A few years ago, Forest Hills High School student Salma Baksh was afraid to speak up in a club they had joined to learn how to talk about politics. Even with her best friend, Vilinez Estevez, beside her, she felt unsafe and like she didn’t have a voice.
Baksh was no stranger to speaking up — she had played a crucial role in reviving the school newspaper, The Beacon, and served as its editor-in-chief. Her voice also literally graced Chalkbeat NY’s P.S. Weekly podcast, which she co-hosted and produced. And they and Estevez, in part inspired by the political activist Angela Davis, were keen to discuss politics.
But club members often had to tip-toe around topics like women’s and LGBTQ rights, Baksh says. Baksh’s and some peers’ discomfort ultimately drove them to build their own space to talk about the topics they most cared about in ways they hadn’t experienced or seen on the national and local political stage.
The birth of a new political awareness club
When the club she had attended fizzled out, its staff advisor reached out to ask if Estevez wanted to revive it. Estevez wasn’t sure.
Her pre-calculus class helped make up her mind. Her teacher was “very political” and would encourage spirited talks on current events at the start of class. Estevez noticed many of her classmates lacked the political discussion skills to hold their own during these chats.
The first Youth Informed Club meeting drew a jam-packed room.
While their average roster of regulars was later closer to 15, mostly upperclassmen, students showed up in droves to discuss topics posted on Instagram that piqued their interest, like a critique of Mayor Eric Adams or a session on gun control. The club’s goal was to encourage informed decision-making and political engagement, so Baksh and Estevez wanted to give peers the information to choose whether to attend.
“I didn’t want it to be a forced thing, because then they might sit there and not enjoy or not want to converse,” Estevez said. “Even if we have a difference of ideas, we can still come out of it learning something from one another, and if we have the same idea, we still find ways in how our opinions differ.”
Since most club attendees were progressive-minded, they weren’t being exposed to much ideological diversity. So Baksh, or another active member, would play devil’s advocate.
“[One friend] would have some outrageous take that he didn’t really believe in, but he just wanted to see what people actually felt and just challenge their point of view,” Estevez said.
It was important that their peers’ experience with political discussion reflect some of what it would look like in the real world. The Informed Youth Club leaders had seen dissent play out at Breaking Bread, Building Bonds, a city-led community conversation series an older advocate introduced them to.
Their approach was also influenced by Angela Davis: “I was amazed by how Davis gave me a lens to see the world through her eyes as a Black lesbian, and that core value of critical thinking and open-mindedness translated to the club,” Baksh said via email.
Civic education across generations
One day, Baksh approached her teacher, the social studies assistant principal, for advice on how to run the club. It was their first time founding a group, and they were doing so without much guidance. She connected Baksh with the organization Let’s Talk Democracy, which shared the Youth Informed Club’s goals of educating citizens and ensuring inclusive civic participation.
Soon, partnerships were born.
Let’s Talk Democracy’s co-director, Ida Messana, became the club leaders’ mentor. She taught them how to structure meetings, do outreach, mobilize people.
“I have tried to guide them with lessons learned from our programs, but these young people have run with the ball and maximized their high school experience well beyond all expectations,” Messana said via email.
The Youth Informed Club also helped facilitate intergenerational panels with Let’s Talk Democracy. There, they met a few other future mentors from the Forest Hills Green Team, an environmental volunteer group that also does civic advocacy. They taught Baksh and Estevez skills like networking and how to handle press advisories.
In June, the friends organized a panel called “Can Your Vote Fix America?” at the Forest Hills branch of the Queens Public Library. It was important for them to host it in a community hub. Their bright poster’s calls to action included: “Feeling hopeless or confused about the 2024 presidential election? We can help!”
They knew these feelings well. Baksh also resonated with the deeper discussion about the impact of modern American polarization in politics, and why Congress looks and works the way that it does. She only wishes she, as the moderator, had spent more time on the basics, talking through the political system, ranked-choice voting, and how issues end up on ballots, she says.
“Just like the club, just like all the other events we’ve done, there is always, always a knowledge gap,” Baksh said. “It’s hard to overcome that often, because you want to talk about this but is everyone going to know what that means? So I think that’s why civic education is really important, because that’s where people get started.”
Baksh noted how many of the 60 attendees (half of whom were high school aged) wanted to know how they could make a difference besides voting. Index cards were a lifeline for high school youths anxious about public speaking.
“People left feeling more hopeful and with more ways to get involved, more solutions,” Baksh said. “Voting is where the conversation started, but it expanded far beyond.”
Passing the torch
The national political machine is far from the only big knowledge or confidence gap Baksh and Estevez see in their Queens neighbors — or themselves. As new high school graduates, they’ve reflected on their own growth engaging in local politics since starting the club. They credit their mentors, decades older than them, for helping them lead other youths to get informed and involved.
Baksh says just a year ago she didn’t know about the Queens Borough President’s role. Now she’s finishing her summer internship at Councilmember Lynn Schulman’s office. Come fall, she’ll be continuing her civic education at Smith College, double-majoring in government and education and minoring in public policy. Estevez, whose career goal is becoming a trauma surgeon, plans to double major in biochemistry and public policy at Northwestern University.
“As they graduate, they have left a legacy behind,” Messana said. “We look forward to a new enthusiastic crop of rising seniors to take their place.”
Baksh and Estevez are already imparting lessons to others like them. They recently attended a climate summit at Columbia University with some incoming Forest Hills High School seniors they’re hoping will take up the mantle. And they’ve introduced them to the veteran organizers at the Forest Hills Green Team.
“When I read history, it gives me hope, because we’ve been through this [political disengagement] before, or worse, but the reason we’ve got through it is because people stepped up,” said Mark Laster, the co-founder and co-chair of the Forest Hills Green Team. “We need as many young people involved [in politics] as possible, so that’s why I was so excited about getting Salma and Vili involved.”
Estevez wishes she could tell her slightly younger self, or others like her, to keep an open mind at the intergenerational events that once scared her:
“Understand that even though you’re in a room with people that may not be your age, they’re just so welcoming and … they just want to learn more about what we do,” she said. “If it wasn’t for my ability to be so open about it, I think that I would have just … run away.”
To get involved with Let’s Talk Democracy, email info@letstalkdemocracy.org or visit this page.
