Dear Gen Zs, the Tools Have Changed, But the Fire Shouldn’t Quench
Your voice. Your power
I have read A Man of the People, No Longer at Ease, and one particular novel written either by W. E. B. du Bois, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o or Richard Wright — should be Black Boy. One thing I observed in these stories was how young intellectuals frequently gather in cafes and dorm rooms to discuss the issues that plague their country.
Lately, I started exploring two popular social media platforms. Something caught my attention. I noticed how many Gen Zs use their platforms to promote various movements.
You see, there is nothing new under the sun.
Young people have always been at the forefront of pushing revolutionary ideas. This generation is not left out. With just a phone with the slightest bit of internet connection and a tripod, they've been able to advocate for various forms of change, even from the comfort of their bedrooms.
Young people are optimistic and highly passionate about whatever piques their interest. Unsplash
I read a post where someone dismissed them as "keyboard warriors with too much time on their hands". What the person failed to see was that:
- Fela Kuti was young when he turned music into resistance against military dictatorship.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was only 26 when she handed the world Purple Hibiscus, which remains a must-read novel for secondary school students these days.
The young Nigerians and Kenyans who organised the #EndSARS protest in 2020 and Say No to Police Brutality in 2025 had nothing but phones and conviction, which was enough to rattled an entire government.
The tools might have changed but the fire shouldn't quench! Unsplash
If you observe, you'd notice that young people start out with so much passion to bring change. Overtime, it dies out as if they are succumbing to the system they once hoped to change. Chinua Achebe knew this too. Obi Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart started with all the right ideas but slowly became the very thing he despised. First, he became weak like his father and son started acting like the coward elders.
So to every young person reading this post today, I'd like to remind you to pick your cause. Build something real. Do not let the fire go out.
We were all born into this world for a purpose. And even if we can't achieve much, we must strive for make it better than we met it for the future generations yet unborn.