Episode Summary
DeNora Getachew reading from Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and discussing youth activism and systemic change.
Where did we get this idea of ‘the youth will save us’? What a burden for them, and what a cop-out for us. Of course, young people can be brilliant, ambitious, and capable of extraordinary things … if we let them. However, we mustn’t forget that we, too, need to be a force for change.
DeNora Getachew is the CEO of DoSomething.org, an organisation that helps youth engage for social impact, to make today and tomorrow better places. But the foundation for DeNora’s work doesn’t begin with youth, it’s more fundamental than that – it’s about democracy.
DeNora reads two pages from ‘Caste’ by Isabel Wilkerson. [reading begins at 14:10]
Hear us discuss:
- Navigating inside and outside power. [23:13]
- The tokenization of youth activism: “Activate young people to understand that democracy is for them, and that even if they distrust the system, they must learn how to leverage the system to get the change they seek.” [26:40]
- What to stop doing. [30:21]
- “Young people are unapologetic about being the beneficiaries of the change they seek in their lifetime.” [32:04]
- A role model for activism. [32:35]
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Resources:
DeNora Getachew | DoSomething.org | LinkedIn | Twitter
Isabel Wilkerson | Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
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