Ringside Report Op-ed: Inspiring Our Youth Into Action

By Phoenix Forbes
Photo by Rachel McKenzie

On October 2nd, 2021, I attended the Women’s March for Reproductive Rights in Santa Cruz, California. This was not my first march, nor will it be my last. I began marching in 2017, and I now proudly have ‘the bug.’ My passion for causes around equity and access to justice keeps me going. The feeling of unity and purpose, and the incredible energy I feel from being with others with a common mission is invigorating.

I have marched with my 20-year-old daughter before, and I know she will march again. This time, I took my 26-year-old son with me. It was his first march, and I was curious how he would react to it.

This march had an especially heavy subject matter that touches all of us in some way. We all know someone who has had an abortion for some reason. Being there, hearing the stories, feeling the pain of others brave enough to share their experiences with the public was extremely powerful. Twice, I felt my chest tighten up, and a flood of tears came as we were marching. I held them back the best that I could while silently acknowledging my feelings and the reaction.

There were no TV cameras or crews present, which I found surprising since there were several hundred people marching. I assumed there would be media coverage from the bigger events across the country, but instead I was disappointed there were only fleeting split screen crowd shots and passing mentions. However, Twitter was abuzz with many people pointing out the lack of coverage in the media.

Did they decide it was not important enough to cover the rallies? A gross miscalculation on their part in my opinion. Tens of thousands of people marching are probably representative of a small portion of the people who feel as we do but were unable to march. People who march are people who vote!

After the march, I asked my son his thoughts on the experience. “It was interesting. We are trying to tackle racism in this country, and we still have not handled sexism? That should be a thing of the past. I am so sorry that you and other women have to do this to fight for your rights, Mom.” I told him I am sorry too. I added that women have only been able to vote for 100 years, so we still have a long way to go. There are no laws regulating what men can do to their bodies. My son’s recognition of the inequity we face touched me deeply, and inspires me to keep marching, advocating, and speaking out.

My children are both Gen Z. Mid 1990’s to 2010. As of July 2020, they comprised 33.19% of the population in the United States. One third of adults!

Political ad campaigns and talking points focusing on showing the wrongs of one party as a means to ‘convert’ people in such a politically polarized state are unlikely to prove successful. We need to tailor our outreach and messaging efforts better to reach the majority portion of our population if we want to keep democracy alive in our country.