‘A mass woke-ning’: Seattle’s Gen Zers on the long run they need to see

Editor’s note: We occasionally perform pieces by young people in the Puget Sound area and give their perspectives. This piece is by Linda Yan, a Bellevue High School graduate.

January 20, 2021 was a memorable day for many of us when we saw the inauguration of President Joe Biden. More importantly, after four turbulent years under former President Donald Trump, we were watching the dawn of a new era.

Generation Z or Gen Z usually refers to those born between 1997 and 2012. I, along with everyone interviewed for this article, belong to this population group. With most of us still in our teens and early 20s, the future is ours and we all have many hopes and dreams about what it should be like. We want a future in which systemic racism and classism cease to exist. Where the climate crisis no longer threatens our existence, it is today. However, many of us are only “cautiously optimistic” about the world ahead, because we have been given a hand of cards that often makes even a good education an immense challenge. Here’s what we’d like to see from the Biden administration.

Americans currently hold $ 1.6 trillion in student debt, and it is estimated that 73% of Gen-Z students will graduate college on student loans. Rachel Calder, a University of Washington graduate, wants to see a change in the way the funding of higher education in the United States is funded. She believes the Biden administration should adopt more programs to make college and research positions more accessible to all.

Rachel Calder, University of Washington Graduate (Allison Kudla)

Through her previous work as an orientation director at UW, Calder saw firsthand how many students, especially those from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and low-income backgrounds, often encounter obstacles when trying to enter STEM areas . As an example, she cites “that they would often have to have an unpaid internship or opportunity to gain experience for entry-level positions” – something that is usually an option for anyone who has gotten into financial difficulties. These systemic problems showed her how effective university reform could be at the national level, and inspired her to join the Institute for Systems Biology, a nonprofit research institute based in the South Lake Union neighborhood, as an educator and researcher. Remove barriers to participation in science.

Gavin Bradler, actor and senior at Ballard High School, hopes the new administration will take a more aggressive stance on ending police brutality. He identifies himself as “a mixed race child” with Mexican, Filipino and various European races and is no stranger to navigating “the spaces in between”.

Gavin Bradler, a senior at Ballard High School (Danielle Barnum)

With the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, Bradler first experienced what he termed a “mass wake” when his classmates became increasingly aware of systemic racism. Through everything from protesting in the streets against the assassination of George Floyd to helping organize programs that recognize and celebrate black history, many Gen Zers have engaged in anti-racist activism at a level unprecedented. This dynamic has led to stronger demands from local students, parents, and teachers to increase equity in public education, which so far has resulted in small victories like the temporary suspension of police in Seattle Public Schools. With so many of his generation passionate about racial justice, Bradler hopes such changes could take place at the national level as well.

As a regular volunteer for his school’s Sunrise Movement Hub, a youth-led national climate action group, Bradler also wants the administration to focus more on climate policy, an attitude that suits many our age. For Gen Z, climate change is something that has always been a part of our existence and lurks in the back of our minds. An international United Nations survey found that 69% of people under the age of 18 consider climate change an emergency, a far larger proportion than any other age group.

Lucy Carrel, 13, described this feeling as saying, “Of all the global problems I understand, this one seems the most real because it is happening, compared to many other problems that are only talked about but not seen . ”

Ava, 15, and Violet, 11 are also part of the Carrel family who live on Clyde Hill. They have done charity projects like packing over 235 meals each month for the Salvation Army to distribute to those affected by food insecurity. Violet says she hopes the Biden government will create a more efficient rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine so they can all “finally see my grandparents again.”

I ended my interview with the Carrels by asking them about the world they hoped their children could live in. After a short pause, Ava slowly replied, “I would say one where you feel safe to be yourself, whether you choose to come out as trans, gay, or whoever, and feel supported by a system who cares for them and has their best intentions in their hearts. “

“And I want the world to be more peaceful and no more wars!” Rang Violet.

In the face of all these adversities, we no longer have the privilege of remaining complacent viewers. Change and revolution through Gen Z are not coming; it is already here. We mobilize. From Washington Youth for Climate Justice to Fridays For Future, the global youth climate movement that Greta Thunberg is credited with founding, you can find us both locally and internationally – and join us to make a difference.

This article was written on a special assignment for the Seattle Times by TeenTix Press Corps, a youth journalism program sponsored by TeenTix (teentix.org), a nonprofit youth development and access to the arts.