Voter Fatigue and Energizing Youth Constituents
It's often said that young people are the future, that a country’s youth are vehicles for change, and that the youth always present the world with a new chance at positive change and development. It's also common to hear that the most important avenue for making these positive changes is voting, and yet, the data is clear: young Americans do not vote. According to research by the Census Bureau, in 2018, voter turnout among those ages 18-29 was a measly 36%. In 2022, younger voters made up a smaller proportion of the electorate than in 2018. And so, an important question is raised to anyone interested in advocating for political action: how can we get young people more involved in our political processes?
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HSDA Gun Violence Prevention Caucus Statement on Mass Shooting in Maine
On Wednesday, October 25th, a gunman opened fire on a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. Police later identified Robert Card as the prime suspect. With the prime suspect still at large, Lewsiton police and surrounding agencies have issued shelter-in-place orders for their communities.*
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Why I, as a Jewish Floridian, cannot support Ron DeSantis
Misusing public funds for campaigning, and racist comments, and leaving his state in the dust for political stunts, alongside clandestine bills with no public oversight. These are all things that Ron DeSantis has done, but that unfortunately a plurality of politicians all around the world have done. What sets DeSantis apart from other politicians, even those in his own party, is the scapegoating war he has waged on the LGBTQ community, primarily transgender people.
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What's Happening in Hollywood?
The alliance of motion picture and television producers also known as AMPTP is a specific organization that is funded in order to keep film production companies running. This is something known as a trade association. This association is in Los Angeles, California and helps many tv shows represented and streamed. Netflix, Comcast, Sony, Walt Disney, and many other streaming services out there and in the AMPTP association. The Writers Guild of America is a group of over 11,000 people that write scripts for some of the most popular tv.shows out there. They write the tv shows and movies that you know and love so much.
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What does it mean to be Pro-Palestinian?
On October 7th, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, attacked Israel by land and air, killing 1,400 Israelis. The deaths of these Israelis are tragic, having led to a war declared by Israel, but what’s with pro-Palestinian demonstrators yelling “Free Palestine!” across the world? Why has this event sparked these pro-Palestinian demonstrations?
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Is Performative Activism Really Activism?
After the killing of George Floyd, America was once again ignited by the Black Lives Matter Movement. On June 2, 2020, digital activists took it upon themselves to spread awareness through #BlackoutTuesday all across social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. By posting a black square on their stories, these activists wanted to showcase their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, their attempt to amplify the voices of African Americans who had experienced police brutality through posting black squares only trivialized the issue.
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Congress Narrowly Avoided Another Federal Government Shutdown
While a last-minute bipartisan deal staved off a shutdown, it came at a cost - McCarthy's speakership. As the nation watches a new speaker ascend, the future of the Republican Party hangs in the balance, with potential repercussions for critical issues like federal funding.
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Equality through the Lens of Disability Voting Rights Fight
In three months, I will be eligible to vote for the first time. But as a disabled person, will I really be able to? Complications from my disability could mean that in some states I would be excluded from the voting process.
There are over 38 million disabled voters in the United States. However, systemic voting inaccessibility is a still a reality in many states and at many polling places for the disabled community. As a result, there are consequential gaps in voter turn-out between disabled and able-bodied voters, approximately a 7 percent disparity. With barriers such as absentee ballot restrictions, lack of assistive technology, and physical obstacles, such as stairs and long lines, many disabled voters are left behind. With the recent Disability Voting Rights Week, it is vital that we acknowledge the scourge on democracy that this voter disenfranchisement causes.
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Absentee Ballots Mean Disability Voting Access
Imagine wanting to vote, while sitting in a wheelchair at your polling place, looking up at an insurmountable flight of stairs. For many disabled people, absentee ballots are the difference between voting and not voting. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, at least 30 states made it much easier to vote by absentee ballot, adding to the several other states that had already been encouraging no-excuse absentee ballots.
Unfortunately, as a backlash to expanded voting options during the height of the pandemic, many states have passed laws recently that curtail voting accessibility, including some laws that the judiciary has found to be in violation of the Civil Rights Act.
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Biden Announces a New Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Over the past couple of years, the United States has become increasingly unsafe, with the US surpassing 500 mass shootings in 2023 alone, and around 31 of those shootings have been in schools, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This has led to guns being the leading cause of death for young people in America.
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