- [Narrator] Flatland is brought to you in part through the generous support of A A R P, the Health Forward Foundation and R S M. - Hi, I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore and welcome to Flatland.

Every month we dig into one issue that's raising questions, causing tensions, or has gone curiously unexplored in our area.

And for this episode, we'll be talking about how Gen Z is getting involved in politics and social issues right here in our area.

(introductory music) While voter turnout from younger demographics remains low compared to older generations, that doesn't mean that young folks don't care about changing the world around them.

In fact, a recent poll from the Pew Research Center shows that 70% of those in Gen Z reported that they had been involved in social or political issues.

Let's focus some of our attention on young folks in our region and see how they engage in issues they care about.

- I would say we're bold.

We take things head on, and we fight injustice and we stand up for each other.

You know?

Now I will say every generation has its flaws and I would say ours is definitely social media and the constant, like on our phones, scrolling, TikTok, Instagram, all of it, but also we've been using that to our advantage as well.

- It's an election year and the people that run your state are shaking in their boots.

I'm gonna show you how I research my candidates.

- Oh, you have a chance to participate in two major climate movements this summer.

- We're fun when we wanna be, and we're serious when we need to be.

- I think Gen Z is also incredibly empathetic and compassionate for the world.

I think that's so often overlooked.

It can show up in hopelessness at times because we care so much about the scale and the magnitude of the world's problems that we feel the crisis all the time.

And now with social media and the internet, we don't feel alone.

We see it's not just me, but a pattern of behavior that's happening across this entire country.

I think that's very powerful.

- The activists that we see in our community, especially within my age group, they know what they're talking about and they're people that have lived through those experiences.

My parents immigrated here because they were essentially fleeing state sponsored genocide because of their religion.

My dad had a turban and a beard and so did my brother and after 9/11 that made them targets in society.

My dad was called the terrorist and was told to go back to his country and we were told to speak in English because this is America and we're supposed to be speaking English.

That's when I was like, I wanna do something with immigration.

I don't know exactly what that is, but I wanna help immigrant families like mom, like dad.

My junior year of high school, that's when I decided to start Eye of An Immigrant.

State your full name and a little bit about yourself, hometown, when you immigrated to America, family information and anything else you would like to add.

- My name is Alejandra Villalobos McAnderson, but you can call me Alex.

I moved to the United States when I was six years old from Mexico.

- It started as a storytelling campaign where we shared those small stories of small business owners and artists within the local Kansas City area.

We decided to incorporate as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the state of Kansas and are going to start paying the filing fees for immigrant families.

No one believed in me, just doubt because of my age.

Both sides want immigration reform, but none of them can come up with what that reform is gonna look like.

Government and politics has become more and more polarized, which makes it so much harder to get things done, and that's when those outside organizations sweep in and try to pick up some of the weight.

- Often I think that the system we're living in over inflates the importance of voting in order to dissuade us from doing other things that are more confrontational and potentially have more impact.

The best way to combat that system and to create hope in an alternative is to organize a pathway in which we create ideas all together and that many people are bought into.

- Oh, thank you so much.

Y'all do such great thing for the community.

- Oh, thank you.

- No problem.

This has opened a door for community to start caring for one another.

We have certain folks that I see here every day who are depending on this pantry and this fridge now for fresh water, for food to eat, for clothing that we put out.

- Filling it up gives me a sense of hope and purpose even when things are really tough.

And I hope that, you know, our neighbors can experience that as well.

- Because of this collaboration, because of your intentionality and our shared joys and hopes and visions for this world, we are creating space for community to love one another in ways that is just so radical.

And I just wanna say thank you for that.

- I gotta give you hug after that.

That was so sweet.

Back in 2011, I survived the EF5 tornado in Joplin and it was a really difficult thing to go through.

I lost my home, my high school, a third of my community, but then I started connecting the dots between the climate crisis, the pandemic, the economic crisis we're in, the lack of good jobs for young people.

This feeling that you know what is in store for the future.

I began to feel really anxious about all of that and realize that my anxiety wasn't going to change the situation.

