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Rebels with a cause: Youth, social movements, and media

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Rebels with a cause: Youth, social movements, and media

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Content REBELS WITH A CAUSE:
YOUTH, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND MEDIA
by
Rogelio Alejandro Lopez
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(COMMUNICATION)
August 2022
Copyright 2022 Rogelio Alejandro Lopez
DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to young activists, who in turn dedicate their youth to social change.
And to my son Joaquin, who is "Aztec prince and Christian Christ."
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation committee, whose feedback,
time, and patience were absolutely instrumental in my development as a scholar. To my
dissertation chair Henry Jenkins, who I first bonded with over beers at the Legal Sea Foods
restaurant at MIT in 2012, I express tremendous gratitude for the mentorship all of these years,
especially as part of Civic Paths. My scholarship has greatly benefited from his attention to not
only culture and media, but to a commitment to speaking back to communities beyond the
academy. To Manuel Castells, who coined himself my "intellectual grandfather" via his
mentorship of my MIT mentor Sasha Costanza-Chock, I owe a devoted attention not only to
social movements, but to rigorous research as a means of assisting activists in enacting social
change. It was truly inspiring to discuss social movements with him over the years, as his office
hours became an intellectual incubator that helped my early thinking. To Alison Trope, who has
profoundly shaped not only my thinking around this work but who was also my model for
teaching and community engagement, I convey the utmost respect and regard. Alison's Critical
Media Project in particular was a valuable space to think through what media means to young
people, especially the opportunities to work with educators, undergraduates, and high
schoolers.
From the broader USC community, I would like to thank the Civic Paths research group
and all its members across the years. My thinking was particularly influenced by Sangita
Shresthova, whose collaborations in various capacities over the years has expanded my idea of
what it means to create scholarship while being a practitioner involved with communities. I
modeled much of this work after Sangita's own scholarship and thinking, especially in the book
By Any Media Necessary. Similarly, I would like to thank and remember the late and great
Gabriel Peters-Lazaro, who left us much too soon, but whose impact through thoughtful and
caring interactions and rich scholarship continues to inspire me. I will
iii
always remember the positive energy and enthusiasm that he brought to our co-facilitated Civic
Imagination workshops. I also want to thank my fellow USC students over the years, who often
provided the support structures needed to remain focused and to prioritize self care. Our coffee
shop writing sessions and picnics at parks got me through this. Furthermore, I would like to
thank my students from the Annenberg Youth Academy, who engaged with early presentations
of this work and provided their unique perspectives as high schoolers navigating gun violence
and climate change in Los Angeles.
This work could not have been possible without the support from family and friends. A
very special aloha and mahalo to Marcia Seabern, whose company and hospitality during a
writing retreat at her home in Lahaina, Maui at the initial stage of this dissertation helped me
combat my depression and continue making progress. I thank my parents, Alma and Rogelio,
and my siblings, Kika, Yeya, and Lily, who helped me during my push towards the finish line by,
among other things, providing ever important child care for my son Joaquin. Last but not least I
would like to thank my wife Molly and son Joaquin. Molly traversed this entire journey with me,
even agreeing to marry me half way through the PhD program. Through countless hours of
conversation and sharing of my work, Molly has not only helped me enrich this work, but she
has made me a better thinker and scholar. I am forever indebted to everything she has done for
our family. As for my son Joaquin, his laughter and explorer's heart have given me new life and
energy to not only complete this work, but to also fully commit my life to the betterment of
society for future generations.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures vii
Abstract viii
Chapter 1: Youth, Social Movements, and Media 1
Youth, Social Movements, and Media 1
The Kids Are Fed Up 2
Beyond “Twitter Revolutions” 4
Media Ecology 6
Repertoire of Contention 7
Participatory Politics 8
Guiding Questions 12
Methods 13
Structure of Dissertation 16
Chapter 2: We Call BS! 18
Youth Challengers Approaching 18
Access, Position, and Methods 20
Race and Gun Violence Activism in the United States 22
A Movement Decades in the Making 24
The Rise of "Mass Shootings" 26
From Tragedy to Mobilization 28
Participatory Politics 38
Youth Media in the Media Ecology 49
Hazards in the Media Ecology 54
The Outcomes of #NeverAgain 58
Remembering the Victims 60
Chapter 3: There is no Planet B 61
There is no Planet B 61
Rising Emissions, Rising Youth 62
Mixed Methods 64
Environmentalism in the U.S. 65
The Environmental Movement 68
From Local to Global 70
Media and The Movement 73
A Sunrise Movement 76
Participatory Politics 78
Climate Justice in a Media Ecology 93
Rebooting Sunrise 96
Chapter 4: Street Protest and Youth Media 98
Street Protest and Youth Media 98
Crossover Practices 99
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Material Productions 103
Movement Messages 110
Conclusion 118
Chapter 5: Youth Activism and COVID-19 121
Youth Activism and COVID-19 121
Key Takeaways 122
Final Thoughts 125
References 127
Appendices 144
Appendix A: Road to Change, LA Town Hall, Field Notes 144
Appendix B: Road to Change, Elmo Village, Field Notes 160
Appendix C: Road to Change, Orange County, Field Notes 174
Appendix D: Road to Change, Huntington Beach, Field Notes 183
Appendix E: Road to Change, De Fremery Park, Field Notes 188
Appendix F: Interview Guide 203
Appendix G: Interview with Robbie 209
Appendix H: Interview with Alex 242
Appendix I: Interview with Max 267
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Map of mass shootings in the U.S., 2005-2019
Figure 2: An image posted to S.M.'s Instagram account
Figure 3: Sources of news by media type according to age
Figure 4: A postcard used as part of Sunrise Movement's youth voter campaign
Figure 5: The Global Climate Strike storms LA's City Hall
Figure 6: Youth fight for #ClimateJustice at the Youth Climate Strike
Figure 7: March for Our Lives projects text to change numbers
Figure 8: Cropped image of youth activist wearing a Sunrise Movement graphic-t
Figure 9: Graphic t-shirts from NeverAgainCA
Figure 10:Youth produced visual stories from VisionQuilt
Figure 11: Activists hold portraits of Parkland students lost to gun violence
Figure 12: System change, hot climate, with an Earth engulfed in flames
Figure 13: A Black Panther talks to NeverAgain youth about gun violence
Figure 14: Gen Z climate activists are unapologetically anti-capitalist
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ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines youth media activism as part of contemporary social movements,
specifically the gun violence prevention movement and the climate justice movement, from 2018
to 2022. Using a media ecology lens that considers interconnected platforms, media practices,
and channels of communication, this work highlights the media tactics used by youth activists,
with a focus on the repertoire of contention and participatory politics. Drawing from participant
observation, interviews, and close textual readings of media, this work provides two rich case
studies to examine the role that media play in the efforts of youth activists involved in social
movements. The first case study looks at the gun violence prevention movement, which notably
gained national attention in 2018 following a school shooting in Parkland, Florida and the quick
response by the youth activists of the March for Our Lives organization in turning tragedy into
mobilization. The second case study chapter looks at the climate justice movement, which
gained international attention as part of Greta Thunberg's efforts with Fridays for Future and
inspired organizations like Sunrise Movement in the U.S. to tackle the climate crisis "by any
media necessary." A comparative chapter draws parallels in media practices across these
movements as part of street protest, with a focus on practices, materials, and messages. Finally,
the conclusion briefly addresses the impact of COVID-19 on both youth media activism and on
this dissertation, while also noting limitations and future directions. The broader contributions of
this work to the field include underscoring how a media ecology lens can effectively capture the
multifaceted nature of contemporary youth activism, where an intricately interrelated web of
communication channels and media practices are employed both offline and online.
viii
Chapter 1: Youth, Social Movements, and Media
“We, as youth, must now be the change that we seek. If you don’t stand for
something, you’ll fall for anything."
— D'Angelo McDade, March for Our Lives, Washington D.C., March 24, 2018
Youth, Social Movements, and Media
In March of 2018, tens of thousands of high schoolers across the United States banded
together to walk out of their classrooms during scheduled instruction in protest of gun violence
and in solidarity with youth from Parkland, Florida following a tragic shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School a few weeks earlier. The day of action on March 14, 2018,
called National Walkout Day, followed the repertoire of contention of youth from previous
movements, such as the Chicano movement and the immigrant rights movement (Vélez et al.,
2008) , where school walkouts become a potent form of nonviolent civil disobedience. The call
was sent far and wide by March for Our Lives, the newly formed organization created by the
Parkland teens, mainly across social media channels that went mostly overlooked by the adult
world. Some school administrators warned students against this disruptive form of protest
(Robbie, in-person interview, 2018, see Appendix G), urging them instead to seek other tactics,
like using their vote once they become of-age. However, youth across the nation were fed up
with "thoughts and prayers" from adults, and decided instead to launch some of the largest
organized student walkouts in recent years.
In the fall of 2019, an estimated 6 million young people across the globe coordinated the
largest instances of environmentalist protest in recent memory with the "Global Week for Future"
(de Moor et al., 2021) . Inspired by teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's "Fridays for
Future" or "FFF," where every Friday was dedicated to protesting inaction on climate change
(Fisher, 2019) , young people around the world mobilized in their respective nations and cities to
take to the streets and demand social change from world leaders. The Global Week for Future
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was organized as much youth activism today occurs, through a combination of in-person
gatherings and online communication, as networked technologies have facilitated the ability to
coordinate rapidly across space and time (Boulianne et al., 2020) . The messages from youth in
Los Angeles during the Global Week for Future were loud and clear: young people refuse to
stand idle as the adult world is seemingly unfazed by the impending catastrophe that is the
climate crisis.
The Kids Are Fed Up
From mobilizations against racial injustice across the nation, to student walkouts and
teach-ins against gun violence in schools, to protests against climate change inaction around
the world, recent years have seen noteworthy examples of youth activism as "Generation Z"
emerges as a generational cohort. Much like Millennials before them, Gen Z has come of age
amidst unprecedented access to networked technologies, notably the ubiquity of smartphones
and high speed data, which has given them many more possibilities to wield media for social
change compared to prior generations. As Generation Z: A Century in the Making captures,
"Generation Z has never known a world without the Internet. For most of their lives, this
generation has lived life through not just one screen, but in some cases, up to five screens"
(Seemiller & Grace, 2018) . Where generations of old may have faced barriers of entry to create
and distribute media that reflects their priorities (Light, 2015) , young people today carry with
them at all times networked technologies that are used as much for mundane entertainment as
for deep civic engagement. As such, understanding contemporary youth social movements
requires an appreciation of the interplay between networked technologies and youth activism in
the reconfiguration of power and social change in The Network Society (Castells, 2015) .
Young people, as a social, political, and cultural group and demographic, have played an
important role in large scale social change. In a sense, social movements can indicate a
society's inability to reallocate and transfer power from the old to the new, when established
authority becomes incompatible with fresh perspectives and ideas. In the U.S. in recent years,
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the story of youth rebellion is tied to changing demographics, diminished capacity to build
power, an overall rise in youth protest, and youth activism tied to networked technologies.
It's important to note that "Gen Z'', the generation born after 1996, is the most racially
and ethnically diverse cohort in U.S. history. This unique makeup of Gen Z in the U.S. matters
for social movements and activism for a few reasons: 1) the U.S.'s unique "racial legacy"; 2)
how identity informs political priorities. The U.S. has for most of its history struggled, through its
formal sites of power, to adequately address the unique needs and concerns of people of color
living within a nation established and dominated by White, European descendants since the
nation's founding. In fact, formal sites of power in the U.S. were instrumental in the political
disenfranchisement and economic repression of people of color well beyond the institution of
slavery, from Jim Crow laws, immigration policies with "racial quotas," disinvestment through
redlining, and discriminatory policing, to name a few. Various studies have confirmed the
enduring impact of the U.S.'s racial legacy on communities of color to this day: comparatively
less intergenerational wealth (Pfeffer & Killewald, 2019) , higher rates of student debt (Martin &
Dwyer, 2021) , stagnated political representation at formal sites of power, and even impaired
health and shortened life spans compared to the dominant groups in power. Younger
generations, both Millennials and Gen Z, have clashed directly with this legacy through an
overall lack of representation in politics, obstructed potential to purchase homes and property,
and a lower quality of life compared to their parents' generations. Furthermore, the demographic
makeup of Gen Z has unique implications for the issues that they care about, at least in urban
centers where the majority of youth of color reside. Gun violence was a top priority for young
people in 2018, which resulted in important outcomes for the midterm elections that year (Graf,
2018) . Racial justice issues, specifically police violence and systemic racism against Black
communities, along with climate change (Tyson et al., 2021) , are of high concern for Gen Z and
Millennials (Barroso & Minkin, 2020) . It's no coincidence that these issues disproportionately
3
impact communities of color, and that the diverse Gen Z cohort has them listed high among their
priorities.
Beyond "Twitter Revolutions"
It has been over a decade since "social media revolutions'' took the world by storm,
elevated into public consciousness by mass social unrest at a global scale in 2011 — from the
Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Spain's "indignados'' movement, to the student uprisings
in Chile. Scholars partially attributed the rise of mass protest around the world to an
unprecedented transformation of the communication environment, mainly the widespread
availability of internet communication technologies (ICTs): a few years prior to the Arab Spring,
Shirky (2008) noted the ability to organize mass collectives without formal organizations through
the use of ICTs; Castells discussed the transformative potential of mass self-communication and
the cultivation of bottom-up "communication power" with the rise of the Network Society, ideas
applied directly to 2011's year of protest in "Networks of Outrage and Hope" (Castells, 2015) ;
Gerbaudo’s ( 2012) examines how social movements in 2011 de-emphasized centralized
communication in favor of horizontalism and a "leader-full" ethos, captured through the idea of
"liquid leadership" — intentionally organizing in the shadows via ICTs; Tufkeci (2017) provides a
synthesized reflection and analysis of the "newness" of the 2011 global mobilizations, urging
scholars to carefully disentangle new kinds of mass collective action that may appear like the
social movements of old, but may in fact be something else; Bennett and Segerberg's (2013)
slightly different but related phenomenon "connective action," where people come together in
mass via ICTs without a sense of shared goals, unity, or shared identity. While the underlying
cultural and political factors that contributed to the rise of each of the movements in 2011 are
unique (perhaps besides the global financial collapse of 2008), scholarship centered on protest,
activism, and social movements seemed to signal a new era where communication technologies
play a central role — revolutionary or not.
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The impact of a more participatory, decentralized, and relatively democratic
communication environment on social movements continues to be examined in scholarship.
These accounts speak of broad macro-level communication changes, mainly the ubiquity of
ICTs and digital literacies, that facilitate peoples' ability to come together, organize, and build
power — with particularly potent outcomes outside of mature democracies in the West.
Diamond and Plattner (2012) collect cases on the impact of ICTs in authoritarian political
regimes, from China to Iran, pointing out the "liberating" potential of networked communication
tools (ex. facilitating democratic processes, ease of mobilization) even alongside their
repressive dimensions (ex. mass surveillance, disinformation). Further complicating the
liberatory dimensions of ICTs, especially to build grassroots bottom-up power, is the idea that
the ease and facilitation of protest and resistance via networked communication tools is
counterproductive to mobilization and deep engagement, an idea captured by the "slacktivism"
concept (Christensen, 2011) . Zuckerman's "Levers of Change'' model assists in disentangling
less impactful types of mediated engagement from those with meaningful and lasting outcomes
(Zuckerman, 2016) . Hyperbole aside, whether revolutionary, liberatory, repressive, oppressive,
or slacking, a more nuanced scholarly discourse of the role of ICTs in social movements has
arguably emerged since 2011 (see Tufekci's 2017 "Twitter and Teargas") — one that often
considers networked communication core to the fabric of contemporary social movements.
Although contemporary social movements share a mediated repertoire of contention
— from fundraising on crowdfunding sites, to flash mobilizations facilitated by smartphone apps,
to social media campaigns raising awareness about a cause — gone is the coat of "newness"
that characterized the novel appropriation of ICTs in the 2010s (with rare exceptions). This
run-of-the-mill (yet ever promising) status of networked communications is perhaps most true for
Generation Z in the U.S., who have only known a post-analog internet-connected world. Nearly
all teenagers (ages 13-17) in the U.S. are constantly connected via ICTs, with 95% owning or
having access to a smartphone at home, outpacing the computer (both desktop and laptop) as
5
the primary device to reach the internet (Anderson & Jiang, 2018) . Nearly half (45%) of teens
report that they are online at all times, while nearly (90%) report visiting the internet several
times a day, using Youtube (85%), Instagram (72%), Snapchat (69%), and Facebook (51%). For
comparison, just eleven years prior, few teens (ages 12-17) reported using mobile phones
(35%), texting (27%), and even social networking sites (21%), even though most reported using
the internet (93%) in some form (Lenhart et al., 2007) . In particular, these comparisons
showcase the impact of the widespread availability of smartphones on contemporary teens'
media habits — and arguably teens' ability to translate digital literacies cultivated via networked
technologies into civic engagement and political power. Generation Z has grown up with
networked technologies, and they also happen to be currently spearheading many of today's
most visible social movements — from gun violence prevention to environmental activism.
Media Ecology
Challenging the technologically deterministic idea of a "Twitter revolution," this work
instead considers a complex "media ecology" where intricately linked communication channels
are embedded in peoples' lives, and vice versa. While the term can be traced back to media
studies and several versions exist, I look at its specific application within the study of activism
and social movements. I agree with Treré and Mattoni (2016) in their assertion that "the media
ecological framework is particularly suited for the study of the social movements/media nexus,
because of its ability to provide fine-tuned explorations of the multiplicity, the interconnections,
the dynamic evolution of old and new media forms for social change." In their examination of
hashtag activism, Crandall and Cunningham (2016) use a media ecology lens to explore the
multifaceted potential of this type of activism within a broader communication environment, from
sparking conversations offline, facilitating fundraising, communicating movement messages,
raising consciousness around social issues, and providing entry points for mobilization.
Likewise, Mattoni (2017) notes that a media ecology approach acknowledges that "newer media
technologies does not translate into the automatic dismissal of older technologies" (p. 497) in
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social movements, and these new media are instead added to the repertoire of communication
and exist alongside the communication of sites of power (ex. media industries, the state). Also,
Lin's (2017) examination of transmedia mobilization in Hong Kong's Umbrella movement calls
for a return to a media ecology approach to unravel the interplay between a complex
communication environment, the agency of activists navigating this environment, and the
sociopolitical and cultural backdrop they both occupy. Furthermore, Treré's (2018) work with
Mexico's #YoSoy132 and Spain's Indignados movements urged him against a singular media
platform lens, favoring instead a media ecology approach that accounts for multiple
communication channels and "the various economic, cultural, social factors that drive and
constrain [activist] media choices" (p. 146). For this work, I consider four identified strengths of
this approach: the ability to overcome simplistic dichotomies (ex. offline v. online), the
recognition of "multiplicity of forms and practices" (ex. various communication channels
embedded in a broader communication environment), a diachronic perspective that considers
continuity and divergence of communication practices over time, and a recognition of the
"political and critical nature of media ecologies" (ex. how media reflect broader power relations)
(Treré & Mattoni, 2016) . I apply a media ecology lens to this work by considering how youth
activists seamlessly blend offline with online modes of engagement, by looking at the many
media practices and platforms activists employ to further their goals, by considering the
evolution of the mediated repertoire of contention, and by unraveling how media platforms and
practices are embedded in broader sociopolitical contexts.
Repertoire of Contention
A diachronic perspective of social movement practices can reveal common tactics used
by activists to achieve their goals, from marches to occupations of public space, which is the
essence of the "repertoire of contention." A kind of "best-practices toolkit," the repertoire of
contention comprises many of the "greatest hits" of contentious politics practices: picket lines,
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marches, sit-ins, occupations, and various kinds of civil disobedience ( Alimi , 2015) . The
repertoire of contention also includes media and communication tactics, from the dissemination
of leaflets to culture jamming to graffiti "bomb stenciling," although the behind-the-scenes nature
of this approach may decrease their prominence in the public eye. Media tactics are continually
updated as new technologies emerge, and Sasha Costanza-Chock identifies an electronic
repertoire of contention in the Digital Age (Costanza-Chock, 2003) . Similarly, Mattoni (2013)
attempts to consolidate the fragmented nature of the repertoire of contention with respect to
media and communication, proposing the use of "repertoire of communication." This work draws
from Costanza-Chock's electronic repertoire of contention to define the mediated repertoire of
contention (Lopez, 2013) , which consults media studies literature to codify the mediums,
platforms, and communication channels used by activists to develop tactics and techniques
— from digital, to print, to analog, to performance. There are three key ways that the repertoire
of contention, and its electronic and mediated variant, inform this dissertation: 1) it helps counter
a rhetoric of newness that often accompanies "new media" in the context of activism, and
instead looks to movements of old to find lineages and continuities in media tactics and
techniques when possible; 2) it establishes a common language and baseline for understanding
similar media tactics and techniques across movements, teasing out social movement
"spillover" if it exists; 3) the focus on media tactics and techniques can hopefully allow for an
understanding of how they are interrelated, within and across movements, in a complex media
ecology. While the mediated repertoire of contention can shed light into communication tactics
and techniques used by activists, the concept does not necessarily account for the unique ways
that young people today seamlessly blend culture, media production, and democratic processes
as part of their civic engagement activism, which is why I pair it with participatory politics.
Participatory Politics
With formal pathways to political participation road blocked by technocratic culture and
age-restrictions in electoral politics, the politics of today's youth often involves coming together
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with peers (online and off) to combine cultural interests, media production, and mobilization
— the essence of participatory politics. Beyond exclusion from adult normative political
institutions and economic markets, boyd (2014) notes how an increased cultural protectionism
over youth in the late 20th century limited young people's opportunities to gather unsupervised
in public spaces such as parks, neighborhoods, and to some degree commercial spaces (malt
shops, shopping malls). In the digital age, social media and online spaces represent the
shopping malls of the 1980s, places where young people can congregate with relative
autonomy, bond over common interests, and build relationships. However, digital spaces also
represent the more adult-oriented "town square," in full view and visibility of "the public," with its
associated opportunities and risks. While some have pointed out the potential dangers of young
peoples' public lives in digital spaces (James, 2016) , a growing body of literature focuses on
how emerging technologies can be used for the public interest (Jenkins et al., 2009; Jenkins et
al., 2016) , namely civic engagement. These works often stress the opportunities for both formal
and informal civic engagement, working with institutions, working around them, and a mix of the
two. Henry Jenkins' (Jenkins et al., 2009) concept of "participatory culture" describes how
communities of interest come together around cultural interests, create and remix cultural forms,
and create communities with open and participatory structures. Culture becomes a central
convening aspect in the lives of many young people, which provides them a basis to build
relationships and a shared repository of cultural signs and symbols to communicate and
re-imagine the world. This idea is best captured in the "participatory politics" framework, which is
based on the same principles as participatory culture, but applies them to political participation
and engagement. Participatory politics describe how young people blend culture and media
practice with peers, acquire essential digital literacies, discover and share information, express
their viewpoints and relevant concerns, cultivate and sustain communities, and translate all such
knowledge and skills into direct action — whether activism or street mobilizations (Jenkins &
Lopez, 2018) . The concept is unique because it focuses on activities otherwise not considered
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forms of political participation and civic engagement by more traditional metrics, such as
creating and sharing political memes or managing a discord channel to share information about
environmentalism. Furthermore, challenging "slacktivism" arguments that consider networked
technologies detrimental to civic engagement, participatory politics have been found to double
the rates of voting among young people who partake in such practices — along with an overall
lessened discrepancy in the rates of participation across racial groups compared to voting
(Cohen & Kahne, 2012) . As an "alternative route" to becoming political, one that often doesn't
require adult permission or supervision to partake, participatory politics can promote youth-led
spaces where the priorities and identities of young people take center stage through shared
media making and distributed leadership. Forms of participatory politics can range from youth
journalism and reporting (Soep, 2014) , the use of culture as a resource for digital activism
(Jenkins et al., 2016) , and building communities of support for LGBTQ youth (Gordon &
Mihailidis, 2016) . This work considers the five practices of participatory politics, which are
expanded below.
I draw from Soep (2014) when consulting the five practices of participatory politics,
which are investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation, production, and mobilization.
Investigation is the intentional seeking of knowledge pertaining to a social, political, or cultural
issue with emphasis on verifying reliable information and dispelling misconceptions. As Soep
captures, investigation is when "members of a community actively pursue information about
issues of public concern" (Soep, 2014, p.10). In short, it captures research and due diligence —
the vetting of information by young people in the media environment. Dialogue and feedback
involves the cultivation of transactional communication spaces (on- and offline), where social,
political, and cultural issues are discussed among peers — interactions that can then inform
collective problem solving or decision making. As Soep states about dialogue and feedback:
"There is a high degree of dialogue among community members, as well as a practice of
weighing in on issues of public concern and on the decisions of civic and political leaders. This
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might include commenting on blogs or engaging in other digital or face-to-face efforts to interact
with or provide feedback to leaders'' (Soep, 2014, p. 10). Circulation is the communal sharing
and distribution of public interest information among peers. With circulation "...the flow of
information is shaped by many in the broader community rather than by a small group of elites,"
and can include relaying updates to affinity groups or "posting or forwarding links or content that
have civic or political intent or impact" (Soep, 2014, p. 9-10). As part of participatory politics,
circulation means the dissemination of media content, such as news articles or even memes,
centered around a social, cultural, or political interest to young people. With a historically limited
capacity to produce and distribute media (Light, 2015) , circulation becomes particularly
important for young people looking for content that speaks to their interests. Production
describes the ways young people design, develop, make, and create various kinds of media,
cultural productions, and technologies. As Soep comments: "Members not only circulate
information but also create original content (such as a blog or video that has political intent or
impact) that allows them to advance their perspectives" (Soep, 2014, p. 10). Whether filming
short videos, remixing image-based memes, or coding websites and apps, production reflects a
wide range of creation and do-it-yourself activities among young people within their peer
communities — due in part to near universal access to smartphones (~95%) among U.S. teens
(Anderson & Jiang, 2018) . Additionally, the ubiquity of ICTs means teens online increasingly
engage with communities of practice, "...relationships of knowledge sharing, mentoring, and
monitoring within social groups…" (Itō et al., 2010, p.14) , and participatory cultures, "a culture
with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for
creating and sharing creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby experienced
participants pass along knowledge to novices" (Jenkins et al., 2009, p. xi). These kinds of
practices among contemporary youth pave the way for participatory politics, where production
means the creation of things that are relevant to or centered around issues of public interest —
from climate change to racial justice. Finally, mobilization entails organizing collectives in
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preparation for action — both online and offline. According to Soep, mobilization describes how:
"Members of a community rally others—ranging from diffuse friendship groups and online
networks to organized groups focused on related issues—to help accomplish civic or political
goals. This might include working to recruit others for a grassroots effort within one's community
or reaching out to those in one's social network and beyond on behalf of a political cause"
(Soep, 2014, p. 10). Within social movements, mobilization reflects how people come together
through a recognition of shared grievances (ex. the generational impact of climate change) and
to work towards common goals (ex. The Green New Deal) through direct action (ex. tapping the
repertoire of contention) (Klandermans, 2015) . In the context of participatory politics,
mobilization can emerge (both spontaneously and intentionally) from shared cultural practice
and is often paired with ICT use — sharing political content with peers on social media, finding
commonality in wanting to resolve social issues, and becoming inspired to act by the outreach
efforts of peers online. Paired with both media ecology and repertoire of contention, the
participatory politics framework accounts for the unique ways young people's cultural interests
provide pathways towards political participation and civic engagement through media practice
within their shared social, cultural, and political contexts.
Guiding Questions
Keeping media ecology, repertoire of contention, and participatory politics in mind, this
dissertation examines the ways that young people appropriate and create media and
communication channels to use as part of their activism within social movements, both online
and in street protest. A media ecology framework allows me to consider broader dynamics and
sociopolitical contexts within the same communication environment where youth activists
employ the repertoire of contention and participatory politics. This includes an attention to
legacy media, counter-movements and challengers, and commercial interests. The repertoire of
contention, specifically one focused on media and communication, allows me to compare and
contrast common tactics and techniques across social movements while also teasing out unique
12
occurrences. Participatory politics completes my approach by inviting a discussion about youth
cultural priorities and how they inform youth activism when paired with media practice. Together,
these concepts form a framework to address the following guiding questions about the gun
violence prevention and climate justice social movements:
● What do the media practices of youth activists, including the repertoire of contention and
participatory politics, look like for today's youth social movements?
● What can be learned by contextualizing the media practices of youth activists in today's
social movements within a broader media ecology?
● What kinds of cultural priorities do the media practices of youth activists reveal?
Methods
This dissertation takes a mixed methods approach to triangulate insights, address
method-specific limitations, and to work around challenges experienced by the researcher.
Broadly across the dissertation, a combination of participant observation, interviews, and close
readings of texts are used to directly address the overarching questions of the work as a whole
as well as case specific ones. In the spirit of full transparency, each case study is different in
their use of these methods and a more in-depth explanation is provided within the case studies
themselves. As far as participant observation, the dissertation as a whole derives insights from
participation in street protests, marches and rallies, and campaign focused actions and events
across gun violence prevention and climate justice movements. As part of this fieldwork,
observations in public space were documented using photography and written and audio notes
(post-participation), and often involved speaking directly to activists and organizers to get a
better understanding of their work. When possible, media makers and technologists in these
spaces were identified, through field media production or follow-up research, as their insights
were particularly of interest. I draw from scholars like Costanza-Chock (2014) , Jenkins et al.
(2016) , and Tufekci (2017) when supplementing interviews and online insights with fieldwork.
The insights gathered from the field include how media and cultural production happens in the
13
context of protest, how protest becomes a site to better understand the signs and symbols of
youth activism, and also how interactions with legacy media (ex. print news and broadcast
media) is regularly occurring. These insights from the field assist in creating a richer and more
complete picture of contemporary youth activism. Additionally, my fieldwork provided
opportunities to talk directly to youth activists. These informal interactions in the field with youth
organizers, often identified through their organizational attire, provided an opportunity to better
understand their actions and motivations — ultimately enriching the dissertation as a whole.
While I was unable to formally interview minors, participating in their organized actions and
events (which were mostly intergenerational in nature) allowed me to speak with teen
organizers. For example, while waiting in the lunch line, I was able to speak to youth activists
from Chicago as they toured with March for Our Lives' Road to Change. In some cases these
interactions led to follow-up interviews with youth activists and adult allies.
The interviews that inform this dissertation (7 total) were conducted across the past five
years with youth activists, community organizers, media makers, and technologists. The
interviews were based on semi-structured interview protocols that were tailored to the specific
movement work of each interviewee, and a conversational approach was taken to make the
interaction less formal and to encourage participants to ask questions back to me. With
permission of participants, interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and shared back with
interviewees (as an opportunity to clarify and expand on ideas). A grounded theory approach
(Charmaz & Belgrave, 2012) was taken to derive insights from the interviews and put them into
conversations with the dissertation's guiding questions. These interview protocols, as well as the
anonymized transcripts of interviews, are included in the appendix of this dissertation (see
Appendices F-I). An overall area for next steps and future research involves conducting more
interviews with youth activists once pandemic-related lockdown restrictions are lifted and field
work becomes a possibility again.
14
In addition to field work and interviews, this dissertation is informed through a careful
examination of media content, primarily coverage of movements in legacy media channels and
movement produced media. To better inform the macro-level analysis that takes into account
the practices of activists within a broader, interconnected media ecology, each case study has
examined various forms of coverage in the form of newspapers (print and digital), video
broadcasts (network and streaming), radio (broadcast and online), and other notable print
publications (magazines, etc.). This examination is not meant to be comprehensive and
systematic (this is not a big data approach), but these forms of media are instead used to better
contextualize the efforts of youth within a broader field of meaning making and are weighed
against other forms of insights. Attention is placed to top professional media industries, across
partisan and ideological lines when possible (ex. CNN and Fox News). These media have been
collected across several years into a database and examined to derive themes and patterns.
Furthermore, emphasis is particularly placed on publicly available movement produced media,
including websites and social media accounts (ex. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, subreddits,
Youtube channels, email list-serves, discord and Slack communities, and apps). Each case
study delves deeper into the types of media that are considered and examined to derive
insights, and such productions are used to inform a better understanding of movement media
practice as well as to understand their symbolic dimensions. To focus the analysis, specific
youth-led organizations are identified, such as March for Our Lives and Sunrise Movement, to
better compare across the cases. While hundreds of tweets, Facebook posts, podcasts, videos,
tweets, Instagram, and TikTok posts were carefully examined for notable patterns and points of
interest to address the dissertation's guiding questions, this overview is not to be confused with
a quantitative approach meant to generalize findings. Instead, insights from the examination of
content are put into conversation with those drawn from field work and interviews to provide a
fuller and richer picture of contemporary youth activism and social movements.
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Structure of Dissertation
The structure of this dissertation is broken down as follows: introduction (current
chapter), case study 1 (gun violence prevention), case study 2 (environmental justice),
comparative analysis, conclusion, and appendices.
The first case study takes a look at the gun violence prevention movement in recent
years, with emphasis on the March for Our Lives organization and broader #NeverAgain efforts.
The chapter takes a close look at a much broader movement to address gun violence over time,
with close attention to organized efforts by non-profits and lobbying groups in the
post-Columbine mass shooting era. Notable efforts to build mass public support around mass
shootings in recent years (especially at the grassroots level) are touched upon, and the reasons
why Parkland, Florida is considered a turning point are addressed. Most importantly, the chapter
looks at the March for Our Lives organization as an SMO, tracking its role in mobilizing young
people across the U.S. in support of gun violence prevention — often through media practice. A
look at MFOL’s media practices, coverage in legacy media, and challengers are considered.
The second case study looks at the environmental justice movement in recent years.
Youth-led efforts in environmental justice are contextualized within a much larger and broader
history: the origins of preservation and conservation movements in the U.S., the rise of a broad
scale social movement in the 1960s, the shift from street protest into a professionalized public
interest lobby, the many "strands" of environmentalism in the 1980s, and the role of media and
communication. With this historical context in mind, youth-led efforts in environmental justice
from recent years are examined, especially through attention to the Sunrise Movement
organization. A participatory politics approach provides an in-depth look at the public media and
cultural productions of Sunrise Movement online, from Facebook groups, Twitter accounts,
subreddits, Youtube videos, and TikTok, among many other communication channels and
platforms that comprise their media practice. The efforts are weighed against various forms of
direct action, coverage in a broader media ecology, and challenge from counter groups.
16
The comparative chapter provides an examination of street protest and media
production across the two social movements examined, gun violence prevention and
environmental justice. A direct comparison of observed practices, materials, and messages is
provided, based on extensive observations in the field. Practices highlight how youth integrate
digital engagement in physical spaces through digital bridging and digital vision. Materials
underscore the significance of physical and material channels of communication, and other
material forms, including protest merch, protest-t-shirts, and material stories. Messages notes
how youth movements shared messages of despair to collectively process emotion and build
solidarity, and how spillover and intersectionality inform messaging and work towards coalition
building across issues and movements.
Finally, the concluding chapter discusses the implications of this research by revisiting
the guiding research questions. Emphasis is placed on how a media and communication
approach to the study of youth activism and social movements can enrich an understanding of
youth politics and civic engagement. Also, the insights across the dissertation are placed into
direct conversation with activism and protest during the Covid-19 global pandemic as a means
to ponder possible future directions.
17
Chapter 2: We Call BS!
"Six minutes, and about 20 seconds. In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends
were taken from us, 15 more were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in
the Douglas community was forever altered. Everyone who was there
understands. Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence
understands. For us, long, tearful, chaotic hours in the scorching afternoon sun
were spent not knowing."
— Emma Gonzalez, Washington D.C., March 24, 2018
Youth Challengers Approaching
On August 21, 2019 youth activists from Parkland, Florida — founders of the March for
Our Lives organization — announced a plan aimed at the 2020 presidential candidates for
stricter gun control, reduced gun violence, and increased youth voter mobilization (Booker,
2019) . The plan, called "A Peace Plan for A Safer America," included six major points: change
the standards of gun ownership, halve the number of gun deaths in 10 years, accountability for
the gun lobby and industry, name a director of gun violence prevention, generate community
based solutions, and empower the next generation (Peace Plan, 2019) . The six point initiative
represents recent efforts of a movement slowly growing in the shadows for nearly two decades,
which came to a visible boiling point under the youth-led hashtag #NeverAgain in 2018 (Jenkins
& Lopez, 2018) . In this sense, #NeverAgain was an outgrowth of a broader social movement
— even though the announcement of the "Peace Plan" also signaled a turn away from
contentious protest in favor of incremental electoral and legislative change. In the months
following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, the
organization March for Our Lives, a coalition of gun violence prevention organizations, and a
network of ad-hoc grassroots support groups across the nation have joined a wave of activism
to enact stricter gun control and reduce gun violence, aimed at various levels of government
18
and culpable entities in the private sector (notably the National Rifle Association). With young
people at the helm, #NeverAgain was often successful in areas where previous efforts stalled or
stagnated — especially in terms of building and sustaining widespread public support.
By tapping into social media to mobilize, forge community, and transform voice into
influence (Bromwich, 2018) , the Parkland youth activists took the nation by storm as they
quickly formed the March for Our Lives organization, appealed to notable public figures that
amplified their cause (Alter, 2018) , and inspired grassroots support throughout the country (Yee
& Blinder, 2018) . Within a few short weeks of the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that claimed the lives of 17 students, teachers, and
staff, a group of teenage activists quickly became rebellious icons as they helped mobilize tens
of thousands of people across the nation in support of stricter gun control. In response to a call
to action by youth leaders (Gray, 2018a) , high schoolers throughout the United States
abandoned their classrooms during hours of instruction to protest the political inaction
surrounding gun violence as part of the National Walkout Day on March 14, 2018 (Yee &
Blinder, 2018) . Two weeks later, the March for Our Lives demonstration on March 24, 2018
mobilized hundreds of thousands of supporters (along with antagonists in smaller numbers)
around U.S. city centers, from Washington D.C., to New York, to Los Angeles (Almasy, 2018) .
Actions by youth in solidarity spilled beyond the usual urban city centers too, signaling
unprecedented support across geographic partisan lines. The focus on grassroots mobilization
continued through the summer of 2018 with the March for Our Lives' "Road to Change"
campaign — a series of stops, events, and points of connection meant to raise awareness
about gun violence prevention and to mobilize youth voters in most of the United States (Chan,
2018) . Although MFOL eventually moved away from street mobilization in favor of efforts
targeting formal politics (Booker, 2019) , they arguably continue to play a prominent role in
shaping the gun control and gun violence debate (for example, during the 2020 (Thrush & Astor,
2019) ). Furthermore, the organization (MFOL) and broader gun violence prevention movement
19
continues to be emblematic of contemporary youth activism — where young people reimagine
the world and enact social change by any media necessary .
While the unique strengths of #NeverAgain will undoubtedly be studied by activists and
scholars alike for years to come, this chapter will focus on: 1) a discussion on access, position,
and methods; 2) the role of race in gun violence activism in the United States; 3) a gun violence
prevention movement decades in the making; 4) the rise of "mass shootings"; 5) how the
shooting in Parkland, Florida fueled a youth movement; 6) the participatory politics of
#NeverAgain; 7) youth media in the media ecology; 8) hazards in the media ecology; and 9) the
outcomes of #NeverAgain.
Access, Position, and Methods
This chapter taps into various research methods to derive insights, mainly participant
observation, interviews, and close readings of media texts. In 2018, recorded observations in
the field at the "March for Our Lives" event in Los Angeles on March 24 and at five different
sites as part of the March for Our Lives' "Road to Change" campaign. I made an effort to attend
each event as both a researcher and a supporter at large, and I was sure to disclose this
information to the many people that I was able to talk to across the state of California —
including young people, parents, activists, educators, and media professionals. Through this
fieldwork, I came into contact with youth activists involved with the gun violence prevention and
gun control movement (shorthanded #NeverAgain in this work), along with adult professionals
working in this space. I asked several MFOL youth leaders to participate in this study during the
Road to Change (at least those who were 18 or older), and in the spirit of transparency, I
disclose here that most of them declined — except for those involved with MFOL affiliate
chapters in Southern California. In many cases, youth activists communicated to me that they
received training on how to respond to media professionals, but didn't know where a university
researcher fit into the mix. This often led to a sense of confusion, reluctance, or distrust of the
research process (perhaps rightfully so) — especially as it relates back to the greater goals of
20
the movement (ex. speaking to media professionals has more desirable, immediate, and
observable results). I actively attempted to demystify the research process during my field work
by distributing printed handouts that explained the research project, the overall intent and
outputs, and my personal contact information (see Appendix F).
Drawing from past experience as a participant-researcher in social movements
(Costanza-Chock, 2014; R. A. Lopez, 2013) , I was well aware of how my position and privilege
— as much social and cultural as professional — impacted my ability to navigate observations
in the field. As a cis Brown man, I was in many cases an outsider in a predominatly white,
middle class movement, and compared to the button-downed media professionals at each site,
my casual attire didn't exactly communicate the identity of a scholar (at least the dominant
image in the public imagination). While I always felt welcome, these aspects of my social
position, along with my professional affiliation (USC in particular, amidst a year of bad publicity)
and capacity to support the goals of the movement, directly affected my access to youth leaders
who were (rightfully) focused on speaking to media professionals. Aside from photography
captured during my time in the field, observational notes were documented after each site visit. I
voice-recorded my observations using a digital audio recorder (Zoom H1N), with each session
ranging from 40 to 60 minutes, focused on media practice and cultural symbols as I came
across them during the Road to Change. These audio recordings were then transcribed,
producing over 50 pages of notes, and transcripts were consulted holistically to derive common
themes and trends across all sites.
The initial Interviews for this case study emerged directly from my contact with the
communities involved in the gun violence prevention movement in California. Potential
interviewees were selected based on their familiarity with media making and cultural
production, determined by a combination of conversations with them in the field and web
search. Each interviewee was given an information packet (see Appendix F), if approached in
21
person, and a script was created for digital outreach via social media or email. While most of
the core March for Our Lives staff declined to participate in the study, I was able to interview
partners and affiliates working with them directly. Given this limitation, the insights here will
avoid ascribing the intent of the March for Our Lives organization with regards to media and
cultural production, and instead focus on an external examination of their unique approach
relative to a broader gun violence prevention movement. With that said, for the interviews that
were conducted, they are approximately 45 minutes in length and were audio recorded, either
in-person or via phone call, and then transcribed by the researcher. The identities of
interviewees have been anonymized as per IRB requirements, although it can be disclosed that
they represent different segments of the gun violence prevention movement: from adult leaders
in mentorship positions to MFOL (see Appendix I), to heads of non-profits part of larger
coalitions (see Appendix H), to youth activists involved in local MFOL chapters (see Appendix
G). These interviews help contextualize and interpret the impact of the media practices of the
#NeverAgain movement and why they matter to a broader movement building steadily for
nearly two decades.
Finally, this work provides close textual readings of movement produced media — from
Youtube videos, tweets, Instagram posts, subscription emails, speeches, to interviews with
mass media professionals — to better examine and illustrate to readers how #NeverAgain
combined media and culture to inspire a generation of young people across the nation. This
approach draws largely from the work conducted by the Civic Paths research group at USC
Annenberg (Jenkins et al., 2016) .
Race and Gun Violence Activism in the United States
"You know, our story was told because we are an affluent white community. And
we have to shine the spotlight that was given on us on everybody in the world
who has to deal with this on a daily basis. So people like Indivisible, who
represent students who are in lower-income communities and don't get to speak
22
out the way we do because people don't listen, we have to connect with these
students"
— Cameron Kaksy, March for Our Lives (King, 2018) .
Grassroots activism to address gun violence in the United States dates back to the
nation's earliest days, depending on how the issue is defined, and it would be impossible to
disentangle gun violence from systemic racial oppression against Black communities. Since
targeted acts of racial violence in the post-Civil War period, particularly lynchings and racial
terrorism, gun violence has disproportionately impacted African American communities.
According to the CDC, Black men die from firearms-related homicide at a rate of 35 per
100,000, compared to white men's rate of 2.6 per 100,000 (Kochanek et al., 2019) . In other
words, Black men are thirteen times more likely to be murdered with a gun. White men,
however, lead gun related suicides, followed by Hispanic men. The scale and impact of gun
violence is much larger when considering non-lethal injuries, psychological trauma, and toxic
stress resulting from environments where firearms are readily available. These numbers are
glaring considering that Black people were the last racial group in the United States to be
granted the full security of the Second Amendment — especially in the Jim Crow South, where
racial restrictions on the purchase of firearms remained until the mid 20th Century. The NRA
was infamously in favor of stricter gun control during the emergence of the Black Panther Party,
linking gun owning culture in the United States to white supremacy and racial anxiety (Bloom &
Martin, 2016) . Likewise, the pending election and overall tenure of President Barack Obama
fueled the sales of firearms (Aisch & Keller, 2015; Depetris-Chauvin, 2015) .
While gun violence can be seen throughout U.S. history, grassroots efforts pushing for
stricter gun control through legislation have been less common, especially at the national level.
The Black community has organized grassroots community responses to instances of gun
violence for decades, but such activism has seldom been linked to broader national efforts to
23
regulate firearms through legislation and policy. Growing up in South Los Angeles in the early
1990s, I was still a boy when I learned the story of young Latasha Harlings, a 15 year old Black
girl who was shot dead at a liquor store over a payment dispute — resulting in citywide protests
and riots (Stevenson, 2013) . Countless similar stories affecting the Black community can be
collected, along with a community response and demand for justice. Many of these efforts,
however, fell under the much broader category of "racial justice," where a complex critique of
interlocking systems of oppression — from poverty, educational attainment, mass incarceration,
to discriminatory policing — frame these instances of violence as byproducts of anti-Black White
supremacy permeating U.S. institusions. This stands apart from efforts directly identifying guns
and access to guns as a social ill in need of mass collective action to resolve — which is a much
broader framing of the effects of gun violence. Aside from the perceived "sanctity" of the Second
Amendment, which deterred attacks aimed at curtailing the access to weapons, gun violence
was often considered an individual-level problem or an outgrowth of organized crime (with the
latter calling for firearms as the solution ). To this day, Black and Brown communities are the
most vulnerable to gun violence, and have consequently led the charge for social change
around the issue through activism and community organizing. These efforts, however, have
gone largely underreported, which brings to light the disparity in mainstream news coverage
granted to activism in communities of color compared to Whites. It wouldn't be until the tragic
killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 that the grassroots efforts of Black activists around gun
violence, and its links to larger systems of racial oppression, came to light at a national and
international scale with #BlackLivesMatter.
A Movement Decades in the Making
It wasn't until the drastic increase in firearms related deaths during the 1980s and 1990s
that gun violence came to be seen as a macro-level societal problem and epidemic. Despite the
disproportionate impact of gun violence on communities of color, a broader national-level
movement focused specifically on reducing gun violence by enacting gun control measures has
24
not reflected these demographics — especially when goals are legislative change. The social
movement specifically focused on gun violence spoke to a different demographic. As Frattaroli
(2003) notes about the movement in the early 2000s: "the gun violence prevention movement in
the United States remains largely a white, middle class movement" (p. 341). This demographic
composition didn't change much for gun control groups in the early 2010s, who were "mainly
white, middle-class suburbanites'' (Dreier, 2013, p.93) . Also, Frattaroli (2003) notes how efforts
to curb gun violence through legislation in the U.S. were dominated by "grasstops" Washington
D.C. organizations from the late 1970s through the end of the 20th Century (p. 334). By 2001, a
proper grassroots "movement" begins to emerge around gun violence prevention and control
(amid a rising growth of formal organizations, such as non-profits), partly in response to a
perceived increased gun violence experienced by young people in the 1990s — with particular
alarm of "mass shootings" (Frattaroli, 2003). Young people also emerged as leaders in this
space during this period (although often overlooked), while simultaneously being perceived as
part of the problem (Frattaroli, 2003, p. 36) However, the primary force behind efforts to address
gun violence in the United States has been spearheaded by women, often the mothers of
victims (mother-based activism), including prominent groups such as the Million Mom March
and Moms Demand Action (Dubisar, 2018; Frattaroli, 2003) .
By the early 2000s, concerned and organized mothers became a core contingent of the
gun violence prevention movement (Frattaroli, 2003), often with a focus on incremental and
legislative change. More recently, Dubisar (2018) examines "buffer rhetorics'' — the often
overlooked communication practices of African American women as they publicly interpret
violence against their communities (especially their own children) by tapping into motherhood to
decry injustice and mobilize support — of the Mothers Against Gun Violence (MAGV)
organization, which has organized to address urban gun violence against youth of color in
Syracuse, New York since 2005 (p. 197). Unlike policy focused efforts, MAGV's impact remains
at the community-oriented level through direct action meant to provide ongoing support for
25
victims of gun violence, especially youth (Dubisar, 2018, p. 200). In either approach, whether
policy or community oriented, youth have played an important role in the messaging and
communication of groups and organizations of mothers against gun violence — often framed as
being vulnerable and in need of guidance (a more protectionist view). However, identifying
young people as leaders with decision making power in this space is more elusive — which
makes MFOL's position all the more noteworthy. By the early 2000s, the prevalence of mass
shootings and growing grassroots support for gun violence prevention expanded the base
beyond dedicated professional organizations in DC and moms on the ground to include faith
groups, local politicians (ex. mayors), and leaders in higher education (ex. College presidents)
(Dreier, 2013, p. 93).
The Rise of "Mass Shootings"
It is important to distinguish between the types of gun violence that have sparked various
forms of activism and grassroots community response, specifically those that move beyond
isolated incidents and address larger systemic issues that require mass collective action as a
solution. These types may include gang violence and police violence (or other state-sanctioned
violence). The young activists from Parkland focused, at least initially following the shooting at
MSD High School, on the overlap of two very specific types of shootings that have become
relatively prevalent in recent years: 1) mass shootings, where a single (or few) perpetrators
commit mass acts of violence; 2) school shootings, where shootings occur specifically at
institutions of learning, often at the hands of students. This overlap was most notably seen in
Columbine, Colorado in 1999, a watershed cultural moment for youth mass shootings in the
United States (more on this below). However, in terms of demographics, things get more
complicated when one looks at the category of "mass shootings" specifically, since identifying a
single most-affected demographic can be challenging: the victims and survivors of both the
Columbine and Parkland shootings were mostly White, while those of the Pulse Nightclub were
mostly gay Latinx men, and the Charlston Church shooting was a race-related hate crime
26
against African American parishioners. Given that the United States leads the world in gun
violence amongst developed nations, the sheer variety of gun related violence and deaths made
the issue too large to focus on any single root cause or entry point for legislative relief, with
various bills being introduced to Congress with minimal success over the years. Black Lives
Matter was arguably the most successful social movement in recent years in highlighting the
large-scale and systemic nature of police shootings against unarmed Black persons, especially
Black youth, making it perhaps the most worthy of comparison for this analysis. Parkland's
contribution to the issue was to focus initially on mass shootings as a social ill that uniquely
affects young people, necessitating a proactive youth response, and to identify one of the single
most culpable parties that had been noted as early as the Columbine shooting — the gun
manufacturers' political lobbying organization that is the National Rifle Association (NRA).
For decades, the pro-2nd amendment folks were much more organized, better funded,
and more rhetorically convincing than those aiming to limit the availability of firearms
— especially through the National Rifle Association (NRA) (Dreier, 2013) . The NRA is part of
what Dreier (2013) calls the "gun industrial complex," which includes organizations involved in
the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of firearms — which respond particularly well to
financial pressure in the form of boycotts and divestment. MFOL's attention to the NRA falls
along a strategy in recent years to pinpoint the larger structure, organizations, and power
players in the firearm industry as a means to more effectively rally support and focus culpability
in instances of mass violence. The goal of "hitting them in the money" became a core strategy
as the movement focused on divestment following the Newton shooting — with the idea being
the dismantling of an industry piece by piece. The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary
school in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 signaled a turning point in public support for stricter gun
control. A report from Pew Research found that support for the Second Amendment was
surpassed by calls for stricter gun control one month after the shooting, 49% against 42%,
respectively (After Newtown, modest change in opinion about gun control, 2012) . Notably, even
27
members of the NRA were found to endorse background checks for all gun sales ( Barry et al.,
2015) . Dreier (2013) traces how the mass shooting in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 put gun
control on the national agenda, which presented a unique opportunity for grassroots gun
violence prevention groups that had been mobilizing in the shadows for over a decade.
However, a pattern emerged alongside mass shootings, where public support for stricter gun
control quickly dissipated as the public eye and media coverage turned elsewhere for attention.
This pattern would not be ruptured until 2018 with the shooting at Parkland, Florida.
From Tragedy to Mobilization
“The people in the government who were voted into power are lying to us. And us
kids seem to be the only ones who notice and our parents to call BS. Companies
trying to make caricatures of teenagers these days, saying that all we are
self-involved and trend-obsessed and they hush us into submission when our
message doesn't reach the ears of the nation, we are prepared to call BS.
Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA
telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this, we call BS. They say
tougher guns laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. They say a good
guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS. They say guns are just
tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call BS. They say no laws
could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred.
We call BS. That us kids don't know what we're talking about, that we're too
young to understand how the government works. We call BS.”
— Emma Gonzalez, February 17, 2018 ( Florida student Emma Gonzalez to
lawmakers and gun advocates: 'We call BS.' , 2018)
Mass shootings have, unfortunately, become all too common in contemporary American
life. According to one study that examined the incidents of mass shootings since the 1960s,
28
over 50% of all mass shootings have occurred since 2000, and 33% since 2010 (Densley &
Peterson, 2019) — in many ways confirming that the U.S. entered a new era of mass shootings
since Columbine in 1999. The public call for "thoughts and prayers" and partisan bickering in
lieu of legislative action became the automated response since the early 2000s, despite several
gun control bills being written and introduced into various levels of state and federal
government. While the new kinds of economic strategies of the gun violence prevention
movement (which targeted funding sources of gun manufacturers) began taking effect as early
as 2013 after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School (Dreier, 2013) , something was
notably different in 2018 when the shooting in Parkland, Florida captured the world's attention.
