The mainstream media is going to have to change its narrative. How can you say that we’re apathetic and lazy when 33,000 tune in to watch the president address the nation?

On Tuesday, the League put on #BarackTalk, our second annual State of the Union panel and watch party. From hip-hop stars to journalists, the panelists discussed some of the most pressing issues of our time in the context of the speech. More importantly, twenty-somethings from around the country tweeted at a mind-blowing rate about what the state of our union is.

From unemployment to college affordability to the prison industrial complex, you spoke up; and when 33,000 people get together, the powers that be can’t afford not to listen.

What makes politicians quake in their boots is that we don’t simply pay attention to what’s going on it our world. We vote.

(Don’t forget, if you need to update your voter registration to your new address, do it online right now).

Missed the live broadcast? Check it out here.

[FREE DOWNLOAD HERE]

The League Of Young Voters Education Fund, in partnership with Rock The Vote and Green For All, dropped the first installment in the “Generation Next: #UnF_cktheWorld” series on January 3. UnF_ckDetroit is volume 1 of the mixtape series, featuring FowL and produced by DJ Willie Shakes.

Crowned the 2010 Red Bull Emsee champion by rapper Eminem, the mixtape features the 20-year-old Detroit rapper FowL. In an effort to get young urban voters revved up and activated around the 2012 election season, LYVEF will release a series of four mixtapes, where each will focus on individual cities.

Tuesday was a good day for the League. After months of effort, we succeeded in getting out the youth vote on a massive scale! The numbers are still rolling in, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what we pulled off this year. No time to rest – #2012StartsNow!

• In Maine, we educated 16,000 voters on Ranked Choice Voting prior to the first mayoral election in 88 years.
• In Wisconsin, our Voter ID campaign enabled 2,000 young people (and counting) to get IDs to vote in 2012.
• In Texas, we helped keep Voter ID out of the election and debuted our Life-Long Voters campaign to train 25 young Houston leaders on grassroots organizing.
• In Ohio, 1,900 young people pledged to vote in 2011.