That's why I'm really proud to be part of Sunrise Movement, Kansas City, because any climate plan that the city's trying to put out or any climate legislation, we get involved and we make our voices heard.

- No (indistinct), no gas.

- We need a plan to save our ass.

- Whose street?

- Sunrise we brought together people in a people's climate town hall that we had.

We all agreed on a, on a set list of demands when it came down to it, the day of the vote for this climate plan, Sunrise movement leaders stood up and testified and well, we won some demands on that.

You don't have to be an expert in the policy, you don't have to be an expert in, you know, what does this mean for the greenhouse gas emissions 20, 30 years from now?

We just spoke about the truth of our experiences and a desire to be heard, but that's our job to recenter that moral question that is in front of the decision makers who too often sell us out for the people who have a financial stake in maintaining the status quo.

- A lot of electoral work, lionizes the individual.

But it wasn't until March of 2021 that I was introduced to a new way of trying to make change and that was when I got connected with KC Tenants.

It is Brandon, you know this.

- Go Brandon.

No, no.

- We can't say let's go Brandon.

Yeah, that's, that's off limits.

Wrong, wrong Brandon.

- I've been looking for him for 20 minutes.

I did not know that was my son.

- When I was in high school, my mom couldn't afford health insurance.

She was in what's called the Medicaid coverage gap.

I made that connection between, oh, like there are people, real people with names who have the power to give my mother health insurance, right?

And even like bigger than that, to make a host of decisions that would make my family's life more bearable and they actively choose not to.

I realized that I should do something to make sure the folks who are making those decisions are people that actually care about me.

About a week after my first KC Tenants meeting, I was part of a direct action at City Hall where the homeless union was encamped at the time.

It was myself, a crew of KC Tenants leaders, leaders with the homeless union.

Because we got organized, because we stood in solidarity with one another, we brought the mayor to the table that day Watching the mayor descend from city hall, he had like two fellows in suits flanking him on either side.

And watching him sit down at a table; and across from that table was Qadafi, the representative for the homeless union, with about like a hundred people like standing behind him, right?

And that to me was a very clear illustration of the different forms of power.

And I knew right then and there what version of power I like believed in.

And KC Tenants has taught me that what I'm not able to do by myself, I can absolutely accomplish with others.

- For the people.

- [Crowd] For the people.

- But co-governance happens after those people are elected and that process is honestly a lot like messier, a lot more complicated than just casting a ballot.

That to me is the most important like way to create change.

A lot of people are looking to young folks to do better than a generation before them.

But that shouldn't be an excuse for the folks with power right now to do something with it.

- Then the current generation has, haven't given us a reason to be optimistic about what's to come.

I am because I think our generation is gonna come in and kind of sweep all that up.

- We live in a place where change is very hard politically and socially.

The fact is, is our future, this is our community and this is our livelihoods and our family's livelihoods that we're talking about.

And that makes us the moral authority to advocate for solutions that benefit not just us, but everyone around us.

- All right, welcome back for the discussion portion of today's program.

And for those of you who have seen the show before, you may be expecting to see guests calling in over Zoom, but today I'm very excited to have in-studio guests live in person and I am delighted to welcome to the set today Brandon Henderson, the leader with KC Tenants Power; Komal Kaur, founder of Eye of An Immigrant; Alejandro Rego Lopez, New Frontiers lead coordinator with LOUD LIGHT; and Maureen Ansari, leader with Sunrise Movement, Kansas City.

- Why are you taking the time to try to not only engage yourself in politics and issues that matter, but to engage your friends, peers, and colleagues?

Brandon, how about you?

- I guess I first got started in my junior year of high school.

There was a senate race here in Missouri as Jason Candor running against Roy Blunt.

And that was the first time I really dipped my toes into, into politics, right, was volunteering, canvassing, going door to door, talking to people.

And that experience and the connection that you can make with folks, like through politics and through asking folks to like dream of a better world than the one we have today, honestly got kind of addicting, you know?

And so there's a long journey from that moment in high school to where I am today as an organizer.

But that was where I first got started.

- (indistinct), I'm curious to know from you why you started and do you feel like you're having the impact that you felt you wanted to have?

