Members of Generation Z Weigh In On What its Like for Them To Be Americans
According to Wikipedia, people who are a part of Gen Z are identified this way:
Although the exact birth years of Generation Z are not specifically defined, researchers and popular media typically use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years.
That puts Generation Z’ers into the age range of 11 to 27. Thus far, I have met and photographed several dozen of these young people. While their answers to the question “What’s it like for you to be an American?” are sometimes similar to folks from older generations, their answers also focus uniquely on both concerns and optimism about the future, their own as well as that of the country.
Here, then is of a group of a dozen American voices who are likely to be living well into the mid to late 21st century.
Sophia Vazquez - 13
Being multi-cultured, I realize how lucky I am to be an American and have the privilege to speak freely. Living in the United States, I have the ability to make changes to the world and shape my future however I imagine it.
Renzo Castrucci - 15
Being an American means having free will to pick and choose. Being American means holding the moral high ground of what's right and wrong.
Victorya Painter - 22
I'm terrified.
I have guilt – “America is the greatest country in the world!”
It's not.
Miles Archie - 22
Being an American has been kind of complicating. There has been many times where I think we have progressed but we sometimes back track on that. However, I can't deny that I am lucky to have been born here at a time like this.
Rhea Patil - 19
The land of opportunity
Thousands of faces that look so unfamiliar but connected
The land of freedom but only for those that look one way
A place that's always made me feel exotic but welcome
Torn between opening its borders and keeping its wealth to itself
To be an American is iconic and wonderful but sometimes feels like treason to my past.
Nicholas Wyatt - 25
Being an American is like the constant feeling of undeserved privilege always breathing down your neck. It pushes you. It guides you. It's an honor that you must also wear as a cross. Each day I wonder if I am making those who made this way for me proud. Did I just take another step in the right direction or am I squandering the opportunities afforded to me by the hard work of past Americans?
Lydia Hendrieth - 21
As a 21 year old, being an American can be a worldwind of emotions and is very hard to simplify. Being an American is a journey a process of finding your place and living in an area you can call yours. It's about reaching out to someone who isn't like you and learning, keeping an open mind and knowing you can't have everything in this world. But you can have the things and the people around you that make you happy.
Declan McNulty - 22
Being an American provides an opportunity to have a golden life. But as soon as you are born, you are limited by millions of factors out of your control.
To me, being an American is being provided with a chance to have it all and quickly realizing the only way to follow your dreams is controlled by those more fortunate than you.
The country where freedom is everything only tries to control what you do.
Jenny Assaf - 23
Living in America is like living in a jacket with endless pockets some deep, some shallow, some vertical and some stitched closed.
You're lucky if it fits just right. Although it may feel impossible at times, there is the ability to break the seams –which can often be forgotten.
Noah Green - 23
To be an American is both great and crazy. It's like living in a meme world and laughing all the time.
Adeline Miller - 17
As an American, I would say that my experience has been turbulent & uncertain. Being a young girl in this country has been almost scary. As the right & the left fight over what rights people should have, I have increasingly lost trust in the government that is supposed to have my best interest in mind. I believe that there is hope for this country, but it will be the responsibility of the coming generations to bring a new, better USA into reality.
Please leave a comment if the spirit moves you, and I’ll see you next month.