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Our Democracy

All freedoms are hard-won. Discover the labor pains of birthing a nation. Find your stake in the struggle.

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 Power California Field Director Mynor Godoy assists volunteer phone bankers at a GOTV event in Los Angeles in February 2020 | Jay Banks
Through campaign work on Proposition 15, young people are learning how they play a role in shaping the future of California.
99Rootz youth leaders at a volunteer phone bank at an office in Atwater, Merced County in Spring 2020. | Crisantema Gallardo
Young people of color are a part of a shifting electorate in California and speak to the potential power they could have in shaping California's future.
Performance posters during the anti-187 campaign | Still from "187"
In such a controversial campaign as Proposition 187, art and politics inenvitably mix. During the 1990s a number of politicians (established and aspiring) helped shape the campaign, as artists on the ground informed the public and inspired them to act.
Now Congresswoman Karen Bass (center) and co-author Marqueece Harris Dawson top left corner, and other SCYEA youth in the 1990s. | Community Coalition
The early and ongoing commitments of movement elders helped set the stage for young social movement leaders addressing many of the pressing issues facing our nation today.
Youth Power posters motivate high school students to vote during the Power California event in Norwalk on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. | Mindy Schauer/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Increasing inequality in society calls for a re-evaluation of national understandings of who and what a voter looks like, the precedent for enfranchisement expansion and reform, and what the possible consequences would be of lowering the voting age.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, including Emma Gonzalez (C), stand together on stage with other young victims of gun violence at the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Young people have a pivotal role in some of today's biggest issues. See how their voices have helped shaped movements around the world.
(L-R) Youth leaders Jacob "Blacc" Jackson, Joshua Ham and Christian Flagg | Courtesy of Brothers, Sons, Selves
Restorative champions say that the model reduces suspensions and engagement with law enforcement while increasing the sense of community and safety on campus. They say this type of change is possible not only for schools but also for cities and states.
Protestors shout from a bus against Proposition 187 | Still from "187"
Los expertos ven un reflejo entre los movimientos antiinmigrantes y anti-minorías en la década de 1990, los cambios políticos que trajeron al estado y el estado actual de la nación.
Protestors shout from a bus against Proposition 187 | Still from "187"
Experts see a mirror image between the anti-immigrant and anti-minorities movements in the 1990s, the political change it brought to the state, and the current state of the nation. 
A rally against Prop 187 | Still from "187"
Behind every good campaign are organizers who help mobilize the masses toward a common goal. Meet four of the figures behind the anti-Proposition 187 campaign and the dreamer who, decades later, is dealing with the ballot's consequences. 
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