Some people find their calling in college. Take for example, Dakota Hall, who began organizing young people while a student at the University of Wisconsin. Hall used his experience mobilizing students to get engaged in the university’s budget process to launch a career helping the youth of Milwaukee, particularly helping people of color as executive director of Leaders Igniting Transformation. On Nov. 30, he took on a new position as executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action, which supports civic engagement through a network of local organizations. His answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What's the tweet-length description of your organization?
Building and sustaining youth power across the nation with an emphasis on BIPOC leadership.
Describe your very first civic engagement.
I ran for multiple club executive boards in high school and became president of our Green Club and Native American Student Association. Very proud of organizing to get recycling bins in my high school!
What was your biggest professional triumph?
Being a part of the amazing team with Leaders Igniting Transformation in Wisconsin that helped end the school resource officer contracts for Milwaukee Public Schools and got those dollars invested back into the classroom and futures of Black and Brown young people.
And your most disappointing setback?
I grew up politically in Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, and consistently saw cuts to my higher education institution including critical divestment from student services and support services for the most marginalized young people on campus. It took a while, but the same young people who saw cuts in their education were finally able to defeat Walker in the 2018 election. While we suffered setbacks under his leadership, we were able to do some deep organizing to remove him.
How does your identity influence the way you go about your work?
Being a Black and Indigenous male, I center the voices, stories and lives of BIPOC individuals the most. This country was born upon the sins, genocide, and slavery of Black and Indigenous peoples. Our resistance and resilience is the only thing that can set this country up for any sort of foundation that creates an environment for everyone to have the freedom to thrive.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Set time to think about what you want, prioritize your visioning space, build your dreams, follow your heart and remember to center joy.
Create a new flavor for Ben & Jerry’s.
Banana ice cream with Reese's chunks and brownie bites.
What’s your favorite political movie or TV show?
“The West Wing.”
What's the last thing you do on your phone at night?
Check out the new Gen Z TikTok trends.
What is your deepest, darkest secret?
I am a triple Cancer zodiac sign and sometimes it shows, and I don’t like that.
An Independent Voter's Perspective on Current Political Divides
In the column, "Is Donald Trump Right?", Fulcrum Executive Editor, Hugo Balta, wrote:
For millions of Americans, President Trump’s second term isn’t a threat to democracy—it’s the fulfillment of a promise they believe was long overdue.
Is Donald Trump right?
Should the presidency serve as a force for disruption or a safeguard of preservation?
Balta invited readers to share their thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
David Levine from Portland, Oregon, shared these thoughts...
I am an independent voter who voted for Kamala Harris in the last election.
I pay very close attention to the events going on, and I try and avoid taking other people's opinions as fact, so the following writing should be looked at with that in mind:
Is Trump right? On some things, absolutely.
As to DEI, there is a strong feeling that you cannot fight racism with more racism or sexism with more sexism. Standards have to be the same across the board, and the idea that only white people can be racist is one that I think a lot of us find delusional on its face. The question is not whether we want equality in the workplace, but whether these systems are the mechanism to achieve it, despite their claims to virtue, and many of us feel they are not.
I think if the Democrats want to take back immigration as an issue then every single illegal alien no matter how they are discovered needs to be processed and sanctuary cities need to end, every single illegal alien needs to be found at that point Democrats could argue for an amnesty for those who have shown they have been Good actors for a period of time but the dynamic of simply ignoring those who break the law by coming here illegally is I think a losing issue for the Democrats, they need to bend the knee and make a deal.
I think you have to quit calling the man Hitler or a fascist because an actual fascist would simply shoot the protesters, the journalists, and anyone else who challenges him. And while he definitely has authoritarian tendencies, the Democrats are overplaying their hand using those words, and it makes them look foolish.
Most of us understand that the tariffs are a game of economic chicken, and whether it is successful or not depends on who blinks before the midterms. Still, the Democrats' continuous attacks on the man make them look disloyal to the country, not to Trump.
Referring to any group of people as marginalized is to many of us the same as referring to them as lesser, and it seems racist and insulting.
We invite you to read the opinions of other Fulrum Readers:
Trump's Policies: A Threat to Farmers and American Values
The Trump Era: A Bitter Pill for American Renewal
Federal Hill's Warning: A Baltimorean's Reflection on Leadership
Also, check out "Is Donald Trump Right?" and consider accepting Hugo's invitation to share your thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
The Fulcrum will select a range of submissions to share with readers as part of our ongoing civic dialogue.
We offer this platform for discussion and debate.