While wearing hoodies on stage in support of Trayvon Martin, a group of progressive activists at Generation Progress’ Make Progress 2013 National Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday ranted about the steep decline in youth participation over the past four years.
The panelists chose to honor the slain 17-year-old in light of Saturday’s verdict that George Zimmerman, the man who allegedly shot him, was acquitted of all charges in the case. They didn’t elaborate on their wardrobe choices, however, during the panel.
Naturally, the fact that Obama’s policies – including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – have been detrimental to Americans of all ages isn’t the reason for the decline in participation. Instead, the panelists chose to blame it on bad voter identification laws and restrictions on early voting.
“You have the bad guys … trying to prevent young people, minorities, the elderly from getting past the polls and being able to actually pass a ballot,” Amanda Brown, the political director of Rock the Vote, said. “These are folks that are strategically organizing to prevent young people and make it more difficult for you guys to get to the polls.”
Brown also blamed “the partisan gridlock of D.C.” on the decrease in young voter turnout, arguing that the constant fighting between Republicans and Democrats in Washington may be discouraging young people from getting involved in the political process. She also added that fewer candidates reached out to younger voters in 2012 than in 2008 because they’re writing them off as non-voters.
Candidates that assume they are not going to win with young voters are not going to spend the time and resources talking to young voters, “and that’s pretty f**king sh*tty,” Brown said.
While Rock the Vote claims to be a non-partisan organization, it publicly celebrated President Obama’s re-election in 2012 and supported last month’s Supreme Court decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8.
Other panelists at the conference encouraged more activism from young progressives outside of elections, however.
Marlon Marshall, who served as the deputy national field director for Obama’s re-election campaign, encouraged young people to rise up in the face of government inaction.
“If immigration reform doesn’t move out of the House soon, I want to see you guys organize a million people, just go sit on John Boehner’s doorstep and be like, ‘what are you doing?’” Marshall said.
