Louisa Kamps - Girl Activist

Girl Activist

Foreword by Shannon Watts

Winning strategies from women whove made a difference

By Louisa Kamps, Susanna Daniel and Michelle Wildgen

Illustrated by Georgia Rucker

Downtown Bookworks Inc.

New York, NY

www.downtownbookworks.com

Copyright 2019 Downtown Bookworks Inc.

Designed and illustrated by Georgia Rucker

ISBN-13: 978-1-9505-8731-5 (eBook)

Y ou dont have to have special training or degrees to be an activist. You dont even have to be an adult. You just have to care passionately about an issue and get involved.

I became an activist in 2012 after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. As a mom of five, I care passionately about the safety of my children. So I created a Facebook page calling on other moms to come together to fight for laws that would make it harder for dangerous people to get guns.

And just like that, I became an activist. Thousands of mothersand otherswanted to join me in helping to stop gun violence. Together we held rallies and marches, we showed up in statehouses and corporate boardrooms, and we visited our lawmakers in Washington, DC.

I never imagined that my Facebook page would turn into Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, now one of the largest grassroots movements in the nation. Or that we would change so many laws and policies across the country to help stop gun violence.

But it didnt happen overnight. Activism is hard work. It takes a lot of time and effort to create change in a democracy. You have to be patient, knowing that the activism you work on may not be finished in a month, a year, or even during your lifetime. Think of activism as a marathon, not a sprint.

The good news, though, is that you dont have to wait to get started. In fact, you can learn from the stories in this book and apply what you learn to your own activism. When Anne Frank was just 14 years old, she wrote in her diary, How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

There are already so many girls your age working to change their neighborhoods, schools, communitiesand even the countryfor the better. I know you can do that too. What Ive learned as an activist is that if you see a problem, you really do have the power to fix itno matter who you are, how old you are, what your gender is, or where you come from.

So whats next? As you read this book, think about what issues give you goose bumps or make you feel like crying or touch your soul in some way. Then do some research. How is the problem being addressed? How can you help? Can you join existing groups already working on the issue, or do you need to create your own? What skills do you have that will help solve the problem? (By the way, if you can make a call or send an email, you have skills!)

Then jump in. Have conversations with experts. Read up on the issue so you have a basic understanding of its history. Start a Facebook page or a Twitter handle or convene a meeting after school with like-minded peers. Meet the people who have influence over your issuemaybe your school board, your mayor, or your state representatives. And as you learn more about the landscape, you can create a plan of actionjust like you do when you have a project due at school.

Just remember that your unique experiences and talents will bring a new and important flair to whatever issue you work on. Be confident in the fact that you offer a new outlook on an issue, even if people have been trying to solve it for centuries. No one in the world will ever do activism exactly like you.

Remember that everything you need to create change already exists inside you. You have compassion, determination, and intelligenceand thats exactly the recipe for becoming a successful activist at any age.

SHANNON WATTS

Founder, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

M aybe youve noticed an unfair policy operating at your school or in your neighborhood. Maybe youve learned about an industry practice that is hurting the environment and contributing to climate change. Or maybe youve heard some people saying unkind things about others, based on their gender or the color of their skin.

At times, encountering injustice and intolerance can be so uncomfortable that you may want to put your hands over your ears and close your eyes. But because you care about people and want to make the world a better place, you cant ignore whats happening. To that, we say: Thank you and congratulations. Youre already on your way to becoming a great social activista girl on a mission to make positive change.

The steps youll take to create a safer, healthier, kinder, and more equitable society will not only improve many other peoples lives but will make your own life richer and more rewarding too. Fighting for a good cause can be challenging. But its always interesting and, because youre likely to meet cool people through activism, its often a lot more fun than sitting at home alone in front of the TV.

But what does it really take to build a movement and push for new social, political, environmental, or economic reforms? Organize a protest to bring attention to a worthy cause? Or encourage cranky people with narrow views to think more open-mindedly? Here in Girl Activista book named to honor the extraordinary courage of the activists we profile, as well as your own budding power to stand up for justicewe offer pages and pages of answers to these questions, and many more.

We dive into what its like to realize, with striking clarity, that something isnt right. To formulate a clear action plan. To find fellow activist allies you can team up with to trade notes and give each other support. To keep pushing forwardeyes on the prizeeven when you face setbacks and make mistakes. (Social activists are human beings, not saints, after all.)

Some of the protesters we profile put their own lives at risk in order to counter violent extremism. The African-American journalist and activist Ida B. Wells did this by traveling across the Deep South on her own during a timethe 1890sof intense racism in order to investigate and expose the lynchings, or mob killings, of black people. When Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl, began to publicly criticize religious militants who were trying to deny girls their basic right to education, she was brutally attacked. Fortunately, Malala survived, and today shes one of the worlds most admired human rights activists.

Other activists waded in gradually, starting small initiatives that have become mighty over time. When transgender teen Jazz Jennings started creating low-tech YouTube video diaries about her life, she had no idea that the kind of basic, helpful nuts-and-bolts information she provided would turn out to be tremendously eye-opening for people all over the world who were struggling to understand transgenderism. Alexandra Scotts simple idea to sell lemonade from a stand on her front lawn to raise money for cancer research continues to draw major donations every year.