Historically, young generations of white Americans have effectively used their perceived youthful innocence to cover up their racist acts. These actions aren’t harmless - they negatively impact young people of color and prevent them from feeling accepted in their schools and communities.Īre you a part of Gen Z? Or, are you a parent or teacher? Take our Gen Z survey here. Acts of racism committed by young people are often seen as innocent mistakes. Racism perpetrated by members of Gen Z is especially dangerous due to the lack of accountability that follows it. When people think about Gen Z, they often think about the ‘Yara Shahidi’s and ‘Malala Yousafzai’s of our generation, but our generation also includes people like Rittenhouse. Instead of facing condemnation, Rittenhouse received praise from conservative figures and left custody after they helped pay for his $2 million bond ( NBC News). The candidate who shared a white power message in June ( NPR) and incessantly espoused hateful rhetoric was the candidate of choice for nearly half of young white Americans this year.įor more evidence, we can look directly at the case of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people at a protest after police shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. Although young people of color overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden, 45% of white youth voted for Trump ( Tufts). As nice as the idea of racism passively dying off sounds, it cannot be a reality without active anti-racism.įor starters, let’s take a look at the recent 2020 Presidential Election. Headlines propose that Gen Z might be the generation to “end systemic racism” ( Screen Shot), and celebrities like Oprah Winfrey hope that racism will die away with older generations ( MSNBC). Yet all of us were also members of Gen Z - a generation praised by figures like Senator Bernie Sanders for our tolerance and decency ( Teen Vogue). All of us had stories to share about encountering slurs, facing microaggressions, and being treated as though we were less than due to the color of our skin.
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Reflect on the ways you can model anti-racist behavior for the young people in your life.įollow Gen Z Black activists like and August, I sat on a panel with the other 1.2% of Black students in my school district to discuss our experiences with racism in our community.
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Sign the Diversify Our Narrative petition ( to encourage your local school board to implement anti-racist texts in the classroom (U.S.