For many young American Generation Zers, reflecting on the time from 2012 to 2020 can invoke a sense of sweet nostalgia. Gazed upon through rose-colored glasses, pre-COVID pandemic life is now thought of as “Gen Z optimism,” a period of naively blissful optimism that followed in the heels of President Barack Obama’s second term in office.
Being young, we did not fully understand the fight before us or the complications and nuances that plagued our reality. But through the eyes of blossoming adolescents, a world capable of domestic and global peace and harmony felt tangible. Having a dream felt tangible.
Post-pandemic blues, unrelenting images of pain across social media, sociopolitical turmoil and economic disaster sent a chilling sense of realism down the spines of Gen Z and then a brooding sense of cynicism. While bleak times feel unrelenting, American Gen Zers cannot abandon their longing for change or the essence of transformative dreams.
In a survey by NBC News, 62% of Gen Z answered their future would be worse than other generations. In the same survey, 80% of Gen Z also believed the U.S. “is on the wrong track.” Discontent in the current system of things is actually a common denominator among not just American Gen Z, but Gen Zers abroad as well.
Recently, protests and demonstrations have erupted globally, led by Gen Zers continents apart from us who still dream beyond the confines of what they’ve been told was impossible or intangible. In France, high schoolers are leading weeks-long protests against their government for economic decisions that are destroying the conditions of their education.
Overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, insufficient infrastructure and lack of funding have driven those young people into the streets to demand change. Student demonstrations have escalated, eliciting a common response: pacification through reforms and suppression through police force.
Concurrently, young people in India are outraged over millions of votes being erased in an act that favors India’s current ruling party. India’s younger citizens are also outraged about a myriad of issues, including high rates of youth unemployment. Mocked by their government and up against state-sanctioned violence, they continue to endure for a better future.
Less than a month ago, students in Germany expressed their discontent through protest, as the possibility of compulsory military service reared its ugly head. Under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, strengthening Germany’s military-industrial complex has become a primary concern following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Two years ago, students in Bangladesh overthrew their government. The movement is now recognized as the “July Uprisings” or “Gen Z Revolution,” over authoritarianism, government corruption and discriminatory job quotas.
Many of the issues being protested mirror the issues and discontent in the U.S. Whether it be high rates of unemployment, government corruption, voter repression or lack of funding, Gen Z is globally united in their longing for change and aspirations of a better future.
American Gen Zers should embody the optimism they once harbored and that international Gen Z are practicing. To protest and to demand more is inherently optimistic, as it implies there is more to be achieved. The issues we endure deserve rectification, not pacification or minimization.
Historically, much of America’s social advancements were achieved through dreaming, disruption and transformation.
Emancipation did not come because President Abraham Lincoln wanted to change the conditions of the enslaved. His goal was solely to preserve the Union. Emancipation came on the back of slave revolts and general labor strikes.
Voting rights and desegregation were not the result of a simple vote or because it was a popular cause. The pressure was compounded by years of marching, boycotting, sitting-in, protesting and resisting what was an unpopular position to take.
Protesting takes hope. Yet, finding hope and optimism after your teenage and now adult years through tragedy and general negativity is hard.
As young American Gen Zers, we have to funnel our collective exasperation and discontent with current issues into something productive and transformative. Having a front-row view of the Black Lives Matter Movement, we saw how exasperation could be turned into a collective call for change. We see the same in protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the pro-Palestine movements and anti-rape and sexual assault movements.
While the conditions we exist in seem unrelenting and unchanging, allowing cynicism and pessimism to chill your sense of resistance will only prolong discontent. There is so much to long for, and American Gen Zers cannot allow their cynicism in conjunction with doubt and pessimism to define this moment. Rather, drift back to those pre-pandemic dreams and understand more now than ever, they can be attained. The whole world is acting; we cannot be an exception at this moment.
The Post editorials are independent of the publication’s news coverage. Have thoughts? The Post can be reached via editor@thepostathens.com.
