9 Ways Students Can Fight For Racial Justice ✊🏿✊🏻✊🏽
By Becky Pincince
The challenges facing this country on the road to racial justice are immense, and it can feel overwhelming. Federal and state action and policies will be needed to bring about change, but there is so much work to be done on a small scale as well. Even if you’re still in school, just a kid, broke because your nonessential retail job closed down, or all of the above, there are actions you can take to help. Students your age are fighting racial injustice all across the country, and there are plenty of ways to help even if you can’t protest or donate money directly.
1. Learn 📚
The Anti-Racism Project has a list of books and articles you can read to educate yourself. Also, check out these anti-racism resources for white people and 12 steps to recover from white conditioning. This list breaks down resources for learning about being an active ally into lesson plans based on how much time you want to commit each day. Read about the case for reparations in Ta-Nehesi Coates’ article. Check out CHOOSE, a project started by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi when they were in high school to gather people’s stories about race, culture, and identity. They also published a roadmap for responding to George Floyd’s death.
There are multiple free online courses you can take to learn about topics such as Black history from the emancipation to the present, poverty and inequality, race and cultural diversity in American history, race as a social construction that is supported by political realities, and race conflict theory, which emphasizes inequality and conflict between different racial groups. Learn how to build resilience skills and about the whitewashing of American history. Omprakash is offering an open-access online platform where you can examine the pandemic and the inequalities it has exacerbated, and the 1619 Project delves into slavery’s impact on the country.
2. Make Changes at School 🏫
As a student, you have power within your school and school district to help bring about change. Students have recently petitioned to change their school name and change their mascot to stop reflecting Confederate figures and imagery. There is a growing movement to stop hair discrimination in school dress codes. Other schools are cutting ties with police departments and there are calls to defund the police and move those resources to education instead.
If there are improvements that need to be made in your school, read about making policy changes and writing petitions. Also, look at your classes — if they are like most, they do not devote adequate time to discussing white supremacy and systemic racism. Some students are submitting petitions and protesting for their schools to include an anti-racist curriculum, but adding an ethnic studies requirement for graduation is another option.
3. Make Changes in Your Town or City 💻
You can find your town or state historical society here, but be critical of the sources and pay attention to which historical figures and events are memorialized and what information is readily available to the public through museums and plaques. Do the memorials and information cover everything they should, or are marginalized populations left out of the story?
If the representation of your town’s history is whitewashed or otherwise unbalanced, there are actions you can take. Zyahna Bryant was a 15-year-old freshman in high school when she petitioned her city council to take down a Robert E. Lee monument and rename Lee Park. If removing memorials or renaming streets seems like a good next step, consider starting your own petition. If information is available online but is scattered or difficult to access, consider writing or editing a Wikipedia page and citing your sources to make it more reader-friendly.
4. Make Changes in Your Police Department 🏢
The idea of defunding the police has gained steam recently. To learn more, read about the communities in Texas, Oregon, and New Jersey that have successfully reallocated police budgets to mental health crisis responders and new training for 911 dispatchers. This advocacy toolkit for community policing from The Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights is also a great resource.
To support the cause, check out the petition that Black Lives Matter started and see if there are any organizations in your area you can join. If that’s not the case, find out how much of your town’s budget is spent on police, then find your elected officials and write them letters, or attend city council meetings and speak out there. There are templates online that can help you contact state or local officials — keep in mind that these should serve as guides, not fill-in-the-blanks.
5. Join an Organization 🤝
There are numerous groups that are already hard at work fighting to bring equity to this country. The official Black Lives Matter organizers are a great place to start. Dream Defenders is a youth-led organization that follows their agenda, Freedom Papers, to advance their vision of security and safety for all. Do Something is youth-led and offers the chance to earn scholarships. Showing Up For Racial Justice aims to bring white communities into the fight for racial justice, you can sign up for updates here or find a local chapter here. Black Youth Project 100 uses a Black, queer, feminist lens to advocate for change. We focused on national nonprofits here, but there are many organizations working at the state and local levels, so make sure to search online and see what is available near you.
6. Start an Organization 📝
What issues are close to your heart? For Marley Dias it is representation in books. When she was 13 when she launched #1000blackgirlbooks to collect and distribute books with Black female protagonists. She’s also published a book about activism. For Thandiwe Abdullah, it is the intersection of gun control and racial justice. She co-founded Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Youth Vanguard at 14. For Jerome Foster II, it is the disproportionate impact of climate change on Black and brown people. He founded The Climate Reporter at 14 and OneMillionofUs just last summer.
Whatever your interests or passions, chances are you can harness that energy to help push for a more racially just world. The Youth Activism Project has an activation hub where you can learn how to organize online and collaborate with other teens. Also check out this Youth Activist Toolkit, which has tips for everything from identifying a cause to sustaining a movement.
7. Vote and Help Expand Voting Access 🗳️
Make sure you are registered to vote at Rock the Vote, which also offers educational resources and COVID-19 voting information by state. If you’re not 18 yet, read about Nupol Kiazolu, who first protested at 13 after the murder of Trayvon Martin, founded the Black Lives Matter Youth Coalition, and ran the Vote 2000 campaign to help other students register to vote. Or, help the voters in your life keep up with their state’s election information and learn more about elections in general at Ballotpedia.
Become a member at Higher Heights for America to expand Black women’s elected representation and voting participation. Between the pandemic and the recent long lines for voting booths in certain states, calls to allow mail-in ballots have grown louder. Learn more about it here and see where your state stands. Also, make sure your household has completed the 2020 Census, which helps determine how federal funding will be distributed to communities.
8. Fundraise 💸
Many organizations rely on donations to fund their work, but there are ways to help even if you don’t have cash to spare. 11-year-old Jack Powers started a lawn mowing business and has been donating the proceeds to Black Lives Matter. This is something you can do with other odd jobs — weeding, painting, walking dogs. If that isn’t your thing but you’re an artist or make crafts, find a website to sell your work online. If you’re a gamer, get some buddies together for a tournament fundraiser on Twitch or have a board game night fundraiser. Design an “a-thon” challenge for yourself and ask people to pledge on social media or websites like Anython or RallyUp.
9. Support Black Leaders and Creators 📱
This comes in many forms. If you’ve got shopping to do, Official Black Wall Street and The Black Wallet both have apps and directories to help you find local Black businesses, and WeBuyBlack is a good option if you prefer online. Check this list of petitions from Black Lives Matter and support their leaders by signing and sharing on social media. Diversify your social media feed by following Black influencers, artists, and fitness professionals. Share the anti-racism resources you have been learning from on your various social media profiles so your friends and followers can educate themselves too. Different organizations have published lists of books, movies, tv shows, blogs, and other media you can consume to support Black creators.
