I address you now after the presidential election on Nov. 8 to ask that you use your voices with integrity and grace. It’s not a secret that there is a large stigma related to teenagers.
There’s an idea that our recklessness, pessimism, and absence of accurate views on the “real world” will make all opinions we have irrelevant. Many adults and surprisingly teens fall for this myth.
The truth is that nearly half of the world’s population is under 18 years old and nearly one-quarter of the United State’s population is young adults ages 10-24. Do all of those opinions simply not matter?
It’s time that we end this frankly distressful and damaging myth that they don’t.
Students around the country are making their voices be heard by coming together to stage walkouts and other peaceful protests. On Nov. 14, 5,000 students from schools in the Seattle area held peaceful walkouts, including approximately 70 students from Vashon High School.
The walkouts were to show that the students did not support the president-elect. Many were shocked and appalled at the hate being spoken toward classmates in the aftermath of the election. People from all sides of the political spectrum spewed hate and resentment towards one another as they blindly searched for a single wrongdoer in this country of many faults.
But the school fought to stay unified, and students brainstormed ways in which to do so. There were arguments on whether or not a walkout would do any good, and once one was executed the fighting only continued.
Many said the walkout was not the way to react and that there were better alternatives to speaking out. The problem was that few, if any, students who objected to the protest did anything that would bring change.
I believe it’s time we stop wasting our anger and sadness so that we can concentrate it towards staying engaged in work that will ultimately make a difference.
I decided to search for examples of teenagers making a difference. So I began creating a list. That list remained blank during the first three days of continuous searching. It came to the point where I grew emotionally exhausted and discouraged. I was ready to admit defeat, until I stumbled across some incredible examples.
A 15-year-old football player started the organization NERDS (Native Education Raising Dedicated Students), and other organizations striving to end racist professional names such as The Red Skins.
Now NERDS is a highly successful nonprofit which has helped raise money for many Native American students through school supplies, sporting equipment, and scholarships.
A 17-year-old girl in Utah was aware of the 66 cents made by women to every man’s dollar. She organized a group of just 20 students who went to the Statehouse and passed out cookies, some 34 percent smaller like the pay they received next to men’s.
Soon after, a bill called Compensation Pay Study was passed so that pay between women and men would be monitored for any inequalities.
These were just two of the 59 examples I found of teen activism making an impact. And there are many more locally. On Vashon, you may have seen examples of opportunities at the service fair where The Backbone Campaign recently called for the support of teens in making a difference through protest and art and The Teen Council called for more members.
This article is not meant to guilt-trip you into getting engaged. As high schoolers, we are all trying our best to keep our grades up and simultaneously keep our sanity intact. But I hope that you will join me in ending the cycle of gossip without action.
Change needs to be a top priority.
Although surviving these next four or eight years is important, I also believe we can escape the current mind-set of powerlessness. Right now, we students need to believe that our voices can be heard, that our opinions do matter, and that in fact, what we say can make a difference.
For inspiration, I urge you to check out http://youthactivismproject.org.