Will the Kids be Alright?

 I have a personal relationship with activism, both in person and online.  As a freshman at Florida State (redacted) years ago, I protested the One Florida Initiative.  I told the story on my personal blog years ago in the context of voting.  I sincerely believe that citizens have a duty to fully participate in the political process and that protest is included in that participation.  Through several waves of unrest and calamity at home and abroad, I find myself moving so much of my protest online.  What has encouraged me is finding younger people online who are exercising their franchise in many ways.  They are so encouraging it's tempting to believe "hey, they don't need me!"  Two examples come to mind:

Little Miss Flint

You may not remember the name Mari Copeny but if you were online during the Obama administration, you should know Little Miss Flint.  The young girl wrote to President Obama as the Flint Water Crisis came to light asking for his help in replacing the corroded pipes causing the poison in the local water supply.  Her website connect her to the $100 million allocation to rectify the crisis.  Quite an accomplishment for an elementary school student.  

So why is she still an activist?

Mari points out on her Twitter account that Flint is a notable example of the hundreds of communities worldwide that suffered from poor water sources and crumbling infrastructure.  And sadly, Flint still struggles with unclean water.  Not only do I follow her, I've donated to her cause and shared her posts.  Mari is 14 now and is still fighting for her cause.

March for Our Lives


Gun violence has been ravaging the United States for decades.  We are the home of the mass shooting and rack up tragedy after tragedy daily.  FSU itself has been touched by gun violence.  I lived 15 minutes from Parkland on that fateful Valentine's Day a gunman attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  Out of that brutal attack, several of the survivors were spurred into activism.  March For Our Lives was founded by a group of students like David Hogg.  I also followed David from the first days of the attack through the founding of the group.  Similar to Mari, his group has been chipping away at reform that led to the gun reform bill signed this summer.


Yet David and March For Our Lives' work is still not done.  They are targeting additional reforms, including a reintroduction of the assault weapons ban.   

In the Kane and Bowyer article in this week's reading, the researches note that only 10-11% of youth participate in online citizenship as they defined it.  With such examples, are youth like Mari and David rare?  Where are the other 90%?  If the youth will not lead us...they might need some backup.  Even though I haven't put my protest shoes back on from 1999, I have used my online presence and the treasure I can afford to support the causes I believe in.  People like me have to continue to support and participate in the process.  Yes, the kids might be alright but we have to be too.

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