Meet the 16-year-old who went viral after asking Dianne Feinstein to support a Green New Deal

[melman]

Isha Clarke, a junior at MetWest High School in Oakland, California, was one of about a dozen young people who confronted Senator Dianne Feinstein in an attempt to convince her to endorse the Green New Deal resolution proposed earlier this month by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

_

Q. What was your impression of Senator Feinstein’s reaction to your request?

A. Our feeling about the whole interaction was really bad. At the end of the day, it’s not about her, it’s not about her tone or her reaction, it’s about her vote. We’re focusing on the fact that we went there to ask her to vote yes on the Green New Deal because that is the most important thing. We’re not really concerned with all the other stuff. It’s sort of becoming a distraction, you know?

_

Q. Has her office reached out since Friday?

A. They haven’t reached out. I have their business card. I’m still debating on whether or not I’m going to take [the internship]. It’s a complex situation. The reason why I would take the internship is because I think it’s an incredible opportunity. To be blunt, you have to learn how to play the game to change it. So I think it is a super cool way to be able to do that, and to learn the ins and outs. And I think that it’s also important to have my voice be in the room.

But I wouldn’t take it for a couple of reasons. No. 1: I don’t know what the internship actually entails. Sometimes high school students just do paperwork, and that’s not what I’m interested in. But mostly it’s because I don’t want my having an internship with her to turn into a justification for the whole situation. It’s already kind of being used like that. People are saying, ‘There was a happy ending, and Senator Feinstein offered a girl an internship and whoopdeedoo.’ And I don’t want me having a position there to be a way to cover up everything that just happened.

https://grist.org/article/meet-the-16-year-old-who-went-viral-after-asking-dianne-feinstein-to-support-a-green-new-deal/

[manor321]

1. It's ridiculous to attack Democrats on this issue. Republicans are the problem.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Yes, so one must ask why?

Why attack Democrats and why make sure everybody knows about it?

I think I know.

[theophilus]

3. So far I really like Isha. She has no experience but she

seems to display quite a bit of wisdom. Wisdom is hard to acquire even for us older folks. It is relatively rare, imo. I hope she continues to be motivated and all fired up.

[melman]

4. Yeah

I like her too. A lot of people have been dismissing these kids as pawns but that's obviously not the case. They are smart and engaged.

[Hekate]

10. I'm sure one's first time being a pawn is exciting. Get back to us after she's confronted ...

...climate deniers in their offices.

As I've told you before, my Senator has a good environmental record and is not a climate denier. And as you know from the very first thread on this topic, that video was deceptively edited.

So why would anybody do this?

Isha should take the internship -- but only if she can do so with an open mind, and is prepared to learn the ropes. If she goes there thinking she is going to get to lecture or berate the US Senator who made this generous offer, it will be a very short internship. If she goes there ready to learn, it wll be the opportunity of a lifetime.

[melman]

11. "I'm sure one's first time being a pawn is exciting."

It's pretty gross to see such a bright and passionate young person dismissed like this.

[xmas74]

5. I'm sorry but you do have to learn to play

The game. If they tell you to file papers you do it. Make coffee? Do it. And if a senator offers an internship take it-there are tons of college kids who would kill for that spot.

You learn the game then you play to your advantage.

[Puzzledtraveller]

9. I will say it

some of us are overplaying the hand, too much, too soon and too hard. I wish I never hear GND again until after we win, because that is not what we will win on. Moderation, like it or not.

[xmas74]

13. My daughter is just two years older than this young woman

She worked a campaign this last summer and did whatever was expected of her because she knew that's what she had to do. They said to file, she filed. She made phone calls, canvassed, made coffee, entered date-whatever she was told to do she did. And now she has put herself into a position where it will be easier for her to find an internship. The young lady here has one given to her and she is mostly dismissing it because she doesn't want to file papers.

I don't get it. Real internships for a politician of that level are not all that easy to get. When you're offered one in high school you take it if at all possible. The experience and the networking will set her up for the future. My daughter, as a known Democrat who does not come from money will have a harder time finding one around here. And without it being paid I cannot afford to send her to DC, even if she were to be offered one there. I cannot afford to pay her bills so she has to stay local and all of our locals are hardcore Tea Party types. (An older classmate did a semester with a senator in DC.)


I just felt her comments were dismissive of what it takes to get an internship. They come from a place of privilege that most will never experience. It's an insult to those kids who want the positions and just can't swing them.

[R B Garr]

6. Translation: it will kill my "cred" if I take an internship

where I will have to learn facts and how legislation actually gets enacted.

[pnwmom]

7. I wonder if she was one of the young people from this group who got arrested

at Mitch McConnell's office.

https://www.rollcall.com/news/dozens-green-new-deal-advocates-arrested-mcconnells-office

Advocates for the Green New Deal descended on Capitol Hill Monday, and demonstrations led by activist organization Sunrise Movement resulted in dozens of arrests in and around the Russell Senate office building.

Protesters were focused on getting the attention of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who announced before the Presidents Day recess that he would bring the New Deal Resolution to a vote in the Senate.

The group, which included people from McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, filled the entryway of his office and lined hallways of the Russell building. As common for most lawmakers in leadership roles, McConnell works primarily out of his office in the Capitol building, not the one in Russell.

[nolabear]

15. I posted that video. Where's the outrage there?

I hope she takes the internship. She could season and learn and put that passion to good use.

[UTUSN]

8. Yip "not about" DiFi. Yes interns "do paperwork" aka copy machine. It's about YOU electing wingnuts.

[GulfCoast66]

12. I hate, hate and did I say hate to see kids used like this.

She is 16 and a very liberal Senator offered her an internship. But as sixteen year old tend to do without guidance they think doing paperwork or adding paper to the copy machine is below them. At sixteen I thought that way too.

See could develop the experience and chance of a lifetime just sitting in the office for 3 months and saying nothing. Hopefully her parents will see that.

But somehow I think that will not happen.

There is a reason 16 year olds, or even 25 year olds generally don’t get to be decision makers. They are 16 and 25!

[xmas74]

14. I shared this with my daughter.

She's 18 and studying PR with an emphasis in political media. She has volunteered on a couple of campaigns already. When she heard that the internship was being turned down she didn't seem too happy. She said she knows entire classrooms of kids at her university who would jump at the offer to file papers for a semester in a senator's office, no matter the party.