This blog is about the first extra credit opportunity I attended, the panel.
I have never been to a political panel like this before, so it was something new. Granted, I did not speak but it was interesting to hear other people speak, especially local people from the area. Sometimes it is easy to forget that there are active communities here that are not just made of college students. I wonder how our community impacts their community, or if it has an impact at all on their political community. I know when we were being informed in class on it, Hastings Hall in East was its own thing or something like that? It would make sense for State College to be grouped as one district; while I do not live here and I voted for my home county, I see the validity of keeping this area together. I was surprised that many of the speakers had a script as well, but they sounded very professional and informed.
I agree that densely populated areas should be kept together. That would make sense for any city, like Philadelphia or New York City. Now the question is if different areas of the city have clear political divides, but that was the whole point of the panel, to decide how areas should be split. I think if you grouped areas together by majority, it may pressure people of the opposite political affiliation to move, but if every area was on the fence about majority, that would be tough for politicians to campaign everywhere. Also, depending on the population, if it is like 500 people compared to 5,000, obviously there may be a difference.
I also agree that minorities should be represented more. I say this not just in terms of politics but in all terms of leadership. Just like in a movie when the director is a person of color, they can tell stories their way, and have more peoples’ stories be told. Obviously everyone’s story is different, but especially when it comes to policies that may affect minorities more severely, having representation in political leadership positions is critical. Also in terms of gender, women should be represented more, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, but I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. Politics affect everyone, but they affect everyone differently. However, only having one narrative be told ignores everyone else.
I wish that students would be more educated on things like this; while some people may not be interested, we are developing young citizens, and I feel like we will be expected to know this when we graduate, how the political system works, how our area is organized, etc. Our generation needs to know the importance of voting, and how to actually vote. Especially with the past few elections, each vote counts. While I do not think I would go to another panel necessarily, I thought it was very informative about general political processes and it was a good opportunity to attend.