Introduction to Youth Liberation

I've been talking a lot about youth liberation without talking much about Youth Liberation - that is, the youth-led activist movement in Ann Arbor that lasted through the 1970s. I think it's important to look at previous attempts to see what went right and what went wrong. So today, let's look at the Youth Liberation movement, as well as some other examples of youth-led civil rights activism.

In December 1970, 15-year-old Keith Hefner and his colleagues founded an organization called Youth Liberation. The goal? To take over Ann Arbor public schools and run them in the interest of young people, not adults. Youth Liberation likened youth oppression to other systems of domination, like racism and sexism - thus, Youth Liberation was a civil rights movement like any other. They hoped to provide a blueprint to youth across the country for how to organize for their rights.

They did not end up taking over Ann Arbor public schools, but they did gain some significant achievements. They convinced their city council to get rid of discriminatory curfew laws, and they even ran a 15-year-old student as a candidate for their school board in 1972. Her name was Sonia Yaco, and despite being disqualified from the race on the basis of her age, she received 1,300 write-in votes. Her campaign influenced the formation of an alternative public high school, Community High School, later that year. Youth Liberation also became a publisher for youth rights news across the nation.

Youth Liberation had a detailed 15-point program. The demands strongly echo the objectives of other civil rights movements as well:

1. WE WANT THE POWER TO DETERMINE OUR OWN DESTINY
2. WE WANT THE IMMEDIATE END OF ALL ADULT CHAUVINISM

We believe ideas should be judged on their merit and people on their wisdom or kindness. Age in itself deserves no recognition. Adults who want to support youth struggle or “improve communication” should show their concern by providing concrete resources. Words alone are not enough. Age might once have led to wisdom, but the old have proven themselves unable to deal with the present reality. If the human species is to survive, the young must take the lead.

3. WE WANT FULL CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

We believe young people are necessary participants in democracy. We must have complete freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and the right to vote. We believe that all people are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

4. WE WANT THE RIGHT TO FORM OUR EDUCATION ACCORDING TO OUR NEEDS

We believe compulsory education is a form of imprisonment and must be abolished immediately. Grades and all forms of tracking must end because they stimulate competition, divide us and make us work for other people’s ends. All discipline procedures must be decided democratically within the school community. No school staff should be hired or fired without the democratic consent of students and teachers. Students and the community must have the right to use school facilities whenever they feel it is necessary.

5. WE WANT FREEDOM TO FORM INTO COMMUNAL FAMILIES

We believe that the nuclear family is not in the best interests of the people involved. Young people are now considered property – to be molded in the image of their parents. Since we demand self-determination for our lives, this is intolerable. In communal families children can grow up in the company of many people, both peers and adults. They can learn the cooperation of community rather than the oppression of ownership. Until communal families are a reality, some healthy provision must be made for young people whose present conditions of life force them to become cultural refugees.

6. WE WANT THE END OF MALE CHAUVINISM AND SEXISM

We believe women must be free and equal. We recognize that sexism is all-pervasive and often subtle and demeans the humanity of everyone. All forms of sex role stereotyping must end. Macho must go. Abortions must be free and legal. We consider the women’s movement our natural ally since both young people and women are systematically oppressed by male supremacist society.

7. WE WANT THE OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE AN AUTHENTIC CULTURE WITH INSTITUTIONS OF OUR OWN MAKING

We believe western culture is decadent and we refuse to continue it in our lives. People’s appearance must not affect their civil rights. All drugs must be legalized, as we see that it is not laws which govern people’s use of drugs, but societal conditions. We hope to create a society in which people will not need death drugs. Our music and cultural gatherings must be allowed to flourish in peace. We must be set free to begin living in the new age and begin to accept a responsibility for developing plans and examples of institutions that build joy, justice, and a respect for life.

8. WE WANT SEXUAL SELF-DETERMINATION

We believe all people must have the unhindered right to be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or trans-sexual.

9. WE WANT THE END OF CLASS ANTAGONISM AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE

We believe those in power cultivate elitism and class divisions among youth which only serve to weaken us. The survival of young people of all classes and races is threatened by the few who run this world. We condemn academic tracking, honors, and all other class divisions imposed on us.

10. WE WANT THE END OF RACISM AND COLONIALISM IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD

We believe America is an imperialist country. America uses over 50 percent of the world’s resources for less than 7 percent of the world’s population. Racism in schools is several damaging to students, particularly minority students. Students must eliminate racism and stop fighting each other. We must unite to fight the real enemy until we have education that meets the needs of all races. We support the liberation struggles of colonized people of all colors everywhere.

11. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED PEOPLE

All young people in juvenile homes, training schools, detention centers, mental institutions and other penal institutions for minors must be set free. They did not receive a trial before a jury of their peers and the society they offended is itself criminal. Young people must never receive discriminatory treatment before the law, whether in the courtroom, going to a movie, buying alcohol, or leaving home. The military draft must be abolished and the military made democratic.

12. WE WANT THE RIGHT TO BE ECONOMICALLY INDEPENDENT OF ADULTS

We believe we are entitled to work or to unemployment benefits. Child labor laws and extended schooling now force youth into the status of a dependent colony.

