While watching the results of the presidential election with my fellow Spelman College students, there were many tears. Many of us voted, but a faction told us they didn’t vote out of protest, saying they were fed up with both parties and the establishment in general. As a civil rights activist, I searched for words to inspire them after it was clear that Donald Trump won the electoral vote, but I was also battling my own rage that anyone wouldn’t exercise their right to vote.
For the past few months, as the national youth director of the National Action Network, I’ve been urging young people in Atlanta and across the country to vote, regardless of party favorites or preferred candidate. It wasn’t easy. Many millennials, particularly African Americans, feel disconnected to government and distrustful of those in power. The issues these voters cared about most – reforming law enforcement practices, creating affordable education and improving race relations – were missing from national debates and media coverage.
This disengagement is not new. Young people have pushed away from the political process for decades. In 2012, roughly half of all eligible people ages 18-29 voted, about the same as 2008. Boosting that number means translating political engagement on social media into action on the streets and at the polls.
Since the last election, there have been many social media activists but not enough people on the streets, such as at peaceful demonstrations or even in meetings with elected officials. Strong campaigns surfaced on social media, such as #BlackWomenVote and #RockTheVote, but retweeting isn’t the same as voting. We need to take our participation to a higher level.
We must organize and stand behind civil rights organizations more than ever before. We have to reach across party lines to make sure we have a seat at the table. We are all Americans and need to figure out how to come together.
We need to look at how Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied people. We can’t be divisive. That’s why civil rights organizations matter. There are goals and an agenda — not anger and hate. Over the next four years years, NAN will continue to fight for an end to police violence, a strong economy and high-quality schools. Just a day after the election, I held a series of calls with young people to mobilize them around civil rights issues. On Inauguration Day, we plan to hand the new president a list of the changes we need to see most.
A lot of young people said they were upset because Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic primary, but many of them didn’t even vote in the primary. Research shows that the overall Democratic turnout was 14 percent, less than in 2008. If millennials had taken his campaign and the race more seriously, then Hillary Clinton might have been the nominee.
It’s time to get serious about our future. More than 69 million millennials are eligible to vote, about the same number as Baby Boomers. Let’s be proactive and not wait for another tragedy before we rally for change. There is a time to sit and a time to stand. It’s time to stand.
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