THE ART OF ADVOCACY
As an activist, you will be placed in scenarios where you must combine art and advocacy. Whether you are making a sign for a protest or circulating an infographic on social media, you are using art to fight against injustice. We have used this activity for many of our civic engagement workshops to illustrate this point.
Scroll down to see some of the works from the civic engagement workshops we have hosted.
Try some of these scenarios at home and email them to us at wemuststandup@gmail.com or dm us on Instagram @wemuststandup_ so that we can post them on our website and social media!
Students Demand Action - Everytown For Gun Safety
The “Students Demand Action” campaign focuses on uniting the voices of the youth to speak out against gun violence. The campaign was created by the organization “Everytown For Gun Safety” which focuses on rallying everyone together in order to end gun violence and build safer communities. They encourage the youth to create “Students Demand Action” groups, which rally the youth to speak against gun violence in society.
Scenario
You are the leader of an activist group that’s a part of Students Demand Action. Create a flyer on Canva (www.canva.com) that draws students toward your group. This flyer could be about an event hosted by your group, your group meetings, or some other activity that involves your group. In your flyer, remember to consider the following:
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What is your group’s purpose and goal?
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Does your group focus on specific issues, like school shootings or gang violence?
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How will you get the youth’s attention and spark interest from your flyer?
More Information
If you feel compelled to get involved with “Students Demand Action,” consider joining or creating a Student Demand Action Group within your high school. If this isn’t your interest, “Everytown for Gun Safety” provides 7 ways in which you could get involved in gun violence advocacy. Just go to their webpage, www.everytown.org, and click the “Act” tab!
March For Our Lives
“March For Our Lives” is an organization that was formed after the Parkland Shooting and has been present in U.S. media ever since. March For Our Lives plans and engaged in protests within major cities to spread awareness and get lawmakers’ attention about gun violence.
Scenario
A March For Our Lives protest is occurring in your city, and you plan to attend the event with some friends.
Create a design for a picket sign(s) that displays the need for gun control, mental health checks, or any other solution regarding gun violence. Be as creative as possible, and consider the following questions:
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Is the solution/mission clearly expressed in the sign?
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Does it catch people’s eye, and is it something people will remember?
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Does it spark conversation with people who see it?
More Information
If you feel compelled to get involved with March For Our Lives, visit their website at www.marchforourlives.com. On the website, you will see how to join or create your own March For Our Lives chapter within your school or community under the “Take Action” tab, or see their dates or upcoming protests under the “Tour Dates” tab.
Youth Vote
Voting is a right that American citizens possess and its sole purpose is to provide citizens with the ability to express their opinions. If you want to see a change in our society regarding firearms, maybe try to vote for people who endorse mental health checks or restrictions on guns.
Scenario
You are a social media intern at a voter education nonprofit. You are assigned to create a Tik Tok account to influence the youth to vote on Election Day. Create one Tik Tok that informs youth in Maryland on how to get out and vote!
When making the Tik Tok, consider the following:
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What is some information first-time voters need?
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What are some trends you can use to reach more people?
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How is it going to connect with the youth in your area?
More Information
If you are 18 and haven’t registered to vote, seriously consider registering. Registering is as simple as filling out a small electronic form and as quick as 2 minutes. Go to the webpage, www.voterparticipation.org, input your information, and you should be registered! If you are already registered and don’t know who to vote for during the elections, consider doing research on the running candidates. Websites and social media make it easy to find what certain candidates support and endorse.
Contacting Political Figures
Contact the individuals that work for your city! It’s their job to listen to your opinions, and, in the United States, everyone’s opinion has value and should be expressed. You may feel that as a teenager, your opinions don’t matter. But, this is very wrong! Each and every one of you has the ability to speak to your representatives in order to inspire or create change within your community.
Scenario
You currently plan to attend a public forum in your city, where residents of your community will voice their opinions to their representatives. Plan what you will say regarding how you are affected by gun violence at the public forum. If you have not been directly affected by gun violence, maybe talk about how it feels to hear about it on mass media, or how it affects the security and students at your school. When writing, remember to consider the following:
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How are you going to voice your opinion? Are you making a rap, poem, speech, or related written artwork?
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What do you want from the representative? Do you want them to change something?
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How will you grasp your representative’s attention? What’s going to make the figure remember you and your ideas?
More Information
If you feel compelled to talk about your representative, try doing research on your representatives and when they talk to the community. If you go to the website www.commoncause.org, and click the “Find Your Representatives” tab at the top row of the webpage, you could find who represents you by putting your address on the page. The site also provides you with the contact info of your figure, so feel free to email or call them if necessary.
RED
BLUE
By Daniel Bashkatov, Bryana Briggs, Jessica Coker, Blessing Ezebuiro, Clayton Felder, Laylah-Tone' Fitzgerald, Ebube Emuka, Keisha Agwe, Elisa Asante, Kaleb Hazer, Dominic Adesina, and Godwill Tewan
GREEN
On May 24, 2022, Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas experienced a horrific event, a school shooting that took the lives of 21 victims. An ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, innocent children that are not at fault for anything that happened to them, and the two teachers among the victims that died valiantly trying to protect their students until the very end. The people at fault, the lawmakers that refuse to add stricter regulations. There is no reason as to why an 18-year-old that can’t legally buy alcohol can buy a military-grade gun designed specifically to kill, not for safety, not for hunting, but to cause heartache. An argument often used is “It’s my second amendment right” yet these arms weren’t around when the second amendment was created and we all know the Constitution is a live document that can be changed, so change it. The root of this problem as is in many deadly events are guns, and more specifically the availability of these guns. I urge lawmakers to put themselves in the shoes of these heartbroken parents and make their decision with this point of view in mind.
-By Kevin Herrera
Dear Representative Andy Harris,
We are incredibly concerned by the lack of acknowledgement regarding this growing epidemic of gun violence. It's your responsibility to keep us safe and guide us to a better future. We are not asking, we are begging. Please stop ignoring the lives of your citizens.
-By Tariana Leftwich, Petros Aseberos, MeKaiya Dixon, Terence Ayers
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP WITH BLADENSBURG POLICE EXPLORERS
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