Kids are cold on ICE, warmed by rage
How the protests against ICE spilled over from social media into the streets
It all starts with a simple question: Did Ariana Grande mainstream the general strike?
Soon after the entire city of Minneapolis walked out on jobs, withheld money, skipped school, and hit the streets on Jan. 23, I started to hear online chatter about nationalizing that energy. The first “ICE OUT! NATIONWIDE SHUTDOWN!” hit my feed from student groups at UMN, like the Somali Student Association.
It quickly picked up in online activist circles on the left before plateauing enough mid-week that I decided to cover another story on Thursday instead. But then, something happened. Like obscure background music suddenly became the thumping 808 bassline of a song that everyone already knew the lyrics to.
I guess Ariana Grande has that effect on some people — 372 million people to be exact. She shared the Jan. 30 strike flyer to her story and suddenly it felt like Instagram’s most leaned back, blasé baddies were preparing to seize the means of production.
Two 21 year olds at the NYC strike rally told me the “exposure” from the pop star’s story was great. But what would have been even better? Actually seeing Miss. Ponytail “in the streets” with the rest of the protesters. Even in a city as stinky as New York, young people can still smell through the bullshit.
“I'm worried that in my lifetime I will not see the America that I want to see.” — Alexis, 17
I read sadness in the faces of older generations at protests. It’s the loss of our “normal” society we used to live in. My age group shows it too. It wasn’t until I saw the post from Jasmine Sun below and went to the protest yesterday that I understood how to read the expression of our youngest. They can’t mourn a culture they never knew. So, it’s pure, uncut fury that moves them.
And that’s why Gen Z and Gen Alpha (!!!) made up the plurality of the rally yesterday. I asked a 63-year-old dad if he forced his 14-year-old to attend. “Are you kidding me?” — he told me she disappeared into a scene of profane signage with her friends as soon as they got there.
But this is New York City we’re talking about. Parental chaperone licenses are only valid for 15 years, ineligible to be renewed, and some are revoked early. Alexis — queer, half-Latino, singer-songwriter, 17 — has been at odds with her MAGA parents since sixth grade.
“I don’t understand how you can see cults on television and, like, not understand that you are under the same kind of control. And government control is such a big issue right now.”
She was absolutely freezing, refused to admit it … and I got a total kick out of talking to her.
“You cannot support murderers, liars, and fascists. It’s ridiculous. It sounds so obvious when you say it like that and then you, like, try to engage with somebody and you’re like … holy fuck. It’s so stupid.”
Alexis deepened my understanding of one thing that emotionally, civically, philosophically torments our teens right now: There’s no one to trust. They want to extend it — we all do — but their standards for who earns it are much more exacting than ours. It’s how they avoid getting hurt in the world of unbearable pain they’re coming of age in.
And in case you’re wondering, yes … that applies to Democrats too: “I think Democrats are fucking idiots. Don’t get me started on that shit.”
SOCIALLY CONTAGIOUS, DELIBERATELY OUTRAGEOUS
