It’s summer and you’re curing boredom by scrolling on TikTok and out of nowhere, videos have a lime-green background, a blurry signature font, overproduced electronic audio and references to “coconut trees.”
This is “BRAT” by Charli xcx; the pop star’s sixth studio album and most successful to date, according to Billboard charts.
After a long-winded campaign and dozens of Democratic politicians calling for him to drop out, President Joe Biden stepped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
I value the progressive ideals that the Harris-Walz campaign upholds as a low-income, queer and mixed Latina entering my junior year at San José State University.
Nonetheless, I’m reminded time and time again how much the Biden-Harris administration has failed when I am pumping gas and protesting the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Harris has a long history of political background from serving as the attorney general of California to being the first Black and South Asian American woman vice president.
With her infectious laugh, powerful stances on housing and Roe v. Wade, and motherly figure, Harris has won the hearts of voters across all ages.
When Harris announced her campaign for commander-in-chief, Charli xcx wrote on X that “Kamala IS brat” which took the internet by storm.
Before this phenomenon occurred, TikTok and Instagram users posted remixes of “BRAT” tracks with Kamala stating “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree” with her notorious laugh.
This snippet was taken from her May 2023 speech at a White House event that supported growing opportunities for Hispanic Americans.
Harris was describing her mother’s quarrel with youth misunderstanding “the context” in which they came from, according to interpretation by NPR.
These audio clips continued in popularity and soon enough—after the Harris for President campaign launched—Generation Z voters were captivated and fixated on Kamala being ‘brat.’
This marketing strategy has worked effectively in the polls versus Biden’s polls in the 2020 election, according to USA Today and Suffolk University.
Harris’ progressive policies such as protecting women’s rights, ending fossil fuel usage and halting plans for ultra-conservative initiatives like Project 2025 are attracting young voters.
However, not all young voters think the same.
While confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic and two major international wars, President Biden and Vice President Harris provided a variety of solutions to issues that voters are facing.
Biden accomplished multiple feats such as student loan debt forgiveness, over-the-counter birth control to U.S. stores, and tackling the dangers of artificial intelligence in federal agencies—according to Politico.
Despite this progress, the president provided exponential military aid to U.S. ally Israel and played a part in the humanitarian crisis in genocide of Palestine, as reported by the NY Times in April.
Americans also saw record-breaking rates of inflation and felt it when paying for basic necessities such as food, clothes, feminine products and gas; CNBC shared charts illustrating this fluctuation.
When faced with opposition regarding Israel’s military aid from the U.S., Harris told pro-Palestinian protesters, “You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking,” at her Michigan rally on August 8.
So how do we as Gen Z voters make sense of this?
SJSU lecturer, Andrea Fazel who teaches government, economics and history at high schools in San José and Sacramento, talked about what young voters truly want to see in this election.
Fazel said that “immigration comes up a significant amount, education (both in general, but certainly cost of college and accessibility to college). And, for some students—but I would say it’s not necessarily a significant number—questions around foreign policy, whether it’s [war] in Ukraine or Gaza.”
She explained that in her early years of teaching during President Barack Obama’s time in office, young students were excited about engaging in politics until 2017, when Trump took office.
I think this would be a good time to explain what YOUR stance is and answer your own question of “Is Kamala BRAT?”
Personally, while I will certainly vote for Harris in the election this November, I doubt that Harris will be true to her word about a number of policies she’s promoting.
The genocide in Palestine, the cost-of-living being unattainable and Congress’s current state need to change and Gen Z is getting tired of this reality.
Instead of avoiding this opposition that voters are pushing forward, Harris needs to provide answers to the problems Americans are facing on a daily basis. Wealthy white Democrats in power will not see what needs to be done as clearly as marginalized communities, unless they listen.
Although “brat summer” may have sown seeds of success, the (hopefully) positive results in November and the progress afterward will truly reap those benefits.
The future is in the hands of young voters and a bright future is possible if we give them a say.
