To the City of Fayetteville:
The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) is a non-profit that upholds youth rights nationwide. The proposed youth curfew in Fayetteville will implement first-of-its-kind laws that restrict suspended students from being out of their homes during the business day from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, and during the nighttime curfew hours. It seeks to penalize restaurants that serve minors past their curfew time, which differs on the basis of age but can be as restrictive as 11 pm – 5 am.
This is effectively two-tier city citizenship and seeks to implement curfew not only by discrimination on the basis of age, but also on school behavior status. NYRA strongly condemns the proposed youth curfew. This is a constitutional sidestep of the 1st and 14th Amendment rights of youth and will disproportionately impact the city’s Black community by implementing policies similar to stop and frisk through the clause which allows police officers to stop anyone that looks underage.
This email has been sent to Pamela Megill, the city’s town clerk.
