Change will come when millennials act

Back in late June, images of shocked British millennials flooded our newsfeeds when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union by a narrow margin, mostly due to the high turnout of older generations. Here in the U.S., we promised ourselves that we would not make the same mistake. But fast-forward  to Nov. 8 — college students, from Berkeley to Pittsburgh to Los Angeles took to the streets declaring that President-elect Donald Trump was “Not [their] president” and “Love trumps hate.”

But when the dust from these protests finally settles, we will still be faced with the same challenges. While we may not be able to change the electoral result, millennials can and must influence the political heartbeat of our country.

This was supposed to be our election. This was the year that those aged 18-35 would, for the first election, match the baby boomers’ share of the electorate. We would demand that our voices be heard. But only some of us got the memo.

Although millennial voting data in this election has yet to be fully compiled, we already know that in many battleground states the millennial share of the electorate decreased since President Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012. For example, in Arizona, it shrank from 26 percent to 15 percent. This low millennial turnout, among other factors, put a wrench in Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s and many young people’s dreams of clean energy and debt-free college and colluded to elect a deeply unpopular president in the eyes of young voters. In fact, only 37 percent of them cast their ballot for Trump, and, if only millennials voted, Clinton would have cruised to White House with 473 electoral votes to Trump’s 32. President-elect Trump may surprise us all and backtrack on many of the promises and proposals that infuriated young people, such as his proposed ban on Muslims and his denial of climate change, but as of now he has left the majority of a generation jaded, frustrated and deeply concerned for the future.

At the very moment when our civic participation never mattered more, a sense of disenfranchisement and hopelessness pervaded. Before the election, many decried how their votes “didn’t matter.” But now, with a surprising and devastating result, the pessimism and disengagement runs even deeper.

The silver lining is that this is the wakeup call that we all needed. Back in the 1960s, college campuses were hotbeds of student activism, with young people playing vital roles in the protest against the Vietnam War and in the fight for civil rights. That’s not to say that we’ve been silent since then — young people actively supported and helped lead the Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter movements. But now we need a significant overhaul in how we think about and participate in politics.

The easiest and arguably most important course of action comes the following years: vote. Even though a national election remains a distant four years off, midterm elections, historically known for low turnout, will in just two years hold the key to how the government develops policy at the national level. In addition, local and statewide elections also provide a tremendous opportunity to register opinions, as local and state candidates and policies often impact everyday lives more than national ones do. Yet civic participation only starts at the ballot boxes. The other 364 days of the year, millennials must take a greater stake in the current state of politics. Volunteering with campaigns can elevate candidates that represent you and your beliefs. Through petitions and discourse, the internet provides a wealth of opportunities to engage with governance. Donations to human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union are vital in supporting social justice work across the country. And work as simple as volunteering helps build relationships, trust and community in a country sown with disunity.

Millennials: Remember, remember the eighth of November. Remember the fear, pain and shock of the 2016 election and remember the consequences of inaction. But also remember the words of Winston Churchill: “We are masters of our fate.” Clinton may have lost the election, but we must not lose hope and the values that we cherish. It’s up to us now.