My 2025 A to Z Challenge theme is activism. I’ve been a Black Lives Matter activist for over a decade. I’m not an expert. I do have experience to share and I’m hoping to learn from your experiences, too. We’re all in this together.

I’ve been hearing a lot of “Why aren’t young people joining the protests?” I think that’s the wrong question. A better one is “How do we make the movement more attractive to young people?”

Also (I’m adding this after my first draft), it turns out we’re probably wrong about that. Just because we don’t see protests in the news every day, it doesn’t mean that they’re not happening. Rachel Maddow found plenty of photos of college protests to share in this segment, plus the good news that the protests worked.

I know very little about how to attract younger people to a movement and I have only been partially successful in the past, so I’m going to share some good ideas that I’ve heard from others and ask for any insights that you have.

Teens and twenty-somethings

Ask them about their interests — especially games, shows, and books. Some of the stories that they tell may open up conversations about bravery, resistance, and community.

Encourage young people to bring their friends. Encourage them to be kind to the older folks who participate. We are so happy to see them that they will be surprised at the outpouring of affection they receive (in fact, I sometimes worry that we scare them off with love, but that’s a good problem that we can all work together to solve).

Parents of young children

Provide child-care.

Host child-friendly events. In the current climate, I think that includes rallies and protests. On the rare occasions that children participate in our Black Lives Matter vigils, the responses we get become way more positive

Children get bored of holding signs, though. Bring sidewalk chalk. The children can leave behind cheery pictures and a message that remains for hours or days after the event ends.

There may come a time when rallies and protests are no longer safe for children, but we’ll all know when that time comes. It will be when we see tanks on the side streets and police wearing riot gear.

Parents of older children

This is possibly the hardest. Sports and activities and family time are often going to take precedence and that’s fine.

One thing to try is to give the tweens and teens good roles to play. If the kids have a job, the parents are likely to show up to the event or meeting, too. Here are some possibilities that might suit some interests of tweens and teens and, even, twenty-somethings: entertainment of younger children, production of social media content, and distributing name tags or flyers.

What ideas do you have for bringing people into the movement who are under age 60?

Protest keeps us young

For those of us who are over 60, I have some good news! Activism keeps us young. I stand with people every week who are in their 70s and 80s. I’m convinced that being engaged is an effective way of improving the lives of seniors.