On February 14, 2018, 17 students, teachers, and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland, Florida were killed by a student with an AR-15 assault rifle, and
countless more were injured both physically and psychologically. However, despite attempts
from politicians and public figures to respond with public sympathy and symbolic support, the
nation instead became focused on teenager Emma Gonzalez — a high school senior who
addressed millions of viewers on February 17 with an impassioned speech at a press
conference organized by MSD High survivors. In their
1
speech, Gonzalez challenged common
misconceptions about gun violence in the United States, especially justifications for political
inaction such as the sanctity of the second amendment and the "good guy with a gun" as a
deterrent argument, carefully "calling bullishit" on talking points considered central to the
political discourse for years. Following the strategy of the gun violence prevention movement for
the past two decades, Gonzalez also identified culpable parties and gun sale profiteers — most
notably the National Rifle Association (NRA) — along with linking political inaction to gun
manufacturer's lobbying efforts. Perhaps most significantly, Gonzalez's speech was a rallying
cry for young people, as they identified how young people had been reduced to pawns in a
political debate that considered youth helpless, inexperienced, and in need of adult intervention.
1
Emma Gonzalez is bisexual and uses they/them pronouns (Lowery, 2018) .
29
While the gun violence prevention movement had been slowly involving more young people into
their grassroots organizing efforts over the years, Gonzalez represented for the first time a
visible youth-led wing of the movement emerged (along with moving beyond the "youth as
victims" mobilizing frame) — one that could potentially inspire more young people to speak out
against gun violence at an unprecedented scale.
Mass media quickly designated the community response following the Parkland shooting
as a "movement," as that single tragic incident quickly transformed into mass collective action
and mobilization — spearheaded by vocally indignant youth activists. Months after the shooting
and resulting mass protests, one online publication called the March for Our Lives (the actions,
not the organization): "the most powerful American youth movement in decades" (Jones, 2018) .
This wasn't the first time the term "movement" was attached to the responses to mass shootings
in the United States, but it was certainly the most notable and visible, and for all intents and
purposes, the issue of gun violence benefited from the grassroots support that movements tend
to generate. As a social movement, #NeverAgain was granted near immediate legitimacy in
mass media (at least among liberal-leaning outlets), the likes of which movements like
#BlackLivesMatter strived for yet seldom achieved (until 2020, that is). However, to what
degree, was #NeverAgain — the hashtag that became a rallying cry in the aftermath of Parkland
— a social movement? In many ways, March for Our Lives was an outgrowth of nearly two
decades worth of grassroots organizing around gun violence prevention — slowly growing yet
rarely visible — that came to a boiling point after the shooting at MSD High.
According to Charles Tilly and Wood (Tilly & Wood, 2013) , a social movement contains
three common characteristics: 1) social movement organizations, 2) sustained campaigns over
time, 3) and UNITY. The events following the Parkland shooting certainly fit Tilly and Wood's
model to some degree: the creation of the organization March for Our Lives, which became a
leading organization in the space overnight; organized grassroots campaigns, such as Walkout
Day on March 14, the March for Our Lives on March 24, the Road to Change campaign in the
30
summer of 2018, and countless more among a broader base; and the public display of what Tilly
and Wood call UNITY. The idea of #NeverAgain being a movement can be further affirmed if the
March for Our Lives organization is considered a direct continuation of grassroots organizing in
the gun violence prevention space that spanned the last two decades. What is often missing
from MFOL's narrative of success is how their impact is partly attributed to being welcomed by a
national network of organizations and advocacy groups working in this space. MFOL and
#NeverAgain quickly tapped into the repertoire of contention long established in the gun
violence prevention movement, such as marches, rallies, and candlelight vigils which comprised
the actions organized in response to instances of mass gun violence in the last two decades
(Dreier, 2013) . Frattaroli (2003) notes how grassroots organizing challenged the "business as
usual" approach of D.C. professional groups by channeling grassroots power back towards
electoral politics. Even so, the sheer scale of gun violence and the diverse entry points into the
issue made distilling it into a social movement, with an underlying sense of a shared cause,
difficult without inherently causing factions to emerge.
Furthermore, the initial energy from Parkland youth activists reinvigorated the gun
violence prevention scene, especially through Emma Gonzalez's "We Call BS" speech which
transformed the movement's moderate approach into one of youth rebellion. As Frattaroli (2003)
notes, despite having the numbers in terms of a national network of supporters, the gun
violence prevention movement generally lacked a "roar" — a sense of non-compliance and
disobedience that effectively communicated people power amidst complacent political
institutions (p. 344). He states: "The centrist culture for gun violence prevention is perhaps too
tame, evincing an incrementalist approach" (Frattaroli, 2003 , p. 344). In this sense, while
Parkland activists may appear calm and measured relative to the more radical approach of
Black Lives Matter, it somewhat signals (at least symbolically) a break from the more centrist
approach that had characterized the gun violence prevention movement in prior years. To a
movement essentially composed of suburban moms, the Parkland teens were more than fresh
31
new faces in the movement — they were rockstars.
Despite the similarities between #NeverAgain and other recent contemporary youth
social movements, which generally tend to favor bottom-up and ad-hoc organizational structures
with many leaders, MFOL in many ways reflected a return to the centralized SMOs of old.
Where movements like the immigrant youth movement and Occupy struggled to communicate
to legacy media due to professional journalists' insistence on identifying leaders to interview,
MFOL embraced the "spokesperson" model and easily relayed their messages to major
networks. The culture clash between the "leaderful" horizontalist ethos of leftist movements of
the last decade and the spokesperson-oriented approach of corporate media has been long
documented by social movement scholars (Costanza-Chock, 2014) . This cultural divide has in
many ways made the transition of movement messages from the bottom-up and into mass
media more difficult, as speaking on behalf of the movement had come to be generally frowned
upon on the Left. In this sense, #NeverAgain reflects a cultural shift (and perhaps a racial one
too), as the Parkland teens didn't seem to consider corporatism to be the antithesis of
horizontalism. This hybrid approach, which communicated movement messages to legacy
media in the ways they expected while also harnessing social media, allowed #NeverAgain to
gain public visibility through mainstream media while also building support at the grassroots
level — two things the gun violence prevention movement sorely needed.
As a movement that had been characterized as relatively "tame" and comprised largely
of White, middle-class, suburban mothers, the Parkland youth quickly became the icons of
rebellion that the gun violence prevention movement sorely needed — especially to recruit
young people to the cause. Emma Gonzalez was particularly impactful when they stepped onto
the scene with their "We Call BS" speech, as they embodied many of the qualities that the
movement visibly lacked: youth, rebelliousness, and nonconformity. As a young, Latinx,
non-gender conforming (from her iconic buzz cut to identifying as bi-sexual) woman of color,
Gonzalez represented the movement's desire to reinterpret the impact of gun violence in terms
32
of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2017) — especially along dimenions of youth, race, and gender.
It had been no secret that gun violence disproportionately affects communities of color, yet the
movement had struggled to recruit people of color and build lasting coalitions across
demographics. Furthermore, the cultural impact of the Parkland youth, but especially Gonzalez,
has been a notable outcome of the emergence of #NeverAgain. Their attire when delivering the
"6-minute and 20 seconds" speech at the March for Our Lives rally in the nation's capital on
March 24, 2018 quickly became a symbol of youth empowerment among supporters: an
assortment of patches, buttons, and pins — an Apollo 11 mission insignia, a rainbow LGBTQ
pride flag, Cuban revolution flag, the words "Not too shabby," along with their "We Call BS"
rallying cry — decorated a green bomber jacket in anarchist aesthetic. This became a kind of
unofficial uniform for youth supporters across the nation, especially among young women,
where adornments and decorations on bomber jackets could be mixed-and-matched to reflect
unique identities while simultaneously communicating solidarity — not unlike the notable attires
of the Young Lords, the Brown Berets, and the Black Panther Party. In this sense, Gonzalez not
only embodied a potentially broader movement in terms of the inclusion of diververse identities,
but their stylistic and aesthetic choices are exemplary of contemporary youth activism — where
cultural production and media practice are woven together to communicate across a complex
media ecology — especially through participatory politics.
As part of Gen Z, the young activists from Parkland were particularly well suited to turn
to participatory politics to address gun violence in the aftermath of the tragic shooting. Many of
the skills reflected in participatory politics (digital literacies, messaging, democratic decision
making, networked collaboration, etc.) were acquired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School, through involvement with extracurricular activities — from audio/video groups, forensics,
student government, journalism, and theater — as well as relevant courses, from speech to
government (Jenkins & Lopez, 2018) . This idea — a strong sense of civic agency and efficacy
bolstered by digital media practice — is further illuminated in a book written by David and
33
Lauren Hogg, siblings who survived the shooting at MSD High: “We are growing up in a time
when technology gives us the confidence to assume that we can do things and figure out the
world in ways that it hasn’t been figured out before. No permission necessary," (Hogg & Hogg,
2018 , 21). As an issue where young people were often reduced to victims in need of adult
protection, the ability to route around the adult world to become leaders and propose solutions
as young people with the assistance of networked technologies appeared a promising
alternative to alleviating gun violence. The ability to apply skills learned in digital spaces to
society's problems was especially noteworthy for the students from Parkland. A combination of
ease of access to ICTs, the acquirement and development of digital literacies, experience with
cultural production, and a school environment with a strong civic culture (that encouraged young
people to propose solutions to pressing social issues) seemed to create the ideal conditions for
youth to translate these skills and knowledge into participatory politics — initially amongst
themselves and eventually at a much broader scale.
Figure 1. Map of mass shootings in the U.S., 2005-2019 (Follman et al., 2022) .
No longer leaving their fate in adult hands, young people around the country responded
to the call from Parkland to march for their lives — both online and off. As far as Los Angeles,
34
California, high school students interested in ending gun violence turned to ICTs to find
like-minded peers: "I'm going to use social media to let people know [about pressing issues],
and it's a good thing too because I'm pretty sure a lot of people feel the same way, but they're
just scared to say something because they think they're alone" (R. Martinez, personal
communication, August 2018) . The seemingly isolated and geographically dispersed nature of
mass shootings over the years (see Figure 1 above) contributed to a sense of helplessness on
the issue as no single site or authority could be easily pressured to resolve the issue, especially
among young people with few opportunities to voice their concerns directly to political leaders.
The young survivors of the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 famously confronted
Walmart for its sale of handgun ammunition in Michael Moore's documentary film "Bowling for
Columbine" (2002), leading to a change of policy by the retail giant, along with pinpointing the
NRA as a culpable party in promoting a violent gun culture — although such efforts did not
reverberate into broader grassroots actions among youth. The public response to mass
shootings since Columbine has been characterized by a pendulum affect — the move from
mass outcry, grief, and calls for change amidst focused media coverage towards compassion
fatigue, disillusionment in political rhetoric (or praise from 2nd amendment supporters), and
mainstream media having moved on to the next newsworthy event. The preconditions for the
emergence of social movements — of finding solidarity among those with shared grievances
and building community geared towards collective action — were somewhat hindered by the
very nature of the mass shootings problem (its dispersed and nebulous form).
However, more recently, the ability to link grievances across geography via networked
technologies has presented new kinds of opportunities for social movements to mobilize and
sustain support — especially among ad-hoc groups who remain "on-call" to coordinate
synchronized protest as new incidents of injustice emerge. Much like Black Lives Matter before
them, which arguably spearheaded this networked "behind the scenes, yet always on-call'
model of synchronized protest across geography to tackle the elusive issue of police violence
35
against Black communities, #NeverAgain represents a change in strategy within the gun
violence prevention movement — one that harnesses both youth power and ICTs. For the young
people in Los Angeles mentioned previously, the emergence of #NeverAgain represented an
opportunity to collectively wield a much larger megaphone, composed of social media platforms,
to speak against the impact of gun violence on youth at a much larger scale than localized
efforts could allow for.
Parkland was not the first time that the gun violence prevention movement incorporated
social media into their strategy, but the youth-led approach taken by the teenage activists from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High represents a notable generational shift in media activism within
the movement. Within days of the shooting, MSD High student Cameron Kasky created a
GoFundMe page for the victims of the shooting in Parkland, raising millions of dollars and
allowing the founding of the March of Our Lives (MFOL) non-profit (Hoisington, 2018) that
organized countless efforts thereafter. Within this same timespan, youth activists David Hogg
and Emma Gonzalez gained a sizable following on their social media accounts — an especially
notable feat for Gonzalez who amassed tens of thousands of followers on their newly created
Twitter account. A few weeks following, MFOL had tapped virtually every major social media
platform to further their cause: a Youtube channel, multiple Facebook pages (Witt, 2018) , an
Instagram account, and of course, Twitter. On March 14, 2018, thousands of high schoolers
across the United States walked out of their classrooms in protest of gun violence and in
support of #NeverAgain (Yee & Blinder, 2018) , organized in large part through social media.
Over the course of several months, MFOL cultivated a national network of youth-led chapters
across the country. Yet, the access to and use of new media only tells half the story of youth
activism today: Gen Z in many ways sees networked technologies as core to social change,
developing relevant digital practices, skill sets, and literacies that simultaneously blend online
engagement with offline modes — a cultural interplay captured through the concept of
participatory politics.
36
Participatory politics describes how young people translate skills and literacies acquired
through digital media practice, such as moderating online forums or multiplayer gaming, towards
political participation and civic engagement. As a generational cohort, Gen Z was already
cultivating skills vital to civic engagement online that previous generations acquired at more
formal sites or through affiliation with civic organizations — from facilitating dialogue,
researching and evaluating information, to organizing collective action. What is particularly
important about participatory politics is the emphasis on cultural practice rather than
communications tools — highlighting young people's agency. While macro-level changes in the
communication environment, such as the widespread availability of ICTs, undeniably provide
young people today with unique opportunities for civic engagement, the tools themselves cannot
be credited for social change. While participatory politics may begin online for many young
people, such practices spillover into and encourage various kinds of direct action offline, such as
marches, rallies and town halls, and even the ballot box. To ease the process of youth voter
registration, MFOL created t-shirts featuring a mashup-up of the American flag with a "QR" code
that directly linked to state registrars. As a MFOL activist in California put it: "Now you can
register people to vote wherever you are by wearing our shirt in your neighborhood, and we
can't be accused of being unpatriotic!" (see Appendix C) . #NeverAgain showcases the
seamless integration of digital practice and culture into more traditional forms of political
participation and civic engagement.
Similar to other contemporary movements, from #BlackLivesMatter to #MeToo,
#NeverAgain's hashtag descriptor signals not only the centrality of digital platforms to its
strategy but also a broader participatory ethos: a horizontalist call to enlist in the movement and
enact social change "by any media necessary." This call was especially important for young
people, as Gonzalez's "We call BS" speech effectively captured the generational distress facing
Gen Z due to gun violence (Alter, 2018) , a cohort raised on active shooter drills in schools
(Williamson, 2019) . Also, because the input of youth on the issue was largely ignored or
37
dismissed over the years by political leaders (Mak & Yarmosky, 2019) . The gun violence
prevention movement's years-long challenge of enlisting young people was partly resolved
when the Parkland activists spoke directly to Gen Z using various ICTs and mainstream media
in February of 2018. Take for example their appearances on major networks challenging political
opponents (Osnos, 2018) . As MFOL invited young people at large to be co-creators of
#NeverAgain, it began to reflect what Costanza-Chock's calls transmedia organizing: "strategies
to become visible across platforms, to open up the movement narrative to participatory
media-making, to link attention to action, and to do all this in ways that remain accountable to
the movement's social base" (Costanza-Chock, 2014 , p. 45). One year following the shooting in
Parkland, there were over 200 MFOL chapters across the U.S. (Beckett, 2019) , a process
facilitated by the MFOL website which encouraged middle school, high school, and college aged
students to establish a presence in their communities (Start a chapter, n.d.) . Many of MFOL's
chapters established an online presence with websites and social media pages, indicating
relative autonomy in the use of the MFOL "brand." The reach of these efforts resulted in an
unprecedented participation in gun control related activism among youth (G. Lopez, 2018a) , a
story bound to the use of communication technologies and accompanying cultural practices.
Political inaction, rebellious youth, and digital culture were the powder keg mixture that sparked
#NeverAgain.
Participatory Politics
The relatively quick rise of #NeverAgain is partly attributed to networked communication
technologies, although it is not the media platforms themselves that gave young people a
unique political opportunity for social change but rather the digital cultural practices associated
with their use — such as the aforementioned concept of "participatory politics." Kahne,
Middaugh, and Allen (2015) note five key practices that comprise participatory politics:
investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation, production, and mobilization. These practices
are often acquired through non-political forms of digital participation, such as through socializing
38
via social media with friends or partaking in communities of shared interest, which can then be
applied toward political goals according to Cohen and Kahne (2012) . They state: “The
participatory skills, norms, and networks that develop when social media is used to socialize
with friends or to engage with those who share one’s interests can and are being transferred to
the political realm,” (Cohen & Kahne, 2012 , vi). Many of the #NeverAgain youth activists gained
participatory-politics-esque skills through their schooling, such as participation in debate and
media production (Hogg & Hogg, 2018) . This section examines the ways that #NeverAgain
reflects the practices of participatory politics — investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation,
production, and mobilization — through a close textual reading of publicly available social
movement media and news coverage.
First, the idea behind the "investigation" practice is that young people develop literacies
to carefully and critically scrutinize information encountered as part of digital participation
— which was clearly reflected in #NeverAgain from its earliest stages. Gonzalez's "We Call BS"
speech set the tone for investigation early on in the rise of #NeverAgain, as they challenged
common misconceptions about gun violence in a fact-checking style. This commitment to
investigation is also reflected through various Town Halls organized by March for Our Lives
activists, such as during the Road to Change campaign where communities at large were
invited to discuss the major talking points of the gun control debate with an attention to
dispelling misinformation and relying on research and empirical data for support. As Chief
Strategist Matt Deitsch stated at a town hall held in Los Angeles, "we use facts, and the facts
are on our side" (see Appendix A) — speaking to the best way to build support at public forums
and to challenge the NRA. These types of practices reflecting investigation can be seen through
various kinds of movement-created media — both online and offline — and they are particularly
important as they also serve to challenge a dominant narrative that young people are not
informed about political issues. Hand in hand with investigation is encouraging discussion of
pertinent social and political issues — a concept captured by dialogue and feedback.
39
The idea behind the "dialogue and feedback" practice of participatory politics is that
young people often come together with peers online to discuss the social and political issues of
the day — just as they would when discussing topics of cultural interest, from video games to
comic books. Social media platforms thus become the same channels for young people to share
not only their thoughts about popular culture but also about pressing social problems, such as
gun violence, essentially honing skills developed through entertainment and leisure towards
political aims and purposes. With this in mind, it wasn't a huge leap for March for Our Lives
activists to tap their teenage peers to join #NeverAgain, have a discussion about gun violence,
and brainstorm ways to end it. Two notable ways dialogue and feedback happened in the
aftermath of the shooting at MSD High were through social media and town halls. Speaking to
the rapid-feedback potential of Twitter, MFOL Social Media Manager Kyrah Simon says: "I've
been on Twitter since I was like 11, and I think Twitter is probably the most useful platform to be
able to put out a quick story and get a lot of people's attention, get a lot of impressions, and get
a lot of people to look at it," ( Pisetzner, 2018) . Early on, MFOL seemed committed to aligning its
organizational goals with the priorities of young supporters at large, encouraging young people
in remote parts of the country to take ownership of the cause. As one Los Angeles-based
activist put it: "All of the different members of March for Our Lives, Emma and Jackie and all of
them, they're constantly tweeting. I have the notifications on, so I get all their tweets. But also for
Road to Change, they're getting their point across by going around and actually having these
conversations with people in person. It's not just online," (R. Martinez, personal communication,
August 2018) . Countering "slacktivism" critiques of youth activism, dialogue and feedback did
not solely remain an online and symbolic activity, but carried over into offline community spaces
through the town hall model taken across the country with the Road to Change campaign. As
part of the Road to Change, MFOL was able to organize dozens of town halls across the United
States to better understand the impact of gun violence across diverse communities and to
discuss the best pathways to alleviate the issue (G. Allen, 2018) . Perhaps of equal importance
40
to this commitment of basing priorities on community input was the elevation of youth voices,
addressing a tendency to overlook the youth perspective on gun violence through the circulation
of youth media.
The ability to circulate information has undoubtedly become ubiquitous through the
proliferation of networked communication technologies, and the circulation practice has
particularly important social and political implications for young people who have historically
faced many barriers when sharing their views at large scale — especially concerning gun
violence. Young people are often the first to adopt new communication technologies, from
amateur printing to radio, yet they have been shut out from harnessing these tools to the fullest
extent by measures taken by adults to keep them out — from taxation to age restriction policies
(Light, 2015). For example, hashtags, QR codes, and shortened URLs in spaces of protests
were observed as notable ways that young people circulate movement related information. At
the March for Our Lives in Los Angeles, protest signs encouraged people to circulate their
photographs of protest on social media using the #NeverAgain hashtag. Furthermore, MFOL's
various online communication channels regularly share information relevant to the movement,
such as important voter registration deadlines and the track records of politicians with respect to
gun violence legislation. While many barriers to ICTs still remain for young people (ex. age
restrictions on platforms, paywalls, literacy and access divides), they have also offered young
people unprecedented opportunities to communicate youth priorities and perspectives on social
and political issues at large — #NeverAgain serves as a notable example.
As far as the impact of gun violence on youth is concerned, the gun violence debate in
public discourse largely considered young people to be victims in need of protection, which is a
narrative that the Parkland activists challenged since the beginning through media production.
Through the creation of social media posts, video content on Twitter, interviews with mass
media, and town halls, MFOL leveraged the circulation of youth media to center their
perspectives on gun violence. For example, MFOL activists regularly use their Twitter accounts
41
to share updates on gun control legislation, call out politicians in the pockets of gun
manufacturer lobbies, and share relevant research pertaining to gun violence. Perhaps most
noteworthy is the model of sustained circulation of information mastered by other movements,
such as #BlackLivesMatter, as new incidents of gun violence (particularly mass shootings
occur). Previous efforts in the gun violence prevention movement have been unfortunately cut
short by compassion fatigue (a sad byproduct of the high incidence of gun violence) and a
rapidly moving news cycle that makes sustaining public attention difficult (Nass, 2018) . The
#NeverAgain movement has been able to partly resolve some of these issues in circulation by
sharing information meant to hold space for public grieving (rather than simply reporting
carnage without assisting with the emotional processing of gun violence), and by threading
continuity between new incidents of gun violence as a means of highlighting the larger
macro-level effects of the issue. At the same time, the grassroots efforts of the broader
#NeverAgain movement — which includes ad-hoc youth groups across the nation, MFOL
chapters, non-profit organizations working to reduce gun violence, and supporters at large
— have had far reaching outcomes in terms of circulation. Take for example Robbie's account of
keeping herself and her peers informed about developments in the movement through social
media and word of mouth: "I made sure to be posting a lot on Instagram and Twitter, and I made
people know that it was okay if they had any questions to come to me. And I did take it upon
myself to go around the school and talk to them about the importance of being involved”
(Appendix G). However, these efforts should not be confused with the more professionalized
approach of the March for Our Lives organization.
Circulation in the #NeverAgain movement post-Parkland cannot be fully understood
without examining the professionalized media tactics of the March for Our Lives organization.
As far as social movement organizations (SMOs) go, the organizations founded by activists to
carry out their duties in a more organized and professional manner (Walker & Martin, 2019) ,
March for Our Lives received a treasure trove of resources at its inception, from millions of
42
dollars in donations to celebrity support. These resources granted MFOL a certain level of
visibility and legitimacy in the public eye not often seen among SMOs (especially radical
variety), which was further enhanced as celebrities and public figures expressed their support
for #NeverAgain, including Lin Manuel-Miranda, Oprah Winfrey, and Demi Lovato. The Parkland
activists themselves straddled the line between activists and pop culture icons as they were
invited to the The Ellen Show to discuss their experiences and advocate for stricter gun control
(Feller, 2018) . The iconicity of the Parkland teens even extended into attire, as Emma
Gonzalez's distinctive style quickly became a uniform for youth rebellion: "I can't believe I'm
standing in front of Emma Gonzalez," said one Los Angeles teen who bore the shaved-head
and green-bomber-jacket look that Gonzalez popularized (see Appendices A & E) . Within a
month of the shooting at MSD High, the MFOL activists became household names as they were
featured in Teen Vogue (González, 2018) , backed by Steven Spielberg and George Clooney,
and the historic demonstration on March 24, 2018 featured musical performances by Demi
Lovato and Lin Manuel Miranda — speaking as much to their impact as influential youth
activists as to the media and entertainment industry's rush to capitalize on youth rebellion and
link their brands to the cause of gun control. However, harnessing celebrity power has a long
history in social movements — from Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan at Martin
Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington to more recent performances by J Cole and Prince for
#BlackLivesMatter. What is noteworthy, however, is how activism and popular culture can often
become intertwined, and how Gen Z may not see this as a co-optation of a social movement,
but instead as the ability to bridge topics of interest, leisure, and entertainment with social
causes — mirroring the broader potential of participatory politics to create civic paths for young
people through popular culture.
As with circulation, lowered barriers to cultural production characterize the contemporary
media environment as many of the creation tools once fenced-off behind professional studios
are now jam-packed into the palms of millions via smartphones. As mentioned before, virtually
43
all young people in the US today have some form of access to a smartphone and its media
production capabilities. With that said, the mere access to production tools only accounts for a
portion of success in youth activism, as digital literacy and economic resources continue to play
a vital role — facets that an examination of #NeverAgain and March for Our Lives can unravel.
In particular, two different versions of production can be generally seen in the #NeverAgain
movement: 1) grassroots production, emerging largely from supporters and shared by ad-hoc
support groups and personal social media accounts with a more "amateur" calibur in aesthetics
and design; 2) professional production, coming directly from the March for Our Lives
organization and mirroring the output of professionalized spaces, likely due to the hiring of
trained and certified designers, videographers, photographers, and web developers. A look at
the #NeverAgain hashtag on social media platforms, from Twitter to Instagram, reveals many
examples of grassroots production: from selfies with captions in support of the cause, video
testimonials urging political leaders to support gun reform legislation, to on-the-ground
documentation of protests. Many of the types of digital literacies associated with grassroots
production are quotidian for many youth and hardly require effort to leverage for political aims:
taking selfies, writing attention grabbing captions for published media, leveraging multiple
hashtags to bridge digital publics, directing content towards some audiences while restricting it
from others, and amplifying the messages of their peers via resharing. While seemingly new,
digital platforms provide contemporary youth social movements with what underground
newspapers or pirate radio did for young activists of the 1960s — they present the opportunity
to bypass traditional adult gatekeepers via alternative communication channels. On the other
hand, these same literacies paired with the resources rivaling start-ups can catapult political
efforts even further, as seen with MFOL.
The professional media production approach taken by the March for Our Lives
organization can be seen from its conception in terms of polished design aesthetics, from its
sleek website to a minimalist logo reminiscent of Silicon Valley. For comparison, notable youth
44
movements from the past decade (2008-2018), such as the immigrant youth movement
(Costanza-Chock, 2014; Lopez, 2013) , relied largely on free or low-cost web solutions, from
Wordpress to Tumblr, to create a web presence, and their published materials (digital or
otherwise) often lacked uniform design due to a reliance on volunteer and unpaid contributions
by activist media makers and designers (with perhaps the exception of the highly funded
organization, United We Dream). Even the principles of cultivating a unified brand across digital
platforms in terms of messaging and design aesthetics can be seen from the very beginning,
speaking to both the high digital literacy of the Parkland youth and the aid they received (in
terms of resources and consultation) early on. To examine this point further, consider MFOL's
Youtube Channel, which was created shortly after the shooting. The earliest videos (uploaded
on the same day as the channel's creation on March 19, 2018) are testimonial-style clips
featuring the Parkland youth activists. The theme across the videos is captured by the hashtag
"#WhatIf", which urges audiences at large to consider an alternative future where gun violence
is adequately addressed by politicians. In one video, David Hogg looks into the camera and
addresses viewers directly: "what if our politicians weren't the bitch of the NRA?," "what if we all
voted and said this was not ok?," "what if we stood up for Americans and fought for our freedom
and for our lives?" (March For Our Lives, 2018a) . The videos are highly polished, featuring
balanced lighting and crystal clear sound, while also tapping into a remix aesthetic, featuring
short clips that are critical of Donald Trump and NRA-supporting-politicians, that is popular
among youth. Furthermore, the videos also include a clear call to action, such as directing
viewers to register to vote, which can be seen more broadly across MFOL's production efforts
— signaling a more nuanced and advanced understanding of how to translate digital
participation into direct action. The same can be seen through other efforts, such as the launch
of a dedicated MFOL app for the March 24 day of action to facilitate connecting supporters with
events near them. Within a few years, the media production of grassroots (and more "amateur")
45
movements has converged with the high production value and aesthetics of professional
spaces, with March for Our Lives serving as a notable example.
The participatory politics practice that most effectively challenges the idea of
"slacktivism" among contemporary youth is mobilization, as young people today directly link
their digital practices to more traditional forms of direct action. In the case of #NeverAgain, this
included walkouts, rallies, die-ins, vigils, and town halls. Exactly one month after the shooting on
March 14, 2018, thousands of high school students and teachers left their classrooms during
instruction in protest of gun violence as part of the #Enough! National Walkout Day (Gray,
2018b) . The walkouts were largely organized by youth supporters at large, aided by digital tools
such as those provided by actionnetwork.org (Enough : National School Walkout , n.d.) , who
answered Parkland's #NeverAgain call. It was answered as far as Los Angeles, as one female
Latinx student shares: "I kind of organized the whole walkout and we were set, people were
ready to do it...the day before the actual walkout, we got an announcement that anyone who
walks out of the school the next day will not be allowed to prom" (R. Martinez, personal
communication, August 2018) . Despite these kinds of messages from school administrators
meant to curtail student activism, the walkouts mostly went forward uninterrupted, including at
this particular high school in LA. Ten days later, nation-wide rallies were held in conjunction to
the "March for Our Lives'' event in Washington D.C. on March 24, which were up to that point
the largest youth-centered mobilizations in the gun violence prevention movement — and the
largest youth protests since the Vietnam War according to the Associated Press (G. Lopez,
2018a) . The day of protest inspired more than 800 actions across the nation and globally, with
tens of thousands of people arriving in support at city centers: 800,000 in Washington D.C.
(Reilly, 2018) , 175,000 in New York City (E. Shapiro, 2018) , and 55,000 in Los Angeles (Lozano,
2018) . Many of these actions were organized by youth, often with guidance from adults. One
young woman in LA explained how she got involved: "My teacher realized how into all of it I
was, and somehow he was in contact with people from Women's March, and there was a sense
46
that they were looking for students because they wanted students to be the ones organizing and
leading the march — they wanted a student movement" (R. Martinez, personal communication,
August 2018) . Well attuned to this generational trajectory, MFOL's website leverages various
digital tools that can help young people get involved — a "take action" tab providing resources
for voter registration, guidelines to establish local chapters, and even printable cost-of-life
"price-tags'' that showcase how much money politicians have accepted from the NRA per state
(Home page, 2022) . In-person actions continued through the Spring into the Summer of 2018,
through "die-in" demonstrations used against organizations supporting gun manufacturers and
their lobbying groups — most notably the NRA. The Publix grocery store chain was targeted for
a die-in demonstration by MFOL (Eltagouri, 2018) , a tactic from the repertoire of contention
dating back decades to anti-war and AIDS activism which is meant to visually show the deadly
impact of an issue through the occupation of space with the bodies of activists as they
physically lay down on the floor and obstruct walkways. The demonstration combined direct
action with mediated tactics, as David Hogg led the die-in while also amplifying its visibility
through social media posts — which eventually pressured Publix into retracting its financial
support of the NRA.
The on-the-ground actions of #NeverAgain continued well into 2018, both from MFOL
and affiliated youth supporters, through vigils held in remembrance of gun violence victims
throughout the U.S., and through the Road to Change campaign's various rallies, town halls,
vigils, and voter registration drives (see Appendices A & D) . While MFOL's focus has shifted
away from street mobilizations in favor of traditional avenues of social change (ex. voting,
legislation), the "biographical outcomes" of participating with #NeverAgain — the idea that
participating in protest can have long-term effects on the development of political consciousness
(Giugni, 2008) — remains to be seen. As with the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and
1970s, #NeverAgain may one day be considered the starting point for a mass political
awakening for Generation Z — especially among White middle class youth. One high school
47
student in LA captures what this discovery of civic efficacy among youth can look like: "I think all
of this helped me realize that we have more power than we think we do. Especially in schools,
you're told 'sit down,' 'don't speak,' 'raise your hand if you need to go to the restroom or drink
water,' 'do this,' 'don't do that.' It's kind of like you're controlled a lot" (R. Martinez, personal
communication, August 2018) .
In sum, the participatory politics framework aids in disentangling the role of media from
the cultural practices behind them — highlighting the intentional choices young people make as
they strive towards social change using any media necessary. The five practices of participatory
politics (Kahne et al., 2015; Soep, 2014) — investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation,
production, and mobilizations — are all reflected to some degree in the efforts of the March for
Our Lives organization and their broader base of youth that coalesced behind the #NeverAgain
rallying cry. In a public debate clouded by misinformation, the young folks involved in
#NeverAgain tapped their familiarity with critically examining information found online as they
used investigation to dispel common misconceptions about how to alleviate gun violence. Even
as they gained national visibility and a powerful platform to speak to the gun violence debate,
the Parkland activists, MFOL, and youth supporters aligned with this cause promoted a
commitment to collectively work through solutions to gun violence with dialogue and feedback
— both in person and online. Dismissing their adult-attributed status as bystanders in need of
protection, young people involved with #NeverAgain harnessed various digital platforms to
elevate the voices and perspectives of youth through the circulation of movement created
media. This movement created media can be seen in two general categories — grassroots
production at the hands of supporters at large, and near-professional quality production coming
from the centralized resources of the March for Our Lives organization — leading to an effective
production output that kept the cause alive amidst a rapidly moving news cycle of mainstream
media where attention to gun violence tapers within days. Contrary to the idea that activism
efforts that use digital tools may detract from more involved engagement offline, not only did the
48
emergence of MFOL and #NeverAgain coincide with widespread mobilizations — from
walkouts, rallies, vigils, die-ins, and town halls — but such mobilizations were often reinforced
by an approach that seamlessly blends online and offline efforts. Even as MFOL moves aways
from street mobilizations and protests, the organization's efforts in many ways succeeded in
reinterpreting gun violence as a core issue facing Gen Z, effectively harnessing various digital
tools to bring newcomers into the gun violence prevention movement and translating digital
practices and literacies into more traditional forms of power — mainly voting through voter
registration efforts. Time will tell whether these efforts continue to extend into the future as core
Gen Z priorities.
Youth Media in the Media Ecology
Much of the emphasis on contemporary youth activism in scholarship tends to highlight
the new kinds of opportunities provided by new media, even when practices, literacies, and
culture are foregrounded against the utility of digital tools and platforms. This may be partly
attributed to a "rhetoric of newness" that often accompanies technologies as they are invented
and released to the public (R. A. Lopez, 2013) , which focuses on the novelty and disruption of
new tools. Upon closer inspection, many new communication tools often update or slightly
modify longstanding cultural practices rather than fully reinvent the wheel, and they are often
first understood by adoptees through the lense of an obsolete technology. Take the classic
example of the horseless carriage to describe early automobiles. Whether Facebook, Twitter, or
Youtube, the preferred tools by Millennials a decade ago, or Snapchat, Instagram, or Tik Tok,
the choice platforms for Gen Z, many of the underlying cultural practices behind their successful
use for activism may be the same — the ability to craft compelling narratives, building
communities with like-minded folks remotely, and coordinating actions and decisions among
diverse people. With that said, much like the accompanying rhetoric of newness that is often
attached to technology, youth activism often comes with an "underdog" narrative as "youth
power" is considered oxymoronic by the adult-normative world. Young people are often
49
considered too inexperienced and immature to successfully leverage political power, so when it
happens it too is considered "novel." When these two elements are combined, youth mobilizing
for social change while harnessing new communication technologies, the conversation may
often become one-dimensional as the novelty of the topic overshadows a nuanced
understanding. An examination of how young people successfully wield social media for social
change need not come at the expense of understanding the continued influence of "legacy
media" and also the drawbacks of participatory politics. The following section does exactly this:
1) it attempts to contextualize the participatory politics of #NeverAgain within a complex media
ecology; 2) it covers some of the challenges facing young people as they turn to ICTs for social
change.
First, the promise of routing around gatekeepers and sites of power through alternative
communication channels can be seen throughout U.S. history, from the earliest youth
newspapers created by youth using toy printing presses in the 19th century to early amateur
radio clubs of the early 20th century (Light, 2015) , and social media in many ways keeps this
promise alive among youth activists. However, as these history lessons also tell us, the ability to
completely bypass sites of power through alternative communication channels is much more
complicated, and #NeverAgain serves as an insightful case in this regard. Historically speaking,
social movements have struggled to gain legitimacy in mainstream media as they are often
reduced to irrational mobs, riots, or outright enemies of the state. For this reason, the history of
alternative media is closely tied to social movements, as mainstream channels could not be
trusted to relay the messages of movements without distortion (if not outright condemnation).
Parkland was different. Within a few short weeks of the shooting at Parkland, the efforts of the
young activists from MSD High were already being called a "movement," which is an accurate
label if we consider #NeverAgain to be a continuation of the long standing gun violence
prevention movement. However, these links between #NeverAgain and previous gun violence
prevention efforts seem to have been seldom made in early journalistic reporting, which raises a
50
key question: to what degree did the designation of #NeverAgain as a "movement" help in
legitimizing the efforts of March for Our Lives in public opinion? Afterall, social movement
scholars like Tilly and Wood (Tilly & Wood, 2013) consider social movements to be the
continuous organization of protest campaigns over time (months or even years) by groups
fighting for a cause, yet reporting shortly after the Parkland shooting was already calling
#NeverAgain a "movement." This question may be difficult to answer without a systematic
examination of news coverage relative to other contemporary social movements. At the same
time, the efforts of MFOL and #NeverAgain more broadly seemed to have benefitted from
generally favorable coverage of their efforts, at least among liberal and left of center mainstream
news sources, which challenges the idea that all youth movements must route around
gatekeepers to relay their messages to publics at large. A media ecology approach (Mattoni,
2017) , where media are considered to be part of a much larger and interconnected media
ecosystem, may help contextualize how and why the efforts of #NeverAgain differed from those
compared to other contemporary movements (ex. #BlackLivesMatter), especially when
concerning the mediated repertoire of contention. It may very well be that the need to route
around mainstream media is directly related to how receptive or not they are to accurately
relaying movement messages, so applauding #NeverAgain's use of social media would be
incomplete without pointing out the unique visibility they were afforded by mainstream
communication channels.
To point out the relatively high and positive visibility that #NeverAgain and MFOL
received in mainstream media is not to discount the impressive ability of the Parkland youth
activists to capitalize on this opportunity. This is even more impressive if we consider the labor
and organizing efforts of the teen activists from MSD High after experiencing the traumatic
shooting on February 14, 2018. Rather than taking the much needed time to heal and process
this trauma in private, these young activists were able to hold their own during televised
interviews with political leaders, and their fresh perspectives on gun violence allowed them to
51
cut past the usual talking points parroted by politicians on both sides of the aisle. During an
early town hall hosted by CNN on February 22, 2018, for example, Emma Gonzalez and others
were able to "call out" Sen. Marco Rubio for accepting monetary contributions from the NRA and
the influence on the contributions on his policy positions on gun control (Grinberg & Almasy,
2018) . These types of moments showcase the strength of youth activism, as the off-the-cuff
style trades respectability politics in favor of confronting the roots of the political establishment's
inaction (from partisan compromise to corruption), and place the emphasis on the practices of
young people rather than on the media they wield. In sum, just as participatory politics urges us
to think beyond digital tools as the catalysts for social change and instead focus on practices
and literacies, it's also important to consider new communication tools and practices within a
broader media ecology where "legacy" media continues to hold tremendous power and
influence.
Definitions may vary, but for the purpose of this work, legacy media are historically the
most powerful and influential media outlets — from mainstream corporate conglomerates to
state controlled communication channels — whose dominance during the Broadcast Era in the
20th Century unequivocally shaped public opinion. Even as ICTs empower groups across the
political spectrum, providing both opportunities and challenges along the way, these efforts work
in tandem with legacy media — especially among adult populations. Activists often select their
media and communication tactics to maximize the remediation of their efforts in legacy media,
providing both opportunities and challenges (Poell, 2020) . Providing a snapshot of how
#NeverAgain wielded ICTs to their advantage would be incomplete without also considering the
immense role that legacy played in their rise. Across youth movements more broadly, legacy
media can both amplify a movement's message and visibility while also discrediting and
delegitimizing their efforts. In the case of the immigrant youth movement, this meant that
activists regularly anticipated problematic frames elevated by professional journalists, such as
the "worthy immigrant" idea based on American exceptionalism, and modified their talking
52
points accordingly to counter reductive characterizations of immigrants (R. A. Lopez, 2013) .
MFOL similarly trained their staff on how to most effectively talk to media professionals
(something I personally encountered in my fieldwork). #NeverAgain was unique in that they
were largely embraced by liberal mainstream outlets (particularly MFOL), and through a
combination of their own media savviness and support from professionals, the teen activists
from Parkland were able to capitalize on the opportunities of both legacy media and ICTs
— which arguably gave them an unprecedented public platform (at least for the gun violence
prevention movement) from which to communicate their messages. Even amidst criticism from
right-leaning media, MFOL activists combined the interplay of ICTs with legacy media visibility to
fight back, an idea captured in David and Lauren Hogg's book: “Don’t let all of that nonsense
upset you. It’s a distraction, which is exactly what they want… They’re just giving you a bigger
stage — use it to upset them” (Hogg & Hogg, 2018 ,111). In response to a barrage of attacks by
Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Hogg countered by turning to Twitter and calling for Ingraham's
sponsors to withdraw their support (Wattles, 2018) . Hogg's boycott call was a success:
Ingraham was placed on leave of absence, she apologized publicly, and lost over a dozen of her
advertisement sponsors (Victor, 2018) . While seemingly a testament to the power of Twitter, the
successful boycott was subsequently covered by various legacy media outlets, which kept
MFOL and #NeverAgain in the public eye through late March of 2018. Contrary to the idea that
contemporary youth activists operate solely on social media, MFOL's tactful navigation across a
complex media ecology showed as much their willingness to speak to adult audiences through
legacy channels as to correct the general omission of youth perspectives across them. This
signals a continued power imbalance in the media ecology, where gatekeeping in legacy media
by adults generally keeps young people out, which should not be mistaken for their preference
to reach the public solely through social media. If given the opportunity, young people would
happily reach adults by any media necessary, including legacy media, although these openings
rarely occur on the scale that they did for #NeverAgain for youth movements more broadly. In
53
sum, just as important as it is to think about literacies and practices associated with the use of
communication tools, it's also important to consider these tools within a broader media ecology.
While it's true that young people need not ask adults for permission to share their stories and
perspectives in many ways, routing around traditional adult gatekeepers via social media, the
influence of mainstream channels still greatly matters due to their vast reach (especially among
adult populations). In the case of Parkland, they received the support of mainstream legacy
media (at least of the liberal variety) early on, which drastically aided in legitimizing the cause.
Hazards in the Media Ecology
Despite support from liberal public figures, MFOL and #NeverAgain more broadly faced
notable challenges that are reflective of broader hurdles in the media ecology faced by youth
activists, mainly efforts by oppositional groups to delegitimize their political efforts. In the case of
MFOL, this occurred through: 1) the "crisis actor" frame and "handlers" argument; 2) association
with extremist groups; and 3) accusations of naivete.
First, as a recurring conspiracy theory on the right, gun control efforts following mass
shootings in the U.S. have been accompanied by the idea that "crisis actors" are hired by
advocates of stricter gun control to harness tragedy into political opportunity — in some cases
culminating in the outright denial of instances of violence as they are considered staged hoaxes.
In the case of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, conspiracy theories circulating among
right-wing groups online considered the tragedy to be a staged event meant to disarm gun
owners through stricter gun control (Wiedeman, 2016) . Similarly, rather than believe that young
people are competent and capable political actors, the darker corners of the internet wrote the
teen activists from Parkland into a conspiratorial narrative where actors are hired to push
forward a political agenda (Arkin & Popken, 2018) — often using the same social media
platforms used by #NeverAgain. In a similar dismissal of civic agency, effective youth activism is
often attributed to political puppetry. Much like the crisis actor conspiracy, intentionally obscured
powerful figures or "handlers" are said to be orchestrating youth political actions from afar,
54
pulling their strings not unlike the Wizard of Oz or secretive government operatives. The idea of
political puppetry has a long history in social movements (especially as a delegitimizing tactic by
opposing forces), and the rise of activists-for-hire via the concept of astroturfing (an imitation
and appropriation of the grassroots) has certainly muddied the waters in terms of what is
considered "authentic" political activity (Keller et al., 2020) . The Parkland youth activists have
regularly been accused by prominent political opponents, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
of being part of a "false flag operation" (Leblanc, 2021) . However, the accusation of political
puppetry among youth activists is unique in that it is often rooted in the idea that young people
are inherently incapable of being competent and savvy political actors due to their age and
inexperience — essentially robbing young people of their role in social change.
Second, youth activism is often dismissed and delegitimized through an association with
fringe and extremist political perspectives, especially through media coverage and reporting,
regardless of their stated mission and approach to activism. Social movements of the left in the
United States have long been associated with communism by their opposition, from the
farmworker movement of the 1960s to Occupy Wall Street. The "Red Scare" was used by the
political right to justify state-sanctioned violence against activists on the left even after the fall of
the Soviet bloc. The gun violence prevention movement has faced unique challenges in this
regard in the U.S. as gun ownership is secured in the Bill of Rights through the Second
Amendment, and challenging such rights has long been considered an attack on foundational
American ideals — thus equating gun control efforts with being anti-American by the political
right. As touched upon already, Cold War politics clearly defined anti-American efforts through
an association with communism, which happened to Emma Gonzalez shortly after the shooting
at Parkland. Specifically, Gonzalez was accused of being sympathetic to communism by Rep.
Steve King after sporting her now-iconic bomber jacket with a patch of the Cuban flag at the
March 24, 2018 rally (Schmidt, 2018) . King ignored the fact that the Cuban flag patch was one
among many, including a NASA-mission insignia, and Gonzalez's own heritage is Cuban. The
55
conflation of #NeverAgain with an attack on the U.S. Constitution came alive on right-wing
social media accounts through doctored animated GIFs showing Gonzalez tearing up a copy of
the Bill of Rights (when in fact, she ripped apart a paper shooting target used at firing ranges).
In another instance, right-wing media outlets circulated imagery that compared a gesture made
by David Hogg at a rally to the Nazi salute, essentially associating Hogg, MFOL, and
#NeverAgain more broadly with facism and Adolf Hitler (Gstalter, 2018) . These examples show
not only how right-wing media continually associated #NeverAgain with fringe politics meant to
damage and delegitimize their efforts in the eyes of the public, but they also reflect broader
systemic challenges that youth social movements face in the media ecology as they pursue
social change. While movements on the left tend to face this challenge regularly, the overall lack
of youth perspectives in politics and legacy media (across all other markers of identity) makes
this hurdle especially obstructive to youth social movements.
Third, perhaps most unique to youth activism (although not exclusively) is
delegitimization through accusations of naivete by their opposition: the idea that young people's
age, inexperience with the world, incomplete education, and high idealism makes their political
demands out of touch with reality. In mainstream media coverage of youth activism, accusations
of naivete can reduce young people to "uninformed truants" looking for the first opportunity to
cut class and run amok, as was the case for the walkouts by Latinx students against
anti-immigration legislation in 2006 (Vélez et al., 2008) . Such reductions came early for
#NeverAgain, as conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro wrote within days of the
shooting at MSD High: “What, pray tell, did these students do to earn their claim to
expertise?...Children and teenagers are not fully rational actors. They’re not capable of
exercising supreme responsibilities. And we shouldn’t be treating innocence as a political asset
used to push the agenda of more sophisticated players” (B. Shapiro, 2018) . Furthermore, young
activists are often assumed to be ignorant and uneducated among adults (especially political
opponents) by virtue of their age, an idea exploited by Laura Ingraham (Victor, 2018) as she
56
taunted David Hogg for his rejections from colleges on national television — a clear ploy to
tarnish his credibility. In short, #NeverAgain faced a barrage of criticism in mainstream media
(though more notably, from the right) that took aim at their age-based political resume, which is
also a challenge that youth movements face more broadly.
With the exception of the "crisis actor" frame which may be unique to gun violence
prevention activism, contemporary youth social movements often face the "handlers" argument,
association with fringe politics, and accusations of naivete to some degree in the media by their
opposition's efforts at delegitimization. If for no other reason, these challenges drive home the
continued importance of mainstream "legacy" media (of all political leanings) to the efforts of
social movements despite the widespread availability of networked communication tools.
Within the same media ecology where legacy media can either enhance or downplay
youth activism, young people also face risks that characterize contemporary networked activism
more broadly: the double-edged sword of ICTs in terms of visibility and an equally empowered
bottom-up opposition. The risks associated with becoming publicly visible through activism are
nothing new, as the history of social movements is filled with retaliatory attacks aimed at
prominent activists (often of the state-backed variety) — and #NeverAgain is no exception.
From their emergence into the public spotlight, the young activists from Parkland faced fierce
opposition (especially among NRA supporters), often using the same digital tools as them. In
the summer of 2018, for example, a false report led a team of heavily armed police officers into
the home of David Hogg — a malicious practice that originated in online video gaming culture
known as "swatting" (Victor & Haag, 2018) . Swatting can have lethal consequences, with
various documented deaths having occurred through the practice in recent years (Ellis, 2019) .
While the source of Hogg's swatting was never pinpointed (G. Lopez, 2018b) , it's clear that his
high visibility in the gun violence prevention movement made him a target for his opposition, and
swatting is inextricably linked to online cultures and practices. In another example visited
previously, Emma Gonzalez too saw the wrathful side of ICTs as doctored images and video of
57
her tearing up the U.S. constitution circulated on right-wing social media accounts. While the
drawbacks of increased visibility via ICTs can range from mild to nefarious, the 2020
#BlackLivesMatter mobilizations following the killing of George Floyd continue to reveal the
extent to which social media corporations are willing to cooperate with law enforcement to track
and arrest protestors (Levin, 2016) — an alarming new reality for all protestors, not only youth.
In sum, amidst the tremendous potential to wield ICTs for social change, contemporary youth
movements must also face new or heightened challenges in the communication environment,
from being countered at every turn by political opponents on social media to facing potentially
legal repercussions and physical harm through surveillance and law enforcement tracking.
The Outcomes of #NeverAgain
On the policy front, the efforts of #NeverAgain are undeniable: according to the Giffords
Law Center, "137 gun safety bills have been signed into law in 32 states and DC since
Parkland" (Anderman, 2019) . Other victories aside from placing limits on the access to assault
rifles include the funding of gun violence reduction programs across the U.S. At the same time,
incidents of gun violence impacting youth and mass shootings have steadily increased since
Parkland ( Gun Violence Archive , n.d.) — perhaps indicating the need for multi-faceted solutions
beyond state intervention. On other fronts, the Parkland teen activists' "follow the money"
strategy shined a light on politicians and bills backed by the National Rifle Association, making
visible the corrupt system behind a years-long stalled gun control debate. Furthermore, gun
violence has continually appeared on the national political agenda since 2018 as seen through
direct and indirect references to the shooting in Parkland during the democratic presidential
debates (G. Lopez, 2019) . These outcomes all but point to a new era in the gun violence
prevention movement, bringing new opportunities for change into a once politically stagnant
minefield. Beyond these policy-oriented milestones, the broader cultural impact of #NeverAgain
will remain to be seen in the years to come — especially for Gen Z. In particular, the movement
that came to be known as #NeverAgain centered a youth perspective on the issue of gun
58
violence, forged and sustained youth-led spaces to work towards solutions to gun violence, and
harnessed the civic imagination to imagine new kinds of solutions to gun violence by new kinds
of agents of change — young people unbeholden to a political agenda. For many young people
belonging to Gen Z, resolving gun violence continues to be a commitment that defines their
generation, and for many of them Parkland played a key role in it.
59
Remembering the Victims
Alyssa Alhadeff, 14
Scott Beigel, 35
Martin Duque Anguiano, 14
Nicholas Dworet, 17
Aaron Feis, 37
Jaime Guttenberg, 14
Chris Hixon, 49
Luke Hoyer, 15
Cara Loughran, 14
Gina Montalto, 14
Joaquin Oliver, 17
Alaina Petty, 14
Meadow Pollack, 18
Helena Ramsay, 17
Alex Schachter, 14
Carmen Schentrup, 16
Peter Wang, 15
60
Chapter 3: There is no Planet B
"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet
I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire
ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all
you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How
dare you!...You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand
your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose
to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you" (NPR staff, 2019) .
—Greta Thunberg, U.N. Climate Action Summit, September 23, 2019
There is no Planet B
For one week in September 2019, millions of young people across the globe joined in
protest as part of the Global Climate Strike — an international effort among youth to pressure
sites of power to act more quickly to address the disastrous effects of climate change. At
Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, I marched alongside hundreds of teens and
children (most of middle and high school age) to hold world leaders accountable for their
inaction on climate change, or actions in the opposite direction — such as the Trump
Administration's budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (Thrush & Davenport,
2017) . Protests signs and banners effectively communicated these young peoples' grievances:
"There is no planet B," read one sign with an image of the Earth, calling out the disregard
among world leaders for humanity's only home in the galaxy; "Invest in the future, not fossil
fuels" read another, pointing out the obsession with markets and the priority of profits in stalling
change. Of course, it would not be a youth march without humor, snark, and irony, often through
references to popular culture: "The Earth is getting hot, hot, hot!," "Keep the Earth clean! It's not
Uranus!," "Act now! Or swim later!," and "The Lorax tried to warn us!" While other adults like
myself were present, young people took ownership of the demonstration through their sheer
61
presence and through the messages that reflected their priorities: they led the chants, they held
the banners, and their voices carried over megaphones. As a frequenter of protests in Los
Angeles, both in a personal and professional capacity, I could immediately notice how this trek
from Pershing Square to City Hall was different — the issue had joined young people from all
pockets of the city in a powerful multi-ethnic and multi-racial display of solidarity. This diversity
also seemed to go beyond the surface, as those critical of capitalism via environmental justice
joined hands with the more mainstream strands of environmental conservation. The factions of
old seemed of little importance to this generation as they reclaimed the streets for themselves,
documented their actions on social media, and stormed City Hall — all in the name of climate
change.
Rising Emissions, Rising Youth
On December 12, 2015, national powers convened in Paris, France at a U.N. convention
to create The Paris Agreement — a pact among global leaders to work together to address the
existential threat to humanity that is climate change. Carbon emissions (greenhouse gasses) on
Earth have grown exponentially in the last century due to human industrial activity, leading to
detrimental and likely permanent destruction of the environment (and soon, human societies
alike) through rising sea levels, extreme weather, and erosion of world ecologies (plant and
animal life). Through a combination of environmental policies, funding for developing nations,
