-
3: Allies Within and Without: Navigating the Terrain of Adult-Dominated Community Politics
- Rutgers University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
I think one of the things that society does is say, “Well, teenagers are just rebellious; that’s just the way it always has been and that’s always how it will be.” Like, it’s some natural thing about nature that kids are just rebellious; that’s the way they are. Like, there is no actual reason for why kids are doing it. And it’s, like, I could have easily believed that myself before I got into activism. I could have just believed that “yeah, kids are just rebellious; that’s what they do; kids go steal stuff. Some kids are so crazy and rebellious that they go shoot people in their school, and that’s really insane.” But I think it’s more to show the problem with society. Like, kids are saying, “Yeah, you’re right, we are rebellious, but for this reason. And we are going to march up there and tell you what we think about it, and tell you why we think about it.” And I can’t think of any other situation where a bunch of radical youth could demand that the mayor come down and talk to them. That couldn’t have happened unless it was us, the youth, doing it. (Stephen, seventeen years old, Students Rise Up) When students begin to organize beyond their schools and in their larger communities, they struggle to find their place in local social movements. In doing so, they reflect on their unique position as youth in adult-dominated community politics and develop politicized frameworks for understanding ageism. Both YP and SRU organized outside of schools because, first and foremost, that’s where young people could mobilize as a larger base. Of 98 3 Allies Within and Without Navigating the Terrain of Adult-Dominated Community Politics the many barriers to youth political participation inside of the school system examined in the previous chapter, the biggest barrier is that there exists no mechanism that can sustain the organization of youth across schools. Because there is often a disconnect between schools and community politics, there is a related disconnect between schools themselves. Thus, social movement organizing within the high school alone is ultimately limited to the organizing base within each particular school. When students are able to devise ways to link their school bases together, they find new student power, agency, visibility, and voice that extend within and beyond their schools. However, students venturing outside of their high schools to organize student movements cannot just walk in to any public space and find liberation and voice. In fact, public civic spaces that are usually reserved for adult participation can be difficult territory for students to break into. While one of my primary research questions asked why students are compelled to go outside of their schools to organize student movements, another question nagged at me: why don’t students simply walk out of their schools and into the diverse array of local social justice organizations that already exist in their cities? A major barrier to adolescent participation in local community organizations is adult power. Of course, youth under eighteen are officially banned from participating directly in electoral politics simply because of their age. But the organizational and cultural dimensions of adult domination in social movement circles can seem to adolescents as real a barrier to political participation as are state-imposed age restrictions on voting. Seventeen-year-old SRU activist Megan viewed this as a barrier to participating in adult organizations and made her case for creating a youth-led space: “Youth have a part in society. Even though twelve-year-olds or high school kids may not be ready to take full responsibility of what needs to go on in the normal adult life, they can still have a place to be active. ’Cause there are just so many restrictions. Like, all these organizations are, like, eighteen and up. I mean, what are we supposed to do?” Many young people in this study had tried to join already established adult groups. However, youth found themselves faced with a great deal of disregard from adults in their communities as they tried to join their organizations. SRU activist Josh, who had participated in a largely adult peace organization in his ALLIES WITHIN AND WITHOUT 99 [3.239.208.72] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:51 GMT) community, shared his perception of adult power in these organizations: “I think in adult movements . . . for adults it’s...