WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.000 Thank you so much for being here. 00:03.000 --> 00:05.000 So let's just start off really easy. 00:05.000 --> 00:07.000 Tell me about yourselves. 00:07.000 --> 00:08.000 Yeah. 00:08.000 --> 00:11.000 I'm an incoming junior at UW-Milwaukee. 00:11.000 --> 00:15.000 My major is political science and I'm minor in economics. 00:15.000 --> 00:16.000 Yeah. 00:16.000 --> 00:18.000 And you were the vice chair of college dance? 00:18.000 --> 00:19.000 Yes. 00:19.000 --> 00:20.000 Yes I am. 00:20.000 --> 00:21.000 And what do you do for college dance? 00:21.000 --> 00:25.000 Basically, really we're just trying to get people involved. 00:25.000 --> 00:28.000 And that really is the format of meetings, 00:28.000 --> 00:34.000 weekly emails, and also just like general outreach during like tabling. 00:34.000 --> 00:37.000 And what got you into politics? 00:37.000 --> 00:41.000 Well, really kind of started with like my familial background I would say. 00:41.000 --> 00:44.000 My parents are both very, very interested in politics, 00:44.000 --> 00:47.000 especially democratic politics in Milwaukee. 00:47.000 --> 00:49.000 My dad was a part of the labor union. 00:49.000 --> 00:52.000 My mom, she's a, she's a professor. 00:52.000 --> 00:57.000 So they both really see the importance of getting involved. 00:57.000 --> 01:00.000 And taking that personal right of civic duty. 01:00.000 --> 01:05.000 And you told me a little bit earlier that you actually gone out and 01:05.000 --> 01:08.000 acted in politics from a young age. 01:08.000 --> 01:09.000 What was that about? 01:09.000 --> 01:10.000 Yeah. 01:10.000 --> 01:16.000 So basically my dad, big Obama fan, probably the biggest Obama fan I've ever met. 01:16.000 --> 01:19.000 He was a big fan in 2008. 01:19.000 --> 01:24.000 And then once me and my sister got a little bit older in 2012, 01:24.000 --> 01:28.000 we were really able to go out and canvas and doorknock. 01:28.000 --> 01:29.000 And I was like six. 01:29.000 --> 01:31.000 So I don't really remember. 01:31.000 --> 01:33.000 I remember being extremely cold. 01:33.000 --> 01:36.000 But also I remember the importance of it and how, you know, 01:36.000 --> 01:39.000 we were doing that and then he ended up being elected. 01:39.000 --> 01:42.000 And in my mind as a kid, I was like, I did that. 01:42.000 --> 01:45.000 You know, I was the one who allowed him to be there. 01:45.000 --> 01:51.000 But also it was just kind of the feeling of, you know, I can make a change here. 01:51.000 --> 01:52.000 Yeah. 01:52.000 --> 01:53.000 Yeah. 01:53.000 --> 01:55.000 And so you're a young person, right? 01:55.000 --> 01:56.000 Yes. 01:56.000 --> 01:57.000 I've been told. 01:57.000 --> 02:01.000 So as a young person that's engaged in politics. 02:01.000 --> 02:06.000 Tell me, what are you experiencing as a challenge right now? 02:06.000 --> 02:14.000 Well, I think the really the biggest challenge is I feel like a lot of young people don't 02:14.000 --> 02:19.000 think that the older people in office are seeing eye to eye with us. 02:19.000 --> 02:24.000 And whether that's, you know, rising tuition costs, rising costs of living, 02:24.000 --> 02:29.000 you know, a lot of us, we'd have, you know, hourly pay jobs and a lot of us 02:29.000 --> 02:31.000 have salary positions. 02:31.000 --> 02:38.000 So that can kind of bring a few monetary issues when it comes to, you know, 02:38.000 --> 02:42.000 paying for gas that's over four dollars or paying for groceries, 02:42.000 --> 02:47.000 like facing necessities that aren't as cheap as it used to be. 02:47.000 --> 02:51.000 And a lot of young people have to take on this responsibility of getting 02:51.000 --> 02:56.000 more than one job plus balancing, you know, just being young and also 02:56.000 --> 02:59.000 balancing school and life and family life. 02:59.000 --> 03:05.000 It's just all kind of becoming a little bit waited, I would say. 03:05.000 --> 03:06.000 Yeah. 03:06.000 --> 03:10.000 Tell me a little bit more about like old people not understanding. 03:10.000 --> 03:14.000 Do you feel like that's something that's like part of the parties right now or part 03:14.000 --> 03:18.000 of your career and wave of politics that there's, you know, like this sort of 03:18.000 --> 03:20.000 divide between old people and younger people? 03:20.000 --> 03:23.000 I mean, like, you kind of see this a lot throughout history. 