February 2008
It was Sunday afternoon and the fliers advertising a free screening of a new film, “Chicago 10” lured me to Northlake Mall. Filmmaker Brett Morgen’s documentary covered the Chicago Conspiracy Trial in which leaders of three major groups protesting the war in Vietnam were charged with provoking riots in Chicago. The event was hosted by GenerationEngage, an organization dedicated to getting young adults more involved; and when the film was over, we were all invited to stay and chat.
Our generation has been most commonly referred to as Generation Y or the Net generation – one that has infinite access to information and the world at its fingertips. Yet with our lap of luxury, we still seem to garner the reputation of being incredibly uninformed. But what is even worse than being considered ignorant about our surroundings and occurrences is the notion that we are indifferent. Somehow previous generations deem ours as passive with little desire to get involved.
Now I realize that some people choose to remain in the dark, but I was offended by the way my peers and I were being generalized in such a belittling manner. As I sat there and listened to audience members comment repeatedly: “Young people don’t understand” “These students don’t care,” These students don’t know,” my tolerance lowered. What gave these adults the right to hold such an arrogant position on the matter? We were not only ostracized for supposedly not caring about the War in Iraq but also for not standing against it in protest as the Yippies did in the film.
I put my personal frustration aside for the moment. Don’t get me wrong. I do feel a significant amount of disappointment when my peers are not as proactive or infuriated about certain injustices as I feel they should be. But at the same time, we live in a completely different era. We did not see our fathers, mothers, and grandparents protesting for their civil rights. We were not victims of an active draft as were the students in the 1960’s. We were not brought up around the spirit of activism, which was so prevalent in Morgen’s film. In fact, that spirit has been missing for the last few generations.
Before I continue, I would like to emphasize that this is not only a generalization, but a slight misconception as well. There are plenty of angry and assertive “young adults.” When a draft did seem probable in early 2003, thousands of high school and college students led a march in New York City; and on Feb. 15, 2003 there was a “No War in Iraq” march in which millions of people throughout 800 cities defended their position. But let’s face it, with so many military volunteers, the need to protest has not been as great.
While I sat and listened to a number of 30- and 40-year-olds discuss our lack of presence, I felt like interrogating them. Were they out reprimanding their equally “passive” counterparts for wanting to remain employed rather than protest the War in Iraq? Were they really willing to leave their families for months on end to fight for the freedom of six boys in Louisiana? And were they willing to do it for more than a weekend? If the raging spirit of activism is missing
from Generation Y, it is missing period.
In an attempt to provide an answer to why some of us are not as militant, I’ll offer this: fear and stability. The suggestion that we should remain within the perimeters rather than risk losing everything that our grand and great grandparents fought for is passed down, helping to shape our somewhat conservative culture.
Reflecting on the event, GenerationEngage’s effort to bridge the gap of communication between generations is an important goal. And as I sat and listened silently, I unknowingly let that opportunity slip through my fingertips -- just like they figured I would.
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