Young people, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are at the forefront of shaping the freedoms and future of our nation. Their voting power is transforming American politics. We will hear directly from young leaders about the issues that matter most to them, the solutions they’re driving forward, and how the 2024 election is pivotal in protecting their rights and shaping the future they envision.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Now that we have identified these issues, we're shifting to solutions, just as Alfonso said.
00:06We all know that we have a slew of issues to address, but what are the solutions?
00:12Are there different perspectives from young people that are ignored or disregarded?
00:16Well, to discuss these issues, to the issues young people care about most,
00:23from the economy to healthcare, from climate change to housing affordability,
00:27we are pleased to be joined by A.B. Burns-Tucker and Rachelle Dennis.
00:33A.B. is a legal and political content creator who works as a social media influencer known as
00:40I Am Legally Hype. A.B. has gained over a half a million followers across each social media
00:47platform by breaking down complicated political and legal issues. We need more of that.
00:54Rachelle is the head of Girls United, which is a global destination for young multicultural
01:00individuals to find the community, mentors, and perspectives, tools, resources, and opportunities
01:07to thrive. We are so happy to have both of these queens join us today. And for those watching and
01:15listening, for this segment, we encourage you to send us your thoughts and ideas.
01:20So let's get started. We just heard about all these issues young people have flagged as the
01:26most important to them. What are the solutions that you often hear to these issues?
01:33And we'll leave it up to you, both Rachelle and A.B., to sort of prioritize them as you. You
01:40heard the prior conversation. We can start with housing. We can start with the economy. We can
01:46start with health care. If you don't have a preference, maybe we'll just start with the
01:51economy. And talk about what you think the solutions are that young people are advancing
01:56that often get suppressed, right? We're not talking about them. Instead, we're talking about
02:03what the solutions are that we hear from the elected officials, but not from young people.
02:07So maybe you two can give us your perspectives on what you're hearing about the economy.
02:11Yeah, A.B., I don't know if you want to start or if I should go.
02:20I'll give you the floor. Go ahead.
02:23Neither of you are shy people, so I know.
02:25No, you think you're not the star. Right, right, right. Watch, watch.
02:29Yeah. I mean, I think just what we see on social media, right? Social media,
02:33more than ever, is a big part of the way that we communicate, the way that we connect,
02:38the way that we also understand and see the world. Right now, what we're really seeing is that
02:44we're not experiencing life in the way that our parents have, right? The cost of living
02:49is exponentially high. There's jobs that have been eliminated. And we're really in an economy
02:57also that does not allow us to live, right? And live being even rent. So I think the housing
03:04crisis is definitely one of the biggest issues and problems, because when you go back to,
03:11right, survival, it's all about making sure that you have a roof over your head, making sure that
03:16there's food in your fridge that you're able to eat. And those are things that Gen Z and youth
03:21have to wake up thinking every single day as they go from this transition into whether it be
03:28school, into work life, or into society. So I think definitely right now the housing crisis
03:36is one of the most important problems that I know even my friends are dealing with,
03:40that we're all dealing with the high cost of rent.
03:45And I would just say the economy in general, right? Everything is influenced by our economy.
03:52One thing that we hear on social media a lot is these are not the same bills that
03:56our parents were paying. And I think taking into consideration, on the one hand, a lot of us are
04:02paying a subscription for everything, right? When that wasn't the case as we were growing up.
04:07We have seen an increase in our cost of living. And I think like going into that, I was having
04:13this conversation earlier, talking about like taxes and the way that our tax economy has been
04:19reformed. I know there's a lot of issues with people feeling like they had a better life under
04:24the Trump economy. But I think it's the lack of economic education within our communities as well,
04:31right? Because why did you feel like you had a better life under the Trump economy, right?