03:23.000 --> 03:28.000 I think a lot when I think about it is the 1970s when women were fighting for 03:28.000 --> 03:29.000 reproductive justice. 03:29.000 --> 03:34.000 I think a lot of the times they didn't think that older people saw what they 03:34.000 --> 03:37.000 saw as, you know, abortion being this right. 03:37.000 --> 03:43.000 And I think a lot of the time older people maybe just want to keep things 03:43.000 --> 03:44.000 the way that they are. 03:44.000 --> 03:47.000 And young people are a lot more progressive. 03:47.000 --> 03:52.000 So I think that we just sometimes don't see eye to eye that tends to flat line. 03:52.000 --> 03:54.000 A lot of our, like, big issues. 03:54.000 --> 04:01.000 So I just think that a lot of the time there's just not a lot of through line. 04:01.000 --> 04:03.000 But, like, there sometimes is. 04:03.000 --> 04:05.000 You have totally. 04:05.000 --> 04:09.000 And so tell me about the college. 04:09.000 --> 04:10.000 Obviously you're a Democrat. 04:10.000 --> 04:11.000 Yes. 04:11.000 --> 04:13.000 So what about the Democratic Party? 04:13.000 --> 04:16.000 Do you think addresses these concerns for young people? 04:16.000 --> 04:23.000 Well, I think that the Democratic Party has a better way of being progressive. 04:23.000 --> 04:28.000 You know, I think a lot of the times the Republican Party wants to go back 04:28.000 --> 04:35.000 and wants to kind of end and cut all these things that really have been 04:35.000 --> 04:37.000 really productive for a lot of groups. 04:37.000 --> 04:42.000 You know, whether that's stamp benefits, EBT, you know, they were cutting funding 04:42.000 --> 04:46.000 for that, which has helped so many people, especially in my city of Milwaukee. 04:46.000 --> 04:49.000 And, yeah, I'm sorry. 04:49.000 --> 04:50.000 I don't know that. 04:50.000 --> 04:52.000 It's fine if you want to try that over or. 04:52.000 --> 04:53.000 Yeah, for sure. 04:53.000 --> 04:54.000 What was the question? 04:54.000 --> 04:56.000 The question was, what about the Democratic Party? 04:56.000 --> 04:59.000 Do you think you're addressing young people's needs? 04:59.000 --> 05:00.000 Yeah. 05:00.000 --> 05:05.000 Well, like, I guess, I think the Republican Party can be a lot less progressive, 05:05.000 --> 05:09.000 especially when it comes to issues like stamps and EBT, you know. 05:09.000 --> 05:14.000 And I think, like I said before, younger people are just a lot more of a progressive group. 05:14.000 --> 05:16.000 They want to see things change. 05:16.000 --> 05:24.000 And I think the Democratic Party, while maybe sometimes their policies may be a little bit 05:24.000 --> 05:30.000 progressive for some, I just think that they have a really good job of understanding 05:30.000 --> 05:33.000 that the world needs to change and it needs to progress forward. 05:33.000 --> 05:42.000 And sometimes it's okay to have a little bit of progression and to have that, you know, 05:42.000 --> 05:47.000 disconnect with another side so you can get what you want at the end. 05:47.000 --> 05:48.000 Yeah. 05:48.000 --> 05:49.000 Yeah. 05:49.000 --> 05:53.000 And so we were talking on the phone last week about sort of the gender divide. 05:53.000 --> 05:54.000 Yeah, politics. 05:54.000 --> 05:56.000 I want to get your thoughts on that again. 05:56.000 --> 06:00.000 Do you think it's one party is pushing one gender away? 06:00.000 --> 06:02.000 Do you think one party is pulling more gender? 06:02.000 --> 06:03.000 Do you think it's going on there? 06:03.000 --> 06:15.000 Well, I think one party is overstating the issues of one gender because of progression. 06:15.000 --> 06:22.000 You know, I think a lot of the times men had this very secure position in society, 06:22.000 --> 06:26.000 whether that's in the home, being the breadwinner, whether that's in economics, 06:26.000 --> 06:28.000 being the smarter person. 06:28.000 --> 06:34.000 And I think the Democratic Party has really pushed women out of this kind of hole, you know, 06:34.000 --> 06:40.000 to be the breadwinners, to be the ones that, you know, understand that, you know, 06:40.000 --> 06:44.000 life isn't just a man's job, it's also a woman's job. 06:44.000 --> 06:55.000 And I think that, you know, when you think about issues of, I don't know, like women outpacing men 06:55.000 --> 06:58.000 and some education and even in the workforce now, 06:58.000 --> 07:05.000 I think a lot of the times Republicans want to make men out to be the minority group 07:05.000 --> 07:08.000 when it's very much not that. 07:08.000 --> 07:13.000 Have you obviously do a lot of work in politics, but outside of that, 07:13.000 --> 07:16.000 have you experienced any of that kind of tension in your daily life at all? 07:16.000 --> 07:17.000 Um... 07:22.000 --> 07:23.000 That was a fine answer. 