The impact of gen-Z: Opinion

GEN Z AND THEIR IMPACT ON politics

By Pooja Patel

In 2020, politics has been playing a huge role in our daily lives now more than ever. The breaking point and the eye-opening moment for many people took place in June. At the time, the main event was George Floyd’s death. His death brought many important social and justice issues out in the open: police brutality, Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter, the president's lack of ability to respond to these issues, and violence against the peaceful protestors. During this time, a “blackout” movement went viral on social media-- Instagram, to be specific. People posted a black post to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The question is: what did people do beyond helping the movement and fighting for equality? It has been four months since we posted our black squares, and just because our social media looked like this for one day, it does not mean our society has done enough activism to identify solutions that create a level playing field for all Americans. Actually, the public support and interest for the BLM movement has been decreasing. In addition to this, in the presidential debate against Joe Biden, Donald Trump has only added fuel to the fire. When Trump was asked to denounce White Supremacy, he said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” He also tried to blame the left. He said, “Sure, but almost everything that I see is from the left wing, not the right wing.” This clearly shows his lack of responsibility to address the important issue and show his support and even try to fight for justice. During this important movement, we need leaders with plans to fix the structural racism. By saying this, Donald Trump has only encouraged white supremacists and worsened the situation.

So the question is: what can Gen Z, today's typical students, do? First, we all need to realize that by simply posting a black square on our Instagram is not the end of our responsibilities. We all have a bigger responsibility of standing up for each other and fighting for justice. Since we were small children, we have all been made to pledge allegiance, “With liberty and justice for all,” every morning from ages 5-18. When people are demanding justice and liberty, why do many other people get mad? We have a responsibility to fulfill that promise and demand equality. “Participating in a social media movement is not the same as understanding the importance of the movement and taking action to further it,” said Paul Warren.

Many people think that, just by doing performative activism, they are helping a lot. In actuality, they are doing nothing. If you are not standing up in your real life, in public, and actually taking a stand when it is really needed, you are doing absolutely nothing. So what can Gen Z do to actually help? We can diversify our social media by incorporating black voices. By doing this, we will start to see many different perspectives. We can listen to black people when they talk about being black in America today. They deserve to have their voices heard and we need to LISTEN. Another very important thing that we can do is notice racist behavior and remarks that are made around us. We need to correct those people and help them realize that what they are saying and doing is wrong. Challenge yourself and your social circle to see their racist thoughts and actions. Help each other unlearn these behaviors. Be the anti-racist voices in spheres which Black people are not in. We can also join the movements. Donate to causes for equality, if possible, and lead and participate in protest when safe and possible.

Finally, the most important thing you can do right now is vote if you are 18 and encourage other people around you to vote. Real change is only going to take place when we have better leaders and we hold them accountable. Donald Trump claims that he had done more for the Black community than anyone. But what exactly has he done? When the black community needed a leader, he described their movement as a symbol for hate. He describes them as thugs. Does it seem like the black community is happy with him? Have they benefited from his presidency?

Even in the 21st century, people are still fighting for racial equality and to be treated fairly and with the same justice that white races enjoy. Its 2020, people. Racism should have been taken care of a long time ago but, unfortunately, this is the sad reality we live in. Black people are still not getting the justice they deserve.

For example, the officer who shot Breonna Taylor was freed and, in fact, he was charged for the bullets that went through a neighbor's wall, but not because they went into a Black body. “If only the criminal justice system valued Black people as much as drywall...” Let me put this into a different perspective, if a medical professional went into the wrong hospital room and gave the patient the wrong medicine and kill them, that person would lose their job, their doctoring/ nursing license and potentially face jail time. What is the difference with a police officer making that mistake? Breonna Taylor was shot EIGHT times by law enforcement. According to Thecut.com, her killing was the result of a botched drug-warrant execution. No drugs were found. In fact, “the warrant in question targeted another person, who lives miles away and had already been detained by the time police entered Taylor’s home.”

Taylor's boyfriend, Walker, fired a shot in self- defense and struck an officer in the leg. “Walker is a licensed firearm carrier.'' In response, police opened fire, shooting more than 20 rounds into Taylor’s home. Walker was arrested immediately and charged with assault and attempted murder on a police officer. Later, he was released from jail on home incarceration and, later, the charges were dismissed. Walker claims that he faced many verbal harassment from the police officers. One of the officers told him that he would spend the rest of his life in jail and that the police were going to set dogs on him. One officer even responded, “That's unfortunate,” after asking Walker if he had been shot.

The police records show that Taylor was not the main object of the police investigation the night she died. The actual suspect was Jamarcus Glover who was already in police custody, “prior to the warrant being executed at Breonna’s home” still the law enforcement deemed the “no knock” necessary and broke into her home. This “misunderstanding” caused someone's life. Ex-officer Brent Hankison showed “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he fired “blindly” into Taylor's home, yet he was indicted for “wanton endangerment” for the bullets that went into the neighbors wall.

This case clearly shows that America’s police and criminal justice reform has a lot of work to do. Teenagers have probably heard this many times before as well, but I will repeat it again: we are the future of this country. The change is only going to start with us. If we stay silent right now and do not take any actions and spread awareness, we are only adding on to the violence because our silence is violence. So, if you're not already furious about all of the racist issues and brutality that the black community and minorities are facing, you need to wake up and do something. Trump’s second term agenda makes zero mention of any kind of criminal justice reform, whether for incarceration or policing. What type of leader is he when is failing to address an important issue like this, for which many people are fighting for months now. This is not about Joe Biden, it is about BLM, systemic racism, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights. It is about our future, our children’s future economic inequality, police brutality, It is about Breonna; it is about you.

The most important thing we can do to help the black and the minority community is educate ourselves and our family on politics. Help them see the situation from different perspectives. Help them see the two candidates' stances on every topic, including healthcare, economy, abortion access, criminal justice, climate change, education, foreign policy, and many other issues. Refuse to stay silent and blind to such important issues. Tell the adults around you that are white to vote like they are colored. Vote like their decision is going to impact their whole lives and the justice and equality they will get. Also, if you have friends who say that they do not want to get too political or let political issues come between their friendships, know this: their privilege is allowing them to stay silent and out of politics and remain unaffected. For the people of color, staying silent and “out of politics" is going to harm them. They do not have the privilege to stay quiet because they are the ones who are going to be dealing with our decisions and choices. Friendships do no end because of a difference in opinion. They end because of a difference in values. Privilege itself is not a bad thing. What's bad is denying it or not using it to advocate for others. Stop choosing to stay uneducated, ignorant and silent. Do something!

Sources/ Citations

• Paul Warren

• Thecut.com