Equality for All
By: McKenna Smith
Human Rights: The Fight for Equality
The topic of today revolves around the human race–our rights, our happiness, and our chances at success. We all have different views on the world, which is entirely normal and healthy. However, one thing we should all agree on is human rights. No matter who you are or what you believe in, we should all recognize the importance of equal rights.
What Equality Should Mean
You don't have to live your life supporting everyone, but just because you don’t support someone doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same rights as you. Regardless of race, gender, religion, wealth, sexuality, or background, we are all still human. We cannot go around claiming that humans have equal rights when it is clear that we do not.
Women are losing control over their own bodies. Men receive less visibility when it comes to their struggles. People of races other than white Americans are frequently mistreated and targeted. Individuals of all religions are being persecuted or even killed for what they worship. Poor and working-class people are denied the benefits and tax breaks the wealthy enjoy. And members of the LGBTQIA+ community not only have fewer rights but are often discriminated against and even murdered.
Unfortunately, these are only a few examples of inequality–and these injustices are visible all around the world.
The Reality Behind the Headlines
In some countries, public executions and acts of torture remain legal. In others, women are still being married off, sold, and forced into situations they are not even allowed to object to. Racial prejudice remains widespread. When someone of a marginalized race accomplishes something, media headlines often exaggerate their racial identity as if it's a novelty.
For instance, headlines like “Black Woman Runs Successful Business Chain,” “Asian Man Creates Music for Children in Hospitals,” or “Mexican Family Restaurant Serves Amazing Food” shouldn’t feel unusual. If true equality existed, the race of the achiever wouldn’t be highlighted as the most remarkable part of the story.
This type of coverage reveals just how differently people of color are treated, how underestimated their capabilities are, and how the appearance of equality often masks a deeper imbalance.
What American Teens Can Learn From Global Protest Movements
By: Grace Molina
Boycotting class, creating protest art, or starting a community collective, teens everywhere are standing up in bold and diverse forms. While many teens in America are still figuring out how to productively be involved in activism on and off campus, their global peers are already showing the world what young people are capable of when they get in charge. From European climate protests to performance demonstrations in Latin America, these movements are creating tangible change, and they provide important lessons that American youth can learn.
When young people in the U.S. are facing mounting threats to rights, education, and democracy, looking across borders can inspire us to envision new modes of resistance and leadership—ones rooted in imagination, community, and care.
Global Youth Movements to Learn From
Fridays for Future: Klimaschutz aus der Schule
Greta Thunberg made headlines in 2018 for staging a weekly Friday protest against climate inaction outside the Swedish parliament. Her peaceful yet firm protest escalated into Fridays for Future, a global young people's movement that now exists in over 125 countries. There are millions of students who have signed up for coordinated school walkouts demanding action on the climate crisis. Over 1.6 million young people ditched school in March 2019 alone to take part in demonstrations across the globe.
Juvenile Justice: Reforming a Broken System
By: Grace Molina
Each day in America, over 36,000 kids are locked up, many for nonviolent offenses. Most of these kids are black, minority, and of lower-class.
For young people, involvement with the juvenile justice system can have serious and lasting effects on their lives and futures. Decades after civil rights victories, Black youth are still five times more likely to be jailed than white youth. If a wealthy kid is caught with weed, they get rehab. If a poor kid is caught, they get locked up. Same crime, different futures. What does this say about our justice system? What kind of society do we want: one that heals kids or one that cages them? The system disproportionately harms marginalized youth, but young people are organizing to reform it.
Why Art is Important in Justice Movements
By: Grace Molina
Days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, a group of local artists painted a massive street mural along Canfield Drive. The yellow letters spelled "Black Lives Matter" so large they could be seen from the air. It was expression, strategy, and solidarity.
Art has been an essential, however overlooked, part of justice movements throughout history. It renders intellectual concepts into emotional ones. It speaks when words can't. Through murals, protest signs, zines, poetry, or performance, youth have always used art to turn pain into purpose and outrage into revolution.
Youth Movements That Reshaped the World
By: Grace Molina
In 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American school children marched out of school and into history. Dodging police dogs and fire hoses, they took to the streets to protest segregation in a movement that would be known as the Children's Crusade. Dozens of people were arrested, beaten, or even killed. But their pictures of resistance shocked the world and helped galvanize support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The truth is this: youth have always led change. From the streets of Santiago to the gates of Tiananmen Square, young people have reshaped history, sometimes at considerable personal sacrifice. Their agendas are never genteel. Their methods are never conservative. But their impact is powerful.