07:23.000 --> 07:28.000 I was like, um, I think that, like, I'm very fortunate to be a part 07:28.000 --> 07:32.000 and be around many people that don't just see me as a woman, 07:32.000 --> 07:37.000 or doesn't just see the historical, I guess, notion that women have had. 07:37.000 --> 07:43.000 I think that a lot of the people that I put myself around really do understand the importance of a woman 07:43.000 --> 07:47.000 and really does understand the importance of equality and equity. 07:47.000 --> 07:48.000 Yeah, yeah. 07:48.000 --> 07:52.000 And, um, this was actually, like, an article I was looking at earlier today 07:52.000 --> 07:54.000 that it had a really interesting framing on this. 07:54.000 --> 07:58.000 It said, like, yeah, men are doing, you know, worse politically, maybe. 07:58.000 --> 07:59.000 Yeah. 07:59.000 --> 08:01.000 But, like, or no, sorry, I got that back. 08:01.000 --> 08:04.000 Men are doing maybe not as good as they used to. 08:04.000 --> 08:08.000 Like, they're not getting as high of a degree as women are, 08:08.000 --> 08:10.000 and they're not maybe getting as many jobs as women are, 08:10.000 --> 08:12.000 but women are doing worse politically, right? 08:12.000 --> 08:15.000 You had, like, the Me Too movement, um, Dobbs, right? 08:15.000 --> 08:16.000 Right. 08:16.000 --> 08:19.000 And, um, they didn't get the presidency. 08:19.000 --> 08:20.000 Right. 08:20.000 --> 08:23.000 Do you think that sort of helps even divide, 08:23.000 --> 08:25.000 or do you think that's sort of, like, a symptom? 08:25.000 --> 08:26.000 What are your thoughts on that? 08:26.000 --> 08:33.000 Well, I think it's probably deep in the divide across party lines, 08:33.000 --> 08:37.000 but I think within the party, it really did just make us more closer, 08:37.000 --> 08:45.000 and it really made us understand that we have a lot more to fight for other than just fighting against Republicans. 08:45.000 --> 08:52.000 Like, we have to strengthen the base so that we can be able to take on people like Donald Trump, you know? 08:52.000 --> 08:53.000 Yeah, totally. 08:53.000 --> 08:58.000 Um, so moving away from gender, um, one of the, another stat that I saw was that, um, 08:58.000 --> 09:01.000 young people are more independent, um, and outside of the parties. 09:01.000 --> 09:05.000 They're still obviously going within the party, because, like, we only have two. 09:05.000 --> 09:10.000 But, like, um, um, but, you know, what, what do you make sense of that? 09:10.000 --> 09:14.000 Do you think people are upset with the parties? Do you think people are just more new ideas? 09:14.000 --> 09:17.000 What do you think our generation is so independent? 09:17.000 --> 09:21.000 Well, I think, you know, I think a lot of the times, like you said, you know, 09:21.000 --> 09:28.000 I think there's a lot of anger within Democrats, because a lot of people just see Democrats losing everywhere. 09:28.000 --> 09:36.000 You know, we've lost, or, I guess, Kamlo lost, you know, in 2020, or 2024, 09:36.000 --> 09:41.000 and then Hillary lost in 2016, like you said, and I think a lot of the times, 09:41.000 --> 09:46.000 it just doesn't seem like Democrats are doing enough for young people, 09:46.000 --> 09:53.000 even though it's kind of hard to get kind of that support across the aisle 09:53.000 --> 09:56.000 so then you can get things done. 09:56.000 --> 10:00.000 But I think a lot of the times, like, young people are just very independent 10:01.000 --> 10:06.000 and allows themselves to think for their own, and I really admire that. 10:06.000 --> 10:12.000 Yeah, and so, as a young person in politics, what do you see other young people doing right now that you think is great? 10:12.000 --> 10:18.000 Well, I think a lot of the time they're taking, you know, their own initiative to do the research, 10:18.000 --> 10:21.000 to go out, to go talk to candidates. 10:21.000 --> 10:27.000 You know, I think a lot of the time what makes young people now very, um, unique 10:27.000 --> 10:32.000 is that we have social media, and we have the internet to be able to do that research 10:32.000 --> 10:35.000 and to be able to really get an answer for ourselves. 