We are living in an age of backlash. We are living in an era of reactionary politics.
Since last June when Roe vs. Wade was overturned, there have been various conflicts between Republicans and Democrats on how this country is going to respond to the loss of rights for millions of women and people with uteruses. This has caused protests around the country, and after the fall of Roe v. Wade, the Dobbs decision, increased the number of citizens having to cross their own lines to get a safe abortion in a legal state. Not to mention how overturning Roe vs. Wade has allowed the Supreme Court to start looking into overturning other landmark cases or attacking other medical procedures and drugs. A few are Brown vs. The Board of Education, which ended school segregation; Plyler vs. Doe, which protects undocumented children of illegal immigrants under the Fourteenth Amendment to go to public school because denying education constitutes discrimination based on a “foreigner,” and Obergefell vs. Hodges, which allowed for gay marriages.
So with all this said, how are abortion rights going to affect the 2024 election? Reports have suggested that a significant reason Democrats will perform better than Republicans is because of abortion rights. According to The Hill News, “Democrats are seeking to put the issue of abortion front and center,” especially since the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat is up for grabs.
I got to interview Form III Arianna Laureano-Medina about their opinions of what’s happening in this country with abortion rights, and they said, “I honestly don’t support Republicans or Democrats, but if I had to choose, I would vote Democrat because they are at least going to try to protect some of my rights. I think that the Republican party is stupid in obstructing our rights and choices about our uteruses, as at the end of the day, it’s our bodies, and nobody except us should dictate what we do with them.”
You might get the opinions of several other students as well as teachers here and throughout the article.
From January 1st to April 9th, ninety-nine days, we have already had 143 mass shootings, including the school shooting in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. It has been a year, and 13 school shootings have happened.
When is this going to stop? When will kids like you and I be able to go to school without the fear of being killed, and when will the culture wars between gun laws end? There shouldn’t be debates about whether you should be allowed to purchase a gun without the proper training and under the age of 18. Enough is enough. Mothers shouldn’t be grieving their children because they took them to school that day, and lawmakers who don’t send their kids to these schools shouldn’t be making laws that don’t impact them, they don’t have to experience, and their livelihood.
Chloe Jean (Form IV), about her stance on gun control, said, “Truthfully, nowadays all I see in the news is people dying from guns, we can’t live in this society where we all feel like everyone is threatening us and everyone is a threat to us, and we have to use a gun to protect us. A gun shouldn’t be your form of protection, your form of protection should be figuring out a way not to be violent, and figuring out a way to be verbal and have a conversation, without someone dying. With these laws, you can be 16 to get a gun, why, why does a 16-year-old need a gun? Why can a 16-year-old have a gun but not have the right to vote for our president? Make it make sense?”
In addition, a record number of 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed this year alone. That is twice as many as last year! Republicans in 23 states have written legislation banning gender-affirming care, transgender girls competing in sports, and drag performances. One of the most famous bills that got recognition was last March when Florida introduced their “Don’t Say Gay” legislation into law, which doesn’t allow discussion around gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom because the subjects aren’t “age-appropriate.” However, it’s okay for a teacher, who is a straight-cisgender man, to talk about his wife to his students! But if a teacher, who is a gay woman, discusses her wife, she is fireable. Moreover, there has also been an increase in targeted LGBTQ+ attacks around the country, and nearly 300 education-related bills established, creating barriers for queer youth, especially in conservative states.
The surge in the legislation of hatred builds upon existing police brutalities and violence, like one of the most recent cases seen in the news, Tyre Nichols. The legislation is there because systemic police violence has been challenged, and now, the reactionary right is attempting to transform the underpinnings of culture. Fighting back against oppressors and systemic racism like the police system has and will always be with us. But Black people in this country are no longer willing to put on the back burner. We are more than hashtags in your bios and words you get rid of after they aren’t trending anymore. Enough is enough. We are at a pivotal moment where every oppressed group needs to feel “enough.”
