Carly Steyer

Because Harris and Walz give Gen Z the energy to keep organizing for our rights 

The first time I was eligible to vote in a US presidential election was in 2016. I was eighteen and a freshman in college that fall. The following four years of my young adult life were characterized by headlines that slowly but surely desensitized my generation, Gen Z, to atrocity and injustice: the normalization of hate speech toward women, people of color, immigrants, and those living with disabilities; disbelief and deprioritization of climate urgency; women losing the right to make choices about their own body and future; Black and Brown children being failed by an education system managed by a woman who had never attended a public school in the US; families being separated at the border; rampant xenophobia; a botched response to COVID-19 that led to countless avoidable deaths. 

These issues didn’t begin with Trump and they didn’t end when he left office. My generation will fight for the rest of our lives to move each of these issues in the right direction. I’m voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because I know that true justice comes not just from the presence of a stable democracy, but when people civically and culturally engage after an election too. I’m voting for Harris-Walz because, while voting alone will not protect my generation and those after mine, Harris and Walz will make more room for young people to fight for a better future.

We are living in the aftermath of the extremism and the divisiveness that was platformed during Trump’s first term. We must combat that negativity with hope, collectivism, and the energy to keep organizing.

Carly Steyer is a Gen Z writer and director.