You tech savvy, Instagramming, tweeting, H&M wearing, Starbucks drinking millennials, I have a bone to pick with a whole lot of you. First things first before you gone on a "you hate your own generation" tangent, I'd first like to say I am proud of us. In our lifetime we've seen Bin Laden killed, legalized gay marriage, became a vocal agent of change for social issues and basic human rights of all people, and we even got McDonald's to serve breakfast ALL DAY! I think we've pretty much won this whole best generation thing am I right? Actually, no I'm not right at all. Come sit next to the warm glow of you computer screen like your great-grandpappy used to next to a fire in the winter of '66, and listen up because Uncle Bronson needs to have a word with a bunch of you.
Where did it say in the Millennial Handbook we all got after the doctor gave us that pick-me-up spank out of the womb, that we stop being progressive when election season comes around? I'm not talking left-wing liberalism, no I'm talking about no matter the political party or religious background, we as a generation fought next to each other sided by side for the greater good. What happened to us "sticking it to the older generations because they're too stuck in their ways?" I know this two party political system has us butting heads, and quite frankly the choices we have give us more reason to be combative, but when dozens of Orlando nightclub patrons get slain and some millennials use it to push a xenophobic political agenda, that's when I get scared. As a generation, we are supposed to be spearheading this amazing revolution of democracy while upholding a partisan viewpoint of the way each and every one of us sees the world and all I see is division. Division among races, religions, and sexual orientations.
We have people listening to xenophobic or downright racist bigots like Tomi Lauren spewing hatred and ethnocentricity among our generation. We aren't supposed to let people like her speak for us. We outnumber the past generations almost 10 to 1 and we should have a stronger voice in progressive causes. Yes, there is still systematic oppression of people of color, yes there is still transphobia and homophobia among older generations and even some of our own. So let's come together and systematically uproot the negatives in our communities and our society as a whole. We have to be champions of change and we must remember why they call us Millennials in the first place. Not because we can tweet 140 characters, or post a bomb selfie from the "totes cool froyo spot on West Main Street", no we must fight for what is right and just in this world. What will you tell the next generation of change when they ask "were you a part of the progressive revolution of acceptance and unity?" I hope you become a part of the right side of history. Remember what's important, remember why we're millennials in the first place, we are destined to change the world into something better. Let's change the stigma of the "Me Me Me Generation", and turn it into the "We the People" generation.
