Young Leaders, Future Is Now
As Local And National Events Unfold, Issues Are Exposed And Discussed In Youth Leadership Summit
By Raoul Dennis
Young leaders activists and artists participating in the July 17 Youth Summit pulled no punches as they attacked issues ranging from COVID-19 to redistribution of police funds and disproportionate wealth distribution.
Youth leaders included Ninah Jackson, Drake Smith, Olivia Gray, Nick Asante, Zach Koung and many more who are established community or school leaders. Olivia Gray, of BlackGirls4BlackLives, partnered with the councilmember’s office on the event
They took solid positions on a range of issues. On SROs in schools, an issue that most directly impacts the lives of students, some of the panelists agreed that police officers in schools are a positive influence but needed to have more comprehensive training.
They called for police reform that included a civilian review board with subpoena power. On the matter of “defunding the police,” the panelists viewed police structures as redistribution of monies to aid non-police areas where the society’s root problems exist. They say today’s policing model is a “broken foundation” that needs to be “rebuilt from the ground up – like renovations for new housing” when existing facilities become dated. The called for a definition of the role of police officers and for bad officers to be treated as other civilians.
In health, panelists pushed for reform as well. “Why do health care workers have so little PPE while police have full riot and military gear and paramilitary tanks,” they questioned. Young leaders presented interesting ideas throughout the discussion.
Other topics included economics, capitalism, voting, COVID-19, education and housing.
The platform was provided by County Councilmember Monique Anderson-Walker as part of her Moving Foward series.
“Our “MOVING FORWARD” Youth Summit was profoundly telling that our youth are indeed our “TODAY” leaders! Witnessing the regional youth leaders’ knowledge and conviction on the topics that are affected by systemic racism was so revealing. These dynamic youth people representing Prince George’s, Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Howard Counties were engaging and fully aware of the historical systems that set the tone of racial inequalities,” Anderson-Walker says.
She continued: “I was proud and quite simply, blown away, by the level of discussion, factual depth of the topics, and their defined resolutions. The creative compositions that weaved through the Youth Summit continued the flow of consciousness and seamlessly connected the informed dialogue. Their voices were empowering, inspiring and ones that I am confident will transform our nation, as we collectively move toward eradicating injustices and broken systems that have oppressed generations of African-Americans and people of color.”
The full summit is preset here. See below.
