Dear Young Person, You Are Valued

This Pride month—against the backdrop of legislation designed to roll back gains that protect the human rights of LGBTQ+ youth in the nation’s schools and communities—it is more important than ever to showcase ways to support and affirm young people. That’s the goal of our featured article this week, pulled from the latest edition of Learning for Justice magazine, an issue that advocates for a strategic focus on the South for the greater good of our democracy and nation.

In this Q&A, activists Nikole Parker and Brandon Wolf emphasize the need for each of us to advocate for safer schools where all young people are valued. Parker and Wolf are staff members of Equality Florida, the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s LGBTQ community—a mission threatened by the state government’s ongoing efforts to silence queer voices and restrict gender-affirming health care. Parker and Wolf have a message for young people in Florida and beyond: “Your perspective is necessary. Your existence is valued. And we will never stop fighting for the better future you deserve.”

Read more here.

Juneteenth Observances Promote ‘Absolute Equality’

Monday is Juneteenth: a commemoration of the June 19, 1865, announcement to enslaved Black Texans that they were finally free, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the Civil War ended. This LFJ article travels to Galveston, Texas—the birthplace of Juneteenth—to learn about how the ways we celebrate this evolving holiday might inform our next steps in creating a just society. “Juneteenth can serve as a reminder to fight for absolute equality, as it has yet to be realized.”

Teaching Juneteenth

How do you teach hard history while also empowering students to be advocates for change? That’s the question at the heart of this LFJ article from 2019, two years before Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021. “Lessons about Juneteenth need to recognize the challenges those who fight injustice have always faced, but they shouldn’t be marked only by the tragedy of enslavement. Students, particularly Black students, can find empowerment in the jubilant celebrations of culture, activism and the humanity of a people.”

You're Invited: Read-Along with LFJ!

Come read with us! LFJ is hosting three virtual read-alongs this summer. Up first: Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 14) at 3:30 p.m. CDT, we’ll be reading the lead feature from LFJ magazine’s Spring 2023 issue, “The Power of Place: Art as a Tool for Social Justice.” RSVP now! (And learn more about the full LFJ Summer Read-Along series, including recordings of past events and details about future readings, here.)