A New Hope

This is the ARCC of Change with Donzel Leggett, a podcast from the Anti-Racism Commitment Coalition, an organization dedicated to eradicating racism and hate and spreading anti-racism. Listen as Donzel talks about the relevant topics that will inspire you and help build your capability to take action and change the world. Because none of us are doing enough as long as racism still exists. And now, here's your host, Donzel Leggett.

Donzel Leggett: Hello and welcome to the first episode of season two of the ARCC of Change with Donzel Leggett. In this episode, I will explain why, after such a difficult 2021, I see reasons to believe that there is a new hope for 2022. And I will also welcome in three of ARCC's youngest members, Rosa, Sarah, and Valerie, to share what drives them and other young people to stand up, speak out, and take action for positive change. Now let's get started with our show.

So I am Donzel Leggett, host of the ARCC of Change podcast and founder of the Anti-Racism Commitment Coalition, or ARCC. Our vision at ARCC is to build a racism-free world. And our mission is to provide inspiration, education, and support for you to transform, practice, and spread anti-racism. This begins with our process to personally transform to anti-racism, which is three steps. First, erasing your ignorance about racism and hate. Second, educating yourself about anti-racism. And third, building the character and confidence to stand up, speak out, and take action to spread anti-racism and make positive change happen.

Now, in season one, we produced and published 12 episodes with focus on introducing ARCC to the public, sharing our vision and mission, personally role modeling what standing up, speaking out, and taking action looks like. And finally, sharing my own anti-racism journey and explaining in detail our three-step process for you to transform yourself to anti-racism.

If you're a first-time listener, please check out Season 1. It's been downloaded over 1,800 times.

In Season 2, we will focus on Step 3 of our transformation process, building the character and confidence to take positive action. We'll do this through engaging stories and examples and interviews with guests who are real everyday people just like you who are transforming themselves and making a difference.

Donzel Leggett: Now, in this first episode of season two, I want to explain why, coming off of one of the most difficult years in recent history, I believe there are reasons for hope in 2022.

Let me start by acknowledging that 2021, like I said, was one of the toughest, darkest years in recent history for almost everyone. And by the close of the year, it seemed hopeless. Like there was no clear end in sight to the despair.

There were many reasons why 2021 caused so many to lose hope. But to me, it comes down to three reasons. I call them the three pandemics. The pandemic of COVID-19. The pandemic of climate change. And the pandemic of racial and social injustice and the threat to democracy.

Let me begin with the pandemic of COVID-19, which worsened from 2020 with the Delta variant and then the Omicron variant, creating multiple seemingly never-ending waves and surges. Arguments over social distancing, masking and vaccination, and even schools caused even more division in an already divided country, resulting in arguments, even fistfights on airplanes and in school board meetings.

COVID-19 has now totaled over 320 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths globally. These are unfathomable numbers with a scale that's hard to conceptualize and sometimes to personalize, except that in 2021 it hit home personally with most of us. Losing someone we knew, or worse yet, someone very close to us, like I did. And on top of that, many of us suffered from the increased stress of the ongoing threat of serious illness and continued isolation, especially the most vulnerable in our society, the poorest, the oldest, and the youngest.

The pandemic of climate change had 2021 cap the warmest seven years on record. And in 2021, believe it or not, it rained rather than snowed for the first time on record at the peak of the Greenland ice sheet. And Canadian glaciers suffered rapid melting while, at the same time, record-high temperatures rose.

Donzel Leggett: Were recorded in parts of Canada and the United States, which contributed to the record number of devastating forest fires. There were months' worth of rainfall that fell in the space of hours in China, and parts of Europe saw severe flooding, leading to dozens of casualties and billions in economic losses. While at the same time, there was a second consecutive year of drought in subtropical South America and Southern Africa. And then there is the pandemic of racial and social injustice and the threat to democracy. In 2021, we continued to see incidences of unarmed Black men being brutalized and killed by the police.

Twenty-year-old Dante Wright was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. He was stopped for air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror. The officer who shot Wright was a 26-year police veteran, an experienced officer who claimed that she had intended to reach for her taser, but accidentally drew her handgun instead. Also, a 27-year-old named Karan Nazario, a Black Latino Army officer, was held at gunpoint during a traffic stop in Virginia. Again, stopped for no reason. Body cam footage showed police pepper-spraying, striking, and handcuffing the Virginia National Guard officer who was still in uniform at the time he was brutalized. And of course, there was the January 6th attack on the Capitol and attempted overthrow.

