BY: Bella Levavi, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
On Monday, June 22, the organization IGNITE put together a three-hour summit to get the nonpartisan message out that the younger generation, if they take it, has the power to shift the electorate by mobilizing and voting in mass numbers. They made their point through panels, speakers, Q and A sessions, infographics, and social media campaigns that Generation Z has the numbers to make a difference.
IGNITE is an organization focused on creating a generation of politically active women who have on the ground experience of political organizing to eventually be ready to run for office in the future. Its goal is to take the male domination out of politics and to give women the confidence to chase public office. The organization creates programming for women as young as kindergarten up until college age. This year IGNITE organized mobilization campaigns for the 2020 election, and made this summit in tandem with that program.
The summit started with Indiana’s Republican Congresswoman Susan Brooks giving a keynote address. Brooks stressed the importance of voting as well as registering to vote. She said that many campaigns focus on registering voters, which is important but taking the step to go to polls on voting day is crucial. Brooks suggested that young people should get to know their representatives, especially on a local level, and let them know about the issues they care about.
There was then a brief interlude where IGNITE fellows asked the audience to call our representatives to speak our opinions about the bill S.1540, the Election Security Act of 2019. This act would work to correct complications in the 2016 election to ensure a more free and fair election in the future.
Next was a panel filled with BIPOC women who spoke about their experience running for local office. Christina Haswood, a Candidate for Kansas House District 10, told stories about how she was often the only indigenous person and only women at political meetings. She grew up in Section eight housing and relied on other social services and felt that gave her qualification to make decisions about such services, despite her young age of 26. Mya Whitaker, a Former Oakland City Council member, spoke about the importance of knowing your audience when running for office. She said that you have to explain your stances simply to be accessible to all. Karla Garcia, Dallas ISD District 4 Trustee, spoke about talking to people about the issues they care about. In her campaign, she would ask people what they wanted to see changed and would tell them about how their desires worked into her platform. These three women shaped an inspiring narrative of what you need to gain the confidence to run for office and how anyone can run a winning campaign.
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, of my home state Illinois, then gave a Q and A. She spoke about how people think November is just a presidential race, but she stressed that everything is on the ballot for this election. Not only will this ballot contain elections for many different seats according to where you live, but this election will dictate the outcomes for issues you care about most. She said that while names will be on the ballot, climate change, gun violence, and police brutality are all on the ballot as well. She said to get to know the issues you care about and speak to the people running now to get them to enact these policies
Next was a workshop explaining how to run Instagram and Facebook campaigns for people running for office effectively. This workshop gave instructions that can be applied directly to real work in the field. The workshop gave tips on how to set up social media accounts and how many posts a day to get the most clicks and views.
Valerie Jarret then gave a talk on how the civil rights movement was a long and slow process. She emphasized the excitement of the Black Lives Matter movement right now, but explained people need to vote and organize for a long time for there to be structural change.
The summit closed with actress Francesca Reale and founder of Space to Speak Maya Siegel, both under 25, speaking about the power they have in their social media to educate young people. They both have social media platforms that they use to get other young people passionate about social change.
The summit was a good mix of tangible information filled actions young individuals can perform and information about larger ideas that involve getting out the vote and what women have to go through to be in elected office. The summit gave me additional perspectives of what all the women on the Power in Place website have to go through to be in the positions they are in today. My biggest takeaway is that running a campaign and getting out the vote is no easy task and takes a lot of time and effort, but a change in politics, even at the local level, is a change worth fighting for.
Bella Levavi is a rising junior at Smith College majoring in Government and English. She is involved in Smith's newspaper the Sophian and the college radio station. She is passionate about vegetarian co-ops, writing, and social justice