President Barack Obama spoke about the mindset of young people put off by last week’s election results during a speech in Greece Wednesday, urging them not to deviate from the values that ensure “lively, open debate” amid a nationwide swell of protests and school walkouts.
“As hard as it can be sometimes, it’s important for young people, in particular, who are just now becoming involved in the lives of their countries, to understand that progress follows a winding path—sometimes forward, sometimes back,” Obama said in Athens. “But as long as we retain our faith in democracy, as long as we retain our faith in the people, as long as we don’t waver from those central principles that ensure a lively, open debate, then our future will be okay, because it remains the most effective form of government ever devised by man.”
Obama has addressed youth in his public remarks repeatedly since Donald Trump was declared president-elect, asking them to not lose faith in the U.S. political process. “Don’t get cynical,” he instructed them last week in his first comments after Election Day.
Youth, both school-age and young adult, have been at the forefront of demonstrations across the United States in the wake of Trump’s victory. From Maryland to California, thousands of students as young as middle school grade-level have participated in street marches. Thousands more have taken part in protests not connected to educational institutions, with some vowing to build a “tea party of the left“.
More such rallies are planned for this week and the weekend. Several advocacy groups plan to host Senator Bernie Sanders for an anti-Trump event outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday.