Of the democracy of the United States, the first organized insurrection incited by a U.S. president ever, the first invasion of our Capitol since the War of 1812, and the first time the Confederate flag has ever flown inside the U.S. Capitol. Five police officers died as a result of this attack. Four died by suicide within six months after the attack. In total, 140 police officers, including Capitol officers and members of the D.C. Police Department, were injured and/or victimized during the attack. Property damage for the Capitol totaled over a million and a half dollars.

But above all, as a result of this attack, the stability of democracy in the United States is in serious peril and faces its greatest threat since the American Civil War.

 From all I've summarized about 2021, and this is just a small sample, it's hard to imagine how things could get better in 2022 after such a difficult and dark year.

We celebrate the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday tomorrow. And in his spirit, we must remember that he said, "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Dr. King also said that it's only in darkness that you can see the stars. There are stars out there. And I'm not talking about the sky or like in Star Wars. I'm talking about people among us, especially young people who are standing up, speaking out, and taking action to make a difference and drive positive change. You might not see them or be aware of them right now, but believe me, I do. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, but there are reasons for hope.

Vaccination rates continue to increase. Globally, almost 4 billion people, a little more than 50% of the world's population, have been vaccinated. And in the United States, over 200 million people have been fully vaccinated. Sixty-two million have been boosted. And a lot of people, but especially and impressively many young people, stars in the dark, have stepped up to help others through this very difficult time. Like Jordan Mittler. A 17-year-old who a few years ago noticed that his grandparents were having trouble understanding how to use their smartphone. So he started his own company called Mittler Senior Technology, and he launched a free 10-week course to help seniors at his synagogue.

Donzel Leggett: Last year, though, when the pandemic made in-person meetings impossible and social isolation was becoming a big, big problem, Mittler made his classes virtual, accommodating 2,000 participants. Then he modified his curriculum to really focus on practical skills that seniors needed most, like how to FaceTime, how to use e-commerce, how to access online newspapers and magazines, how to navigate social media, and how to practice Zoom etiquette.

And what about Ankitha Kumar? An 18-year-old who started getting frantic requests for tutoring help as many kids were pushed into virtual school and needed more personalized help, the kind of help that they were getting when they were in physical school. But now they were not getting access to that. She, along with two of her friends, launched a company called Connections Tutoring, specializing in general coursework, ACT prep, and scholarship search assistance. Now 17 volunteers are part of this organization, and Kumar and her company have worked with 365 students in all 50 states and 12 countries.

Donzel Leggett: Yes, the climate change pandemic is still with us, but there are reasons for hope here as well. At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the United States and China made a surprise joint declaration to work together on meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. UN member countries agreed to phase down their coal use and cut their methane emissions by 30% by 2030 and to end deforestation by 2030 as well. And the United States, the world's largest contributor to plastic waste, agreed to back a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. Many of these agreements were in part due to young people, stars in the dark, who engaged at a very high level to force change and take control of their futures. Like Greta Thunberg, the 19-year-old Swedish environmental activist who's been challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation since she was 15. The student strikes for the environment that she called for worldwide drew millions of young people. She is the youngest Time Person of the Year ever and received her third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

And Isha Clark, an 18-year-old who, during her freshman year in high school, protested the construction of a coal terminal in West Oakland, California, a predominantly Black community. In 2019, she was among a group of young people who attracted worldwide attention with their plea to Dianne Feinstein, the senator from California, where they wanted her to join the Green New Deal. And that plea went viral. She is a founding member of Youth vs. Apocalypse, a group fighting for equitable and sustainable climate policies. And she took a gap year to give presentations to high schoolers, to lobby lawmakers, and to strategize for new campaigns to influence climate change action.

She said, "We are fighting to build a world in which all living beings can thrive. And I believe we can do that in this generation."

And finally, yes, the racial and social injustice pandemic and the threat to democracy are still with us. But there are reasons for hope here as well. The three guilty verdicts in the high-profile murder cases involving three unarmed Black men by police and/or vigilantes broke a dispiriting trend over many decades of lack of accountability and justice in these cases, hopefully setting a precedent for true accountability and true justice going forward. We have a long way to go. But these three verdicts, I believe, make a difference.

Ahmaud Arbery's murderers were found guilty by an all-white jury in Georgia. And they received life sentences. Dante Wright's killer was found guilty in a very difficult case to prosecute against a police officer. And again, by a predominantly white jury. And George Floyd's murderer was also found guilty. Again, a police officer breaking a trend of decades of police officers not being held accountable. And again, a predominantly white jury.

