On television news programs, in political magazines, and in college classrooms around the country, fashionable (and indeed important) discussions take place about civil rights and liberties. The focus of these discussions run the gamut: the rights of prisoners, due process rights for those accused of a crime, labor rights, the rights of racial minorities, women,…
In President Clinton’s State of the Union address on February 4, 1997 he asked congress to “mount a full-scale assault on juvenile crime.” To follow up on his speech President Clinton produced “The President’s Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Strategy.” This report outlined President Clinton’s ideas for combating juvenile crime. While a long document, the report’s…
One of the most brutal hypocrisies of ageism manifests itself during times of war when we ask young men and women to put their lives on the line for the defense of freedom either here or abroad. This noble notion turns foul when we realize how many of America’s soldiers lack the very freedom they…
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…
Two youth-led NYRA-allied organizations have made great strides towards making a lower voting age a reality. In 2002, Cambridge, Massachusetts passed a home rule petition to lower the voting age through the Cambridge City Council and that legislation has been waiting legislative action at the state level ever since. In 2004 the Cambridge Kids Council,…
We are proud to announce our special guest and keynote speaker for the 2011 NYRA Annual Meeting: Dr. Robert Epstein. Dr. Epstein is a prominent author and psychologist and die hard supporter of youth rights. He co-founded National Youth Rights Day and has written the ground breaking book, Teen 2.0. Dr. Epstein will be delivering…
Dear Senator Rockefeller and Mr. Gingrich, As representatives of organizations representing the interests of young people we respectfully request that you apologize for your recent negative statements regarding young Americans. Senator Rockefeller: “It’s my general feeling that people who are 20, 21, 22 years old really don’t have any social values,” Mr. Gingrich: “it wouldn’t…
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…
NYRA-NYU experienced a great increase in activity over the past few months and has held three successful events as well as being approved as a full NYU club for the 2011-2012 academic year. For National Youth Rights Day, the chapter held an event on campus titled “Activism 101”, which taught a group of interested students…
Here we are! We’ve have completed the 16th run of #16tovote on the 16th! A few regular participants were absent, and there were a couple of dissenters (one nice, one obnoxious), but other than that, went about as well as usual, touching on a lot of the great points we have in the past, plus…
