Lei Brewer at a peaceful protest with her family. photo by Kimberly Raye Brewer
Anyone can get involved in important causes, no matter how old or experienced they are.
Being a youth activist and a student is something that hasn’t always been easy. As someone who has been to marches, protests, rallies, etc, it is hard to mix in a real social life in my day to day schedule. Though there are many good things that come with starting activism at a young age, such as being able to understand politics, what’s going on in the world, and what issues need to be addressed. Being a young activist can be difficult when it comes to people taking you seriously. It took a long time for me to feel as though I had a voice in a world full of people trying to be heard. With the support of the people who I surrounded myself with, and my mom who always told me I had a voice, it has been easier to get people to listen to me and hear what I was saying.
In 2020, the year George Floyd died, I remember going to one of the largest protests I had ever seen. There were people with signs chanting, and people handing out face masks with the phrase “I can’t breathe” on them, but the one thing I could never forget about that day was the amount of young people who were there. There were several high school students speaking up about how they feared for their lives as a person of color. In a world where police brutality is a largely debated issue, they spoke about how they wish they could walk down the street with their hoods on and not be profiled as a criminal. Hearing stories about people who face things that I know my family and I have to go through on a daily basis, made me realize that I am someone who has a voice and someone who can make a difference.
Being an activist means being someone who does what it takes to change how things work. The “Rename Stapleton For All” community has been a large part of my life. My mother introduced me to it in 2017. This community was a group of people who worked together to try to rename Stapleton. In the first two years of me being a part of this group, my mom would take me to every meeting, every rally, and every speech that had to do with the cause. In 2019, there were people who wondered why there were kids like my sister and me involved. My mother of course had me go onto a stage in Northfield and talk to the audience about why I thought the cause was important. I had to think really hard about that, I was still pretty young, I barely knew anything other than the fact that Ben Stapleton was in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Instead of just saying I didn’t know or saying something that would make me sound smart, I realized that I had the opportunity to change the minds of the people who see no issue with the Stapleton name. My speech consisted of many “ums” and “uhs” but I poured my heart and soul out to express the importance of not letting a member of the KKK represent my neighborhood.
Since then, I was never afraid to express my beliefs again. Sure, I get the occasional stage fright, but I have never backed down from speaking out for what I believe in. It is important to have younger activists, especially in the world we live in today. The older generations can’t or won’t understand a lot of the things that the younger ones do. It is important to have a variety of people know that they have a voice, it’s how to use it that most people don’t understand. Some people think that people won’t listen to kids, or younger people, and I thought the same thing when I was younger. What needs to be understood is that it doesn’t matter who doesn’t listen to you, but it does matter who you make listen to you.
Going to marches and protests can make a scene; it forces people to listen. People have to go a different route because the road is blocked by protesters, they have to walk by signs and posters when walking down the street. Making a difference with your voice doesn’t always mean talking. You can make posters, signs, or make t-shirts. Whatever you choose to do to make a difference, you will end up being heard by the right people.
