“Young people are not jaded yet:” Interview with Hadiya Afzal
The original interviews I did for Youth to Power were longer than could fit in my book, but I wanted to share the valuable information with you all. These interviews will be up online as a permanent, free resource for people, young people in particular, looking for inspiration.
— Jamie Margolin
Hadiya Afzal (she/her), 19, is a youth civic engagement activist who ran for Dupage County Board in Chicago.
Jamie Margolin: How did you get to the point where you decided to run for office in your community when you were just seventeen?
Hadiya: I was too young to vote during the 2016 Presidential Elections, so I got involved as an election judge in the 2016 election for my local federal precinct.
As a Muslim American, the election of Donald Trump as president was really devastating for my community and me. I spent months in a disheartened funk and was motivated to go to the Women’s March on Washington in DC with a group of Muslim women. When I saw that massive energized activist space, I thought to myself, Okay, the world didn’t end. There’s still a fighting spirit.
I wanted to get involved on the local level because the real change happens locally. Local elections really matter. Even just a few votes can swing an election the lower down the ticket you go. So I applied for a summer internship in the Democratic party in my county and worked with them the summer of 2017. During that summer we mostly worked on issue candidates. I got a clipboard and walked across the community asking people what concerns they had on the very local level, and if they knew who to talk to [in order] to address those concerns.
We found that regardless of party background, at the local level, people had a lot of the same concerns. We all wanted clean water, clean air, good roads and infrastructure and safe schools — on both sides. But no one knew who the county board was that actually made decisions on that topic. I didn’t even know till that summer. So I started attending board meetings, which was when I saw the total lack of representation on the board.
[The] whole county voted for Hillary Clinton (the Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential election) by a margin of fourteen points, and yet there was only one Democrat serving at the county level out of eighteen board members. And there were only four women out of eighteen, and not a single person of color. Even though we have a growing number of immigrants and a large Hispanic population, none of those groups were represented in our local politics. There were also no young people on the board and my county has one of the top community colleges, so there are a lot of students here. But there was no representation for the needs of the students on the board.
Which means for example, for people of color, the lack of different kind of the voices in our local government meant certain issues aren’t being highlighted and given the attention that they really deserve.
I felt most keenly the lack of Democrats and young people in the government because it’s important to have young people because youth just have a different field of view. Especially when it comes to things like climate change! With climate change, it’s a fact of life for us. It has always been a fact of life for Generation Z. The way we are planning ahead, they aren’t. We know how we will have to deal with climate change and it is affecting us very soon. Older people don’t understand that fear.
Young people in local politics could really make climate justice a priority. We [could] convert municipal buildings to renewable energy, invest in public transit vs roads (urban sprawl is killing the planet!). Having someone in office who really wants to start combating climate change on the county level is really important.
The budget is the biggest thing the county does. A lot of people want to put us youth down on the financial stuff based on the assumption that [we] can’t handle the details of finances. But at the end of the day, a budget is a moral document and it reflects the moral priorities of the county board and the town [at] large. So if the budget is the most important thing the county does and there are no young people, no immigrants, no people of color, one Democrat and only four women advocating for what is on it — what does that say about the priorities laid out money-wise for concrete things that happen?
As for me finally making the jump into running for office — I had heard that the county was looking for people to run in my district. I realized that the minority communities in my district had no representation. No one knocks on their doors or asks them what they need. So I wanted to change that and make sure people were talking to them. No one told me I couldn’t run for office, they just assumed that I wouldn’t because why would I? Why would seventeen-year-old run for a four-year term for a county board position in the most conservative area? But I ran for office anyway!
Why is it important for young people to run for office?
Me, a seventeen-year-old, launching my campaign didn’t make sense on paper. But that’s what comes with being a young person in politics. There are no rules anymore. We’re too young to know what rules we should and should not follow. I’ve heard all of these stories about women who had to be asked at least seven times before they ran for office — but no one asked me. I didn’t need to be asked.
That’s the change in Generation Z activists. We realize that no one is out there looking out for our interests except us. No one but young people know and truly feel the issues that will affect us, like climate change, student debt, and a changing economy.
Older people do not feel the same impending threat of issues like climate change the way we do. This isn’t to say older people cannot have a hand — some of my most fervent supporters were senior citizens. They were excited to see fresh blood after years of voting for the same. But no one is representing us properly but ourselves.
Young people are not jaded yet. We haven’t allowed ourselves to be constrained by political and social norms. We are the most diverse generation when it comes to race, sexuality, gender identity, etc. It doesn’t just feel as though this is a whole different kind of generation, it really is. And so that changes how we get involved in shaping our world.
So what’s it like running for office as a teenager?