Donzel Leggett: There's no doubt in my mind that these history-altering verdicts were impacted by the racial and social injustice and Black Lives Matter global protests, mainly by young people, stars in the dark who decided to stand up, speak out, and take action. Like Darnella Frazier, the teen who had the courage and wherewithal to film George Floyd's murder when she was only 17 years old. Frazier was awarded an honorary Pulitzer for her video, which spurred the global protests against police brutality around the world and was the key piece of evidence that helped secure the guilty verdict in George Floyd's murder.

And regarding the insurrection, the United States Justice Department and the January 6th Commission are determined to hold those responsible to account. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 725 individuals with various crimes in connection with the deadly January 6th insurrection. The commission is also getting closer to uncovering the facts regarding the involvement, incitement, coordination, and lack of response of current and former government officials, and indictments are closer than ever to holding them all accountable. And accountability must be achieved for what was one of the ugliest and most dangerous days in American history. And that continues to be the most serious threat to the future of democracy, justice, and liberty for all in the United States.

The January 6th insurrectionists unequivocally showed the world what is not great about America. Ironically, just a few days after this embarrassing insurrection, we were all reminded again what is great about America by a young poet named Amanda Gorman, a 23-year-old young, brilliant, and beautiful Black woman, a star in the dark who, in her poem The Hill We Climb, which she performed at President Joe Biden's inauguration, reminded us all that it is America's diversity, unity, collaboration, and togetherness that actually make America great.

The ARCC of Change podcast is brought to you by the Anti-Racism Commitment Coalition. Visit us at joinarcc.org to learn more about ARCC and join our movement.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that." And he also said, "Only in the darkness can you see the stars." Stars like Joy Rupert, a 16-year-old from California who was adopted from China when she was a baby. Joy encountered her share of racial insensitivity. People would pull their eyes back and try speaking to her in what they call Japanese talk, and make insensitive and racist remarks, making her feel marginalized and discriminated against. Determined to end racial discrimination for all, not just herself, Joy joined Encinitas for Equality. She started organizing protests as a youth leader for the local group. Then, as student body vice president of her school, she spearheaded a coalition that lobbied her school district for more diverse curriculum and anti-racist amendments to the student handbook. Joy's goal is to create a society in which everyone feels heard, welcomed, and represented. Similarly, our goal at ARCC is to build a racism-free world. And in our first full year of existence, we made tremendous progress towards that goal, driven in part by young people, stars in the dark who stepped up differentially, like Joy and all the other young people I mentioned earlier, to stand up, speak out, and take action and make a positive difference in their communities. Because of them, we at ARCC in 2021 increased our social media followers tenfold. We held five Community in Action events. We started a talk show from scratch. We developed and completed our first anti-racism transformation training. And we produced season one of the ARCC of Change podcast with 12 episodes that have over 1,800 downloads.

Donzel Leggett: This is why I am hopeful. This is why I have a positive outlook for 2022, because of the engagement of our young people, especially those whom I have seen shine like stars firsthand at ARCC. Like Sierra, who at 27 is the youngest member of our board of directors and leads our marketing organization. Like Jeremiah, who at age 20 co-leads our Instagram team and co-produces the ARCC of Change Deep Dive talk show and also produced our first-ever live event. Like Leslie, who at 23 is also a co-producer of the talk show. Like Adnan, who at 14 is not only a member of our Community in Action team, but hosts the Deep Dive talk show. And like Yabi, who at 16 is the head writer for the talk show.

These are just some of the stars that provide the light in the dark that Dr. King talks about and represent a new hope in my mind. A new hope even more powerful than Luke Skywalker and all of his Jedi friends. A new hope that is personified in the three wonderful young ladies who join us right now.

Donzel Leggett: Sarah, 16, who co-leads our ARCC Instagram team and is the co-founder of our TikTok team. And Rosa, 17, and Valerie, 16, also both co-founders of our ARCC TikTok team and who both currently co-lead it.

Donzel Leggett: As I said, Sarah, Rosa, and Valerie are all tremendous and wonderful young ladies. But even more important, like our other young team members at ARCC, they are strong and courageous leaders for change who are stars shining bright in the dark. And they give me a new hope for 2022.

Donzel Leggett: Visit us at joinarcc.org. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. And like us on Facebook.

Donzel Leggett: Rosa, Valerie, and Sarah, welcome to the ARCC of Change podcast. I am so happy you're here. How y'all doing today?

Guests: We're doing great. Thanks for having us. Thank you.

Donzel Leggett: Thank you all, like I said, for being here and for joining the show. You all are so impressive to me. I've told you all personally, and I've mentioned it already on the podcast, you give me a new hope for 2022. I already know you, but a lot of the people who are listening probably don't. So let's start off by each of you telling us a little bit about yourselves. And I'm going to start off by calling on Rosa.