- Yeah, so growing up I wasn't really involved in politics like Brandon.

It was kind of like more like community care work.

I mean, I remember growing up in southeast Kansas City, growing up in a very poor immigrant neighborhood where there were lots of moms who didn't speak English, did not have cars, could not drive.

And I remember being like seven or eight years old and not understanding like why we didn't have grocery stores near us and why they had to walk miles pushing strollers.

And then also like following with my mom and like taking the power and like helping, like giving rides to these women to go grocery shopping, right?

Helping them support their families in that way.

And so I've always been pushed to support my community in different ways, like with and without politics.

I mean I per, I was an intern in the Claire McCaskill campaign in 2018, but I, I really care about doing community work outside of that because I know of how much like strength and how much power comes from that.

- I have to ask you this Alejandro, again, you could be doing a lot of other things, but you've taken on this leadership role as an activist.

What is the work that you're doing and what brought you to that work?

- My moment was after 2016, the language that was used to describe the people, right, that I call family and friends and all that.

And really it started then.

- But you're actually helping younger voters get registered to vote, to, to, to be more engaged in the process.

Why?

Because there's a sentiment these days that voting doesn't matter, and by the way, that's across the voting age spectrum.

But why is it important do you think?

- At the national level?

I'll say right now as it stands, yeah, your vote doesn't matter very much, right?

Especially for president and like just stuff like that, right?

That's not elected by popular vote, but you look at your community, you look at your neighborhood and that is where you're gonna make the difference.

- I intern for the city of LA that throughout my senior year of high school and learn so much about the importance of local government having a hands on effect on its people.

Now with that being said, there are policies made on the national level that do affect people every single day.

For example, immigration policy that unfortunately state and local governments do not have a control over because it's something that applies to the whole nation.

Moreso focusing on that local and state government on other issues really does empower people and empower our vote.

- Sunrise movement, KC has been on the ground, activated, organizing and you've been to a number of city council meetings.

Do you feel like you're having the impact on, or the influence you want to have, with the city council?

And are you seeing that be turned into the actions that you want?

- Yeah, I definitely think so.

I mean with the climate protection and resiliency plan that the council just decided to pass with affirmative amendments that we'd been pushing for, right?

So this was a piece of legislation that no one really cared about.

It was kind of like a, a few select like climate focused individuals were like, Oh yeah, like this is important and we're trying to push for different changes and stuff like that.

And I mean people were just like, oh it's, it's just like another, it's just another thing.

But like when we showed up with numbers at City Council and we had people giving testimony, but like how this piece of legislation is going to affect our lives and how important it is that we like pay attention to this, that we care about this.

I feel like city Council really heard us, they really heard the strength in the room, the numbers in the room, they heard like the voters in the room and they were like, well this is obviously that something that people care about.

And they showed up, they took time out of their day.

I mean this was like, this was during the weekdays, it was like 9:00 AM, I had work, I had to like ask off for that.

Like this is something that so many of us cared about and were dedicated to showing up for.

And I think they really saw that and that's what made them care.

- So is the harder part of the work would you say, trying to convince, persuade, cajole, threatened politically in that sense, leaders to hear you or is it in trying to get your peers to get engaged and to find that this is important enough for them to get involved to take time off from work, that sort of thing.

What do you think?

- I feel like that kind of brings us to like the chicken and the egg, right?

Because it's like people feel like, oh, it's not, there's no point in like participating in this, 'cause they don't care.

And then like our representatives are like, there's no point in passing this because they don't care.

So it's like trying to find a way to really like, like what Brandon was talking about, like trying to like make people feel less cynical about the work that we're doing and like really emphasizing like the little wins we get because they are still wins.

And I feel like that's how you make people show up and then that's how you make your representatives listen.

- That's such a profound point because I think a lot of times people feel like, well it's not going to make a difference.

Kind of back to the statement that Alejandro made.

And it seems to me that a lot of people who are outside of your areas of (indistinct), particularly those that are older maybe don't always take y'all very seriously.

