Editor’s note: These are excerpts from Varshini of the Sunrise Movement writing about President Biden’s State of the Union address.
We wanted Biden to be the best President on climate when young people elected him in 2020. We need him to be because it’s our generation and our lives at risk. And look, we still think he can be this President, but there is a massive course correction this administration must take to get there.
It makes sense that our movement feels disillusioned. We’ve gone through a year of working our asses off, just for our government to disappoint. It’s hard. We had really high hopes for what would happen . . .
A few takeaways from our state of the union:
One, we are strong.
Two, this isn’t a huge surprise to us … we knew [their] strategy of moderatism and “relationships” wouldn’t work, and now we know for sure that the “adults in the room” should be listening to us, not their glass door consultants.
And the last thing I want us to hold is that we still believe in the vision we’re fighting for.
Our shot at collective liberation and even just a livable planet relies on us acting, even if our government does not. It relies on our faith in the movement and the work we’re doing, even if at times it can get really hard. And it relies on us leaning on our community when things get hard and bringing them into the fold as we still charge ahead.
