The Young Democratic Socialists of Oakland University (YDSOU) meeting started with a game of kiss, marry, kill — except the three options aren’t the most popular celebrities or niche media personalities.
Instead, the choices are former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, current mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan and mayor of New York City Eric Adams. And it’s more like elect, endorse, cancel.
Leading this game was the President of YDSOU, Jeffrey Childs, a can of watermelon-flavored Red Bull in hand — the optimal fuel for a student about to lead a conversation on intersectionality and Palestine.
Childs is a third-year political science major at Oakland University, and stands at the forefront of what is considered a relatively new political movement with hopes that in the Nov. 5 election students don’t get easily swayed by all the opinions going around social media.
His journey into activism began with a deep dissatisfaction with the current political system.
“Growing up almost entirely in the Rust Belt, [I passed] by desolate neighborhoods and very underserved communities, where it seemed like the only people who were supporting folks who were homeless, who didn’t have the means to get a job, were churches and soup kitchens,” Childs said. “When at the same time the cities of Milwaukee and Detroit were spending millions on development and not education, [on] policing and not education.”
YDSOU is a chapter of The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), a student-led organization which aims “to fight for the immediate needs of workers and students while building our capacity to fight for more radical and structural changes,” as stated on their website.
Childs’ passion for activism is fueled by the idea that he is helping people in ways that others either can’t or don’t, with the hope that it will lead to people being more aware of how to help themselves within the workplace and other social struggles.
“I think apathy is one of the worst things we’re dealing with these days, and so if I can get just one person to become a good organizer, I think that would make everything worth it,” Childs said.
Having made YDSOU his “political home” means Childs and the rest of the executive board are quite busy.
Allison Drzewiecki, the organization’s secretary, said that while Childs is good at organization and running the meetings, he also gets that everyone has their own schedule.
“We’re college students, a lot of us have jobs, and he’s understanding of that,” she said.
Ethan Lehman-Pace, the vice president and a close friend of Childs, said that Childs is not only their chapter president but also a member of the YDSA National Coordinating Committee, the treasurer of OU’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, an active member of Detroit DSA (YDSOU’s parent organization) and a full-time student.
“I’m always astonished by how many plates they have spinning,” said Lehman-Pace.
Democratic socialism may be an unfamiliar concept to the average voter, Childs has a rather simple explanation: where capitalism prioritizes money, socialism focuses on people and democratic socialism is what actualizes this idea by ensuring that people have the most significant voice.
“Democratic socialism is just that final tipping point where businesses are not given this kind of free reign to intervene in politics, to run the country, and the people can finally maintain control of the political system and their own lives,” Childs said.
YDSOU has been behind plenty of change so far on campus that other organizations may not have been as capable in, such as actively campaigning for student workers with the Fight for 15 campaign, which is a movement started by Fight For A Union advocating for a $15 minimum wage and the right to unionize for low-wage workers.
“We were basically the only people pushing for the Fight for 15 campaign on campus a couple years ago, which we were successful in that struggle,” Childs said. “But a lot of other orgs, even though they were associated with us or felt aligned or inclined to agree with us didn’t really push or help out with that because they didn’t have that sort of political alignment and political strategy that we had laid out.”
That’s not all, as last spring, YDSOU had Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib call in for one of their many meetings educating students on how to organize good BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaigns.
“I’m a bit of a fan. [Tlaib] is one of the only people within Congress that has a backbone and is willing to express her politics in a way where no one can really criticize her because what she’s doing is speaking from the heart and talking as a person,” Childs said. “I think a lot of people judge her because they see what she says as very radical and very unpalatable, but I dont think she’s ever really been unreasonable, seeing as she’s lost family, lost people that she loves to a genocide that a government she’s working for has perpetuated for years now.”
“We had a lot of people who had never showed up come just to hear her speak, so it shows how she brings people together not just as a congresswoman, but specifically in the Palestinian struggle for liberation,” Childs said.
And they’re not done yet, as their eyes are now set on changing the rhetoric that politicians use in regards to Palestine. Childs believes that while their goals are fully aligned, most politicians don’t see the value in advocating for Palestine, and as a result are alienating millions of voters who were once Democrats, leaving many uncommitted.
“A lot of people just think, ‘Push past it, vote for the election,’ but I think that’s unreasonable especially in our current political climate, how emotional, how politicized people are,” Childs said. “It would be a million times easier to get a shift on rhetoric on Palestine and then bring over millions of voters who have made that very singular demand.”
With the clock ticking on the 2024 election, YDSOU’s main goal has been to push people to vote, regardless of political party.
“[People] should vote for whoever they think represents their interests best, it’s the most reasonable thing we can do with how divisive things are and how there are a lot of threats going on to our democracy,” Childs said. “But at the same time, people are dying, there is a genocide going on and it’s really annoying to hear that be put to the wayside as we get closer to the election when this is a major issue for a lot of Americans.”
However, there is one thing that Childs wants voters to really think about, and that’s being conscious of what information is being put out there and shared.
“I think a lot of people hop on Twitter, hop on Instagram, pull up TikTok and just speak their heart out, which is good but it can at times be very isolating and alienating to hear people not know what they’re talking about,” Childs said. “I wish people took more time to actually develop themselves politically instead of considering what they see on the internet as gospel. And that goes for everyone … People do not educate themselves [enough] to be as passionate about the issues as they are.”
With concerns still waiting to be addressed, Childs hopes to follow this path after graduation as either a teacher or a local politician.
“There have been commitments to labor, there have been commitments to women’s rights, there have been commitments to trans rights made by Democrats, touted as evil by Republicans,” Childs said. “But I still think there will be a lot of work that needs to get done to have those promises actually be fulfilled.”