support for green technologies, and clear goals and milestones for the coming years, the
agreement intended to create a framework of accountability to curb the effects of climate
change ( The Paris Agreement, 2022 ) . By 2017, 125 nations had signed the agreement,
indicating the urgency of addressing climate change among world leaders. However, on June 1,
2017, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris
Agreement, calling the agreement "...the latest example of Washington entering into an
agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries…"
(The White House, 2017) . The move came just a few months after the President's slashing of
62
the Environmental Protection Agency's operating budget (Thrush & Davenport, 2017) . Trump's
denouncement of the agreement reflects the politicized nature of climate change in the United
States, and it provides an important backdrop for the rise of youth environmental activism such
as the Global Climate Strike.
Media have played an important role in the climate change debate for decades, from Al
Gore's 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth , a documentary shedding light on global warming, to
Time Magazine naming Greta Thunberg, the teenage environmental activist from Sweden,
Person of the Year in 2019 (Alter et al., 2019) — mainly for her role in organizing Fridays for
Future which led to the Global Climate Strike. Even some of the largest corporate contributors of
greenhouse gasses see opportunities in rebranding themselves as eco-friendly through various
media (ex. advertisements) as the "green movement" gives consumers the option to save the
planet with their dollar. However, reflecting the politicized nature of climate change in the U.S.,
coverage of the issue has also fallen along partisan lines between liberal and conservative
media channels, with the latter being more likely to refute scientific evidence. In a battle over
public opinion, environmentalist organizations like Greenpeace have long understood the
importance of protest in earning media coverage to keep climate change on the nation's political
agenda (Rootes, 2007) , often with great success. Social movements at large have historically
tapped an array of media to achieve their goals, and as a movement that has been considered
among the most enduring and impactful (Rootes & Nulman, 2015) , the environmentalist
movement (and its many branches) is no different. The environmental movement has for
decades had the unique advantage of wielding the same scientific discourse as the sites of
power it challenges, which has granted environmental activists (many who are themselves
scientists) a seat at the decision making table with regard to shaping policy — leading to
decades-long incremental change and lessening the need for street mobilizations. At the same
time, gaining favor in public opinion has often been essential in instances where urgent
solutions are needed, such as in cases of ecological disasters (ex, water in Flint, Michigan) or
63
even climate change itself, which makes communication channels key. For recent iterations of
the environmentalist movement, where young people lead the charge, incremental change is no
longer sufficient to deal with the threat of climate change — making both media tactics and
street protest more relevant than ever.
This chapter takes a look at youth environmental activism in recent years (from 2018 to
2022), with specific attention to the media and communication tactics — the repertoire of
contention and participatory politics — of youth activist organizations of the environmental youth
movement. As a massive topic area that could warrant its own dissertation, the chapter is
broken down as follows to provide needed context and to focus the line of inquiry: first, an
overview of the methods used to inform this chapter is provided, including participant
observation and close readings of media texts; second, a review of relevant historical context of
environmental activism and social movements is discussed, with emphasis on the U.S.; third, an
examination of the media practices of a single organization in this space — Sunrise Movement
— using a participatory politics framework; fourth, a discussion of the media ecology that
environmental youth activists must navigate, with attention to legacy media and organized
opposition; finally, the chapter closes with a look at the current direction of Sunrise Movement.
Mixed Methods
A mixed-method approach is used to inform this chapter, specifically through participant
observation and close readings of media texts. This approach attempts to standardize the
methods as much as possible across the chapters in order to more accurately compare them.
However, each social movement is unique, as are the circumstances under which research is
conducted (more on this in the conclusion of the dissertation), so differences in methods do
exist and I attempt to make them as transparent as possible in this work. With that said, the
participant observation for this chapter is limited to field observations during Global Climate
Strike in downtown Los Angeles, California in September of 2019 . For this participant
observation I was both a researcher and an activist, drawing from my past experiences in the
64
field (Gordon & Lopez, 2019; Jenkins & Lopez, 2018; R. A. Lopez, 2013) . To document my
observations, I photographed public street demonstrations and I recorded field notes (audio,
then transcription). These notes can be examined further in the appendix (see Appendices A-E).
As with the other chapters, a single organization was selected based on their youth-led status in
environmental activism — Sunrise Movement — and I reached out to them using informational
materials distributed through email and social media (see appendix). A textual close reading
approach was also used to examine movement-related media, including the productions of
youth activists (and their opposition) and media professionals (mainly journalists). The focus of
this interpretative examination was media created by the Sunrise Movement, found via their
public presence online, and also mainstream media coverage of their campaigns and activity,
which was pinpointed through web and database search. In sum, a mixed method approach
was taken as a means of providing a more holistic picture of youth social movements and their
use of media, with the hopes that such a combination would sufficiently address the limitations
of any single method.
Environmentalism in the U.S.
Environmental activism has a long history in the United States, depending on the defined
parameters. For the purpose of this work, environmental activism is defined as concerted (and
often contentious) efforts meant to catalyze change around issues pertaining to the natural
environment, and can include anything from protecting endangered animals, preserving
ecosystems and landscapes, to addressing harmful pollution — among many other specific
issues. Since a comprehensive overview is beyond the scope of this work, this section will
instead focus on key points that will help the reader better contextualize contemporary youth
activism within a longer history. Specifically, the following "eras" of environmental activism are
reviewed: 1) early origins; 2) rise of the "movement"; 3) from local to global.
First, some of the earliest recorded instances of environmental activism were concerned
with the conservation and preservation of the natural environment, as well as anti-pollution
65
efforts (Rootes, 2007; Rootes & Nulman, 2015) . The idea of conservation is much broader and
also much older, as it generally deals with the extraction of natural resources by humans in a
sustainable way, such as avoiding the excess of fishing and hunting to the detriment of the
people who rely on those sources for sustenance. Such issues are covered in "The Tragedy of
the Commons," where the "commons" describes a shared resource (ex. a fishery) that can often
be depleted by "free riders" — people who take more than their fair share and deny the
commons the ability to replenish sustainably ( National Research Council , 2002) . Many of the
earliest efforts to enact social change in this regard grew out of elite circles concerned with the
impact of free riders on sport hunting (Taylor, 2016) , and bottom-up organizing tended to focus
on the depletion of resources needed for sustenance, such as farmers in New England
protesting against the decline of fish in shared bodies of water (Judd, 1997) . However, the
efforts to conserve wildlife through policy in the U.S. cannot be fully understood without also
taking into account moves in the opposite direction, such as the state's blind eye to the
American Buffalo hide-trade in the 19th century that effectively destroyed the ecosystem which
indigenous communities of the Great Plains relied upon (Hanner, 1981) . In one word,
conservation is about balance — between humans and nature. However, early efforts for
conservation in the U.S. were deeply intertwined with colonialism and White supremacy, as
White environmentalists often regarded nature as needing protection from "uncivilized"
indigenous communities (Kashwan, 2020) , and People of Color are often still omitted from the
historical narrative of these early efforts .
Preservation, on the other hand, is about keeping the natural environment free of the
effects of human societies. The separation between the natural world and the man-made world
in the West, popularized during the Enlightenment Era, had already begun to erode by the
romantic sentiments of the mid-19th century. This was signaled in the U.S. by the widespread
appeal of Henry David Thoreau's call to reclaim life in the wilderness in his book Walden (Rome,
2003) . Through this growing interest in the inherent value of the natural environment, came
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collective efforts to preserve large parts of the United States through national and state parks.
The Sierra Club, one of the earliest and largest environmentalist organizations founded in the
late 19th century
2
, used various forms of political advocacy (ex. lobbying, fundraising) to
preserve and protect large swaths of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which resulted in the
forming of Yosemite National Park (Rootes, 2007) . As with conservation, preservation was often
intended to primarily benefit White communities, as the establishment of many state and
national parks required the forced relocation of indigenous populations (Ferrara, 2016) and
People of Color
3
— in the case of Yosemite, with the blessing of the Sierra Club. Furthermore,
the late-19th and early-20th centuries also witnessed increased concern over pollution in urban
areas as a by-product of industrialization. Women of this era regularly led the charge to organize
and demand sanitation and proper waste removal from urban centers, often by extending their
(gendered) domestic labor into public spaces through "municipal housekeeping" (Rome, 2003) .
In sum, the history of environmental "activism" of this early era remains contested, as narratives
of both conservation and preservation continue to be linked to elite interests (ex. sport hunting)
and formal organizations with vast resources (ex. Sierra Club), but as with anti-pollution efforts
in urban centers, the organizing efforts of marginalized groups may be overlooked due to their
framing of issues as urgent and immediate (ex. the need for sanitation) rather than abstract (ex.
nature as common good). This pattern of environmental advocacy among elites (and
increasingly, the middle classes via EMOs) and scattered instances of resistance among
marginalized groups more or less continued to characterize environmentalism (the commitment
to protect the environment) through the middle of the 20th Century, and it wasn't until in the
1960s that a broad grassroots social movement emerged.
3
The removal of the mostly African American community of Seneca Village to create New York City's
Central Park in the 1850s is another example of forced relocation of People of Color.
2
Recent Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 have sought to unveil the Sierra Club's early ties to racist
movements, specifically the promotion of eugenics by its early founders and leadership. For more on the
link between the conservation movement and eugenics, see (G. E. Allen, 2013) .
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The Environmental Movement
The formation of a grassroots environmentalist movement with widespread support and
impact in the United States can be traced to the late 1960s. This section highlights four main
reasons why this era was important: 1) a rising youth cohort and counterculture; 2) multiple
overlapping social movements; 3) scientific discourse and rise of EMOs.
The United States experienced a "baby boom" after World War II, a rapid increase in
new births, and the people born between 1946 to 1964 are generally called the "baby boomer"
generation (American Counts Staff, 2019) . While not a causal relationship, research supports
the idea that a high proportion of youth relative to an adult population (in this case 25% or more)
often coincides with higher rates of activism and protest (Goldstone, 2015) — something that
was true as much for the 1960s U.S. as for the Arab Spring of the 2010s. One explanation for
these increased rates of activism is young peoples' willingness to disrupt the status quo as they
become agents of change, and environmentalism in the 1960s benefitted from this greatly as
young people (especially from White, middle class backgrounds) became increasingly
concerned with environmental issues as a generation. Hand in hand with resistance to the
status quo came the development of unique cultures that young people called their own, and the
tendency to reject the accepted mainstream way of life is reflected in the counterculture
movement. While tie-dye and a bohemian lifestyle may immediately come to mind, U.S.
environmentalism benefited greatly from youth's acceptance of counterculture because its
alternative tenets included a reconnection with nature and the natural world through gardening,
wilderness communes, and recycling — along with an overall critique of industrial society.
However, perhaps the most important factor that builds upon the previous is the
emergence of several overlapping social movements in the United States that all seemed to
converge around environmental issues in their own unique way — from the student movement,
civil rights, the women's movement, and the anti-war movement — allowing for multiple entry
points into environmentalism across demographics. For example, the anti-war movement's push
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to denuclearize often discussed the detrimental effects of nuclear weapons on the environment
(Rootes, 2007) , and the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 grew out of teach-ins by students of
the student movement that were modeled after the tactics of the anti-war movement (Pruitt,
2020) . Similarly, many of the ideas in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), a bestselling book
about the health hazards of agricultural pesticides, were echoed by Cesar Chavez of the
farmworker movement (Ganz, 2010) , and the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968 led by Martin
Luther King Jr. highlighted the Black community's exposure to toxic waste (Honey, 2011) .
Despite the focus on environmental issues across the many social movements of the 1960s, the
environmental movement in particular attracted youth due to its opportunities to meaningfully
contribute to organizing. Unlike other movements (with the exception of the women's
movement), young people and women were more represented in the leadership of the growing
environmental movement — and their EMOs (Rootes & Nulman, 2015) .
The final point deals with scientific discourse among "environmental movement
organizations" (EMOs) (Rootes, 2007; Rootes & Nulman, 2015) . Effectively communicating
grievances to sites of power has long been a goal and challenge for social movements,
especially for marginalized groups who must often translate their demands so they are
understood and adhere to the expectations of elites. However, the environmental movement
was placed on a fast-track of sorts through its adoption of science to effectively speak the same
language as sites of power through research and empirical evidence. Policy makers had long
used scientific discourse, often intentionally as a technocratic repellent against common
citizens, to justify their decisions, and the wielding of this same language by activists made
turning a blind eye to public pressure all the more difficult. Along with tapping science, the
environmental movement was quick to professionalize through the creation of EMOs, mostly
non-governmental organizations funded by foundations (Rootes, 2007; Rootes & Nulman,
2015) , which were (and still are) consulted as experts by political leaders and often have seats
at the decision making table at sites of power. This push towards professionalization as EMOs
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has allowed an environmentalist push that started in the late 1960s to continue into the present
day, although some might call these organizations a "public interest lobby" (Rootes, 2007) rather
than a grassroots social movement as the preferred tactics have shifted away from street
protest and towards political advocacy.
All of these elements combined — the high proportion of young people in the U.S., a
thriving counterculture aimed at disrupting the status quo, the emergence of multiple social
movements for a variety of causes, public-interest science and the formation of environmental
EMOs — were among the most important factors that contributed to the emergence of an
environmental social movement in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, before eventually
becoming either institutionalized or grassroots by the 1980s.
From Local to Global
While not a comprehensive history of the evolution of the environmental movement, the
following section attempts to draw a thread from the environmental movement of the 1980s to
today by focusing on certain noteworthy facets to better understand contemporary youth
activism in this space. These points include: 1) the move from local to global; 2) the solidification
of unique branches of the movement; 3) the change of repertoire of contention media tactics to
match actions on the ground.
First, it would be misleading to suggest that the aims of the environmental movement
prior to the 1980s were locally rather than globally focused. However, in terms of how the
environmental movement directed its grievances towards sites of power to catalyze change,
much of the focus was indeed nation-state focused — meaning various levels of government or
nationally situated organizations (ex. oil companies, corporations) were often the targets for
activists. The establishment of the first Earth Day in 1970, for example, was in large part
accelerated by an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 — which initiated a wave of
successful state and national measures, from the creation of the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species
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Act of 1973. The idea of a central authority at the global level to petition for change and hold
leaders accountable on environmental issues could only be imagined in this divided Cold War
era. Even as environmental activists built and sustained solidarity networks across the globe
prior to the 1980s, it wasn't until after this era that coordinated efforts necessitated transnational
actions. Many factors contributed to this increasing need to both think and act globally. For one,
victories on environmental issues in wealthy nations often resulted in steps backward in the
developing world as high-polluting industrial corporations moved their business away from the
U.S. and into countries with fewer restrictions — solving the issue for more privileged
communities while also moving the fight across national borders. This trend has grown into the
present day as multinational corporations become the targets of environmental activists and the
push to hold world leaders accountable through international agreements persists.
Second, this chapter has up to this point referenced a singular "mainstream"
environmental movement that emerged in the U.S. in the late 60s, but in reality many "strands"
of the movement existed all along — and a splintering of these strands occurred most notably in
the 1980s. This splintering is important for the following reasons: 1) return of "urgency"; 2)
identity and politicization; 3) tactics and scope of focus. One of the most compelling aspects of
the mainstream environmental movement was its universalist appeal grounded in objective
empirical science — the idea that all people, regardless of their socio-political positions, should
care and be invested in protecting the environment because all humans share a single planet.
However, as with other movements with similar universalist principles (ex. the liberal feminism of
the Women's March or Occupy's "we are the 99%" framing), the reality of environmental
degradation is much more complicated, and such broad efforts to build alliances across
differences may actually inadvertently ignore those at the margins. Rootes (2011) discusses the
difference between "green activism," efforts to protect nature, and "brown activism," aimed at
addressing pollution, with the former being more intellectual and abstract with greater appeal
among the middle and upper classes, while the latter tends to be more grounded in material
71
concerns and is a focus of poor and working classes. Brown activism shares as long a history
as conservation and preservation, but is often left out of mainstream narratives due to the local
nature of efforts to curb the effects of pollution. By the 1980s, groups working around brown
activism began to take a more prominent role in the public eye, pushing for urgent solutions
(often in communities of color) and prioritizing the nation-state petition model — such as through
the environmental justice movement (EJM), which included a critique of capitalism and White
supremacy as central to their goals. EJM was part of a larger collective of strands of the
environmental movement which brought social position and identity back into the conversation
about environmental degradation and protection, effectively re-politicizing a discourse touted as
a-political by universalists — just as it had once been when linked to anti-War and Civil Rights
efforts. A central claim shared across these strands is the idea that environmental degradation
is experienced differently across race, class, gender, and socioeconomic status (among other
positions), and the framing and aims of EMOs should reflect such a reality. For example,
ecofeminism placed gender analysis at the core of its environmental work by drawing parallels
between the exploitation of both women and the environment under patriarchy (Rootes, 2007,
p.616) . With that said, unlike other movements where splintering spelled demise (ex. Occupy
Wall Street), a unique strength of the environmental movement has been the ability to work in
tandem across ideological pockets. Finally, the tactics and scope of focus (local/global) diverged
somewhat across the branches of the environmental movement. For longstanding "green
activism" EMOs that professionalized and gained a seat at the policy-making table, political
lobbying, membership recruitment, and research became their calling card. In terms of
measurable impact, such as the implementation of environmental policy and support from the
public, this approach has been highly successful for nearly four decades (Rootes & Nulman,
2015) . On the other hand, the environmental justice movement adopted the more contentious
tactics of the radical left, from street protest to disruptions of municipal meetings, in their push
for urgent solutions. A middle ground can be seen in organizations like Greenpeace, which have
72
continually returned to protest despite being highly professionalized as a means to overcome
stalemates in the political process. Overall, understanding the unique contributions of
contemporary youth environmental activists requires at least a basic understanding of how the
environmental movement as a whole reflected urgency in goals, identity and difference, and
how tactics and scope of focus largely depended on the strand of the movement.
Media and The Movement
Third, as a dissertation focused on media and communication, it would be incomplete
without an examination of their role in the environmental movement. Notably, a brief overview of
media practice within a broader media ecology is key, with emphasis on: 1) engaging publics; 2)
mainstream media; 3) media tactics. To begin, the role of media and communication in the
broader environmental movement changed as it shifted away from grassroots and towards
grasstops (political advocacy) in the way publics were engaged. Early in the movement (late 60s
through the 70s) raising awareness and gaining broad public support were essential, and
earned journalistic coverage through contentious protest and alternative media channels was
key in this regard. The very first Earth Day in 1970 was meant as an international day of protest
modeled after anti-War activism, and its mass coordination became a symbolic rallying cry that
reverberated through mass media. The Lorax (1972), a Dr. Seuss book and later a short
animated film about the dangerous impact of consumerism on nature, was inspired by the
environmental advocacy of the late 60s (Teorey, 2014) , and helped shape the popular
imagination around such issues for a generation of young readers (Sigler, 1994) . Schoenfeld
(1983) traces a steady increase in periodicals dedicated to environmental issues in U.S.
magazines, including the emergence of specialized magazines dedicated to such issues, from
1966 to 1975 — indicating the impact of the environmental movement's messages across
readerships in the U.S. However, as the movement began to professionalize and formalize
through EMOs, disruptive protest to make headlines was replaced by "institutional protest
actions," which aimed to challenge sites of power from within through "testifying at a hearing,
73
holding a news conference, issuing a scientific report, filing a lawsuit, joining a coalition, or
attending a meeting or conference" (Corbett, 1998 , p. 48 ) . While notable exceptions to this trend
exist (mainly EarthFirst! and the broader EJM), the role of media in the movement shifted away
from a focus on the general public (recruiting new people into the movement, swaying voters,
raising awareness) and towards sites of power (setting the political agenda, framing issues in
news coverage, influencing policy).
Furthermore, the role of mainstream media in either amplifying or distorting the
messages of the movement also changed somewhat as EMOs became more prominent,
leading many professionalized environmental activists to leave behind the underground and
disruptive nature of their media tactics once they became experts in the field legitimized through
scientific discourse. The irony, as Corbett (1998) points out, is that the press release and
"communication manager" approach did not necessarily increase the news coverage of EMOs
and their issues compared to street mobilizations — noting the preference for frames of protest
over scientific reports in news. Organizations like Greenpeace, a highly funded and bureaucratic
EMO, caught on to the stagnant coverage of environmental issues in the mainstream press and
periodically returned to street protest to counter this oversight, while EarthFirst! maintained
earned media coverage through disruptive tactics through this era (Rootes, 2007) . These
differences lead to the final point regarding the broader change in the mediated repertoire of
contention of the environmental movement after the 1980s, most notably professional
productions and networked communication.
The environmental movement tapped the mediated repertoire of contention (R. A.
Lopez, 2013) , the collection of tactics and techniques that use media and communication
technologies to achieve goals. These tactics reflected much of what can be seen from
contemporary movements — from alternative print publications, leaflet distribution as part of
street protest, direct mail campaigns, phone banking, and educational photography and
documentaries. This repertoire more or less persisted, especially among less mainstream
74
iterations of the movement, such as environmental justice and ecofeminism. However, as hinted
already, the rise of professionalized EMOs facilitated the creation of media productions of much
higher fidelity, often rivaling resourced corporations. For example, in the late 1990s,
Greenpeace organized a photography project in the Artic and Antartic as a means to visually
convey to a broader public the detrimental impact of global warming on the Earth's glaciers
(Doyle, 2007) . Beyond organizing campaigns across the world, the global nature of climate
change and environmental issues necessitated a greater need to coordinate effectively across
geography — something networked communication technologies assisted with. Lester and
Hutchins (2009) examination of environmental activism in Tasmania in the late 1990s show how
ICTs allowed activists with limited resources to create content in remote places of the world and
to disseminate it to developed nations to build international pressure from established EMOs
— an example of do-it-yourself media production or "tactical media" (p.587). While well-funded
EMOs seem to prefer frame-managed coverage in mainstream media, ICTs have allowed
informal and ad-hoc groups the capacity to make a splash in the environmental movement. In
sum, the role of media in the environmental movement changed as the broader movement did
after the 1980s, as the types of publics targeted by activists moved from the general public to
sites of power, coverage in mainstream media became less linked to street protest and
increasingly more tailored and managed by communication specialists, and media tactics
shifted towards both a professionalized craft and an a bottom-up DIY-ethos at once via ICTs.
Overall, the environmental movement is largely considered by scholars to be one of the
most enduring and impactful, which in many ways is linked to the combination of harnessing
scientific discourse and professionalization as EMOs that opened political opportunities. This
general move, following its grassroots emergence from the late 60s through the 1970s, also
coincided with a broader shift in goals and actions from local to global (for the mainstream
movement), the splintering of unique strands — from EJM to ecofeminism — that worked
cooperatively compared to the factionalism that spelled disaster in other cases, and the
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mediated repertoire of contention of the environmental movement largely reflects the type of
intervention an environmental group seeks.
A Sunrise Movement
"Incredible to have @Ocasio2018 stand in solidarity with hundreds of youth today
to collectively voice our generation’s demand that @NancyPelosi and Democratic
leadership put forward a plan for a #GreenNewDeal to stop the climate crisis.
We got your back AOC. Stay fighting "
— Sunrise Movement, November 13, 2018 (Sunrise Movement, 2018)
On November 13, 2018, a week after the midterm elections, a group of 150 young
activists occupied the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill in protest of
insufficient action on climate change (Green, 2018) . Packing the neo-classical halls of this
historic building, youth from all backgrounds held signs demanding "Green jobs for all," "what is
your plan?," "step up, or step aside" — messages that circulated publicly through mass media
coverage and social media posts. These Gen-Z activists, from the Sunrise Movement and
Justice for Democrats, were joined by Millennial congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or
"A.O.C." as she has been embraced by internet culture — a gesture of solidarity across younger
generational cohorts fed up with the U.S. Congress's aging model of incremental change.
Following a demonstration involving the delivery of hand-written letters in envelopes with the
phrase "what is your plan?" to Pelosi, which demanded haste on the issue of climate change, 51
protestors were arrested and charged for the "unlawful" occupation. While Pelosi expressed her
support for the spirit of the protest and vowed to restart a congressional committee dedicated to
climate change that was dissolved in 2011, for many youth activists these symbolic gestures
were mere distractions averting from their true demands — The Green New Deal. Eventually
co-written by congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and senator Ed Markey in February of 2019, the
Green New Deal outlines a 10-year plan to radically reshape U.S. society towards 100% clean
76
and renewable energy while also promising to create green jobs along the way for millions
(modeled after F.D.R.'s The New Deal). Across the political spectrum and in both chambers of
Congress, the proposal has been dismissed as unrealistic at best and delusional at worst. For
young people across the U.S., however, the Green New Deal is as much the most sensible path
towards a more sustainable future as it is a generational rallying cry and manifesto — a vision
for the future where the use of both protest and social media are key.
Many youth-led environmental activist organizations have played a significant role in the
environmental movement across the years, but few have been able to make such an impactful
splash on the national scale in such short a time as the recent Sunrise Movement. Founded
relatively recently in 2017, the Sunrise Movement (S.M.) is a grassroots, youth-led
environmental organization focused on simultaneously lobbying political leaders around climate
change while building a distributed base of young supporters across the country (About the
Sunrise Movement, n.d.) . In its short existence, S.M. has been able to effectively apply pressure
to political leaders (ex. helping reinstate the congressional committee on climate change),
leverage street protest and contentious mobilizations to gain national coverage in legacy media,
and even shape the political agenda with regards to environmental issues (ex. influence political
debate discussion points). Furthermore, as with other comparable grassroots organizations led
by youth, the effective use of ICTs plays an integral role in raising awareness, mobilizing
support, and acquiring necessary resources. While mainly U.S.-focused, S.M. is part of a global
rise in youth-led EMOs — with its co-founder Varshini Prakash crediting Greta Thundberg as an
inspirational figure for the organization and youth at large in the book "Winning the Green New
Deal" (Prakash & Girgenti, 2020) . In true Gen Z fashion, S.M. reflects a generational ethos
concerning the politics of contemporary youth — a willingness to accept an invitation to the
formal decision making table, while also disrupting and routing around formal sites of power
through alternative channels and media. Using the framework of Participatory Politics, the
following section examines the different ways the Sunrise Movement wields various kinds of
77
media to achieve their goals, between 2017 and 2022. Specifically, the five practices of
participatory politics — investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation, production, and
mobilization — are observed.
Participatory Politics
In previous research about youth participatory politics (Jenkins et al., 2016; Soep, 2014) ,
investigation has been considered to be (among other things): 1) the promotion of information
seeking practices; and 2) the sharing and creation of informational and educational resources.
First, the environmental movement has long promoted trustworthy information based on
science and helped supporters at large understand the political system, and today's youth
iterations are no different. The Sunrise Movement uses multiple communication channels
— from its website to social media accounts — to encourage young people to stay informed
about climate change and how to address it. For example, on the S.M. Youtube channel, a video
titled "Our Plan to Win" (published on February 6, 2020), breaks down in detail how young
people can (and have historically) catalyzed social change through organizing (Sunrise
Movement, 2020) . Other videos similarly explain the U.S.'s complex political system, how young
people can navigate it, and how and why the Green New Deal is possible through youth
organizing. Even the S.M. book "Winning the Green New Deal" (Prakash & Girgenti, 2020) is a
guide for youth seeking to learn more about climate change and the steps they can take to
alleviate it. Challenging a technocratic discourse that alienates youth, these types of media
instead urge youth to learn more about both climate change and politics.
Second, besides promoting investigation through its messaging, S.M. also facilitates the
sharing of necessary informational resources through various media platforms — allowing
supporters to examine content on their own. Whether it's organizing informational sessions on
its website, posting infographics about pollution on Instagram, or sharing image-based guides
on how to support Black Lives Matter on Facebook, S.M. wields ICTs to share resources (often
produced from scratch) that help supporters stay informed as a community. As with
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longstanding EMOs (ex. Greenpeace) that became trusted authorities around environmental
issues, S.M. has become a trusted source for many young people looking to stay informed
about climate change.
Figure 2. An image posted to S.M.'s Instagram account ( Sunrise Movement Instagram , 2020) .
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The noteworthy byproducts of dialogue and feedback include: 1) community building
through and around shared discussion; 2) soliciting and providing support (mentorship) to peers
with shared circumstances; 3) participatory planning, problem solving, and decision making.
First, a close look at S.M.'s many public communication outlets, especially bi-directional
platforms like Facebook and Instagram, reveal a high commitment to cultivating community
around shared discussion. With over 80,000 followers, the S.M. Facebook page has become a
community hub for youth to discuss not only environmental issues, but also related issues that
speak to youth such as how to break down alienating political talk and how to best support racial
justice movements. Political endorsement posts for green candidates, such as for Green New
Deal co-author Ed Markey, are often accompanied by discussion about policy points and voting
track records. In another example, an Instagram story asked followers to respond to the prompt
"What would you do if capitalism didn't exist?," and 300 people responded, with notes such as
"live a life making music," "write, take photos," and "drag" (Sunrise Movement, 2020g) . A devil's
advocate may consider social media comments far too mundane and ubiquitous to be
considered worthy of attention, but one must also acknowledge young people's increasingly
limited capacity to congregate in public and discuss issues that are important to them (Boyd,
2014) . Online platforms thus become surrogates for the town squares of old. With that said,
these digital spaces have not replaced in-person interactions (they instead enhance them), and
the S.M. model of organizing (Prakash & Girgenti, 2020) prioritizes a grassroots,
boots-on-the-ground approach where young people can gather.
Second, the ability to process issues of public interest with peers and provide support is
another facet of dialogue and feedback, and it differs slightly from the pure community-building
aspects that emerge from discussion spaces. In addition to the camaraderie that can emerge
through the discussion of shared interests, online spaces are increasingly important for young
people to process the emotions and anxieties related to social ills with their peers. Climate
anxiety or "Eco-anxiety" describes the impending sense of dread and helplessness associated
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with the perils of climate change (Clayton, 2020) , and Gen Z has been particularly affected as
their future looks increasingly apocalyptic (Plautz, 2020) . In other cases, young people are
simply angry about adult inaction on climate change (Kwai, 2019) — perhaps captured best
through Greta Thunberg's now famous opening address to the UN, "How dare you — you have
stolen my dreams and my childhood" (NPR staff, 2019) . To address this need for support, S.M.
posted a "WTF is going on and what can we do about it?" webinar flier on Instagram on March
21, 2020, with the description: "How to pass bold government action of the common good and
build community organizing skills from home" (Sunrise Movement, 2020e) . These types of
efforts show a commitment to countering eco-anxiety by cultivating civic efficacy through a
discussion-based webinar — challenging feelings of helplessness with empowerment.
Third, emblematic of contemporary movements (especially left-leaning), today's youth
activist organizations use ICTs to consult their supporters at large and democratically make
decisions — and S.M. is no exception. The chapter-based structure of S.M., where young
people are encouraged to create semi-autonomous branches of the organization, lends well to
collective and collaborative decision making via networked meetings and conference calls (even
pre-Covid). Extending dialogue and feedback beyond members is the purview of the "comms
lead" and "pledge tracker" as captured in a comic shared on the S.M. Instagram (see Figure 2)
about the different roles youth activists play in the movement (Sunrise Movement, 2020b) . In
short, dialogue and feedback are reflected in S.M. media practice, whether to build community
through discussion online, provide and solicit support, or collaboratively make decisions.
Circulation in S.M.'s communication often looked like: 1) sharing or re-sharing content
relevant to youth via ICTs; 2) the creation and cultivation of networks to share content with.
Previous research on participatory politics does not specify whether circulated content is
created by the young people sharing it or if it is found in a broader media ecology, and in reality
circulation will entail both originally produced content (examined more under production below)
and collected content. The emphasis here, however, is not on who creates circulated content,
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but instead on how the circulation of public interest content among young people reflects how
they "do politics."
First, as has become customary among civic-oriented youth-led organizations
(Costanza-Chock, 2014; Jenkins & Lopez, 2018; R. A. Lopez, 2013) , S.M. uses various ICTs —
Facebook pages, Tweets, subreddits, Discord channels — to collect and share media content
relevant to young people (and notably, not strictly limited to climate change either). Take for
example the S.M. subreddit, which was created on December 6, 2018 and has two thousands
members (as of October, 2020). According to the Pew Research Center, 22% of adults between
the ages of 18 to 29 use Reddit ( Who Uses YouTube, WhatsApp and Reddit , 2019) . The S.M.
subreddit (moderated by users u/RyEKT and Sunrise-Movement) regularly shares
movement-relevant content, such as a Washington Post article titled "The anti-Greta'' about
German teen Naomi Seibt ( R/SunriseMovement , 2020) . A self-described "climate realist," Seibt
is climate deniers's response to Greta Thunberg (Kirchgaessner & Holden, 2020) . The post
generated dozens of comments, including those skeptical and critical of Seibt, such as: "Do I
have to? The Heartland Institute is a science-denying pile of shit." To the original poster
defending their choice to post this oppositional view in the first place: "I will repeat this here: I’m
not posting this to cause a raid or sound any alarms, I just think she might be exactly what the
machine wants and we should be vigilant." In another post sharing an article by the New York
Times, comments provided recommendations on how to best circumvent the newspaper giant's
paywall, ensuring that even those without a subscription can access content of interest. In both
cases, these posts reflect the intricate relationship between the circulation of public interest
content and how it encourages investigation and dialogue and feedback — necessarily building
blocks for political participation in a democracy.
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Figure 3. Sources of news by media type according to age
Second, ancillary to the practice of sharing content with peers is the careful cultivation of
networks that facilitate circulation — which movements of old may have done by compiling
direct mailing lists, managing lending libraries (shared commons), and organizing phone trees.
In short, this entails keeping people connected to share vital movement media content and
information, especially in a peer-to-peer model where youth share with each other, making
SMOs like S.M. larger nodes in a broader network rather than the sole broadcasters. These
kinds of informal circulation networks are particularly important for young people who (in the
U.S.) have historically lacked the institutional and financial resources to widely disseminate
media and cultural productions of interest to youth (Light, 2015) — a practice now facilitated by
the affordances of digital platforms. Social media is the primary source of news for people
between the ages of 18-29 (36% of all within this age group), contrasted with news websites
among adults aged 30-49, and television for those 50 and older (Shearer, 2018) . While
concerns over misinformation and "fake news" on social media may alarm some adults, younger
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people (ages 18-49) are actually better equipped than older adults (50 and older) to sniff out
dubious information, specifically at discerning factual news statements from opinion (Gottfried &
Grieco, 2018) . Paired with a knack for investigation , young people themselves and the networks
they cultivate for circulation become vital sources of information — such as through S.M.'s
efforts via ICTs. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook notably allow users to
curate lists of people and cultivate discussion hubs, which were a great resource of
Millennial-led social movements (Costanza-Chock, 2014; Gerbaudo, 2012; R. A. Lopez, 2013;
Zimmerman, 2016) . In addition to these (in tech years, now antiquated) platforms, Gen Z
organizations like S.M. have turned to app based alternatives that further facilitate the cultivation
of communication networks among supporters, such as Discord, Slack, and WhatsApp, and
even SMS-groups. The use of these platforms by S.M. to circulate information ensures that
supporters are not only informed, but that they collectively curate movement-relevant
information — making such content more reliable as it is subjected to communal scrutiny. These
circulation networks are vital to youth activists who must navigate a communication environment
that is literally flooded with information, as they battle both attention fatigue and disinformation
about the issues that they care about.
This section looks at production by Sunrise Movement, with attention to: 1)
public-interest oriented media or cultural products created by and for youth; 2) peer-to-peer
training, skill sharing, and resources to support production.
First, today's youth can arguably create more media than at any other point in U.S.
history due to the widespread availability of production tools via ICTs. These creations are often
geared towards issues of public concern, addressing the question of " what?" movements
produce — something very true of Sunrise Movement. Light (2015) traces the long history of
youth media production throughout U.S. history, its intricate relationship with youth organizing
and civic engagement, and efforts by adults to curtail youth power through media policy
gatekeeping. While gatekeeping still exists, production looks different for youth today. Research
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on youth media practices in the U.S. shows how most young people actively create blogs, social
media posts, videos, etc (Anderson & Jiang, 2018) . A scan of various public digital platforms
online shows the many ways S.M. engages with production. For example, S.M.'s comics and
infographics on Instagram, which reflect a familiarity with design principles and aesthetics (ex.
unified color schemes, recurring fonts), provide updates to users at large in a visual vernacular
representative of youth culture (ex. counter culture attire, youth in empowering depictions).
While many of S.M.'s posts include pictures and memes as would any youth Instagram account,
their posts also resemble a resourced organization in terms of the polish of designed content
and the overall account aesthetic (ex. the use of the organization's emblematic yellow, which
comes from its rising sun logo). Furthermore, not surprisingly for a civic organization, S.M.'s
originally produced content — Tweets, Youtube videos, infographics and memes on Facebook
and Instagram, and even Tik Toks — retool the widespread cultural practices of youth for
political purposes. Take for example, a Tik Tok posted on February 16, 2020 (Sunrise
Movement, 2020c) , which features four diverse teen girls dancing in front of a banner reading
"Generation Green New Deal," as the chorus to the song "Lottery" by K CAMP echoes the
phrase "Renegade" — turning an otherwise widespread practice among teens into a political
statement about young people as rebels against a political system that turns a blind eye to
climate change. Speaking to what is covered in their visual strategy, the S.M. website states:
"the ideas and tools we use to make art together that makes our message clear, shows the
power of our actions, and grows our movement" (“Sunrise Creative School,” n.d.) . In short, S.M.
(and similar organizations) resonate among youth because unlike their adult counterparts, they
are able to speak directly to young people through a shared cultural language — media
production online (ex. Memes, Tik Tok dances) — and such creative efforts are no longer the
sole purview of SMOs, but instead extend to a broader base of supporters at large.
Second, another changing facet of production within contemporary social movements is
the broadening of " who?" gets to produce movement related content — something showcased
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through the Sunrise Movement's peer-to-peer skill and resource sharing. Historically, organizers
within the ranks of social movements have created necessarily media to achieve goals,
especially media-maker activists affiliated with SMOs (Lewels Jr, 1974; R. A. Lopez, 2013;
Treviño, 2001) . At the same time, professional media organizations can disproportionately
influence the discourse surrounding movements and their causes (Ferree et al., 2002) , so
building public support through favorable coverage in mass media has long been a goal of
social movements. However, between movement activists and professional news reporters (and
a gray area in between) lie bystanders at large — the people on the receiving end of media
content about movements who can become sympathizers, antagonists, or neither. Far from
passive, these observers are tasked with decoding (Hall, 1993) movement-related media
content, although few opportunities to partake in the mass co-creation of such content existed
prior to the internet. While ICTs have certainly complicated the idea of "affiliation" to social
movements as many supporters have stepped away from formal SMO membership (see
Bennett, 2013) , they have also arguably expanded opportunities for contributions from people at
large. This is especially true in terms of the co-construction of public discourse about social
issues, such as climate change, through media production. S.M. does mirror the centralized
production of SMOs of old to some degree, such as through professional design practices, not
unlike a well-resourced non-profit or start-up. However, a commitment to peer-to-peer skill
sharing also indicates a democratizing shift in how (youth) movement media content is
produced.
Peer-to-peer skill sharing describes the way peers pool their knowledge, experience,
and resources to learn from each other, a practice that is particularly useful for groups with
scarce resources and limited access to professional training — such as young people. Among
the earliest adopters of new technologies, young people are often tech-savvy pioneers who help
their peers, and especially adults, become familiar with emerging media practices via skill
sharing (Gordon & Lopez, 2019) . The immigrant youth movement of the early to mid-2000s
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regularly turned to peer-to-peer "skill shares" to tap existing media production knowledge and
experience in the movement and pass the media practice torch to eager pupils (R. A. Lopez,
2013) . In similar fashion, Sunrise Movement taps the tech-savviness of young people, whether
within the organization or supporters at large, to make its production efforts participatory and
democratic. For example, S.M. has organized regional gatherings around the U.S. called
"summits," and part of their volunteer-led movement strategy involves skill sharing best
practices for storytelling across media platforms among summit participants ( Willcox &
Barnett-Loro , 2019) . Also, S.M. helped an organization called Cass Corridor Commons host an
in-person event called "Art Build: Make Detroit the Engine of the Green New Deal," which was
posted to Facebook on July, 27, 2019 (Cass Corridor Commons, 2019) . The event welcomed
supporters of all ages to gather and create art in support of the movement's cause — a type of
collective crafting event that has only accelerated during the 2020 election year. Furthermore,
the "Sunrise Creative School" by S.M. essentially functions as a peer-led learning community
meant to disseminate best practices among supporters, and where digital tools are considered
core to youth organizing. In their own words: "Sunrise Creative School is our own little art
school—but it's art school for the movement. You don't need to be experienced in any of these
skills to take a class (but you're welcome to be, too!)" (“Sunrise Creative School,” n.d.) . To
further assist in the harnessing ICTs for the movement, S.M. provides digital "toolkits" that have
become staples of civic organizations, such as the "Media Kit" that packages design materials
(ex. image files of logos) for supporters' media productions. Whether from S.M., affiliate
chapters, or supporters at large, this climate movement reflects an ethos representative of
contemporary youth activism, where peer-to-peer learning and support (especially about but not
limited to media practice) is key.
The following sections pays close attention to mobilization within Sunrise Movement, in
particular: 1) the facilitation of mobilization via ICTs and digital resources; 2) mobilization
through mediated tactics.
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First, the facilitation of mobilization via ICTs and digital resources has become a staple of
contemporary activism (not limited to youth), meaning that today's activists regularly tap
networked technologies to streamline entry points of participation for movement supporters. In
this type of mobilization, media become a means to an end. Earl and Kimport might call this an
"E-mobilization," which "...uses online tools to bring people into the streets for face-to-face
protests" (Earl & Kimport, 2013, p. 5) . The meaning of "participation" in social movements in our
digital age remains highly contested, as some scholars highlight new or novel kinds of
involvement with activism not previously possible before the internet, while skeptics emphasize
what they see as a dilution of traditional action through "slacktivism" and "connective action" that
mimics the collective action of old with a neoliberal spin (Bennett & Segerberg, 2013) .
Historically speaking, mobilization prior to the internet still relied on various kinds of media and
communication to some degree (ex. word of mouth, leaflets, phone trees, telegrams), but was
largely the purview of the community organizer. The person-to-person groundwork of the Alinsky
model (Alinsky, 1989) , which relies on trained community organizers's ability to build
relationships with and among community members to forge commonality around grievances,
develop a shared vision for social change, and cultivate a bottom-up leadership, has been part
of the mobilization of the Left in the U.S. for more than half a century (Ganz, 2010) . This model
has been particularly important for the EJM, since identifying a culpable party (ex. repressive
sites of power) for social issues is arguably central to contentious politics — see for example the
#NODAPL movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock reservation, or
the Flint water crisis. Much like Freire's popular education (Freire, 2000) , part of the focus is on
building "consciousness" — the process of people with shared grievances identifying their
commonalities and building a collective identity (in Marxist tradition, this meant workers rejecting
their false consciousness and accepting their position as workers to build power through
solidarity). For young activists today, this collective identity is arguably a generational one (ex.
rebellious teens, Gen Z vs. adults steering a ship towards calamity) and is the starting point for
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many to become involved with activism — a process that can now occur via ICTs, both
intentionally by the efforts of "digital organizers" and organically through the interaction with
peers.
Translating the nebulous concept of "support" into action is essential for social
movements, and S.M.'s efforts showcase this. For example, the Sunrise Movement's website
(as of September 24, 2020) provides various ways to take action and stay involved in the
movement. A "take action" icon on the website's homepage and menu bar redirects users to the
page "Stand up for Justice: How to Take Action with Sunrise." On this page visitors are
encouraged to sign up to the S.M. mailing list, view upcoming events on their calendar, join an
orientation for newcomers, and even do job training and organize a chapter of S.M. locally. A
geo-locative map of local chapters across the U.S. helps prospective youth supporters find a
group near them (or start their own), while also visually showcasing the reach of S.M. Various
entry points into the movement are provided, which allow those interested to volunteer time and
energy on their own terms — especially for young people under the age of 35 (those older have
their own set of guidelines). In another example, a postcard campaign focused on the 2020
elections aims to send 1 million postcards to young voters in swing states prior to the election.
The campaign, which features ten uniquely illustrated postcards (see Figure 4) with messages
such as "light the way to a livable future" and "know your power/conoce tu fuerza," provides
postcards (in stacks of 100) to supporters through an online donation system. In their own
words about the impact of such a mobilization: "This is the most important election of our
lifetime. That's why we are sending one million postcards to young people in key swing states
like Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina to make sure they get a personal reminder and
have the info they need to vote. If we reach a million young potential voters, we can help
mobilize our generation!" This campaign showcases the way to combine the internet, postcards,
and direct mail to mobilize voters not only around climate change, but in support of cultivating
youth power. However, S.M.'s mobilization efforts may be best captured through their youth
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voter outreach efforts during the 2020 presidential election, where they claim to have reached
"2.6 million unique voters" as of "7pm ET on Election Day," along with contributing close to
$262,000 for digital ads in swing states (Sunrise Movement’s general election impact, 2020) . A
highly coordinated and sophisticated communication strategy that tapped the mediated
repertoire of contention assisted these efforts, including the use of phone banking to reach over
one million voters, direct messaging to over two million people via peer to peer texting, and a
direct mail campaign that distributed more than one million postcards. These efforts help unravel
a much larger story of the record youth voter turnout for the 2020 election, where half of all
eligible young people of voting age actually voted ( Half of Youth Voted in 2020, An 11-Point
Increase from 2016 , 2021) . These practices by S.M. also show how the use of various kinds of
media can assist with mobilization by making offline direct action easier to partake in — which is
somewhat different than media practice as mobilization .
Figure 4. A postcard used as part of Sunrise Movement's youth voter campaign
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Second, in addition to streamlining long standing forms of activism, ICTs have also
simplified mediated tactics, which are types of mobilization where media can be both a means
and an end — where media practice is the intended action. In their examination of activism in
the "internet age," Earl and Kimport distinguish between "E-tactics," which are low cost forms of
participation that include both online and offline components, and "E-movements," where
"participation in the movement occurs entirely online" (Earl & Kimport, 2013, p. 12) . Media
centered campaigns have a long history within social movements in the U.S., such as through
the pamphleteering of the abolitionist movement in the 19th century, direct-mail during women's
suffrage, and phone-tree networks during the civil rights efforts of the 1960s. These types of
campaigns, not to be confused with efforts to gain attention in mass media, make media
practice core to the intervention and participation with a movement's cause. Today, movement
media tactics may include "updated" tactics of old, such as online petitions, fundraising via
crowdsourcing platforms, and community journalism on social media, but also notably include
appropriated aspects of a broader internet culture, such as meme creation, video remix, and
even hacking. While Sunrise Movement considers offline organizing and direct action core to
building youth power (Prakash & Girgenti, 2020) , they (along with the broader youth social
movements) have also embraced mediated tactics. For example, S.M.'s "Sunrise School" (much
like the aforementioned "Creative School") encourages supporters to create media content in
the form of photos and video with the goal of taking ownership of the movement's narrative.
Accompanying a sign-up form on their website to attend a training for the Sunrise School, a text
about the aims of this work reads: "The photo and video content captured at actions tells our
story long after the action ends, and a disciplined visual strategy is how we control the narrative.
Creating unified visuals across the country demonstrates our strength and signals to the public
and politicians that we're here to win." Unlike mobilization meant to encourage offline direct
action, the goals of the Sunrise School demonstrates how media making itself becomes a tactic
(as both means and end) to influence the public discourse surrounding the movement and
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challenge potential distortions by sites of power (ex. mass media) and antagonists (ex. climate
change deniers). Furthermore, a full-time job posting for a "Digital Director" by S.M., whose
responsibilities include "to help Sunrise use media to reach and engage millions of people
through digital platforms to make climate change an urgent political priority across this country,"
further showcases their commitment to mobilization via ICTs. The emphasis on media making
as a form of action also gives mediated mobilization a notable overlap with production (a
reminder that the tactics of participatory politics are not mutually exclusive, but instead mutually
reinforcing). While these types of mediated tactics are often the target of "slacktivism" criticism,
since they may be thin and symbolic per Zuckerman's "levers of change" (Zuckerman, 2016) ,
such actions are particularly important for youth who may lack the time, resources, and rights
(ex. voting, a driver's license, permission to work, legal status) to engage in more conventional
sorts of activism. Additionally, research about media practice related to social movements, such
as posting to social media about #BlackLivesMatter, may actually coincide with higher rates of
offline direct action (Jost et al., 2018; Valenzuela et al., 2012) — perhaps indicating that
mediated tactics may function as a gateway for youth towards thick and impactful forms of
activism. In short, mobilization can include rallying supporters towards actions where media
practice is both the means and the end, especially through mediated tactics such as digital
storytelling, and S.M. shows a commitment to such an approach through its many public media
channels and efforts.
In sum, S.M.'s attention to mobilization — both offline and mediated — reflects broader
practices of contemporary youth activism. Contrary to critiques of contemporary youth activism,
which often deem such efforts to be purely discursive or symbolic or online-only, S.M. highly
prioritizes offline direct action — a commitment that is echoed in various public messages and
documented actions. This message is perhaps clearest in the movement book "Winning the
Green New Deal," which is a guide for youth mobilization (Prakash & Girgenti, 2020) . And while
"affiliation" with social movements is arguably more complex than ever, S.M.'s idea of who is
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part of the movement is defined largely by those who act on its behalf: "The best way to join
Sunrise is to attend a welcome call, hub meeting, phone bank, training, or another event in your
community" (“Sunrise Events,” n.d.) .
Climate Justice in a Media Ecology
While networked technologies provide youth activists in the climate justice movement
with unique opportunities to achieve their goals, such tools exist within a complex media
ecology and notable dynamics are important to consider. This section looks into: 1) visibility and
remediation of movement messages in legacy media; 2) the partisan nature of the climate
debate in legacy media; and 3) the pitfalls of misinformation, disinformation, and
anti-intellectualism in recent years.
First, Sunrise Movement was partly chosen as the focus of this chapter because of its
high visibility in mainstream legacy media, especially among liberal channels. Sunrise
Movement has benefitted from support from popular public figures and politicians, such as Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose own rise to political prominence as a young working-class
Latina has been documented in the Netflix documentary "Knock Down the House'' (Diavolo,
2019) . AOC was already well supported among young people (Morris, 2018) for being an
advocate of youth priorities and social justice in Congress, mostly notably the Green New Deal,
which has led to a growing fandom around her career on Twitter (Rodriguez & Goretti, 2022) .
This was beneficial when S.M. joined forces with her during the occupation of Rep. Nancy
Pelosi's office after the midterms in 2018 (Grim & Gray, 2018) . In another example underscoring
mainstream visibility, Sunrise Movement was featured in a Season 5 episode of Netflix's Queer
Eye in Philadelphia, which followed 18-year-old activist Abby Leedy while trying to balance
organizing and personal responsibilities (Sorren, 2020) . These examples are noteworthy as not
every climate justice SMO can easily capitalize on mainstream visibility through earned media
coverage from protest actions. To add to this, I attended an indigenous climate action in Los
Angeles where indigenous activists used actor Meryl Streep's name on promotional materials to
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gain attention from news reporters – a tactic that seemed to work telling from the rows of
television cameras set up to capture the celebrity appearance which never happened
(observation, March 18, 2022) .
Second, despite the potential benefits of visibility in legacy media, such attention is not
without its own drawbacks. Specifically, youth climate activists must navigate a highly politically
polarized and partisan legacy media environment where their messages can be challenged and
distorted — assuming they can achieve this sought-after amplification. Bolsen and Shapiro
(2018) trace the increased partisan nature of the climate change debate among news media
outlets in the United States to the Kyoto Protocol in the late 1990s, where politically motivated
"conflict" frames of environmental issues were presented alongside the frames derived directly
from the scientific community. Also, a longitudinal analysis of climate change news coverage
across the political spectrum from 2000 to 2014 found, among other things, that scientific
evidence about climate change is persuasive to Democrats but not Republicans, and both
parties are less concerned with climate solutions during economic downturns (Carmichael et al.,
2017) . Additionally, during the Trump Presidency, a review of news coverage of the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in 2019 found that conservative outlets in the U.S. were
more likely to omit coverage of the conference or to feature climate change denier perspectives
in their reporting (Castillo Esparcia & López Gómez, 2021) . Furthermore, S.M.'s push for and
support of the Green New Deal in public opinion was perhaps hindered along partisan lines by
the "Fox News Effect," where viewership of the Fox News network was found to be the
strongest predictor of a stance against the proposed green policy (Gustafson et al., 2019) .
Studying how S.M.'s messages in particular are relayed in legacy media presents a unique
opportunity for future research. In sum, one of the unique strengths of environmental activism
has been the ability to rely on scientific evidence to communicate grievances, claims, and
demands, so this erosion is alarming to say the least. The increasing distrust in science also
speaks to broader dynamics in the media ecology where the very idea of "truth" is at stake.
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Third, beyond oppositional forces in legacy media and through counter-protestors,
today's youth climate justice activists must also contend with broader waves of distrust in
authorities, institutions, and information — and the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated this
problem. While much remains to be unraveled, recent research shows how adherence to
conspiracy theories disseminated online during the pandemic contributed to a distrust of both
science and vaccines among right-leaning individuals in the United States (Winter et al., 2022) .
Similarly, another study that interviewed dozens of people in the U.S. Midwest found that those
with a "universal distrust of all media" and "low levels of political knowledge" were more likely to
consider conspiracy theories as on par explanations to scientific evidence (Ternullo, 2022) .
Bridging the overlap between conspiracy theory adherence, denial of scientific evidence, and
mistrust of institutions in both the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate change debate, a recent
study found the "FLICC" model applies to both: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible
expectations, cherry-picking, and conspiracy theories (Lewandowsky et al., 2022) . In their
review of ten conspiracy theory communities on Twitter, researchers found that being part of the
