|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Us:
The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating people about youth rights, working with public officials and empowering young people to work on their own behalf. We believe certain basic rights are intrinsic parts of American citizenship and transcend age or status limits.
NYRA is a national youth-led organization with over 7,000 members and chapters in a dozen states. We support lowering the voting age, lowering the drinking age, repealing government curfews, protecting student rights and fighting age discrimination.
|
| NYRA News
May 9, 2008
|
Abuse at Gulag Facilities Exposed at Congressional Hearing
The U.S. Congressional Committee on Education and Labor got an earful on April 24: a day of evidence and testimony about the physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of young people at gulag schools, or behavior modification facilities, across the country,  and the deceptive marketing practices they use to ensnare the children of frustrated parents. After a year of congressional investigation, the chairman of the committee, Rep. George Miller, advocates federal laws that will regulate these facilities, requiring that staff be trained and parents be fully informed, and empowering the Department of Health and Human Services to inspect the programs. The committee heard not only from GAO investigators but also from victims of gulag schools, such as Jon Martin-Crawford, who testified, "The nightmares and psychological scars of being dragged from your home to a place in the middle of nowhere, restrained in blankets and duct tape, assaulted, verbally and physically... those scars and that trauma will never go away." Jon, as well as another program survivor who testified, Kathryn Whitehead, are both on the board of the Community Alliance For the Ethical Treatement of Youth, a NYRA ally. Among the attendees was NYRA executive director Alex Koroknay-Palicz.
The Government Accountability Office submitted two new reports on abuse and deceptive marketing at residential treatment centers: Death, Abuse and Deceptive Marketing and Oversight Gaps May Increase Risk to Youth Also, watch video from the hearing here.
Be sure to write your Congressperson and tell them to support H.R. 5876, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. This is the biggest pro-youth rights bill in Congress in decades, if you've never written a letter to Congress before, please do so now.
|
Great Drinking Age News Coverage
NYRA has been making  a splash this past month with quite a few radio and TV appearances. Executive Director Alex Koroknay-Palicz appeared twice on television, once on Fox News and again on the Mike and Juliet Show, and President Stefan Muller was on the Sirius Satellite Radio show "Me and Vinnie. In separate shows, Koroknay-Palicz and NYRA-New Orleans President, Ashley Campbell were both interviewed on the Ed Clancy Show on WGSO 990 AM radio in New Orleans.
What sparked all this media attention? The movement in seven states to lower the drinking age. In Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina, the movement is meant only for members of the military. South Dakota, Missouri, Vermont, and Minnesota hope to lower the drinking age to 18 for everyone.
To see the NYRA TV spots, go here. To hear Campbell's radio appearance, go here. To listen to Stefan Muller's Sirius radio appearance, go here. To read Koroknay-Palicz quotes in the Duluth News Tribune, go here.
Also, NYRA's Blog, Age of Reason, has been heating up in recent days. Lots of great coverage for lowering the drinking age and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Also worth watching, during the Mike & Juliet Show, MADD's founder, Candy Lightner insulted American troops. Be sure to watch that clip and pass it on to others who may be interested to know what MADD's founder really thinks about young adults.
New York Politicians Push for
Teen Representation
New York may soon take a big step towards equality for youth by lowering the age at which one can sit on community boards in New York City to 16. After a press conference on April 13 by the Future Voters of America announcing the initiative, legislation was introduced in both state and city governments to lower the age. In the state legislature, Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh and Senator Andrew Lanza are pushing for the change, and in the New York City Council, Councilwoman Gale Brewer is championing the cause. Brewer introduced a bill earlier that would have lowered the voting age to 16 for city elections.
Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, a supporter of the proposal, himself was appointed to a community board when he was 16 years old. Lowering the age for representation to 16 would allow 16- and 17-year-olds greater civic participation in their communities. "[Young people] definitely can participate in the discussions about their community," Councilwoman Brewer told the New York Daily News. "I've seen them do it time and time again." Young people who care about their communities have friends in New York.
New U.S. Congresswoman Supports
Lower Voting Age
At the same time that strides are being taken for youth rights in New York, progress towards a lower voting age is being made across the country, in California. In the state Assembly, Speaker-elect Karen Bass supports a lower voting age, and has been in contact with local youth rights activists, including NYRA Director Alex Hull-Richter, about the issue. Also, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, former California state senator, won a special election on April 8 to replace the late Congressman Tom Lantos in the U.S. House of Representatives. Speier is a youth rights supporter who advocates a lower voting age. During her time in the California state government, she filed legislation to lower the voting age in that state, and she was endorsed by NYRA-Berkeley when she ran for lieutenant governor.
Speier isn't the only advocate of youth suffrage in the U.S. Congress. Congresswoman Maxine Waters also wants the voting age lowered, and not only has Congressman and former Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich publicly advocated lowering the voting age, but it is rumored he may introduce federal legislation to do just that.
|
|
|
Quote of the Month
|
There was no reason to suspect that a thirteen-year-old honor-roll student with a clean disciplinary record had adopted drug-smuggling practices associated with international narcotrafficking, or to suppose that other middle-school students would willingly consume ibuprofen that was stored in another student's crotch.
- American Civil Liberties Union regarding a strip search of a student
Suggest a quote
|
|
 |
|
|
NYRA
-
1133 19th St., NW
-
9th Floor
-
Washington, DC
-
20036
|
|