04:35Let's be clear that it was because of how Obama fixed the economy after Bush had messed up our
04:41economy, essentially, right? And so I think there's a lack of education when it comes to how to
04:49grow our economy, and then why we feel this difference in the economy. I think when we go
04:54into the housing market, like we are even seeing the Department of Justice bringing forth lawsuits
04:59towards these corporations and organizations because of how they have had an influence on
05:04the housing market. When we're seeing that corporations went out and purchased houses,
05:09right? And purchased property for the sake of inflating the prices. And then they collaborated
05:15with each other and came up with a scheme to make housing even more expensive for the average human
05:21being. In addition to that, when we're talking about economy, it was mentioned earlier how like
05:26some of the jobs that we have before are no longer available. And then let's also talk about how
05:31people went to school, thinking they were going to have an opportunity for a job. And what we did
05:35was we got locked into the student loans, because that was the only way that we felt like like I
05:39know I grew up in a in a household where my mom was like, you got to go to school to get a good
05:43job, honey, so you can be able to take care of yourself later. Okay, that was nice. And now I
05:48have four college degrees, and a couple $100,000 in student loans. And I'm not even making the
05:53amount of money that I was told I would potentially make by getting this level of education. So I think
06:00like the conversations that I'm seeing online is like, I did all the things that I was told I was
06:05supposed to do to be able to make it in this economy and make it in this world. And the promise
06:11that I was given is not being upheld. I upheld my end of the bargain. Like where do you come in
06:16to help me as an American citizen? Yeah, and I think that's something that's very important,
06:21because you know, that's been something that we've been like you mentioned, right? Your mom said,
06:26you have to go to school, you have to do this. And this is your pathway to success. Or this is
06:31your pathway to, you know, living a fruitful life. And now, more than ever, that is not necessarily
06:37the case anymore. And so how do you now, you know, tell how do I even tell my little sister,
06:43like, hey, you got to go to class, you got to go to school, because she's looking around,
06:48and she's seeing that, well, I can do everything, right? I can go to college, I can go get my
06:54master's, and I can still end up in an economy, or in a job market that where there are no jobs,
07:02or the jobs are very limited, or the jobs are very few. And it's how do you also now let youth
07:09or let the young people, you know, that are in this country, understand that, hey, your future
07:15might not be guaranteed, like it's not what it once was. And I think that's more than ever,
07:20what we also need to see, we need to make sure or we need our government to make sure that
07:26our path forward, our future is guaranteed, you know, we're going to be able to experience
07:33all the things that, you know, our parents were able to experience able to have a home,
07:37right, and purchase a home and become homeowners, you know, able to, you know, even get dinner
07:43every once every once in a while, or just enjoy some of the fruits of, you know, our labor.
07:49Because, you know, we talked about the everyday, but I think a huge part of the human experience
07:53is also being able to live that experience in its full, right, whether it be, you know,
08:01making sure that you're having some sort of life outside of work, you know, and being able to enjoy
08:07your hobbies, you know, being able to set up like some R&R aside for you. And that is becoming
08:16more and more challenging each and every day. And so I think most importantly, we need to feel like
08:21we have that support and that our future and our path forward is, is guaranteed. If not, you know,
08:27where, where do we stand in this world? Where do we stand in the future?
08:31And I do think another part of coming up with a solution is like listening to young people and
08:37listening to the issues of today, and listening to the issues that we are experiencing today,
08:43and allowing us to be a part of the conversation when it comes to making things better, right? Like
08:50we talk about, even now about like, our, our, our climate, right? And young people are upset with
08:58how the generations before us have handled climate control, excuse me, climate change. And, and now
09:04we are being active in the fold. So I think by bringing in young voices, and allowing us to speak
09:10on our experiences today, and being straight up and being like, look, this is how we feel when
09:16we're out here in the streets. It is one thing for you to have an experience. But I think that
09:20the experience also needs to be met with the right now, right? Because we need both of those things
09:26to come together in order to find a valuable solution that works for us today. We are still
09:32fighting the same issues that were being fought in the 50s and 60s. Yeah, right? Like, we are still
09:38looking at how the Supreme Court is getting rid of voting rights, and affirmative action, right?
