By Veneeta D. 

Veneeta D. is a 17-year-old high school student in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, outside of Minneapolis. Recently, she attended an AFSC Freedom School, a two-day workshop that brings together young people to break down the systems that perpetuate institutional racism—from education to criminal justice—and discuss ways to create meaningful change.

Here Veneeta shares her experience:

Organizing around political or social issues is a holistic skill that enhances a person's critical lens, self-worth, leadership ability, and emotional and social intelligence. The more that young people are exposed to these values, the more likely they are to identify them as fundamental to a healthy society.

Dominique Diaddigo-Cash served as the Healing Justice Program associate with AFSC in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. His work included organizing the AFSC Freedom School and Youth Undoing Institutional Racism (YUIR) program there. Originally from Indianapolis, Dominique has been active with SOA Watch since 2009. As an independent writer, he focuses on resistance to oppression.

We are deeply troubled by news that the Obama administration is planning to conduct a second round of raids to deport women and children from Central America. The raids are said to target young people who crossed the border as unaccompanied minors, alone, and have recently turned 18. Targeting young people who have had to make a treacherous journey and sending them back to a country where they may face persecution shortly after their 18th birthday is particularly callous.

A few picks from AFSC staff this week:

“Living in the Shadow of Counterterrorism: Meet the Muslim Women Taking on the National Security State,” by Kanya D’Almeida, Rewire

Immigration and xenophobia in the Rust Belt

Seven years ago at the age of 26, I worked at a nonprofit in a small city in Pennsylvania. This organization was mostly focused on providing social services like housing, health care, youth programs, and job training, but my work focused on community development in one of the city’s poorer neighborhoods. Community development can often be a code word for gentrification, but in this case we were genuinely trying to improve the lives of everyone in the neighborhood, not price them out.