In early February, I was given the opportunity to explore the political side of things as I observed the Georgia State Capitol during its busy season of bill passing, with representatives going back and forth. As a person who doesn’t delve deeply into politics, I have gained an understanding that it is ignorant to ignore things that “do not concern me,” as this trip truly put it into perspective, providing a nuanced understanding of why it is important to be participatory in these activities.

Stepping out of My ignorance….

Going into the unknown, I didn’t understand the process going into this trip at all, but understanding of how the process works in regards to what is first brought to the table in regards to the proposal. Then, seeing the agreements and or disagreements of the body, seeing that majority rules is the thing that they go by, it is interesting to see the critical process that takes place, even though this is not the end-all be-all of the entire process, it is one of many important steps in it.

The ones who Fight…

One of the many people I’ve seen here was a Special lady named Ms. Kim Schofield, who is a representative at the State Capitol for District 63. She not only told me about the entire difficult process of how it all works going into how many hours goes through the week or even the pay that comes with it and even the fundraising that comes with advocating for a bill there is so much sacrifice that goes in for people for what they’re fighting for it is more of a reason to be more included in these activities to know what is going on and to fight for the future.

One of the many bills that was focused on was SB 406, which is known as the Georgia Property Owners’ Bill of Rights. This bill focuses on how HOAs operate, and it creates oversight and rules. Letting HOAs be accountable for actions adds more rights for property owners and gives a state a complaint board, so overall, this improves HOA systems.

Gun Safety.

As walking through the state capitol, I went to talk to a person named David Harris, a Stakeholder who resided highly about gun violence and how to have better safety around it. They were at the capital to have a proposal request to establish a state wide public safety campaign which promotes the secure storage of firearms. Going to address high rates of preventable suicides in the youth by firearms, then even going into how this would help impact the future of gun safety overall, even across Georgia, going into background checks, and going into HB79, which goes into gun safety courses. This was very much so a topic that should be strongly notice given the weight of the topic.

The ways of protest.

Lastly, I want to highlight the ways of protests here. I love how free it is to protest about the things and desires about our right especially in looking at this stakeholder protest due. To recent news, how immigrants are treated, even though they are just as hard workers, they are perceived as below human levels, going into the containment camps, and regarding how the policies are at the moment, it is truly something of a disgrace to see how immigrants are being treated with no grace.

No more ignorance.

Overall this trip gave me a refresher about what it is to truly care about politics and being into the future of what goes in and out of the state of law and what is truly being passed and talked about in these chambers sometimes we get often lost in the ways of complaining about the situations we are in due to the laws and things that are taking place instead of taking action and going to the capital to see what’s truly going on you never know how you can impact and who is going to be over there to truly listen to you and what you have to say remember your voice matters as long as you say something. This was definitely something I had to get out of my comfort zone for looking and understanding about something that could truly impact me in a way that I didn’t know about in the first place, but we have to research and take the time to look into the things that we are unsure about, because that’s how differences are made. This trip also reminded me of the power of autonomy in the ways of proposal and understanding the voice of power we have overall as a people through checks and balances.

From a person who still doesn’t understand the gist of the politics of every single calculation that goes into everything, this was definitely something I need to take into mind, especially if I am truly the future of this country in this nation, to understand what goes what is the process. Understanding my role in the process and playing my role correctly, so not only to do better for those before me who are fighting for my future, but to look after those who come after, as I will fight for them for their future.