climate change denial community on the platform coincided with membership in other
conspiracy theorist communities, such as Pizzagate and 9/11 (Mahl et al., 2021) . Greta
Thunberg in particular has been subjected to coordinated misogynistic attacks by far-right
climate change deniers on social media (Vowles & Hultman, 2021) , and by conspiracy theories
accusing her of having billionaire "handlers" who she reports to behind the scenes (Serhan,
2021) . In short, the COVID-19 pandemic bolstered an increasingly politically motivated distrust
in science which must be taken into account given the long history of relying on scientific
evidence in environmental activism. These new dynamics in the media ecology may lead youth
climate justice activists to adapt to the nation-specific challenges of relying on scientific
discourse to persuade publics at large, and also how and when to effectively lean on culture and
values instead to build support.
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Rebooting Sunrise
In 2021, Sunrise Movement initiated an internal process they called "frontloading" to
closely re-evaluate the organization's "story, strategy, structure and culture" and essentially
reboot as "Sunrise 2.0" (“Sunrise 2.0 Launch,” n.d.) . The aim of this restructuring process was to
become better attuned to broader political, social, and cultural changes in recent years, aided by
democratic "movement input sessions" held among S.M.'s many chapters across the nation that
would inform planning moving forward. These sessions were planned and scheduled through
December of 2021, with the hopes of having a new movement-based informed vision of the
organization by 2022. However, on June 9, 2022 a blog titled "So…why did we embark on the
process to frontload?" by Aru Shiney-Ajay shed more light into the impetus behind S.M.'s need
to relaunch the organization. In the blog, Shiny-Ajay noted the organization's challenge
recruiting and retaining "black, brown, and working class leaders," a committed-core
weak-periphery problem, challenges coordinating rapidly growing and dispersed chapters, a
strategy designed to counter the Trump Administration that no longer applied, and the difficulty
of organizing around COVID-19 (Shiney-Ajay, 2022) . As Shiney-Ajay puts it: "We’re
experimenting with some of the most difficult things that social movements have to face –
building a movement across race, class, and geography; figuring out how to be nimble and
member-directed; balancing the need for local and national action." This frontloading process is
expected to wrap up by early July of 2022, with a vote to ratify the new Sunrise Movement 2.0
DNA. This frontloading process reminded me of previous experience with social movements,
specifically the immigrant youth movement in 2012 convening in Kansas City, Missouri to
re-evaluate the movement's priorities and to shift away from the "worthy immigrant" frame
perpetuated by legacy media and to better build coalitions with groups fighting for
comprehensive immigration reform rather than focus only on the Dream Act (R. A. Lopez,
2013) . Similar to Shiny-Ajay's account, that self-reflective process was at times tumultuous and
painful but ultimately a necessary exercise. From afar, S.M.'s many communication channels
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have continued to amplify the messages from the diverse organizations and causes they hope
to embody as part of climate justice, from Black Lives Matter, to United We Dream, to March for
Our Lives.
S.M. has continued to organize support for political leaders at the local level and state
level, such as for Jessica Cisneros in Texas and Kina Collins in Illinois through phone banks
using the mobilize.us platform, while also pressuring the Biden Administration to enact green
policy. Aside from these political aims, the organization has also continued using a blend of
culture and media practice to engage supporters at large, such as by sharing a digital songbook
on Twitter on June 3, 2022. The songbook includes a collection of songs for young people
involved in the movement, with the statement aim (among others): "Singing together also allows
us to envision new futures even when they feel out of reach, and it honors the musical history of
racial, labor, environmental, and other justice movements that the Sunrise Movement aligns
with" (Sunrise Movement, 2022 , p.5). One particular song by Katey Lauer called "We are
fighting for our futures" (p.40), written in response to the election of Donald Trump in 2016,
captures the general sentiment around the youth climate justice movement, S.M.'s
"frontloading," and the overall attitude of youth activists today:
"We are fighting for our futures
We are healing what is wrong
We are fighting for our futures
And together we are strong."
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Chapter 4: Street Protest and Youth Media
Figure 5. The Global Climate Strike storms LA's City Hall.
Street Protest and Youth Media
I have spent a significant amount of time in spaces of youth protest for the better part of
a decade, and immersion in such spaces has enriched my understanding of the people and
practices that drive social movements. I use this experience to draw comparisons between the
presented case studies to better understand patterns and trends across contemporary youth
social movements, especially with respect to media and communication. I use a broad and
encompassing definition of media, which pushes back against an overemphasis on the digital
and considers analog and material forms as well. I have found that youth activists do indeed
strive for social change "by any media necessary" (Jenkins et al., 2016) , wielding both
smartphones and hand-painted protest signs, while also blending online activity with direct
action. While not meant to be comprehensive or generalizable, this chapter uses a comparative
lens to sketch a richer picture of how youth activists use media and communication to achieve
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their goals. Insights are based on participant observation of protest and direct action (~34
hours), extensive field notes (~40 pages and hours of audio recording), originally produced
photographic evidence (~697 images), and close textual readings of hundreds of movement
messages across various media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Tik Tok, Twitter,
etc.). This combination of methods and sources can effectively triangulate a rich and nuanced
understanding of social movements. Three broad areas emerged after a careful examination of
evidence, which are: crossover practices, material productions, and movement messages.
Crossover practices describe the bi-directional nature of youth media, moving from online to
offline spaces and back again. Material productions focus on made-to-order "protest merch" and
other print and spoken storytelling. Movement messages explore messages of despair, social
movement spillover, and also the use of intersectionality as a framework to develop media
content. The examination of these categories moves from practices, to materials, and finally
towards messages. The aim here is to consider protest spaces as an integral component to an
interrelated media ecology within which contemporary youth movements operate.
Crossover Practices
My fieldwork allowed me to observe notable youth media practices and dynamics,
specifically as they pertain to a broadened definition of media beyond the digital. This section
captures what I call "crossover practices," the many ways that young people blend digital media
practice and culture with direct action in physical spaces, a mutually reinforcing relationship that
bolsters their communication strategy. By digital practice and culture, I refer to digital-born
content, activities, and symbols, such as hashtags or memes, which usually originate online or
through other forms of media (feature films, anime, etc). I found notable instances where youth
blended digital practice and culture into protest sites, underscoring perhaps how Gen Z
navigates physical space as an extension of digital life — flipping the idea of life online being an
extension of our physical world on its head. This hybridity has been noted in previous studies
about media use in contemporary social movements, specifically offline/online, old/new,
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internal/external, corporate/alternative, human/nonhuman (Treré, 2018) . In blending
offline/online, youth activists organize in-person physical events with a digital framework in
mind, setting up photo-ops, inlays into digital participation, and live-coverage along the way. The
digital re-mediation of in-person protest is perhaps no longer an afterthought, but a symbiotic
relationship where both are prioritized. This dynamic is partly covered by Gerbaudo (2012) ,
specifically how digital practices have altered the ways that activists navigate public spaces as
the digital world can sometimes overtake the physical as the primary space for communities to
convene around shared interests. I explore the fluidity and hybridity between digital life and
physical protest by focusing on two ideas: 1) digital bridging, which is how youth facilitate digital
participation in physical spaces; 2) digital vision, which is how youth activists plan and
coordinate physical protest with remediation in mind. I draw from Lievrouw's concept of
remediation to explain how "users borrow, adapt, or remix existing materials, expression, and
interactions to create a continually expanding universe of innovative new works and ideas"
(Lievrouw, 2011, p.4) . In this case, remediation explains how youth activists share movement
related messages both on and offline.
First, "digital bridging" attempts to unravel the ways youth activists create pathways that
facilitate digital participation from physical sites of protest. This includes t-shirts and sweatshirts
with QR codes meant to assist with voter registration and the use of wrist bands and projectors
at physical sites to display "text mobilizations" numbers. A purely online or digital examination of
youth media might overlook such ways that contemporary youth activists facilitate mobilization
and action for their supporters. Take for example how at a Town Hall organized by March for
Our Lives in Los Angeles at the African American Museum, various text mobilization numbers
could be seen in printed materials given to attendees and on the event registration canopy (see
Appendix A) , and they were also projected on the walls of the venue (Figure 7). Upon texting
this number, I was added to a text-based mailing list where I received updates, invitations to
attend local events, and also opportunities to donate to the organization. This service has
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continued to provide me with the latest news on MFOL's current goals, upcoming events and
mobilizations, and event reminders for elections for nearly four years. Similarly, at the Global
Climate Strike in Los Angeles, I saw what has now become a ubiquitous practice in physical
protests: the use of hashtags as messages themselves on hand painted protest signs and
posters (observation, September 2019) . The hashtags "#climatestrike," "#youthclimatestrike,"
and "#climatejustice," among many others, could be seen either as the primary message or as
an added symbol in the materials of young protestors (Figure ). While critics may reduce this to
semantics, hashtags also help protestors on the ground follow relevant hashtags online and to
appropriately sort their digital content. Searching these hashtags on Instagram and Twitter on
my smartphone while out in the field brought me to a collection of posts related to the Global
Climate Strike from around the world, most notably various photographs taken as part of street
protest.
Figure 6. Youth fight for #ClimateJustice at the Global Climate Strike.
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Second, another notable aspect observed is what I call "digital vision," which describes
the way youth activists often plan and organize protests in physical spaces with a digital output
in mind — specifically around optics of resistance meant to be remediated. Unlike previous
generations, where the visual elements of social movements were the purview of the
photographer or artist or videographer, youth activists in today's social movements can count on
supporters at large to share and amplify protest imagery via smartphones. As such, some of the
ways that youth activists showcase digital vision is by providing material visual markers, cues,
and other symbols in physical locations that through remediation can feed back into online
discourse surrounding social movements. For example, take how a backdrop with MFOL logos
was prominently featured behind the Parkland youth activists engaged at a Town Hall (Figure 7),
which is not unlike the backdrops used in Hollywood during red carpet events to assist with
professional photography. These backdrops make organizational logos visibly prominent, they
communicate high professionalism, and also assist with the technical requirements of digital
photography by providing "white balance." If nothing else, this reflects MFOL's commitment to
conveying a polished professional image, perhaps as a means of gaining legitimacy in the
public eye. In another example from Oakland, a row of supporters and journalists awaited the
Parkland youth activists to disembark from their tour bus — imagery reminiscent of rock stars
greeting fans (see Appendix E) . While this speaks to the cultural iconicity of the Parkland youth
activists more than anything, aided by their high visibility in mainstream legacy media, such a
display arguably showcases the convergence of celebrity culture with activism in recent years
(Mukherjee & Banet-Weiser, 2012) . Furthermore, today's better-funded youth SMOs prioritize
the standardization of their organization's image both online and as part of street protest through
color coordination. In Los Angeles, Sunrise Movement’s signature yellow and black color
scheme was easily identifiable at the Global Climate Strike in Los Angeles, on t-shirts, banners,
and printed posters alike (observation, September 2019) . While the SMOs of old have
communicated solidarity and community through coordinated colors and symbols in media and
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attire, such as The Black Panther Party's signature leather jacket look, this approach taken by
today's youth activists seems to reflect a "branding" strategy and logic, where consistency of
visual symbols across channels reinforces an organizational identity. This professionalized
approach, including careful planning of the optics of an SMO’s activities, seems to adhere to the
adult-world's expectations of respectability while also creating overall "brand awareness" for
content remediated from sites of protest. It's also important to note that both SM and MFOL are
non-profit organizations with substantial funding and access to professional media firms and
services.
Figure 7. March for Our Lives projects text to change numbers.
Material Productions
The following section looks at various forms of material media and other productions and
how they are used in youth social movements, with a specific focus on "protest merch" and
material storytelling. I draw from Trere and Mattoni's media ecology approach to study social
movements which considers various forms of media practices online and in-person as part of
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the interrelated web of movement communication (Mattoni & Treré, 2014) . First, my fieldwork
allowed me to observe the unique ways that youth activists, and especially SMOs, tap into what
appears to be professionally produced protest merchandise. I define protest merchandise (or
"merch") as for-order material products that are customized for a cause or organization,
including printed digital art, graphic t-shirts, organizational banners, photo-op backdrops, tote
bags, among many other things. These kinds of products and their use in social movements are
not new, at least in a less sophisticated form. The suffrage movement in the late 19th and early
20tth centuries made use of stores selling merchandise as a means to raise funds for
movement operations (Mercer, 2009) . In the 1960s, the United Farm Workers created and sold
pins to raise funds (Ganz, 2010) , and in the 2010s artists in the immigrant youth movement
such as Julio Salgado sold prints of digital art to support the cause (R. A. Lopez, 2013) . What is
notable, however, is the shift from DIY community products towards out-sourced professional
services, especially among better funded SMOs and non-profits — which speaks to the
accessibility of such services online in today's Network Society. For example, at an event in Los
Angeles, MFOL had printed banners, canopies, and table cloths with the organization's logo on
them (see Appendix A) . In Oakland, MFOL had a professionally printed canopy over a voter
registration table, which featured a list of partner organizations including headcount.org,
NAACP, Mi Familia Vota, and Rock the Vote — not unlike a sponsor canopy seen at a music
festival or college job fair (see Appendix E) . These types of practices also speak to the
commercialization of non-profits, as some turn to selling merchandise to raise funds and raise
awareness through branding (Suykens et al., 2019; Toepler, 2004) . This protest merchandise
works in conjunction with "digital vision," as these professional materials assist in standardizing
an organization's image into a recognizable brand. The implications of such productions are
unclear, however it seems that for the young people in the broader movement base the use of
such materials does not seem to be ideologically in conflict with what previous generations may
have seen as overly reflecting of a professionalized corporate and adult world. As for Sunrise
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Movement, the standardization of color schemes and fonts used in physical protest materials
may partly be explained by the organization's online support structures, including toolkits and
media making training for its many chapters and members. However, the protest "graphic-t" and
other attire was observed across youth social movements.
Figure 8. Cropped image of youth activist wearing a Sunrise Movement graphic-t.
The printed graphic protest t-shirt has gained popularity in recent years as prominent
public figures popularize the trend and their availability becomes more accessible through
for-order services online. Some may recall images of actor Ashley Judd at a 2003 protest
wearing the Feminist Majority Foundation's "This is what a feminist looks like" t-shirt which
became widely circulated online, or the late basketball player Kobe Bryant and his fellow Lakers
wearing matching "I can't breathe" t-shirts in solidarity with Black Lives Matter in 2014. These
types of garments, especially with political signs and symbols on them, can gain new meanings
when remediated online: "sociopolitical messages placed on fashion T-shirts, circulating in the
context of social media, can become a rhetorical resource for resistive communication"
(Kvidal-Røvik, 2018, p. 216) . At the same time, the broader economic practices tied to the
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production and distribution of such garments blur the lines between activists, citizens, and
consumers, falling within the category of "commodity activism" as people use their purchasing
power to exercise their civic agency in a neoliberal society (Mukherjee & Banet-Weiser, 2012) .
Repo (2020) examines "feminist t-shirts" using a commodity activism lens, finding among other
things how such garments marketed to feminists can commercialize the aesthetics of street
protest and promote a self-branded feminist identity by the wearer. The regular use of these
garments at protest sites across the observed social movements makes them worthy of
attention. In Los Angeles, the Parkland youth activists were all wearing matching MFOL t-shirts
while speaking on-stage at a town hall (see Appendix A) . Also, at another site in L.A., MFOL
volunteers wore fluorescent yellow t-shirts (see Appendix B) . These MFOL events reflected the
coordinated attire of the professional non-profit world rather than a rebellious youth culture
— which makes sense given the organization's resources. Additionally, it was a common sight
to see youth from the broader movement base (or perhaps from local chapters) wearing an
SMO t-shirt as part of organized events. At Elmo Village, supporters among the crowd wore the
blue MFOL graphic-t popularized at the national March for Our Lives in Washington D.C. (see
Appendix B) . Likewise at the Global Climate Strike, members and supporters of Sunrise
Movement could be seen sporting the organization's signature black t-shirt with the group's
yellow logo in the center (Figure 8). Furthermore, partnerships among organizations became
apparent through attire, such as Moms Demand Action signaling support by wearing matching
red graphic-tees to MFOL events (see Appendix C) , and selling such garments in person and
online has become a way to raise funds and also facilitate movement identification (Figure ).
This approach to activism is more moderate compared to the coordinated attire of radical
groups such as the Black Panther Party, the Brown Berets, or the Young Lords. This speaks to
the politics of attire, and how even a t-shirt can convey a more professional appearance when
used as an organizational uniform, while also signaling solidarity and identification with a cause
or movement. In a sense, the t-shirt resembles democratized attire, as it is easy to produce,
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non-gender or culturally specific, active-lifestyle appropriate (ex. physical activity required for
street protest), and relatively affordable. At the same time, the prevalence of the protest t-shirt
across sites of youth protests and among SMO's signals changing cultural priorities among
youth who want to both support and identify with the causes that they care about, the rise of
such attire and other protest merch as viable funding sources for SMOs, and broader changes
in the communication environment that has simplified the mass production of customized
garments on a for-order basis. With that said, youth movements today have not abandoned the
DIY aesthetic of previous generations, as can be seen by the popularity of Emma Gonzalez's
jacket (Jenkins & Lopez, 2018) .
Figure 9. Graphic t-shirts from NeverAgainCA.
Second, my fieldwork allowed me to observe the many ways that "material storytelling" is
used across youth social movements. I define material storytelling as the use of analog, print,
art, and even speech to convey stories about social issues as part of social movements. This
includes spoken word, political speeches, cardboard signs, street art, songs and chants, oral
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testimonies, poetry, among other forms. Political speeches delivered at sites of protest are a
longstanding communication genre of social movements, and their messages can even spark
movements — such as Mario Savio's "Bodies upon the gears" speech in 1964 that
supercharged the Free Speech Movement (Turner, 2010) , or Emma Gonzalez's "We Call BS"
speech in 2018 that launched NeverAgain (Jenkins & Lopez, 2018) . Similarly, Greta Thunberg’s
speech at the Global Climate Strike in Los Angeles tells a narrative of youth ignored by adults in
power: "We young people have had enough. We say no more. And if our parents won't speak
up for us, then we will. We have drawn the line, and we will make sure that the people of power
don't continue like this now. The older generations are failing us. But future generations don't
have a voice. And the biosphere does not have a voice. So we will be the voices that speak for
them. And we will be the voices that speak for ourselves," (Global News, 2019) . While these
speeches are also remediated and viewed online by many, their significance at sites of protest
cannot be overlooked as these kinds of narratives help energize a movement base and
encourage further support by humanizing social issues. Additionally, at the Los Angeles Elmo
Village art community, members of MFOL used spoken word to express their experiences with
gun violence, and parents of students who lost their lives in Parkland, Florida also spoke and
shared their personal accounts (see Appendix B) . One notable story was shared as a spoken
testimony by Manuel Oliver, the father of Joaquin Oliver who lost his life at the shooting in
Parkland, which recalled the hopes and dreams of his son who he nicknamed "guac" (short for
Guacamole, but also rhyming with the start of his name "Joaq"). These personal accounts were
shared across sites for the MFOL's Road to Change campaign, serving to honor those lost to
gun violence while also keeping an otherwise abstract issue within human reach. Furthermore,
at the venue for a Town Hall in Orange County, California, youth poetry from a local group called
NeverAgainOC was displayed for supporters of the movement to view. One poem, from an
unknown author, read as follows: "I am a kid in SoCal with so much to do and be. Only ten
minutes from the mountains, and five from the sea. I have dreams of becoming a doctor as long
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as I've got time. I have nightmares, like all the other kids, of dying in my prime" (see Appendix
C) . In a similar fashion, the hand-painted panels from the organization VisionQuilt capture
dozens of narrative snippets from young people about gun violence. One panel includes the
message "stand up for what's right, even if you are alone" above an image of a young woman
raising her fist, while another shows a crying baby with the text "please don't shoot, I want to
grow" above it (Figure 10). VisionQuilt's approach is based on the repertoire of contention from
AIDS activism, where material storytelling with the AIDS Memorial Quilt became a powerful
tactic to capture the stories of affected communities in the 1980s and 1990s (Capozzola, 2002;
Howe, 1997) . Both the poetry and art panels showcase the ways various communication
channels are used to convey the human impact of gun violence on youth — especially as the
proximity to an author is reduced compared to digital media. Supporters at sites of protest can
see and even speak directly to an orator, and one cannot overlook the significance of personally
viewing or touching an art panel or poem created by another person affected by gun violence.
As Marshall McLuhan noted, the "medium is the message." These medium specific attributes
contribute to the communication environment within which movements navigate. In short, while
each of these forms of material storytelling could likely inform a distinct dissertation, they are
important to consider within a broader media ecology where meaning is collectively constructed
by social movements. Across the speeches, spoken word, poetry, and art observed, narratives
are used to interpret and convey how social issues have an impact on people. These channels
and mediums may be overlooked by a communication analysis that looks solely at digital media
or single platforms.
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Figure 10. Youth produced visual stories from VisionQuilt.
Movement Messages
The final section of this chapter looks into the semantic layer of movement produced
media observed in the field, or "movement messages." While previous sections looked at
practices and materials, movement messages are the collection of signs and symbols used
across sites of protest to construct meaning. The focus here is on two broad categories of
messages that I observed: messages of despair and cross-movement messages.
Messages of despair describe a genre of movement messages that communicate a
sense of grief, loss, or helplessness. I found these types of messages across the gun violence
prevention and climate justice movement, especially through speeches and protest signs.
However, each movement reflected a unique sub-genre that was specific to the social issues
and interventions in the space, notably "mourning and remembrance" messages for the gun
violence prevention movement and "climate anxiety" messages for the climate justice
movement. First, it cannot be emphasized enough that the gun violence movement prioritizes
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the mourning and remembrance of the people lost to gun violence, and this is the most central
frame for messaging. Mourning and remembrance messages honor the lives of those lost to
gun violence by sharing humanizing stories about them, collectively repeating their names, and
by sharing media productions about them. The #SayHerName campaign stemming from Black
Lives Matter in particular relied on the honoring of Black women killed at the hands of police by
repeating their names on social media platforms (Brown et al., 2017) . Similarly, at a candlelight
vigil in Huntington Beach, youth activists from MFOL held hand painted portraits of their
classmates who were lost to the senseless shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
in 2018 ( see Appendix D; Figure 11). This vigil was accompanied by various testimonies from
MFOL members, recounting stories about shared experiences in "home room" and reminiscing
a time prior to the shooting. Similarly, Chicago activist Alex King who joined the MFOL Road to
Change shared on an open mic how gun violence affected him directly through the loss of his
nephew DeShawn Moore in 2017, along with the example of Manuel Oliver shared before (see
Appendix B) . At a speech given during the March for Our Lives in Washington D.C., Alex King
mentions how he decided to visit Parkland so he and the MFOL youth could "share their trauma
together" (March for our Lives, 2018b) — signaling the importance of such messages for the
communal processing of grief and finding solidarity. Countless more examples have already
been covered: art panels from youth seeing their safety and future slip away through the
constant threat of gun violence, poetry conveying a sense of powerlessness to address an issue
too large and complex for any individual to solve. Together, these messages communicate a
sense of loss and grief concerning people lost to gun violence and also a loss of agency around
being able to enact change. At the same time, as Alex King notes, there is a profoundly
powerful layer to these messages of despair, which is that perhaps sharing them publicly allows
for collective grieving and healing, emotional processing of trauma, and solidarity among
change agents — not unlike the practices seen in Black Lives Matter.
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Figure 11. Activists hold portraits of Parkland students lost to gun violence.
The second sub-genre of messages of despair are those linked to the climate justice
movement, which I call "climate anxiety messages." The idea of "climate anxiety" is not new
(Clayton, 2020) , and reflects how people experience stress, fear, and general unease related to
the looming threat of climate change. In the field, this manifested primarily through various
hand-crafted protest signs which communicated dread and hopelessness. At the Global Climate
Strike in Los Angeles, these messages included: "this is not a drill," "act now or swim later," "it's
getting hot as hell," "the house is on fire," "the dinosaurs thought they had time too," among
countless others (observation, September 2019) . These messages reflect a sense of impending
doom, of what a future without climate action can and will look like — catastrophic. The overall
pessimistic outlook of these messages should not, however, be confused with apathy and
powerlessness related to resolving climate change. It seems Gen Z may be more willing to
publicly discuss the effects of social issues on mental health, and such messages may perhaps
be part of a larger collective emotional processing and communal support ritual. Take for
example, protest signs that use the threat of climate change as an impetus for action, such as
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one that reads "the oceans are rising, and so are we." While these messages may only
compose a subset of those seen at climate justice movement protests, they may perhaps be the
most characteristically Gen Z as this generation highly prioritizes self-care, mental health, and
therapy — especially as anxiety and depression are seen as major problems among today's
youth (Horowitz & Graf, 2019) .
Figure 12. System change, hot climate, with an Earth engulfed in flames.
So far, only messages that were observed to circulate within singular social movements
have been examined, but the concept of "cross-movement messages'' aims to capture how
contemporary movements are becoming increasingly interrelated in their messaging. By
"cross-movement messages," I mean messages that are not unique to the issues that a social
movement aims to resolve (at least not in a literal sense), but instead emphasize signs and
symbols originating from other social movements. There are two general types of
cross-movement messages that I observed: spillover and intersectionality. Spillover describes
when certain elements from one social movement, including signs and symbols, migrate
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towards another social movement for one reason or another (Meyer & Whittier, 1994) . For
example, the teach-ins that the early environmental movement came to use in the 1970s were
directly modeled after the tactics of the Anti-War movement (Rootes, 2011) , and the militant
approach (down to the attire) of the Brown Berets in the Chicano Movement were inspired by
the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement (Correa, 2011) . In a similar fashion, I
observed that the gun violence prevention movement and the climate justice movement
reflected the signs and symbols of other concurrent movements — primarily Black Lives Matter
and decolonial movements. The Road to Change campaign by MFOL in many ways
intentionally incorporated such spillover to address representational critiques. Among their stops
on the road, MFOL visited Standing Rock, North Dakota on June 27, 2018 ( Fall Tour Dates ,
n.d.) — an important location for youth activism the year prior thanks to the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe's “water protectors" and their fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Emma
Gonzalez was later noted wearing a "Straight Outta Standing Rock'' t-shirt (Jones, 2018) , a
popular reconfigurable "meme" t-shirt based on the title of the 2015 film "Straight Outta
Compton." At the African American Museum in Los Angeles, MFOL's town hall invited Black
Lives Matter activists as discussants (see Appendix A) , and across the next stops in Orange
County they reiterated BLM's language surrounding the need for a racial justice lens to examine
gun violence (see Appendices C & D) . At Defremery Park in Oakland, MFOL invited members of
the original Black Panther Party to speak about the history of the Black community's struggle
with gun violence (Figure 13), drawing links between the BPP and Black Lives Matter fight
against police repression (see Appendix E) . Since the Road to Change, MFOL has used various
communication channels to directly elevate the messages of Black Lives Matter — especially as
part of protests surrounding the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 during the COVID-19
pandemic (Cooley & Levenson, 2020) . In terms of climate justice, both Sunrise Movement and
the broader climate justice movement reflect the priorities of previous generations by working
across different strains to build coalitions. For example, Swedish youth activist Greta Thunberg
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may not be known in the mainstream for linking climate change to colonialism and imperial
expansion, yet at the Global Climate Strike in Los Angeles she used a phrase commonly used
by indigenous climate activists: "it must be recognized that we are all on occupied land" (Global
News, 2019) . This exact sentiment was echoed at a rally organized by Youth Climate Strike Los
Angeles at Pershing Square in the spring of 2022, where indigenous activists "opened" the
event by acknowledging the occupation of their land and the continued fight to preserve their
way of life (observation, March 18, 2022) . While my observations in the field were not Sunrise
Movement specific, a look at their various communication channels will reflect a similar
commitment to amplifying both indigenous decolonial movements and Black Lives Matter. For
example, in the summer of 2020 SM held trainings online to better support BLM, captured with a
post to Instagram with an image reading ""How the climate movement can show up for Black
Lives" (Sunrise Movement, 2020f) ; On September 4, 2021, SM posted to Instagram a
multi-panel post bringing awareness to indigenous water protector's ongoing battle to stop the
Line 3 pipeline in "so-called Minnesota" (Sunrise Movement, 2021) . Amplifying the messages of
"sister movements'' seems to be a priority of today's youth activists, but they arguably take this a
step further by using intersectionality as a framework to craft messages.
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Figure 13. A Black Panther talks to NeverAgain youth about gun violence.
In their book "Winning the Green New Deal," founder of the Sunrise Movement Varshini
Prakash and Guido Girgenti outline a guide for the next generation of youth climate justice
activists, including a commitment to addressing various interrelated issues, such as unregulated
capitalism, racial injustice, sexism and gender inequality, among others (Prakash & Girgenti,
2020) . This multifaceted examination of the climate crisis reflects the influence of
"intersectionality" on social movements and their messaging. The concept of intersectionality
was coined by legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw to describe a limitation of legal proceedings in
being able to consider multiple forms of discrimination and social position at the same time,
highlighting instead how different forms of oppression can be overlapping and mutually
reinforcing (Crenshaw, 2017) . To expand on this, Leung and Wiliams note: "The term
intersectionality was originally used to describe any person who has experienced discrimination
based on more than one association with a group that has been previously oppressed by
society. The term was needed because, as Crenshaw demonstrated, the judicial system and
society in general viewed discrimination and oppression through a singular classification,
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usually associated with race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation" (Leung & Williams, 2019) .
The term has since moved out of legal scholarship and into various academic disciplines as a
framework to examine the interrelated nature of systems of oppression with respect to one's
social position. The influence of the intersectionality framework can be seen far and wide across
the social movements of the left, especially through media practice: Brown et al.'s (2017) review
of Black Lives Matter activism on Twitter underscores how the #SayHerName campaign
surrounding the police killings of Black women employed intersectionality as a strategy to
address the omission of gender analysis in the broader movement; another study notes how a
documentary about hip hop star R. Kelly's serial sexual abuse of young Black women was an
important catalyst for the #MeToo movement to return to its focus on Black women — its original
founders (Leung & Williams, 2019) ; similarly, Gentile & Salerno's (2019) examination of images
shared on Facebook by the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP) showcase how
intersectionality is visually conveyed online in the immigrant youth movement to highlight the
unique experience of the undocumented queer community. I observed similar tactics in my own
work as Gen Z converts the representational critiques of previous generations into opportunities
to build coalitions and collaborations. In the case of the Sunrise Movement, this means
understanding that people who experience discrimination or oppression most in society will also
bear the worst effects of climate change. In the messaging of both movements, this means
highlighting how gun violence and climate change affect communities differently based on
interrelated social ills. For example, MFOL youth activist David Hogg noted how fighting gun
violence requires attention to the ways it disproportionately affects people of color (see
Appendix D) . This point was followed by a change in communication strategy which highlighted
the impact of gun violence on the Black community, most notably as part of the Black Lives
Matter protests in 2020 (Cooley & Levenson, 2020) . Additionally, while not SM specific, many
examples of intersectionality could be seen in the messages of the climate justice movement,
such as "planet over profit" and "invest in the future, not fossil fuels'' (Figure 14) on protest
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signs, which link climate change to anti-capitalist efforts. Furthermore, Greta Thunberg's speech
in the Global Climate Strike in Los Angeles unscored how colonialism has exacerbated the
climate crisis and how indegenous people should be credited for their environmentalist efforts.
Many more examples can be seen on SM's digital platforms, including their website which
regularly provides training on how to be an ally to racial justice movements. In all, it seems
today's youth movements use intersectionality in their messaging to examine the unique ways
that social issues impact different communities and in turn to broaden their support and build
bridges across differences. Short of movements citing Crenshaw directly, the impact of the
intersectionality framework on social movements' examination of social issues cannot be
dismissed.
Figure 14: Gen Z climate activists are unapologetically anti-capitalist.
Conclusion
In sum, this chapter draws from field work with the gun violence prevention movement
and the climate justice movement to identify trends in the use of media and communication
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among youth activists, focusing on practices, materials, and messages. In terms of practices,
what I call crossover practices were the most noteworthy because they reflected the ways that
youth activists organize and plan for direct action at physical sites of protest with a networked
world in mind. With digital bridging, SMOs and youth social movement actors at large create
pathways for online engagement through text-based services, physical QR codes, and hashtags
on hand-drawn materials. Also, young people today plan street protests with remediation
accounted for through digital vision, as they coordinate ways to influence the imagery about
social movements online through color coordination, photo-op set-ups, and by staging
compelling photography. As far as materials, an overview of activist media used during street
protest would be incomplete without considering analog and material forms, in this case protest
merch, protest attire, and various kinds of storytelling through physical mediums. Compared to
my previous experience with the immigrant youth movement in the 2000s and 2010s (R. A.
Lopez, 2013) , protest merchandise among today's youth social movements was striking,
including various polished for-order products such as banners, printed signs, canopies,
wrist-bands and buttons. This "protest merch" signals new funding opportunities, cultural
change regarding how youth identify with movements, and the rise of online services that
facilitate the mass-production of customizable materials. The ubiquity of the protest t-shirt, with
movement messages and the logos of SMOs, perhaps reflect new meanings for solidarity
through attire and the communication of values. I also encountered various forms of physical
communication channels used for material storytelling, such as spoken word, political speeches,
written poetry, and portraits of gun violence victims, which I found to uniquely share narratives
about social movement issues through their media specific attributes. Lastly, street protests and
mobilizations are a plethora of meaning making, and some of the common types of messages I
observed across the gun violence prevention and climate justice movement pertain to
messages of despair and cross-movement messages. While many of the messages shared in
street protest, from signs to chants, are meant to energize a movement base, I also came
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across mourning and remembrance messages and climate anxiety messages. In the gun
violence prevention movement, honoring and remembering those lost to gun violence came
across through speeches and art. At climate justice movement protests, hand-drawn signs
reflected a sense of dread about an impending catastrophic future due to inaction around
climate change, which I call climate anxiety messages. Both mourning and remembrance and
climate anxiety messages seemed to function similarly by allowing for the collective processing
of emotion surrounding social issues and finding solidarity with others experiencing similar
feelings. Finally, cross-movement messages that indicate communication between concurrent
social movements were also observed, specifically spillover and intersectionality. For both the
gun violence prevention movement and climate justice movement, the influence of Black Lives
Matter was present at sites of protest through the amplification of messages surrounding the
need to address racial injustice — an example of spillover. Similarly, both social movements
showed a commitment to examining the impact of their core issues across dimensions of
identity in messaging through what resembles Kimberle Crenshaw's framework of
intersectionality, often by pointing out how those in society with the least political and economic
power bear the most dire effects of gun violence and climate change.
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Chapter 5: Youth Activism and COVID-19
Youth Activism and COVID-19
"Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we are asking organizers to
avoid mass physical gatherings. Going forward, we all must think creatively about
what it means to #StrikeWithUs. As a generation shaped by the internet and
social media, it's time to innovate, esp digitally"
— (Sunrise Movement, 2020c)
"In the streets or from the couch, we're never going to stop fighting to end the
gun violence epidemic in this country. Social distancing means no marching, so
we're taking this online"
— (March for our Lives, 2020)
The impact of COVID-19 on both youth activism and on this dissertation cannot be
understated. Along with countless others, I found my work and way of life rapidly interrupted as
the United States and world at large entered a mandated lockdown in March of 2020. As an
activist-researcher who began this work over a decade ago as a youth media maker in spaces
of direct action and street protest with the immigrant rights movement, I found my primary form
of scholarly engagement and method — participant observation — to be nearly impossible to
continue. Due to a widespread mistrust of researchers among social movements, especially as
the goals of activists and academics rarely align, access to organizers and activists requires
time and commitment to build trust and relationships. With my previous work with the immigrant
youth movement (Lopez, 2013; Costanza-Chock, 2014), community activist organizations
(Gordon & Lopez, 2018), and to some degree with NeverAgain (Jenkins & Lopez, 2018), this
meant showing up to organized street protest and actions, volunteering to assist with tasks, and
spending time with the people in these spaces to connect on a human level. This was the
121
essence of my participant observation method, which then grew organically into interview
opportunities and access to primary sources — a cascading flow. However, lockdown largely
prevented this process, which required a return to the drawing board as I sought other methods
to supplement my existing work. More on the direct impacts on this work are expanded in the
limitations section below. Similarly, today's social movements and youth activists looked to new
ways to continue fighting for the issues that they care about, often by any media necessary .
The year 2020 also coincided with some of the highest rates of street protest for any
year in U.S. history, as outrage over the killing of George Floyd fueled Black Lives Matter
mobilizations across the globe. I too joined in the streets as I weighed the importance of the
pandemic lockdown for public health safety against the urgency of addressing the systematic
disregard for Black lives across U.S. institutions. These protests were pivotal for many people
on a personal level, and also for organizations committed to social justice — including March for
Our Lives and Sunrise Movement. The influence of Black Lives Matter on these organizations
could be seen well before the pandemic, and the protests for George Floyd further solidified this
commitment to incorporate racial justice as a core lens to tackling gun violence and climate
change. March for Our Lives used their various communication channels, from their website to
social media accounts, to amplify the messages of Black Lives Matter, urging their supporters to
donate to Black organizations and to educate themselves about racial injustice (Cooley &
Levenson, 2020) . Similarly, Sunrise Movement increased their preexisting commitment to racial
justice by hosting webinars and trainings on how to be an anti-racist ally. All of this occurred as
MFOL and SM continued their respective commitment to addressing gun violence and the
climate crisis, primarily through networked technologies behind lockdown restrictions. As a
researcher, I followed and observed such efforts from the privilege of remote-work, closely
reading and interpreting digital tactics and methods to better understand what this historical
moment means for youth media activism — a continuing effort.
Key Takeaways
122
Keeping in mind that the overall effects of the pandemic on youth media activism are still
unraveling, the following section aims to make sense of the insights derived from my case
studies and comparative chapter. In the spirit of full transparency, the gun violence prevention
chapter was mostly completed prior to the pandemic, while the climate justice movement
chapter coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. With that said, I return here to
the overarching guiding questions from the introduction, to put them directly into conversation
with the material covered thus far. They are:
● What do the media practices of youth activists, including the repertoire of contention and
participatory politics, look like for today's youth social movements?
● What can be learned by contextualizing the media practices of youth activists in today's
social movements within a broader media ecology?
● What kinds of cultural priorities do the media practices of youth activists reveal?
First, media practices of today's youth activists are cross-platform, they blend offline
direct action with online engagement, and are increasingly professionalized. Whether
cross-platform or transmedia, it's clear that today's youth explore the full gamut of
communication tools available to them, challenging the notion that any single channel is
prioritized. Youth SMOs also showcase a deep and nuanced understanding of the unique
affordances of each communication channel, tailoring content and modes of engagement to
maximize their goals. Also, despite this attention and commitment to mediated modes of
engagement, young people in today's social movements have not abandoned street protest and
mobilizations — on the contrary, they find ways to amplify it through remediation. The observed
youth SMOs showcase a nuanced understanding of the intricate relationship between physical
protest actions and mediated tactics, as they carefully plan for and build pathways for digital
engagement. Additionally, lowered costs and reduced barriers to professional communications
tools and practices means that some youth SMOs resemble well-funded non-profits or even
start-ups. From standardized design aesthetics, to approaches resembling branding, to the use
123
of for-order protest merchandise, some of today's youth SMOs have added new kinds of
professional media approaches to compliment the DIY, volunteer-based, grassroots media
making of previous generations.
Second, placing the observed media practices of youth activists within a broader media
ecology has underscored important dynamics, notably contestation with counter-movements,
the enduring power of legacy media, and the significance of non-digital, non-networked forms of
communication. While youth activists wield various communication tools and platforms as part
of their mediated tactics, they do not do so without challenge from opposing forces. Whether
encountering conspiracy theorists claiming that youth activists are political puppets controlled by
elites, or climate change deniers parroting partisan talking points, young people aiming to use
networked technologies for social change open themselves up to attack. Moreover, despite the
ability to circumvent traditional sites of power through alternative communication channels or
"democratized" corporate social media, legacy media continue to disproportionately shape the
national political agenda along partisan lines. Young people in general have limited access to
legacy media, but the observed SMOs are perhaps exceptional cases in that they have both
received favorable coverage across legacy media channels. On the other hand, non-digital,
non-networked communication channels continue to play an important role at physical protest
sites. A look at the importance of material media, speech as medium, and even artistic
productions in a broader media ecology pushes back against a tendency in communication
scholarship to overemphasize ICTs in youth media activism.
Third, an attention to the symbolic dimensions of media tactics has revealed how young
activists highlight youth identity, amplify concurrent movements, and prioritize intersectionality.
The messages that youth activists in the gun violence prevention and climate justice
movements share re-interpret social issues with young people in mind. They highlight and
elevate the unique impact that gun violence and climate change have on young people across
media productions, often as a way to call out inaction by the adult world and inspire involvement
124
in the cause from their peers. Also, perhaps learning from movements of old or reflecting new
cultural priorities, young activists today use their media productions to amplify the messages of
concurrent social movements — especially those similarly committed to a broader umbrella of
social justice. In particular, the influence of Black Lives Matter could be seen across the
observed social movements, with messaging reflecting a pledge and commitment to addressing
racial injustice as part of ending gun violence and resolving the climate crisis. Finally, my
observations underscored the influence of Kimberle Crenshaw's intersectionality framework
across today's left-leaning social movements. Correcting some of the pitfalls of prior social
movements that caused splintering through an inability to address the multifaceted demands of
a diverse base, youth activists today use their messaging to highlight the unique ways that
social issues affect different people differently depending on their access and proximity to
power.
Final Thoughts
As closing thoughts to this years-long work, I reflect here on notable contributions to the
field, limitations of my work, and future directions. First, I firmly believe that my strongest
contributions to both social movements and communication scholarship is my combined focus
on digital media and street protest. This approach has forced me to consider a broader media
ecology, where the definitions of both media and communication must be expanded to account
for the varied ways that social movements collectively make meaning through signs and
symbols. My involvement with street protest as a participant observer also allowed me to center
the people who drive social movements, which helped give me a nuanced understanding of how
and why people dedicate their time and lives to social change. My hope is that more
communication research consider fieldwork as part of the study of social movements, and that
social movements research consider the inextricably linked relationship between street protest
and communication. Second, as noted in the opening, various factors shaped the type of
dissertation that I could produce — especially one about youth. The gun violence prevention
125
movement chapter largely benefitted from my experience with ethnographic methods in the
field, which resulted in insightful interviews. On the other hand, I had to maneuver new ways to
derive insights during the COVID-19 lockdown for the climate justice movement chapter. As
such, the comparative chapter was structured around the types of insights that could be most
easily compared based on common trends — street protest. Another limitation includes
challenges for getting interviews, either due to non-response or because potential interviewees
were minors. I worked around this limitation by talking to minors as part of my fieldwork at sites
of protest, especially for those involved with MFOL. Many of their insights are captured in my
fieldnotes. Furthermore, broader method specific limitations were briefly addressed in the
introduction, which I partly accounted for by building in triangulation. Finally, as future directions,
I aim to retroactively strengthen the presented research by conducting more interviews,
especially for the chapter on climate justice. I had also originally planned to incorporate insights
from my involvement with racial justice and immigrant rights movements, which I unfortunately
had to cut due to the over-ambitious scope of this project. My hope is that I can continue
strengthening this work to be able to share it back with the many people who were so
instrumental to its creation.
126
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APPENDIX A
Road to Change, LA Town Hall, Field Notes
Rogelio (Male): I'm now recording. I'm here. My name is Rogelio Alejandro Lopez, and I'm
here with Molly Jones, and we are here doing a debrief for an event that
we went to tonight. It was the Road to Change campaign for Los Angeles.
It was a town hall meeting at the California African American Museum,
and the event was in Exposition Park across the street from USC. It's a
place starting at 7:00 PM is when the doors opened, and the official event
started at around 7:30.
Rogelio (Male): The purpose of the event was to continue a national tour that has been
going on for the past few weeks as part of March for Our Lives, a
movement that emerged after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and now the current efforts by
activists are to mobilize voters to get them involved in different local and
state electoral initiatives to improve gun reform.
Rogelio (Male): So let's go ahead and start describing the communities that we saw. Like,
who was there? I'll go ahead and start. I noticed that there were a lot of
young people. I noticed that it was a lot of teenagers, what looked like to
me high schoolers, a lot of middle schoolers as well, kids of all races, and
nationalities, and ethnicities, a lot of white students at first, and then
eventually we started seeing more people of color showing up. There
were also a lot of parents.
Rogelio (Male): When we first got there, there seemed to be a lot of volunteers wearing
different shirts, that were registering people to vote. People with
clipboards would come up to us as we arrived at the museum itself, and
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asked us if we registered to vote. I also noticed there were some police
officers there, security outside of the building as we arrived, and within the
event itself, as more people started to arrive, it started to get a lot more
diverse. But I would say that about half of the crowd was maybe white,
Caucasian of all ages, intergenerational, but mainly teenagers and
parents, it looked like.
Molly (Female): Yeah.
Rogelio (Male): Do you have anything to add about the communities that you saw, types
of people?
Molly (Female): One thing about the space I noticed is the organizers had made an effort
to make it accessible. I noticed there was reserved seating. They had
interpreters who were signing ASL.
Rogelio (Male): We did get to talk to one family who were from the East Coast originally,
and they drove not too far from ... I think-
Molly (Female): Burbank, they said.
Rogelio (Male): Burbank, so The Valley to get to this event, a father and his two teenage
children, a young woman and a young man, who-
Molly (Female): He was reading Game of Thrones.
Rogelio (Male): He was reading Game of Thrones [inaudible 00:03:44] so that was
interesting. We got to meet some people. It also seemed like there was a
lot of people from the area, either from South LA or from neighboring
communities from USC.
Molly (Female): And, they were reserving seats behind us for people who were either
relatives or supporters. I don't know. They seemed like people who were
involved in the organizing of the event, but maybe weren't panelists, kind
of VIPs, I would say.
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Rogelio (Male): What else did I notice about the communities and the people? I did notice
that a lot of people had merchandise with them, that they had brought
with them, so there was some merchandise being sold at the event, and
I'll get to that later, but it seemed like a lot of people had hats or shirts that
said "March to Our Lives," so perhaps it was people that had attended the
larger March for Our Lives that had happened earlier in the year.
Molly (Female): And beyond that, I would say that people were wearing t-shirts from other
movements, that it seems like they connect in some way to this one. For
example, I saw t-shirts from the Women's March, Black Lives Matter ...
Rogelio (Male): Let's talk about, now, some media practices. So for media practices, I
tried to take a look at the different types of ways that people use media in
this space. This was a town hall meeting, so it mirrored mostly a panel
style, where people ... First there was a panel that talked about a variety
of different issues and addressed questions, and then they opened the
floor to the audience, pretty standard town hall format. But even prior to
the event, I mean, we see what we usually see, some people taking
pictures. People were taking selfies in front of the panel signs, where it
said, "Road to Change," and people were having fun with it.
Rogelio (Male): There were several points in the talk where people directly referenced
technology and technological practice. One of them was when one of the
Stoneman Douglas High School students asked the audience if they had
phones, and he asked them to hold them out and to text this number that
was set up to get them involved with the campaign.
Molly (Female): That panelist, you reminded me, was the chief strategist for the March for
Our Lives.
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Rogelio (Male): And what else did I notice for media practice? Aside from that, I did notice
that a lot of different people were there, just with different cameras, taking
pictures. A lot of them may have been journalists. A lot of them may have
just been people who were interested in the event, who had DSLRs and
all these different types of equipment. But there was a press check-in as
you walked into the museum and turned left, and I was able to talk to
some of those people. They asked me if I was with the press, because I
had a DSLR, and I said I wasn't. I introduced myself to them as a
researcher. I was able to ask some of them if they wanted to be
interviewed. They agreed, and I gave them my business card.
Rogelio (Male): What else about media practice? There was a lot of signs. A lot of people
brought signs, which maybe now I can transition into the artifacts part of
the observation, just the different types of items and artifacts that I felt
communicated the different messages of the movement. There were
signs that people had. The gentleman who sat next to us, who came from
the East Coast, he said that he asked people for them, that they didn't
have a lot of them, but there were signs that said, "Road to Change," or,
"March for Our Lives," or something like that, you know, usual protest
signs, which I thought were interesting. We also got, obviously, our
wristbands that had the event, and they were used to signal that we had
already gone through the security checkpoint.
Molly (Female): The signs that the family had, sitting next to us, they actually had a voting
theme. It said, "I will vote," and then it had a line where you could write in
your reason for voting or what you were voting for.
Rogelio (Male): Oh, I didn't catch that.
147
Molly (Female): Yeah. So the father had even ran back to get a Sharpie so that the
adolescents could then make them their own.
Rogelio (Male): That's cool. That actually follows the traditional pledge card that you see
in a lot of different movements, that the card itself asks you to pledge
something, some sort of action or cause that you're willing to do as a
participant. That's cool. Of course, I did notice the merchandise itself,
which they stressed a lot. There were hats that said, "March for Our
Lives." There were t-shirts from previous events, but they were also
selling different merchandise for this event. So they had a very interesting
American flag with a QR code standing in for the stars and blue
background of the part of the flag, which it linked people directly to a
register to vote page. I thought it was an interesting way to do that.
Rogelio (Male): And there were also buttons. You got some buttons that said, "We call
BS," which you know, takes us back to that very first public press speech
that Emma Gonzalez made, where she repeated the phrase, "We call
BS," as she was calling out different points of facts that did not seem to
be backed up by evidence for not pushing for gun reform for some reason
or another.
Molly (Female): And linking the merchandise to technology use, another item that they
were selling are those ... I don't know what they're called. You stick them
on the back of your cell phone and they pop out, so it's easier to hold it.
Rogelio (Male): Oh, a holder.
Molly (Female): Yeah.
Rogelio (Male): I didn't-
148
Molly (Female): Those little pop-out buttons. So it was the same two messages. You could
buy one that said, "March for Our Lives," or you could buy one that had
that flag with the scan barcode.
Rogelio (Male): Oh, cool.
Molly (Female): So it could be on your phone.
Rogelio (Male): Yeah, so there were a lot of different types of material merchandise that I
think was obviously created either professionally by the organization itself,
so I didn't really see a lot of things that appeared to be made by
participants themselves, either shirts or things like that. Although there
were several young women with a haircut that was very resembling of
Emma Gonzalez's now well-known buzz cut, which I thought was very
interesting. I thought, in many ways, it's kind of a very counterculture look
of her, kind of a throwback to an almost anarchistic aesthetic. I thought it
was interesting to see middle school young girls through high school aged
girls wearing that haircut, kind of showing the impact of how much of a
hero, I guess, Emma has become.
Molly (Female): Well, and you pointed out to me when we first arrived, that one of the
March for Our Lives Los Angeles organizers, who was a moderator on the
panel, she was wearing like an army green coat that had several buttons
on it, that you thought was reminiscent of Emma Gonzalez's jacket.
Rogelio (Male): Exactly. So, at the DC March for Our Lives, that happened a few weeks
ago, Emma Gonzalez wore this very iconic green bomber jacket, which
was covered in all sorts of different buttons and patches, and this
organizer, Eve, who organized this event here in Los Angeles, at the
California African American Museum, was wearing a jacket that was very,
149
very similar, obviously trying to be inspired by Emma's look, which I
thought was very interesting. Good observation.
Rogelio (Male): Okay. So I think that about covers it for the main observations in terms of
communities, practices, and artifacts. Now we can move on into the
content of the actual panelists and the speakers. It was interesting how
the speakers were set up. I didn't know this is how it was going to be set
up, but essentially, it was set up as a conversation between the Marjory
Stoneman High School students and the family members affected by the
tragedy there, and have since become activists around the issue. So they
were one side of the panel versus a lot of local activists, people here in
Los Angeles who have been involved in various types of gun reform or in
response to different types of gun violence, which I thought was incredibly
interesting.
Rogelio (Male): So as the panelists we had, and again, I don't exactly recall their names,
so I'll have to go back and find out, but we had Emma Gonzalez, who was
kind of the rock star of the group and had a lot of cheers and attention,
both during and after the event. Then we had a series of other panelists
who were involved with Black Lives Matter, and also other activists who
themselves have been affected by gun violence personally, and who had
been using their own voice and activism as a way to initiate change here
locally in LA. Anything else about the panelists that you remember?
Molly (Female): Just that they varied in age. I would say pretty even gender divide.
Rogelio (Male): So the talk actually opened by asking them a very important question, I
thought, that was very relevant to some of the questions that have guided
me in my own research about this movement. They started by asking the
panelists, "What are some of the misconceptions about the movement?"
150
Molly (Female): Well, that was specifically to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
The first couple of questions, they were really pointed about who they
were gearing them towards, and then later, they asked more general
questions.
Rogelio (Male): So the first ones were about kind of misconceptions, right? And some of
those misconceptions had to do with ... Go ahead. Go ahead. Some of
those misconceptions had to do with all of these different ideas that are
perpetuated about the movement in the media, about the movement
being some front for larger powers that are invested in taking away
people's guns for some reason or another. They talked about this idea
that the movement's being used to leverage a political agenda, all of
these different things.
Rogelio (Male): You know, I can't recall exactly all of the examples, but there was kind of a
consensus across the speakers from Parkland, that the media has not
been kind. And they weren't really very specific about which media. They
did at some point single out Fox News as one of the media examples that
is particularly dangerous in perpetuating some of these misconceptions,
but for the most part, they stayed very generic when talking about how
media portrayed them, and as a whole, they didn't really seem to be very
trustworthy of media in general, and how they were portrayed. Did you
catch anything from those initial talks?
Molly (Female): Another misconception that they brought up was just that they're not
against guns and the right to bear arms, that they just want sensible gun
laws.
Rogelio (Male): Yeah. I think that Emma addressed that one, right?
Molly (Female): Mm-hmm (affirmative).
151
Rogelio (Male): She talked about how it's not about removing the Second Amendment. It's
about having better measures to determine who is eligible to own and buy
a firearm. And then they moved on to different questions for some of the
