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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, empowering young people to work on their own behalf in defense of their rights, and taking positive steps to lessen the burden of ageism. 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 nearly 10,000 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.
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| NYRA News
March 14, 2010
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NYRA Joins Coalition Against School Paddling
The Coalition Against School Paddling filed discrimination complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office on February 6, 2010,  for Civil Rights against the state departments of education in the twenty states where corporal punishment is permitted. The twenty states that permit corporal punishment in schools are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
The complaint was filed under the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act (also known as Title IX), based on the disproportionate damaging impact corporal punishment has on girls versus boys. The law prohibits sex discrimination in any education program receiving federal funding. The coalition anticipates this complaint will arouse a thorough examination by school officials and by the public on the practice of physical punishment in U.S. schools, as well as ultimately providing a legal basis for its prohibition.
Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Executive Director of the National Youth Rights Association, asserts, “There is no more basic right than to be free from violence; physical punishment of adults is not permissible, young people should expect no less.”
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#16tovote on the 16th a success!
Last month NYRA board member, Katrina Moncure announced plans to organize an awareness campaign for lowering the voting age. Named #16tovote on the 16th, the campaign had its first even on the 16th of February. Youth rights supporters are encouraged to "tweet" about lowering the voting age on Twitter and include the hashtag #16tovote. For those familiar with Twitter, hashtags allow users to create trends on Twitter and link up their tweets with others on a common theme or subject. Users posted voting age related stats, links to NYRA publications about lowering the voting age, news stories on the subject, and their own thoughts and feelings about voting. In total there were approximately 70 tweets sent out on the 16th as part of the campaign.
Campaign organizer Katrina Moncure described the first #16tovote on the 16th event as a great success that surpassed all her expectations. The campaign will continue again on March 16, all NYRA members and supporters are urged to participate! This time members are encouraged to write blogs, make videos, and generate more voting age content to promote through Twitter. Stop by the forum to help organize the event on March 16.
Alex Koroknay-Palicz's Op-Ed Appears in the HuffingtonPost
When the new International Civil Rights Center and Museum recently opened their doors in Greensboro, NC they didn't open them to everybody. NYRA's executive director quickly realized what museum curators and planners could not -- it's wrong for a museum whose mission is to highlight the horrors of segregation to promote segregation. The museum believes it is protecting young people by banning them from a brutal section of the exhibit, but young people themselves were victims of that racist brutality and their memory and actions deserve to be remembered. Read his Op-Ed here.
Your Youth Rights Stories
Recently, we sent out an email looking for your youth rights stories. The President of our board of directors, Jeffrey Nadel, shared the story of his fight against West Palm Beach and their youth curfew law. Your stories have begun to come in and we have enjoyed reading them. We look forward to receiving more of your stories as the year goes on.
"At my school, we have very harsh rules regarding identification cards. We are told to wear them constantly, because drug dealers were at our school one day dealing drugs to students. Essentially, they were telling us that these IDs keep drugs out of our school, and lower the rate of rules broken at our school. It is mildly upsetting to see certain students filling up the detention room because they forget their ID card, rather than other students who got into trouble for more serious infractions. It has only created more problems for the school.
What has happened since then is increased penalties on students who forget their IDs. When it was first enacted in 2004 at my school, we'd get a detention if we forgot our ID multiple times. Now, if we forget it more than 4 times per semester, we face suspension or expulsion...simply because we are either forgetful or wish not to wear a degrading lanyard and badge, which makes us feel like cattle. I, myself, found a way to beat the system and put a picture of my school ID on a t-shirt. It is the only way I know how to beat the system. "
~ Scott Yeager
"I can buy cigarettes but I can't buy a beer? Srsly?"
~ Nathalie M.
"When I was 12, I went to the library, where someone was holding a discussion for one of my favorite books (and inspiration for the novel I'm writing right now), Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I was pretty much the only teen there. The others? Senior citizens. And instead of discrimination, people were impressed by my input and me. I forgot what we discussed - something about how modern society represents the society in the book. But yes, I impressed and even made friends with the leader of the discussion. My mom was even getting comments like, "Your daughter will go far in life." And I believe I will."
~ Alyssa P.
To share your youth rights story (it can be anything, from a video, to a letter, to a poem) please contact us.
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Action Teams
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Quote of the Month
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No guarantees come with children's liberation. But neither the promise of great benefits to all nor the prediction of great difficulties ahead can serve as the reason for granting or denying rights to children. Rights will be granted because without them children are incapacitated, oppressed, and abused.
- Richard Farson "Birthrights"
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NYRA
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1101 15th Street, NW
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Suite 200
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Washington, DC
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20005
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