But with that knowledge about the world comes the realization of how powerless we are to fix numerous issues. Since we’re still young, our only card is the ability to vote, but even that one guaranteed source of influence is being suppressed after a surge in college student voting.  

However, the recent unjust deaths of George Floyd and other black victims like Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers, reigniting the Black Lives Matters movement in all 50 states and several countries, mirrors a new card we have in our deck: social media.  

With the potential for some peaceful protests to turn violent and the looming threat of coronavirus casting a shadow over the whole world, some activists like myself might not feel comfortable attending protests, the traditional way of creating change in America. 

However, social media has created a new form of activism that college kids and many other young adults can use along with their educated minds to enact change. Story after story and post after post is dedicated to information about the movement, history of unjust policing and mass incarceration and petitions and fundraisers for the victims and their families.  

The ability to retweet or repost spreads messages that can be seen by more people. A marketplace of ideas occurs when different people see different facts, images or videos and reposts. Now one user who follows multiple people has many different ideas brought to their table by simply tapping and swiping.

I love seeing what everyone has to offer, then reposting some of them or curating specific themes for my story as a whole like voting dates and facts or showcasing beautiful protest moments.  

Even simple Google Docs features make it easy to create email templates for others to access and send to representatives and government officials calling for specific actions to be taken, like ending qualified immunity, the way in which police are shielded from being held accountable for terrible acts of abuse.  

It’s sometimes tough living with the contradicting perceptions that college kids either aren’t involved enough or are too idealistic and should just stop fighting because the change we want is impossible to achieve.  

But through Derek Chauvin’s, the officer who killed Floyd, charge being raised to second degree murder and Ahmaud Arbery’s killers going to trial, we know the unmatched power that education, awareness and youthful optimism combined with viral speed has on America.