As young people, like the rest of the nation and world, grapple with the looming reality of a new and so-far potentially controversial presidential administration and Republican control Congress, the Youth and College Division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is hosting a “gathering of youth activists next month to organize and plan how to respond to new civil rights threats expected under a new administration and Congress in 2017.”
College students nationwide are just finishing finals and winding down for the holiday break. Some have jobs to tide them over, some do not. The uncertain economic reality has many young people nervous about the impact on themselves personally. This uncertainty has spurred many to action.
Leaders of the youth wing of the civil right organization, along with partners in Justice League New York and the Empowerment Movement will join together at the “People’s Inauguration” rally at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Saturday, Jan. 21, at 9 a.m. Grammy-nominated artist Chance the Rapper is scheduled to appear as a guest speaker as the youth activists gather “to respond to civil rights threats in future.”
MTV artist of the year Chance the Rapper is well-known for his independently driven rise among young people, and also his leading hundreds of concert-goers from his show in Grant Park’s Petrillo Music Shell to an early voting center in the Loop in Chicago.
Organizers declare that January’s rally aims to “re-unite allies and partners who helped register thousands of new and young voters during the 2016 election with the goal to launch a new era of activism and protest against potential threats from the presidency of Donald J. Trump. During the meeting, attendees will begin collaborating to unite together and stand for a progressive policy agenda in the coming months and years.”
“We are faced with a moral and ethical crisis during this critical time in our nation’s history after the election of Donald J. Trump,’ said Stephen Green, director of the NAACP Youth and College Division. “This moment calls for young leaders to gather together and develop a strategy to protect the human and civil rights of all Americans through nonviolent resistance.”
The NAACP’s Youth and College Division say that their new initiative, called #StayWokeAndFight, will involve “direct actions, protests and other activism to oppose threats to civil rights, education investment, criminal justice reform and other areas of concern posed by the incoming administration that takes office the day before the rally.”
Organizers also plan to host a “People’s Inaugural Ball” Jan. 20. For information, log on to www.staywokeandfight.com.