Some of the most valuable voices of today are the voices of Generation Z, also known as “Zoomers.” We asked Joy Williams, a member of Generation Z and a valued contributor to South Side Drive to share with our readers what concerns today’s Zoomer. In the first of the two-part series, Joy shares with us the Zoomer’s disillusionment with the status quo and their demand for unity. We’ve asked our resident Baby Boomer to respond.
GENZ: As a 26-year-old member of Generation Z, I, along with many in my generation face the 2024 presidential election with frustration and a demand for urgent, transformative change. Central to this demand is criminal justice reform an issue that defines not only our political priorities, but also our lived experiences.
BOOMER: Change comes when everyone participates. Demanding change and defining the problem is a great start and you are to be commended for caring enough to voice your concerns. Besides voicing problems, we look to your generation to help provide solutions, and to let your voices be heard to help achieve the unity you rightfully demand. First, where does your disillusionment stem from?
GENZ: Our disillusionment stems from political figures we once believed could lead change, such as Kamala Harris. Harris’s rise as the first Black woman to serve as Vice President inspired many of us, but her track record as California’s Attorney General left us heartbroken. Her role in supporting policies that expanded prison labor and failed to address wrongful convictions feels like a betrayal. We expected leadership on criminal justice reform from someone with her platform, but instead, we’ve been let down.
BOOMER: One of your responsibilities in actively being a part of positive change is to always seek truth. Political campaigns are fraught with lies, exaggerations and half-truths by political opponents and their supporters. In the example you give of Vice President’s actions as Attorney General, before you allow yourselves to become disillusioned you should (1) acquaint yourself with the specific duties of the Attorney General, ensuring that those responsibilities coincide with the allegations you cited; (2) acquaint with the specific incidents she is accused of. Embracing and spreading conspiracy theories and lies serves no positive purpose.
In this era of Internet access, please don’t rely on memes and online propaganda for information on so important a subject.
GENZ: This pattern of disillusionment also extends to Barack Obama’s presidency. When Obama was elected, many in my generation viewed it as a historic moment a chance to see true progress for Black Americans and the working class. But over time, it became clear that his administration, while symbolically powerful, did little to challenge the systems of inequality that harm our communities. Instead, we saw an expansion of military forces abroad, a neoliberal economic system that left many families behind, and a setup that paved the way for the Trump era.
BOOMER: As you become involved in the political system you must first (1) Become knowledgeable of Civics (which is no longer taught in schools), of the Constitution, the three branches of government, what the President can and cannot do.
(2) Secondly, you must understand the importance of being involved and voting for local politicians, especially your Congressional Representatives and Senators. Keep abreast of legislation that is coming up for votes. Facing a Republican Congress, President Obama managed to pass the American Tax Relief Act of 2012.
GENZ: For us in Gen Z, criminal justice reform isn’t just an abstract issue it’s a necessity. We’ve grown up watching movements like Black Lives Matter rise in response to police brutality and systemic racism. This generation is demanding not just incremental change but a radical rethinking of the entire criminal justice system.
We want policies like defunding the police, ending cash bail, abolishing private prisons, and creating true accountability for law enforcement. Candidates who won’t prioritize these demands won’t earn our votes.
BOOMER: The George Floyd Act is a step toward criminal justice reform. Criminal justice reform has to be fought on a local as well as national front. In Illinois, cash bail has ended. “Consistent with the President’s January 26, 2021, Executive Order on “Reforming Our Incarceration Systems to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities, “the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has ended all contracts with privately managed prisons.” Having knowledge of what is happening currently as well as having a historical reference helps as you begin to actively participate in systems of change.
In Chicago, in 1968, the Afro American Police League was established to counter police abuses and brutality.
Although the League is still active, it’s co-founder Renault Robinson has died, and co-founder Howard Saffold is retired. The GenZ generation could research and seek out its current membership to learn what they are doing and how one can become actively involved.
GENZ: Beyond our disappointment in political figures, the school-to-prison pipeline is another reason why criminal justice reform is so important to us. Many of us have seen firsthand how the educational system can set young people up for failure, rather than providing them with the resources they need to succeed. Instead of addressing the root causes of behavioral issues or offering support to struggling students, schools often push them out for minor infractions, labeling them as problems. Worse yet, in some cases, students are passed through the system without retaining information, all for the sake of making schools look good. This negligence pushes students toward a life of crime, making the school-to-prison pipeline a modern form of slavery. It’s important to understand that this isn’t just a problem confined to inner-city or impoverished neighborhoods. Across the country, in a variety of settings, schools often criminalize behavior that should be addressed with care and support, not with punitive measures. Whether it’s through zero-tolerance policies or the presence of law enforcement officers in schools, young people are funneled into the justice system, setting them up for failure. For Gen Z, the school-to-prison pipeline reflects a broader pattern of racial and economic inequality that the criminal justice system perpetuates. It’s impossible to separate one from the other. The same communities that are over-policed and disproportionately incarcerated are the ones where schools are underfunded, teachers are overworked, and students lack the basic resources they need. In this way, our call for criminal justice reform is also a call for educational reform. We recognize that investing in education, rather than criminalizing youth, is the only way forward.
BOOMER: School-to-prison pipeline has long been a problem and requires the active involvement of all citizens both on a local and national level. The problem was exacerbated by past actions of local figures who historically fired hundreds of teachers in so-called “turn-around programs” and nationally, by appointees to Department of Education who were opposed to public education. One of the candidates may make the problem even worse by their promise to abolish the Education Department. There is plenty of room and plenty of need for young people like yourselves to become actively involved in education.
GENZ: As we head into the 2024 election, our generation is not willing to compromise. We’re tired of political figures who promise progress but fail to deliver. We’re tired of seeing our peers treated as problems to be managed rather than individuals with the potential to succeed. Criminal justice reform is not just about fixing the prison system; it’s about dismantling the structures that criminalize Black, brown, and working-class youth from the moment they step into a classroom.
BOOMER: There are many, many organizations throughout the nation both locally and nationally engrossed in the mammoth problem of criminal justice reform. This is the time for the GenZ generation to turn your disappointment, disillusionment and demands into activism, forming organizations, writing your Congresspeople, writing op-eds, creating think-tanks that manifest solutions.
GENZ: The excitement around both Obama and Harris as Black leaders feels increasingly hollow when it seems their presence is used to obscure ongoing systemic issues and crimes. This pattern of using Black faces to cover up white crimes reflects a troubling continuity in American politics a trend that we refuse to accept.
BOOMER: African Americans constitute an exceedingly small percentage of the American electorate. Thus it is highly unlikely that a “pattern of using Black faces” to pander specifically to this small group exists. The myth, perpetuated by racist neocons, that Black people coming to these positions are DEI hires and unqualified is just that – a myth. The truth is that no one seeking the position of President in the last century has come with qualifications equal to those of VP Harris who has twenty-one years of experience as an elected official. She is in this position, not because of her color, but in spite of her color and ethnicity. Hopefully Zoomers will consider the qualifications of a candidate and not their color or ethnicity when using your vote, which is the most valuable tool you possess when it comes to preserving our democracy. More to come. Look for Part 2 of this conversation in the October issue.
