In Her Words: Teens for Change

Four young activists on racial justice and what they hope for the future.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story June 27, 2020 Tiana Day, 17, of San Ramon, Calif., led a march across the Golden Gate Bridge.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock By Jessica Bennett “As teens, we feel like we cannot make a difference in this world, but we must.” — Zee Thomas, 15 Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Two days after George Floyd was killed by the police in Minneapolis, Zee Thomas, 15, posted a tweet: “If my mom says yes I’m leading a Nashville protest.” Thomas had never been to a protest, let alone organized one. And yet, five days later, with the help of five other teenagers, she was leading a march through her city, some 10,000 strong. “We didn’t have a podium or anything, we were standing on water coolers to speak,” Thomas said. “I’m an introvert, and when I got up there I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’ But I kept going.” Thomas and her co-organizers didn’t know it at the time, but in cities across the country, other young women were doing something similar. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT In San Ramon, Calif., Tiana Day, 17, led a Black Lives Matter protest across the Golden Gate Bridge, after responding to a request for help on Instagram from another young woman, Mimi Zoila, 19. Day thought “something like 50 people would show up.” There were thousands, stretching for miles. In Chicago, Shayla Turner, 18, spent part of her high school graduation week campaigning to remove police from inside Chicago’s public schools. She has been on the front lines of the city’s protests and cleanup efforts. And from her bedroom in St. Louis, where she lives with her parents while on break from college, Brianna Chandler, 19, was using social media to organize a teach-in for local high school and college students to learn about racial justice. “I think that educating people is essential to movement building,” Chandler said. We spoke with Thomas, Day, Turner and Chandler about racial justice, youth activism and what they hope for the future, by Zoom from their homes. Thomas with her co-organizers in Nashville. From left (top row): Thomas, Nya Collins, Emma Rose Smith, Mikayla Smith. Bottom: Kennedy Green, left, and Jade Fuller.Yasmine Malone for The New York Times Zee and Tiana, neither of you had ever led a protest before. What propelled you? Zee, 15: It’s crazy. I’ve never been to a protest before — like, ever. I got inspired by what people were doing all across America, but there was no protest in Nashville at the time. I was like, why isn’t Tennessee doing anything? Why are they silent? So I was like, enough is enough. We’re going to do something. I was nervous to talk to my mom at first. I said, “Mom, if I do this, would you be OK with it?” She didn’t question me, which was really surprising. She was like, “I’m going to be behind you every step of the way.” And that’s what really set it off. Tiana, 17: For me, I was never really an activist before. But this movement lit a fire in me. I live in San Ramon, a suburban town in California, and I’ve grown up around people who didn’t look like me my whole life. And I’ve been constantly trying to fit in. I would stay out of the sun so I wouldn’t tan. I would straighten my hair every day. There’s so many things that I did to try to suppress who I was and what my culture was. I just never felt like myself. But I have always had this, like, boiling thing, this boiling passion in my body to want to make a change in the world. I just never knew what it was. So when Mimi, my co-organizer, commented on an Instagram post about needing a leader for a protest, I DM-ed her. We organized the entire thing in 18 hours, pushing out a single flyer. We bought three cases of water because we thought it was enough. It was, like, four miles straight of people who were there to support the movement, and honestly, most of them weren’t even Black. They were allies. It was so beautiful. I think I found myself through this movement. Tiana Day, 17, at a Juneteenth celebration in Oakland, Calif.James Tensuan for The New York Times You are each leading major actions with thousands of people, typically organizing from the bedrooms where you live with your parents. How have your families responded? Shayla, 18: My mom actually found out I was protesting through the newspaper. She was in Walgreens and did a double take because I was on the cover of the The Chicago Tribune. She called me, and I was so scared, because I had lied to her and said that I was going out with my friends that day. She doesn’t really think it’s safe, and she doesn’t want me out there. But at the end of the day, I’m going to be out there and it’s better for me to tell her where I am. It actually brought us closer. Shayla Turner, 18, in Chicago.Carlos Ortiz for The New York Times Brianna, you grew up in St. Louis, where you said that your parents put books about Black liberation in your hands as soon as you could read. Do you think that led to your activism as an adult? Brianna, 19: My parents pushed me to become educated about Black history, in part because they worked really hard to put me in private schools. And they knew that going to a predominantly white institution would not teach me about my history. When I have gone to marches in the past, my dad has always been there with me. But I’ve never really been what I consider to be “on the front lines.” Most of what I do is online. So when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to actually go anywhere to protest, due to Covid and safety concerns, I just kind of sat down and typed out how I was feeling. I posted, and then I kept thinking and writing and posting and it grew from there. Just kind of what I call “consciousness- raising,” because I think that educating people is essential to movement building. There are a lot of different parts of a movement. What’s something about your generation