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With access band on, I was front and center for Vice President Harris’ “Fight For Our Freedom College Tour.” The impressive FIU campus played host to what the VP hopes will mobilize young people in the ongoing fight for fundamental freedoms and rights. The issues included reproductive freedom, gun safety, climate action, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and book bans.
Politicians always say, keep up the good work; “your generation will change the world and make a difference” and today was no exception.
Besides making for great photo ops and sound bites, it’s a statement so right yet so wrong.
So, after the event, I asked students if they believed they could make a difference, as the Vice-President said, or not.
IT WILL TAKE FOREVER
Some felt they could, others said not a chance, and all agreed, short of an uprising, nothing will get done. They clearly know that voting was the only way to cause policy change. But given our problems at hand plus the time needed to get the right people in place they questioned what would be left of our world to even change.
Walking back to my car, a student (from the original group I spoke with) asked if we could chat.
She understood the perceived power the VP referenced but questioned if student activism even has a purpose anymore. She asked if the premise of fighting for “fundamental freedoms and rights” has any chance of becoming a movement as she felt “activism doesn’t really work.”
She cited countless forces that keep youth uprisings permanently fragile—from distrust and dismissal from adults to co-optation to attrition by graduation, infighting, or simply other obligations as students. Especially for low-income students and youth of color, it’s much harder to get recognized as fighting for positive change as opposed to posing a threat.
THEY FEEL IT
Students often have a greater sense of the possibilities for change than their elders and are less concerned about the short-term consequences of seeking long-term reforms. Young activists want small changes while aiming for a larger overhaul.
Student activism only works when young people can translate their power into sustained influence over political decision-making.
Today’s students are politically interested. They are simply less inclined to engage with “politics as usual” using formal democratic avenues of participation or interacting with decision-makers unwilling to acknowledge their needs and interests.
Student activism of course is nothing new.
In the late 1940s, post-World War II activism started as veterans began attending college on the GI Bill, and students pushed for more control over their education.
Student activists in the 1960s and early 1970s turned out in force to protest the Vietnam War and the draft, join the civil rights and free speech movements, push for women’s and gay rights, rally against on-campus recruitment by the CIA and military funding for scientific research.
More than a half-century later, students are raising their voices for many of the same issues—such as racial justice or LGBTQ+ rights—and getting involved in movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.
TOO YOUNG AND OLD ENOUGH
The nascent Never Again movement, which immediately materialized after the Parkland killings, followed a long tradition of middle and high school students who, despite being too young to vote, helped lead landmark social and political movements.
Among the most recent (and often overlooked) examples include the Dreamers activists fighting for immigration reform, and the American Indian youth who helped spark the Standing Rock movement in South Dakota.
For many young people, political engagement cannot be separated from the digital media landscape, and the suggestion of separate “online” and “offline” spaces does not reflect young people’s realities; they blend online and offline actions.
DOING DIGITAL
Those participating in digital spaces demonstrate forms of agency that they are not afforded in traditional political areas. Social media helps students express their priorities and connect with other like-minded activists, even when political space may be closed.
However, barriers to digital civic participation include inaccessibility, a lack of trust regarding the internet and specific digital platforms, bullying, harassment, and trolling against young activists.
The comparison to the 1960s is eerily similar:
Our nation stands divided, and many young people are dedicating themselves to idealistic projects in hopes of realizing the VP’s statement – “your generation will change the world and make a difference.”
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder/CEO of the non-profit The Student Success Project. He can be reached by email at ritchie@studentsuccessproject.org and on Facebook as The Student Success Project.
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