- Schwarzenegger v. Gamers
- Annual Meeting a Great Success
- A New Year and a New Look for NYRA’s Annual Report
- NYRA Announces The First Ever Recipients of The NYRA Awards
- NYRA-SEFL Federal Curfew Lawsuit Suffers Setback
- NYRA Excited About New Relationship with the Department Of Education
- Election Results
- NYRA Blog Updates
- News From the Web
==Introduction==
The new year has begun! Right now college students are traveling to their new cities, new dorm rooms and new homes for the next year. High school students are looking over their class schedules for the next year and figuring out who they will be sharing third period with. This is a time of transition for many, and NYRA is no different. Two weeks ago NYRA members from around the country traveled to Washington, DC for our annual meeting. We reflected on the year we just finished and planned ahead for the year to come. Students across the country were sharpening their pencils in preparation while NYRA members met to sharpen their skills in youth rights advocacy. The next year promises to be as exciting and important to the future of youth rights as the year we just finished. But, as NYRA President Jeffrey Nadel says in the annual report, you can only prepare for the future if you understand the past. So all youth rights supporters are strongly urged to read through this year’s annual report and understand 2009-2010. (more…)
Interning at the National Youth Rights Association this past summer was a memorable experience. Among the many NYRA memories, my favorite was representing NYRA with Alex Koroknay-Palicz at the Vans Warped tour. In addition to the excitement of being around so many talented bands, Alex and I spoke with hundreds of people who varied in age, education, and gender. Throughout the day, most of our interactions were positive and sparked enlightening discussions about age discrimination. The event became an unexpected opportunity to challenge and change misconceptions about youth rights.
Through the Warped Tour experience, I became more aware of the diversity within NYRA’s membership. Unlike other organizations, NYRA attracts members who don’t necessarily fit a certain mold, but who are brought together by a common passion and belief in their civil rights. The passion of NYRA’s members and staff inspired me because they strive to make life better for upcoming generations.
Reflecting upon my summer, I have a sincere respect for NYRA. It is a unique civil rights organization that champions equality and equal opportunity for all, young or younger!
And now we’ve completed the 7th run of #16tovote on the 16th! Our monthly 24-hour Twitter campaign to raise awareness of lowering the voting age! This one was a little low-key, where despite having a decent total tweets and retweets of about 208, number of participants was only 30. Nonetheless, the event still went on and still spread the word about lowering the voting age to a lot of people, even several people who’d never heard of the cause before and were delighted! The next one will, of course, be Thursday, September 16. But for now, here’s the recap!
youthrights Let’s get another #16tovote on the 16th started! Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age! http://bit.ly/cavxOT
youthrights Schwarzenegger wants to ban violent video games from youth. http://bit.ly/baOTE3 That is, from people who can’t vote against him. #16tovote
youthrights But funnily enough, Schwarzenegger’s home country of Austria lowered the voting age to 16 three years ago. #16tovote
youthrights Wondering what’s going on? #16tovote on the 16th is our monthly event to tweet a lot about why the voting age needs to be lowered. #16tovote
youthrights If you support lowering the voting age, and of course you do, speak up! And use the hashtag. #16tovote (more…)
Arnold is trying to take away your games. Don’t let him.
California passed a law that would ban the sale of all “violent” video games to individuals under 18. The case of whether or not this law is Constitutional is going before the US Supreme Court. Their ruling could have far reaching implications for how games are produced, who gets to play them and how they look. Even if you aren’t under 18 this court case could be just the first step to larger and stricter standards that will affect everyone. Jeff Green lays out why you should care. The Entertainment Consumers Association calls this case the “single most important moment for gamers, and the pivotal issue for gaming, in the sector’s history.”
Schwarzenegger: keeping violent video games out of the hands of our children since 1992.
No one on the Supreme Court has ever played a video game. None of the lawyers for either side have ever played a video game. These people are going to be setting down law that will affect tens of millions of gamers and young people across the country, but their only knowledge of video games comes from the testimonies of people like Andrew Schlafly, who paint video games as little more than realistic murder simulators.
NYRA isn’t going to let them get away with this. NYRA defends the rights of youth when they are challenged across the country. As gamers, we need to make it clear that video games are more than random violence and that no one should be denied access to them. NYRA is working on an Amicus Brief to submit to the Supreme Court, but we need your help.