10:35.000 --> 10:44.000 Yeah, yeah, and, um, going back to college, Democrats, um, you, were you one of the, I'm sorry, um, 10:44.000 --> 10:48.000 I'm not, I misremembered. Are you one of the founding members of UW Milwaukee? 10:48.000 --> 10:52.000 I'm not, that was our past president, Sydney, another Sydney. 10:52.000 --> 10:54.000 Yeah, um, she was the founder. 10:54.000 --> 10:58.000 Okay, but you've been involved since, uh, more or less to start. 10:58.000 --> 11:01.000 Yeah, can you tell me a little bit about what you guys have been doing to build that up? 11:01.000 --> 11:06.000 Mm-hmm. Well, really, we're just trying to just get people interested in politics. 11:06.000 --> 11:14.000 I think that's really been the issue, is getting people, you know, interested in, well, why would I vote if I feel like nothing changes? 11:14.000 --> 11:20.000 Well, we want to show you what could change if someone who we don't want office is here, 11:20.000 --> 11:25.000 or we can show you the changes of what we do when we really come together and get someone in. 11:25.000 --> 11:31.000 And I think with college Democrats, we were really able to hone in on that, whether that's, you know, tabling events, 11:31.000 --> 11:39.000 whether that's just events with, um, different, with different people around Milwaukee, like Alderman's, 11:39.000 --> 11:45.000 and, you know, we, we really want to have whoever the gubernatorial candidate is, like, we want them to come and speak. 11:45.000 --> 11:52.000 So we just really want people to just really be excited to go in, so then there'll be more inclined to go to the polls, 11:52.000 --> 11:59.000 so then there'll be more inclined to tell their friend, hey, you know, go vote, or even, like, just walking around with the sticker, 11:59.000 --> 12:07.000 you know, like, we have stickers that we give out, we have pins, like, we try to make it as fun and as, like, hard as possible, 12:07.000 --> 12:10.000 so then we make politics a habit. 12:11.000 --> 12:16.000 And, um, do you have, like, a, like, a success that you, from this time that you've been with College Gems, 12:16.000 --> 12:17.000 that you think you're really proud of? 12:17.000 --> 12:31.000 Yeah, I think one of the biggest successes that we've had was, um, we put on a candidate forum for two of the Assembly 19, I believe. 12:31.000 --> 12:33.000 Yeah, sorry, wait, can I redo that because I totally forgot? 12:33.000 --> 12:38.000 No, yeah, so, um, we were really able to, oh, yeah, sorry. 12:39.000 --> 12:47.000 Yeah, um, so basically we had a candidate forum for Assembly District 19 for Ryan Clancy and Bridget Manianci, 12:47.000 --> 12:54.000 and that's where we invited, you know, community leaders, students, my mom came, so many people came, we had questions, 12:54.000 --> 13:00.000 and we were really able to flesh out these candidates and see what they would do for us. 13:00.000 --> 13:05.000 So I think that was really, I'm really proud of that, because I think that had a really good turnout, 13:05.000 --> 13:10.000 and we were really all able to come together and learn about these different candidates, 13:10.000 --> 13:16.000 even if we didn't know anything about them before, we really did leave learning something important. 13:16.000 --> 13:20.000 Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but I want to know your thoughts on social media. 13:20.000 --> 13:25.000 How do you think that's affected our generation since we've had Instagram since, like, 10? 13:25.000 --> 13:28.000 You know, right? How do you think that's affected us? 13:28.000 --> 13:33.000 Yeah, um, I think social media has been friend and foe. 13:33.000 --> 13:38.000 You know, friend is like, you can really look up anything and you can get that knowledge. 13:38.000 --> 13:41.000 You know, you don't have to go to a library. 13:41.000 --> 13:44.000 You don't need to ask someone who's already biased. 13:44.000 --> 13:48.000 You can go find, you know, unbiased websites. 13:48.000 --> 13:53.000 Foe is that a lot of the time people can go to the wrong places and find that information. 13:53.000 --> 13:58.000 Like, a lot of people go to TikTok for their sources, and it's like, a lot of times, 13:58.000 --> 14:01.000 TikTok is just people talking to a camera with opinions. 14:01.000 --> 14:03.000 It's not real backed up knowledge. 14:03.000 --> 14:08.000 So I think people can be misinformed and disinformed, and you know, 14:08.000 --> 14:12.000 there's a lot of people out there who want you to believe one thing, 14:12.000 --> 14:16.000 and it can be really indoctrinating sometimes. 