Rosa: Okay. So my name is Rosianne Frere. I'm a 17-year-old senior at Key West High School. My favorite subjects in school are—well, my favorite subject is English. I like doing math, but I'm not too good at math. So I love English.

Rosa: Okay. I'm really involved in my school. I was actually crowned Key West High School Homecoming Queen a couple months back, and I think last week I was voted best all around. I am my senior class president, student council vice president, Beta Club president, and I'm also involved in Interact and Mazanta Club. For the future, I plan to go to UCF and major in business. I'm interested in so many different things, so I'm not completely sure what I want to pursue, but I do know further down the line, I want to start my own nonprofit or something I care deeply about. So that's something I'm excited to do. And I think that's enough for me.

Donzel Leggett: Wow. Thank you so much, Rosa. Let's go to Sarah.

Sarah: Hi, I'm Sarah Feng. I'm 17 years old and a junior at Breck School in Minnesota. As Donzel might have mentioned, I co-manage and create content for both the ARCC Instagram and TikTok pages. So besides ARCC, I'm a leader at our school's Asian and Pacific Islander Affinity, as well as being on student council and UNICEF Club. Other extracurriculars I do include theater, whether it be participating in the school musical or dancing at a musical-theater-focused dance studio. I also love to draw and paint. So throughout the year, I'm always creating art for other competitions or just as a hobby. My favorite subjects in school include probably math and art. And then, for future plans, I'm thinking of pursuing medicine, but I'm not quite sure yet as a junior. That's it for me.

Donzel Leggett: Great, great as well, Sarah. There's a lot of time. You still got time to decide. And let's hear from Valerie now.

Valerie: Hello, my name is Valerie. I am 16 years old and I attend Key West High as a junior. Currently, I am the president of the student body and also Key West High School's drum major. I'm sorry. Oh my gosh. I didn't think I was going to freeze up. Okay. Okay. Outside of school, I am a part of Candy Girls, which is a small Black-owned business. I also, on Sunday mornings, am a Sunday school teacher along with my friend, Merti. And for the future, I hope to attend FAMU and go into the field of business administration. I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I'm very excited.

Donzel Leggett: Well, I'm extremely excited. And hey, these are all three high school girls. I call them young ladies because I've worked with them at ARCC, and they carry themselves like leaders all the time. But it takes a lot of courage to be on a podcast. So, you know, there may be a pause here or there. There may be a stutter here or there. But do not worry, because what you three are doing is wonderful. Now, early in the podcast, I gave some examples of other young people who are doing really great things. Everyday high school students, other young people, college students that are doing extraordinary things. What are some specific things that each of you— you mentioned some activities you're in, but what are some specific actions that you have taken?

Donzel Leggett: Positive change within your community or your school. Let's start with Sarah.

Sarah: Okay, so for me, when I think of personal community, I definitely think of Breck and my presence in school. So I feel like within that community, the actions I've taken are definitely expressed through my participation and my leadership in the Asian Affinity. So, as an Asian American myself, leading the affinity has been a huge part of my work in driving positive change and representing Asian students in our school. So it's been really important to me to provide a comfortable space for other Asian students to be able to share their experiences and have hard discussions while celebrating our culture. For example, I'll plan discussions, with our most recent one being about our own experiences with internalized racism, as well as events. So we have an upcoming Lunar New Year celebration, actually.

Also, I strive to make sure that our interests and concerns are expressed in the broader Breck community. So, for example, last year in English, our curriculum's books included American Born Chinese, which, if you guys don't know what it is, it's a comic-book satire around the Asian American experience of feeling like an "other." But when it was actually talked about in class, it wasn't translated well. So it wasn't approached with the nuanced conversation that I felt it needed. So me, as well as some other Asian Affinity leaders, had to talk to the administration in the English department to try and either revise the whole lesson plan surrounding the book or find an entirely different book to better foster a more nuanced, appropriate discussion around the Asian American experience.

I also engage in groups such as Race in America at our school. So it's just discussions between anyone who wants to get involved in the student body around issues either in the whole U.S. or, like, in Minnesota, for example. So during the midterm elections, we talked a lot about the new police reform bill because a lot of us, as high schoolers—the seniors especially—were 18 at the time, so they were able to actually vote. So that was an example of us realizing our voices as young teenagers in high school, but discussing things that actually apply to us, as the seniors are able to actually vote in the passing of these bills. So that was actually really important and memorable for me this year, at least, being part of those conversations during the midterm elections. And yeah, I think that's it. Just participating in student-led discussions and initiatives in our school, being an Asian American.

Donzel Leggett: Well, that's a lot. That's a lot, Sarah. Thank you for sharing. Valerie, what about you?

