If you get a chance today, grab a copy of The Triangle Tribune! We are front page! Here is an excerpt from the article quoting our YOI folks, Monse and Sanyu, who talk about the importance of Freedom Summer and why our summer program, in its 5th year, is a Freedom School!
“I had the opportunity to travel to Mississippi this past week, and it was the most emotional experience of my organizing life,” said Monserrat Alvarez who was part of the YOI’s first summer program graduating class and is now on staff. “When we talk about the history of Freedom Summer in Mississippi, we often jump to voter registration work and (the) Civil Rights Act. I cannot deny how important this work was for the nation, but 1964 Freedom Summer had other projects – Freedom Schools. These schools were operated within the community by SNCC students and community folks who risked their homes and lives to make sure their young people had an education. We often forget how underfunded schools were, and continue to be, and just how impactful Freedom Schools were in educating black students.”
Sanyu Gichie, who helped head up the local moratorium for the Summer Freedom School’s campaign, said they wanted to uplift the Freedom School legacy.
“A big pillar of this program is looking back on people’s history, but we want to emphasize to our students that each person has power,” she said. “History books often focus on the leaders of a movement, while giving little or no attention to the communities that devoted their time and made sacrifices for change. Young people have been at the fore of winning gains for gender, race, class, immigrant, ability and voting rights. Freedom School allows youth to tap into their unknown reserves of strength and power which are vital to creating the systemic change needed for our communities.”
Our program officially starts TOMORROW! We are stoked to have the opportunity to learn, work and build with young people who are envisioning a better world.
Freedom School is a community-driven, community-supported project that is free of charge to all participants but costs us around $2000 per young person. If you would like to make a donation to help sustain this program through the years, you can do so here. Your donation is tax-deductible.
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