Time - USA (2021-03-01)

79

Jon Ossoff

34 • Making history

BY BERNICE A. KING

Witnessing the recent election

of Jon Ossoff to the U.S. Senate

from Georgia, I saw a moment

of recompense and redemption

for Black and Jewish Americans

in the South, and the U.S. as

a whole. I was reminded of

the 1964 Freedom Summer

project in Mississippi, where a

coalition of Black students and

white students participated in

a massive voter- registration

campaign organized by the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee. The weeks-long

effort was met with more

violence than success, including

the murders of Andrew Goodman,

Michael Schwerner and James

Chaney: two Jewish men and

one Black man. Days later, the

national reckoning over their

deaths continued as the Civil

Rights Act of 1964 was signed

into law. In a potent reminder of

Freedom Summer, Jon Ossoff—

the son of Jewish activists

who was mentored by the late

Congressman John Lewis—was

successful in his campaign

because of the concerted efforts

and tireless work of Black

organizers and activists who

turned out the vote and brought

national attention to Georgia’s

2021 Senate runoff election. It

was the unfinished business of

Freedom Summer coming full

circle. This is the new South.

King is the CEO of the Martin

Luther King Jr. Center for

Nonviolent Social Change

HIDALGO: BRANDON THIBODEAUX; NAMPA: ANUSAK LAOWILAS—NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES; TENEV: ILLUSTRATION BY
ALEXIS FRANKLIN FOR TIME; RAGA: DANIEL DORSA; OSSOFF: TOM WILLIAMS—CQ ROLL CALL/GETTY IMAGES

MARIA RAGA

42 • Shopping for community

BY TESS HOLLIDAY

I joined Depop, a social shopping app where users buy and sell secondhand
clothing, in 2015, and have loved seeing how it has grown and changed over
time. Since she became CEO in 2016, Maria Raga has worked to make Depop
appeal to a younger generation (the majority of its 26 million users are under
26) by emphasizing sustainability and setting a tone that makes luxury items
feel accessible to all.
She has also shaped the app into a community where—through the shop-
pable clothing collections that they upload—people can cultivate their style
and share what they love with others. I know where to go if I want ’70s-style
psychedelic clothes, or which shop to seek out for vintage punk tees. I’ve also
loved being able to find new homes for designer pieces I enjoyed wearing my-
self. People have sent me photos showing they wore a dress of mine to a wed-
ding, to prom—and it gives those items some extra meaning. It’s rewarding to
see how these clothes live on through others and how happy they can make
people. Through Depop, I’ve found an unexpected community.

Holliday is a model and an author