Valerie: Well, I wish we had as many programs at Key West High, but we don't. So right now, representing Key West High School as a Black president of the student body is really helpful because I think now that the Black community at my school has a familiar face, they're not straying away from opportunities they have or could have, since there's a face that they know and recognize.

And I'm hoping—because there was something started last year, I believe during quarantine, where we discussed problems happening in the world. And I don't really know what happened to that group, but we did have adults in there as well, where we just talked about how we're feeling about situations and what we could do to prevent them from happening. But it kind of went away for a little bit, so I wonder if that could be brought up again.

Donzel Leggett: Thank you, Valerie. Rosa.

Rosa: I'm very similar with Valerie in that aspect. I try to do as much as I can for the other African Americans or the other people in my school to feel more included. I try to get more African Americans in my executive board, Beta Club, and student council—the clubs that I have a position in. And I feel like that's kind of worked for the most part. I feel like more people think, "Oh, this seems cool. I'll join it," because my school is predominantly white. Having more African Americans and more people of color in these clubs, which are mostly just for white people, makes us feel more together. And I feel like it starts conversations and things like that.

Donzel Leggett: Thank you, Rosa. And again, the things that you all are doing, I still will tell you, are extraordinary. I mean, I thought I was a good high school student. I thought I was engaged. I thought I was a leader. I didn't do any of the things you guys have talked about. None of them. When I was in high school. I could have, and I should have, but I didn't. So that's another reason why you give me a new hope. So thank you.

Now, you all have joined ARCC. You've been part of the organization since its inception, and you're doing a fantastic job. Why did you each join ARCC? And what have you gotten from the experience so far? And Valerie, I'll start with you this time.

Valerie: So I got engaged with ARCC the same way I did with the Black Lives Matter movement. It's not something I could just ignore and push away and say, "Yeah, I'm not gonna join that," because I am—we are—the Black Lives Matter movement. So joining ARCC, if I didn't join ARCC, it wouldn't have sat right with me. So I'm happy that I was given the opportunity to join ARCC. And also, for the TikTok platform, I'm happy that there's kids our age on there. So I don't know, we can make a connection. It's hard to make a connection sometimes, but it's easier to make a connection and post content that maybe motivates them to be anti-racist, et cetera.

Donzel Leggett: Thanks, Valerie. Very well put. Rosa, what do you think?

Rosa: So Miss Lynn actually is the reason why I was introduced to ARCC at first. She told me about it, and she asked Valerie and me if we'd like to help out and do the TikTok. And I was really, really interested. I thought it would be really cool. And I'm so glad I did join it because I feel like not only have I brought stuff to ARCC, but I also feel like ARCC has given me so much, especially with the meetings where people would share their stories. I just feel like it's a safe place to say things, and I feel like I've learned a lot by going to the meetings and listening to even you speak. And it's just amazing.

Donzel Leggett: Thank you. Much appreciated. I'm going to—did I ask you this one, Sarah? Did you get a chance to respond to this one?

Sarah: Not yet.

Donzel Leggett: Not yet. Will you go ahead?

Sarah: Okay, thanks. For me, I definitely joined ARCC because of its message and how I aligned with its messages about anti-racism. And it's obviously given me the opportunity to meet and connect with so many people from so many different backgrounds, like Valerie and Rosa, for example. Just knowing their stories—we're all teenagers around the same age, but we have pretty different backgrounds—and being able to connect with them and learn from each other has been really crucial and empowering.

And then, being on the social media team specifically, I felt like it was a way for me to engage and spread anti-racism within the broader community through social media. And it's given me a way to express myself artistically through posts on TikTok and Instagram and spread the message of anti-racism and inclusivity that I try to spread in my smaller community to a broader space.

Donzel Leggett: That's awesome. You know, just hearing what you all are talking about, because you've given so much to the organization, but to hear you say you've gotten something back is really empowering to me. It reminds me of a conversation I had with one of our other ARCC members the other day, and he actually just changed companies and got a new job. And he was telling me that he actually got the new job because of ARCC. He said that before he joined ARCC, he didn't have a lot of confidence to try new things. But he got up the courage to contact me and join the organization. And then, since he joined, like Rosa was saying, we have these conversations and everyone's encouraged to speak. You get to meet and talk to so many new people, like both Valerie and Sarah talked about. And we had some of the training courses, and everyone had an opportunity to talk about their own experience and their concerns. And all of that built his confidence. And he said because of that, it gave him the confidence to actually say, "You know what? Yeah, I'm comfortable in my current job, but I don't think I'm going to go where I want to go with it. So I'm going to try something different." He said he would have never done that.

