I recently read an article written by a friend of mine from Williamstown – my hometown – in Gloucester County.  The article was well-written, thoughtful, and direct and I appreciated Councilman Miller’s words focused on rejuvenating the ranks of local government with Millennial representation; it’s something of a mission I see myself taking on as well.

Some interesting thoughts floated into my head as I finished reading Cody’s article, and subsequently found myself reading an article that sat idle on my phone for days.  The article was written by the author (Richard Florida) of a book titled “The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It.”  The title is long and pretty self-explanatory, but the article gives a pretty good breakdown of the book’s premise; one quote I think sums things up well:

Ultimately, devolution is not a matter of simply taking power from the federal government and handing it over to cities. It means making the best use of the complex vertical separation of powers among the federal, state, and local levels. So transit and transportation investments, for example, could be overseen by the networks of cities and suburbs that make up metropolitan areas, or even the groups of metropolitan areas that make up mega-regions. Housing investments, whether publicly funded or channeled through public-private partnerships, can be tailored to local conditions—detached houses and garden apartments for more spread-out places; high-rise rentals for denser and more urban locations

Devolution here refers to the movement of major policy decision-making authority from the federal down to the local level – the President would no longer make decisions on how urban areas create policy around affordable housing, rather the Mayor would have final say.  I think that in developing opportunities not only bring young people into government and public life, but also in developing more creative and innovative opportunities policies for communities, devolution is an interesting path to take.  This of course is a major shift to the structure of government as we know it, and this is also a reason that young people need to be more present in city halls on the day-to-day.

As the world advances in technology, policies, international affairs, etc. we need to consider these changes in terms of those who move them forward.  I recently experienced a poor discussion of government and politics in Camden on Facebook between two men, both whom I admire very much, but the discussion went completely off the rails.  It started off talking about something positive that was necessary for city residents to have more equal standing in job opportunities as development increases in Camden; by the end of the comment thread I was finally and fully dissatisfied with our current Democratic party. The tension and the distaste that these men had for one another – in the same party – was irresponsible and immature; I even stepped into the conversation to implore them to set aside their differences and discuss the matter with more courtesy to those whom it would affect… but to no avail.

And then I started thinking about Parkland – an eye-opening moment to young people across the country that said, “These adults don’t care about us, and if they don’t care about us, we’re all going to kill each other.”  It’s a sad reality, but one in which I find myself extremely excited to play a part; to be able, as a young Black man who bucks up against statistics that say my life should look otherwise, to say that I will not stand for the bigheadedness of political rivalry.  I will not stand idly by while people in cities across this state, while families who struggle in every corner of New Jersey, await a political savior.  No, I believe that my generation has more political fortitude to stand its ground and face the tough conversations, but that we also have more common decency and humility to have those conversations civilly than any other generation.

My generation has more that binds us together than breaks us apart; many of these things are encroaching student loan debt, the anxiety-riddled prospect of never buying our own homes, and consistently being ridiculed through dog-whistle rhetoric from older generations – but thank god we have memes and gifs to cynically survive these crazy times! We have common goals and common purpose, not just common enemies – and this new generation is forging its own path together. I hope that older generations have enough sense to adjust because the one thing we don’t have as a generation yet is experience, and its something that’s still desperately needed; but don’t think for a second that we won’t overlook experience in the name of creating the changes we wish to see in this world because those consequences will be much more welcomed than a world devoid of inclusivity.