JOINT STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO BOOK CENSORSHIP IN THE TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT January 30, 2012 The undersigned organizations are committed to protecting free speech and intellectual freedom. We write to express our deep concern about the removal of books used in the Mexican-American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District. This occurred in…
WASHINGTON – The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) announced the recipients of its second annual awards, which were formally presented on July 30 at the 2011 NYRA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Youth rights is the concept that young people are entitled to the rights and civil liberties enjoyed by all American citizens. Three separate…
Before the Montgomery County Council Testimony of Alex Koroknay-Palicz On behalf of the National Youth Rights Association on Youth Curfew July 26, 2011 Over the last two weeks I have been asked the same question many times: “What good reason is there for teens to be out after 11?” There are a number of good…
This morning, the Supreme Court released the opinion in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. By a vote of 7-2, the court found that the law was unconstitutional. The opinion of the court drawing a sharp distinction between violence and obscenity, it states that protecting minors from displays of violence is not exempt from the first amendment, and finds that the law is unconstitutional.
In a decision handed down today, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in our favor that video games are protected by the First Amendment and California can’t ban them to young people. The case, formerly Schwarzenegger v. EMA, now Brown v. EMA, is a huge victory for youth rights. NYRA, along with the National Coalition Against…
Young people are often censored and when they are NYRA is there to defend their right to free speech. The first amendment does not enforce itself and it’s of critical importance that there exist organizations willing to fight for the right to speak. NYRA is pleased this month to announce that we have joined the…
NYRA is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2011 NYRA Awards! The Awards were created last year to recognize significant contributions to the field of youth rights, both for and against. The three awards are the Youth Rights Progress Award, the NYRA Achievement Award and Ageist of the Year Award. The Youth Rights Progress…
We talk a lot about how a great deal of anti-youth sentiment comes from the idea that those under 18 aren’t so much people as they are humanoid extensions of their parents. It’s boggling to think about just how deeply this affects a young person, how damaging this really is. Guidance counselors and the like…
On May 1-3 leaders from around the world gathered in Washington, DC to mark World Press Freedom Day, a United Nations organized event promoting freedom of the press. This is the first year the event has been held in the United States. As host, this was a great opportunity for our country to promote the…
There is an interesting back and forth going on right now between two great advocates for student rights, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and StudentActivism.net. Both seem to agree that offensive speech on campus needs to be protected. At issue is whether it must also be condemned. Roger Shibley of FIRE says no,…