Donzel Leggett: He interviewed with a different company, got a better job, and he's so happy. But he said it was because of the confidence he's been building here at ARCC. So I'm so happy to hear you saying you're also getting something out of the experience. That's fantastic.

You know, earlier in the episode, I talked a lot about how 2021 was a difficult year and, going into 2022, a lot of people are kind of hopeless. But to me, there are three key themes. You know, I call them the three pandemics. Everyone thinks there's one pandemic. I think there's three. The first pandemic is obviously dealing with COVID-19 and everything that has gone along with that, the devastation of human life, the change in the way we have to live, isolation, all the things we know. But the second pandemic is climate change and what's happening with the environment. And it's very scary, especially for young people who are looking forward toward the future. And the third pandemic, several of you mentioned, is the pandemic of racial and social injustice and the threat to democracy in the United States. And so I talk about those three. Of those three, what concerned you the most?

Donzel Leggett: As soon as possible to make a positive change happen. And I'll start with Sarah this time.

Sarah: I think for me personally, I guess the most important for me is—I think I would say, for now, it might be climate change. I think my answer kind of wavers between the three at different times, but for racial justice and social justice, I've been able to realize the power I have by using my platforms and engaging in the community. So the one of more concern to me is, I guess, now climate change and just seeing the impacts it's had. I watched a documentary recently about the effects it's having on Madagascar and the drought and the real human lives that are suffering from it. So I guess that kind of has inspired my answer today about my concern with climate change.

Donzel Leggett: Well, thank you, Sarah. And to be honest, climate change—the effects of it in Madagascar, the drought in Southern Africa, there's a drought in the southern part of South America, ocean tides rising with ocean levels rising, poor air quality. A lot of people don't know, but in the United States, because of where many of our Black neighborhoods are located through segregation and redlining, a lot of them are located closer to emissions facilities, and so they're exposed to more dangerous air pollutants and things of that nature. So when you focus on climate change, you're actually focusing as well on racial and social injustice. So thank you for your response.

Donzel Leggett: Rosa, what do you think?

Rosa: For me, I'd say, similar to Sarah, I feel like it differs. I mean, it changes from time to time, but I see all three as threats. I think racial and social justice is the biggest threat, just because it has been happening for the longest time and I feel like it affects people's lives so directly. Racism and all of that stuff affects people's lives so directly. And I feel like if that can't change soon, or if that's not coming to a change, it's just not going to work.

Donzel Leggett: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've said many times that what's insidious about racism and classism and xenophobia is that it's the easiest way to divide people. And by dividing people, you cause them to always fight against each other and not unite to change the system. And to your point, that's what continues to allow it to keep going. You know, this mindset that, like Sarah said earlier, "Oh no, they're the other. That person is the other."

Donzel Leggett: Instead of saying, "No, we're all the same. We need to be working together to make this world better." If we could do that, Rosa, you're right. We could change so many things for the positive if we could unite and all work together. Valerie, what do you think?

Valerie: I agree with Rosa a lot because racial and social justice has been around for the longest time, in different forms, too. In the '60s, there were Black Codes. We've never strayed away from racism. And then today, we still have police brutality and everything. And something I'm scared about is having kids of my own and having to worry when they go to school if they'll come back, or if they walk down the street or go for a run, if they'll come back. Stuff like that. Even today, even though I'm a junior, only in 11th grade, I shouldn't be thinking about kids. But it's kind of scary because they're just losing their lives over just being themselves.

Donzel Leggett: Yes, very, very well said, Valerie. Very well said. And you brought up how long this has been going on. And you all are aware that tomorrow is the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, or at least the day that we celebrate his birthday. And I think it's really important to just take a minute to reflect on him. A lot of people remember Dr. King as this guy who gave these great speeches and was always about peace and love. And that is true. But Dr. King also challenged the system, and he wanted change now. Unfortunately, a lot of things he talked about then, 60 years ago, are still happening today.

I just want to ask your opinion: Is there one message or a part of Dr. King's message, or something he stood for or something you've heard him say, that inspires you the most to take action—to take a lot of the actions that you've talked about? Rosa, what do you think?

Rosa: I think one of the things from his "I Have a Dream" speech, about one day my kids being with all the other kids, resonates with me a lot. I feel like there should be a day, hopefully sooner than later, when people from all different racial backgrounds and all different classes are just together and not thinking one is above or inferior to the other because of how they look, how they're raised, and things that they just cannot control. I feel like right now people see people differently because of color and this and that. And it just shouldn't be like that.

Donzel Leggett: Valerie, what do you think?

