Seen but Not Heard

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights  - United States Declaration of Independence

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.  - U.S. Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment

Have you ever heard of Claudette Colvin?  How about Barbara Johns?  No?
     Let's try again.  Have you ever heard of Rosa Parks?  How about Brown v. Board of Education?  You have?  Of course you have.
     So I'll tell you the story of Claudette Colvin.  She was born in Montgomery, Alabama.  In 1955, she was 15 years old.  It was in that year that she defied segregation laws by refusing to give up her bus seat for a white passenger.  She was arrested; civil rights leaders did nothing.
     Rosa Parks was in fact following Colvin's example when she did the same thing, in the same town, nine months later; Parks then led a boycott of the Montgomery bus system.  Meanwhile, Colvin became one of four plaintiffs in a lawsuit, Browder v. Gayle.  One of the attorneys later stated that Claudette Colvin was the "star witness" in the case, which found the bus segregation unconstitutional and put it to an end.

     Now let's rewind a few years, to 1951, and I'll tell you about the first dramatic step forward in the civil rights movement.  Barbara Johns, 16 years old, was a student in an underfunded, unintegrated "black" high school, and she was having none of it.  Johns, along with a few courageous followers, took over the school and physically removed the administrators and teachers from the premises.  The students organized a strike, and convinced the NAACP to file a lawsuit to end school segregation, which became Brown v. Board of Education.

     You've heard of Paul Revere and his "midnight ride," but have you heard of Sybil Ludington, whose midnight ride was more than twice as long, and took place in pouring rain…when Ludington was 16 years old?
     You've heard of the Braille writing system for the blind, but did you know that its inventor, Louis Braille, was 15 years old when he created the system?  Braille was at the time attending a school for the blind, and the administrators immediately banned the Braille writing system - but, even under threat of severe punishment, Braille continued to spread knowledge of his system.

     There is a pattern here: young people can and do make meaningful contributions to society, but their work is often overlooked or even suppressed, just because of their age.  Young people have no voice: a sixteen-year-old cannot vote, hold public office, sign a contract, or even refuse dangerous medical procedures.  In many places across America, a sixteen-year-old cannot so much as leave their house at night.  A thirteen-year-old cannot drive or have a job.  Even a twenty-year-old, old enough to be required to register for the ongoing draft program, still cannot walk into a bar, and would be criminally charged for ordering a glass of wine.
     Those injustices not mandated by law are often perpetrated by schools.  In most public schools, a student can be punished for just about any exercise of free speech you care to name.  The "offenses" can be as obvious as peaceful protests or using certain words, or as insignificant as wearing a baseball cap to school.  A girl in Pennsylvania was suspended for refusing to take off a bracelet supporting breast cancer awareness.  A boy in Texas was suspended from preschool for growing out his hair, in order to donate it to cancer victims.  The same problem was faced by a high school student, a registered donor to Locks of Love, who was forced to cut his hair in order to return to school.
     Unless their parents have the time and resources to homeschool their children, or the money to afford better private schools, every young person in America is required by law to attend these public schools and be subject to these injustices.  Even if we put aside the 1st Amendment issues for the time being, we all know that public schools across the country are failing to fulfill their alleged purpose anyway.  Falling SAT scores and increased dropouts tell us that compulsory education is a failure.  As one rather intelligent person said:

It is...nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreak and ruin. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.  - Albert Einstein

Young people everywhere know this, but nobody listens, because youth have no voice.
     This governmental discrimination is just one facet of a much broader problem: pervasive societal bigotry.  Yes, I said bigotry.  And its name is ageism.
     Ageism is embedded in almost every aspect of society.  Children are alternately treated as nuisances or property.  Teenagers are subject to an assortment of cruel stereotypes.  Perhaps worst of all, young people are expected to live in their own world, their own "youth culture," not entering the "real world" until after they graduate from college.  That way, adults can go about their lives without being disturbed by the one demographic against which they are still allowed to hold prejudice.  That way, children can be seen but not heard.  And this, dear readers, is segregation.

     Young people do not lack a voice because they are incapable of speaking.  They lack a voice because their tongues have been cut out.

     But now young people have found their voice…and its name is the National Youth Rights Association. With over 10,000 members of all ages, NYRA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to fighting ageism and advocating for the civil and human rights of young people.
     NYRA campaigns to lower the voting age, lower the drinking age, repeal curfew laws, close abusive 'behavior modification facilities,' protect free speech and students' rights, and dispel the myths behind age discrimination with history and science.  One of NYRA's priorities is "empowering young people to participate in the democratic process and self-determination."
     I could rant for pages and pages about how important this cause is, but you don't have to take my word for it.  Here's what psychologist Richard Farson has to say about NYRA:

Most of us tend to view childhood as a time of carefree pleasure. Those of us who have looked at the real condition of children in America, however, see a very different picture--one in which children are victims of terrible discrimination, prejudice, and abuse. They need protection. But the protection they need most is to have the protection of civil rights, so that they can be regarded as full persons under the law. The organization leading that effort, with research, discussion and effective action, is the National Youth Rights Association. Supporting it supports children and youth in the most important way possible.

So what can you do to support youth rights?  Well, to start with, join the movement!  Make a $10 donation and become a member of NYRA.
     The organization, though already effective, could do a lot more - gathering much greater national attention - with more funding.  If you can afford to make a financial contribution, please remember that every donation counts.
     Even better than donations of money are donations of your time.  Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper - or a politician.  Find the nearest NYRA chapter, and, if there isn't one nearby, start your own.
     All that is great, but the #1 best thing you can do for the youth rights movement is to spread the word.  Tell everyone you know.  E-mail them a link to this blog post, if you like.  Send them this URL, too: http://www.youthrights.org/
     Well, I think I've said enough for now, so I'll close with one last quote, and a song.

If 16-year-olds are old enough to drink the water polluted by the industries that you regulate, if 16-year-olds are old enough to breathe the air ruined by garbage burners that government built, if 16-year-olds are old enough to walk on the streets made unsafe by terrible drugs and crime policies, if 16-year-olds are old enough to live in poverty in the richest country in the world, if 16-year-olds are old enough to get sick in a country with the worst public health-care programs in the world, and if 16-year-olds are old enough to attend school districts that you underfund, than 16-year-olds are old enough to play a part in making them better.  - Rebeca Tilsen, 14 years old, given as testimony to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1991

 Note: This blog is not endorsed by the National Youth Rights Association. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.