POEM: Young people are the moment and the movement
Trauma leaves a chemical mark on a person’s genes and the genes they pass down for generations.
They change the way our genes work, respond, and express
These alterations, hand-sewed, fitted just for you, are “epigenetic,”
Baby is born and without even knowing it, they are carrying a signature of everyone in their bloodline.
They grow to know a world of possibilities, and can feel the roads lived in their veins and see the new ones opening up in front of them
My grandma tells me that her mother always told her the earth would one day swallow us whole - a verbal warning about respecting the land beneath our feet
I am still learning how to have their green thumbs
I never worked the fields like them migrating state to state during the hot summers,
But every year I return closer and closer to the soil, the flowers, the trees, and the need to fill my lungs with clean air and my body with pure water
They internally guide me to love and look for greener pastures, because I can take their lessons with me.
Not just when growing an ivy, but when I fight to protect the freedom to leave behind a livable planet for the future.
Young people are uniquely positioned to lead all frontiers to a better world
Not because we are leaving older people behind,
Not because we know better,
And not simply because we should be in charge of our future.
Young people are the moment and the movement because the trails of our ancestors are mapped in our DNA - everyone who precedes us is coming with us.
Young people are the moment and the movement because we live in between,
Our elders a resource, reminding us what hurt them, killed them, and buried them -
With the future lying ahead of us, we get to decide how we live, thrive, and protect ourselves, our people, and our freedoms.
Young people are the moment and the movement because generation after generation of trauma and pain is piling up under our skin and in front of our eyes,
Our genes, bursting at the seams, our lips speaking with the strength of a million souls, saying “We have had enough and we demand more.”
My jigsaw genes are quilted with everyone who came before me and there’s endless space left for me to dream, imagine, and craft a unique piece for me - for us.