Valerie: I agree because Dr. King left a message for us, and it's been a while and nothing has really changed. So it's kind of sad because he left the dream, and nobody's really living up to it. Does that make sense?

Donzel Leggett: It does make sense, and it's unfortunate. But what I love is that young people like yourselves are trying to carry that dream forward and doing the work. It wasn't about, "Let's just smile and let's just say we love each other and peace." You know, you have to work to change the world. And you all are doing that work. Sarah, what are your thoughts?

Sarah: I think I'm most inspired by his constant strive for change. I think he said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." So just advocating for others and speaking on behalf of issues that maybe don't affect me directly, but taking everything to the highest importance, I guess, and just striving for that change.

Donzel Leggett: Very, very well put. Very, very well put. I'm gonna switch gears here on you for a quick second. Have any of you seen this movie?

Okay, so if you haven't seen it, it looks like Sarah has. But this movie is really a satire. It's kind of a funny movie, but not funny. It's kind of a parody of what's happening today, in that you have some people that can see what's really happening and others that simply can't see it. So in this movie, there's a meteor that's kind of coming toward Earth. If this meteor comes toward Earth and hits Earth, it will destroy the world and everyone will die. And the scientist sees it. So he and a couple of other scientists come forward to the United States government and tell the president what's happening. They tell the president, "This is what's going to happen. We're all going to die unless you do something. You've got to convince all the other world leaders to do something. You've got to convince everyone in the country that this is happening. You've got to do something."

And basically, without giving the whole thing away, it's worth saying there's a movement of people who, not too dissimilar from what's happening today with COVID vaccines, people who refuse vaccines, and people who don't wear masks, basically just say, "Nope, it's not happening. It's not real. Just don't look up. Pretend it's not coming." And basically, people take sides and divide. And so it's kind of interesting.

It's hard to wake people up to what's happening and get them to do something. This is one of the reasons why you represent a new hope to me, because there's a lot of adults that just aren't looking up. So what is your advice, or what do you do to get your friends and other young people to look up, to pay attention, and to realize, "Hey, if we don't do something, this is not going to be good. This is going to be bad"? What are you guys doing to wake people up?

Rosa: One of the things is, when I was younger, I actually saw things on social media. I got social media pretty early on, when I was around 11, and I'd see things like police brutality. I wouldn't want to see that, so I'd turn it off or take Instagram off. I just didn't want to see it. It didn't sit right with me. And then, as I grew up, I thought, "If I'm ignoring this, I'm just acting like it's not happening. How am I ever going to educate myself or learn or try to be better and try to help out?"

So one of the things I do is, when I see any kind of police brutality or any kind of violence or social injustice, I will repost about it on either my Snapchat or my Instagram and have those conversations. People will swipe up on my stories and say, "Oh my gosh, that's happening?" And I'll say, "Yeah, that's happening. This is real life." Because I come from Key West, a smaller town where it's pretty safe. There is definitely some social injustice here, but it's kind of swept under the rug and it's not on the same scale as it is outside Key West. People don't really realize that because we're in Key West, and I just try to bring it to people's attention.

Donzel Leggett: Thank you, Rosa. Sarah.

Sarah: So for me, I think I watched Don't Look Up, and I think it offered this criticism of how our digital culture is about doing things for trends or doing things as an almost ignorant facade that sometimes we put up for a trend. Like maybe posting a black square for Black Lives Matter, but not doing anything in your community. It kind of offers a critique of doing things just on the surface level.

So in my community, even in my friend group, we motivate each other to educate ourselves beyond something we saw. I don't want to be on a trend and not actually educate myself on what's going on, the effects, and things that maybe we don't experience or see because of the environment we live in and the privilege that we have. So, yeah, just educating ourselves about issues and how others live their lives when those lives aren't similar to ours, and being aware of the information that we see on the surface and digging deeper.

Donzel Leggett: Powerful, Sarah. Thank you. Valerie.

Valerie: I 110% agree because I was going to bring up the trends part. For trends and trying to get the word across, our generation is hard, but not really. We can make it a trend, basically, and they'll be on that ride, that train, for maybe a week or two. Then if something else pops up, they'll go ahead and hop on that train. So it's kind of hard for them to look up for a while. It's like they don't focus, if that makes sense. It's a trend, so they do it while it's popular and it gets others' attention. But it's not something they stick with or really agree with.

Donzel Leggett: Very powerful, the three of you. Very, very powerful. And, you know, I'm going to give you one more chance to put your message out there. Now you're speaking to the audience. Whatever message you want to leave them with, whether it's young people listening or adults listening, in terms of how to help and enable young people to get engaged, what one message do you want to make sure our audience leaves listening to this podcast remembering?

