After an election year marked by heated rhetoric, almost 50 local teens from around the Peninsula walked into the YMCA with a simple question: How can we talk about politics without tearing each other down?
The first-of-its-kind workshop was hosted at Palo Alto YMCA, piloted by Let’s Talk Unite (LTU), a student‑run 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to bridging ideological divides, and the YMCA’s Youth in Government program, which simulates the legislative process for high‑school students.
The event featured civil discourse discussions among student attendees, and speeches by Antonio López, the former mayor of the City of East Palo Alto and the current poet laureate for San Mateo County, and the presidents of LTU and Youth in Government.
Kehillah High School junior Charlotte Kofman, co-president of Let’s Talk Unite, reflected on the challenges of political polarization specifically in the Bay Area during her speech to the teen audience.
“Political polarization makes compromise a lot harder,” Kofman said. “We live in a homogeneous political bubble here in the Bay Area, so it takes real effort to branch out.”
Henry M. Gunn High School sophomore and co-president of Silicon Valley’s Youth in Government, Mathilde Huyn, thought that the event would be a natural fit due to the common goals shared between the organizations.
“I set up this event to connect LTU and Youth in Government, a non-profit and an organization…” Huyn said. “Political polarization does affect passing legislation a lot, so I thought it was important to understand the two and how they collaborate with each other.”
Kofman believes this event will open students to new perspectives and discussion strategies within politics.
“The goal of the event is to encourage youth, the future generation of politicians, to see the harm that political polarization is having on our society and what they can do to help lessen that divide,” Kofman said. “We’re going to teach civil discourse skills, and this is especially relevant with Youth and Government because political polarization hinders government progress.”
Both Hyun and Kofman hope that this event will encourage dialogue amongst participants.
“The number one way to solve this [political polarization] is civil dialogue,” Huyn said. “Civil dialogue is a way that you can converse with other people who kind of mostly have different ideas than you, while still being respectful about your own idea and their idea.”
Aside from discussions, the event highlighted guest speaker Antonio López. He sees youth as the avenue for change and has hope in the future generation.
“Young people are the future,” López said. They know what the issues are, and they know exactly how to advocate and how to fight. And as I said, my job is just to pass the torch. My job is just to say you guys can do it, you guys have all the tools and resources.”
As the Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, López practices civil dialogue in his personal life by detailing his stories and experiences to others, exemplifying how civil dialogue can be present in daily life, not just in politics.
“For me, it is about how I create avenues to spark dialogue,” López said. “It is not that I am saying somebody is wrong, but saying let me humbly offer you my lived experience as a child of immigrants, whether we are talking about race, immigration, policy, or discrimination, hopefully those poems, that art form, is going to invite them to rethink how they see the world.”