Since we are one of the few organizations working on this actually made up of gamers, we need to work with the gaming community to strengthen our argument. The Supreme Court doesn’t realize the importance of video games. We need your testimonies about their social, artistic, and political value to help the justices understand just what they would be taking away if they let this law stand.
Political speech is treated differently than non-political speech. The more examples we can provide of games, especially violent ones, having some kind of political content the better. If we collect enough testimony to convince the court that video games have political value, their distribution will be protected under the First Amendment. This very well could be the silver bullet that saves video games in this case. If we convince the Court that games are political, not mindless, then we win. Simple as that.
You can be a part of saving video games. Leave a comment on this post describing your thoughts on the social, artistic and, especially, political value of video games. Together, we can strike this law down.
Today is the last day for me as an intern at NYRA’s office. But the battle for youth rights should never stop. Before involved with NYRA, I didn’t even notice that there are so many discriminations against the youth in the society. Everyone has been young. But as we grow up, we forgot how it was like to be young.
Among all NYRA concerned issues, I am particularly interested in lowering the drinking age. Before I came to the U.S., I have heard a lot about teen drinking issues especially the news story of former President Bush’s twin daughters got caught drinking alcohol. I think that story occupied the front page of the “International” section for a week. Maybe it is difficult for me to understand American teens’ desire to lower the drinking age because I grew up in a totally different culture. I have learned that alcohol is not just wine or beer that get people drunk or unconscious. Instead, certain type of alcohol can be used as a treatment for diseases. I cannot remember when was my first time to drink but I didn’t become an alcoholic because I drank at an early age. In fact, from what I have learned, young children normally don’t like the taste of alcohol. They prefer coke or juice. At NYRA, I was exposed to different kinds of youth issues in the U.S. If I was not interning here, I might still have the old thoughts toward American teens based on movies and TV series.
Working in the office of NYRA, I have learned a lot about not just youth rights issues but also how a non-profit organization operates. We have a saying in China, “Sparrow, although small, five organs all complete” (麻雀雖小，五臟齊全). To me, NYRA’s office seems to be a sparrow: it is small but functioning efficiently as those giant animals do, such as elephants or whales. Since it is a small office, you can always listen to the strategic discussion between the executive director and the director of development and operation. And, they encouraged interns to jump in and contribute their own thoughts. Moreover, I was encouraged to participate in several outreach director interviews which gave me to the chance to re-think interviews and candidates from the perspective of employers.
To me, it is a great experience working here. Today is the last day at the office. I remember a quote from my teacher a few years ago. And, I think it is suitable as the end of my story:
This is not the end.
This is not the beginning of the end.
Maybe this is the end of the beginning.
Dozens of NYRA members from all over the country came to DC this weekend for the biggest and most exciting NYRA Annual Meeting yet! We have about 100 pictures of the event up on the NYRA Facebook page. Here is just a sample. Click them to see the whole album. Be sure to “like” the NYRA Facebook page too!
Yesterday, NYRA members made it out to Warped Tour in Columbia, MD and did a great job spreading the word about the youth rights movement. Almost TWO HUNDRED new people signed up at the event. This was an amazing opportunity to promote youth rights, get more people involved and grow the movement. Warped Tour is a national tour of punk bands and an awesome venue to reach out to interested youth.
Here is a pic of Myah Coleman recruiting at the concert:
We’ve now had the sixth run of #16tovote on the 16th! As usual, we all got on Twitter and tweeted why we want a lower voting age, with the #16tovote hashtag. This was the second time it’s been on a Friday. It had a lot of the usual spouting of short talking points, and it even got a bit conversational here and there. The next will be Monday, August 16, of course. As usual, here’s the recap!
Before the Committee of the Whole
of the Council of the District of Columbia
Testimony of
Larry T. Pretlow II, President
On behalf of the
DC Chapter of the National Youth Rights Association
on
Reforming the Youth Advisory Council
July 10, 2010
First of all, thank you to Chairman Gray and the Council for holding this hearing and inviting the youth of the city to come and share their views on issues that affect us all. As President of the DC Chapter of the National Youth Rights Association I understand all too well the difficulties young people have in being heard and being taken seriously. This is a wonderful opportunity and I thank the Council for extending this invitation to the youth of the city.