How to Start a Youth Justice Club at Your School
By: Grace Molina
Young voices are more important to justice reform than most people realize. We are the faces of the future generations, future workforce, future voters, and even future government leaders. When youth have a prominent spot at the table, they bring in perspectives and life experiences that help confront assumptions and spark creative solutions. But, how could you begin to start making a difference? The answer is simpler than you think. By becoming involved in a youth justice club, you can make a difference locally by engaging with your peers, assisting in being part of meaningful discussions, and reforming your community.
Youth Movements You (Probably) Haven't Heard Of
By: Grace Molina
Youth from around the world are breaking into the mainstream and demanding change. They are organizing marches, sit-ins, social media campaigns, and neighborhood protests that are reshaping the conversation around climate, education, human rights, and justice. While some youth movements get headlines, many others operate just outside the mainstream spotlight, making a difference that should be more widely known.
The Justice System in 10 Words
By: Grace Molina
Understanding the justice system can seem overwhelming, especially if courtroom terminology and protocol are unfamiliar. But working knowledge can enable young people to work or fight against the system and advocate for reforms. The following are ten essential justice system words that all young people should know, along with real-life scenarios of how they operate in practice.
What It's Like to Grow Up Without Representation
By Grace Molina
To most teens, seeing themselves reflected in the stories they read and the shows they watch is vital to a positive sense of self. But for young people who belong to marginalized groups, representation is usually slim or shallow. As a mixed child with Filipino and Dominican heritage, I grew up with this absence face-to-face.
Both the Dominican Republic and the Philippines are countries and islands rich in culture, history, and community bonds. Behind stories of ignorance that are so often manipulated by poverty, political unrest, or colonial histories, there is rich humanity. The strength, the passion, and the creativity of the people who inhabit them are admirable and worthy. All too often, textbooks and classrooms get to describe the story, however, and it is a story of hardship or of negative stereotypes.
The Media’s Touch
By: Ella George
The media plays a significant role in influencing public relations, both positive and negative. It has the power to both push people together through understanding as well as pull them apart.
Through the media, inspiration spreads rapidly and it takes effective communication to maintain a positive image, which is something that both regular people and governments desire to maintain. This rapid spread can have both positive and negative effects, one example being COVID-19. Mass isolation led to many more people having internet access. This access led to the spread of misinformation, which in turn led to the loss of lives.
The media can also play a role of advocacy, spreading awareness about global issues. Global events such as World Cancer Day need global participation. The media allows people to mobilize in their own communities and bring attention to the issues plaguing their community and their world.
Are People’s Sense of Justice Rising or Declining as a Result of Current Political and Social Events?
By: Amelia Torry
Introduction
Most people can agree that in the past few years, the world has been a boiling pot of tension and conflict. Many people cannot share opinions without getting brutally attacked online, and younger populations are starting to realize what is happening around this issue. Whether you’re scrolling on a social media app or going through your friend’s online story, you may have seen more people spreading awareness about the state of the world. It may be different from the usual content you see from your friends, and this raises a question. Are people changing as a result of current events? Do they make us better people? And most importantly, why?
Reformation to Regression:
Indonesia’s Democracy is Dying
By: Alaina K
It’s quite crazy how countries like Singapore and Japan feel as though they’re living in the year 2025, while Indonesia still seems to be stuck in 1998. The recent killing of Affan Kurniawan – a 21-year-old online delivery driver run over by an armoured police car during a civilian protest– shows just how far Indonesia’s democracy has regressed toward the darkest chapters of its past. Less than two weeks after Independence Day, the nation should be celebrating its 80th year of freedom and reflecting on its growth. Instead, the people of Indonesia are left feeling angry and afraid, questioning whether the country has made any real progress at all.
Anthropological Commentary: The Mask as Patriarchal Script
By: Nirav Sachan
Introduction:
The Face Behind the Mask Every culture crafts masks—not only physical ones but conceptual veils that shape identity, morality, and power. In the Ramayana, the figure of Shurpanakha is veiled with a mask of monstrosity, a narrative device that enforces gender norms while hiding the radical potential of her desire. To understand this, we must interrogate the mask as a patriarchal script, a cultural technology that disciplines female agency through myth.