Dear Young Leaders,

In Our America, many young people feel hopeless or powerless about changing things. They look at racism, poverty, unemployment, and violence and feel it is impossible to do much about them.

The current conditions and our lack of education about people’s history make most young people unaware of the great positive contributions that youth have made to changing “impossible” things, both in our own country and in other countries. In my lifetime, I have witnessed the power of young people to change big things. Here are a few examples that might inform and inspire you, especially when discouragement chips away at your hope and commitment:

 ·        In the late 1950s and 1960s, people looked at racial segregation in the South and said it was impossible to change. Butyoung people began to sit in at segregated lunch counters, ride segregated buses, enroll at segregated schools. They marched, suffered beatings from police, went to jail by the thousands, and sang “We Shall Overcome.” They gave people courage and hope. They formed powerful organizations like SNCC--the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. They provided much of the leadership for the Civil Rights movement. They challenged racism at the core. The struggle is not over, but young people helped change the face of this country.  

 ·        In the late 1960s and early 1970s, theUnited Stateswas waging a failing war inVietnam, inSoutheast Asia. Most people here looked at the hugeU.S.military establishment and the force of our government’s commitment to the war and said it was impossible to do anything about it. But manyyoung peoplebelieved it was an unjust, unwise, and racist war. They began protest marches. They burned their draft cards. They went to jail for their beliefs. They stirred up a huge student movement. They caused the downfall of President Lyndon Johnson. They eventually helped bring about the end of the war inVietnam.

 ·        InCuba, in the early 1960s, shortly after the dictator Batista was thrown out, young people, ages 14 to 18, swarmed the countryside teaching reading and writing to the peasants, and practically wiped out illiteracy.

 ·        InSouth Africa, young people facedapartheid, an impossible system of racial oppression, and were in the forefront of the decades-long movement that eventually overturned apartheid. At times, over 10,000 young people under 18 years old were in jail. Once, 800 young white men signed a declaration saying they refused to serve in the South African army, which enforced apartheid. Many joined their black brothers in jail.

 ·        InIsrael, the vast majority of the Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli soldiers were young people. The youth are continuing to play a leading role in their people’s struggle for self-determination. And here, too, hundreds of young Israeli soldiers have refused to serve in the Israeli-occupied territories and  have refused to fight against the Palestinians.

·        InSwedenthere is a young people’s organization, 30,000 to 40,000 strong, which has been waging a different kind of struggle. For years they have fought to eliminate grading from the school system because of the way it ranks young people and pits them against each other because of tests scores. As of now, they have succeeded in getting rid of grades for every year up to 14 years old. They plan to continue until students are no longer categorized by grades at any level.

 ·        InWest Germany, it was the young people who played a leading role in trying to eliminate nuclear weapons. They organized huge peace marches and demonstrations from one end of the country to the other. This led toWest Germanysigning an important arms reduction treaty with theSoviet Unionat the height of the Cold War.

 ·        In much of the change that sweptEastern Europeout from under communism, young people were out front in demanding an end to corruption, domination, and lack of freedom.

 ·        In many industrialized nations likeJapan,Canada,England,Italy, and theUnited States, young people have been active in the struggle to keep the world safe from nuclear war, and to stop the damage being done to our earth and the environment. In recent years, young people in many countries have organized massive protests against economic globalization.

 ·        All over the developing world--inEl Salvador,Guatemala,Chiapas, thePhilippines,Chile,Eritrea,Korea,China,Liberia, southern Africa,Burma, and more--young people have been on the front lines in the fight to bring peace and justice to their countries.

 Youth everywhere can be very proud of the great contributions that young people have made to our world. Their leadership, courage, suffering, determination, and vision give hope to us all.

Today in theUnited States, we face many seemingly “impossible” problems: poor schools, increasing poverty, rising violence, rampant racism, injustice in law enforcement, global warming, poor healthcare, and more. The single most important thing we can do to take on the “impossible” problems is to develop effective leaders at the fastest possible rate. Young people in this country right now are playing--or can play--very important roles in changing things. 

You can begin by seeing yourselves as leaders and potential leaders, develop the faith that you can make a difference, learn whatever you have to learn to lead well, commit to living an ethical life, take care of your personal bad habits, build a positive support community, get organized with other young leaders, get allies to be on your side (including adults), develop a plan, and take action. 

 Many “impossible” problems await your leadership!  What role do you want to play?   Or, as a veteran movement leader and mentor of mine used to say to challenge us, “What’s your excuse today for not being the leader of a just and peaceful world?”

 In solidarity, John Bell