. Embedded in this Grindr and PrEP. In SATC terms, art TELEVISION
otherwise reductive assumption is the dealer Stanley (Brooks Ashmanskas) is
understanding that when SATC debuted, the lonely, career-driven Miranda and
in 1998, it would’ve been impossible, TV weatherman Billy (Emerson Brooks)
even on HBO, to make an equally blunt the promiscuous Samantha. Which is
show about queer sexuality. fitting: Michael is equal parts vanilla
Now, after two American iterations Charlotte and self-dramatizing Car-
of Queer as Folk and with King over- rie. Along with his work wife Suzanne
seeing Carrie Bradshaw’s future in And (Tisha Campbell) and their imperious,
Just Like That, Star has made a TV-MA superrich divorcée client Claire (Marcia
rom-com whose central characters re- Gay Harden), these pals help Michael
ally are gay men. Co-created with Jef- realize he can be a handful.
frey Richman and starring Neil Patrick Most characters are hollow arche-
Harris, Uncoupled chronicles the mis- types. And the Manhattan they inhabit,
adventures of middle-aged men seeking where everyone is wealthy and talks
men in Manhattan. It’s a lighter, more like they’re in a racy Neil Simon play,
entertaining show than King’s inert feels badly dated. “Don’t you just love
SATC sequel, but one marked by similar New York?” gushes one man Michael
defects, from overly stylized dialogue brings home. “Grocery shopping one
to underdeveloped characters to a bad minute, hooking up with a hot guy the
case of affluenza. next!” And just like that ... it’s as if the
When we meet Harris’ Michael, a last 24 years of sex and the city, gay and
real estate agent, he’s in bed with Colin straight, never happened.
(Tuc Watkins), his finance-guy partner
of 17 years, on the morning of Colin’s UNCOUPLED comes to Netflix on July 29
U N C O U P L E D : N E T F L I X ; PA P E R G I R L S : A M A Z O N P R I M E
△
Gilles Marini and Harris in a familiar tale with a few key details switched up
83
TIME OFF MOVIES
◁
Thirteen Lives
dramatizes a risky
real-life rescue
△
Novak and Holbrook: turning a death into podcast gold
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