Valerie: Something I could say is to do better, because we're not going to be here forever. And if we're writing—like, it's like a social studies book where we're just rewriting history—and if history sounds the same, when the next generation comes and they're reading our stories, they're going to say, "But this just happened 30 or 100 years ago. What's happening? Why aren't you guys changing?" It's kind of weird because it just repeats itself and repeats itself. And when it's documented, it's like there's no change. It's just more simplified. It went from Black Codes, but now it's just racism in a different form. So something I would say is, just like the movie, Don't Look Up, look up.

Rosa: One thing I would say is to be a leader and not a follower. It is easy to follow a trend and be like, "Okay, I'll post my little black square on Instagram," and then go on about my life and act like nothing happened. But I feel like being a leader is having those conversations. Sometimes it is uncomfortable to have those conversations, but being a leader entails having those conversations and not just following the bandwagon and saying things about it when it's convenient and then brushing it under the rug. Having those conversations is one of the biggest things, and sticking up for people as well. If you see injustice happening, I think you should stick up for whoever is being ridiculed or anything like that, and talk about it and things like that.

Donzel Leggett: Fantastic. Fantastic. You know, Dr. King said, and I said this earlier in the podcast as well, "Only in the darkness can you see the stars." And I'm looking at three stars right now. And I know everyone listening to this podcast is envisioning the light shining so brightly from the three of you. And all I hope is that they take away that you're three high school students doing the best you can. Yes, doing extraordinary things, but because you have the support to allow that to happen.

I hope the adults listening to this understand we have young people who can lead, who can make things happen. We have to believe in them. And I hope the young people listening have the confidence and courage to stand up and take action, just like Sarah, Rosa, and Valerie. And Sarah, I didn't give you a chance to say your last piece as well. Please send your message.

Sarah: I think mine would be around reflection. Reflecting on things you see in your community and yourself within your community. I can assure you guys that you can find a way to engage and initiate a conversation or confront injustices. So, yeah, just reflecting on your voice and within your community.

Donzel Leggett: Awesome. Thank you all.

Donzel Leggett: 2021 was tough. It was dark. But like Dr. King said, that's where you see the stars. You provided me a new hope for 2022. And like I said earlier in the podcast, this might be a little before your time, but I'll take the three of you over Luke Skywalker and his Jedi anytime. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day and share this podcast with all your friends. Take care.

Visit us at joinarcc.org to learn more about ARCC. Donate to our cause and join the movement that will change the world.

Donzel Leggett: That was an inspiring and uplifting discussion with three truly great current and future leaders, Rosa, Sarah, and Valerie. And I thank them sincerely for their passion, commitment, and leadership, as well as their courage to share their personal stories and messages to our audience, and for personifying for all what the new hope looks like if we inspire, energize, and engage more of our young people to actively engage in driving positive change. In closing, I want to introduce something very important and critical to what we're trying to do at ARCC. As you know, our vision at ARCC is to build a racism-free world by transforming people to be anti-racist. Our three-step process for transformation, which I detailed over the last several episodes of Season 1, is proven to work, but needs to be developed for large-scale deployment. And this will take investment.

So we are initiating a formal fundraising campaign to secure the resources to fully develop, scale, and deploy our transformation process and thus accelerate the spreading of anti-racism. The ARCC board has pledged a $35,000 matching gift. This is a great start, but we need your help to change the world. There are many organizations focused on changing legislation to end racism. And this is needed. But there are few that are focused on changing people. And this is what differentiates ARCC. Society changes when people change. We are focused on transforming people to be anti-racist. Help us accelerate this by scaling our transformation process. Donate to ARCC now by visiting our website and double your impact with the ARCC board match, and be part of the movement to build a racism-free world.

Donzel Leggett: To find the ARCC of Change podcast with Donzel Leggett and learn more about the Anti-Racism Commitment Coalition, or ARCC, please visit us at joinarcc.org. You can also subscribe to the ARCC of Change with Donzel Leggett on your favorite podcast hosting sites. I greatly look forward to our next episode, an opportunity to inspire you to become part of the movement that will change the world by eradicating racism once and for all. Until next time, stay safe and continue to ask yourself, "Am I doing enough?" And remember that none of us are doing enough as long as racism and hate still exist. Thanks for listening and goodbye.

The ARCC of Change podcast with Donzel Leggett is brought to you by the Anti-Racism Commitment Coalition. To learn more about ARCC, donate to our cause, and join the coalition, visit joinarcc.org. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and share this podcast to help spread our mission to change the world by ending racism once and for all. Thanks for listening. Until next time, stay safe and be inspired.