And I am interested to know, Brandon, if you feel like you have to do the sort of the double-sided thing where on the one hand you're trying to convince your peers that, No, I'm serious and you should be serious about this too.

And at the same time trying to convince older folk who may not see you as somebody they should listen to.

Do you feel like that's a part of the challenge or is that not an issue?

- I think in some spaces it's an issue.

I'm also really like blessed to be a part of the organization that I'm a part of because our, our base of leaders is really and truly multi-generational, right?

So there are a lot of folks my age in KC Tenants or younger who may not have really had a lot of faith in like trying to, to go about making change, right?

But found this organization that's had success locally in, in city hall and you have a lot of like older folks who are there to not only work with us to bring that change, but to offer wisdom from like their days when they were younger doing the same kind of work.

Because it's really easy to forget that there's a very rich, organizing history in the United States and there's a lot of, a lot of elders to learn from.

- Maybe there's a stigma that young folk and anybody who says young folk is already, you know, right?

So, but that they don't take you seriously or like they're there.

That's cute.

Do you feel patronized in that way or do you you feel like you're actually being viewed as a credible source for activism and on the issues that you're talking about?

- One way is I see is like when someone tells me, Oh, you're too young.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

- So that that has happened to you.

- Oh, it's happened so many times.

- Okay, okay.

- It's like, well maybe I do know what I'm talking about, you know, like I have my research and I, I'm, I'm doing something, you know, there's this movement, there's an action, there's people behind this.

And one thing that has always happened to me is when people say that there's this thing of self doubt and you have to remind yourself that there, there's people behind you too.

But also on the other hand, when people say that, it's, it gives you the strength and the effort and the determination to like keep on going to be like, No, I'm gonna prove you wrong.

I think I know what I'm talking about.

- Well, that's an important lesson.

I wonder what other lessons do you all feel, you know, you could share with our viewing audience, particularly those that may be just like yourself, your own peers and contemporaries.

If they have an issue that is of import to them, something that they care about, what are the most important lessons that each of you have learned?

- Looking back at history and what, what, what elders have done?

You know, we can learn a lot of lessons there and it also guide us, guide us forward, right?

There's a lot of inspiration from right, the reproductive rights movement and Black Panthers and the, I think, what are they, the Brown Berets, the brown cast.

- Yeah.

So very good.

Yeah.

- The Chicano rights.

- Somebody knows their history.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- My parents paid good money for, for my- - Right, exactly.

- But yeah, right.

Looking at the past, seeing what these groups did, right?

Like Black Panthers a, they're the blueprint basically for mutual aid and the resurgence, right?

That we've seen lately since the pandemic.

- I would definitely say be stubborn.

- Mm.

Say more.

- Like obviously like with organizing, climate organizing in Kansas City, people have never thought of it as like a priority.

I mean I've been doing this for over three years now.

And so it's like, I remember when we had our first climate strikes in 2019, people were like, oh, like they're just a group of like kids who are just putting this on.

It was just a walkout at U M K C, not a biggie.

It's like over three years later and we're, we're at city council, we're pressuring them, we're showing up to these different meetings, pushing for the legislation that we wanna see enacted and we're, we're getting it done.

And that's from being stubborn, that's not from giving up in 2019 and being like, Oh these people just think we're a bunch of college students even though we were like a range of ages and stuff like that.

So I definitely think be stubborn, don't give up.

- Look to the future.

The what you're doing right now makes an impact on generations to come.

You're leaving an imprint on your community to where you're able to help others and something that you weren't afforded maybe growing up look to the future and know what you're doing is worth it and know what you're doing is making an impact.

- Yeah, I think the most important lesson for folks my age, especially to internalize is that you gotta be hungry for power if you want to like change things, right?

And that word power has a very interesting connotation.

Like you hear it and sometimes people feel like icky, like, oh, like, like power hungry.

That's like a bad thing, right?

But I mean at the end of the day, power is the ability to make things happen.

There are a lot of different places it can be found, right?

It can be found in the community through collective power like organizing sort of the same type of grassroots work that KC Tenants has been doing for the past three years.

Power also exists in elections, right?

