Guest Opinion | Tina Fredericks: Young People Care If You Care to Look For Them

I first met Josue Barnes in a video meeting on Nov. 19, 2020. After five minutes, I knew he was the right person. He embodies the values of the Democratic Party.  Josue is a product of Claremont public schools, 28–year-old biomedical research student, and co-founder of Claremont Change, a grassroots organization dedicated to racial justice and equity. How did I, a Pasadena mom, come to meet Josue? I went looking for him and people like him – young emerging Democratic leaders in Assembly District 41 to run for delegate of the California Democratic Party. Our party needs the energy, conscience, and savvy of young activists like Josue as California and the nation faces the pandemic, climate change, and income inequality.  We need to make our party a bigger tent that embraces the thinking of a younger generation.

For weeks, I scoured the district for young activists because I believe we must reach out to youth, and people of color in order to grow the party.  Because of this effort, 50% of the slate I put together, Democrats for Justice, seven members, are younger than thirty years old: Josue Barnes, Sam Berndt, Michelle Bertinelli, Larissa Cursaro, Jonathan Horton, Maro Kakoussian, Sashary Zaroyan.

We tend to vote for who we know. Today, I challenge you instead to consider voting for someone you may not know. This is how we will live up to our promise of building a big tent party. 

As a former high school teacher, I believe in the power of young people. They are caring, socially, and environmentally conscious tech-savvy, multi-tasking experts, and fast-learners. They understand the existential threats facing us: global pandemic, climate catastrophe, income inequality, and endless wars. They are ready to take on these challenges if they have the opportunity.

If any group of people can solve our global problems, it’s this generation. But the media and our party don’t take them seriously enough. As someone who has been president of a local Democratic club, I no longer believe that young people will come walking through the door. They’re not coming. We have to actively seek them and convince them that they belong in the party.

As a candidate for EBoard, this is the type of leadership I bring. I see future leaders and lift them up. Democrats often quote Shirley Chisolm, the first African American U.S. presidential candidate, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” How will you respond to seven exceptional leaders who are bringing their folding chairs to the table?

I was elected to the Pasadena Unified School Board on Nov. 3, 2020. I ran against three other women. I was not the favorite to win. The circumstances posed serious challenges – 20,000 voters in my district, during COVID, amidst the Bobcat fire and record temperatures.  We won by 1,000 votes. Without a doubt, it was because we had the broad-based support of those in elected office, community leaders, family, friends: 34 individual/group endorsements, including Assemblyman Chris Holden, 249 volunteers, and donors. That is the kind of leadership philosophy I bring. The way you win people’s hearts and minds is getting the most broad-based coalition of leaders, and this is what I created with Democrats for Justice. With the immense crises we have to address in 2021, we need each other more than ever.

No other slate has taken the time to do what we have done, build a true coalition across generations and across our district – the most geographically, generationally, racially-diverse slate in AD 41: Voices of the People, Voices for the People. This is your chance to help amplify the voice of people who are already doing the important work organizing in their own communities. 

If you requested your mail-in ballot already, please mail it before Wed. Jan 27, 2021.

Tina Fredericks 

Tina Fredericks was elected to the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education in 2020 and represents District 6. Fredericks expresses her personal viewpoint.