We Fight To Win: Inequality and the Politics of Youth Activism

5: Toward Youth Political Power in Portland: The Adult Gaze, Mainstream Media, and the Problems of Social Visibility

SCOTT: I definitely feel freedom being under the age of eighteen. Like, being under the age of eighteen you’re exempt from a lot of things. You know what I mean? Like, in two months I could get in big trouble for something that I’d be just, like, fined for now, you know what I mean? I know it sounds bad but it’s totally true. Like there’s another article about impressionable teenagers, or whatever, like it’s . . . STEPHEN: Not necessarily impressionable teenagers, but teenagers that are willing to do something. Because nothing will happen to them! SCOTT: Teenagers do have special abilities, they have this security . . . STEPHEN: Superheroes! SCOTT: Yeah, superheroes! [laughing] STEPHEN: Yeah, they definitely have an advantage. SCOTT: I think that they’re not necessarily listened to as much, but I feel like they definitely have the opportunity to do more. Police Power and the Adult Gaze in Portland It was not lost on SRU youth that there were moments of irony about the adult gaze, which filtered through adult-dominated media, schools, police, and even social movement networks. Although these activists often criticized this gaze for infantilizing them as serious organizers and dismissing their political aims and capabilities, they also noticed that this infantilization , the childlike innocence or rambunctiousness attributed to their motivations and actions, could sometimes be a crucial asset. In Portland, 155 5 Toward Youth Political Power in Portland The Adult Gaze, Mainstream Media, and the Problems of Social Visibility there was a perception among some adult radical activists that SRU youth held a special advantage over adult radicals: in the eyes of these young adults, SRU activists, by virtue of their age, could afford to take the leading edge in direct actions. They could take the most risk to block city streets, commit the most courageous acts of civil disobedience, and could even physically block a whole line of riot cops using nothing but their bodies, protecting the many adult radicals standing behind them. Although these adult radicals did not necessarily look to these youth as movement leaders in terms of their organizing skills or political visions, they recognized that youth had an advantage when it came to the basic physicality of participating in direct action protests. Why? Because these adult radicals, and even SRU boys like Scott and Stephen, believed that police response and state punishment would be less harsh for people under eighteen years of age. Therefore, youth could be utilized for their special legal status as juveniles , able to take risks for the entire movement in ways that adult radicals could not. Some SRU activists were intensely proud of this special status their age had earned in antiauthoritarian movement networks. It is no coincidence that this pride came more from SRU boys, who, like Scott and Stephen, viewed themselves as radical teen “superheroes.” Although SRU girls often felt empowered by their participation in direct action protests, they did not necessarily view themselves as activist superheroes. Unlike boys, many SRU girls worried about their parents’ ability to punish them as much as they worried about state punishment.  SRU activists Myra and Suzanne explained this predicament: MYRA: The arrests are more severe above eighteen years old. Like, other activists try to get us to be more radical because we can’t get punished harshly. That will change when we are eighteen. SUZANNE: Well, we can’t get punished as harshly by the law, but we can by our parents! In fact, girls’ orientation to parental authority was at times a point of disjuncture between themselves and radical young adult activists in street protests in Portland. Young adult activists once tried to persuade Myra and Suzanne’s affinity group to put their bodies between the riot police and other adult activists. This was the very first street protest that the girls had WE FIGHT TO WIN 156 ever attended. When Myra and Suzanne tried to explain to these older activists that they couldn’t take this radical step forward because they’d face the wrath of their parents, older activists replied, incredulously, “So what? Do it anyway!” Although parental power seems insignificant and manageable to adult activists, especially compared to the formidable specter of police in riot gear, for Myra and Suzanne parental authority was very real and powerful. Even with this gender difference in attitude toward direct action risk taking, however, SRU boys...