13. WE WANT THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

We believe that to survive we must have clean air to breathe, pure food to eat, water fit to drink, products built to last, free medical care, and an end to population growth. Life exists in balance and harmony but greed and stupidity have now sent us disastrously out of balance with our environment and ecological degradation is building momentum. Each person must learn to live a sound ecological life and all people together must change the economic structure of the world until the needs of the earth and its people are met.

14. WE WANT TO RE-HUMANIZE EXISTENCE

We believe that to do this we must recognize and deal with the invisible dictatorship of technocracy and bureaucracy. We are the crown of creation and we announce that it is not our destiny to become robot parts of the Great Machine.

15. WE WANT TO DEVELOP COMMUNICATION AND SOLIDARITY WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE WORLD IN OUR COMMON STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND PEACE

We believe national boundaries are artificial and must inevitably be abolished. In the new world, all resources and technology must be used for the benefit of all people.

Unfortunately, the organization dissolved in 1979, and the national movement did not gain much traction. Keith Hefner went on to become the founder and executive director of Youth Communication, a journalism and publishing program for New York City teens. In 1988, he wrote a retrospective about his experience running Youth Communication (formerly New Youth Connections), where he detailed the challenges of maintaining such an organization.

The 1960s civil rights movement wouldn't have been the civil rights movement without the work of young activists. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), founded in April 1960, was one of the most impactful organizations in the movement. In response to the jailing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., over 1,000 students participated in the Birmingham Children's Crusade - a school walkout during which they faced extreme police violence. The Crusade represented a turning point in the civil rights movement; the broader movement had been stuck in a period of stagnation since 1961. Afterwards, the movement regained momentum, and the federal government took legislative steps to end legal segregation.

Many more young activists participated in the movement. Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock Nine were some of the most prominent students to lead the integration of schools. The Freedom Rides of 1961 challenged the lack of enforcement of desegregation laws regarding public buses, and the vast majority of participating activists were under 30 years old. Fred Hampton led the Youth Council of the West Suburban Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in his late teens. He joined the Black Panther Party at age 20 and soon became the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter. He established a Free Breakfast program for students and led the Rainbow Coalition, an alliance between the Black Panthers, the Young Lords, and the Young Patriots. He was assassinated by the FBI at age 21. The Black Panther Party of Chicago dissolved five years later.

Around this same time, Native American youth were also leading the Red Power Movement. The American Indian Movement (AIM) organization was formed in 1968, inspired by the Black Panthers. In 1969, over 80 Native American youth occupied Alcatraz Island - an occupation which lasted 19 months. According to writer Valeria Lannon, "Red Power stands for mass, united, militant action."

This tradition of youth organizing continues to this day. We've seen the impact of Black youth during protests against police brutality such as Ferguson and BLM. Indigenous youth continue to serve as water protectors. The encampments for Gaza on university campuses in 2023-2024 inspired mass protests nationally. While the movement for youth liberation hasn't seen a broader resurgence yet, youth activists still fight for liberation every day.

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor

Platform – Youth Liberation

Documents Written by Youth Communication Staff

Wayback Machine

The 1970s Youth Liberation Movement Fought for Young People’s Rights

In many ways, young people are uniquely vulnerable to exploitation.

Teen VogueAnya Ventura

The Possibilities for Child Liberation

Children’s liberation movements have challenged the notion that limited responsibilities for young people must come with limited rights.

Current AffairsLauren Fadiman

The GENERATOR: The History of Youth Liberation

1960s Civil Rights Movement

Youth in the Civil Rights Movement | Articles and Essays | Civil Rights History Project | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

At its height in the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement drew children, teenagers, and young adults into a maelstrom of meetings, marches, violence, and in some cases, imprisonment. Why did so many young people decide to become activists for social justice? Joyce Ladner answers this question in her interview with the Civil Rights History Project, pointing to the strong support of her elders in shaping her future path: “The Movement was the most exciting thing that one could engage in. I often say that, in fact, I coined the term, the ‘Emmett Till generation.’ I said that there was no more exciting time to have been born at the time and the place and to the parents that movement, young movement, people were born to… I remember so clearly Uncle Archie who was in World War I, went to France, and he always told us, ‘Your generation is going to change things.’”

The Library of Congress

A legacy of youth activism in the Civil Rights Movement - Dallas Examiner

Discover the pivotal role of children and young people in the Civil Rights Movement, from Birmingham Children’s Crusade to the founding of SNCC.

Dallas ExaminerMARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN

Student Activists Lead in the Fight for Civil Rights

How student activism changed the lives of three civil rights icons.

LDF Recollection

• https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2023/01/23/1150867899/how-the-rainbow-coalition-was-formed-and-its-legacy

A Century of Black Youth Activism - JSTOR Daily

The history of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights Movement is widely studied, but young Black Americans have been organizing for justice for much longer.

JSTOR DailyLivia Gershon

• https://redpowermedia.wordpress.com/category/red-power-movement/