[Applause]
hey everybody okay so if we go back
about two years ago in Kobe’s life circa
2016 it was a really exciting point in
my life for a couple of reasons the
first reason is because of the 2016
presidential election I was really
excited we had just came from Obama I
have really high hopes from this country
I had high hopes for this country and
the second reason is that I was finally
old enough to sit at the adult table
which was a really important moment in
my life I felt like it was like a
milestone in my life because it’s kind
of like an elite club in my family for
sitting at the adult table it’s really
hard to get in and it’s really easy to
get kicked out just a couple of weeks
ago I got kicked out I was back at the
kids table I was really upset about it
but um at the adult table we of course
we discussed adult things like you know
politics of course the news the weather
we had adult conversations and like I
said before at the time it was the 2016
political election and we were
discussing who we wanted to be our top
candidate for the Democratic Party and I
would still am a huge supporter of
Bernie Sanders and we were talking about
it and everyone was giving their
opinions and I was just kind of sitting
back just like hmm I don’t agree hmm I
guess it’s right and when I was thinking
to myself I was having a mental debate
on whether I should just keep quiet and
secure my see that is at this table or
should I speak my mind and give my
opinions and risk that conversation that
awkward conversation of having oh well
what do you know anyway you’re just a
kid you can’t even vote it doesn’t even
matter it doesn’t matter to me and I
with that awkward conversation in my
head I said well I’ll share my opinion
when I’m allowed to vote and then I
decided to keep quiet that day and now
that I think back on that that awkward
conversation that I could have had when
my family could have changed many
outcomes you know when you think about
it maybe me giving my opinion wouldn’t
have meant anything they will just brush
it off and
didn’t care or I could have influenced
something I could have influenced one
person I could have influenced two
people I could have influenced a whole
room and that whole room could have
influenced ten more people and ten more
people and when I think about that I
just kind of get upset with myself
because it’s like maybe if I had shared
my opinion than Donald Trump wouldn’t be
president right now but I didn’t and
it’s hard not to blame myself but I move
past it every day so once you think
about it like that it’s kind of like a
domino effect once you share your ideas
and you share your opinions and give
what you want or show what you want from
this country it kind of encourages
others to do the same thing and what I’m
doing today with this talk is I’m
encouraging you and I’m teaching you all
to be the domino in other people’s lives
what you should do is you should be the
person that knocks everyone around you
down and starts that chain to every
other person and I don’t mean physically
knock someone down that’s an assault
charge but you should you should knock
people down with ideas and your visions
and what you want from this country and
a lot of people feel like oh I’d be a
domino because it feels in this country
well as a domino you’re standing alone
that you’re the only person talking or
you’re the only person giving your
opinion and you feel kind of helpless or
that the democracy is too slow or that
your vote doesn’t matter anyway or that
the government is going to do what they
want but if you look at the statistics
if you look at the graphs and things and
the numbers there’s a clear reason as to
why we’re not getting what we want from
the government if you look at any graph
on any website just google it it shows
like the voter turnout by demographic it
shows as the age get lower
so does political participation on
average from people about ages eighteen
or twenty nine the voter participation
is 20% but on average for people above
the age of sixty the voting age is 70%
and that’s a huge difference and that’s
why everything and the government seems
so stagnant and seems so slow and like
things aren’t changing because the same
people who are voting have been voting
for the same thing for years and then
the people who want new things and want
change and want things to be different
aren’t coming out like they’re supposed
to like the elders you know they’re
coming out and they’re coming out big
you know like a party
they go and they vote they take their
day off and they vote but our young
adults are not they don’t they don’t
feel that it’s important but they also
want things to change which is kind of
counterproductive because it’s like how
can you want change but you’re not
advocating for it through your votes if
you don’t like something you need to try
and vote it out you need to come
together and vote it out if you want
something done for your government you
need to try and vote it in if you want
things to stay the same don’t just be
like oh it’s the same I won’t vote you
still need to vote the most effective
way to incite change in your government
and in your society is to vote because
it’s concrete and it holds the most
power once you go to the polls and you
put your and you register to vote and
you go to the poll and you submit your
injury nobody can take that away from
you your vote is your vote no matter
what but then there’s the situation for
people who can’t vote there’s millions
of people in this country who can’t vote
and that’s an entire other TED talk but
they still function in this society as
members what happens to them still
matters they still pay taxes they still
work they still drive on the roads and
there’s still a part of the education
system and these people include minors
felons immigrants and and they often
feel silenced because they can’t
participate in decisions that affect
them every day but if you think about it
voting isn’t the only way even though
it’s important it’s not the only way our
First Amendment right was not given to
us for no reason every single person in
this room needs to use that First
Amendment right to utilize it to the
best of their ability ability and I’m
not just saying speech I’m talking
petition
assembly press you need to speak out
against the government or speak for the
government or just speak for what you
believe in in general because it’s
important to you and affects you and
your family and the people around you
everyday a lot of people feel like just
because it’s not voting or if it’s
talking or giving your opinion that it’s