14:16.000 --> 14:21.000 So it's just being able to tell what's real and what's not, 14:21.000 --> 14:26.000 and like, obviously social media literacy is really important now, you know, 14:26.000 --> 14:30.000 with AI and, you know, internet deep fakes and stuff like that. 14:30.000 --> 14:35.000 So I just think that it's been hard to juggle. 14:35.000 --> 14:38.000 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Two more questions for you. 14:38.000 --> 14:39.000 Yeah. 14:39.000 --> 14:42.000 So this is going to air, like, September 25th. 14:42.000 --> 14:47.000 So way after the primary, we don't totally know who the Democratic candidate is yet, 14:47.000 --> 14:51.000 but it's, I think at this point, either going to be Crowley or Hong, right? 14:51.000 --> 14:55.000 They're both not 68-year-old, like, Tom Tiffany. 14:55.000 --> 14:56.000 No! 14:56.000 --> 15:01.000 So my question for you is, you know, like, do you think that has an impact? 15:01.000 --> 15:04.000 I mean, the last Biden was, he was hit on for being old. 15:04.000 --> 15:08.000 Trump is starting to be hit on for old. Lindsey Graham just died. 15:08.000 --> 15:13.000 What do you think that, do you think the age of politicians has an impact on youth folk? 15:13.000 --> 15:21.000 Oh, absolutely. I think that a lot of the times when we see someone who's a lot older, 15:21.000 --> 15:26.000 we just don't feel connected. You know, you can talk to your grandparent, 15:26.000 --> 15:30.000 but you don't really feel super connected like they understand how you feel. 15:30.000 --> 15:36.000 And I think that having younger candidates really does open up the pool for us to, you know, 15:36.000 --> 15:41.000 have greater ideas. You know, it's not just people who have been informed by the past, 15:41.000 --> 15:45.000 it's people who are also informed by the present and the future, 15:45.000 --> 15:48.000 and who will be leading the future, which is Gen Z. 15:48.000 --> 15:53.000 Yeah, yeah. So a final question for you. You can take your time with this. 15:53.000 --> 15:59.000 Do you have a message for politicians as a young person about what you want them to know? 15:59.000 --> 16:03.000 I have to make those guys. I have to make them the wrong guys. 16:04.000 --> 16:07.000 Oh, God. Let me think. 16:11.000 --> 16:18.000 I mean, I guess mine will be, we're here for you just as much as you're here for us. 16:18.000 --> 16:23.000 You know, as much as we want to help you get somewhere, you also need to help us. 16:23.000 --> 16:28.000 And I think that a lot of young people are helping, you know, with the Francesca Hong campaign, 16:28.000 --> 16:34.000 you know, the David Crowley campaign, and even with, you know, Sarah Rodriguez, who just dropped out, 16:34.000 --> 16:39.000 I think a lot of the times it's really backed by young people. 16:39.000 --> 16:43.000 A lot of the biggest movements have been backed by the youngest crowds. 16:43.000 --> 16:46.000 So I just think that we shouldn't lose sign on that. 16:46.000 --> 16:52.000 You know, if it's just not even just 19 year old, 20 year olds, 21 year olds, but like 10 year olds, 16:52.000 --> 16:57.000 11 year olds, like start them off young, you know, you shouldn't just allow 16:58.000 --> 17:03.000 people to just cloud your judgment, especially people who are older. 17:03.000 --> 17:08.000 You know, and I think a lot of the times we should be really pushing towards the future. 17:08.000 --> 17:17.000 And I think a lot of the politicians who I see running for the governor's seat really do want young people a part of the future. 17:17.000 --> 17:19.000 And that's what I like to see. 17:19.000 --> 17:23.000 Any final thoughts, anything you feel like we've missed on that you really want to say? 17:24.000 --> 17:25.000 Vote. 17:25.000 --> 17:27.000 Vote August 11th. 17:27.000 --> 17:29.000 That's what I want to say. 17:29.000 --> 17:32.000 This is going to air September 25th, you want to try it? 17:32.000 --> 17:34.000 Vote November. 17:34.000 --> 17:36.000 Very good. 17:36.000 --> 17:38.000 Thank you. 17:38.000 --> 17:41.000 One last thing before I cut, we got to get what we call room tone. 17:41.000 --> 17:45.000 So it's just 20 seconds of the sounds around us and like your conditioning a little bit of the street 17:45.000 --> 17:47.000 helps us smooth out some audio issues in post. 17:47.000 --> 17:48.000 Yeah, that's fine. 17:54.000 --> 17:55.000 Okay. 17:55.000 --> 17:56.000 And cut.