09:44And these are issues that were brought up in the 60s, reproductive rights, right? Issues that were
09:50fought for in the 50s and 60s, and generations before us, before I was even thought of, right?
09:56And now I am dealing with those experiences now, and they are affecting me today. But yeah, I think
10:02for a long time, there has been a lack of willingness to listen to young voices. And,
10:07you know, before I got into this game of talking about politics on the internet, their narrative
10:12was always, oh, well, young people don't vote. And now we are seeing that Gen Z and millennials
10:18are the largest voting bloc, right, for this upcoming election. We are seeing that the energy
10:24and the outpour of this election is coming from the younger generation. Because what we are saying
10:29is, we're feeling this, y'all got to buy houses, you got to have a decent job. And yeah, maybe
10:35things may be harder on you now. But I'm having a hard time even building an opportunity for myself,
10:41right? Like, there's no reason why I have four college degrees, and I've got to live at my
10:46mama's house, because I can't afford to rent an apartment. You know what I mean? Like, I can't
10:50afford to buy groceries. You know what I mean? Like, so I think by bringing young people into
10:56the fold, and taking our experiences into consideration, I think that helps to come up
11:01with solutions as well. Yeah, and it's important, like you said, to listen. Because when you look
11:07at all the biggest major or most important movements, political movements, a lot of them
11:12have actually started on college campuses. A lot of them have, and a lot of the movements have been,
11:19you know, really the backbones of them have been youth. A lot of change in this country has been,
11:26you know, the youth has been people that are, you know, on these campuses that are vocal,
11:31that are speaking out, that are, you know, protesting. And I think that's very important,
11:36because it seems like with every one of these major issues, you know, you can go back to
11:41the protests in the Vietnam War. You know, you can go to, you know, all the protests that are
11:46happening now. We now live in a world where it feels like we've almost been going backwards.
11:53Reproductive rights, like you're talking about, even like, you know, voter suppression,
11:58the fact that we're still experiencing voter suppression in the year 2024 is absolutely insane.
12:07And if we can go back to that, imagine how far back in history we can take it, right? Like,
12:13if we're going back to where we're not allowing people the right to vote, and not just people,
12:18but a particular population of people, we are suppressing their right to vote, what else do
12:24you think they're going to do, right? What other things from the past are they going to take
12:29advantage of? And that's the part that concerns me the most, too, because we need to be moving
12:37forward, and we're going in reverse. But we're not going in reverse about things to fix things,
12:43we're going in reverse to benefit a particular population of America. And we know what that
12:48looks like for us. We have already seen this version of history.
12:52Yeah. And it seems like history just keeps on repeating itself. It's like, at what point,
12:57right, are we, and do we also call on, you know, people to be like, listen, this can't happen
13:03anymore. The fact that, you know, Roe versus Wade is getting overturned, you know, we're looking at
13:08all of these, you know, we're looking at the housing crisis, we're looking at student debt.
13:13When is enough enough, right? When is it, when is it going to be that, you know, we're listened to,
13:18that also, right, we're, we're being respected as, as voters and respected for being the backbone
13:26of driving a lot of these movements. You know, and that's why, as we come up on November, it's
13:32so important for us to vote and be out in droves, you know, and to really also, right, because for
13:39a lot of people, this is a numbers game, right? The more numbers, the more people that are voting,
13:43you know, the more serious that they take you. You know, we've seen that the reason that, you know,
13:49you have all of these different camps, right, you have Republicans and you have Democrats,
13:53both utilizing the power of influencers, influencers that have no sort of anything to do
14:00with politics, because they know how valuable they are in today's society, in today's world,
14:05you know, and getting youth out to vote, you know, getting young people out to vote,
14:10you know, and in a lot of ways, that's also being weaponized, right? Like you're seeing
14:15all of these influencers and celebrities being attached to political parties, because again,
14:22it's, it's important, right? It's important to have, you know, the youth vote in your pocket.
