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Happy New Year, #Changemakers!
I remember the first time I voted like it was yesterday. I turned 18 a few months prior to the election and was enthralled with the shifts our country was making. Gay marriage had just been legalized and we elected a Black president twice. I knew change was in the air because my generation was coming of age.
Now, after living through a global pandemic, an insurrection on our Capitol, a statewide week-long power outage, and several more election cycles— it’s honestly hard to say that excitement around voting is still there.
It often seems like our day-to-day lives aren’t really impacted by those who occupy these seats of power, and unfortunately the leaders we want sometimes don’t win. During my time at Deeds, I have learned how powerful local elections are and how impactful youth civic engagement can be.
Although we’ve been repeating history in many harmful ways, we have also been met with very impactful positive milestones. In the 2018 midterms, at a time when youth turnout had previously been declining at around 8%, Texas tripled its turnout of voters under the age of 30. Thanks to the grassroots efforts of organizations engaging young people, that number grew even higher and broke records in 2020, making Texas the nation’s leading state in youth turnout.
Last year, young Texans showed up— over 3 million of us to be precise! This just goes to show that we have the collective power to determine the future of not only our state but of the country. And this is no secret, as those who want to maintain the status quo have continuously gone to extreme lengths to suppress our voices. To me, this is just a testament to how powerful we are. The change I felt in the air when I cast my first ballot has only grown stronger.
I’m no longer blindly hopeful for change, but I have learned to sit with the deep-rooted challenges that we will face along the way. Our biggest wins are in the long-term capacity we're building. Each time we show up against the odds and obstacles stacked against us, it is a radical act of hope and progress— especially after all we’ve been through these last few years.
I believe in us, Changemakers. We are on our way to creating more impact than we can even imagine right now.
Parnia Razinobakht,
Digital Manager
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