Letting 18-year-olds Drive Us to the Future: Confessions of Old, Some of Us, Like, Seriously Old. Youth-Vote Advocates
Very few 18-year-olds can afford to buy their own cars. But they can drive. Adult judgment is kicking in, they have the reflexes of Wonder Woman, so we older people hand them the keys and enjoy the fun and pride of riding shotgun. On the DL, we carry a map for when the cell service goes out and there’s no GPS.
And this year, after the turbulence and division of this latest election cycle, we older folk want to pull to the side for a moment and salute the incredible youth whose voices we’ve helped amplify through #VoteThatJawn. We want to tell you how encouraged and invigorated we are by your passion and honestly. Your integrity enriches our Philadelphia, its surrounding communities, and our far-flung followers.
With age, too, comes memory and perspective. I remember watching a black-and-white TV while Black people testified before Congress about their inability to vote in the South without losing jobs, homes, and even their lives. That’s the other reason we do this. We want to help your generation to stay encouraged and stay this course. Yours.
Many people have been supporting youth vote through VoteThatJawn. Donors through Committee of 70, administrators at UPenn, volunteers from across the city. Here are messages of encouragement from a few of them:
- Becky Sinkler, former editor of The New York Times Book Review: Traveling by air this weekend, reminded me of the visionary engineer and inventor Buckminster Fuller’s saying that he was encouraged at airports to see the youth of the world carrying all their possessions on their backs. Another thing Fuller said: “I became convinced in 1927 that humanity’s most fundamental survival problems could never be solved by politics.” No matter who is officially running things, you are in charge of your mind and your heart. Don’t close them down. Live in hope.
- Beth Feldman Brandt, former director, Stockton, Rush, Bartol Foundation: I believe in the power of word –your words. In the past, gatekeepers decided whose voices would be heard. Now you have the power and the responsibility to decide how to use your voice, how to amplify each other, and how to lift up others. Be fierce. Be kind.
- Justin Villere, Director of Civic Education, Committee of 70: The hard work begins now. Our democratic system is being tested in ways that my generation never experienced. But this challenge is going to produce opportunities for new people to find their voice and emerge as leaders when our world so desperately needs them.
- Peter Conn, Vartan Gregorian Chair in English at the University of Pennsylvania You are a gifted and inspirational community of writers and activists, committed to nurturing equity and justice in a troubled and divided nation. In the weeks, months and years ahead, keep using your talent, your energy, and your eloquent voices to make the world a better place.
- Candace Williams-Brown, Owner of Fresh Fruit Media Group and VTJ media consultant: The gravity of this moment is real, and this shift feels seismic, even to those of us who have witnessed tides of history firsthand. But throughout our nation’s history, leaders emerge to stand for truth and decency. So, take this moment to lead, even in your small corner. Be the bright light we need to nourish a future we can be proud of.
We know that some of you will take this experience and roll it into other work, like VoteThatJawn youth leaders who are now in grad school, working abroad, in med school, at West Point, in D.C., law school, working here in the States, one, two, maybe three jobs. These elders cheer for you as you go on to work toward the issues you’ve told us matter most to your cohort: our planet, justice, gun violence, education, reproductive rights, student loans, health insurance, LGBTQ rights, and housing. And we’re here cheering — and proofreading, and insisting on rewrites, and asking for more data, and questioning facts — for the next group who comes. Because each day, another 50 or so 17-year-olds in Philadelphia turn 18, and it’ll be time to hand them the keys.