not effective it really doesn’t matter
but if you just look back at history on
millions of or not millions hundreds of
things were affected by talking and
giving your opinion and not only voting
for example the civil rights movement
they came together in numbers they
talked they wrote they petition they
protested and they got what they needed
and we’re still kind of working on it
today but they’ve moved on and they got
towards a goal for equality for African
American people because they talked and
they came together in numbers and you
don’t necessarily need a huge audience
like a TEDTalk
audience to spread your opinion it’s a
big audience or a small audience it
doesn’t matter you could be talking to
your best friend or your neighbor or a
classroom a TED talk audience or if for
some reason you have a slot on ABC News
to give your opinion give take that time
to talk about what you want from your
government
because you’re silenced it doesn’t serve
anyone because our system is it counts
on our silence to keep what’s going on
the same it counts on us being quiet and
not saying what we feel and what we want
to keep everything continuous they if we
want change we have to talk we have to
speak up we have to vote we have to
participate if you want to keep things
the same then stay silent but that’s not
what we want and a lot of people also
feel this encouraged because they don’t
know everything about politics but and
people always say oh you don’t know
anything about politics why are you been
speaking but you’re still affected by it
you still have a reason to talk so you
don’t need to know every like foreign
policy or every senator
every political words ever exists to be
involved in politics you just need your
opinion and you just need someone to
listen you don’t have to be the most
articulate person in the world to give
your political opinion you just need to
be able to give it and so with all of
this being said I have a challenge for
everybody in the audience to get done
before the end of the week three things
first if you are eligible to vote
register to vote if you can register to
vote and I’m not just talking
presidential elections just because
that’s the most broadcast doesn’t mean
it’s the most important you need to vote
in state and you need to vote locally
your second thing is you need to have a
conversation with someone around you
about what you want from this government
whether it be new potholes being fixed
in Houston because you know those are
bad if you want a better education
system net neutrality gun laws if you
want that to be changed
then you talk about it and you talk
about it with somebody and whether it’s
just someone your best friend with the
same opinion as you or your enemy with
an opposing opinion just talk about it
and the third thing you need to do is
find a reliable news source where you
can keep up things that are going on in
politics with things that are going on
in politics
preferably my Facebook or Twitter or fox
news because you know because it’s Fox
News but uh something that’s unbiased
and something that’ll keep you updated
with what’s going on in this country and
with that I know it sounds like a lot to
do but I know y’all can do it and I know
y’all can be the big Domino and I know we can help change the world thank you
hey everybody okay so if we go back
about two years ago in Kobe’s life circa
2016 it was a really exciting point in
my life for a couple of reasons the
first reason is because of the 2016
presidential election I was really
excited we had just came from Obama I
have really high hopes from this country
I had high hopes for this country and
the second reason is that I was finally
old enough to sit at the adult table
which was a really important moment in
my life I felt like it was like a
milestone in my life because it’s kind
of like an elite club in my family for
sitting at the adult table it’s really
hard to get in and it’s really easy to
get kicked out just a couple of weeks
ago I got kicked out I was back at the
kids table I was really upset about it
but um at the adult table we of course
we discussed adult things like you know
politics of course the news the weather
we had adult conversations and like I
said before at the time it was the 2016
political election and we were
discussing who we wanted to be our top
candidate for the Democratic Party and I
would still am a huge supporter of
Bernie Sanders and we were talking about
it and everyone was giving their
opinions and I was just kind of sitting
back just like hmm I don’t agree hmm I
guess it’s right and when I was thinking
to myself I was having a mental debate
on whether I should just keep quiet and
secure my see that is at this table or
should I speak my mind and give my
opinions and risk that conversation that
awkward conversation of having oh well
what do you know anyway you’re just a
kid you can’t even vote it doesn’t even
matter it doesn’t matter to me and I
with that awkward conversation in my
head I said well I’ll share my opinion
when I’m allowed to vote and then I
decided to keep quiet that day and now
that I think back on that that awkward
conversation that I could have had when
my family could have changed many
outcomes you know when you think about
it maybe me giving my opinion wouldn’t
have meant anything they will just brush
it off and
didn’t care or I could have influenced
something I could have influenced one
person I could have influenced two
people I could have influenced a whole
room and that whole room could have
influenced ten more people and ten more
people and when I think about that I
just kind of get upset with myself
because it’s like maybe if I had shared
my opinion than Donald Trump wouldn’t be
president right now but I didn’t and
it’s hard not to blame myself but I move
past it every day so once you think
about it like that it’s kind of like a
domino effect once you share your ideas
and you share your opinions and give
what you want or show what you want from
this country it kind of encourages
others to do the same thing and what I’m
doing today with this talk is I’m
encouraging you and I’m teaching you all
to be the domino in other people’s lives
what you should do is you should be the
person that knocks everyone around you
down and starts that chain to every
other person and I don’t mean physically
knock someone down that’s an assault
charge but you should you should knock
people down with ideas and your visions
and what you want from this country and
a lot of people feel like oh I’d be a
domino because it feels in this country
well as a domino you’re standing alone
that you’re the only person talking or
