Over on the Freechild Blog, Adam writes about this awesome Gandhi quote, then quickly goes off on a tangent about Laura Bush: For instance, Mr. Bush’s wife Laura has spent the last two years being concerned about America’s youth. From the beginning, her initiative focused on the problems young people face. In a rather traditional…
A few days ago, I found myself in a situation familiar to most youth rights activists. NYRA came up in the course of conversation, and one of my classmates asked me when I felt people should be granted the right to vote. I responded by stating that everyone who is governed by laws should have…
I just had a particularly illustrative experience at church today that I’d like to share. Half-way through the mass a group of people arrive quite late and sit down in the pew behind me. From the moment they sat down they were being incredibly obnoxious. Talking, swearing, making jokes, laughing. They didn’t shut up for…
The state of our union at the start of 2006 is a state of fear. Politicians, the media, and special interests fan the flames of fear to justify calls for further restrictions on our civil rights and civil liberties. This directed campaign of fear affects the liberties of Americans from all corners of this country,…
I caught a rerun of a network drama show the other night. To prevent spoiling anything, I won’t say which show or give too many details about it, but basically there was a bully at a high school who was shot and killed. It was thought a couple of his most common, most mistreated victims…
Here. Read this. It’s an LA Times article. (And when/if that link goes bad, I’ve mirrored it here.) Should I bother saying that Mike Males kicks all kinds of ass, or is that a given?:cute: I’d so love to get a hold of one of his or other pro-youth books out there. I could use…
As far as modern day youth rights gospels go, you can’t get much better than Bob Franklin’s introduction to the “Handbook of Children’s Rights” I’ve seen no better succinct and cogent explanation of the assumptions that drive our work, the key logical arguments that support our work, and a complete undressing of those who disagree….
In the summer of 1863, the Union army began forming all-black regiments to fight in the Civil War. Many black leaders were ecstatic that their people could take a greater role in a war that was being fought in large part for their freedom. They also felt that if they proved themselves worthy in battle,…
Ageism manifests itself in so many ways. Typically at NYRA we chose to focus on the big issues that are enshrined in law and stand as barriers to equal status and civic involvement for youth like the voting age or the drinking age. However it is often the day-to-day elements of our age apartheid system…
In a recent post, Stefan Muller pointed out that many young people do not support youth rights. Stefan contends that young people often hold ageist views in order to distinguish themselves – in order to seem more mature. Unfortunately, Mr. Muller is correct in his assessment. When I speak to other young people, I am…
