Published August 3, 2007
I have yet to make it to 25 years, but I vote. I've been a registered voter since I was 18. I've even been registered in two states. I care about politics and policies. I'm familiar with the candidates and I pay attention to what's going on in Baton Rouge.
I always find it so interesting when people say that my generation is an apathetic one. I participated in forums when young black women decided to take a stand against degrading music.
I worked with a group of students who launched their own fundraiser so they could charter buses from Atlanta to New Orleans so that they could assist in rebuilding the city. Shortly after Katrina and Rita devastated the coast, hundreds of students — most between the ages of 17 and 21 — went out and did what they believed needed to be done.
I have spent countless days assisting with voter registration. The majority of those new voters were people 25 and under, a group that is supposedly uninformed, void of passion and disinterested.
According to USA Today, 20 million people under the age of 30 voted in the 2004 presidential election. That's a lot of votes from a group of people who just don't care.
If anything, I'd like to believe that people 30 and under are a special bunch that's ready to implement change both domestically and internationally.
I'm glad that people of this age range are stepping up because the thought of our next group of leaders coming from the crop of individuals born in the early 1970s and teens in the 1980s concerns me.
There's not much wrong with this group besides being credited as extremely selfish with a narrow outlook on life. It's not their fault. They just happen to have parents who made the big switcheroo from civil rights and free love to McMansions and creating yuppies.
My generation, however, was the first to grow up with CNN in our homes. We were small children in elementary school when Bernard Shaw broadcast live from the Gulf War.
More than ever, global communication is readily available which gives us the opportunity to see and hear events from someone else's point of view. That explains why a presidential debate can be held via YouTube and why Bobby Jindal has a Facebook account.
I believe the Internet plays a significant role in how we not only see the world but how we're all ultimately alike in a number of ways, and why we trust that we can — and should — change things for all of us.
Katrina L. Rogers of Shreveport is a member of The Times Community Board.