you’re the only person giving your
opinion and you feel kind of helpless or
that the democracy is too slow or that
your vote doesn’t matter anyway or that
the government is going to do what they
want but if you look at the statistics
if you look at the graphs and things and
the numbers there’s a clear reason as to
why we’re not getting what we want from
the government if you look at any graph
on any website just google it it shows
like the voter turnout by demographic it
shows as the age get lower
so does political participation on
average from people about ages eighteen
or twenty nine the voter participation
is 20% but on average for people above
the age of sixty the voting age is 70%
and that’s a huge difference and that’s
why everything and the government seems
so stagnant and seems so slow and like
things aren’t changing because the same
people who are voting have been voting
for the same thing for years and then
the people who want new things and want
change and want things to be different
aren’t coming out like they’re supposed
to like the elders you know they’re
coming out and they’re coming out big
you know like a party
they go and they vote they take their
day off and they vote but our young
adults are not they don’t they don’t
feel that it’s important but they also
want things to change which is kind of
counterproductive because it’s like how
can you want change but you’re not
advocating for it through your votes if
you don’t like something you need to try
and vote it out you need to come
together and vote it out if you want
something done for your government you
need to try and vote it in if you want
things to stay the same don’t just be
like oh it’s the same I won’t vote you
still need to vote the most effective
way to incite change in your government
and in your society is to vote because
it’s concrete and it holds the most
power once you go to the polls and you
put your and you register to vote and
you go to the poll and you submit your
injury nobody can take that away from
you your vote is your vote no matter
what but then there’s the situation for
people who can’t vote there’s millions
of people in this country who can’t vote
and that’s an entire other TED talk but
they still function in this society as
members what happens to them still
matters they still pay taxes they still
work they still drive on the roads and
there’s still a part of the education
system and these people include minors
felons immigrants and and they often
feel silenced because they can’t
participate in decisions that affect
them every day but if you think about it
voting isn’t the only way even though
it’s important it’s not the only way our
First Amendment right was not given to
us for no reason every single person in
this room needs to use that First
Amendment right to utilize it to the
best of their ability ability and I’m
not just saying speech I’m talking
petition
assembly press you need to speak out
against the government or speak for the
government or just speak for what you
believe in in general because it’s
important to you and affects you and
your family and the people around you
everyday a lot of people feel like just
because it’s not voting or if it’s
talking or giving your opinion that it’s
not effective it really doesn’t matter
but if you just look back at history on
millions of or not millions hundreds of
things were affected by talking and
giving your opinion and not only voting
for example the civil rights movement
they came together in numbers they
talked they wrote they petition they
protested and they got what they needed
and we’re still kind of working on it
today but they’ve moved on and they got
towards a goal for equality for African
American people because they talked and
they came together in numbers and you
don’t necessarily need a huge audience
like a TEDTalk
audience to spread your opinion it’s a
big audience or a small audience it
doesn’t matter you could be talking to
your best friend or your neighbor or a
classroom a TED talk audience or if for
some reason you have a slot on ABC News
to give your opinion give take that time
to talk about what you want from your
government
because you’re silenced it doesn’t serve
anyone because our system is it counts
on our silence to keep what’s going on
the same it counts on us being quiet and
not saying what we feel and what we want
to keep everything continuous they if we
want change we have to talk we have to
speak up we have to vote we have to
participate if you want to keep things
the same then stay silent but that’s not
what we want and a lot of people also
feel this encouraged because they don’t
know everything about politics but and
people always say oh you don’t know
anything about politics why are you been
speaking but you’re still affected by it
you still have a reason to talk so you
don’t need to know every like foreign
policy or every senator
every political words ever exists to be
involved in politics you just need your
opinion and you just need someone to
listen you don’t have to be the most
articulate person in the world to give
your political opinion you just need to
be able to give it and so with all of
this being said I have a challenge for
everybody in the audience to get done
before the end of the week three things
first if you are eligible to vote
register to vote if you can register to
vote and I’m not just talking
presidential elections just because
that’s the most broadcast doesn’t mean
it’s the most important you need to vote
in state and you need to vote locally
your second thing is you need to have a
conversation with someone around you
about what you want from this government
whether it be new potholes being fixed
in Houston because you know those are
bad if you want a better education
system net neutrality gun laws if you
want that to be changed
then you talk about it and you talk
about it with somebody and whether it’s
just someone your best friend with the
same opinion as you or your enemy with
an opposing opinion just talk about it
and the third thing you need to do is
find a reliable news source where you
can keep up things that are going on in
politics with things that are going on
in politics
preferably my Facebook or Twitter or fox
news because you know because it’s Fox
News but uh something that’s unbiased
and something that’ll keep you updated
with what’s going on in this country and
with that I know it sounds like a lot to
do but I know y’all can do it and I know
y’all can be the big Domino and I know we can help change the world thank you
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