I Voted. I Spiraled. I Smiled.

I’m walking down Western, making my way to Horace Mann Community High School on 70th to vote in the primary election and as I was halfway down the block, I heard someone on a megaphone standing at the intersection in front of Burger Palace sharing out to anyone who would hear their message – “Don’t vote for Spencer Pratt.” “Go Vote South LA.” 

I was debating whether I should walk back to talk to them and ask if they would be open to being interviewed. Or simply letting them continue spreading their message with folks passing through the neighborhood. I let them be, and continued on my way. 

I kept thinking how anticlimactic voting feels in the grand scheme of change. It sometimes doesn’t feel like it makes a difference. Of course, I am speaking from the perspective of an older Gen Z who has been waiting for our extractive capitalist ecosystem to be replaced with affordable utilities, affordable housing, affordable fresh food, and overall a healthier way of living. 

Plus, we are living in turbulent times, and I think, how could we not develop a pessimistic mindset. 

I stop, and pull myself out of this spiral. 

I start thinking about the struggles and hardships folks endured before my time, specifically in America, and how they persevered to create systemic change. 

I think about Black folks who have been leaders in creating a blueprint for what changes could look like in America, one of those blueprints starting with Juneteenth in what freedom looked like after for newly freed slaves. For decades, they’ve challenged oppressive systems, creating systemic change through protests, boycotts, arts, culture – I mean multiple renaissances have birthed from them – to embodying resistance in their daily lives.   

I think about my queer and trans community, everyday their simple existence is a form of resistance. I think of Marsha B. Johnson, a Black Trans Woman, and Sylvia Rivera, a Puerto Rican Trans Woman, who participated in the Stone Wall Riot in 1969, bringing attention to the discrimination and violence many queer and trans folks were experiencing. 

I think about all these waves of change throughout our history and remind myself, change did not happen overnight. 

Change happens by people actively participating in their communities, by people caring and being invested in figuring out what change could look like and how it can be created. 

Change can be through voting, like our neighbors in Monterrey Park, who became the first in our country to collectively vote against the construction of a data center in their neighborhoods. 

Change can be through mutual aid. Where our communities and neighbors come together to provide care and resources for one another. Ensuring folks have access to basic necessities. 

If you have felt discouraged at some point these past few years, you are not alone. 

I invite you to look around your neighborhood, your community, and look at the work that is already happening on the ground everyday. 

Go say hi to your neighbors or someone you haven’t gotten to know on your block. 

Building community is a powerful tool we have control of. We have to care. We have to care about each other. We have to care about what our community is going to look like 10 years from now to what it will look like for future generations to come. 

I eventually made it to the voting center. I tapped in my answers on the electronic box. Got my “I Voted” sticker. As I was walking out of the high school auditorium, I saw a swarm of high school students finishing their school day, laughing, hanging out with their friends, getting picked up by their loved ones, and I couldn’t help but smile. 

I want our younger generations to inherit a better way of living. Change can not happen passively. Community members need to be at the forefront as the decision makers. Bringing to life the world we want to be living in. 

I hope you join us in the fight in creating a more just Los Angeles. 

In solidarity,

Carina Gavino Santiago 

SCOPE Communications Associate