Black Lives Matter panelists, right? I don't remember exactly what the first
questions that they moved on to were, but they did at some point ask
them what the biggest issues they faced here in LA were.
Molly (Female): Barriers, yeah, challenges.
Rogelio (Male): What were some of the major challenges being faced here locally in the
Los Angeles area, and what did they say? Do you remember?
Molly (Female): Mm-mm (negative).
Rogelio (Male): I do remember that they started talking about some of the differences, the
importance of also kind of addressing that media representation question,
where some of the Black Lives Matter activists talked about this idea of
misconceiving all of the gun violence in inner cities as being gang
violence, and a lot of the issues that were related to that. So there's kind
of a similar idea that the representation of communities in different parts
of LA, from South LA to other areas in the city, can often be reduced to
these different instances of gang violence, and I thought they did a good
job of unpacking a lot of the broader context of why that is wrong. So
there was a lot of talk about police brutality in particular, and how the
conversation about gun legislation reform can't happen, or shouldn't
happen, without taking into account that a lot of the gun violence that
affects people of color is perpetrated on behalf of the police.
Molly (Female): Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Rogelio (Male): Do you have anything to add that you remember?
152
Molly (Female): No. Very early on in the questions, a lot of the panelists shared their
personal stories and how they were affected by gun violence.
Rogelio (Male): I thought this was very powerful. There were various stories, and I won't
repeat them because I don't remember them exactly and I wouldn't give
them justice, but I thought that each of the panelists was bringing a very
different aspect of gun violence to the table. There were examples of
people that were affected by ... we might consider gang violence. It was-
Molly (Female): Community violence.
Rogelio (Male): Community violence. There were domestic partner violence, endemic
partner violence.
Molly (Female): And the victim of mass shooting.
Rogelio (Male): Victim of mass shootings. There was a lot of talk about victims who were
killed at the hands of police, so these were perhaps not necessarily
firsthand accounts or people that were related immediately to the
panelists themselves, but there were a lot of talks of a lot of those very
visible figures of the Black Lives Matter movement, from Trayvon Martin,
to Eric Garner, to Sandra Bland, and just the idea of naming the different
victims of gun violence, especially police brutality, became a very
important issue for a lot of the panelists, and they went into a
conversation of just the power of naming people in a situation, just how
gun violence itself dehumanizes people to the fullest extent. I mean,
people are losing their lives, but how naming them served as a way to
honor their memory, but also to keep their memory alive and to serve as
inspiration and hope for change. And also, of course, to bring out justice.
So I thought that was a very important conversation.
153
Molly (Female): Well, another way that one of the panelists spoke about it was ... Well,
several of them said something to the effect of, "I'm that person's voice
now. I'm here to speak on behalf of the victim of gun violence." So that
was a theme that came up repeatedly, and one of the panelists in
particular, who was a father, said that his son's life doesn't end here but
will continue on, because he's a part of this movement now.
Rogelio (Male): Mm-hmm (affirmative). The other thing that I remember, and this is kind of
starting a new point now, is the lead strategist talked a lot about just the
NRA, and the different types of arguments that are given to support or to
kind of postpone or delay gun reform, and one of them is this narrative of
what stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. He, I thought,
did a really good job of linking that message to the NRA's bottom line and
a lot of different organizations or entities that profit from that type of
reasoning, and I thought using that reasoning to talk about the economy
and capital behind gun sales and the NRA was a very interesting and
compelling way to deliver that argument.
Rogelio (Male): It really connected the dots in terms of the profit that's made from the fear
that's generated after each mass shooting or any shooting. Just, when
people die, when bullets are spent, when fear is generated, somebody
profits, and I thought it was a very interesting way to think about how that
profit is tied to our political system and how it has become a barrier for
change.
Molly (Female): Yeah. In general, throughout the conversation, his comments in particular
seemed to be geared more towards politics, and I guess that's indicative
of his role as lead strategist, but just a different perspective than those
whose stories were more personal.
154
Rogelio (Male): That's a good point. No, you're right. There were speakers there who
were there to share primarily ... Or not to share primarily, but who shared
their personal story, and one of the most recent was the woman who
shared her story about her sister being murdered by her domestic partner.
Molly (Female): Ex-husband, yeah.
Rogelio (Male): Ex-husband.
Molly (Female): And it could also be ... You mentioned that that happened recently, so it's
sort of this development, like how you become involved with the
movement and how you evolve with it, if that makes sense.
Rogelio (Male): Mm-hmm (affirmative). What I also found interesting was that ... I don't
know if this was intentional or not, but at the beginning of the panel, it did
seem like there were ... the questions were geared towards one side or
the other. There weren't a lot of questions it seemed were meant to be
answered across the panelists, across those involved locally in LA, which
most of them seemed to be involved with Black Lives Matter and the
Parkland group, right? So I don't know if that was intentional or not, but a
lot of it did seem to be, at least at the beginning, the Black Lives Matter
group responding to this idea that the Parkland High narrative wasn't
really connecting the dots with Black Lives Matter, and that they had to be
more intentional about making those links themselves.
Rogelio (Male): And I think they did during the panel, but I think initially, the structure of
the entire panel seemed to be kind of that way, this idea that this is
happening at large with the NRA and guns, but we've been fighting these
battles for a very long time, and along with gun violence, we have to deal
with all these other systems, and we heard everything from police racial
profiling, to the prison industrial system, to the-
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Molly (Female): School-to-prison-
Rogelio (Male): ... schools-to-prison pipeline, to unequal opportunities, and unavailability
of jobs, and resources, and communities, all of these different things, so
the role of white supremacy. All of these different larger systemic issues
that are well known in the Black Lives Matter movement were then talked
about, I think, in the context of the March for Our Lives, which I thought
was very interesting, and the Parkland group, I think, responded well in
making those connections.
Molly (Female): One interesting comment came from a Black Lives Matter panelist, who
said ... This was in reference to the misconceptions about the Parkland
kids. So the Black Lives Matter activist said, "Even I thought that the black
voices weren't being heard in your movement," so her point there was,
"Even I had this misconception, because I was seeing, in mainstream
media, one portrayal," which to me, it seemed like her comment was
saying, "And in actuality, my experience working with you all has not been
that way."
Rogelio (Male): I got that too. I thought it was interesting. I think it really ... It seemed like
an effort to bring a lot of the points of similarity of the movements together
towards this common cause. So towards the end of the structure of the
talk, on both sides, there was kind of this idea of persuading the audience
to be more involved. At one point, one of the panelists said, "You know
what? It's not enough for me to be up here and talk. I hope that my talk
does something to inspire you to go act," because, this panelist said, "You
know, we can't really initiate change without you here in the audience,"
and I think it was a good way to kind of bow-tie this idea of getting people
to vote, but beyond voting, just getting people to act in different ways. I
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think that was one of the concluding comments before they opened up
the floor to different questions-
Molly (Female): Excuse me.
Rogelio (Male): ... from audience members. So the audience members, it was interesting.
They had all these different young people, middle schoolers, high
schoolers, all sorts of people who went up and asked these very
interesting questions to all the panelists, and one of the ones that stood
out the most to me was a young black middle school student, a young girl
who said that she was really inspired by going to the March for Our Lives
because she said that most of the people there seemed to be people like
her. She identified with the people there, and by that, she meant young
people.
Rogelio (Male): So she said she had never been in a space so dominated by youth
power, and how inspiring that was, and she has since been involved, or
maybe prior to that, been involved with a Black Lives Matter youth
organization here in LA. I thought it was really just inspiring and
confirming, just this idea of the importance of young people being
engaged, and what that does to their sense of efficacy.
Molly (Female): A lot of the panelists spoke to that in saying ... you know, bringing up the
idea of ageism and intellectual elitism, and just don't let anyone tell you
you're too young or you don't know enough to make this change. One of
the things they said was actually that it's a strength of young people that
they are able to act quickly, whereas adults tend to deliberate, and think
things through, and think about long-term progress. They said that one of
the benefits of being young is that instant ... I don't know, that drive or
energy to act immediately.
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Rogelio (Male): Mm-hmm (affirmative). I thought Emma did an interesting job of being
pretty humorous there, talking about all the different things that young
people want now. They want their WiFi now. They want their
instantly-cooked rice now, and all these different examples, which brought
a lot of laughs to the room. I thought it was interesting, and it kind of
showed her dynamism and just being a very personable and charismatic
speaker that a lot of people can relate to. Yeah, I think not all the
speakers were able to speak. I think we had run out of time and it was
already close to 9:30 when the event ended.
Molly (Female): In fact, there was a long line, and when they introduced the idea of
questions from the audience, they had people line up on the left side of
the panelists, and there were lots of young people in the line. I don't think
there were any adults who lined up, and they didn't have time. They did
three questions and then they told maybe 10 other young people that they
weren't going to have time.
Rogelio (Male): Yeah. But after that, there was a huge line, and the event ended pretty
quickly, and everyone crowded around Emma. She was the star of the
night. A lot of other panelists did get a lot of attention, but it was very clear
that people came to see Emma. That was very interesting, and I guess
expected given her visibility.
Molly (Female): Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Rogelio (Male): That's it. I was able to talk to a few people. I talked to this young woman,
Edna ... Chavez, Edna Chavez?
Molly (Female): Edna Elizabeth Chavez.
Rogelio (Male): Edna Elizabeth Chavez, who was one of the speakers at the March for
Our Lives in Downtown LA earlier this year, and I asked her if she would
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be interested in being interviewed, and she said she would be. I also
talked to Bria, one of the panelists and Black Lives Matter activists, who
also agreed, a young woman and organizer who was also the moderator
for the panel. Her name was Eve.
Molly (Female): Levenson.
Rogelio (Male): Eve Levenson, who also agreed to be interviewed, and a few others, a
few others who I don't immediately know their name at the top of my
head. But I think overall, it was a very interesting event, and that's it,
unless you have any other final words.
Molly (Female): No.
Rogelio (Male): Okay. I'm going to stop the recording.
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APPENDIX B
Road to Change, Elmo Village, Field Notes
Rogelio: Okay, so hello, my name is Rogelio Alejandro Lopez, and I am here to do a
debrief from an event as part of the campaign, The road to Change, which is a
campaign organized by the organization March for Our Lives. What the event
was was a community barbecue organized at a location in Los Angeles called
Elmo Village on Le Seneca and Washington. Elmo Village was a very interesting
place. I was not aware of the location of this place. The founding of this village,
which is a cluster of various homes dedicated to the promotion of different arts
and arts training was founded in 1969 I was able to learn from some of staff at
the village. The village itself is open to the public on the weekends where they
host workshops for young people in the neighborhood where the young people
can learn how to make different types of artworks and become familiar with
techniques and materials. Then, that art itself becomes available to the public to
purchase, which goes back to the artist themselves and also the proceeds back
to the village, I believe.
Rogelio: The event was organized as part of the tour, and I found out about it on their
website, on The Road to Change Tour section of the website. The event was
scheduled to start at five p.m., so I arrived there around four. It was a typical LA
neighborhood, mostly black and brown as I was driving through and trying to find
parking, and I prepared as usual. I prepared my camera. I prepared different
items that I brought with me from my recorder, to my phones, to my battery as I
started this second day of field work.
Rogelio: Immediately, even by four p.m., as I drove by the Elmo Village, I noticed that I
could immediately recognize the campaign because by four, there were already
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various vehicles, people with staff who had shirts that said March for our Lives, or
Road to Change, various of the volunteers had very bright fluorescent neon
shirts, that signaled registration to vote tables and booths. I was able to see that
by four p.m., they were already getting set up so by 4:30, I walked over and I
introduced myself. I recognized a young woman Rachel [Edeve 00:03:12], who I
had met the previous day. She recognized me, I said hello. I greeted her. I told
her it was very nice to see her, and at this table, I could see they had already
started letting people in.
Rogelio: Like I said, I introduced myself to some of the people there at the table who I did
not know, and then I proceeded to register. As before, I signed in with my name,
my contact, and I gave my zip code so they can keep track of the types of people
that they're reaching, and I was able to register and meet these people, so I
immediately went into this village again as an outsider the first time being at Elmo
Village, I had no idea what to expect. I saw a lot of art on the floor. The types of
houses at the village seemed like little cabanas, or almost cabins, and I
immediately entered and I saw more tables for registration, voter registration. I
said hello, and introduced myself. I was asked if I was already registered to vote.
I said, yes. Then I proceeded to another table where I saw some people with
organizational shirts, March for Our Lives, and Road to Change, and I asked the
if they were selling merchandise, and they said they weren't selling yet, but they
might sell some merchandise at a later time. Then I just asked if they needed any
help and they said no, and they thanked me.
Rogelio: I did run into some people that I had seen before, both organizers and people
who were involved at large as audience members or participants from the
community, so one of the women that I saw who was the primary organizer of the
town hall at the California African-American Museum was Eve Levinson who is
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an 18 year old activist and organizer here in the Los Angeles area who helped
organize the large March for Our Lives event in downtown LA at city hall.
Rogelio: I saw her, I greeted her, I asked her how she was doing. She said fine, although it
did seem that she was very busy. I tried to stay out of her way as I greeted other
people that I had met. In terms of the communities that I saw there, I did see a bit
of a blend as I had the night before. It seemed to be that there were people there
from the surrounding communities in Los Angeles, as the neighborhood itself
seemed to be primarily black and brown so were many of the early participants.
Rogelio: I saw a lot of high school aged, black young men and women, a lot of Latino
young men and woman, and I was able to identify that some of them were
wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. Some of them were wearing other types of
organizational shirts, and they seemed like groups of friends, like there were
various clusters of groups of friends that were at this event.
Rogelio: I made my rounds and I started introducing myself to various people that I saw
trying to make connections with different people, see if anybody would be
interested in being interviewed for my project, and some of the first people I met
were from this organization called The Community Coalition. What they do is they
work in youth leadership and empowerment, and I was able to learn that they're
only a few blocks north on Vermont from USC, and they actually have a youth
program, and a freedom school that they're partnering with USC over the
Summer to do.
Rogelio: As part of this school, they have the students come to USC and take a variety of
a different types of training and workshops that will prepare them for leadership in
the community. I was able to meet a young man. His name was Carlos. I
introduced myself. I told him what I did. I told him that I worked at USC, that I
taught currently public speaking and I also had taught community
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communications, civic engagement, and they were every interested in my work,
and the possibility of doing some sort of partnership. They were especially
interested in the civic imagination work when I started telling them more about it.
Rogelio: I was able to exchange contact with this group specifically with Carlos, and
immediately on the spot, I wanted to correct some of the mistakes that I had
made the night before where I didn't actively get people's emails. This time I did,
and I emailed him on the spot, and he emailed me back, so that was a great
connection that I think will help me with this project because many of the young
people who were there especially, as I mentioned the black and brown youth,
seemed to be part of this organization, the community coalition, and later during
the event, they actually performed a series of poems or poetry, and spoken word
in front of the entire audience at this event, at the barbecue, which was incredibly
powerful and it was very thematic.
Rogelio: They were definitely part of a community that I was able to talk and be involved
with and get to know a little bit better. I immediately went and talked to some of
the youths themselves, asked them how they were enjoying the event, and what
they were most looking forward to. They told me they were looking forward to
many of the speakers, and also some of the activities. Many of them had not
been to Elmo Village before either.
Rogelio: Then I made a few more rounds, introducing myself to people that I saw who
were tech and media. I met a woman, I don't recall her name, but she had driven
from, I believe, Burbank to come to this event, and this woman was taking
photography, and we talked for several minutes about photography and the
importance of being at this event and documenting photography, so that was a
very nice interaction.
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Rogelio: I then went into the ... There was a workshop space like a maker space as part of
this Elmo Village, and I went inside, and I saw all of the different artwork, and
materials, and tables, and glue, and all different types of paint and scissors and
cutting materials and all these different things that assist people, especially
young people in creating these different artworks. The walls were decorated in
the artworks of young students, and the art themselves were up for sale.
Rogelio: I was able to meet a young woman, her name was Cassie, and Cassie was a
volunteer worker here at the village, and so she explained to me a little bit how
the village itself worked, that it catered to a wide range of ages from elementary
to middle to high school in the immediate Los Angeles area, how this village had
been serving the community for several decades, and how she came across it
and loved the work that the village did, so she decided to stay as a volunteer and
as a worker. It was really nice talking to Cassie and learning more about the
village itself, and also talking about the possibility of doing more collaborations in
the future with the Elmo Village because it did seen like the work that they did
there was very powerful.
Rogelio: As the evening went along, and it went past into 5:30 and closer to six, there
started to be a preparation of food, so there was kind of a Ben and Jerry's ice
cream cart serving ice cream, and by this time this village was already packed
with people, and it was very similar to the night before, so although initially there
was a lot of people of color, eventually you started seeing more and more
Caucasian and white people come, a lot of teenagers, a lot of elderly people, a
lot of mothers with children. It was very intergenerational. But, I would say
towards the middle to the end of the event, the breakdown of the space, even
though it's not necessarily reflected in that particular community in Los Angeles,
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became about 50% or half Caucasian people, which speaks to the demographic
that this social movement is activating and engaging.
Rogelio: I used the opportunity during the food, and during the rounds where I was
walking around trying to meet people to talk to more people, so I was able to
once again talk to Rachel, and actually, Rachel Edeve, and I asked her if she
would be willing to participate with my research project, and she agreed. She told
me that she is a student at UC-Irvine, and that she had been organizing with
Rachel on various things including this event and the event from the night before.
Rogelio: That was very nice to talk to her and connect with her, and that's it, and as
before, Molly Jones, my partner did arrive with me in support. I would say, right
around the time that people were lining up to get their barbecue, which there was
chicken, ribs, potato salad, Molly Jones arrived and was able to be there with me,
and together we were able to talk to a few different people that were there,
including some folks from [Changist 00:13:45], who were part of a hub, and they
said they were asked to connect with the campaign while they were in it in Los
Angeles.
Rogelio: In terms of the practices, just both media and also communication practices that I
noticed, I saw that it was very similar to the previous event in terms of what
people were doing with technology and practicing. The space itself was a space
to build community through talking. Like I said, it seemed that a lot of people
showed up there with groups, so there was a lot of talk within groups that
seemed already familiar with themselves, but there also seemed to be very
genuine efforts of groups to talk across and with one another.
Rogelio: As I would have seen different groups intermingle, and it was particularly
powerful to see some of the young people who were wearing Black Lives Matter,
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talk and interact with some of the organizers of the campaign including people
like David Hogg and the lead strategic coordinator of the organization.
Rogelio: I did see a lot of professional photography, so it seemed that the campaign itself
has immediate team that were documenting in terms of photographs. I wasn't
able to talk to this team in particular, but I did see that they had badges that said
Road to Change, and that said media or communication specialist. These are
some people that I would love to talk to in the future, and they were talking
pictures of the event documenting the event. For the most part, not directly
involving themselves with the participants, but they were inter-mingling with
different people as they made themselves move through the space.
Rogelio: But, the things I noticed were the usual things. There were a few booths and
backdrops for people to take selfies, selfies of themselves, and selfies with the
different organizers, particularly with David Hogg, so Emma Gonzales was not
here during this event. I overheard one of the organizers say that there was a
death in her family, and she had to return to Florida. She was not at this event,
but the star power that I had seen from the previous night was actually replicated
with the presence of David Hogg who had not been at the town hall at the
California African-American Museum.
Rogelio: I did notice also that there were a lot of professional media there at the event as
they were at the previous town hall, so there were people from KCAL 9. There
were reporters and camera men. Telemundo eventually showed up, and they
also interviewed people. There was a space behind the organizations table
where various of the young people made their rounds and ways into, in order to
be interviewed by these different various news organizations and television
channels.
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Rogelio: Aside from that, Elmo Village itself is an art maker space, and it wasn't wasted on
this event, so actually, many of the participants of this barbecue were
encouraged to use the many materials to create artworks themselves. I thought
that was very interesting and powerful now. Actually it was able to observe
several young people, teenagers create different types of things from small
paintings to small compositions using fabric, and all of these various different
types of artworks. It was very interesting, so I would say that the entire event
itself was framed around the importance of creating art and artwork as part of the
movement, and to touch upon the end of the night, the moment of culmination,
there was a moment when various organizers and youth leaders were up on
stage talking about the event, talking about their role, talking about what they
wanted to see for the future, and for the movement.
Rogelio: Again and again, we heard the message of the importance of art, of how
important art was to speak across communities, the impactful, and powerful role
that art has and speaking across difference across language, so the Elmo Village
became in a way, a way to frame the importance of artistic practice, and for the
movement.
Rogelio: To go along with these different commentaries and opening speeches, there
were, I would say, about a dozen short poems that were read by the many youth
that came from the community coalition, and the content of these poems was
incredibly powerful, and they ranged in content, but most of them touched upon
what it meant to live in the inner cities of Los Angeles. Many of the themes of
these poems touched upon the constant fear of gun violence. They touched upon
how the young people themselves had witnessed violence, had witnessed gun
violence, had witnessed murders and killings, and how their parents were trying
to do their best to raise them in a community and in a world where the color of
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their skin and the background and their class composition would be very
indicative of how they were treated in society by police, by people with weapons,
by people at large.
Rogelio: I thought that all of the poems were powerful. One of the poems that I thought
was particularly powerful, was a poem called Mama. It was a poem about a
young black woman's relationship to her mother, which moved from being very
contentious, as the young woman expressed, the need to be rebellious at many
points in time, but also taking into account, she's a young black woman living in
Los Angeles, in a world that has already painted a target on her back, which is a
quote from her poem. Just the interplay of needing to be free as a young person,
as a person in America, but also being so restricted by the color of her skin, by
where she lives, and through the parenting which she is able to appreciate, but
had to really negotiate what it meant. I thought it was incredibly powerful with the
event.
Rogelio: Other speeches really highlighted the importance of thinking about different types
of gun violence and the effects they have across communities in terms of
difference. As before, given that so many of the youth there, about half of the
youth were youth of color from inner cities of Los Angeles, many of them black,
young men and women, so much of the tone of the night seemed to be a mix of
reconciling many of the messages of Black Lives matter with the messages of
the March for Our Lives.
Rogelio: Again and again, we heard messages that were echoing the need to think
beyond gang violence frame, and to think about the types of violence that people
of color experience as very much related to the types of violence that we see in
mass shootings as we saw in Parkland, Florida. I thought it was very powerful.
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Rogelio: One of the highlights of the night in terms of practice was this speech from the
Oliver parents. The parents of a young man, his last name was Oliver, who was
shot and killed in parkland, Florida, and had since then, his parents have been
campaigning on the road as part of the Road to Change, and their presence was
incredibly powerful, and they talked about the importance of getting people out to
vote. They read a letter from their son, who he wrote when he was 12 years old.
This letter was his hope for the future when it came to gun legislation reform.
Many years before he, himself was shot and killed at the hands of this deranged
shooter, he was already thinking about what a world with less gun violence could
be. This was incredibly powerful, a very, very powerful moment in the entire
barbecue, and I thought it was very much worth noting that they were committed
to elevating the memory and the wishes of their son.
Rogelio: Finally, we did hear of course some commentary from David Hogg himself as the
speakers had done the night before, David made a great effort to speak to the
specific issues that were reflected at this event by the communities in Los
Angeles. He mentioned how even though Parkland is not necessarily a very
diverse community, and even though the high school itself was not very diverse,
that over the course of the tour, he's been able to connect with different people,
and the tour itself has opened his eyes to the different, many different faces and
facets of gun violence in the country. Again, I thought it was an effort to bridge
many of the narratives of Black Lives Matter with the narratives that we're seeing
now with the March for Our Lives.
Rogelio: In terms of the different artifacts that I saw there, I think many of the artifacts
were either very similar, or the exact same that I had seen before. Much of the
merchandise that I saw people wearing, were shirts from The March for Our
Lives, the big march that happened in downtown LA earlier in the year. I also saw
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many people who had purchased a new shirt, the shirt that contains the QR code
to facilitate voter registration on the spot. It's an American flag that includes a QR
code in it.
Rogelio: I also saw different types of posters, and different types of postcards, so I actually
brought home with me, these different postcards that have messages from the
movement that are meant, I'm guessing, to collect different narratives and
testimonies from people who have been affected by this issue. Other things that I
noticed were that people were wearing hats, white hats that said march for Our
Lives. People had posters with them. People had various kinds of artwork that
they had made there at Elmo Village. The village itself was incredibly symbolic
and rich. Much of the art seemed to be incredibly Afro-Centric, which makes
sense given the time when the village was founded, so it was founded in 1969, a
time when there was a bit of a renaissance in terms of the artistic trials of
African-Americans in this country with a recall to various types of motifs from
Africa.
Rogelio: It was very interesting to see this event taking place in such a symbolically black
space, symbolically black empowerment space. There was various murals on the
floor that were a mix of what appeared to be African figures, but almost
resembling superheroes, so I thought they were almost calling back to comic
books like Black Panther. But again, this is my own interpretation.
Rogelio: I was able to see some of the artwork in some of the cabins and again, the
artwork reflected people of color. They reflected black men and women and
children empowered in active positions with natural hair, and I thought it was an
incredibly powerful message to talk about the importance of art while highlighting
the importance of this artistic community in Los Angeles.
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Rogelio: Those are some of the artifacts that I noticed that were relevant to the messaging
and to how we can interpret this barbecue happening in Los Angeles, which as
many of the communities, themselves, as many of the organizers themselves
mentioned, the makeup of this community was very different than their own
community in Parkland, Florida.
Rogelio: I would say that that mostly wraps up my three categories of communities,
practices, and artifacts. I did not stay until the very end. I arrived at 4:30, left at
around 7:30, was there for roughly about three hours, and the event was still
going strong. As I was walking out with my fiance, Molly, I didn't notice that there
was some commotion as we walked out. As you're walking out of the village, you
can see the tour bus from the movement. It's a big metallic shiny bus, tour bus,
and on both sides of the bus and front and behind it were vehicles that I assume
to be part of the security detail that is overseeing the movement and the leaders
of the movement.
Rogelio: But, as we were walking out, we overheard people that were entering the village
for the first time, saying that the NRA had arrived. Eventually, towards the end of
the speeches, before the speeches were wrapped up, following David Hogg, one
of the organizers actually addressed the crowd and said, "I want you to know that
the NRA has set up outside of this event. They have arrived in their vehicles, and
they're setting up in various tables to table and to challenge our points here."
Then he asked the participants to not engage with them. But, I did hear many
people who were a little worried, who said, they're lining up their cars outside of
the Elmo Village as a show of intimidation.
Rogelio: As Molly and I were walking out, we did see a bit of commotion. We saw that the
street was completely packed with vehicles, some which I mentioned before
belonged to the campaign, and some which seemed to belong to the NRA. We
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witnessed a very disturbing scene where a young woman was trying to enter the
premises, and for reasons that we were unaware of at the time, the security of
the event would not let them in and this man kept telling her again and again,
"Please, stay out of this event. This is private property. We would like you to
leave. Please do not make a scene or cause any agitation. Many of these young
people," meaning the Parkland organizers, he said, "Have PTSD. He said, "They
have PTSD, please leave them alone." This young woman was just silent, just
staring at him angrily, and then she said, "I'm not doing anything. I'm just standing
here. I'm not doing anything."
Rogelio: Then eventually, she walked away. She said, "He put his hands on me," meaning
that she thought the security detail had put his hands on her. I didn't witness this,
but as we walked back towards the car, we did see that this young woman and
someone who appeared to be her sister, walked back to an NRA table, and she
started shouting very loudly, "They put their hands on me. I'm a Muslim woman.
Men are not supposed to touch me," and many of the NA supporters seemed to
be very angry, and very quickly, it seemed that she had several cameras on her,
both amateur and perhaps some professional that were taking video of her
testimony that she had been assaulted by some of the security at the campaign.
Rogelio: Again, like I said, I did not witness that incident. It actually seemed to me that she
might have been exaggerating, or was possibly agitating, on behalf of the NRA,
but I can not say for certain. That concludes my experience with the event. On a
personal note, I thought it was very powerful to see this sea of young people, so
many of them clearly of high school age who were there feeling, at least looking
very inspired, very motivated to be there. Whenever the speakers spoke, they
seemed very intentive, and I saw many faces that I had seen the night before
and it gave me a sense of familiarity and community even though this is only the
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second event I had attended. I thought it was very powerful, and again, the
themes of the entire campaign were very, very powerful. That's it, so, that
concludes my debrief of the second day of field work for The Road to Change.
Thank you.
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APPENDIX C
Road to Change, Orange County, Field Notes
Rogelio: Hello. My name is Rogelio Alejandro Lopez. I am a researcher at USC
Annenberg. Today I am doing a debrief on my fieldwork experience at the Road
to Change town hall event in Orange County, California. Following the format that
I have been using for the previous debriefs, I will first go into a breakdown of the
different communities that I observed at this event. Second, I will look into the
types of cultural and media practices that were observable at this event. Finally, I
will go into the types of different media artifacts and cultural artifacts that I think
are pertinent to understanding how this movement is working.
Rogelio: So, let's go ahead and start with this idea of the community. Immediately upon
getting there, the event was already very packed. Parking was very limited, and I
was not able to park in the assigned parking for the event. It was at a religious
center, and I had to park across the street. Even as I arrived, I could immediately
see that the crowd was very, very different than the crowds that I had seen at the
events in Los Angeles. Overwhelmingly, I would say the crowd was Caucasian.
The crowd was comprised of young teenagers who were mostly white, and also a
lot of parents, middle-aged white men and women, and also a lot of elders.
Rogelio: Upon entering the building, I ... Even prior to entering the building, I waited in line
and I did notice some familiar faces among the organizers. One woman who I ...
young woman who I later introduced myself to, her name was Natalie. She is 17
years old. She told me she is a local volunteer for the March for Our Lives from
Los Angeles. As I was waiting in line, I could overhear people talking about the
importance of flipping the House of Representatives, the importance of getting
people out to vote so that we can gain control of the House and of Congress.
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There were people wearing all sorts of different t-shirts that signaled that they
were part of some organization, including the Road to Change t-shirts, the March
for our Lives t-shirts that people perhaps have gotten at other events organized
by the March for Our Lives organization. I also noticed a few other types of
t-shirts from local organizations, which I'll be listing as I review my written notes.
Rogelio: During this phase, I was mostly taking photography. As I moved closer, I was
able to speak to an organizer with a clipboard who was checking people in into
the event. She was checking people into the event by having them sign a piece
of paper where you provided your contact information, your name, your
willingness to receive further information in the form of text messages. I filled this
paperwork out and proceeded to get in line so that I could be searched by
security.
Rogelio: At the entrance of this event, as with the event at that California African American
Museum, in order to enter, you needed to be searched with a metal detector. So,
I was searched. I had to empty out my pocket, and I gave my piece of paper that
had my information on it to somebody at the door who was collecting them in a
box. Then, they gave me a wristband, and the wristband, I still have it on, has a
March for Our Lives, Road to Change campaign slogan. It also has a Text
Change to 9779, which is one of the ways that the campaign has been getting
people to register for their communication system, to get more information, to
donate, to get information at the local level.
Rogelio: Upon entering, more observations about the community is that I did notice that a
lot of the church members did appear to be African-American. I did speak to a
woman when I was trying to get some water for myself. She told me she was part
of the church, and she offered me some water. But within the room, it was, as I
mentioned before, already so packed with people that I was unable to go into the
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main auditorium room where the actual panelists and town hall event was being
held.
Rogelio: I was immediately escorted to a room with a live screen television. When I got
there, I realized that it was not the live event so I asked if I could go downstairs.
They told me it was full, and that this room was overflow. I then went down
anyway, because I went down to a different viewing area that had a television
and also a live taping and screening of the actual event. I decided to be there
because it seemed livelier, and there were more artifacts and people that I could
talk to. I was able to purchase some merchandise from some of the organizers at
the event.
Rogelio: I will return to some of the organizations now that I start reading my notes, but
some of the observations that I was making from the panelists themselves as the
event started was it seemed that most of the speakers were young people. Many
of them, as they were introducing themselves, introduced themselves as being
local to Orange County. Several of them were coming from San Clemente.
Rogelio: The crowd itself was much more white and Caucasian than the event in Los
Angeles, as mentioned before. There was a mix of teenagers, parents, and
elderly people. There were so many people that I couldn't get in. There were two
spillover areas, which I've already mentioned before, with a television live stream.
However, the rooms that were seen mostly dead or silent because they were so
loud that people were trying to be as quiet as possible so that they can actually
pay attention to the speakers. During the speeches in the lobby area, most
people seemed to be on their phones, or doing other things, writing things down,
looking at merchandise. There were many different types of posters that were set
up, that I'll talk when I get to the part about artifacts. Overall, I thought it was very
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different to hear the speeches televised. I don't think they had quite the same
effect.
Rogelio: During think speech themselves, I did see David Hogg address people in the
crowd. He specifically, when he was talking about the issue at hand, mentioned
the importance of keeping people of color in mind and also trans community and
how to be better allies with people whose values and experiences of violence are
different, which I thought was also echoing some of the sentiments that were
expressed in previous events concerning Black Lives Matter.
Rogelio: The questions themselves that were given to the presenters were very similar, if
not exactly the same, as those at the town hall in Los Angeles. The first question,
or one of the earliest questions, had to do with the misconceptions of the
movement. There was also a question about social movements more broadly
and which ones were most influential or inspiring. One of the panelists said that
she found movements of young people to be particularly inspiring, and pointed to
the Civil Rights movement and mentioned Martin Luther King Jr. as an
inspiration.
Rogelio: Coming back to the communities that were there, the organizations Moms
Demand Action was at the town hall. They seemed to be wearing red t-shirts that
had the slogan on them. Similar to Los Angeles, panelists were asked about the
myth of gun violence and gangs in Los Angeles. One of the panelists talked
about the culture of civility of the progressive elite and how it could lead to a
non-action and complicity, rather than to challenge many of the systemic barriers
that have prevented gun legislation from actually happening.
Rogelio: The question about a good guy with a gun against a bad guy with a gun came up
again. David Hogg took this question. One of the things that I found interesting
about this question, how David responded was that it was brought back to the
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idea of police. Since so much of the previous events had focused on police
brutality, and the role of police, and how many police themselves are domestic
abusers and how research shows that domestic abusers are more likely to use
weapons, so it was very interesting to have this echoed once again in Orange
County, which is overall a more conservative town. A young black woman from
Chicago compared guns to fireworks and how fireworks seem to be much more
regulated in Illinois than guns, and just drawing irony about that situation.
Rogelio: What was also interesting about the room itself and the people in it was how the
panel was set up. Unlike a single row of speakers, as was the case in the Los
Angeles town hall, there was actually two sides, two separate tables with two
separate panels with one side having local young people and the other side
having the youth from Parkland, Florida.
Rogelio: One of the panelists talked about the alien nature of voting to young people and
how it was shrouded in complicated and technical language that seemed very out
of reach for a lot of young people. But at the same time, the panelists expressed
how important it was to vote and how it is essential to democracy and to social
change. They tied this back up, this idea of this technocratic divide that keeps a
lot of young people from thinking that politics belongs to them by showing a
t-shirt that the campaign themself designed, which I explained in a previous
debrief. The t-shirt is an American flag that has a QR code in place of the stars.
The QR code itself can be used to redirect people on their mobile phones to be
registered to vote on the spot. Actually, one of the volunteer organizers who was
selling t-shirts said that he himself had used this t-shirt to register 10 people to
vote on the spot.
Rogelio: As before, some of the community members that were at this event were many of
the security members. There wasn't as heated of an incident as before with the
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NRA, but there was one incident where an elderly gentleman with about two to
three DSLR cameras was escorted from the premises. It's not clear why, but
perhaps he was part of some organization that had been considered uninvited to
the event. I'm not sure.
Rogelio: Another event that happened was a woman who was trying to get into the actual
auditorium as people were leaving. She actually got into a debate with the
security team and some of the organizers at the event about how they were
handling people exiting, and also not allowing people to enter the auditorium.
This woman expressed again and again that she only wanted to spend one
minute in that room with these powerful speakers, and that that's why she had
came. Of course, they did not let her out. At one point, one of the organizers
really challenged this woman and her approach and told her that she thought it
was very inappropriate that she was being so confrontational at an event where
so many people had been hurt by aggression and violence.
Rogelio: Aside from that, I was able to see different people that were at the event,
because I waited outside of the doors as everyone exited the building. As before,
I would say that this event was overwhelming comprised of Caucasian and white
teens and families. Many of them seemed to be part of organizations. Many of
them seemed like they were part of the communities here in Orange County. That
about wraps it up.
Rogelio: I also did see several people who were volunteers at the Los Angeles events. So
Bria, Bria Smith, who was one of the speakers, is part of the community coalition,
one of the panelist at the town hall Los Angeles and also who I saw again at the
barbecue in Los Angeles was actually here. I was able to talk to her. I showed
her the By Any Media Necessary book, and she really liked it. I said I would
follow up with her and get her a copy of the book in digital format. I also met this
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17-year-old young woman, Natalie, from Los Angeles, who I shared more
information about my project with her in case she might be interested in
participating.
Rogelio: In terms of the relevant media practices, since I did not have access to the actual
auditorium, my observations were much more limited. But, I would say many of
the previous observations were similar here. People were using all sorts of
cellphones to take selfies or to take different pictures and tweet them, or share on
social media. This happened especially during the live stream when people were
expected to be paying attention to the television, but instead they were on their
phones.
Rogelio: Other practices were, of course, there were all sorts of different professional and
amateur photography. Many people had DSLRs. It was unclear how many of
them were part of the press, but it seemed that newscasters were much less
visible in this setting. Perhaps they had a separate room, because the building
was very large. It could have been that they had a separate media room in some
other part of the building. At one point, I did see one of the Parkland students be
pulled aside and be interviewed by a professional camera crew. I was not sure
which station or organization that camera crew was with, but I did witness that.
Other things were ... I think that's about it. That's about in terms or practices.
Rogelio: For artifacts, I noticed very similar artifacts that I had seen before, obviously the
merchandise. I was able to purchase a shirt this time, one of the shirts with the
QR code, and also some buttons that say, "We call BS." Some of the other shirts
included a shirt that said, "We call BS." It had some small figures representing
students and young people. Another shirt had the March for Our Lives logo on it.
Rogelio: One of the things that I noticed in terms of artifacts were that in the main lobby
area where I was watching television, because I wasn't able to go into the
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auditorium, I was able to see people sharing a variety of different flyers, and
pamphlets, and political posters for different organizations. One of them was from
an organization called Students Demand Action, which is a poster I had seen
before at the Los Angeles town down March for Our Lives march. Also, I had
seen it at the barbecue. So there different tabling happening in this lobby area
from different organizations that were sharing different pamphlets and materials.
They were getting people to sign up for a list serve and to register to vote, and
also sharing events that were happening in the Orange County area.
Rogelio: Aside from that, one of the biggest draws in this lobby area was a collection of
different shirts, and posters, and testimonials, and political posters which really
painted the picture of the gun violence issue. One poster had a variety of different
statistics about gun violence that were pasted onto a black poster board. Another
was a collection of testimonials about people that had been affected by gun
violence. Yet another had a quote from an unknown source. It had the image, the
faces of Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg. I took various pictures of these
posters. I thought it was interesting to have these collections of materials that
were created in what seemed to be kind of an amateur. It seemed like they were
posters created by perhaps young people or participants who were sympathetic
to the movement. That about wraps it up in terms of the different artifacts that I
witnessed. As I mentioned before, I was very limited in my observations in the
lobby area where I was watching the live stream. I didn't have the same mobility
or ability to talk to as many people as I did before.
Rogelio: Overall, I thought the event was personally a bit less powerful than the previous
events, perhaps because the tone had shifted to a little bit more mainstream in
Orange County, perhaps given the more conservative and establishment
Democrats and the possibility of having more white folks, to be honest, I think
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might have changed the messaging of the movement for this particular location
to be a little bit more mainstream, more of the types of message that we saw at
the DC March for Our Lives, whereas I found the events in Los Angeles to be
more powerful because the movement seemed to challenge many of its own
perceived limitations, particularly the role of people of color in the movement.
Thank you. This is the end of the brief.
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APPENDIX D
Road to Change, Huntington Beach, Field Notes
On Saturday, July 21, I attended an event at the Huntington Beach Pier Plaza for the
March for Our Lives’ Road to Change Event. Set against the backdrop of a sunny southern
California beach community, amidst flip-flops, swim-trunks, bikinis, and surfboards, this Road to
Change event was certainly distinct in terms of its setting, community, and tone. With summer in
full swing, it was difficult to find parking for the pier, even though I had arrived nearly two hours
in advance. A native of Southern California myself, I was familiar with Huntington Beach but had
not been since I was an undergraduate nearly ten years ago.
When I finally found parking, I took some time to record my audio field notes my car from
the previous Town Hall event in Orange County, and proceeded to eat a Poke dinner at Duke’s
(a restaurant on the pier). Unlike previous events, where I was able to clearly identify the
location by looking for staff, vehicles, and banners from the campaign, it was a bit difficult
actually finding where this event would take place. Using the address on the Road to Change’s
website, I was directed towards a location across the street from the pier, which didn’t seem
right but I thought I would move towards and confirm anyway. I had not luck, with no event staff
in sight. While across the street, I noticed a sign that read “Beach Pier Plaza” on the pier side of
the street, which I had previously dismissed because it was occupied by a flea market. I made
my way over across the street and noticed that many of the flea market tents were already
packing up. I looked around a bit more in the area, but I could not locate any tents or tables that
appeared to be part of the Road to Change campaign. I finally did run into someone who
appeared to be a volunteer, a man wearing a voter registration clipboard and an event shirt.
When I said hello to him and walked over, he asked me “are you part of headcount?” I said “no,”
and I explained that I was a supporter of the campaign and was there for the event. He then
went on to explain that he was there as part of the organization “Headcount,” a non-partisan
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organization that registers new voters. I asked the man if he knew where the event would be
held, and he said that he was only told to show up at the pier, and that was it. “It’s a pretty
disorganized form of organizing,” he said as he laughed. “It’s a great place to just hang out,” I
said. And I proceeded down to an area where I noticed a crowd gathering.
In terms of the communities I noticed, much like Huntington Beach as a whole, most of
the people that seemed to be gathering for the event where white/Caucasian, about half were
young people (teens and young adults), and the rest where a mix of parents with families and
elders. A few people of color could be seen in the crowd, but overall, it was an overwhelmingly
white event. As people arrived, I could some more indicators that they were there for the Road
to Change, such as shirts from organizations (Moms for Change, March for Our Lives) and
posters meant for the event. I took several pictures of the gathering crowd as they sat on steps
in an open stage forum, facing the setting sun and the Pacific Ocean. Before long, the staff and
organizers of the campaign arrived, who I recognized from their attire (fluorescent green Road
to Change shirts and hoodies) and also because their faces had become familiar by now. A
group of these organizers brought out two tables, and a bullhorn and dozens of electric tea
lights could be seen. I made my way over to say hello, and to take pictures of the tea lights,
since the agenda had a candlelight vigil scheduled for the event.
As I made my way towards the group of organizers, I noticed a young woman who I had
meet at the first Town Hall in Los Angeles. I said hello, and she recognized me, welcomed me,
and promised to get back in touch with me. I asked her how she was doing, and she said a bit
stressed about organizing everything, but otherwise great. I noticed a few more faces, including
Eve Levenson, the young activist who organized the LA Town Hall. I greeted her and asked her
how she was doing, and she said “Great, so much better since I’m not organizing this and I can
just relax and enjoy it.” I keep moving along the crow, taking pictures, and eventually one of the
security staff of the campaign asked me if I was a reporter, because they had an incident earlier
with one, and I said not. He let me be.
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Another small cluster of people arrived, large men circling a young man who I
determined to be David Hogg, one of the movement’s most visible leaders. By this time,
organizers had set-up tea lights along a small wall facing the crown, and on the wall were
dozens of young people holding up hand-painted portraits of people who appeared to be victims
of gun violence. The crowd was now close to one hundred people, many of them wearing
campaign shirts, organizational shirts, holding sigs, and most of them wearing jackets and
sweaters due to the chilly beach breeze.
The programmed event started when a young woman greeted the crowd with a bullhorn
against a backdrop of teens holding portraits of gun violence victims, a row of candles, and the
setting sun. The organizer welcomed the crowd and thanked them for being there. She
mentioned the agenda for the evening, which would include speeches by movement leaders
and community youth, a candlelight vigil walk on the beach, and a bonfire gathering into the
evening. Before giving the floor to other speakers, the young woman explained the portraits to
the crowd. She singled out a few of them, who were from the shootings at Santa Fe and Las
Vegas, and how their lives were cut short by senseless violence and gun laws that don’t stress
background checks enough. She asked all of the young people to stand, many of whom were
volunteers from the crowd and community, as they held up the portraits. Many of them were in
tears. The young woman led a collective chant with the crowd before turning the floor to
speakers.
Several youth speakers took center stage to talk about their experiences with gun
violence. One of them was a young blonde woman who talked about how her she lost a loved
one in Santa Fe, another was a gun black man from Chicago, who said he “had been to more
funerals than graduations.” The main draw, however, was young David Hogg, who addresses
the crowd as he wore a hoodie and dark sunglasses. Many of his points echoed what he had
said before: how his intentions are not to villainize law enforcement, because his own family
members are in law-enforcement; the importance of understanding the difference between
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wanting gun reform and being anti-second amendment. However, his two most salient points
concerned youth power and the portrayal of violence in the media. Hogg mentioned how it was
not fair that Parkland students got more news coverage simply because the community was
mostly white. To end his speech, he spoke about the great importance of youth power in
creating social change. He mentioned how young people can change the world because they
are unwilling to wait for the perfect opportunity like adults. As with all other speakers, Hogg led a
collective “people’s mic” style chant, and the crowd joined and cheered.
The lead organizer who opened the event also closed the speech segment as she
invited everyone in the crow to grab a candle and join the candle light vigil. People were asked
to form a single 2x2 line, as we walked down the beach sidewalk, so as to not disturb the
beachgoers. I grabbed a candle myself and walked down the steps towards the beach, joining
an already growing line. It wasn’t long before we were on our way towards the fire-pit where the
bonfire would happen. As we were walking I noticed that I had didn’t have the right shoes for the
sand, so I took off my vans and socks and held them in my hand and I walked into the beach
with rolled up pant legs.
When we arrived at the fire pit, the lead organizer thanks everyone for their support and
contributions, and she invited everyone to each hotdogs and to make smores as they mingled. I
returned my tea-light candle to the organizers, who said a Korean community group loaned
them. The fire pit was already crowded by beachgoers, who were curious to see a group as
large as ours arrive. I noticed another group gathered at their own fire-pit move towards the
event, curiously huddling close and joining in with chants led by the organizers. The remaining
of the night was essentially a beach party, and people talked, grabbed skewers to make
hot-dogs, and took tons of selfies. As before, David Hogg was constantly surrounded by both
his security and by people trying to talk to him, thanking him and taking selfies. I took the
opportunity to make some hotdogs myself and try to meet new people. I walked the crowd and
said hello to familiar faces. I saw Michelle, a woman who I had previously met as part of Voto
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Latino. I said hello to Eve once again, who didn’t seem very interested in talking to a boring
adult.
Finally, I was able to talk to the campaign’s lead strategist, asking him how things were
doing. He said he was having a good time, even though he had ripped his pants, he mentioned.
The other organizers about it teased him, but he found the humor in it. He also said he was a bit
upset about the report of an active shooter in Silver Lake that same night. I said I thought it was
horrible, and that I was texted about the incident. I thanked him and I handed him a copy of “By
Any Media Necessary.” His eyes lit up as I gave him the book and he said, “Thank you! One of
the favorite things so far in the campaign has been all of the books I have been getting from
people. It feels like I’m getting college credit on the road.” We laughed about it together. Shortly
after, he rushed off to put the book away “so he won’t lose it,” he said. After walking the crowd
for a few more minutes, helping people taking selfies of the setting sun, I decided to head home
after a very long day.
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APPENDIX E
Road to Change, De Fremery Park, Field Notes
Rogelio: Hello, my name is Rogelio Alejandro Lopez, and I am a doctoral candidate at
USC Annenberg, and this is my debrief for my field observation in Oakland,
California, for the Road to Change campaign as part of March for Our Lives, the
organization that has organized for gun reform since the shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida. The event that I attended on July
22nd, 2018, was held in the city of Oakland at DeFremery Park,
D-E-F-R-E-M-E-R-Y Park. And this park was a very significant location for gun
violence, because it was a park that the original Black Panther Party in the 1960s
and 1970s actually used for various activities and community events. And I
actually found out through some of the attendees that a Black Panther member
was killed not too far from the park itself, which was one of the incidents that
really started the decline of the movement, as police started cracking down on
the party and visibly attacking its members with police violence.
Rogelio: So, in terms of setting the scene, I flew into Oakland out of LAX on the early
morning of July 22nd. I arrived at 8:00 a.m., and I went straight to my hotel, even
though I could not check in, to wait until this event would start. The event was
scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m., and it would go until 5:00 p.m. at DeFremery
Park. And as with the barbecue in Los Angeles, it was unclear who would be
there, other than the communities in the surrounding neighborhoods of the actual
park.
Rogelio: So I got to the park at around 1:00 p.m. I took an Uber, and I immediately noticed
that it was very different from the previous event the night before at Huntington
Beach, which, I explained before, was ... Had a beach vibe, full of beach culture,
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there were people in flip-flops and with surfboards. This couldn't be any more
different in terms of the scene. I arrived at the park, and I can immediately see
that it was a predominantly African American community, to the various people
that were there. Across the street at one of the public schools, I could see
various murals with notable African American heroes and notable historical
figures. There was a mural in particular that said "Knowledge is Power," and in
that mural, you had everyone from Michael Jordan to Malcolm X and Frederick
Douglass, and also Frida Kahlo and other noteworthy people of color. I thought it
was very interesting.
Rogelio: So as I walked down the street adjacent to this park, I could see a community
pool that was at the park, and it didn't seem to be open. Since I was early, there
weren't any organizers at the park yet, so I decided to walk down to a coffee
shop. As I walked down the street, I noticed that it was a very industrial part of
town, so I could see factories. On Google Maps, I could see there was a steel
mill, which was not clear whether it was still in operation or not, but you could
certainly hear different types of machinery that was very loud and spilling out into
the street. Along these streets with a lot of either closed or abandoned industrial
buildings, I could see lines of RVs, recreational vehicles, with people in them,
which I can only imagine were people who were living out of their vehicles, and I
could hear crying babies as I walked past them.
Rogelio: So I made my way towards this café, had coffee and breakfast, and the café itself
seemed very diverse, but also perhaps a sign of gentrification. There were
people of color, and also some white folks there that looked more like hipsters. At
around 1:45, 15 minutes to the hour before the barbecue started, I made my way
back to the park, and by then, I could already see a tent and a DJ set up, and
music playing. So I made my way towards the park, and it was very ... For the
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most part, at the beginning of the event, closer to 2:00 p.m., most of the people
that I could see at the park seemed to be white Caucasian, even though a lot of
the park-goers themselves that were not immediately part of the event seemed to
be people of color. There was actually a skate park right inside of the park, and
there was a lot of young black men skating, which I thought was pretty cool. The
park, skate park itself was covered in different types of street art and graffiti.
Rogelio: So I made my way into the park, like I mentioned, and I started seeing if I
recognized any faces, and I didn't see anyone from the campaign yet, so it
seemed that they had not arrived to the site by 2:00 p.m., so I tried to talk to
different people that I did see there. I overheard somebody saying that the bus
was on its way, that the people from the campaign were on their way. They had
driven since the night before, I'm not sure if overnight or early in the morning, but
they were not there yet as of 2:00 p.m.
Rogelio: So I walked around, and I did notice a very striking sight. It was a collection of
different artworks set up almost as a tapestry or as a quilt on the ground, and it
was various forms of art related to gun violence, and there were all sorts of
different types of things that were part of this display of art. There was actually
three different large blankets, which served as a backdrop for these various
individual pieces. So I was very intrigued, and I walked over, and I was able to
see a lot of these different pieces of art. Some of them directly referenced the
NRA; others visualized the many states in the United States that had been
impacted by gun violence. Some of the posters urged a call to action around
these different issues, so it was very interesting to see all of this.
Rogelio: So I made my way towards these different pieces. Another one says "Gun laws
save lives"; one piece of art said "Violence is pain." And as of 2:00 p.m. or
around 2:00 p.m., there weren't really any organizers that I could talk to for these
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artworks, so I only imagine that they were part of some effort, either in the
community or as part of the campaign, meant to display these various types of
art.
Rogelio: As I walked around, I did notice that more people started arriving, more people of
color, black and brown folks, but for the most part, at the beginning of the event,
it did seem to be primarily Caucasian. A lot of people were holding up signs. One
of the signs read "Of 12,244 elected officials in Congress, only 61 are women of
color," and another sign that this woman was holding said "Vote." So there were
various types of signs and artifacts like this that were directly making reference to
the issue at hand, to gun violence and gun reform, or urging people to vote and
exercise their power to vote.
Rogelio: As before, as with the event in Los Angeles, the barbecue at Elmo Village, there
seemed to be a few different ice cream stands from Ben & Jerry that were
serving free ice cream to anyone at the park at this event. I also noticed that
even before any of the campaign organizers had arrived, there were already
various media makers, people filming, taking pictures with DSLRs, people being
