Former Preside Donald Trump, who as of print time is poised to win the 2024 presidential election, will likely re-enter office in January 2025. Anxiety has taken hold of many people, like myself, who are fearful of what another term with Trump will look like.
At this moment, I glance away from the news and think of my high school history teacher, who often touted the idea of teaching a class solely on 1968, a year plagued with a nearly incomprehensible tumult. 1968 was drowning in conflict with the Vietnam War, which the United States fought in and funded. Protestors were in uproar over former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s disastrous handling of Vietnam, which drove the occupation of buildings at Columbia University (N.Y.) and, ultimately, Johnson’s resignation from the presidential election. Constantly, the parallels between 1968 and now are on my mind. History is pasted onto the present, and we must use the lessons from the past to guide our actions in our current struggles.
However, Americans have failed in our duty to keep history from occurring again, and I am disappointed. Philosopher George Santayana’s words come to mind. He said,“those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Have we done just that — damned ourselves? However, the more I ruminate over it, the more I realize that the violence, the chaos and the catastrophe is not where the story of 1968 ended. Johnson stepped down due to his unpopularity during the election, mirroring President Joe Biden’s actions earlier this year. Further protests in 1968 made it difficult for the United States to sustain its war efforts in Vietnam, leading to the Paris Peace Accords. This victory gives me hope that, if we are loud enough, our efforts in bringing peace and justice to the Middle East can be successful. Looking at our history reminds young people that collective actions in pursuit of our demands are capable of enacting the massive change we seek. Yet, we often do not see it this way, believing that our work is futile.
“[Protesting] is screaming into the black hole of a steady stream of passersby, trying to convince myself that this is a good use of my time,” Morgan Starnes wrote in their op-ed on their experience with the Gaza movement. While this sentiment is true, we must recognize that young people persevered in the past. We should use this precedent to further our efforts, knowing that if young voters further engage with democratic institutions, they do, in fact, have the power to demand and enact change.
I fear that Generation Z believes that their voices do not matter. I am afraid that our generation has abandoned civic participation. I am afraid that our generation only brought to fruition what we feared. Let me say, the only way people lose power is by believing that they do not have any.
Too many of the people that I love expressed hopelessness during this election and in the importance of their vote. Trump, with his affiliation with the racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic Project 2025, remains unpopular among Gen Z. Conversely, Harris, who has not wholly implemented the demands of the pro-Palestinian movement, leaves many young voters uninspired. I am disappointed with our candidates, and it is likely that you are too.
However, our options were not static figures, and the election’s winner will not be, either: These candidates fought to prove that they will work the hardest for us, but Gen Z, too, must continue the fight to show our next president what changes our generation wants to see. Our power only works when we wield it. We have seen this truth on a massive scale in 1968, as well as this past summer, when Biden withdrew from the presidential race due to a decrease in support. Biden’s deference to Harris’ bid was a victory, but do not allow this to be the end of our fight. Do not stop as many in our past did, allowing a greater evil to win.
Yesterday was Election Day. I hope you voted — I hope you did not shy away from the election because of the flawed candidates. Rather, I hope you push the president-elect to continue to heed the demands from our generation. If you voted, make your vote count by protesting for what still falls short of the change you hoped to see enacted: Do not just fight for your chosen candidate, but drive them to fight for you. Labeling our system as broken is not enough. We must engage with it by bringing change from within.
Activism here in Georgia, such as the protests for the closure of the BioLab in Conyers, Ga., and the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, gives me hope. Emory University students organizing around issues that the student body wants to see changed — around the conflict in Gaza, the protection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students and the furthering of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — gives me hope that our generation, both at our own university and around the country, is a force to be reckoned with, and we must not allow this fire to be extinguished.
I look back at 1968 and see it reverberating in us thus far, but Gen Z and generations to come must learn from the mistakes of the past and avoid the inaction and loss of faith they succumbed to. Do not become complacent and douse our fire. We have seen the power of participation in the civic process: From demonstrations against Vietnam to Gaza to the withdrawal of support from Johnson to Biden — though I hope that former President Richard Nixon’s presidency will not be matched by its modern equivalent. I hope that our generation will recognize the strength that our past instills in us, as well as see where the faith of our counterparts in 1968 began to drain and where our fervor must only increase. I hope that, when future generations learn our story, they will not have to teach us as a cautionary tale. I hope that we will not concede our power when history has bled out the consequences.
Contact Josselyn St. Clair at jmstcla@emory.edu.