14:27And if you don't, you can almost, you know, guarantee that you're going to be a part of
14:33you can almost, you know, guarantee no votes. And I say, I tell my audiences all the time,
14:39I give the example of like, you can't expect to be served unless you RSVP, right? So if I have
14:45a wedding, and I send you an invitation, and I tell you RSVP to my wedding, and let me know your
14:52food preference, right? If you don't RSVP, I have no intentions on serving you. I gave you an
14:58or if you have allergies, and you don't put the allergies there, right? I cannot serve you.
15:03So I say the same thing when it comes to voting is that people would say like,
15:07Oh, black people don't vote or young people don't vote. And so I tell my audience,
15:11when people are like, Oh, my vote doesn't matter, or I'm not going to vote. And I'm like, okay,
15:15so then I don't want to hear you talk about what a candidate is doing for black people,
15:19or doing for your community, because you did not RSVP. So then they don't expect you to show up.
15:25So they're not going to serve you the way that we RSVP to being served to having the issues that we
15:31are most concerned about being addressed is by voting. They look at those numbers, right?
15:37When we watch the news today, whether it's a controversy or something good, we hear oftentimes
15:44of news reporters and journalists announcing someone's voting record, right? That is on record,
15:51they know how you vote, they know when you vote, how often you're voting, right, and what you are
15:56voting for. That is your RSVP. That is your key for these candidates to say, Oh, these are the
16:02issues I need to be concerned about. Because I don't give a darn how much you gerrymander and
16:06how much you rely on and do what you're gonna do. The numbers are going to be there. If people still
16:11show up and say, I'm passing my vote in this way. That is us saying that these issues matter,
16:16and you're going to have to address me. Because otherwise, you like, I'm not gonna vote for you.
16:22Right? When we see people talk about how candidates pander to black people, as soon as we get close
16:26to the election. Yeah, because they know our votes matter, right? Because they know at the
16:31end of the day, I need this percentage of black people to come vote for me, or this percentage
16:36of women to come vote for me or this percentage of college educated individuals to come vote for me
16:41in order for me to win this election. So what can I do for you to serve you? Right? Again,
16:46it goes back to that being our RSVP. So when we talk about what is the solution,
16:51the solution is showing up to vote, right? Whether you like it or not. And I hate that
16:55we have to have the conversation all the time about the lesser of two evils. But if we are
16:59consistent, and if we have a plan, and if we're having conversations, and if we're having meetups,
17:06well, then we no longer have to deal with those issues. Right? When we think about I always go
17:10back to the civil rights movement. I maybe that's just like my favorite error. Right? Because I
17:14think it's the best era in terms of right. I'm like, you talk about all of these political,
17:19social, economic issues all intertwined to one that in World War Two for me.
17:24Yeah, right. So and I say that because you look at how organized those areas were too, right?
17:29And that they were intentional about what they wanted. They were intentional about their demands.
17:34And by all costs, and by any means, they did what they had to do to get there. We, I believe,
17:40as a country have gotten complacent and gotten comfortable with the new technologies and the
17:45new opportunities until we were no longer there. And now all of a sudden, we are in this space
17:52where no one we can no longer be comfortable, because it's also being put on the forefront,
17:56right, especially due to the internet. And when we talk about influencers, we talk about influencers
18:00who are putting the news out to us, where all the information is right here in the palm of our hand
18:06at all times, right. And because of that, right, we have no, we can't ignore the issues that are
18:12going on around us. And we are no longer isolated in our issues. And so I say that to say that,
18:17like, we also have to become organized. And we also have to look to our leaders and say,
18:22okay, so what's the next step? Right? We have leaders that are still here who fought
18:27during civil rights, we need to be looking to them and being like, how do we organize?