There’s really nothing like it — especially in local politics. It’s so personal and so immediate. You’re forced to know your truths. Issues, motivations, what policies you want to implement, the people you want to speak to, and how you want to make your community better. As a seventeen-year-old knocking on doors with my teenage baby face asking people to vote for me, I had to spit some FACTS, or else people were going to dismiss me. You just gotta know your shit. When you’re out there knocking on doors, the only way you’re going to get people to support you is to make sure that you came prepared. And you have to be doubly and triply prepared for every intersecting minority that is a part of your identity. You’re a woman? That’s double the preparation. A young person? Triple. A woman of color? Quadruple. A hijabi Muslim? Quintuple… you get the point.
So make sure you know every factoid, every piece of legislation in your community, every detail, so you have things to buttress your argument and show people how capable you are despite your age. Because as a young person running for office, you have to prove your capability to your community each and every single day.
What was it like being a young, visibly Muslim political candidate running for office in a conservative area?
I’m not gonna lie, it’s not easy being a young hijabi woman of color. But I was conditioned to have a thick skin my whole life. My siblings and I were raised in [a] post-9/11 world. All my life, I got woken up early on big terrorism news days by my parents and we had the situation explained to us so we would have context when we went to school that morning and students started bullying us.
I remember the day after the infamous terrorist responsible for the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, was killed, kids walked up to me and said, “Sorry your uncle died.” I get a lot of shit like that.
It’s exhausting to have to justify my existence every single day, and there are days I just want to curl up into a ball at home and never face the world again. That exhausting task of justifying your existence is exacerbated when you’re running for office and your whole job is putting yourself out there.
But I have to remind myself there [are] more of those people out there who support me and want to see me serve, then people who hate on me. It’s important as a young Muslim woman in America for me to understand that my personal strength isn’t drawn from other people; I draw strength from myself.
My identity as not just a Muslim woman, but a student, is also a big factor of being on the campaign trail. It’s crushing to be a commuter, do schoolwork, worry about student loans, and I often have thoughts like, How can I change the world or even represent my community when I have class tomorrow?
At the end of the day you have to decide what your priorities are — for me, that’s my family and community — and everything else builds off that.
What is your advice for other young people who want to run for elected office in their communities?
First things first, make sure you get involved in your local party. But beyond just that, also get involved and make connections with activist groups. Oftentimes there’s a rift between the grassroots and political parties — you need to be the link between the two. Don’t just court one of them! You’re the person who should talk to all of them and bring them together.
Second, if you’re going to be an elected official, you have to make sure that you serve everyone in your area. That means it’s going to be a lot of knocking on strangers’ doors and justifying your qualifications to strangers.
But please, never canvass alone! Always go door knocking (AKA canvassing) with a partner! Especially if you are a young woman running for office. Unfortunately, the streets are not safe for us young girls. It’s even worse when you’re a person of color and visibly Muslim like me. Make sure when you are canvassing, you are with someone [who] makes you feel safe. Your safety comes first.
Sometimes your campaign team might not recognize what situations are safe for you — they might not realize all of the things you have to go through, every risk you take when you step out the door. I remember I had this White male staffer who asked me if I could take another canvassing shift later in the evening, and I had to communicate that while walking late at night and talking to strangers was safe for him, as a young woman of color it could be deadly for me. So cultivate a culture of openness and transparency and feedback within your team and your staff. Make sure the campaign team understands everyone else’s needs and boundaries. There will be misunderstandings and miscommunications. But if you pledge to have a community structure and make every critique come from a place of care for the campaign, your scrappy team can be a powerhouse.
Also — don’t second-guess yourself! Don’t be afraid. Especially when it comes to asking for money. Just say it. Make hard asks for money on the phone or in person — without fundraising, it is impossible to run a campaign.
It is critical for young people and women and people of color who run for office to reframe the act of asking for campaign donations. You aren’t asking for someone to give you money to spend. You are asking them to place their faith in the campaign and to further the campaign message to allow it to go forward. Donating to a campaign is like voting, but a little bit early. You have to get over the awkwardness. You know why you’re running, you know why you’re doing this, so don’t let fundraising get in the way of the true success that you deserve after all your hard efforts!
I’m sorry to break it to you but when it comes to running for local office, it will never get easier. You will become more experienced, you’ll get a feel for what it’s like, but it will always be hard. It will always be stressful, and you will always be adapting, flexible, and getting used to what it’s like to spend the campaign flying by the seat of your pants. With most campaigns, you’re building the plane while you’re flying it.
The only way all of that grueling work is worth it is if you’re centered in the motivations of your campaign. Your motivation and true rooted focus and purpose behind your campaign will keep you rooted when the hurricane is around you. Never forget the people and places you’re fighting for and running for.
