(I wrote this Hashem knows how long ago. Posting it here so I can send a friend it.)
It is a Friday and I am sitting in front of my computer with a cup of cold green tea to my left, an overdue library book covering Cold War history, the spine of which has not yet once been cracked by my hands, and JSA is dead.
It’s hard to describe exactly what I’m feeling at this moment. JSA was a massive part of my development in high school. It’s the organization who held the events where I learned to speak in front of an audience effectively, a mutual point of recognition that other alums could point to as a piece of interesting trivia, where I made a great many friends, and began the nascency of my political development.
I can’t say that I’m entirely surprised that JSA will cease to be at the close of this month. Advocates for its continued existence would be hard-pressed to succeed in conveying the importance of American politics and party affiliation to a generation actively watching the death rattle of American Democracy, if it could ever be called by such a name. The lies of neoliberalism have caught up to JSA, and high schoolers simply aren’t buying the bullshit anymore.
After watching multiple administrations blunder their way through the pandemic, unkept promises from both major political parties, and the continued devastation that is beamed into every screen which they have access to, what faith could this generation find in these bullshit parliamentary procedures, or the simulacra of them that JSA had on offer.
I do not believe that the death of JSA marks the death of political involvement in this younger generation. As a matter of fact, I believe quite the opposite. I think that this younger generation will continue to become more and more involved in the causes that are closest to them. I reckon they will be learning and leading how to organize in their communities and with their affinity groups in such a way that will overshadow what JSA was.
I have the utmost faith in this generation and believe they will do more on their own than they ever could by tying themselves to this organization.