interviewed by local news. I believe it was Channel 5 who was interviewing
participants at the barbecue. I was able to take some pictures myself as part of
my fieldwork.
Rogelio: And as I was walking around trying to meet people, I was able to meet a group of
alumnis from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. They
were wearing a #MSDStrong shirt, and when I asked them about it, they told me
that they were alumnis of the school involved in the shooting in Parkland, and
when they had heard about the tragedy, they got together over Facebook to
create this group in support of the campaign and in support of the activists that
have since been organizing around the issue. I gave a few of them my card and
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told them that I would be very interested in learning more about how they
connected with each other using social media. I also met another young woman
who gave me a flyer for a rally that was going to happen in early August around
gun violence and gun violence prevention. I later found out that this woman was
a first-year doctoral student at Berkeley, so I also gave her my contact and asked
if she would be willing to talk to me about her efforts.
Rogelio: I would say that around the 2:30, 2:40 mark is when the bus from the March for
Our Lives campaign arrived at the park. And the bus parked in front of the park,
and there was a pathway leading to the bus, and along the pathway, there were
dozens of people lined up waiting, eager to see some of the many visible
organizers who had been part of the campaign, from David Hogg to Emma
González to other folks that have been very visible in the news media. Slowly, the
organizers started leaving the bus, and you can hear cheering and clapping for
them by the many participants at the park. I walked around a bit more, trying to
get a sense of who was at the park. There was a woman holding a sign that said
"Youth are the heart of our nation," and I asked her if I could take a picture of her
sign, and she said yes, and she told me that, "It's true, the message on my sign
is true," and I agree, I told her.
Rogelio: A few minutes after the bus arrived, the speaking started. As before, there were
several organized speeches on behalf of the organizers of the campaign, and it
started with them talking about the significance of being in Oakland as part of this
campaign. And one of the first speakers was this young man from Parkland; his
name is Matt, and he is the lead strategist for the March for Our Lives
organization. And he was there talking about the importance of understanding
the different ways that gun violence affects people of color, especially coming
from a community like Parkland, Florida, where gun violence, aside from the
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tragedy that happened on February 14th, was more or less very isolated or
unseen. So it was very interesting to see them, from a content standpoint, talk
about what it means to conduct their campaign with many different communities
who have been facing issues of gun violence for decades. In the case here of
Oakland, dating back to the organizing of the Black Panther Party, which
emerged in response to gun violence by police.
Rogelio: Shortly after Matt was talking, I noticed David Hogg, one of the more visible
activists and organizers of the March for Our Lives, was actually filming himself,
so he had a film harness with a DSLR, and he was going around filming the
speakers as they were speaking, and just the crowd in general. And I thought this
was very interesting; I hadn't seen him be involved as a media maker before, but
it was clear that either he had experience or that he was interested in
documenting the campaign in this way.
Rogelio: As the speakers were talking to the participants of the barbecue, the campaign
also set up a booth. It was a tent with a table, and various documents, and
volunteers wearing very bright fluorescent yellow shirts that said "Register to vote
with me." And this tent had a Road to Change sign on it, and it also had various
of the campaign sponsors, from headcount.org to the NAACP to Mi Familia Vota
to Rock the Vote, which I assume are the different organizations that have
sponsored this particular Road to Change campaign. I was asked several times
by various people with volunteer shirts if I had been registered to vote, and I said
I had been, and that I plan to vote with gun reform in mind, when they asked me.
Rogelio: I also noticed over in the area where I had seen the various art related to gun
violence and gun reform before, that there was now a sign that ... A kind of a
banner that said "Vision Quilt: Together we can prevent gun violence," and it had
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a website for this organization or project called visionquilt.org. So I can imagine
that this was the organization or project that these artworks were a part of.
Rogelio: I also noticed that there were a few veterans who were wearing their military
uniform, who were there in support of the campaign, sitting not too far from the
Vision Quilt. And since I had stepped away, I noticed various more artworks as
part of the Vision Quilt. One of the pieces said "Stop the harm, create peace."
One that I found very interesting was one that had messages from Marvel's latest
Avengers movie, Infinity War, and it had a hand that I can only assume to be the
hand of Thanos with the gauntlet on it, and it said "Don't you wish we could get
rid of guns with a snap of our fingers?" And these various guns were
disappearing, as they were in the latest Infinity War movie, with an act by this
Marvel character. I thought it was very interesting to see this approach of using
art and popular culture by the Vision Quilt organization and project to talk about
this issue of gun violence.
Rogelio: Among the speakers who were involved were a group of spoken-word and
hip-hop artists who performed for the group. I wasn't able to get their name at the
time, but they did perform and did a freestyle related to the event, so they talked
about what it meant to live in communities affected by violence, and they
wrapped up the performance by urging everyone to act, to be involved with the
issue. Other speakers included a woman who was a professional boxer, who was
from this neighborhood in Oakland, and she talked about the importance of
building community here in the neighborhood, so that people can have a sense
of belonging, and also to do things that are positive for them in their growth, and
in being part of a community. So she talked about her plan to open a community
boxing gym, since there weren't any community boxing gyms here in the area in
Oakland, at least not for a while, and how she planned for this to be a space for
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young people in the neighborhood to feel welcomed, and to learn about
self-defense and boxing.
Rogelio: Other things that I noticed were that many of the organizers who were facilitating
the different speakers actually had shirts that said "Oakland 1966," and it had a
Black Panther on it. I thought it was very interesting, considering the importance
and significance of this park to the Black Panther Party and their organizing.
Rogelio: So by this time, I would say around 3:00, 3:30, I was able to identify various
people that I had met along the various stops of the Road to Change campaign.
One of them was Bria Smith, who I met initially at the first town hall in Los
Angeles, and I greeted her. I also saw more news stations interviewing other
survivors from Parkland, such as Channel 2.
Rogelio: One of the speakers that really stood out to me was a man whose name I cannot
recall right now, but he ... This is a continuation from the first audio file from my
debrief in Oakland, California. I was saying that one of the speakers that stood
out to me the most was a former member of the Black Panther Party. I don't
recall the man's name, but he did mention being a part of the Black Panther Party
when he himself was a young person living in Oakland, California.
Rogelio: He talked about the importance of the party in getting him involved with the
issues of the community, from police violence to gun violence to the importance
of education, and he also talked about a particular moment in the Black Panther
Party's history that related very much to the event, which is the murder of a
member of the Black Panther Party, I believe Bobby Hutton, who was killed at the
hands of police. And he talked about the importance of factoring in violence
perpetrated by the police when discussing gun violence that affects black
communities, but communities of color in particular. I thought this was a very
salient point, given that across the many stops of the Road to Change that I had
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visited so far, Black Lives Matter and violence not by individuals, but of police
and other law enforcement authorities, became a central point.
Rogelio: So this speaker, member of the Black Panther Party himself, was wearing a shirt
that said "Black Panther Party 1966." It also said "Panther Power," and it had a
blue panther against a black shirt. I thought it was very interesting to hear this
man speak, and to relate his own experiences with the Black Panther Party in
this specific neighborhood in Oakland when talking about the issues of gun
violence affecting people today.
Rogelio: So I kept walking around, and I noticed some of the participants of the campaign
who I had met before. One of them, Bria Smith, the other I cannot recall her
name, but they were both wearing jackets which I thought were very much
resembling the jacket of Emma González. They had various pins on them from
the Women's March to We Call BS to various other types of pins, so I asked if I
could take a picture, and one of the young women said that she wasn't really
supposed to talk to the press, and she wasn't sure if it was allowed for me to take
her picture. And I reassured her that I was not a member of the press, that it was
purely for my own records to be able to capture her very amazing jacket, which I
thought was very much a call to Emma González's jacket. So Bria came over,
and she kind of vouched for me and said I was cool, so they both agreed to stand
and let me take a picture of their jackets.
Rogelio: Since the event carried on, it was clear about at the halfway point that more and
more people from the neighborhood had arrived. There were more black faces in
the crowd, there were more brown faces in the crowd, and I would say that it was
about a 50/50 split from the original crowd, who was mostly white Caucasian, to
a crowd that was becoming more and more a people of color crowd. And within
the crowd itself, it seemed to be a lot of people wearing different attire from
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different causes and movements, from NASA shirts to Black Lives Matter shirts to
Black Panther Party shirts.
Rogelio: I was actually able to make it into one of the buildings at the park, so in addition
to there being a pool and a skate park, there was a central location. It was a
building where participants of the barbecue were able to go inside and use the
restrooms. As I went inside, I was very amazed by how much history of the Black
Panther Party there was. I saw a poster about the women of the Black Panther
Party, and it had various pictures of women who were involved, and who were in
positions of leadership.
Rogelio: I also did see a commemorative event poster for the shooting, killing of Bobby
Hutton, who was the Black Panther Party member who was killed at the hands of
police, and this was from the year 2000, from April 22nd, 2000. And there were
various other pictures and flyers and community events, and pictures of the
breakfast program that the party had established for people in the neighborhood.
I was amazed, because I was familiar with many of these pictures from my own
research, but many of these pictures were taken here at this very park, at this
very center, so it was very powerful to be in this space, to be in a space where
the Black Panther Party was so instrumental in organizing and giving back to the
community.
Rogelio: So when I made my way back out to the park, I was able to talk to a woman. Her
name was Cathy, and she was one of the organizers of the Vision Quilt project,
and she explained to me how she developed the project along with other people
in the youth development space to get young people involved with arts practice
training, but also to get them involved in different social issues. So she explained
how her Vision Quilt project tackled all sorts of issues from incarceration to
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homelessness, and she was able to work with incarcerated youth, with young
people from elementary to middle to high school ages.
Rogelio: And it was very interesting just to hear her talk about the project, and what it
meant for the campaign, and I asked her if she would be willing to be
interviewed, and she was absolutely thrilled at the idea, and I told her I would
follow up. She said she needed some advice of how to appeal more to funders
with the project, and I said I would be more than happy to share any insights that
I could give. But it was a very great connection. I think understanding the way
that art is being used for this particular movement was powerful, to learn how the
Vision Quilt was a way to appeal to people's emotion, to their sense of culture, to
their sense of art to get them involved. That was very interesting.
Rogelio: I also got to talk to a man, his name is Charlie, and he was an elderly man who
told me he had lived in Berkeley his entire life, a self-proclaimed leftist radical.
And it was very interesting to hear him talk about the park itself, and the history
of gun violence in the area. He told me that he had never seen this many white
people in this part of town, and he said that this was probably the most white
people that there had ever been in that park, and he himself was white as well.
So I talked to Charlie for a long time about what it meant for these young people
to be involved in this campaign, and he told me how it was so important for them
to use all sorts of different types of media, but how the barbecue itself was a way
for them to come together and actually match the faces of the people involved to
the issues. So I was able to get his email, and I told him I would follow up with
him about the things that he's involved in Berkeley, just because he has seen so
much change happen to that community, and also to this community.
Rogelio: One of the last speakers, towards the end of the barbecue, was a man that many
might recall from the Barbecue Becky incident. The Barbecue Becky incident was
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an incident in Oakland, California, where a woman called the police on a black
family barbecuing at a park next to a waterfront, and this became a huge
controversial scandal, because it started a nationwide conversation about what it
means to call the police on black people for otherwise everyday activities, from
selling lemonade on the street to trying to use coupons at a CVS. Some of the
folks involved were actually at this event. One of the men, who I can't remember
his name, is actually running for a political position, and has used his visibility
from the Barbecue Becky incident to be more involved with politics, which I
thought was very interesting.
Rogelio: Also as part of the speakers was the woman who recorded the incident. She was
a white woman from Oakland who recorded the incident and talked about how
important it was to highlight this type of discrimination that happens all the time,
but it hasn't been until social media that these types of incidents have been able
to be part of a conversation about racism and structural exclusion from public
places of black people and of people of color. It was very interesting to hear
these people connect this issue that was, for many, not directly related to gun
violence, but linking it on a greater conversation of what it means, what visibility
means for communities that are facing different types of racial profiling in the
United States.
Rogelio: What was also interesting is that many of the people involved with the team of
these Oakland residents who have now turned to politics were that they were
wearing very traditional, what I would call African garb. I'm not sure if they were
dashiki, but they were very much a tribute to African colors, and perhaps
Ethiopian patterns and styles of dress, very much a callback to a pan-Africanist
vibe, I thought.
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Rogelio: So these were some of the final speakers before the DJ closed out the event
formally and invited people to get food. The DJ himself was very interesting. He
was a local DJ from the area. The majority of the music that was played was
hip-hop, and Oakland being so instrumental to the historic development of
hip-hop, I thought it was very interesting to hear a lot of these callback songs,
many from the Black Panther Party era, from the '70s, and also many throughout
from the '80s, '90s, to the 2000s.
Rogelio: It was also very interesting because, unlike the other events on the Road to
Change event, especially those in Orange County and Huntington Beach, this
event seemed so much more about black popular culture. And at one point, the
DJ kept playing a song with very explicit lyrics that said "Fuck Donald Trump,"
and he played it over and over again, first apologizing to the crowd for anyone
who might be offended by the explicit lyrics, and also being aware that there were
many children in the crowd, but then later on, kind of not saying anything
apologetic and just playing the song, and then playing various songs with very
explicit lyrics, which I thought was very interesting, because of the history of this
park, and because of the history of what it has meant to play hip-hop in public
spaces.
Rogelio: And I would say that right before I left, and as the event was starting to wind
down, many of the organizers and activists from the March for Our Lives started
to board the bus. I greeted Matt, the lead strategist, and I said it was good to see
him. I also was able to connect with Bria and wish her luck in the next leg of the
campaign. I didn't get to say hello to David Hogg, who I had seen at various
points of the event, mainly because, as with Emma González, there were many
people waiting to talk to him. And as I mentioned before, Emma was not there
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because she had, from what I heard other organizers say, a death in her family,
so she had to go back to Florida.
Rogelio: But as I left, I was able to talk to a man named Michael Skolnik, I believe, who is
a very visible organizer of the campaign, who I had not talked to before. So I
actually made the opportunity to go and talk to him, and to tell him who I was and
what I was doing there, and to ask him if he would be interested in talking to me
about what it means to involve young people with a media strategy. He actually
seemed very open and willing to talk to me, and encouraged me to follow up over
email, which I plan to do soon.
Rogelio: And as I was walking away, I took a few more pictures, and I wanted to thank the
Black Panther Party member, the older member who I mentioned before, for his
contributions. I told him that I was thankful for his role as an activist, and how the
Black Panther Party had been an inspiration for me as an undergraduate, and as
I started learning more about the party in Los Angeles, and how they
collaborated with Mexican American activists.
Rogelio: So that wrapped up the event. I think, in terms of the communities that were
there, for recap, it seemed that, like previous events, especially the events in Los
Angeles, there seemed to be a lot of people that were not from the immediate
neighborhood, meaning that the neighborhood seemed to be primarily a people
of color neighborhood. And for this particular event, the campaign drew people
from Sacramento, I overheard, from San Francisco, many white Caucasian
people that came in support of this event.
Rogelio: As the event went on, you started seeing more people that were likely from the
neighborhood, so black and brown folks who cared about the issue, and who
were also very familiar with issues relevant to the community, from gun violence
to Black Lives Matter. As before, there were many people that were there as part
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of an organization. I did see many of the same t-shirts that I had seen before,
from the Mothers Demand organization, from the Students Demand organization.
Rogelio: Alex King spoke, who was one of the speakers from Chicago who is part of the
Road to Change campaign. Bria Smith from Wisconsin, as I mentioned before,
quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., about how our sense of right and wrong begins to
degrade with inaction. There were members there from the #MSDStrong group
on Facebook, who are alumni of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
who came together over Facebook to be supportive of the campaign. There were
various staff and organizers from the Vision Quilt organization. At one point, there
was an 11-year-old young girl who spoke about how she was inspired by the
different actions and visibility of the Parkland students, which I thought was very
powerful.
Rogelio: In terms of the different practices, as before, I think many people were taking
pictures of the event. There were many more professionalized practices, from
DSLRs to video harness kits to professional news media, who were taking
pictures of the event, videos of the event, and documenting the event. I would
say in general, people were there mostly to have fun. There was also, at one
point, a line dance for the Electric Slide song that came on, and dozens of people
went up to dance, and I thought it was very much just about having a barbecue,
because of the history of having barbecues recently in Oakland, but also
because of the type of emotional toll that the campaign can have.
Rogelio: I overheard Matt saying at one point at the previous event that he enjoyed just
connecting with people, being able to let loose, to have fun, because so much of
the campaign has been focused on being so organized, on rehearsing talking
points, on rehearsing different facts and evidence when debating the opposition.
So it very much seemed like this event was an authentic opportunity to build
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community, and to meet people that are facing these issues. I would say many of
those practices that I saw that were relevant were cultural practices that we see
in many communities, in efforts to build community, from dancing to hip-hop to
taking selfies with one another.
Rogelio: And finally, in terms of artifacts, I think this event in particular was very
interesting, because you saw so much history being reflected: history of the
Black Panther Party, the various types of t-shirts. The park itself was very
significant in its murals dedicated to historical figures in black history, different
centers at the park that were dedicated to highlighting the history of the Black
Panther Party. The Vision Quilt that showed how young people can be vocal in
this issue, even through art, even without sophisticated evidence and argument
strategies, I thought was very powerful.
Rogelio: And of course, as before, people were very much interested in the merchandise
from the movement. So, I was wearing one of the pins that I got in Orange
County. The pin says "We Call BS," one of the earliest messages delivered by
Emma González after the shooting in Parkland. And there was a few families
who asked me about the pin and where they could get one, and that they
admired my pin, so I told them that they were on sale at the merchandise tent. I
thought it was very interesting to see people connecting over these different
artifacts and issues, all the way to the jackets resembling Emma's jacket, I think
is showing the cultural dimensions of these different artifacts and the way that
people don't only want to support the movement, but they want to use culture to
signal that they support the movement. So, I would say that that wraps up my
debrief of the event in Oakland as part of the Road to Change. Thank you.
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APPENDIX F
Interview Guide
USC Annenberg
PI: Rogelio Alejandro Lopez
Framing #NeverAgain: Youth Media Activism and Civic Imagination
Research Statement : This interview is part of an effort to understand the relationship between
imagination and media production in social movements and activism. Drawing from
communication and social movements theory, this study presents a unique opportunity to
understand how social movements use digital tools to navigate an increasingly complex
semantic landscape to re-imagine the world and achieve their goals.
Agreements and Consent : If you agree to participate in the interview, it will be audio recorded
and transcribed, and I will send you a copy of the transcript. Quotes from your interview may be
used in blogs and scholarly publications, but will be anonymized.
Compensation : Each interviewee will receive a $50 Amazon gift card for their participation with
the interview, regardless of whether the interview is fully completed. To receive this
compensation, please provide an email address below.
Verbal Agreement and Consent
● Has the purpose of the research project been adequately explained in a language you
understand and are comfortable with?
● Has the academic use and purpose of your interview response been properly explained
in a language that you understand?
● Are you aware that you can stop the interview and withdraw your participation at any
time prior or during the interview?
● Are you aware that your interview responses will be fully anonymized and your name
and/or identity will not be linked to them in any academic or journalistic publications?
● Finally, do you agree to participate with this project and to being interviewed?
Name (Print): ____________________________________
Signature: _______________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________
Email: __________________________________________
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Framing #NeverAgain: Semi-structured Interview guide
Note : This is a rough guide used for approximately hour-long interviews. Not every question
need be asked of every interviewee, and every interview will require departing from the guide to
pursue interesting paths.
Bio:
1. Can you state your age?
2. What is your gender pronoun?
3. Where are you from?
a. What would you consider your home?
4. Do you identify as an activist?
5. Do you consider yourself part of any social movement(s)?
a. Can you describe the movement and its cause?
6. How and why did you get involved with the movement(s)?
Day-to-Day Media Practice:
In the context of your activism & involvement with a social movement cause:
7. Describe any relationship you may have with mass media (national news, television,
cable, etc).
8. Describe any relationship you may have to the internet and social media.
9. Describe any relationship you may have with popular culture.
Community Engagement with/via Media
10. Can you describe the community that you are trying to organize or engage with?
11. What media do the community you are trying to organize use most?
a. What are some of the ways that people stay involved online?
12. What are some ways that movement leaders and organizations encourage media
creation and circulation?
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13. Do you follow any of the movement's media platforms? (website, facebook, instagram,
twitter?)?
a. If so, how do you interact with them?
14. Are there certain strategies that you have found effective?
15. What are the three forms of communication most used by this community? (For
example, specific radio stations, TV channels, newspapers, etc.)?
16. Are the uses different across age?
17. Are there certain strategies you use to build community with people who are supportive
of your cause across distances?
18. Are there any media examples from your community that emerged on their own which
are worth sharing?
19. What are the key barriers for the community you aim to organize?
20. Are there any other patterns of media use that you’ve noticed?
21. How is media training and literacy handled in the movement?
a. What is your sense of how people learn to engage online?
Mobilization
22. Can you describe the role of media in mobilizing people in the movement?
23. How do these efforts compare across the local, state, and national level?
24. Have certain efforts to mobilize with media been more effective in some places versus
others? If so, how?
25. Describe a major victory for your organization or the movement. Describe how you used
media during this key moment.
26. On the flip side, can you talk about a major setback or crisis? Again, describe your own
communication practice or media use during this kind of key moment.
27. What do you think is the most important digital tool for the movement?
Framing, Storytelling, and Mass Media
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28. How is your movement treated by mass media: newspapers, radio, and TV? How do you
wish it were treated?
29. Can you discuss the role of storytelling in the movement?
30. What kinds of narratives have you seen the movement elevate?
31. How does this compare to narratives seen in mass media, social media?
a. What are some ways mass media has framed the movement's cause?
32. What have been some of the movement's responses to mass media representation?
33. Are there certain mass media news sources that you consider sympathetic to the
movement? Are there any opposed?
Organizational Communication
34. Are you here as part of an organization? If so, can you describe it and what you do for
them?
35. Does your organization track media use among the community it works with?
a. If so, can you discuss the tracking system?
36. What is the decision-making structure in your organization or network?
37. Can you talk about the composition of your leadership and staff across gender, sexual
orientation, race, ethnicity, class, and age?
38. What is the makeup of the broader membership and of communication activists?
39. How do dimensions of identity impact communication practice in the movement?
40. Where do you get ideas for how to use new media as an organizing tool? Are there
specific people, organizations, trainings, and examples you look to?
41. If applicable, can you describe a typical brainstorming session for media strategies and
practices?
42. Are there any other forms of media that you can think of that play a role in your
organization that weren’t mentioned?
43. What are the key barriers for your organization in gaining access to media?
Media Roles
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44. What is your relationship to professional media makers, for example filmmakers?
45. Do you have a dedicated communications person on staff?
46. Do you work with outside communication consultants or strategists?
47. Do you have an IT person you work with, or software programmer?
48. How about an online organizer?
Networks and Alliances
49. Can you describe the role of networks and alliances in your organization?
50. How has it helped to be part of a network?
51. What are some challenges to being part of a network?
52. Can you briefly describe how the network communicates?
53. What kinds of partnerships and alliances have helped most in terms of communication in
the movement?
The Long Term
54. Has your use of media and communication technology changed over time? How so?
55. Are there communication projects or goals that you have as an organization or as a
movement?
56. What would you like to see in 5 years time?
Thank you so much for your time!
If I could get your contact information then I could send you the transcript for this interview if you
wish, otherwise the content will be found on my blog, after it has been made anonymous and
with your permission. I will be in touch, and thank you once again for participating.
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APPENDIX G
Interview with Robbie
8/17/2018
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:01 Okay, so I am now recording. And I'm going to explain to
you the project again on the record. What we're doing is
we're looking at the different ways that young people are
involved politically but in non-traditional ways. So with
media, with culture, social media. So if you agree to be
interviewed, could you please say it for the record?
Robbie (Female): 00:00:33 I agree to be interviewed.
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:35 Okay. Perfect. We can go ahead and get started. Can you
state your age?
Robbie (Female): 00:00:39 I am 18.
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:41 What is your preferred gender pronoun?
Robbie (Female): 00:00:44 Her, she.
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:47 Where are you from? Where do you consider your home?
Robbie (Female): 00:00:49 I'm from South Gate, California.
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:53 Do you see yourself as an activist?
Robbie (Female): 00:00:55 Yes, I see myself as an activist.
Rogelio (Male): 00:00:59 What social movements do you consider yourself to be a
part of that you care about?
Robbie (Female): 00:01:06 I am part of March for Our Lives and we're fighting against,
sorry, against violence with... my goodness, gun violence.
There you go. Sorry. We're fighting against gun violence
because of as you can see everything that's been going on
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in all the schools. But I am also, I've started anti-bullying
campaigns at school because I feel like that's kind of the
start of a lot of issues here in the world. Bullying from a
young age does lead to kind of what's been happening
with gun violence in the schools and mental health issues
and all that. So I'd consider myself involved with that.
Rogelio (Male): 00:01:57 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Can you tell me how you got
involved with March for Our Lives?
Robbie (Female): 00:02:00 So, I was part of the leadership program at my school. And
when the shooting in Florida happened, I got home and it
got to me a lot. I don't know anyone from Florida. I've
never even been there, but I think just to see it happening
again and kind of put myself in their shoes and it was just
crazy. I couldn't even understand how it was possible that
we hadn't put an end to it. So I kind of kept bringing it up to
my leadership advisor that I wanted to do March 14, the
event to commemorate the students. So we did. We made
it happen. We had a walk out to the quad where we had
the 17 deaths with kind of a little bit of information of each
of the students and a balloon release. But I guess my
teacher realized how kind of into all of that I was and
somehow he was in contact with people from Women's
March and there was a sense and they were kind of
looking for students because they wanted students to be
the ones organizing and leading the march. They wanted a
student movement.
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Robbie (Female): 00:03:17 So he got me in contact with them and then I started
talking to Michelle and Emiliana and all of them. And that's
how we started the meetings. That's how I began the
organization.
Rogelio (Male): 00:03:33 And what's the name of your high school?
Robbie (Female): 00:03:35 South Gate High School.
Rogelio (Male): 00:03:36 South Gate High School. Okay. And the March 14 event,
was that the larger event with the different walkouts?
Robbie (Female): 00:03:44 Yes. It was a 17 minute walk out.
Rogelio (Male): 00:03:51 So these next questions are just about your own
relationship to media. But I want you to kind of talk about it
in the context of your involvement with March for Our
Lives. So what is the relationship that you would describe
having with mass media from TV to newspapers to
television?
Robbie (Female): 00:04:14 Kind of in what way it's been helping and stuff?
Rogelio (Male): 00:04:19 What's the role if any that you see it? Do you access TV?
Do you get your news from a newspaper?
Robbie (Female): 00:04:26 I think it plays a really big role because it's how we know
what's happening around the world. Even though I'm pretty
sure we're not told absolutely everything, but you can see
how far away we are from Florida. If it didn't come out in
the news. We found out about it on the news and Twitter
and all of that. If we didn't have that, how long would it take
to get it on newspaper and all of that. So, it definitely is a
reason why this movement was what it was.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:05:04 Kind of already answered my next point about social media
which is great. But I did want to ask you specifically about
popular culture. If there's anything in particular that stood
out to you. Sorry I'm just putting my phone on airplane
mode so it doesn't ring.
Robbie (Female): 00:05:26 Well, as in...
Rogelio (Male): 00:05:32 Any type of culture that you see, TV shows, certain artists,
or musicians or anything like that that you saw either
involved or speaking to the movement. Did you come
across?
Robbie (Female): 00:05:50 Well, we had a lot of kind of, well they're celebrities, but
they're also activists themselves. They spoke up about the
movement. And during the march, we did have a lot of
people come and show their support. But I do think that it
kind of...their support does help out the movement a lot.
My brother actually, forgot which celebrity it was, but I kept
talking and talking about the march and telling him about it
and he wouldn't listen to me. But then one day he was like,
"Oh my god. She's talking about the movement you're
always talking about." And all of a sudden he was listening.
So they play a big role in kind of getting the attention of
more people.
Rogelio (Male): 00:06:35 You say you don't remember who it was?
Robbie (Female): 00:06:40 I don't remember the celebrity, but I can look it up.
Rogelio (Male): 00:06:47 So for this next section it's about kind of your own
involvement and you already mentioned being involved at
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your high school. And obviously I met you at the Road to
Change events. So can you describe the community that
you're trying to organize or engage with?
Robbie (Female): 00:07:05 So at my school I kind of like working with people my age
even though it's kind of hard because I didn't realize how
hard it would be to get people kind of interested in making
a change and civic engagement. I think since I enjoy it, and
I think it's a big part of something we have to do. A lot of
people don't agree. A lot of people don't have time. But I
do like kind of engaging with them because they're the
coming generation. We're 18 now, then it's 20. Then it's 30.
We're the ones that have to make the change so getting
them to kind of know the rights and the wrongs is a big
step to change. So yeah, any way I can starting
anti-bullying campaigns or talking about voting, registering
them to vote. The importance of doing it and doing the
research and not just going by a name. Actually about the
morals of people that are running and what they stand for. I
hope I answered the question.
Rogelio (Male): 00:08:26 Yeah, definitely. What about for your involvement
specifically with the different Road to Change events? Did
you see that as part of the same community that you're
trying to organize?
Robbie (Female): 00:08:40 I saw a lot of... I noticed we saw more... well, definitely you
saw every age. We saw babies. People take their babies.
And we saw older people which they would come up to us
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and they would tell us we have their support and kind of
how proud they are. So I did see a change in kind of the
people I was communicating with definitely, not just high
school students. But it's always good to see that. It's not
just us that are fighting for it, but everyone else as well.
Rogelio (Male): 00:09:24 Yeah, those are my kind of first events aside from the big
march that happened earlier in the year. I noticed that too.
The many different families.
Robbie (Female): 00:09:34 Yeah. And I like to see even though it's kind of like, "Oh,
the march," there's a lot of people I think we had over
50,000. And to see the little babies. I'm like, "Oh my god.
They're going to get trampled or something." But no, it's
good for them to have them involved and kind of see
what's going on. Because at the end of the day they're the
ones being affected too. What happened in Sandy Hook
and everything, and even myself seeing the little kids got
me emotional. And I think everyone else that doesn't know
how to feel about the movement, seeing kids and all that it
puts everything into perspective.
Rogelio (Male): 00:10:19 Yeah. What kind of media would you say that the
community from the folks at your high school to the folks at
the marches and the different events from March for Our
Lives, did you notice any specific type of media that people
like to use?
Robbie (Female): 00:10:43 I think Twitter is everyone's go to now for information
because it's not very controlled. News stations are always
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tend to be sides towards one place, but in Twitter, a lot of
people are focused on... you see a little bit of everything.
So you kind of have a chance to kind of pick for yourself.
Rogelio (Male): 00:11:15 Were you as part of organizing the walk out at your high
school and being involved with the March for Our Lives, did
you notice any type of priority for creating media? Were
you encouraged to create media? You mentioned already
kind of being talked about, how to talk to the media. Can
you talk a little bit about what it meant for you to create
media as part of these roles that you were in?
Robbie (Female): 00:11:47 Yeah. So yeah, we had to work with the media because we
had to get the word out there. We didn't want to make it
about just the political people. We didn't want to give
anyone's name the fame they want, the attention they
want. So we chose to keep it about kind of fighting against
gun violence and making the change for the students not
about just bashing on... sorry... bashing certain leaders. So
yeah, we kind of worked as a group on that. We knew what
we wanted, what we wanted to have out there. And I think
the media too is the easiest way to engage too with people
in this generation. We did do a lot of talking in person. And
I think that is the best way because in social media or
interviews and stuff, you don't always come across the way
you want to come across. And in person, there's more of a
connection, more understanding, and all that.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:13:13 Did it play a role when you were trying to organize the walk
out at your school? How were you reaching out to people?
Robbie (Female): 00:13:20 At my school we, during the first walk out, we were passing
out the flyers for the big March for Our Lives. But I also
made sure to be posting a lot on Instagram and Twitter and
I made people know that it was okay if they had any
questions to come to me. And I did take it upon myself to
go around the school and talk to them about the
importance of being involved. And I also talked to people
from other schools in my community to make sure that I
kind of wasn't just involving one school because at the end
of the day it's all of us that should be united at the march.
Rogelio (Male): 00:14:10 What about any of the media coming out of the
organization March for Our Lives? Do you follow?
Robbie (Female): 00:14:24 March for Our Lives?
Rogelio (Male): 00:14:25 Their Twitter account, or their different social media
accounts. I know they have a YouTube account.
Robbie (Female): 00:14:29 Yeah, I follow their Twitter, Instagram, and all of that.
Keeps me kind of up to date with all the events coming up.
Rogelio (Male): 00:14:39 What would you say is your go to platform from the
organization that you go to to kind of stay updated?
Robbie (Female): 00:14:46 I go to their Twitter. But I also check their website a lot
because I know for Road to Change you can see their tour
dates on there and what day and what time, where they're
going to be. So that would be a great if you do want to
know more information about it, Marchforourlives.com.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:15:10 Let me see. So if you had to list the top three most
important ways that March for Our Lives communicates,
based on your experience, what would you say those are?
Robbie (Female): 00:15:32 It could be social media and stuff?
Rogelio (Male): 00:15:33 Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Robbie (Female): 00:15:36 Well one, Twitter, and then I like that it's not just constant
just that account, but all of the different members of March
for Our Lives, Emma and Jackie and all of them, how
they're constantly tweeting. I have the notifications on so I
get all their tweets. But also that for Road to Change,
they're getting their point across by going around and
actually having these conversations with people in person.
It's not just online. You don't just see it in the screen. But
you get that engagement. So Twitter, actually speaking to
people in person, and they say too a picture says way
more than you can write or say so their photographers and
all photographers actually that take these powerful pictures
to post online play a big role in all of it too.
Rogelio (Male): 00:16:42 Were you able to talk to some of the more visible folks,
Emma or David?
Robbie (Female): 00:16:48 Yeah, I talked to a few of them. They're all very kind. I
didn't get to talk to Emma though. Sadly, she had to go.
But I did see a lot of people trying to talk to them. They're
very serious about what they're trying to get across. So,
they know what they want and they stick to that. They're
awesome.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:17:10 Yeah. At the L.A. town hall, there was a huge line around
Emma.
Robbie (Female): 00:17:19 I was next to see Emma and then she had to take an
interview. I was so sad. One day I'll get to meet her. One
day. She's an inspiration.
Rogelio (Male): 00:17:28 Yeah, she's amazing. So, let me see where we are. So you
mentioned already before that you keep up to date with
where the tour's going, when it's in different parts of the
country, and you mentioned already that has it not been for
news that you wouldn't have known about Parkland to
begin with. So I'm just wondering if since you've gotten
involved, have you been able to build any type of networks
or communities using media in other places around this
issue?
Robbie (Female): 00:18:15 Myself?
Rogelio (Male): 00:18:16 Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Robbie (Female): 00:18:17 Kind of like an account or something?
Rogelio (Male): 00:18:19 An account or if there's certain people who are in other
parts of the country who you've been able to connect with
online or anything like that?
Robbie (Female): 00:18:29 Because of the tour, I was able to connect with a few of
them that are on tour with them and we did make a lot of
connections with people that kind of want to keep coming
back to L.A. so that's always a good connection to have
because I mean I'm always here, it's the place where I live.
So it's a big help since even here, this school, if I wouldn't
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have known someone that's from here, I wouldn't have
known where to go. So, that's helpful for them but it's also
helpful for us because the high school, I'm already going to
the university, but at my high school I still want to continue
to kind of keep them involved so if I ever do feel or they
ever do want to kind of go speak to the high schools, I'd be
able to kind of work something out for them.
Robbie (Female): 00:19:23 And all the people that I've met, actually one thing opened
so many doors. I didn't know that I wanted to be involved in
activism, but I was involved with March for Our Lives and
then I want to do so many other things. And a lot of the
people like Michelle and Emiliana from Women's March,
they're very helpful. You do know that if you ever need help
with something yourself, they're always welcome to do it.
Rogelio (Male): 00:20:00 Michelle, who's that? One of the organizers at the March
for Our Lives?
Robbie (Female): 00:20:02 Yeah, she's with the resistance in North Ridge and
Women's March too.
Rogelio (Male): 00:20:07 Okay. I actually met her when she was at Multo Latino.
Robbie (Female): 00:20:11 Oh really?
Rogelio (Male): 00:20:12 Yeah, do I did some work with Multo Latino a few years
ago.
Robbie (Female): 00:20:15 She's awesome. She's very helpful because at the
beginning it's a lot so you kind of don't even know where to
start. Especially if you have never really done interviews
and then all of a sudden these news stations want to talk to
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you. It's scary, but she doesn't talk to you like, "Oh we're
just working together." It's more like, "Oh, don't worry,
sweetie. You're going to do awesome. You're amazing."
She's very encouraging and supportive.
Rogelio (Male): 00:20:48 Yeah, she's great.
Robbie (Female): 00:20:49 A lot of them are.
Rogelio (Male): 00:20:59 Let me see. So where would you say that for the media
that you use, you mentioned Twitter, you mentioned
photography, so where do you see yourself when you see
certain skills around media that you either want to have or
that you have and you want to develop more, where do
you look to? Where do you turn to to pick up new media
skills I guess?
Robbie (Female): 00:21:34 I think just a lot of the pages I follow on Instagram. The
Women's March page, it's kind of very encouraging. I love
seeing all the empowerment pictures and makes you want
to be even more involved with building up on that. So, that
inspires me. And Twitter, seeing people, a lot of people
pour their heart out on what they feel strong about, and
that gives a new perspective to things so all of that kind of
shapes me.
Rogelio (Male): 00:22:25 So let me see where we are now. Like I said, it's mostly
semi-structured so I usually don't go through every
question. So I guess a question for you, and this was kind
of a little bit of number 25, but I'm just wondering what
since the movement started in February, what have been
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some of the key moments that you see that you consider
moments of victory, moments that are really things to
celebrate from the movement?
Robbie (Female): 00:23:15 During the march when we barely got there, we were kind
of all it was just rally at the beginning because we were
waiting for more people to show up. But seeing everyone
have kind of the same passion, anger, and it was really
emotional for me too. Hearing the speeches, getting on
stage myself, I never thought that was going to happen. I
was so nervous. I have never done public speaking before
so that being my first time with so many people right there
it was crazy. When I was up there, I just remembered that
I'm so angry about what's going on and I feel so strong
about everything that I'm saying in my speech and all my
fear just kind of left until I was walking on the stage and
then I couldn't feel my legs. But, just seeing so many
people show up to show their support and march with us,
that's victory. And seeing, I think even for voting
registration too, for 18 year olds and all of us. In June I
think I saw something that voting did go up by a few
percentages for us. So that says something.
Rogelio (Male): 00:24:44 For the California primary?
Robbie (Female): 00:24:46 Yeah. So, we're doing good I guess. Well, not I guess. We
are because it's working. It's one of our goals.
Rogelio (Male): 00:24:56 I did see a recent post from this organization called Circle.
They study youth civic engagement. And they did say that
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since this march, well since Parkland, that there has been
an increase in pre-registration for young people so that's
very inspiring.
Robbie (Female): 00:25:18 Yeah, it is because it's kind of something that we're all
really fighting for and we're really pushing right now. We're
asked a lot what's next? What's next? We're kind of like
next is voting. So first, right now, we have to make sure
people are registered, pre-registered, and when they can,
we're all going to go vote and this time for the right people
that are there for the right reasons.
Rogelio (Male): 00:25:43 I was at the L.A. march, so you said you gave one of the
speeches, right?
Robbie (Female): 00:25:53 Yes. I was one of the speakers.
Rogelio (Male): 00:25:55 Okay. I was able to meet also, oh I don't remember her first
name, young woman who was at the L.A. town hall, last
name Chavez. She also gave one of the speeches.
Anyway, I'd love to hear more about your experience giving
that speech.
Robbie (Female): 00:26:17 I made my speech more about... so my high school, it was
built in 1930 so it's old. I mean kind of the huge issue with
all of it was when everything was happening literally I was
thinking about every little detail. And my mom probably
thought I was going crazy. But, is it loud enough?
Rogelio (Male): 00:26:44 Oh, yeah I was just making sure that it hadn't stopped.
Robbie (Female): 00:26:46 Okay. I was thinking about how our doors open outward,
so I'm like if we barricade ourselves in there, you pull it out.
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You can only lock our doors from outside and not inside.
Our windows are super huge and they don't even have
anything. Some of our emergency exits, they're not even
up to date. The doors, walls just there was not much that
we could even do if sadly something were to happen. That,
and then I started thinking about how we also don't get a
lot of funding through the school. So our books can be up
to, we are barely getting some replaced, but some can go
up 20 years old, ten, really old. Our teachers, they don't
get a lot of money too, so they have to, out of their own
pocket buy stuff. You're a teacher. So I don't know with
YouTube, but buy supplies for the students out of their own
pocket. And just all of that. And then I was thinking about
how kind of even, don't even want to mention him, but
some people suggested that our teachers should carry a
weapon for "protection." And I found that crazy and it kind
of based my speech about how they're willing to waste so
much money on buying these guns for the teachers and
kind of just not focusing on the right way to solve the
issues. How are you going to try stop the problem by
bringing the problem into the school itself.
Robbie (Female): 00:28:38 You're just waiting for something to go wrong there. So,
that's kind of what I was mad about. And that's where my
speech kind of went. A bit more into detail, but I don't want
to make it too long. Basically.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:28:58 I probably heard the speech, I was far away so I couldn't
really see.
Robbie (Female): 00:29:04 I was introduced by Leona Lewis. But a lot of people told
me that they were kind of in the back and I don't know why
more speakers weren't put up.
Rogelio (Male): 00:29:32 So I kind of asked you about what you consider to be
moments to celebrate in the movement. Are there any
moments that you see that are like challenges or hurdles
that still need to be overcome?
Robbie (Female): 00:29:46 We had a lot of challenges because not a lot of people are
so accepting and obviously not everyone's goin to agree
with you, but I kind of learned along the way that you can't
change everyone's way of thinking, so you go up to
someone. You're talking to them. They might be rude. Just
to not even fight them. They think what they think. Move on
because there's a lot of other people that meet this
information and want it. A lot of people have been thankful
that we go up to them and we give them this information.
But I've gotten people on Instagram that they send me
messages, calling me a dumb liberal, things just, a lot of
people just don't agree which we expect. But at the end of
the day, a lot of people are agreeing now. So, that was a
challenge.
Rogelio (Male): 00:30:45 Yeah. It just reminds me of the when I was leaving Elmo
village, the NRA folks that were outside.
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Robbie (Female): 00:30:53 It's just crazy because if you don't agree with someone
why take the time to show up to their event? Care about it
so much, then make an event yourself. We also had, I
know during the decision making, a lot of people wanted to
kind of support us, but we only had so much time for
speakers. So we had to choose between okay, who are we
going to have there. Who are we not going to have there?
We wanted to really make sure that the people that we're
introducing were activists and they really cared about the
issues and we didn't want political people. We wanted to
stick to what we're here for this. We don't want you to take
this opportunity to announce that now you're going to be
running for something. So now people saw you at the
march, and you took that opportunity. So we didn't really
want that to happen.
Rogelio (Male): 00:31:48 That kind of transitions a little bit into this next section
that's more about story telling and mass media. So I
already asked you this before and you mentioned that you
had first heard about Parkland on mass media. What has
been your experience so far of how mass media from
radio, to newspapers, to TV treat the movement? How is
the movement portrayed?
Robbie (Female): 00:32:22 A lot of people, I mean, now that I think about it actually I
feel like a lot of people did support it. But they try not to
sound too like, "Yeah," because I don't think they're
allowed to pick a side. But for me, it was scary because
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you never know what people are going to say. I mean, no
one was rude about anything. I know I do think though that
some people, some medias were just waiting for us to
make a mistake and that's kind of something they told us a
lot. Keep your calm. Because all these people are waiting
to see you do something wrong so they could say, "Look,
they're kids. They don't know what they're doing. They're
not educated." So we kind of had to be very careful even
though I'm pretty sure most of them had good intentions.
We had to be careful with that.
Rogelio (Male): 00:33:23 So kind of you were trying to anticipate that everything you
said could be on the record?
Robbie (Female): 00:33:28 Yeah. And a lot of things that you say can be changed too.
I remember I'm pretty sure, I don't think this happened on
purpose, but when another big actual walk out on the 20th
was I think March 20. Yeah. Wait, no. I think April 20. Yeah,
April 20 there was a national walk out and talking about
story time, I guess it's a story. I kind of organized the whole
walk out and we were set, people were ready to do it, and
it was good. No one had said anything about it like the
principal. And then the day before the actual walk out, we
get an announcement that anyone who walks out of the
school the next day will not be allowed to prom which was
the next day. They won't be allowed to go in. So this huge
thing happened.
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Robbie (Female): 00:34:36 Basically where we kind of were thread in with prom and it
was a big thing because... so basically whatever
punishment is put upon a student for walking out has to be
the same punishment, they'd get any other day for
ditching. In order for the principals to be allowed to take
away prom, it would mean that they took away prom from
everyone also that just ditched school. So, he just couldn't
do that. And ACLU got involved and everything. But news
stations were contacting us and I don't want to put any. I'm
not even going to say the name. But my friend and I were
interviewed in front of the school and they cut a lot of our
things off and it was nothing bad. But for her she was
saying how she knew that the principal had good
intentions, but he should let us do what we want because
it's for a good reason. But they cut the [inaudible 00:35:37]
out so it kind of sounded like she was saying, "Let's just do
what we want." And I know she was upset about that.
Which it wasn't that bad, but if you think about it, it could
be worse.
Robbie (Female): 00:35:47 So you do have to anticipate what you're going to say
because it can always be switched around. And once it's
out there, it's out there.
Rogelio (Male): 00:35:56 And those are the type of things that you're trying to as you
were involved at Road to Change.
Robbie (Female): 00:36:07 Yeah.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:36:07 And was it different from the, because you mentioned
ACLU got involved with your school, were you talking to
the staff from March for Our Lives to talk you through being
involved at the event and talking to the press?
Robbie (Female): 00:36:28 Well, they let us know okay, blah blah blah wants an
interview this day at this time. Can you do it? And you'd be
like, "Yeah, okay." I know a lot of times because they've
never done this before. Most of us, we're new to it. I wasn't
even 18. Was I 18? I don't think I was 18. Was it? Yeah. I
think it was. Sorry. I was 18 already, but yeah, we're young,
barley coming out of high school. So when we did have the
interview, they'd be like, it's okay I'll be on the line. And if
anything makes you feel uncomfortable, I'll cut it or
something. So, they wouldn't kind of walk us through say
this, say that. They love that we had our own opinion on it.
They knew the people. We were there and we were there
for the right reasons. That's why they knew that we were
good to kind of help organize a march. So they didn't really
need to control us and that. And that's kind of something I
really like that they weren't, they really let us organize a
march. They were there in case we needed a hand with
something.
Robbie (Female): 00:37:38 So when they say it was a student lead movement, it was.
But I got help when the April 20 walk out was happening
and I wanted to make sure that I was correct, that he
couldn't do that. I did contact, I contacted Michelle. I was
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texting her. I was like, "Can they really do this or not?"
Because I don't want people to miss their prom because of
me. I am willing to miss it because it's something I feel
strong about. And I was prepared to miss it. But, then all of
a sudden, I'm getting emails and calls and just this whole
big thing happened. But it's probably going to be one of the
questions, but I think all of this kind of helped me realize
that we have more power than we think we do. Especially
in schools, you're told a lot sit down, don't speak, raise
your hand if you need to go to the restaurant or drink
water, do this, don't do that. It's kind of like you're
controlled a lot.
Robbie (Female): 00:38:47 And a lot of, I mean it's not everyone, but a lot of principals
try to use this scare tactic. You don't do this, this is going to
happen. But, we got to have a lot of power too, be like
okay, you do this and this is going to happen. And I would
never have known that or even I was always growing them
as a person. No, you can't break that rule. That's what it
says, do this. But now I'm more like why does it say that?
Why can't we do this? I'm just questioning a lot more things
which I don't see as a bad thing because I mean why aren't
we questioning these things that are happening? Why are
we so accepting to everything? Just because it said that
it's over doesn't mean it's correct.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:39:35 And how do you think that mindset kind of developed?
What was the key moment that made you really think
about that?
Robbie (Female): 00:39:42 I think just the whole movement. Talking to all these
different people and I think it just gave me a lot of more
confidence and I'm doing this. I'm working for this. And
then I just learned a lot of new things and it just shaped me
into who I am today. I would have never thought. No one
would say... I mean I've always been talkative, but I've
always been kind of a rule follower. And now my teachers
would say I'm kind of the opposite, not in a bad way. I do
my work. I'm not cheating on things. But I'm not just going
to stand for something because people are saying you
have to. Tell me why I have to and then I'll see if I will.
Rogelio (Male): 00:40:49 Kind of along you mentioned stories already, and I don't
think we'll get to this longer section about organizations,
but I did want to talk to you about story telling and just
based on my experiences. So I went to the events here in
L.A., the events in Orange County, and the events up in
Oakland for Road to Change. And I heard a lot of stories.
So I was just wondering what that means to you. So what
is the role of telling stories for this movement?
Robbie (Female): 00:41:23 A lot of interviews and speeches are just talking to people.
Sometimes we think it's best... we don't want it to be
rehearsed. And the best way to kind of have a genuine
conversation with people and not have to worry about
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remembering what was I supposed to say after this? It's
telling your story. So, we had a lot of people involved in the
whole movement because they had a story to tell. And it
kind of reaches a different level. You never know what
someone's going through so if you're sitting somewhere
and someone's telling you, "Okay, gun violence this. Gun
violence that. We have to get rid of it." You're just going to
be like, "Okay, well blah blah blah." But if someone tells
you at this age, this time, we were doing this, someone
shot my brother while he was not doing anything. Just
because of where we are and the community. It kind of
makes a lot of people realize different things. I had an
event here at IUSE where it was about we were telling the
stories.
Robbie (Female): 00:42:50 And one of the speakers was talking about how she lived
in a community with a lot of kind of violence and she left it
because she didn't want when she had her kids she didn't
want them to go through that. And she began advocating
for all these different things. And one say she's on her way
to an event when she gets a call that her son had been
shot. And it's just crazy at that moment I couldn't. I began
crying because obviously her story she's telling is different.
I'm just trying to summarize it all. But, the fact that she
worked so hard to help all these people go the right way,
somehow still, even though she did everything she could,
her son ends up kind of involved with gun violence even
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though I think he was just outside talking to his friend on a
porch. He wasn't part of any gang or he didn't have any
problems with other people. He was just focused on
school.
Robbie (Female): 00:44:03 But it's the communities. And people try to say, "Oh, it's
just the people." But how are you supposed to... sorry I'm
talking about this whole other different, but I also have
friends that live in Watts or Compton or all that. How do
they want all these people to suddenly, how do I put it?
Hold on, let me try to find the right way to word it. People
are trying to escape that way of living. But, if we're not
trying to do anything to help, I don't feel like we're providing
enough to help. And my friend always talks to me about it
too how we want all these people to have a different
mentality. But if they're all growing up like she grew up
hearing all these gun shots. It's become a normality. Why
is it that it's a normality and if it were to happen
somewhere else like Orange County, people would be so
quick to respond because it's not like we don't see
everyday like something's happening. But no, it shouldn't
be okay for it to be happening so much in all these other
places too.
Robbie (Female): 00:45:27 Gun violence is just, it comes in a lot of different forms and
I feel like... I did come a hold different, sorry, from the
question.
Rogelio (Male): 00:45:36 No, it's exactly...
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Robbie (Female): 00:45:40 People try to say it's just gang violence. We can't do
anything about that. But no, there's a story behind
everything. There's a reason behind everything. I'm pretty
sure no one wants that lifestyle. And at the end of the day,
it all kind of comes down to what we are providing. And like
I said, we're really not providing it. What was the question
again?
Rogelio (Male): 00:46:09 I think you answered it. And I will want to follow up and ask
you since February, since March for Our Lives, have you
seen the types of stories of places like South Gate, like
Watts? Have you seen those type of stories change in the
way people tell them? Have they?
Robbie (Female): 00:46:34 I feel like there's a lot we don't know because a lot of
people don't want to come up and talk about it. My friend,
she had this amazing speech but she didn't come give it. I
did it for her. But I think a lot of people are living through a
lot of things that we don't know about. But a lot of people
are now coming up to talk about them. We wouldn't see a
lot of these stories but now the conversation is here. Now
we're talking about it. And now's your time. I feel to be
taken seriously, more of us have to come up and push
these people. But I understand why they are kind of... a lot
of people are scared to even say something. But yeah,
there has been a change even though people are scared,
people are less scared to because they know they have
support from a lot of people.
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Rogelio (Male): 00:47:45 Even within your own high school, did you notice any
changes about the types of conversations about gun
violence that people were having?
Robbie (Female): 00:47:59 A lot more people were talking about it. But I did notice
when everything was happening, a lot of people were
afraid. And that's what made me even more sad. I'm like
how can we be sitting here at school and we're afraid?
Even teachers, I feel like no one would talk about it. And
even when it was happening, it took a while for teachers
and the principal. I went to the principal and I told him,
"You need to talk about what's happening because you
know how there's always kind of copy cats or false alarms,
we had one at the school." And it just wasn't being
addressed. We would hear things from different people.
So, I told him, "We need to have an assembly." He
probably was so glad that I was graduating, that I was
gone. I would bother him so much. Be like, we have to
have an assembly. Okay, and then I took a list. What are
we going to do about this? What about the doors? We
have this. We have this happening. And so then we
opened up the conversation at the school.
Robbie (Female): 00:48:57 We were talking about it and the teachers talked about it.
Things we wouldn't hear before and teachers, one of them
even started telling us he had his own plan if there was a
shooter. Come into my classroom. He even had a fog
machine in the closet. When I was thinking about it, I'm like
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that's a pretty good idea. If you turn it on, the room fills with
fog. You can't see. You can't aim. But, yeah, the
conversation definitely changed, but I think it was a good
thing because even though it's kind of scary, it's better to
be prepared. And it's always uncomfortable. Even in
elementary schools, it's kind of uncomfortable to talk to
students and young people about these issues because
they're sensitive topics. And there's always parents that
are like, "Oh why are you telling this to my child?" But, it's
better to be prepared than sorry later. I'd rather know what
I can do and what's the procedure than just be completely
lost. And sadly, something happen.
Rogelio (Male): 00:50:22 Thank you for your response.
Robbie (Female): 00:50:23 Sorry, I talk a lot.
Rogelio (Male): 00:50:25 No, it's great. I think you're covering a lot of the different
questions that I'm anticipating so it's great. Thank you so
much. I think we're mostly done here. So I'm going to skip
