Student walkouts and continued organizing
This week, young people walked out of class to protest attacks on student rights in Florida and in support of their classmate Ralph Yarl in Missouri.
Yesterday, students at more than 300 high school and colleges walked out of class in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers have passed bills that censor conversations about gender, sexuality, and race in the classroom.
To push back, activists with Walkout 2 Learn organized a day of action that included voter registration and peer-led banned history lessons.
My latest piece for Teen Vogue takes a behind the scenes look at the multi-pronged youth-led initiative. Check it out here.
Or here:
After the walkouts and before the night of rallies, I had the chance to chat via Instagram Live with Anya Dennison, a Cornell student and one of the organizers behind the initiative.
Here’s a peak at our conversation:
Outside of the Sunshine State, students in Kansas City Missouri walked out of Staley High School in support of their classmate Ralph Yarl, a Black teen, who was shot and wounded by an 84-year-old white man after he went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings.
The bottom line: Walkouts in demand of justice are becoming the norm for our generation.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, organizers say they hope to capitalize on recent national attention in the aftermath of The Covenant School shooting and expulsions (and reinstatements) of state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson as they look to expand the political power of young people of color in the state.
This week for Cosmopolitan, I wrote about the digitally savvy young people powering that continued movement. More here.
Future stories 💡
Have ideas for what I should write about next? I’d love to hear them.