Growing up in a single-parent household, lively political discussions were not a part of everyday life for Davon Thomas.
“My mother was too busy trying to pay rent every month,” Thomas said.
But as he matured in the shadow of the Capitol building in Sacramento, Thomas began to develop an affinity for politics, especially as he came to learn of the experiences of his grandmother and great uncle.
“I grew up around people who witnessed the Civil Rights movement, who marched in those marches,” he said. “The older generation of my family worked with the Black Panther party helping to distribute food to black folks and passing out lunches for young black students going to school.”
Still, it wasn’t until 2008, when Thomas witnessed the historic election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, that he found his calling.
“Obama became the first black president and Kevin Johnson became the first black mayor of Sacramento,” he said. “It was a beautiful moment.”
Now, Thomas is forging his own path through the political sphere, currently serving as the vice president of External Affairs for the Student Union Assembly.
The position entails a lot of advocacy work for the student body, not only at UC Santa Cruz, but throughout the UC system. Thomas, a third-year history major, travels to UC Regents meetings, presents student issues to UC Office of the President, travels to Sacramento to lobby California lawmakers on behalf of the student body, and has even led a delegation to Washington D.C. to help bring awareness of student issues to the federal level.
“We fight for basic needs,” Thomas said. “We are fighting against food insecurity, housing insecurity, and providing mental health resources.”
But one of the largest issues facing students continues to be the specter of rising tuition. In order to combat the increasing cost of a college education, Thomas said he and his peers launched a multifront campaign that not only concentrated on pressuring the UC Regents, but also involved travelling to Sacramento to convince the lawmakers about the urgent need for a sustainable funding mechanism for the entire UC system.
“I never say ‘my political achievements,’ because they never mine, but with my peers we stopped a tuition hike last year,” Thomas said.
Thomas also travelled to Washington D.C. in spring quarter, meeting with representatives from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s office and other members of the California delegation.
Title IX enforcement was at the top of the list of concerns, Thomas said. While the Obama administration put pressure on universities to ramp up their efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence, the Trump administration under Secretery of Education Betsy DeVos has reversed course arguing due process and presumption of innocence have been compromised by the Obama-era initiative.
Thomas’ tireless advocacy—including in the need to support undocumented students—has not gone unnoticed.
Recently, he learned he was accepted into the prestigious Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“You essentially go and learn from the brightest public policy minds in the country,” Thomas said. “It’s a very competitive program and I am surprised I got into it.”
The program will not only provide Thomas with an enriching educational experience but also provide a pipeline should Thomas decide to pursue advanced degrees in graduate school.
Thomas isn’t quite sure about his next step. He is contemplating the pursuit of a masters or Ph.D. but he also flirts with offering his services as an intern to lawmakers in Sacramento.
Thomas will forge a career that incorporates his passion for politics and ultimately sets him up to give back to the community that raised him.
“I come from a community where a lot of the folks who look like me end up getting shot in the streets or in jail,” Thomas said. “I want to get my education and go back to the same community that got me here and use my education to make it better.”