As we have seen so far here today, young people have many views, many needs, and many desires from their elected officials. Too often issues affecting young people are decided without their input or involvement. Often without them even knowing what is going on until it is too late. This hearing is a wonderful opportunity not just for young people to express themselves, but for the DC City Council to understand the desires of this very important part of their constituency.
This idea of young people sharing their concerns with the council is so great, I’d like to see it happen more often than every few years. DC needs a permanent avenue for soliciting the opinions of young residents and for giving them direct influence over the laws and rules that govern their lives. Giving young people a permanent place within city government will benefit DC youth and DC government alike.
Since 2002 DC has had a Youth Advisory Council. Some of our members have served on this council and it serves an important function, however there are several structural reasons that prevent the Youth Advisory Council from doing the most amount of good for the city and for our youth. If the DC Youth Advisory Council is to be a credible representative of our city’s youth, it needs to be able to speak freely and independently. As it is currently housed within the mayor’s office, YAC is currently unable to do this. Pressure has been placed on the YAC to prevent it from speaking out against the mayor or his policies. As long as the YAC continues to be under the power of the mayor’s office it will never be able to speak freely or be a true voice for youth. Therefore NYRA-DC strongly urges that the Youth Advisory Council be made independent of the mayor’s office.
I am concerned also whether the Youth Advisory Council is truly representing the needs and wishes of the District’s youth. Many youth are not even aware of the Youth Advisory Council and fewer yet regularly communicate with their representatives on the Council. I myself am running for ANC commissioner in Ward 8 and know that there is nothing that connects a representative to the people better than running for office and campaigning for votes. To make the YAC truly representative of DC’s youth, NYRA-DC strongly urges that Youth Advisory Council members be elected once a year by DC students, the elections could be administered by DC’s high schools.
Finally, there is nothing more dis-empowering than to be promised an opportunity to be heard, express your views, and impact the lives of District residents and then be ignored. As you can see here today there are many youth who have opinions about DC laws because so many of DC laws affect them. To truly be given an opportunity to represent the interests of youth, the Youth Advisory Council must be given real, substantive decision making ability on the DC City Council. Unlike other DC residents, young people under 18 cannot vote for the Mayor, cannot vote for the Council, cannot vote for ANC, or any other office in the city. They are taxed, but are not represented. To ensure the Youth Advisory Council is fully able to represent our youth, NYRA-DC strongly urges that the YAC be given one vote on the DC City Council.
Our city knows what it is like to not control its destiny. Our city knows what it is like to face taxation without representation. Our city knows what it is like to have a non-voting delegate. Please do not disenfranchise young people the way that DC is itself disenfranchised. Please do the right thing and give our youth a real voice, a real say, and a real vote. Thank you.
Larry T. Pretlow II
President
National Youth Rights Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area
Phone: 301-979-5881
E-mail: Larry@dc.youthrights.org
Website: http://dc.youthrights.org
The fifth run of #16tovote on the 16th, our monthly Twitter campaign to raise awareness of lowering the voting age, has come and gone. Just like before, youth rights supporters on Twitter tweeted and retweeted a lot about lowering the voting age, using the #16tovote hashtag, spreading the word to all of their followers. While some of our usual participants were conspicuously absent, we got a lot of new participants who eagerly jumped into the fun! Also, since school is out now, some who usually couldn’t participate until late afternoon were able to get into it earlier in the day.
The sixth run will be, of course, on Friday, July 16. If you’re not already following NYRA on Twitter, do it now!
But for now, here’s the recap of the June edition of #16tovote on the 16th!
youthrights Hey, everybody! It’s time for yet another… #16tovote on the 16th!!! Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age - http://bit.ly/cavxOT
teh_maxh Yay, it’s #16tovote day!
youthrights #16tovote on the 16th is our day we tweet and retweet a lot about why the voting age needs to be lowered! With the #16tovote hashtag. (more…)
Why don't you 
Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age! 
#16tovote
Schwarzenegger: keeping violent video games out of the hands of our children since 1992.
