LAWRENCE, Kan. - As a member of the activist community in our fair state, I've been privileged to meet many activists of varied ages throughout the last few years. Many of the activists I've met write for blogs, such as this one, attend rallies, attend conferences, and gather at social events meant to network activists with each other. However, at a good number of these events, and in some of my political science classes at KU, I hear something disturbing quite often.
The older, often more experienced, members of the community seem to think that they can't rely on the younger generation to make a difference. They don't think they can be relied on to show up or to really care. Now, I may be straddling the line between seasoned old warhorse and youth activist at the age of 30 but I can assure you that if there is one thing I know about the activist community in Kansas it is that you can count on the younger activists to be there.
I have the privilege of being a student at the University of Kansas with a very active and vocal progressive community. This past week I, with the help of several progressive student organizations, was able to put together the first ever student-run Domestic Violence Awareness Week at our school, and, as far as our research has shown, the first completely student-run week of its type at any university in the country.
Do I say this to brag? Well, yeah, a little. But I'm not bragging about my accomplishment. I'm bragging about the dozen or so students, almost all of them of traditional college age, who heard about the cause, heard about the events, and asked me what they could do to help. I had one of the best group of volunteers helping put the week together that anybody could ever hope for. And they were all part of the youth movement that many of you reading this have discounted as not being able to be relied on.
Another great example of this happened this past Saturday in Kansas City. A group of young activists, led by internet activists, many of whom are active here on this site and on ForwardKansas.com, put together a rally in favor of healthcare reform. This was born out of the fact that these activists, almost all qualifying as youth in the eyes of the world at large, realized that it was vital that the pro-healthcare reform voice be heard in a state that is often overpowered by the Mary Pilcher-Cooks and Lance Kinzers of the world.
And again, it was the youth that drove that rally.
I do understand the urge to question that which is new. And by definition, youth is new. We do not like change, on a very basic fundamental level, no matter how progressive of activists we are. However, when you write off an entire generation of activists because you feel that they will not be as reliable as the old warhorses that you have stood shoulder to shoulder with at every protest since Vietnam, you are doing yourself, and, more importantly, your movement, a great disservice.
I can say that I went into Domestic Violence Awareness Week not sure if we could pull it off. I had thought we had bitten off more than we could chew. But thanks to the tireless work of a great group of young activists, we not only pulled it off, we accomplished the unprecedented. We had an entire week of events geared towards pulling back the curtain on the epidemic of domestic violence that is seen in this country. And we were only a dozen or so.
Imagine the type of impact we can make if we increase that number two- or three-fold. There is no issue too big. No problem too daunting.
Margaret Mead once wrote "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." We can change the world. But we have to embrace the fact that the "we" of that sentence isn't just the old warhorses, and it isn't just the young firebrands, it is an amalgamation of all of us, working together.
It is, in the truest sense of the word, a union that would be undeniable and unstoppable. Perhaps it is time that we stop debating who came first, or whose idea is better, and instead we start embracing that we all want the same result and work from there.
Tanner, I'm glad you wrote about this! It needed to be examined and the myths busted.
And by the way, congratulations on your Domestic Violence week full of events. I watched this from afar and was very impressed with it all. Bravo!