Youth Speaks

I hosted an event in August that showcased Operation Understanding DC, an organization that brings together 15 African-American and 15 Jewish students for a year of learning through the context of exploring prejudices, culture and history and culminates with a three-week civil rights tour of America. Four students fresh off the bus from the tour, as well as two of their adult volunteers, joined us on a Sunday morning for a potluck brunch at the house.

As we nibbled on homemade pancakes, quiche and bagels, we got a glimpse into the experience that the students had while travelling; meeting the man who was with Martin Luther King, Jr the day he was shot, visiting Ellis Island and rural synagogues in the south, and learning about the civil rights movement from the soil it was born on in Alabama and Mississippi. There was no agenda that morning; I simply wanted to give the students a chance to speak about their experience and for our Moishe community to learn about this great organization.

The students, most of them rising high school juniors, were all extremely excited and willing to open up about their experience on the tour. They all had unique and meaningful answers to the questions posed to them. Some chose to join the program because their parents made them while others joined on their own in an effort to explore their own background. Some of them had many “wow” moments while others were still processing the experience as a whole. They were all energized to take the knowledge they had attained back to their communities and schools. Many of them said this wouldn’t be easy as social justice isn’t exactly trendy in high schools and many of them felt they couldn’t properly convey the experience they had just had to their peers. Regardless, they were all motivated to keep the energy from their trip going.

With these four compelling students leading the morning, I had a chance to sit back and look around the room. In the corner was Ilana, a union organizer and a leader in the progressive Jewish community here in DC. I noticed Dan, a Teach for America alumni who I had met while doing a board training through Avodah/ AJWS. There was a woman who works in international development and another who works in environmental affairs. There were teachers and non-profit professionals and students in the room. For us, social justice is trendy. It is a big part of our everyday lives and what keeps us going in the world. At least for me, I never think that my work could be perceived as uncool or that this is a barrier to creating awareness or mobilization. For these students however, they have the challenge of making their voices heard on issues like racism, anti-Semitism, prejudice and social justice with the knowledge that they may fall on idle or even bullying ears.

To me, the magic of that morning was seeing how organically this program really changes the perspective of these young people. They learn and grow together in a way that really fosters empowerment and they are able to take away from this experience a clear changing point in their lives. Above all, the morning was a reminder that the motivation to do good work, to continue to live a righteous life, can come from gathering a group of peers to hear the voices of some inspiring and well-spoken youth.