this part about organizations. Unless there's anything you
would like to add about any groups that you've become
formally part of or that you're still part of?
Robbie (Female): 00:50:56 Well, March for Our Lives L.A. and Next Up, and I'm also I
start school in September, so I'm kind of happy because
that means once the high schools already starting in
August, I want to go in and I really want to set a club in
place. Students Next Up, which will be kind of an
environment for the students to be able to talk about all
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these issues. Like I said, that aren't being talked about. It
being gun violence, immigration, LGBTQ, rights, and just
anything. And kind of provide information about different
movements that are going on that they can be involved
with. And just to show everyone that kind of, I just feel like
we really need in every high school we should have a club
like this because all the information that I have now, I want
everyone else to have it. And I'm hoping that a club like
that, an organization like that will make it happen.
Rogelio (Male): 00:52:04 And you also mentioned being part of March for Our Lives.
So does that mean that you're part of like an affiliates, or
what does that mean? What does that look like?
Robbie (Female): 00:52:16 March for Our Lives L.A., so actually on my way to the
meeting I was getting some messages. I guess now we're
working on having a leader in each district. So I'll be one of
them. I think it's just to keep it all more organized, make
sure that everyone is reached, everyone has this
information about what's going on, and make sure that the
movement isn't just we had the march and the tour and
we're done. No, it's going to keep on going. We're going to
keep on fighting until we see the change.
Rogelio (Male): 00:52:57 You're going to be one of the district leaders for what
district?
Robbie (Female): 00:53:00 I was going to be for district here in South Gate. I think it's
44. But since I'm going to be dorming in Irvine, I think I'm
236
going to do I think it was 45 for Orange County, Irvine, and
all that.
Rogelio (Male): 00:53:19 Thank you. Let me see. And you said you're going to a
meeting today for a regional meeting for March for Our
Lives?
Robbie (Female): 00:53:32 No, not today. They were just telling me about it first. I'm
pretty sure they can have meetings again. So I'll be a little
busy.
Rogelio (Male): 00:53:43 So I think we're wrapping up here. So I'm going to skip
these parts here and go towards the end and just ask you
just overall since you started being involved more as an
activist. Sounds like a lot of it started early in this year,
right?
Robbie (Female): 00:54:03 Yeah.
Rogelio (Male): 00:54:06 I want to ask you, kind of with that in mind, thinking about
your activism, if your use of media and communication has
changed in the way that you use your social media or your
phone, and the way that you're seeing it?
Robbie (Female): 00:54:23 I think before I saw more like, "Oh fun." Post pictures. And
now it's kind of like if I'm feeling a certain way about
something, I'm going to use social media to let people
know. And it's a good thing too because I'm pretty sure a
lot of people feel the same way, but they're just scared to
say something because they think they're alone. So, it's
changed in that way. I started, I had my personal
Instagram account. But not just because I felt like, "Okay,
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I'm following all these people that probably don't care
about all these things." But I made a separate activism
account where I post about everything I'm involved in and
all of that. So that's changed and it's more about
advocating for things now. But, like you're saying, I think
everything started with an anti-bullying campaign in school.
And it kind of made me realize that a lot of things at the
school aren't right. Like I said, a lot of things at schools
aren't addressed. They're just slightly touched upon.
Rogelio (Male): 00:55:39 And this was before March for Our Lives?
Robbie (Female): 00:55:41 Yeah. It was before that. It was just a small campaign but it
was called Words Matter. So I basically just talked about
how watch what you say, even though we say it a lot.
Literally, watch what you say. I feel like the word bullying
people kind of associate it with little kids and pushing, but
no, it's everything down to the little comments that people
make. If you think about it, a lot of people in high school we
don't like to admit it, but a lot of people are really mean.
And they say things intentionally to hurt people. But, a lot
of things some people I guess they don't mean to. But it
does. And it's just to say, think about it first because you
don't know what someone's going through already. You
don't know how they feel about a certain thing. I keep
saying it, but everyone has their story. And it just takes one
event to open people's eyes.
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Robbie (Female): 00:56:48 I kind of had a little problem with bullying myself in high
school, and I think that too even though these events
they're not good, it shaped me. So, I became stronger
because now I know that I don't want it to happen to
someone else. And now I know that I'm strong enough to
take it, but these other people aren't strong enough and
sadly it leads to sadly suicide or just it all wraps around
mental health issues too. So, sometimes you just need to
be that strong person for everyone else so people know
you have their back and even though they should know
you're teaching people the rights and the wrongs and
helping them realize that at a certain time they were wrong
for doing something they did. I think I went completely off
of the question.
Rogelio (Male): 00:57:54 No, that's great. Thank you so much. I mean I really
appreciate your comment. And we're coming to an end. I
know it's almost been an hour.
Robbie (Female): 00:58:03 No, it's fine.
Rogelio (Male): 00:58:03 Just ask you about what are the goals for you personally
being involved with March for Our Lives and with your
activism in general? And that's the first one, like what do
you see as your next steps? And then what would you like
to see in five years time?
Robbie (Female): 00:58:27 I think, okay well, had to think for that one. I think the goal
definitely right now is all coming to the elections, getting
the wrong people out of there as fast as we can, and for
239
sure getting the right people in there. Have you heard,
Alexandra Cassio, about her? No?
Rogelio (Male): 00:58:49 Oh, New York?
Robbie (Female): 00:58:50 Yeah.
Rogelio (Male): 00:58:51 Yeah.
Robbie (Female): 00:58:52 So I was really happy about that. That was awesome. So
you see things like that happening and you're like okay
we're getting closer to our goal. So, the first goal is kind of
getting the right people into office because that's kind of
where it all starts in changing up the way things work. Even
though it takes time. Because it takes time, we like started
the march but we're still working on it because everything
is so distance. And in five years, something that I just really
want is just kind of more people have more acceptance
towards one another. And just for people to start listening
to what people have to say. Actually listening with I'm going
to go back to kind of the march, but we never once said
that we wanted to get rid of the second amendment but the
funny thing is that a lot of the people that were going
against us clearing were not listening to what we had to
say because they thought that we just wanted to ban all
guns, get rid of the second amendment. But that's the last
thing we want. It's the second amendment. It's our right.
But why do we need these big rifles that these weapons
aren't for hunting. You don't use that for hunting. And all
240
these things try to be, how should I say it, they try to make
it about one thing when it's not.
Robbie (Female): 01:00:41 So, just for people to listen to what other people have to
say because there's a reason behind everything. You
never know, you might actually agree with that and just
less prejudice. Is that how you say it? Yeah? Yeah.
Towards all these... there's a lot of different cultures. We
should all just be enjoying everything that we all have to
offer and starting with not bringing up immigration and all
that. I had to bring it up. It's just a huge issue right now.
Okay, I was going to start talking about it, but I'll just. It's a
lot anyways. But, yeah.
Rogelio (Male): 01:01:32 Okay. Well, thank you. That's kind of the end of the
interview. So I'm going to thank you again, Robbie. I'm
going to stop recording.
Robbie (Female): 01:01:40 Of course.
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APPENDIX H
Interview with Alex
8/4/2018
Rogelio (Male): 00:00 And start recording and just again for the call itself, this
interview is for a project on youth media activism and civic
imagination, specifically looking into the different ways that
young people are becoming involved with gun reform and
gun violence prevention and reduction.
Rogelio (Male): 00:39 Where would you say you're based primarily, Alex?
Alex (Female): 00:46 I lived in the Bay Area for 26 years, but I live in southern
Oregon now, but we ... VisionQuilt is a national project.
Rogelio (Male): 00:56 Okay. Do you consider yourself an activist?
Alex (Female): 01:05 Oh, yes. And an educator.
Rogelio (Male): 01:11 And an educator. Do you consider yourself a part of any
current social movements or any particular issues that
really speak to you at the moment?
Alex (Female): 01:26 The whole issue that I'm involved with is gun violence ang
gun violence prevention, so that's why I founded
VisionQuilt. Through this work, we're connected with the
Parkland kids, with the Giffords, with the Brady campaign,
with the March for Our Lives, with the Women's March.
More and more, we are becoming a coalition that is
working together. VisionQuilt in itself is nonpartisan, and I
can explain more about that, but we are forming alliances
with other movements. And Black Lives Matter, that's a
very important connection for us as well.
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Rogelio (Male): 02:17 Can you talk a little bit about how you got kind of involved
with this particular issue and the story behind the founding
of VisionQuilt?
Alex (Female): 02:30 Sure. I woke up from a dream, a little over three years ago
with the idea of the AIDS quilt. And for me, the AIDS quilt
moved our country from fear to connection, and 54 tons of
AIDS quilts have been made since the '80s, and I know
that their power impacted a lot of people. So, I began to
think about the idea of creating a quilt where people
shared their vision on how to prevent gun violence. I
worked with a group of people here in southern Oregon,
we kind of brainstormed the ideas and I came up with the
theme of "What you can imagine, you can create", and
also the theme of "It's possible", because we knew we
needed to plant the seeds of imagination in people that
they felt so stuck with the norms and the trends in our
country, and the division between gun rights people and
prevention people.
Alex (Female): 03:48 We from the beginning had gun owners as part of our
process. We knew we wanted to be nonpartisan, 'cause
the mission of the VisionQuilt is to empower communities
to create solutions to gun violence through the power of art
and inclusive dialogue. And I can talk about my
background at some point, I don't know if that's helpful to
you.
Rogelio (Male): 04:16 Yes, absolutely. I'd love to hear more.
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Alex (Female): 04:19 Okay. I grew up ... I was 15, 14 or 15 when Martin Luther
King did the march on Washington, and I felt this strong
urge to get involved, but I didn't at the time. I grew up in a
conservative blue collar family in Pennsylvania, but that
urge was always kind of there for me, and I pursued a
career in English literature and taught journalism, and
drama, and writing, and all of that in high school. And I saw
the power of young people then. I taught both gifted, I
taught at a gifted school and I taught kids in 12th grade
who couldn't read. So, I worked, form the beginning, I saw
the disparity of kids and I also saw the power of them. And
during the process of teaching, I was tapped for a doctoral
program at the University of Pittsburgh, which was really
about organization development.
Alex (Female): 05:33 That's what my PhD is in, it's in organization development,
and that kind of taught me systems theory. This is early
organization development. This was ... 1974 is when I
concluded my doctorate. It's really the beginning of
systems theory and thinking about how to help
organizations help themselves move through strategic
planning and true organizational change. Those roots were
in me and after I left education per se, I started working
with school districts and hospitals and major corporations
and nonprofits during my organization development work.
Alex (Female): 06:20 And along that way, I came to California and started
working actually with engineers and scientists, and then
244
went out on my own and worked within a [inaudible
00:06:30] organization. So, those seeds have ... how to
work on a mass level and how to work on an organizational
level were there, but during that time, I got married and I
had two children and I started working again in the
schools, this time as a parent while I was doing consulting
work. Then I pursued an art career.
Alex (Female): 06:55 So, then I saw the power of art. Anyhow, three years ago
when I woke up with this dream, it was like, "Wow," all the
seeds of my life, first in education, then in organization
development and then in art were really coming together in
this idea about the VisionQuilt. That's the short story.
Rogelio (Male): 07:18 Wow, that's really amazing that you're able to bring
together these diverse experiences to come together with
an awesome project like VisionQuilt.
Alex (Female): 07:31 And that was particularly why we formed our own nonprofit
and we made a decision in our strategic plan as a nonprofit
to work with primarily middle school and high school youth.
We've had people who have made panels from age three
to ninety-six, but primarily our focus has been with youth.
And youth in violence prone communities, in Chicago
primarily and in Oakland.
Rogelio (Male): 08:02 Can you talk a little bit ... You mentioned already that part
of the, at least one of the goals of VisionQuilt was to get
people to imagine differently through this art. Can you talk
245
a little bit about how you see this intervention, an artistic
intervention in this space?
Alex (Female): 08:32 Yes. That's been a strategic seed for the whole project. We
work with incarcerated youth and even the men in San
Quentin have made VisionQuilts now. But particularly with
the incarcerated youth or youth from impoverished
communities. They only see their life. They might say, "I
was shot', or "My brother died". We work a lot with
survivors. It's difficult for them to see beyond that, but
when we show them VisionQuilt panels that are made by
other people, we see that their minds are opening to other
possibilities and we also ask them to think about
visionaries who have changed the world and show that
imagination, that the actions came after the imagination
seed was there, after the vision was there.
Alex (Female): 09:37 So, we try to get them to ... it's very interactive. We try to
get them to think about those people. For some of them,
they say it's Martin Luther King, or Chavez, or whatever,
but some of them are thinking it's Beyonce and other
people in social media that are influencing them, so of
course we embrace that and we really want to hear them
articulate their ideas to each other, so that they can see
how people have changed the world or are changing the
world through their imagination and through their actions.
We put those obvious two things together when they begin
to think about their vision on how to prevent gun violence.
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We ask them to take the next step, whatever that is. We
say, "You've seen the panels. You've made a panel. You've
seen the exhibition of the panels. What will you do next?"
And we don't prescribe what they should do, but we urge
them to do some kind of action and we have long term
plans of how to empower the youth teams, which I can talk
about later. Did I answer your question?
Rogelio (Male): 10:56 Yes. And actually, I had kind of a followup based on you
mentioned that some of the youth are talking about maybe
Beyonce or other social media cultural elements, and I
thought that's really fascinating. That's part of the work that
we do is we look at the different cultural symbols that
speak to youth, and I did notice a few panels at the
Oakland Park that were kind of using a lot of these
different symbols, that seemed like young people talking to
each other about this issue, maybe drawing from comic
books or different things. Have you noticed any certain
types of patterns in the types of symbols that young people
use to talk about this issue? And I know it could be-
Alex (Female): 11:46 Yeah. I think they're getting the graphic novels, and the
graphic comic books are definitely influencing them. I'm
kind of out of touch with that world, so I see the symbols.
I'm not sure exactly who some of those characters are. But
even in Portland, we worked with a charter school up there
and somebody used Pooh Bear on their VisionQuilt panel.
So, I thought that was pretty interesting. And the slogan
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was something like, "You are not alone," and I think Pooh
was holding the hand of Piglet. It was like, " I'll be there for
you." It was kind of this thing of perhaps preventing suicide
or depression.
Alex (Female): 12:39 When we can, we get these kids to write artist statements
so that we can hear more about their thoughts related to
the images and texts that they use, so I can share some of
those with you. But it looks like they're definitely choosing
images that are part of their world, whether it's their
storybooks or their current social media.
Rogelio (Male): 13:11 You mentioned before that you work in a few different sites
that are primarily effected by different kinds of gun
violence, and I was wondering if you could describe the
community that you're trying to organize and engage with
more broadly with the project.
Alex (Female): 13:34 Give you a broader view? Is that what you're saying?
Rogelio (Male): 13:38 Who would you say is VisionQuilt's main community you're
trying to reach with the project?
Alex (Female): 13:47 Right. We are trying to reach middle school and high
school youth, and we're doing that through whatever
contacts, it's very grassroots. It's through whatever
connection we can make. It can be a public school or a
charter school. It can be a community center. In Chicago,
we were brought in to Saint Sabina Community Center,
which is part of this very, very active Catholic church, Saint
Sabina, on the south side of Chicago. It's actually where
248
the Road to Change launched its road trip, and so that was
through a program that was empowering African American
young women.
Alex (Female): 14:48 But we also have reached out to a children's hospital in
Chicago and it looks like they will become a regional
partner for us, and they have a huge connection to a whole
coalition of violence prevention and intervention
organizations. We're very ... I'm trying to find the word.
We're very, we want to have the regions kind of define their
own way of reaching out, and so if that hospital takes us
on, if they become our anchor partner, we will transfer
whatever process knowledge we can give to them, but they
will make decisions on how to use VisionQuilt to enhance
the works that that hospital's doing.
Alex (Female): 15:47 And the same way with the Oakland, we've worked with
Youth Live in Oakland, which has kind of a three pronged
program. Places like that, they work with teens and high
schools that are impacted by violence and they train the
teams in becoming kind of violence prevention people. But
they also work with survivors and then they're also in the
street as violence interrupters. They deescalate situations.
They're at the scene of homicides and they support
families to prevent shootings, all of that kind of thing. So,
so far we've worked wherever we're invited and that's ...
We're open to that. I don't know if that answers your
question.
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Rogelio (Male): 16:48 Yes.
Alex (Female): 16:49 But those are some of the specifics of who we've been
working with.
Rogelio (Male): 16:55 You mentioned sharing your process with your different
partners. I'm just wondering, what would it typically look
like to run a VisionQuilt workshop? I noticed on your
website you have a lot of resources, which I really want to
talk to you further down with another question, but I'm just
interested in how would you describe kind of when you're
already meeting with a partner and you're getting set up to
actually create the panels, what does that typically look
like?
Alex (Female): 17:32 Well, the one thing that isn't on the website is kind of our
partnership model, which I could send to you after we talk.
And that's trying to, that's more specific about the
decentralized theme of our work, because we eventually
want to train managers and train youth, we want to form
teams of teens, survivors, and community leaders to do the
VisionQuilt work. What does that look like? We do have a
design that is on our website that looks like a typical
workshop design, but we actually custom design
everything to the organization.
Alex (Female): 18:26 So, like with the incarcerated youth, we did it over four
sessions. With homeless youth, we did it over a couple of
weeks. We really try to work with the partner organization
to custom design it to whoever their client is. And we really
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want, speaking of media, we really want teens to start
making their own videos about their VisionQuilt and about
what they're gonna do with their VisionQuilt panels. So, we
want to put ... just ask them to use their phones or
whatever their camera is to make videos about their
process and then put it on our website. We haven't
completely developed that, but that's all part of what we
want to do.
Rogelio (Male): 19:21 I did notice, I was able to look over your website and I was
really impressed by all of the different resources that you
have, all of the different materials that you have from
workshops to different photos form partnerships that you
had. I'm just wondering how you see the role of different
media playing into part of your project, from websites to
social media.
Alex (Female): 19:51 Right. We're way behind on our website. It's way out of
date. We have thousands of candids and things that we
haven't put on there. But the whole ... Our social media
also has been lacking, but certainly Instagram and Twitter
are ones that we try to keep up with but we want more and
more connection through that. Facebook we use, too, and
Pinterest, but I think that there's power in this in getting a
wider audience for VisionQuilt, and our whole idea is to get
organizations to take this on and use it in their own way.
Alex (Female): 20:46 If an organization, we always say if you make 12 or more
panels in a community, or in a school, or in a community
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center, you can keep them and use them. Just send us
back a video or certainly a photograph and a project
release on what you did so we can put it in our national
database. But I think media is the only way this is gonna
spread like the AIDS quilt. Our goal is 54 tons of
VisionQuilt panels, just like there are now 54 tons of AIDS
quilts. We have had people wear VisionQuilt panels in the
March for Our Lives, in the Women's March. There are
many national prevention marches in various cities all the
time. So, VisionQuilt panel really fits all of those
movements, and it certainly fits all the visual medias,
because social media, because it's so visual. I don't know
that I'm answering your question completely.
Rogelio (Male): 22:01 Yeah. Definitely.
Alex (Female): 22:03 [crosstalk 00:22:02] but-
Rogelio (Male): 22:03 I appreciate your answers.
Alex (Female): 22:06 We see that we are unique addition, and I think that's the
biggest thing I should say to you is when we work with a
new organization or a new community center, we say that,
"We want you to integrate this into your ongoing work". In
other words, "Don't think of us as an add on, or don't think
of VisionQuilt as an add on. Think of it as enhancing the
work you're already doing," whether they have ... When we
met the Parkland kids that day, I said to them ... first of all,
we offered them free materials if they wanted them. We
said, "You can use them in your town meetings. You can
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use them when you're registering people to vote. You can
use them in any capacity that you want, and just tell us so
that we can share your story."
Alex (Female): 23:03 And that's what we try to do through our social media, is to
share the stories we have, like quotes from the artist
statements that we put on social media about why they
made the panel, why those chose that image or text. And
we're doing a book just for partners that will have candids
and quotes from the artist statements and example panels
in the book, just to kind of show people the potential of how
they can use it in their ongoing work.
Rogelio (Male): 23:39 Great. A book you're-
Alex (Female): 23:40 A book on demand.
Rogelio (Male): 23:43 Oh, great.
Alex (Female): 23:44 Yeah, a book on demand. It could be an e-book as well.
But it'll be a hard copy that we can just print on demand.
We're a very small nonprofit and we work on donations, so
part of what we need is to find larger funding sources for
our work, and that can expand our social media, for sure.
Rogelio (Male): 24:17 I wanted to ask you, this is kind of shifting gears a little bit
back to working with young people. And since you
mentioned having experience as an educator, and you're
now working with a very art based format, I'm just
wondering what are some of the observations that you've
made when working with young people? And engaging
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them with art versus engaging them in the traditional
classroom around these issues?
Alex (Female): 24:54 Yeah. That's a very important question. I think what art
does is it brings the unconscious to the surface. Many of
the kids that we've worked with are survivors. They've lost
an uncle or a sister, or a brother, or they've been impacted
from losing a friend. And some of them almost are frozen
when they're started because they're so traumatized by the
situation. But we create a safe space for them to express
it. We also tell them they don't have to. We give them time
and space that way.
Alex (Female): 25:37 But we always show VisionQuilt panels from the very
beginning. We hang 20, 30, 50, 60 of them and we often
start by asking kids to stand by one that speaks to them in
some way, that they either like or hate or whatever, and
then we ask them to tell us a little bit. We kind of warm
them up. I saw your wonderful imagination exercises. We
do some of that, just trying to loosen people up so they can
kind of express themselves. So, that's one thing, is working
with art helps them do that and then when they ... they feel
empowered by their expression. And then when we tell
them that we're going to take their panels both on the
Internet ... you probably saw our virtual quilt. We have
hundreds of panels on the virtual quilt. But we also say that
we're physically taking them to other cities. Then they feel
empowered. They feel like they are having a voice on the
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national stage, and that's a significant reward for them, of
doing this work.
Alex (Female): 27:12 Ask me that question again, 'cause I know there's another
part to it. [inaudible 00:27:16] didn't answer.
Rogelio (Male): 27:19 I think it was-
Alex (Female): 27:19 You asked me about being an educator and then ...
Rogelio (Male): 27:23 Just some of the unique insights that you can get by using
an arts based approach by working with young people, and
I think you answered it very well, thank you.
Alex (Female): 27:33 Okay. We don't have the whole tale of this charter school in
Oakland, but this is an important maybe part of our case
study. We were invited into this school and this school
does something called expeditionary learning. Are you
familiar with that term?
Rogelio (Male): 27:57 No.
Alex (Female): 27:57 It comes, there's a whole network. It's called EL,
expeditionary learning. And it's kind of like the outward
bound expedition. These kids have a real hands on, very
student led experience. In this school, they chose, the kids,
the seventh and eighth graders chose gun violence as their
subject. I talked with the teachers by phone and at the end
of the 45 minute phone call, these teachers decided to use
VisionQuilt with their three month expedition, and you
probably saw our videos.
Alex (Female): 28:44 So, not only did they make panels, but I urged them to
have an exhibition and so the kids are making VisionQuilt
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panels and they're also interviewing people and collecting
the data and analyzing it through their math and
humanities classes. Reading literature, watching videos,
and then they have this exhibition, which they ... you
probably saw in the video. They have these huge
exhibition panels. They've had three exhibitions and over
1200 people have seen this exhibition. So they are, the
kids have curated these exhibitions. They have decided
what they're going to put forward to the community and
then they meet the person who's anybody, grandmother or
community member who shows up for the exhibition. They
walk them around to all of ... They curate it. They walk
them, they're docents to their own exhibition.
Alex (Female): 29:46 And the people are just blown away. It's not just the making
of something, it's the whole process of educating an entire
community on the work that they've done. It's been
phenomenal to watch that. There's so much potential. And
that's just one client, one partner that has done that thing.
So, we will be able to share, that school has given us
permission to share that curriculum with any other school
that we might work with. I'm gonna take that to Chicago.
I'm gonna let the people in Chicago know about that
curriculum.
Alex (Female): 30:29 And the expeditionary learning people are now working in
Detroit, so I think they definitely should know about this
curriculum, because it could be used by schools in Detroit.
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Rogelio (Male): 30:46 And you said the exhibition part-
Alex (Female): 30:48 Layers of creativity is what I'm trying to say. They went to
the Oakland museum and saw some exhibition, and then
they started to imagine what their exhibitions could look
like. And then they created it and then they curated it, and
then they were docents to it. Pretty exciting. And very
inspiring. People were really, I think the adults said, "Now
what should I do? This 12 year old has done this. What
should I do as a 40 year old or as a parent or as a
grandmother?" So, that's the activism part of this.
Rogelio (Male): 31:39 That's really great. You said you were looking to post it on
the website. I would love to hear more about it. I haven't
really heard much about it.
Alex (Female): 31:48 Yeah. Great.
Rogelio (Male): 31:53 You mentioned before, you mentioned this idea of young
people telling stories, and a lot of the work that I do looks
into the role of storytelling or narratives in movement. So,
I'm just wondering how you see storytelling as part of
VisionQuilt and also as part of gun violence more broadly.
Alex (Female): 32:24 Right. Is it Amelia Yang? I saw one of your colleagues is
doing participatory trans media storytelling, right?
Rogelio (Male): 32:35 Yes.
Alex (Female): 32:35 Yeah. We see storytelling as a huge part of VisionQuilt.
Obviously, the stories are being told on canvas or on
fabric, that's one way. But then the artist statements is
more part of the storytelling. But our ultimate goal is to
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have poets and spoken word and rap, and music, and
performance be part of the exhibition. We are networking
with musicians and performers to make that a bigger part
of VisionQuilt. Storytelling through theater or performance
is a whole other way of telling stories. That's all part of our
larger vision. Because we're a young organization, we
haven't done as much of that, but the potential for that is
huge. And some of that happened in Oakland, but I can
imagine it happening on a much greater level, and then
using social media to share that.
Rogelio (Male): 34:02 Are there certain narratives that you hope to elevate in the
discussion of gun violence more broadly, either locally or
nationally through the project?
Alex (Female): 34:18 We don't just prescribe the narrative. The narratives arise
from the work. But certainly there are narratives of the pain
from survivors. That's certainly a theme. Fear. Fear is a
narrative. Kids are starting to be afraid to go to school.
That's there. But also the narrative of resilience, of these
kids saying ... one of the themes, "We are better than this"
was one of the first themes that came out of an older
woman, but young people have taken that claim and just
said, "We can do better than this. We are better than this".
Alex (Female): 35:09 The narrative of ... We try to get people to think about
solutions, but some times we find that the vision part of
VisionQuilt is how they're seeing their world. We chose the
right name, I think, for the project, VisionQuilt. But we didn't
258
expect that some people's vision would be the division in
America, or the bloodiness of America, or how unsafe
people feel, or how divided we feel. One homeless girl
made ... She's homeless, first of all. So, we're at a
community center that serves her. She took the time to
research all the shootings in schools in all the states and
she made a map of the United States and then put in red
where all the shootings were, I think from 2015. So, that
was her vision of gun violence.
Alex (Female): 36:19 The kids are ... And the kids do, we worked with some kids
and they were using their phones to look on Pinterest and
Instagram for image ideas. So, that's another thing of how
media is interacting with this project. So, it's definitely
influencing them and then they're borrowing some images
or changing them in some way. The whole, I think the
whole project is about storytelling, and about letting the
narratives have a public voice that will then influence
people to move them to change what we have in this
country.
Rogelio (Male): 37:10 My next question is about these young students from
Parkland, Florida and how you became involved with that
and how you see their efforts related to VisionQuilt.
Alex (Female): 37:31 Well, I praise their work. I'm so inspired by them. I got to
talk with David Hogg and with Jacqueline Corbin, and I
also got to talk with one of the .... I forget his name, but I
walked up to one of the kids in the park and said, "Are you
259
from Saint Sabina?" And he had indeed joined the road,
the bus tour from Saint Sabina. So, he's from the south
side of Chicago. I can get his name for you if you need it.
So, I was able to talk to him to say that kids from Saint
Sabina, from the community center had made these
panels. I don't think I showed you, but we've made little
cards, like little business cards with panels on them, and I
was able to give him copies of some of the ones from Saint
Sabina so that he could see what those kids had made.
Alex (Female): 38:42 I think it really made him feel good, because it was like
here was this stranger who was connected to his home,
not just his hometown, but his community and had worked,
and I just wanted to kind of share with him the power of
what those kids had produced. I just think that Parkland
has elevated this whole movement in phenomenal ways. I
think they are very humble. I think they're very smart.
They're obviously very passionate. And they're very
strategic. They're the people we've been waiting for, I think.
Alex (Female): 39:25 I know they put in really long days, so I don't know if I
showed you, but we gave them ... We had 14 handmade
journals that volunteers had made, and I put in a letter
there thanking them for their work and saying that this
journal was a gift to them to thank them for their activism
and to also say that we would offer them free materials if
they wanted to use them. And Jacqueline said yes she
would take them, and she had a mailbox at the school. And
260
I said, "Well, think about all this, because I want you to ..."
our materials are somewhat expensive to us, so I wanted
to make sure. So, I haven't touched base with her,
because I know they're still moving, but I will.
Alex (Female): 40:16 We also had done ... One of our volunteers has made a
panel on the mass shootings and she takes the name of
each survivor and puts their full name and their age, and
she uses this motif of hands. You probably saw it on the
website. So, we did one of Parkland and I had sent it to the
school about a week after the shooting, but I never knew if
they got it or not. So, I made a duplicate panel and gave it
to Jacqueline, which she took. I don't know if you saw, but
we make these signature panels where people sign. We
make two of them, so I put the logo of Road to Change on
it and we put our VisionQuilt logo, we're kind of
documenting where the VisionQuilt has been, so people
during the event in the park, they sign both panels and we
take one with us, and I gave one to Jacqueline.
Alex (Female): 41:20 So, it had messages on it, "Thank you for your activism.
You are ... thank you for everything you've done. I feel
empowered, I'm inspired by you. I want to get involved."
So, they took that on the bus, too. So, that's as far as
we've gotten with Parkland, but they did give us their
emails and we're gonna follow up with them and see if they
truly want to do more with VisionQuilt, and if so, we'll
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completely support them in doing whatever they want with
it.
Rogelio (Male): 41:52 And your project was kind of founded well before Parkland.
Alex (Female): 42:00 Right.
Rogelio (Male): 42:01 I wasn't really sure if it was 2015, based on the website.
But I'm just wondering-
Alex (Female): 42:09 Right.
Rogelio (Male): 42:13 ... if you've noticed any of the types of messages or stories
that young people are telling as part of your project and
whether or not you see them related to this effort from
these students from Parkland.
Alex (Female): 42:35 I think it definitely has influenced kids. We don't have to
point to Martin Luther King anymore. We just point to
Parkland. They've heard about them. They know about
them. Some times they don't know about the Road to
Change, but they know that people their age are actively
doing a lot of things. So, we don't have to talk about ...
Before, we were like, as a group we were thinking, "Okay,
do we need to talk about seat belts or smoking as social
change movements that happened before laws
happened?" Because that's our whole thing. We support all
the laws, but our project is really about mobilizing the
grassroots, and then that influences laws and other things.
Those are old things that happened before these kids were
even born, but now all we have to do is say, "Look at the
Women's March. Look at the March for Our Lives," and
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they get it. And of course, they get all of the social media
things that are happening, the trends that happen among
them, too.
Alex (Female): 43:47 So yes, it's increased. It's made our work so much easier
and it's enhanced us. I guess the other thing to say is that
as a result of laying out ... we've never laid out panels on
the ground before, because we've always hung them. But
there was no place to hang them and they told us, the
organizers told us to do whatever we wanted. They
welcomed us. But as a result of that, we had alumni from
Stoneman Douglas that lived in the Bay Area who want to
make panels. They want, they said, "Would it be all right if
we make panels and give it to some communities?" And I
said, "Absolutely." That was such a lovely question to get
from them, and we had an invitation to hang panels in
Walnut Creek for an event that one of the youth is
organizing there. And then we've had an invitation from the
March for Our Lives Bay Area people for us to be involved
in the march that I guess is gonna happen next March
2019. They want to be involved in that.
Alex (Female): 44:58 We got volunteers as a result of that. We have a lot of new
invitations, as well as probably new partnerships that are
developing. 'Cause we always say, "Whether you're Moms
Demand Action, or Brady, or Women's March, whatever
you are, take VisionQuilt and use it, and integrate it into
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your ongoing work," and that's what people are wanting to
do as a result of that one Parkland event.
Rogelio (Male): 45:29 Wow. That's powerful.
Alex (Female): 45:35 I know. It's amazing. We just need more funding to hire
some staff. That's part of our interest. We want to hire a
person of color who's from that community in the east bay
so that they can work with our volunteers, because we just
need that. We're at that place where the work would
spread more if we had funding for that kind of thing. But
mostly we're volunteers.
Rogelio (Male): 46:11 That kind of brings me to kind of my final wrap up
questions and that'll kind of wrap up the interviews.
Alex (Female): 46:16 I don't want it to end. I have questions for you as well. Go
ahead.
Rogelio (Male): 46:22 Absolutely. I definitely expect to follow up and this project
is just incredibly amazing. I've been holding back a lot of
my comments in the nature of the interview, but I'd love to
continue talking. I did want to ask you, what is your vision
for VisionQuilt? Where do you see it going? What are the
next steps?
Alex (Female): 46:45 Okay. One of our visions in the beginning, which looks like
it has real potential for happening was to partner with a
national organization and actually have them take it on. We
approached Every Town and Moms Demand Action in the
beginning, and they were interested, but they also had
their legislative agenda. But lately the Brady campaign and
264
the Giffords are partnering with us in various ways. We just
sent panels to the Giffords. They just chose 28 courage
fellowships. Do you know about this? They've chosen kids
between the ages of 16 and 20 to have a year long
courage fellowship and they brought them to Washington
DC last week. We sent 12 panels to them. We sent them
handmade journals and we sent them some materials to
begin.
Alex (Female): 47:47 They made like a ... They didn't have a lot of time, 'cause
they had to train them in so many other things, but they did
like a mini VisionQuilt panel and we're hoping that we'll be
able to do a full VisionQuilt workshop with them, which
would mean that VisionQuilt could go into 28 communities
with these fellows, these people between the ages of 16
and 20. So, that would be an amazing thing. But overall,
we want people nationally to really adopt the VisionQuilt,
and we want to hold the national database. We want to
know the name of the person. We want an artist statement
from them, and we want a photograph with their panel, and
we want to know what exhibitions they're holding and how
they're innovating with it, and then we want to share that
information on our website in other ways. We want to
share all these stories of events and successes and poetry
and music that's come out of it.
Alex (Female): 48:55 We really, really, really want to train teams of teams and
have the teams be the workshop leaders. We want staff to
265
help us have a national presence. It's really an
evolutionary thing. Like imagination, we're making it up as
we go along. It's taking us, we're following the
breadcrumbs. We're following different people's
imagination and their ideas on how to use this to [inaudible
00:49:38] the year of gun violence prevention. Really, we
want to mobilize people to really change the country.
Alex (Female): 49:48 We believe, in our theme of "It's Possible", we believe that
we can end gun violence, that it is a public health issue
and that it does not have to be our reality. And that's the
kind of seeds that we try to sow in this work and get other
people to say, "This is solvable". Just like the Parkland kids
came the closest to it. They said, "We are the generation
that will end gun violence," and that's basically the same
thing that we've said, is "It's possible to end gun violence,
and we need your imagination and your vision to do that."
Rogelio (Male): 50:30 Thank you. Thank you so much, Alex.
Alex (Female): 50:40 You're so welcome. I just, I want to keep talking to you at
another time, if that's all right, because I have-
Rogelio (Male): 50:48 Absolutely.
Alex (Female): 50:48 I have many things I want to ask you. Is that okay with
you?
Rogelio (Male): 50:54 Absolutely. I'm gonna stop recording now.
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APPENDIX I
Interview with Max
9/11/2018
Rogelio (Start): 00:00 So I'm not recording. Thank you again for agreeing to
participate.
Rogelio (Start): 00:15 Mm-hmm (affirmative). How did you get involved with
Never Again March for Our Lives?
Max: 00:27 I got involved ... I was contacted, made contact through
social media with one of the students. So simultaneously
was sort of reaching out, they were reaching out, we were
reaching out to them and offered to help very early on, two
days after the shooting. Having been involved in many of
the recent marches and rallies and also been involved in
gun violence prevention work for 20 plus years. So I
wanted to make sure I was in service to them, when I
spoke to them, the original group of students early on, I
realized that my experience in this work could be a benefit
to them, and offered it for free. So we helped put together
and produce one of the three entities, logistical sort of leg
work for the March on Washington. And as a pro bono
position.
Rogelio (Start): 01:42 And do you identify as an activist?
Max: 01:46 Yeah. Of course. Sure. That was probably six.
Rogelio (Start): 01:55 What movements if any would you consider yourself to be
apart of or any causes that you're currently working
towards?
267
Max: 02:04 Oh man. My heart is open to all of them. I've been working
on immigration for 20 years. I've been working on climate
since I was a child. I've been working on issues of race
and justice, now Black Lives Matter is kind of the easiest
way to describe it. I've been an ally for my entire life. I've
been working on women's issues since I was a child. I've
been working on gun violence prevention for 20 plus years.
Labor rights. Worker rights for decades. Arts and activism
since I was a child. If there's any level of inequity, my heart
is open to doing what I can to resolve it.
Rogelio (Start): 02:49 Mm-hmm (affirmative). And, can you talk a little bit about, I
guess what you do with Rock the Vote or with the Souse
Agency?
Max: 03:04 Sure. So I sit on many boards. The organization to Rock
the Vote is one of them. I sit on the board of directors on
the Travon Martin Foundation. I sit on the board of
directors of Harry Belafonte's organization Gathering for
Justice. I sit on the board of directors of Policy Link. I sit on
the young partners board of the public theater. I've sat on
many boards. So my volunteer time, I certainly have sat on
many boards and one of them is Rock the Vote, which is a
recent, I think for a year and a half I've been on their
board.
Max: 03:35 The Sose Agency is a company, a for profit business that I
founded or co-founded two and a half years ago, which is a
creative agency doing large scale social impact work. So in
268
that capacity is where we have supported March for Our
Lives. The volunteer stuff that I do is sort of a different hat,
a Max Skolnik hat, that I do in my own time and support
where I can. When I was a kid, I remember buying a
teacher at a Virgin Records in Time Square when that
store still existed. Censorship is un American which was an
old Rock the Vote T-shirt. It was probably the mid 90s.
Max: 04:20 So from the Rock the Vote perspective, I've been a proud,
an admirer of the work since I was a child. But I joined their
board just a year and a half ago.
Rogelio (Start): 04:32 Yeah, we've been really kind of looking back at a lot of the
Rock the Vote campaigns from the 90s, thinking about this
work, so I assume we'll see a lot of those parallels. I also
noticed Michelle Mingas is on, a coworker of yours, I knew
her as part of some work I did with Volta Latino a few years
back.
Max: 04:56 Yeah, Michelle is a wizard. She is one of my partners and
the co founder of the company and had brought great
expertise and bringing it to March for Our Lives with her
experience at Volto Latino and beyond that. Right? She
worked in the Clinton White House 20 years ago. She
certainly has great wealth of knowledge of politics and how
it works. So she's been very, very helpful to the students.
Rogelio (Start): 05:26 So, it sounds like you're in a variety of different capacities,
from kind of your own experience as an activist, to the
different work that you do with organizations, to your
269
company, you are very much kind of at the intersection of
what it means to be involved politically. I'm just wondering
how you see the role of young people, kind of in today's
contemporary moment. What is the role of young people in
getting involved today?
Max: 05:56 I think the role of young people is historical. I know you're
an academic and you keep up more than I do on this. I'm
sure your studies are much more in depth than mine, but
the history of young people, historically for hundreds of
thousands of years, right? The Founding Fathers were in
their 20s and 30s and teenagers. If King were alive today,
and gave his I Have A Dream speech this weekend, he'd
be considered a millennial. John Lewis was 23. Diane
Nash was 19. I mean these were kids, right? King was 26,
25 when Montgomery Bus Boycott was started. If you look
at who overthrew Pinochet in Chile, in that movement was
young people. If you look at what happened, the Arab
Spring was young people. This is not unique by any stretch
of the imagination that young people have had enough and
are demanding change and are demanding that politicians
are representing them as people.
Max: 07:13 I mean certainly that was the basis for American
Revolution, that politicians represent the people and not
represent the king. So, I think there is ... my life, I don't,
what's the right word? I don't departmentalize the work that
I do. It's all one rhythm. When I wake up in the morning,
270
when I go to sleep, it's all one rhythm. There's no turning it
off. There's no turning it on. It's not like today I am going to
be an activist and do my activist and then tomorrow I'm
going to build a business and Friday I'm going to do
something non profit work. Everything I do is about
compassion, no matter what I do. It's about building
compassion. I believe that is the key to solving a lot of our
challenges is building empathy and compassion.
Max: 08:07 So whatever, the vehicle doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if
it's a business, it doesn't matter if it's a non profit, it doesn't
matter if it's a political movement. It doesn't matter if it's a
film that I made. It doesn't matter if it's a website that I built.
An injury that I do. The goal is the same. So what I believe
with young people, they believe in that compassion, more
than anything that has come before then. So when the
school gets shot up they are dealing with sympathy and
empathy in a very complex way.
Max: 08:50 In the one sense, they've gone through something. They've
experienced something and they're going to do something.
They have a sense that they feel the pain or they felt the
pain personally. But they don't want anyone else to have
that pain, the same way that Fred Gutenberg said
yesterday the reason why he walked up to Brett
Cavanaugh was to make sure that no other parents feels
what he feels. So in that sense, the young people have,
their hearts are much more open to receiving emotion and
271
to act on that. And that ... and that can be dismissed as
being, what's the right word? Dismissed as being
reactionary or naïve or immature. I look at it as being
closer to your higher self to do the work.
Max: 09:54 So that's why, look I'm 40 years old two weeks ago. So if I
looked 22 years down at an 18 year old or 22 years up at a
62 year old, I'm much more inspired by the 18 year old
than I am by the 62 year old. Not that the 62 year old can't
impart wisdom as an elder. Can't give us great knowledge
and expertise but most 62 year olds hearts have
contracted not just physically but also emotionally. And
they've turned off the idea of curiosity to the world, where
an 18 year old is super curious and super connected to
their emotions. Hyper connected to their emotions. That
leads to me a much more dedicated level of activism that
can create change.
Rogelio (Start): 10:44 I really ...
Max: 10:46 I've never expressed it that way. I would have to think a
little bit more, but I think that's close to sort of my life's
belief in young people. I mean I believe in them. It's not
that I like them. It's not that I'm intrigued by them. I believe
in them. Hamilton, I sit on the board of the public theater
and Lin Manuel and my partner, have known each other for
a very long time. They used to teach theater to kids
together, 18 years ago. So watching that play, you can't
and how popular that play has become. Alexander
272
Hamilton was a teenager and was a young adult when ...
leading, helping lead an American Revolution. And if you
think of him as a hero or what he did was heroic, and now
you've learned of his life, you can't look at a 19 year old
today and say that person can't do the same thing.
Max: 11:49 Jack Dorsey who testified in front of Congress today for
good or for bad, Jack Dorsey was a teenager when he
started Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 years old when he
started Facebook. They revolutionized the whole word,
whether you like it or don't like it, they did it as young
people. So I believe so much in young people. It's painful
how much I believe in them, because I'm fighting
constantly against my generation and the older generation
to look at them with hope and optimism and not with
skepticism and cynicism.
Rogelio (Start): 12:28 When I was able to go to five of the Road to Change
events here in California, and I think a lot of what you just
said now really just resonated for me. Just the amount of
connection that the whole, everyone involved with the
campaign was able to connect with the local communities
which to me is mind blowing. I think compassion is kind of
the perfect word to capture that.
Max: 12:58 I would just add, one I've been working with young people
for my entire life. Right? I've been working with young
people for almost 25 plus years, since I was a teenager. I
organized ... I mean I was on the child, the Children's
273
Board of the National Children's Rights Association in the
90s, which is talking about children having more rights than
they do. 20 years ago I was marching in the streets. In the
early 90s, I was a young teenager. So I've organized and
work with kids my entire life. So this isn't a revelation for
me. This is a life long deep, deep connection to young
people that I've witnessed with a front row seat. So it's not
surprise, if you squeeze, if you squeeze people for too long
they are going to explode, and young people for the past
10 years, right?
Max: 13:57 This isn't a thing ... the mistake is to look at this as a
reaction to Trump. That's sort of small thinking. This is a
generational shift that began probably eight to 10 years
ago, with the death of Travon Martin which I guess is now
six years ago, five and a half, the death of Travon that
leads to a Black Lives Matters movement and Mike Brown
in Ferguson. Adding on top of that the Dreamers and then
not accepting Obama doing nothing on the issue and
demanding a DACA Executive Order to the LGBTQ
movement. Pushing young people, pushing their parents to
accept that love is love no matter who it is, to climate
change. Young folks demanding Standing Rock and the
pipeline and then The Women's March, The Science
March and March for Our Lives.
Max: 14:59 This is a drumbeat that's been building in this country and
as a reflection of the world too. It's not just isolated to the
274
United States. As a reflection of the world, the umbrella
revolution in Hong Kong or the Arab Spring in North Africa
and the Middle East. This is a reflection of what's
happening globally. It's not just isolated here in the US. I
express that in depth with the March for Our Lives and the
Parkland students. If they want to build a strong
movement, they have to accept they are part of a longer
drumbeat. They didn't create the drum beat. They might
just be a loud drumbeat during this moment. But they are
connected to all of that, and when you're connected to all
that. If you do go to Los Angeles, you have to meet the
Black Lives Matter activists or the Native American folks in
LA who are doing work for indigenous rights.
Max: 15:49 Or if you do go to El Paso, we have to meet with immigrant
rights activist. So all that was designed as an education but
also as a way to connect the Parkland students to a much
broader movement, so they feel like they are part of
something and they don't just feel like they are these kids
who survived the school shooting or who are just fighting
this uphill battle. I think by the end of the summer, in LA
we're sort of in the middle of it, but by the end of the
summer, we now have a national group of young people
who feel connected who all partook in this summer long
activity and connected, from kids all across the country.
Max: 16:32 So it was no mistake and it was no accident that the
community came first. It wasn't about pomp and
275
circumstance. It wasn't about celebrity. It wasn't about how
many magazine covers you can get on but how many
really young people can they connect with in community
that are life long relationships? So when you think of a
generational shift, when David Hogg is the CEO or a US
senator or the President and [inaudible 00:17:07] from LA
is a CEO or a US Senator or wants to be the President,
they've known each other for 30, 40 years. They've been
organizing together at that point, and they have a real
relationship.
Max: 17:21 That to me is what the essence of community is. It's life
long relationships that mean something, whether or not
you agree with each other. It doesn't' really matter. As long
as you can sit down, when they are old enough, have a
couple bottles of wine and some spaghetti and have a
healthy, hearty conversation.
Rogelio (Start): 17:45 I also wanted to ask you, a lot of the work that we look at is
kind of specifically focuses on media and communication.
I'm wondering how you see kind of the role of, I guess
thinking about the bigger picture of Never Again and
specifically road to change in the moment we are now in
terms of media access. What does it mean that this
movement is happening right now where we have the
digital tools that we have?
Max: 18:25 Well again, history tells you that American society,
specifically global is much different, but American society
276
shifts when communication shifts, not when politicians are
elected or for that matter when certain moments happen
and you can date that back to the Pony Express when the
American president could send messages to his troops
during the Civil War directly through the radio and the
American president could talk directly to the American
people through Fireside Chats and FDR to the advent of
the television and Nixon and Senator Kennedy on the first
televised debate.
Max: 19:10 Kennedy this young senator outsmarting a sweating,
nervous looking Nixon to what I look at the shift here, in
2008, and the YouTube debate between John McCain and
Barack Obama. That to me is sort of the shift of
consciousness of the nation because communication
shifted. The access of information, the deletion or the
beginning of the end of the middle sort of media validator
that people didn't need anymore. Ferguson happened. And
people like DeRay McKesson and Antonio French or other
others, Taylor Reid or Netta emerge as authentic
storytellers. Where Don Lemon did a good job reporting
from the streets of Ferguson. Don Lemon and this is no
respect to Don but Don Lemon didn't go from 100 followers
on Twitter to a million in the way that DeRay did because
you had these authentic storytellers emerging from these
indigenous communities, right, of people who were aware
277
of where they were from and not just flying in and reporting
on something.
Max: 20:26 That's a great shift. Standing Rock same thing. You're
watching live stream. David Hogg becomes a household
name because he's reporting from his classroom while
there's a school shooting on Snapchat and Instagram.
These moments, right, because of this mobile device we
now have in our pocket, have shifted dramatically in our
society. Donald Trump has tried to and done a damn good
job at trying to master the use of the mobile device through
Twitter and other things. I'm no fan of him in any stretch of
the means, but you have to study that and see his tactic
works. And he understands that and his attacks on the
media perpetuate the use of his social media.
Max: 21:24 The students of Parkland and March for Our Lives, I think
they understood that very early on, that the media was not
going to control their narrative. They were going to control
their own narrative and they were going to tell their own
story. So going back to Hamilton. At the end of that music,
it goes who lives, who dies, who tells their story and Lin
Manuel is also sort of making that statement, right? Who is
going to tell your story? And far too often, other people
were telling the stories of folks they didn't know and
grossly misrepresenting them or stereotyping them in a
way that was hurtful and now you have a generation that
says, we'll tell our own story.
278
Max: 22:02 I have 100 followers on Twitter. I get racially profiled at a
supermarket and I'm going to put my Facebook Live
camera on and I'm going to tell my own story and that's
going to go around the world. Or I'm god forbid, I'm
Philando Castile and I'm in my car and my girlfriend puts
on Facebook Live because she thinks something bad is
going to happen and something bad does happen. And the
story is told in real time. I literally saw that happen in real
time. It was alerted to me. There were 200 people
watching that Facebook Live. I was in Mississippi, in
Cleveland, Mississippi at 11 o'clock at night. And someone
sent it to me and I was like holy shit. This is happening. I
thought it was Ava Duverney making a fake thing to like
show people how bad police violence is but it was real. In
real time.
Max: 22:59 So communication, it is the game changer as much as
people want to think it might be an individual or a group or
an organization or a politician that's making this change. If
it wasn't for the communication shift, in the past 10 years,
this wouldn't be happening. You wouldn't have this youth
movement now. It would merge at some point. It would
merge with communication change but it happened and it
happened during Barack Obama and Barack Obama
tweeted 14 times, in the 2012 election, he tweeted 14
times a day during the 2012 campaign. And now, in the
2016 campaign, the Clinton Campaign and the Trump
279
Campaign were tweeting 50 times a day, 100 times a day
during debates. Just the use of Twitter alone as a platform,
in 10 years, has been remarkable.
Max: 23:57 So I was raised as a storyteller. I was a film director for
many years. I went to theater school. I love story. I love
good story and this is all about telling a story. At this point.
You've got to tell a story. And DACA students told their
story. Undocumented and Afraid. LGBTQ told their story.
Black Lives Matter began to tell their story. And now school
shooting survivors told their story. And a movement has
emerged.
Max: 24:34 So what's they've seen, in gun violence, but in particular
the majority of it is violence obviously not in school
shootings but the space felt it was necessary to use that
platform to uplift other stories so people, like Edna Chavez
from LA or Rita Smith from Milwaukee or Alex Keaton from
Chicago or Ramone Contrares from New York, who
experienced gun violence in a different way than David
Hogg or Emma Gonzalez or Jackie Korn experienced. The
Parkland students felt the need to uplift their stories as
well, which has made Road to Change and March for Our
Lives incredibly unique, intersectional group of young
people because they've been able to share their platform
with each other and tell multiple perspectives on gun
violence.
280
Rogelio (Start): 25:23 And as someone who, I'm thinking of Rock the Vote, and
one of the goals of Road to Change is registering or pre
registering young people to vote, getting them involved
with electoral politics. So I'm wondering, where, how or
where do you see kind of the intersection of a lot of these
media practices that young people are doing? I did notice
that one of the merchandise shirts from Road to Change
has kind of like a QR code on it which I thought was pretty
cool. So kind of like the intersection of like getting people
involved in different places all over the country and with
media but also segmenting that into electoral politics.
Max: 26:14 You know, it's all connected and I think that often times that
another mistake is like to look at these things in silos.
Good stories inspire people to engage. Alexandra Ocasio
Cortez, Betta O'Rourke, Barack Obama. Andrew Gillam.
Stacy Abrams. I mean these stories, even last night with
Ianna Presley. These stories inspire people to be engaged
and the people who want to be inspired, young people in
particular, are looking for ways, going back to the original
point of it, looking for ways to connect to the heart and not
just connect to the electoral politics or the message of
electoral politics.
Max: 27:10 They are more interested in connecting from the heart than
they are from the ballot box and so I think young people
have understood for a long time that it's a two way, three
way, four way street. That everyone that has to coalesce
281
together and create this combustion of connection that
inspires people to and expecting everyone to be engaged.
You can't judge young people. Say they don't show up to
vote because they are 2% less of the electoral, people who
are voters, than the age demographic one above them or
two above them. You're looking at low voter turnout. In LA,
voter turnout for the mayoral election was 13%. It wasn't
like baby boomers showed up at 99% and young people
showed up at 2% to average out to 13%. Everyone
showed up less than 20%. Maybe young people were at 11
and seniors were at 16. But is that difference really enough
to say that young people are apathetic and older people
vote?
Max: 28:37 No one votes. No one shows up in primaries. No one
shows up in off year elections. Nobody shows up, even in
mid terms, nobody shows up. We get a little bit of a voter
turn out in presidential, but compared to other countries,
it's abysmal how many people engage. So, the whole thing
has to be re-imagined. The whole process has to be
re-imagined and the [inaudible 00:29:02] running for office
has to be re-imagined to have a deep connection with
young people and speak their language.
Max: 29:08 So when they build a t shirt with a QR code that inspires
people, it's cool and it's different. You know, it's not like
revolutionary. It just something that young people will use
and it's their language. It speaks their language. I would
282
just say to them that social media, run good candidates
and young people are going to show up. Run bad
candidates young people are going to stay home. That's
not that complicated. That's not that like ... young people
are apathetic. Young people just want folks who speak
their language. Barack Obama spoke their language.
Hilary Clinton didn't speak their language, in the same way
that Barack Obama did, so there wasn't the enthusiasm to
make sure that she was elected. And if there was, she
would have won easily. 70,000 votes easy. And Donald
Trump didn't speak their language, and he spoke the
language of older white men and he inspired them to vote
and knew the young folks weren't going to show up for
him, so he left them alone.
Rogelio (Start): 30:19 So I want to be conscious of time. I have two last questions
for you and I want to thank you so much for your
responses so far. They've really been great. I want to ask
you what's next for Road to Change? What are your hopes
for next steps?
Max: 30:40 Well, what are my hopes? I hope that young people show
up in this midterm because they are demanding change
and the politicians are listening to them. But I hope that
young people continue to organize and shift an entire
generation for 40 years. I've got a five year old at home,
hoping that my five year old can reap the benefits of the
young people today.
283
Max: 31:14 I hope that Road to Change will inspire other people to get
involved and join movements. No matter what the issue is.
Whether it's environment or whether it's immigration or
whether it's healthcare. Whether it's education. Whatever it
is. I hope it inspires a generation of activists. I thin this
generation is the most engaged generation we've ever
seen. I've been saying that for a long time. I've just been
saying that after Parkland. When Time magazine put out
that selfie cover four or five years ago, I thought it was a
disgrace, that they would look at a generation that way.
This is the most selfless and racially [inaudible 00:31:54]
generation this country, by far, has ever seen. It's no
surprise that they are giving their time and energy and their
bodies, right, sacrificing for change.
Max: 32:03 So, I hope people my age, 40 years and older can fall in
love with this generation in the way that I think that I have.
And lose the judgment and understand that curiosity is
what keeps you young. None of us want to get old. So ask
questions. Ask why. Explain. Tell them to explain to you
why they are doing things and why they think it's this way
or why they think your way hasn't worked or doesn't work
or won't work. Don't just place judgment on them because
they are thinking of these things differently.
Max: 32:42 I know that they are going to win, right? I mean you see it
already in the primaries.
Rogelio (Start): 32:56 Hello?
284
Max: 33:00 Oh sorry. I pressed mute by accident. One more thought. I
think you already see the effects of their activism already.
You can't look at this mid term, forget what the results are
... thank you so much sir, forget what the results are in
November. You can't tell me that, I looked at the Politico
report this morning of the [inaudible 00:33:26] race. They
are predicting a race. You can't tell me that Dana
Rorbacher being a toss up two months before an election
is not the effect of young people in this country organizing.
You can't tell me that Daryl Issa retiring and not wanting to
face an opponent, is not the effect of young people.
Max: 33:49 So already there are massive wins and forget Democrats,
Republicans. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez mastered winning
for young people. Whether you like her politics or not,
she's 28 years old. She was a bartender last year. And
then she beat a 16 year number two Democrat in the
House. So whatever happens in November, matters of
course, but this thing is changing for the long term. This is
not a two year shift in American politics. This is a 40 year
shift in a generation this country has ever seen before.
Rogelio (Start): 34:29 Thank you. Thank you so much Max. I don't know if you
can hear me.
Max: 34:33 My pleasure. Good luck.
Rogelio (Start): 34:34 I'm going to stop recording.
285