that people get wrong? Brianna: That our anger is not valid, that we don’t have a reason to be angry, that we don’t have a reason to riot. You know, there is that super popular Malcolm X quote: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.” It’s the idea that Black women have to say things nicely, or they have to say things using standard English, or that they’re ignorant if they speak using African-American vernacular English. I think what the world gets wrong is that the anger of Black women isn’t valid — and it is. It’s more valid than I think any white person can comprehend. Zee: I also want people to know that we’re not strong all the time. We’re allowed to be weak. We are teenagers, we’re young women, and we’re allowed to be emotional, especially when we see people of our skin color getting killed. Brianna Chandler, 19, in Olivette, Mo.Whitney Curtis for The New York Times What gives you hope? Tiana: How many people are sticking up and starting protests. Brianna: Seeing all of the people who are going beyond social media to educate themselves — donating, reading books, and having conversations with their friends and family. Shayla: Chicago youth give me hope. Everyone in my close friend group is involved within this movement, and many others. That’s kind of normal for kids here, because everyone cares. Zee: After the protest, I really couldn’t sleep at all. I was on Twitter, as usual. And there was this one tweet from a mother. And I remember it so clearly, because I started crying. And she just said, “I’m happy that my daughter will grow up in a world that these young girls will change.” And like, that’s a moment where I felt really powerful, because my main goal, as a person, and as an upcoming activist, is to make sure that people know that things will change. Eventually. Read more from Zee, Tiana, Shayla and Brianna here. What else is happening Here are three articles from The Times you may have missed. Unilever is removing the words “whitening” and “lightening” from its packaging for its Fair & Lovely brand.Amit Dave/Reuters “Colorism is a form of racism.” Unilever and Johnson & Johnson in the last few days have adjusted or dropped completely their skin lightening products sold in Asia, Africa and the Middle East that many argue have long perpetuated racist beauty standards. [Read the story] “Destroy the male sex.” Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist author, made daring arguments in her book “SCUM Manifesto” for a world without men. But her legacy as a writer and thinker was overshadowed by one violent act: shooting the artist Andy Warhol. [Read the story] “What he has to do is get a very, very strong V.P.” In a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, a large majority of registered voters surveyed said race should not be a factor in Joe Biden’s vice president decision. [Read the story] This edition of In Her Words was written by Jessica Bennett and edited by Anya Strzemien, with photo editing by Sandra Stevenson and production by Sharon Attia. Together, they are the authors of This Is 18: Girls’ Lives Through Girls’ Eyes (Abrams). Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here to get future installments. You can also follow us on Instagram at @nytgender or email us at inherwords@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for In Her Words from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

On Politics Poll Watch: A Winning Coalition?

How progressive candidates are bringing together liberal white voters and voters of color.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story June 26, 2020 By Giovanni Russonello Welcome to Poll Watch, our weekly look at polling data and survey research on the candidates, voters and issues that will shape the 2020 election. Just last month, it looked as if Amy McGrath would coast to the Democratic Senate nomination in Kentucky. A moderate former fighter pilot with strong backing from the party establishment, she had raised over $40 million, far more than all her competitors combined. From her TV ads, you would have thought she was already running against Senator Mitch McConnell in the general election. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT But then came weeks of protests for racial justice, and a flush of new energy on the party’s left wing. Charles Booker, a state legislator endorsed by the likes of Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had been campaigning on a platform of “Medicare for all,” the Green New Deal and bold police reform; he surged in the weeks before Tuesday’s election. On Thursday, after a new batch of preliminary results were released, Mr. Booker held a 3.5-percentage-point lead over Ms. McGrath, although most absentee ballots haven’t been counted yet and we may not know who won the race for days. As swift and dramatic as Mr. Booker’s rise has been, it’s part of an ongoing trend in Democratic politics — one that’s been a long time in the making, according to polling on political attitudes. In congressional races across the country this year, candidates of color are assembling coalitions that bring together liberal white voters and voters of color, picking up where Mr. Sanders’s unsuccessful presidential run left off and building support in areas where he was never fully able to. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT “The task going forward for progressives is combining the African-American and Latino base with white progressives in increasingly diverse districts,” Sean McElwee, the founder of the left-leaning polling firm Data for Progress, said in an interview. “The way progressives win is to find progressive candidates of color who can build trust with voters of color and then can win over white progressives,” he said. That dynamic played out this week in congressional races around New York, where three black progressives — Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres — appeared on track to defeat their more moderate foes. Mr. Bowman, a middle school principal who campaigned on a racial-justice platform, held a wide lead Friday morning over Eliot L. Engel, a 30-year incumbent. Mr. Engel is white; his district, which includes parts of the Bronx and nearby suburbs, is about one-third black, one-third white and one-quarter Latino. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Bowman held decisive leads in both Westchester County, which is predominantly white, and the Bronx, which is heavily black and Hispanic. “The interests are aligned,” Mr. Bowman said in an interview, referring to his varied racial constituencies. “They are aligned more urgently because of the moment that we are living in, but even prior to the moment, we all centered this work in our common humanity and our values around equality and justice for everyone.” Voters of color and progressive ideas For years, polling shows, black voters have been broadly supportive of liberal policies such as universal government health care and free tuition to public colleges. That’s only becoming more true as millennials and members of Generation Z account for an increasing share of the electorate. Black voters are among the most likely to name health care as a key voting issue, according to PRRI polling. And data suggest that as some particularly left-wing ideas move from the party’s fringe into its mainstream, they are being carried there by a coalition of voters of color and some white progressives. Among people of color younger than 45, fully 81 percent expressed support for the Green New Deal, according to an aggregate of NPR/PBS/Marist College polling from last year provided to The New York Times. Two out of three of these younger adults of color backed making public colleges and universities tuition-free, and 65 percent supported instituting a tax on wealth over $1 million. On each of those issues, white people under 45 were also broadly in support, though not in equally high numbers, according to the NPR/PBS/Marist data. But among progressives, support ran considerably higher. Races across the country Candidates of color in many states are building winning coalitions around staunchly progressive platforms with messages of racial justice and representation at their center. The road was paved in many ways in 2018, when Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna S. Pressley beat out establishment Democrats. Each of them combined a progressive policy vision with a localized approach to campaigning, often rooted in community identity. This year, in New Mexico, Teresa Leger Fernandez campaigned in support of the Green New Deal and Medicare for all. She beat Valerie Plame, the establishment-backed Democratic candidate, in a primary in a heavily Latino congressional district. Candace Valenzuela of Texas and Georgette Gómez of California are each Hispanic congressional candidates who have been endorsed by high-profile progressives; both are headed to runoffs after advancing in their respective Democratic primaries. Even in whiter areas, candidates are finding that Democratic voters are receptive to campaigns that put calls for racial justice at the center. In Kentucky, analyzing only the 10 counties where the most votes have been counted thus far, Mr. Booker’s support tends to run higher in counties with larger black populations, suggesting that he is indeed drawing crucial support from African-American voters. If the current numbers hold, he will have won all three of the large counties in which black people make up at least 10 percent of the population, while losing to Ms. McGrath in the more overwhelmingly white areas. But roughly four in five Kentucky Democrats are white, and Mr. Booker could not be performing strongly without meaningful support from white progressives. Racial justice takes center stage Years before the current wave of protests against systemic racism and police brutality, polling showed that white liberals, influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, were beginning to express far greater concern about the nation’s legacy of racism. But something key has changed in the past few weeks: A wider swath of voters now expect candidates to put bold proposals for racial justice at the center of their platforms. No less than 96 percent of Democrats in a recent Monmouth University poll said they saw racism as a big problem. And in a New York Times/Siena College national poll released this week, 74 percent of Democrats expressed a “very favorable” view of the Black Lives Matter movement. That’s roughly on par with the 77 percent of black people who said so. In that poll, more than four in five Democrats across races said they supported the protests. The call by protesters to defund the police is less popular, though the concept is still a relatively new entrant into mainstream political discourse. Just 14 percent of Americans said in a Quinnipiac University poll this month that they supported scrapping their local police department and replacing it with a new one. But 41 percent — including 62 percent of black people and 70 percent of Democrats across races — said they would like to see some funding cut from the police and rerouted to social services. Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting. RECOMMENDED READING Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times   We Talked to More Than 50 Democratic Officials. Almost All Want to Divert Police Funding. Interviews with superdelegates and members of a Biden-Sanders task force found near-unanimous sentiment for redirecting money away from policing, with positions beyond what Joseph R. Biden Jr. has proposed. By Reid J. Epstein Hannah Yoon for The New York Times   Biden Is Getting a Lot of Advice on His V.P. Here’s What Voters Think. A large majority of voters say race should not be a factor in his decision, and none of the best-known candidates has emerged as a favorite. By Alexander Burns and Katie Glueck Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for On Politics with Lisa Lerer from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018