18:32And how do we get to the next step? And how do we communicate our issues and communicate our
18:36ass so that those get accomplished? Because we can go out here and scream in the streets
18:41until we're blue in the face. But if nothing comes nothing comes of that, unless we have calls of
18:47action. So in addition to us voting, right for whatever leaders we have in our community,
18:52we also need to have calls to action to say this is how we want this done. It's not enough for me
18:57to just say I want autonomy over my body. I have to say no, y'all need to put that in legislation
19:04so that this can no longer be turned over that I have bodily autonomy, right? It's no longer good
19:09enough for me to just say, well, I can't afford medication. And so now we have right like,
19:15we have things like the inflation reduction act and things like that are happening. But we also
19:19need to say, well, I'm looking at other countries who have free health care and universal health
19:23care. We want access to that too, right? It's no longer okay for us to just be like, well,
19:28I want to be able to go to school, right? No, I want to have access to this type of school,
19:33to this level of education so that I can compete on a national level and be able to be the
19:38professional that I need to be to bring this to bring this world forward, right? And so again,
19:44I feel like to say that in addition to voting, right, and RSVP in that way, having those calls
19:50to action and saying, this is how we want this done. And that also requires community. It also
19:55requires us to have a conversation. It can't just be me over here dealing with my issues,
20:00Rochelle, you over there doing with your issues, not my, Hey girl, I know you black and you got
20:04your own stuff. We're together in this, right? We have to be together. And I have to look at
20:08you and say, what's your issue? Okay. Even if that's not necessarily my fight for today,
20:14that's somebody else's fight. And that fight is also going to benefit me. So I need to be in
20:19alignment with you to figure out how we can come together to make these things happen and put work
20:24leaders who are willing to take that action. I love that because I think what you see is so much
20:31division, right? On, on social media, you know, whether it be on race or gender or identity.
20:40And I think that's actually hurt us more than it has helped us. The reason being, right,
20:45we're all individual. We all have our own individual needs. We all have different perspectives
20:50come from all different walks of life. But as you mentioned, if we focused on the commonalities,
20:56and I think this is why this conversation that we're having is so important is because
21:00I think that there's also a lot of confusion on, okay, what should we be focused on? Right?
21:05We know number one, the most ultimate thing that we all should be focused on is this getting out
21:09to vote. Like you said, we have to RSVP, right? And then it's about those calls to action. But
21:16also how do we find the commonalities to make sure that those call to actions are as strong as
21:21possible? Right? How do we make sure that we're aligned and find those commonalities to make sure
21:28that we're able to have this influence and being able to, you know, have, you know, have this,
21:35have this say and have this impact, you know, that we need in November. Because I think one
21:42thing that I will say, right, when you look at, you know, Trump, and you look at the Republicans,
21:48it's almost like they are so focused on these key things that they have been able to almost
21:55find these commonalities with each other, that I think that there needs to be a lot of work for,
22:00right, the youth of this generation. Our ultimate goal is how do we secure our futures? How do we
22:05make sure that we are focused on our futures? And one that's RSVPing, and that's our call to
22:11action. And it's like, what are those commonalities? What are the things that we can do,
22:15or that we need to do? And we need to make sure that our government does in order to ensure in
22:21order to ensure that. So I really love how you how you said that, because I think that definitely
22:25hits it on the head where it's like, I think everybody's kind of like, you know, that Mr.
22:29Krabs meme, where it's like the scrambling, everybody's like, you have all these different
22:33issues. And everybody's trying to figure out, okay, like, is it climate change? Is it this?
22:37Is it that? And I think that's something that we do have to like, decide, and we have to understand,
22:42and we all have to come together on in order to have the most influence in this election as
22:46possible. But I do want to ask, what are your thoughts on like, right, you have,
22:52I talked about like, how there's influencers that are, you know, being on campaigns that are
22:58being very vocal about, you know, how they're voting or who they're voting for? What are your
23:02thoughts on fake information, false information and misinformation, because we live in the world
23:09of all these different social platforms of bots. And even like, you know, I'm scrolling through my
23:15feed. I'm like, Oh, my God, I can't believe that happened. Oh, my God. And then you find out that
23:20it's fake. So what's your advice? And how do we also ensure right, essence being a media company,
23:26always making sure that we're leading the charge in that. But it's hard, right? You can't be
23:30everywhere at once. You can't be anything and people sometimes just like to believe misinformation.
