We forget that young people are powerful in so many ways. They change things culturally. They change things socially. They change things economically. They change things educationally. They change things technologically.  We forget that young people are powerful in changing things.

The many ways young people change things are far too numerous to explore in this Sketches. Therefore, I want to review just one front on which young people profoundly changed things. I know that Dr. King is given the credit for changes wrought during the American Civil Rights Movement. And he deserves great credit but not all or most of the credit. We forget that it was young people who were truly on the front lines in changing things.

Let’s start in 1955. We hear about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We hear about Mrs. Rosa Parks. We hear about their roles in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. But it was a 15-year-old girl who set the stage for Rosa Parks, Dr. King and others. Her name was Claudette Colvin. When the bus driver ordered her to get up from her seat so a white man could sit down, Claudette refused. She was dragged off the bus, arrested and eventually adjudged as a juvenile delinquent. However, Claudette subsequently became a member of Mrs. Parks’ NAACP Youth Group, and her “sit down experience” on the bus deeply touched Mrs. Parks. It moved  her to action. If Claudette Colvin had not stood up by sitting down, we may never have heard of Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr. We forget that young people are powerful.

Bruce Boynton of Selma was still a teen in 1958 when he took a stand. He was on his way home from Howard University Law School when he insisted on being served at the bus station’s only lunch counter in Virginia which was for whites only. He was arrested and jailed. He filed a lawsuit — Boynton v. Virginia — which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to segregate interstate passengers and transportation facilities. Boynton’s actions inspired the Freedom Riders Movement to test whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision really meant anything or was just another piece of paper. We forget that young people are powerful in changing things.

Four college students sat down at the Woolworth Lunch Counter in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960, seeking to be served like Whites. They were David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Bair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan) and Franklin McCain. When they were not served, they refused to leave. It became known as a sit in and ignited a movement.

The actions by these four men inspired others to sit in at various locations across the South. This was another take off on what Bruce Boynton had done in 1958. We forget that young people are powerful in changing things.

I have watched Alecha Irby of Selma organize marches in support of Trayvon Martin, get arrested in the State Capitol working for the expansion of Medicaid, and lead protests in the Birmingham area in the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Too often we talk about young people. It is usually negative. We forget that young people are powerful forces for positive change. We forget that they move to the rhythm of their own spirits.