Lilli Petersen

As our government grows more diverse in gender and ethnicity, inevitably our legislature will also consist of more and more people living with the trauma of gender-based violence. That’s messed up. But when we have survivors in government who are able to speak openly about their experiences while making decisions for the welfare of the people, it gives survivors a chance to equalize the playing field.

The terror that students faced while they hid under desks preparing for the possibility of a gunman entering their classroom was the same fear members of Congress surely felt while crouched in desperation as the mob attacked the Capitol.

Nereida Ortiz, an undocumented immigrant in the United States, shares how her undocumented status has shaped her political views, what she wishes she could vote on in 2020, and why it’s so important for young people to go out and vote in this election.

In 2020, many Black people are indignant at the low bar of asserting that, as a bare minimum, Black folks deserve to live.

Gitanjali Rao missed the first day of eighth grade in 2018. Instead, the entrepreneur from Lone Tree, Colorado, was in New York City demonstrating a device she created to detect lead in drinking water on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

America tells Black people, especially young Black people, that we are allowed two emotions towards our nation: forgiveness and gratitude.

Amira Tripp Folsom believes in change. The 18-year-old activist from Portland, Oregon, is passionate about discussing issues that affect teens across the country — like climate change, systemic racism, and school policing — and what she thinks should be done about them. "We should have a say in the things that happen to us," Tripp Folsom tells Elite Daily. That's why she's pushing so hard to lower the voting age to 16.