Frankie Dakin, a senior political economy major at Rhodes, has begun a five-week, cross-country tour to create awareness about the growing national debt faced by Millennials like himself. The “Generational Equity Tour” is presented by The Can Kicks Back, a non-partisan movement with the mission to “educate, organize and mobilize young Americans” on the issue.
As one of its field organizers, Dakin is arranging events on college campuses to include panel discussions, documentary screenings, and other public engagement activities. Along the tour, organizers will collect messages to Washington and then deliver them on actual tin cans at an October rally on Capitol Hill.
“On first glance you want to blame the politicians. And in certain respects that’s fair,” says Dakin in a recent Commercial Appeal article. “But it’s really up to us to get involved and create a constituency around this issue so we’ll elect leaders who’ll represent us.”
In addition to serving as a Millington, TN alderman, Dakin is a Truman Scholar and participant in the Rhodes Bonner Scholarship Program.