Pols Urge Fellow Millennials To Step Up

Young African-American elected officials issued a call to young professionals of color to get involved early in the political process as they assume leadership roles in civic society.

They issued that call Wednesday night in the community room of the Ives Main Library Wednesday night. Two dozen people gathered to hear Mayor Justin Elicker and local African-American office-holders talk about their journeys into government service.

The panel spoke of how the promotion of voting and democracy early on in peoples’ lives is the best way to have minority voices represented at the tables of policy and power.

The event was sponsored by Urban League of Southern Connecticut’s Young Professionals (ULSCYP) , a membership organization for adults 21 to 41 years old. The group’s stated mission is to enable African-Americans and other minority groups to secure and sustain economic self-reliance and parity.

The group currently has about 25 members, according to its president, Ratasha Smith. Wednesday’s event was aimed at increasing that number and the organization’s profile.

Both the NAACP and the Urban League are longstanding civil rights organizations. The former focuses more on broad-based grassroots political action to improve people’s lives, while the latter tends to pursue the same goals through work ​“in the board room,” in politics and the professions, Smith said.

Upper Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, recently back from door-knocking in Iowa; Hamden Councilman Justin Farmer; and newly elected West Haven Council member Trenee McGee participated in the panel.

Brackeen and McGee both grew up in activist, pro-labor, community-involved families, with parents or grandparents as role models. Young people of color who don’t grow up in the environment often end up not understanding even how the mechanics of voting works, let alone its power to affect their lives, the speakers agreed.

Teachers can sometimes fill the gap or add to what people learn at home.

Farmer’s political science professor at Southern Connecticut State University required him to work in a political campaign in order to write his paper and finish his course, for instance. Farmer, after demurring, did, and that changed his life, leading to his own successful campaign for office.

Likewise, Brackeen credited much loved and recently deceased Hillhouse High School teacher Jack Paulishen with being his mentor in politics while he was a high school student, taking the class to Washington and imbuing students with an appreciation for the value of civic life.

Entering politics is akin to advancing the pursuit of justice, Brackeen said during the panel discussions. It’s about bridging gaps of all kinds.

How do you get audiences, especially young people involved? Brackeen’s answer: Always have a cause, he said. Millenials respond to causes.

McGee, whose grandmother was the first African-American woman to run for alder in Bridgeport, said West Haven has a systemic prejudice against the concerns and interests of young people. ​“Tones of youthfulness scare people in power,” she said.

The antidote: Registering people to vote and explaining to them just how voting takes place. She said her grandmother did that precisely for her when McGee cast her first vote ever, for President Obama. She said the same thing needs to be done for young people in West Haven.

“As a millennial politician, you always feel there’s a meeting before or after where the real decisions are being made and you’ve been seated at the kiddie table,” said Brackeen.

“We need to get to the polls,” added Farmer, because that’s the way ​“we reflect our stories.”

Smith said the data indicates 18 to 24-year-olds don’t vote in the numbers they should. McGee noted that while over 100 University of New Haven students are registered to vote only a handful show up at the polls. ​“We need boots on the ground, going from door to door,” she said.

Farmer said he has been responding to that need in part by his bringing candidates for office in Hamden to Hamden High School. He also cited the importance of keeping all events with young people, ​“fun,” as far from stuffy as possible.

Brackeen, whose wife and two little daughters were attending the meeting (although at ages 2 and 3 they are still too little to be considered young professionals), agreed.

His perspective was that of a young family man. ​“Married millennials vote what their causes are — student loans, climate, taxes, livability. We showed that in 2008.”

All three young politicians agreed on another sine qua non for a successful event to attract young people: ​“Free food helps,” as Brackeen put it.

As the event broke up, Kyle Kearson, a young sculptor whose day job is at the Yale Center of British Art, said he had been impressed with what he heard. He previously had known of the Urban League, but not particularly of its young professionals’ division. ​“I’m inspired by the focus on youth engagement,” he said. ​“I’m definitely going to become a member.”