A young friend of mine wrote what I think is a very good article for Salon last week. I posted a diary about it over at DK, but I thought I'd post it here, too, because I think a number of you would like it and you may have missed it over there. Thanks to the admins for getting me my password! I'm learning the ropes over here. I'm glad to see so many familiar folks writing!

Anyway, here's what I want to share with you:

I'm backing Bernie because I'll prob be dead 50 years from now, but my kids prob won't be

Time flies, kids grow up, and then they become full-fledged millennials, thank goodness.

I bore my first child in 1990, my second in 1992. It seems not so long ago, but now both these magnificent human beings are adults, doing adult things. The first presidential election either of them was old enough to vote in was the last one, with an incumbent and everything. They voted, but it was pretty ho-hum for them. This is their first presidential election that there’s not an incumbent. They have to make a choice. And they’re engaged.

Not only are my two children engaged, but nearly all of the millennials in my life, and I’m blessed with a good number of them, are engaged. I really don’t understand all the dissing of our 18-35 year olds. The ones I interact with, and did I mention that there’s a good number of them, are very thoughtful, very responsible, very concerned about their own futures, and also very concerned with the futures of others.

Most of the millennials I interact with are white, but I’d say at least 30% are black and a smattering are Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, Native American, and mixed race. Most of the millennials I interact with are biologically female, probably 70%, but among the whole crowd I’d say that there’s a plurality of straight people and a healthy representation from gay, lesbian, bi, trans, a-, don’t know right now, and who the hell cares? Almost all of the millennials I hang out with are educated, well educated even if their education didn’t come from places that give pedigrees and certifications, articulate, thoughtful, and very concerned about social and economic justice. They’re in their 20s and 30s and they’ve got serious concerns for very good reasons.

Today a millennial I’ve known since she was 6 or 7 got on my radar screen. Time flies. Now she’s an artist, a feminist, a gifted writer, and a 24 year old mother of a biracial child. She got on my radar screen because she was published in Salon, and I heard about it through the grapevine. The working title for her article was "Dear White Feminists: 4 Reasons to Stop Bernie-Shaming Millennials”. The published title was “Hillary Clinton doesn’t speak for me: I’m a millennial woman raising a biracial son. I voted for Bernie, and I refuse to be shamed for it”.

Listen, listen. This is a voice for the future. Listen.

Anyway, here’s a blurb from the article:

I’m a millennial woman raising a biracial son who will not share the privilege of my skin. Race is one of many conversations I have the privilege of opting out of. I vote as a woman. But I also vote as my son’s mother; I vote as a feminist in solidarity with women who lead less privileged lives than my own. I voted for Bernie, and I refuse to be shamed for that. Here’s why.

The whole thing’s really good, and I hope you’ll go over to Salon and read it.

Way to go, Egan Marie. Your generation gives me hope!