ACLU of Kentucky

LOUISVILLE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky will host a Youth Rights Leadership Conference on Saturday, March 25 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville.

Through a series of workshops, this day-long conference will provide students with a broader understanding of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and Bill of Rights and will help to empower young people to work toward protecting their freedoms.

"As parents and adults we understandably try to control the risk-taking behavior of youth,” said Bani Hines-Hudson, conference coordinator.  “In our quest to protect them, we worry about providing young people with the ammunition to rebel against those well-intentioned efforts.  However, by not informing them of their constitutional rights, we facilitate an ignorance that impacts their development into a knowledgeable citizenry able to make decisions based on accurate information, not just fear and feelings.  If we want our youth to be responsible participants in society we must educate them on what their legitimate rights are and are not. That makes this conference timely and important."

More than 100 high school students from around the state are expected to attend Saturday’s event, which has been planned by a team of high school students.

“As a young person, you hear adults spouting off things like ‘young people can make a difference,’ but this conference is unique because it presents you with the information and the tools you need to actually make that difference,” said Claire Kotheimer, a junior at duPont Manual High School in Louisville and a member of the student planning team.  “I hope that students will come away not only informed about civil liberties but with the knowledge that we, as young people, have a role to play in protecting those liberties.”

Speakers at the conference include several local and national activists, who will discuss issues ranging from privacy to the First Amendment to the profiling of hip hop artists and rappers.

The keynote luncheon address will be delivered by Paulina Hernandez, a youth organizer for the Highlander Center, the South’s premiere civil rights training center.

Also speaking will be:

    * Lindsay Earls, who as a high school sophomore in Oklahoma challenged her school’s drug testing policy all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.

    * King Downing, director of the national ACLU Campaign Against Racial Profiling, and

    * Sharon McGowan, staff attorney with the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project of the national ACLU, who represents students in Boyd County in their effort to form a Gay-Straight Alliance.

Local speakers include Attica Scott, coordinator of Kentucky Jobs with Justice; Dariush Shafa, a journalism student at the University of Kentucky, and community activist Carla Wallace.

At the conference, the ACLU of Kentucky will release its first youth rights handbook, which is designed to provide guidance on a variety of rights issues for young people in Kentucky.

Students who attend the conference will be invited to participate in an ongoing ACLU of Kentucky Youth Council, which will work on activities throughout the year.