By Iris Brambila
Our futures are on the line. It’s our choices that will lead our future generations.We’ve seen it in the past with successful outcomes, and now it’s our turn to unite, I mean after all we are the future, right?
A powerful example of youth leading and showing resistance was back in 1957, when the Little Rock Nine enrolled in an all white segregated school to fight for the right of equal education for all black students. Then, there was Ruby Bridges, a six year-old doing the same in 1960.
Marches, like the Children's March arranged by Martin Luther King Jr., might’ve led to kids being arrested, attacked by a water hose and even police dogs, but you cannot say the courage of these children does not inspire you. They’re willingness and urge to end segregation forever made a change in our world.
We’re encountered many more movements where the youth gathered together and practiced activism. The involvement of the youth in the movements, marches, sit-ins or even the making of arm bands to promote an idea of resistance in the 1960s, led a pathway for us to stand up and have the courage speak our voice in politics.
Today, there’s kids speaking on behalf of immigration, LGBTQ comunities, gender idenities, education, sexual assault, gun control, war, and environmental issues, such as climate change. Many of these kids speaking out and taking action have even made themselves so known that they have won big awards and founded organizations to further expand their devotion.
Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, a 17 year old dedicated to change the world since the age of 6, made a speech with the United Nations in 2015 and said, “What's at stake right now is the existence of my generation."
His caption speaks a lot of truth. A lot of protests occurring today are actually revolved around that idea. Promoting a new tradition and trying to overturn old traditions as we’re more opened and aware of all the unfairness and conflict it brings to people.
A more recent example showing this is the gathering of survivors of the Douglas High School shooting that happened just this year on February 14, 2018. They’re spearhead a national movement for stricter gun control. Although the second amendment exist, many of the supporters argue the fact that it was made in a time where guns weren’t so advanced like today’s guns that have and can cause mass murders within minutes.
The victims of the school shooting have actually gained a lot of popularity around the nation. They had a march, “March For Our Lives,” that was 17 minutes long to dedicate a minute to each death. This consisted of a national school walkout that many people and students from all over the nation participated in.
We’re only taught so little of the resistance movements of our history in textbooks, mainly covering the Civil Rights Movement since the change was very significant. Few are taught about the Chicano and Chicana movement that also took part during that time. The more we know and aware we are, the more powerful and stronger we become.
Most support comes from people been through that struggle, the people who’ve witnessed it. Very small information comes from the media.
It might’ve started with the resistance of segregation and the Civil Rights Movements or even mexican resistance and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. or Cesar Chavez, but they were the beginning. We are the present and the future. Who knows maybe one day future generations will learn about the Black Lives Matter, fair immigration movements, and the ENOUGH movement to further improve humanity.
A powerful example of youth leading and showing resistance was back in 1957, when the Little Rock Nine enrolled in an all white segregated school to fight for the right of equal education for all black students. Then, there was Ruby Bridges, a six year-old doing the same in 1960.
Marches, like the Children's March arranged by Martin Luther King Jr., might’ve led to kids being arrested, attacked by a water hose and even police dogs, but you cannot say the courage of these children does not inspire you. They’re willingness and urge to end segregation forever made a change in our world.
We’re encountered many more movements where the youth gathered together and practiced activism. The involvement of the youth in the movements, marches, sit-ins or even the making of arm bands to promote an idea of resistance in the 1960s, led a pathway for us to stand up and have the courage speak our voice in politics.
Today, there’s kids speaking on behalf of immigration, LGBTQ comunities, gender idenities, education, sexual assault, gun control, war, and environmental issues, such as climate change. Many of these kids speaking out and taking action have even made themselves so known that they have won big awards and founded organizations to further expand their devotion.
Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, a 17 year old dedicated to change the world since the age of 6, made a speech with the United Nations in 2015 and said, “What's at stake right now is the existence of my generation."
His caption speaks a lot of truth. A lot of protests occurring today are actually revolved around that idea. Promoting a new tradition and trying to overturn old traditions as we’re more opened and aware of all the unfairness and conflict it brings to people.
A more recent example showing this is the gathering of survivors of the Douglas High School shooting that happened just this year on February 14, 2018. They’re spearhead a national movement for stricter gun control. Although the second amendment exist, many of the supporters argue the fact that it was made in a time where guns weren’t so advanced like today’s guns that have and can cause mass murders within minutes.
The victims of the school shooting have actually gained a lot of popularity around the nation. They had a march, “March For Our Lives,” that was 17 minutes long to dedicate a minute to each death. This consisted of a national school walkout that many people and students from all over the nation participated in.
We’re only taught so little of the resistance movements of our history in textbooks, mainly covering the Civil Rights Movement since the change was very significant. Few are taught about the Chicano and Chicana movement that also took part during that time. The more we know and aware we are, the more powerful and stronger we become.
Most support comes from people been through that struggle, the people who’ve witnessed it. Very small information comes from the media.
It might’ve started with the resistance of segregation and the Civil Rights Movements or even mexican resistance and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. or Cesar Chavez, but they were the beginning. We are the present and the future. Who knows maybe one day future generations will learn about the Black Lives Matter, fair immigration movements, and the ENOUGH movement to further improve humanity.