At this week's Round Table, Ava, Kenisha, Madeline, and Skyla spoke with one of our beloved podcast editors, Vanessa Chen, as well as her collaborators Kimmy Jeon and Matthew Huang, who are working on a documentary about gerrymandering. Yes, gerrymandering. A topic that doesn’t get enough attention by young people yet has a fundamental impact on voting and electoral politics, making our political system inherently already less just and less democratic before people even get to the ballot box. As such, Vanessa and her partners are investigating what young people know and care about in relation to gerrymandering and its impact on voting disparities based on race and social class. Given how political our team is, we were VERY interested in this topic, which most of us knew little about since it’s really not addressed in high school, yet we’ve recognized its impact on our communities. We discussed why voting is important to each of us, how voting can better reflect minority opinions in the decision making process, and the challenges of an orientation that isn’t on uniting the masses but rather firing up parties’ existing bases–and often the most extreme parts of it–thereby further fueling polarization. We all agreed that we HAVE to work to counteract the vision cycle of disempowerment and lack of representation. We also agreed that students across the country SHOULD be taught more about gerrymandering–and the importance of local elections– and how it affects us, not just historically but today. Thank you for listening!