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This dissertation examines youth media activism as part of contemporary social movements, specifically the gun violence prevention movement and the climate justice movement, from 2018 to 2022. Using a media ecology lens that considers interconnected platforms, media practices, and channels of communication, this work highlights the media tactics used by youth activists, with a focus on the repertoire of contention and participatory politics. Drawing from participant observation, interviews, and close textual readings of media, this work provides two rich case studies to examine the role that media play in the efforts of youth activists involved in social movements. The first case study looks at the gun violence prevention movement, which notably gained national attention in 2018 following a school shooting in Parkland, Florida and the quick response by the youth activists of the March for Our Lives organization in turning tragedy into mobilization. The second case study chapter looks at the climate justice movement, which gained international attention as part of Greta Thunberg's efforts with Fridays for Future and inspired organizations like Sunrise Movement in the U.S. to tackle the climate crisis "by any media necessary." A comparative chapter draws parallels in media practices across these movements as part of street protest, with a focus on practices, materials, and messages. Finally, the conclusion briefly addresses the impact of COVID-19 on both youth media activism and on this dissertation, while also noting limitations and future directions. The broader contributions of this work to the field include underscoring how a media ecology lens can effectively capture the multifaceted nature of contemporary youth activism, where an intricately interrelated web of communication channels and media practices are employed both offline and online.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Lopez, Rogelio Alejandro (author)

Core Title Rebels with a cause: Youth, social movements, and media

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Communication

Degree Conferral Date 2022-08

Publication Date 07/19/2023

Defense Date 05/16/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag activism,climate justice,gun violence prevention,media,media activism,media ecology,OAI-PMH Harvest,participatory politics,social movements,youth

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Jenkins, Henry (committee chair), Castells, Manuel (committee member), Trope, Alison (committee member)

Creator Email rogelioalejandrolopez@gmail.com,rogeliol@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111373338

Unique identifier UC111373338

Legacy Identifier etd-LopezRogel-10861

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Lopez, Rogelio Alejandro

Type texts

Source 20220719-usctheses-batch-956 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu