“Where are your people?”

Thoughts on lack of Gen Z attendance at 50501 events

Photo courtesy of Christian Chaffee, President of the Society for Anthropology and Sociomedical Sciences

I attended the Buffalo #WorkersOverBillionaries Labor Day Kickoff rally in the city of Buffalo, NY. My mom (who decided to join me at the event) and I arrived shortly after the advertised start time of 9:00am in Niagara Square, below the imposing figure of Buffalo City Hall. It was a sunny morning, the skies completely clear, temperatures sitting comfortably in the mid 60s. I was worried we were late, though many other protesters trickled into the square behind us; we were far from the last people there. There were several hundred people in total at the rally, gathered before the McKinley Monument. 

After several organizers energized the crowd at the base of the obelisk, the group began to march down the sidewalk of Delaware Avenue. Numerous cars passed by the group, honking in support, waving to us out their windows, many in the group cheering and waving back.

As the group turned onto West Chippewa Street, circling back to City Hall, a woman to my mom’s left looked over to me and said, “Where are your people?” with amazement in her voice. She expressed surprise that I was one of the few Gen Z people at the rally, saying something along the lines of, “The reason we’re doing this is for your generation.” The woman would explain that she was 75, and added that when they used to protest in the ‘60s, the protesters would be shot at.

Such a comment took me by surprise, though after looking around the crowd with more care to the age groups present, she had a very valid point; there were Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials, but seemingly no Gen Z. Although a solid hour and a half from Geneseo, Buffalo is still home to Canisius University, Buffalo State, University at Buffalo, among many other colleges and universities where thousands of students live and study (not to mention the youth population of Buffalo itself). But, as the woman noted, my people were not present.

I have been to rallies including Stand Up for Science on March 7th in Geneseo, Hands Off! on April 5th in Geneseo, No Kings on June 14th in Tonawanda, NY, Fight the Trump Takeover on August 16th in Williamsville, NY, and now to Workers Over Billionaires on September 1st. I have gone to every protest I was able to attend. Yet, I have seen very few Gen Z in attendance at these rallies in proportion to older generations.

Logically, with many of the Trump administration’s policies directly impacting college-age students, such as the elimination of a substantial portion of staff at the US Department of Education and the Office of Federal Student Aid, risking delays to the “processing [of] FAFSA forms and efficiently distributing aid” to borrowers, according to US News & World Report and the Public Broadcasting Service. Not to mention their frequent attacks on abortion rights and women’s reproductive health—including a recently proposed regulation from the Trump administration that would ban US Department of Veterans Affairs hospital doctors from providing abortions to female veterans, even in cases of rape and incest, according to The Guardian—a concern the vast majority of young women hold, according to the Survey Center on American Life. With the anti-MAGA 50501 Movement (including its local chapters and partners) holding an extensive presence across social media which, according to the Peer Research Center, Gen Z frequents extensively, we should be seeing a lot more Gen Z at these protests.

Now, I can only speak for Western New York with regards to this issue in the context of protests I have been to (for example, there were Workers Over Billionaires rallies in Batavia, Avon, Rochester, and Olean all on the same day). Even so, aside from Stand Up for Science and Hands Off!, which also had far fewer Gen Z than I expected, there is clearly a generational divide between those out on the streets protesting the second Trump administration and those staying home.

Perhaps the reason for this divide can be found in the often extremely busy work and school schedules that college students face on a semesterly basis. These may squeeze one’s free time, not to mention the pressure such schedules put on students to focus on studying and get through the semester. Full time summer jobs also often limit daytime activities to the mornings and nights, while many of these protests occur at midday. 

Political apathy, pessimism, and dissatisfaction with both major political parties and hopelessness at the inaction of the federal government in addressing issues like climate change, education, healthcare, and housing costs remain widespread among Gen Z, according to the University of California. Fear of possible retaliation also impacts considerations of protest, especially as the Trump administration continues to disregard the Constitution and the authority of Congress and the courts, with masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles arresting people in broad daylight. 

I see these factors as the primary reasons as to why there’s been less Gen Z in attendance at 50501 events in Western New York: one’s free time and considerations of whether it's even worth going out due to apathy or fear of blatant authoritarianism.

This is far from an attack on Gen Z. I wrote this article instead to point out the generational gap in protests against Trump 2.0 that I’ve noticed, and offer some possible explanations for why this disparity exists. I also want this to serve as a starting point for further discussion on this gap, which I only became consciously aware of (and inspired enough to write this) thanks to a surprise encounter at a Labor Day protest.