WAR ON THE WORKING CLASS

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

A brown-skinned woman in glasses and a collared shirt (we’ll call her Yara) peers at the reader through the flaps of a cardboard box, smirking a little.  Another voice (we’ll call her Jamila) comes from inside the box, off panel.

JAMILA: Uh, hey girl. Where the hell are we?

YARA: Hell is right. We’re in Project 2025’s mandate for America.

JAMILA: Ok but why am I in this box?

Panel 2

Yara stands in a sea of taped-up cardboard boxes, still looking down into the one she’s opened.

YARA: Oh, that’s a metaphor. The Heritage Foundation wants wealthy folks to have easy access to everything, while the working class has to live by another set of rules.

YARA: That’s why we’re all in boxes.

Panel 3

The next three panels are split into two separate pieces. On the left side of the panel, Yara continues to talk into the box, looking angry. On the right, we see an image of a brown-skinned woman and her two children in a grocery store.  The woman – implicitly Jamila – is looking sadly at an open carton of eggs while her children peer into their empty grocery cart.

YARA: For starters, they’ll scrap food assistance for 22 million households, most of which are below the poverty line.

Panel 4

On the left side of the panel, Yara continues to talk into the box, pointing down at Jamila. On the right, Jamila’s son from the previous panel sits at an elementary school desk, writing on a piece of paper.  Jamila looks in through the classroom window from the outside, looking worried.

YARA: Then they’ll trash head start education, which lots of low-income children really need to prep for elementary school.

JAMILA [off panel, from her box]: What?!

Panel 5

On the left side of the panel, Yara continues to talk, but she’s started to look to her left. Jamila is still speaking to her from the box.  On the right side of the panel, Jamila puts a hand to her head in exhaustion as she works in a factory alongside another employee.

YARA: And they’re gonna let corporations take away overtime eligibility for 4 million workers, like you.

JAMILA [off panel, from her box]: This is starting to feel personal…

YARA: Right? They actually blame “fatherlessness” for most of America’s problems, which is… just asinine.

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Back in the empty room full of cardboard boxes, Yara sits on the floor, leaning on Jamila’s box with one elbow as she rubs her head.

JAMILA [off panel, from her box]: This all feels… hopeless.

YARA: Like they’re trying to get us to just lay down and die by a thousand cuts. But we won’t.

Panel 2

This panel and the next are split into two parts. On the left side, Jamila and her children are smiling around the dinner table, plates and dishes piled high. On the right side, Yara, still talking into the box, points to the happy scene.

YARA: We won’t let them blame our families and our basic needs for their problems.

Panel 3

On the left side, Jamila sits at the hospital bedside of an elderly woman. The woman is smiling as a female doctor holds her hand, smiling back.  On the right side, Yara reaches into the box with an open hand as she speaks.

YARA: Food is a human right. Healthcare is a human right!

Panel 4

Yara begins to pull Jamila out of her box, their hands clasped.  Around them, we see other figures in silhouette beginning to emerge from their own boxes.

YARA: We know this. And there’s a whole lot more of us than them, and if we organize and flex our electoral muscle…

Panel 5

The boxes have disappeared, and instead the room is filled with people of various races, ages, and genders, all smiling as they face the reader. Yara and Jamila are at the center of the panel. Jamila is carrying her daughter on her shoulders as her son stands nearby.

of all races and genders walk powerfully toward us, and their future.

YARA: They can’t stop us from building our own vision of the future.

CAPTION: Based on analysis in “The People’s Guide to Project 2025” by Democracy Forward. Read in full at DemocracyForward.org