What a summer it has been! From working nearly full-time every week while also taking two summer classes, volunteering and, as the cool kids say these days, “doing the thing,” it has been quite the summer. One of the biggest takeaways I have from this summer was road tripping from Kansas City to Detroit with some of my best friends in Sunrise Movement Kansas City.
Sunrise Movement is a movement led by young people uniting together to stop the climate crisis. There are hubs in almost every state across the country and you can find a hub near you here. We were in Detroit for mainly two reasons, a national training for Sunrise Movement and an organized march the first night of the DNC presidential debates.
This all started with a road trip in my four-door, purple Ford Fiesta with my friends Madegan, Mariah and Jackson. A car that shouldn’t fit four people and all of our items did for over 14 hours. We had a playlist prepared two weeks in advance, snack bags prepped and coffee at the ready. Essentially we were #roadtripready, whether or not we were fully prepared to be in a very small car together for 14 hours. This training was through and through a grassroots organization experience. From the 14 hour road trip in a full car, to sleeping on the floor of a church in Detroit surrounded by fellow Sunrisers, I have never felt more at home in a place I had never been before. Being surrounded by fellow young people with similar passions and purposes, even though everyone was there for many different reasons, had a uniting feeling where we could all take the time, step back and realize why we were there. This was different for nearly everyone and for me, I was there because I want to learn as much as can to help as many individuals as possible.
The climate crisis is the number one threat we have against us in these years to come, and I want to be able to look back in several decades and be able to say that I did everything I could to make a positive impact. And it was in Detroit where I really was able to take my first step into activism. Marching and rallying in solidarity alongside frontline communities of Detroit that face issues resulting from the climate crisis every day. Communities in Flint that still don’t have access to clean water, communities of color that have been displaced so much to where they have to live in a zip code with two large oil refineries that are constantly polluting the air around them. Indigenous groups who are fighting every day to keep the land that we stole from them so long ago.
This was the first moment in my life where I considered myself an activist and I have never felt more powerful. The feeling of rallying in solidarity with demands of acting upon the environmental, social, racial and economic injustices that frontline communities are faced with on a daily basis is a feeling that I will carry with me forever. Knowing that this is only the beginning of my journey into activism leaves me with a smile every day. Thank you to Mariah, Madegan and Jackson for staking it out for 14 hours in my car with me, and thank you to all of Sunrise Movement Kansas City for sharing this experience with me.