The Youth Movement Circle will be coordinated entirely by its participants—all high school and college students representing youth constituencies throughout Memphis. The issues important to each constituency are the issues we will take action on using the collective power of the entire circle. Together our power is magnified. Together we make real change.
This is the mission statement for the Youth Movement Circle, a space for youth activists from organizations all across Memphis to team up to increase their organizing power. After months of planning, the Youth Movement Circle held its first meeting Saturday, December 3rd, at the National Civil Rights Museum. Eighteen youth and adults attended, each representing an organization in Memphis. The NAACP Youth Council, Stand for Children, Bridge Builders Change, Youth for Youth, the Progressive Student Alliance, and Facing History and Ourselves all sent delegates to the first meeting of what will become a space for Memphis-area youth to come together as one voice.
Despite the blocked traffic from the St. Jude Marathon, participants came eager to tell their stories and join in the movement to create real change in Memphis. The meeting started out with a chance for everyone to share a vision for his or her community, city, state, country, or world. Youth and adults spoke of a world where all undocumented students have access to education, where there is discussion amongst people of different beliefs, where youth can truly fight for their rights, where everyone has access to healthy food, where the undocumented can take action, where students and youth are represented better and more accurately in society, where a community is in place to help new immigrants adjust, where the community is informed and empowered, and where students can connect with the power of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the participants’ visions overlapped, reinforcing the need for a space where youth can challenge injustice, not separately, but together as one cohesive and powerful unit.
The meeting then moved on to a discussion about the dynamics of power. We examined where we are on the power scale and how we can organize a movement to shift this scale. The group looked at how Occupy Wall Street is doing just that, as well as how the movement against corporate greed began. The youth then participated in a game called “Ten Chairs of Inequality,” meant to represent the unjust distribution of private wealth in the US.
All of this set the stage for the most important part of the meeting—a chance for the youth to speak about the problems they see in society. The issues named could all be traced back to one simple truth: a youth voice is sorely lacking in the discussions that decide the future of these same youth. From broad issues of inequality to specifics like passing the Dream Act, the group covered it all. The list, which includes the new Tennessee Voter Photo ID law, prison privatization, and the racial divides amongst youth, is a testament to why the Youth Movement Circle exists: youth know the problems that ail our society and are eager to do something about them.
Join the movement and stay connected by joining our Facebook group. Next meeting is set for January 7th. Look for more details soon!