23:34So what are your thoughts on that? How do we get through that?
23:39I think part of it is recognizing that that has always been an issue, right? It was,
23:46it was brought up earlier, you know, the conversation about Rosa Parks, where a lot
23:49of people are taught like Rosa Parks, she was tired. And so she decided I'm not getting off
23:54my feet today. Right? That was misinformation that was fed to a lot of us. Let me be clear,
23:59that was misinformation that was fed to me when I was younger. Right. And it took me growing up.
24:04What do you mean? I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
24:07Right? Right. Um, it took me getting older and doing my own research and learning like,
24:13hold on, she's been in a game for a minute. And actually, this was planned out.
24:17Right. So part of that is one using critical thinking skills, and to being willing to do
24:24additional research, stopping lazy in your thought process, right? Because that's the
24:28easiest way to misguide someone. In addition to that, I think that it's also part of having
24:35trusted individuals who can combat misinformation, right? We see how we've seen recently came out
24:43that a certain country was using certain influencers to spread certain information
24:49that you knew darn well was false, right? We have to be just as strong as getting our trusted
24:55voices and our trusted influencers and being like, we got to go against that, right? Because just as
25:00much as those people have a platform, people like myself and consciously and things like that,
25:05right? We also have a trusted, we also have trusted platforms, right? And we can be trusted
25:10with our information, and then backing us as well. Like, we need the backing of organizations
25:16and media companies like Essence, for example, right? To come behind us and say, this is a
25:20trusted voice, because Essence has been trusted in their space for so long, right? So it's us
25:26collaborating once again, and also realizing that like, everybody can't be a cook, some people got
25:31to serve, right? And sometimes you may be a cook, but it may be your day to serve, right? Meaning
25:37that, you know, if consciously like his thing is like, he knows that Palestine Israel issue,
25:43like, like the back of his hand, right? It might be my space to be a server and say, I need to push
25:49out his information to my audience as well. So that y'all understand what's going on with this
25:55issue, right? Like, one of my biggest things is politics and criminal justice. It might be
26:00consciously space to be like, I have to push out legally hyped, like content, right? So that y'all
26:06get this accurate information. So I think it's also like us not being crabs in a bucket, right?
26:12And us actually being in unison and being in lockstep and locked together and saying we are
26:18sharing each other's information, we are sharing each other's space, and also realizing the space
26:23that we have on the internet. There's more than enough space for everybody, right? Like this is
26:28an infinite space. But we also need to be in lockstep and be together and make sure we are
26:34pushing out the content that is real and getting it to that audience and sharing that information
26:39so that our people can be educated and be well informed. And also not giving up because it's
26:45gonna get hard and it's hard for a reason. But if we support one another, we can make sure that we
26:50accomplish that goal. Yeah. And I think, you know, as you said, I think it's okay that like, if you
26:57don't know something about something, right? Leave it to the authority or leave it to somebody that
27:03does, right? That's a very important message. I mean, I love social media, but I don't think
27:09that everybody should be speaking on everything, you know, because some people are just misinformed
27:15and it's okay to be and I think that's something that, you know, you what we also have to encourage
27:20is that it's okay to be misinformed and to go to, you know, a B who's an expert and that knows this
27:26like the back of her hand and, you know, push out her message and align with what she's saying,
27:30right? As opposed to, you know, having an uninformed take, which also does even more
27:36harm than good sometimes. Right. Yes. Well, that was amazing. Thank you so much, AB. Thank you so,
27:44so much. And where can everybody keep up with you? Where can everybody follow you?
27:50Yeah, so you can follow me on all platforms, Instagram, TikTok,
27:55Substack, YouTube, whatever. I got it all right. Twitter, whatever you want to call it. And it is
28:03I am legally hype on all platforms. So you don't got to worry about trying to figure it out.
28:07That's me on all platforms. Thank y'all so much for having me. I appreciate it.
28:12Thank you. Thank you for joining us.