And who has decision making authority in some of these institutions like city hall, which is why KC Tenants is now standing up a sister organization that's gonna be making endorsements in elections next year.

You have to actively seek out power wherever you can, you can find it.

- What are the changes that you want to see in the world?

What is it that you're doing this work for?

Maureen?

- I really wanna see a prioritization of like climate justice and racial justice.

I feel like there is just, there's so much that's left out of the climate conversation.

I mean when people think of climate change, they think of polar bears, they think of the animals, they think of plants and stuff like that.

But it's like this is something that's affecting people, It's affecting people right now.

It's affecting black, indigenous and people of color.

There isn't a prioritization of like protecting these frontline communities, making sure that these frontline communities are getting the support that they need.

But then also like changing our infrastructure so that it actually is like mindful of like what's going on.

Like moving away from fossil fuels and moving to green union jobs, moving to better paid wages.

Like there's so many aspects of our society that relies on fossil fuels and things like that that we don't think about that can easily be shifted to be better.

- I wanna wake up in a city where everybody has a home.

I wanna wake up in a city where nobody has to choose between the rent, their medical bills or their kids' education or food.

I want a world in which no one has to like wake up on the street and wonder like how they're gonna get through the day, the week or the month.

- Komal.

- I want immigration reform.

I want it so that when people come to America, they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck for the next 20 years and struggle to become permanent residents and then struggle to become citizens and struggle all their life for their American dream.

I want immigration reform so that it's easier and so that people can get it done.

- Every month on our website, we answer your questions about life in Kansas City and the issues that you care about through our curiousKC initiative.

Let's hear from our reporter and producer Katherine Hoffman about our question of the month.

- This month's curiousKC question is from Dolly.

She asks if Gen Z thinks that social media counts as activism.

- The question reminds me of a very like common critique of, of younger people from honestly people with power in the world as it is today, right?

Like, oh- - Which is?

- -all, all, all y'all do is post on social media.

Like y'all don't actually, you know, go vote.

- I marched 35 miles for Dr. King.

- Y'all, y'all actually aren't like doing the work or whatnot when the truth is like there are lots of young people doing the work.

A lot of power exists on social media and being able to take your message directly to people, right?

Without having to rely on a filter or a medium such as like a news outlet or a radio or a show like this for instance.

Right?

And I think that for people that are especially pushing for more radical change, like you actually have to use these platforms 'cause you're not gonna be able to depend on other, more like established journalists to do the work of communicating your message for you.

- I kind of disagree with what Brandon said.

I do agree that there's a lot of power in social media, but I feel like some, some of us like overestimate the power that social media has.

I mean, like I know lots of friends who will like post to social media about an event going on in the world, but then they won't go and do beyond that because they think that that one post is doing enough.

And I think that there definitely needs to be like a, a conversation with ourselves or like we need to go beyond that.

- Learning about people's stories I think makes the biggest impact.

You know, when when you bring up an issue sometimes and you just present them with the facts, like on social media, like 52% this is, and this, you know, it's like, oh okay.

But when you're able to hear a person's story and hear how a specific person is actually affected by an issue and then it just makes a much bigger impact on you and it also allows the person sharing to kind of open up about themselves and open about their struggle and and find someone they can find, confide in and find someone that is potentially gonna help them make change in the world.

- Well that's where we wrap up today's conversation for this episode of Flatland.

And I just have to say it's been a great panel for our first in studio guests.

You've been listening to Brandon Henderson, leader with KC Tenants Power, Komal Kaur, founder of Eye of An Immigrant, Alejandro Rego Lopez, lead coordinator with LOUD LIGHT and Maureen Ansari leader with Sunrise Movement, Kansas City.

You can find additional reporting on the youth involvement in politics@flatlandshow.org where you can also submit your very young curiousKC question from next month's topic.

Please join us for our Twitter follow up, which is called Flatland Follow Up, where we open up the floor to talk more about this issue.

And I hope that some of you will join us for that.

This has been Flatland, I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore.

And as always, thank you for the pleasure of your time.

- Flatland is brought to you in part through the generous support of A A R P, the Health Forward Foundation and R S M.