Next Monday, nearly 500 young adults will swarm Capitol Hill to lobby their members of Congress on immigration reform, and I can hardly wait! Before they meet with Members of Congress and their staffs, they will have a weekend of training and briefings on the issue of immigration, the status of the debate in Washington, and how to get the most out of a lobby visit.
But the power of the meetings they have on the Hill is in their voices and their stories. They will bring the truth they know. That includes young people who are uncertain about their future in this country despite having lived here from the time they were children, and it includes young people who are worried for the sake of their friends and for their communities because Congress has failed to act to rectify the injustice in our immigration system.
Every year, I experience a surge of joy when FCNL hosts our annual Spring Lobby Weekend. But this year takes on a significant urgency. The fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants hangs in the balance. The young adults coming to Spring Lobby Weekend 2018 are in the middle of the vibrant thrust of energy demonstrated by young people around this country—to address immigration, gun violence, mass incarceration, climate change and other structural injustices. We can all be inspired.
Like millions of people around the globe, I have been awed by the students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, who are demanding lawmakers take bold action to curb gun violence so that a mass shooting in a school never happens again. Their direct appeal to lawmakers is passionate, powerful—and necessary. That passion, and the insistence that lawmakers must act, will be needed for years to come on the issue of ending gun violence—and on all the concerns we carry to create a society with equity and justice for all.
I am so grateful to people across the country supporting the growth of FCNL’s Young Adult programs. I see such encouraging results: from the growth of our Spring Lobby Weekend to the resounding number of applicants who want to come work at FCNL. Over the past couple of weeks, I have read scores of applications—almost 200— from college students and soon-to-be graduates who want to work with FCNL. Reading the passion these young people carry for addressing injustice in our country and for addressing peace around the world is like getting an injection of hope, an inoculation against cynicism and fear. These people and all of those who will be in Washington with FCNL this weekend are not simply “our future.” They are the NOW activists who are changing our country and changing the world. Their power is palpable, and growing, and hopeful.
