ATTN is a media company founded by Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, who previously founded Ourtime.org, a nonprofit that works to register young voters. Their videos focus on social justice issues, and are generally designed to be short, viral, and subtitled for easy social media consumption. This one minute video serves as a trailer to the Freeform documentary “For Our Lives: Parkland” that aired on April 30th 2018. The video starts with a brief history of student activism. It mentions: Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond’s Woolworth’s Lunch Counter Sit In that began on February 1st 1960 and spread throughout the country; the East L.A. walkouts/Chicano Blowouts of 1968 that worked to address the inequality of LAUSD education, many of the organizers went on to be involved in the 1970 Chicano Moratorium; and the college anti-war protests of the 1960s and 1970s. Within this context the host asks the viewer “What’s next for you?” and then goes on to say “the most important thing you can do right now is to register to vote”. They then encourage the viewer to go to turbovote.org for more information.

discussion

What history of young people does this video present?

What stereotypes about young people does this history counter? Where do you think this stereotype comes from?

What forms of media are used in this clip, and why do you think they were chosen?

Do you agree with the end statement that “the most important thing you can do right now is to register to vote”?