Millennials in their own words

Arturo Cortéz

35, Outer Sunset, teacher, actor

and artist.

It’s big for Cortéz, “the Supreme Court voting for gay marriage. But I’m not sure that it means a cultural shift,” he said. “We weren’t out waving our rainbow flag. Judicial action doesn’t necessarily lift low-income gays and lesbians, those of color. What’s on their minds is economic justice.” Cortéz believes that “we are making progress, but does that mean you are willing to see how you are hoarding resources?” On candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton: “I’m committed to economic and racial justice. I’m not sure she is.”

Zach Tony

29, Santa Rosa, auto service

counselor

“We were raised as the self-esteem generation, we could do anything.” Progress is unfolding, says Tony. “I saw gay rights as the civil rights issue of our time. But it won’t be an issue anymore” after the Supreme Court decision. Now foremost on his mind, Black Lives Matter. “It blows me away, we have laws that are 200 years old, which are ignored.” Tony hears “little conversation” among his friends about economic change. “Those are the friends you don’t hang-out with, it’s a buzz kill,” he said.

Genevieve Schaad

28, Mountain View, digital

cartographer for Google

“We are very locally focused. These issues seem more manageable, like banning plastic bags, eating better,” Schaad said, as opposed to “the looming and dooming global issues out there.” Gender equity bubbles up at work. “We joke about how (one high-tech firm) created a diversity board, then appointed just one woman to the group.” And it’s sad that you look out and everyone is Chinese, Indian or white” in the electronics industry. Schaad does adjust her own economic behavior, swearing off “frozen corndogs and plastic (not glass) water bottles.” She only talks politics with her parents and boss. “There’s so much disappointment with Obama, coming in for change. He’s finally started conversations that we really needed. But it’s too late.”

Yuri Kamihagi Anderson

26, Mission District, computer software security expert

She worries about the nation’s strident debate over immigration. “If you listen to Donald Trump, it’s jaw dropping.” A Japanese citizen who grew up in Beijing and Southern California, Kamihagi Anderson attended Wheaton College, then landed a job in San Francisco. “Immigration law is something I’m interested in, because I went through that whole system,” she said. “When you look at America’s foundation, immigration should be something that people should welcome.”

Online video

Hear these Millennials in their own words: http://tinyurl.com/oavz7cb.