Youth Voices

Although we have the right in California to wear our tribal, religious, or cultural regalia at graduation, some schools still try to stop Indigenous highschoolers from doing so. Such restrictions deny us our ability to express ourselves and embrace our culture, further setting back the very few rights we have.

A journal for young students who are passionate about art and advocacy Self care is an act of social justice. The Road to Find is a creative journal for students founded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Sonia Banker, Arts Justice Fellow. Its mission is to inspire and empower youth to express their

By Zaid Diaz-Arias Let’s get one thing clear: property taxes are a race issue. The city and state require landowners to pay property taxes, which directly fund social services like schools and mental health services. Property tax rules are controlled by the state and have historically been a contested issue. Property taxes are on the

By Sonia Banker Sonia Banker is a high school senior in San Francisco and is a part of the ACLU’s Youth Liberty Squad and Arts Justice Council. To hear more student voices on social justice issues, check out the creative journal founded by Sonia and the Youth Liberty Squad at www.theroadtofind.org.  When the pandemic began in

By Kimberly Sockwell, Youth Liberty Squad Student Picture yourself in history class. You’re taking a test after studying for months, and suddenly you feel that you have started your period. You raise your hand and ask your teacher to go to the bathroom but your teacher says you have to complete your test first. You finish

By Catherine Estrada In the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, as schools transitioned from in-person to remote learning, students were among the first to feel the effects of social isolation. We suffered silently as schools adjusted to virtual learning while paying little attention to the impact of this transition on students’ mental health. But the

Tyler Okeke – student at the University of Chicago Processing the deaths of people who look like us and those we love has been difficult for Black people across the country, especially students with limited agency. But our power is growing. Young people across the country have taken to the streets demanding to live in