January 19, 2022
Let's hear it for New York, the concrete jungle where dreams are made and the activism will inspire you. Recently, hundreds of Gen Z students demonstrated their frustration with the ongoing lack of health protections against COVID-19 in New York City schools by staging a mass walkout and protest.
Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter were flooded with videos of students demonstrating that they were no longer going to accept being used as a political football in this game that adults seem far too willing and eager to play with their health and safety. It was a simple but powerful expression of self-determination and the growing self-awareness that as a generation our concerns about both our present situation and future are valid of being heard and engaged upon.
The actions taken by students in New York gathered national attention that simply could not be ignored by the older generations of America. New York City leadership tweeted that they wanted to meet with student leaders to hear their concerns. President Biden announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will dedicate five million COVID rapid tests and five million PCR tests for schools to address health safety concerns and help to keep schools open. A clear step in the right direction.
Generation Z, we have grown up in a world where every aspect of our lives can not only be recorded each day but shared into a torrid stream of consciousness across social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. We are both burdened and fortunate to be the first generation to live in a constant state of information flow. What we saw in New York would have taken weeks, if not months, to spread across our nation just a few decades ago. But today, we are able to share our collective actions and feelings so quickly that the generations that came before us still have a hard time understanding the power a simple video post can have to inspire an entire generation to take collective action to address the issues that we care about.