Keep Your Chins Up

Don't let one loss squash a budding movement.

by State Sen. Anthony H. Williams

You'd think all those young bodies filing into voting booths would silence any lingering gripes about apathy. Some 21 million people ages 18 to 29 voted in this last presidential cycle—nearly half of all Americans in that age group, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. That was 4 million more youthful voters at the polls than in 2000.

What concerns me is the thought that this age group would tie all that energy to one candidate—whether that person won or lost. That would be far worse, because that sort of thinking opens the door for mass exodus from the political process and turns enthusiasm into defeatism.

It makes it too easy to pick up your CDs and go home.

I suggest that it's time to drop another beat, because election night is like 11 p.m. at a hot party—time to warm up, not go home.

Nov. 2 was a maiden voyage for many into the political realm, and it's time to keep sailing. Young people today have an opportunity to shape an agenda that relates to them—and demand that attention be paid to it. They have to, because there are serious things happening in the world that directly relate to 18- to 34-year-olds.

Iraq is an obvious, and vested, interest. Some 1,200 American men and women have been killed, and the death toll grows almost daily. With the average age of American troops killed at 27, there's little doubt that a body bag coming home could return a buddy. More than half of the soldiers from Pennsylvania slain in those overseas sands were under age 25.

Death also smacks young women daily with a stick called HIV/AIDS. A growing number of the newly infected are women, most of those are women of color, and the Centers for Disease Control report AIDS as the fifth leading cause of death for women ages 25 to 44. Meanwhile, drug costs to combat this or any other ailment soar.

Affording anything beyond food and shelter is getting more difficult, anyway. For young black men, about one in 10 in my district, unemployment rates are among the worse seen since the Great Depression. For teens, last summer was near disastrous because the summer jobs weren't there, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

For those who do have a job, getting there often means round trips to work on SEPTA. On large transit systems like ours, nearly half of all riders are ages 15 to 34, according to a study prepared for the American Public Transportation Association. Yet, there's a governor and a state legislature that dickers over how, if and when to fund the means by which you make a dollar.

You can't fall for the hype that only highlights these issues every four years. The list of concerns goes on for those under 35, and in my district, that touches about one in every three residents. But it isn't always about numbers.

It was consistency, not bodies, that created the American Association of Retired People. The majority of U.S. citizens don't practice Judaism, yet Israel's concerns have long been America's concerns via effective lobbying. Drive makes the difference.

Focusing on issues with the same fervor that drove people to the polls generates dialogue, which turns to mobilization. Suddenly, there's a movement, steered by folks that for too long have been written off. Leaders emerge. Constituencies solidify.

We often praise the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how he changed our world, but forget that he started moving mountains as a 26-year-old. It's past time to remember—and emulate.

That would be the coolest legacy of all for the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, the College Republican National Committee, Declare Yourself and all the rest of the youth-vote mobilization efforts out there.

That passion was showcased on Nov. 2. Don't let that it deflate alongside that Kerry-Edwards balloon. Campaigns happen every year. Government happens every day. Represent.

State Sen. Anthony H. Williams has served the 8th Senatorial District since 1998; he first won elected office at 31. If you would like to respond to this Slant or submit one of your own (800 words), contact Duane Swierczynski, Editor in Chief, City Paper, 123 Chestnut Street, Third Floor, Phila., Pa., 19106, or e-mail Duane Swierczynski.