The Trail They Blazed

“Have you or anyone you know ever had to stand up for what’s right? In November 2025 ICE raids began in New Orleans. Many families were in danger or afraid to leave their home. My parents stood up for what they believed in, much like the leaders before them. What they did wasn’t as significant as what Dr. Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks did, but it still made a difference. My parents worked hard to keep their community safe. They helped families get the food they needed. They made sure kids got to school. They strive for a better future and a better world.”

“We are the ‘land of the free,’ as proudly stated in our national anthem. But are we all equally free today? To me, freedom means the ‘pursuit of happiness’ as promised in the Declaration of Independence. Freedom means my worth is not dictated by my ethnic background but my character and accomplishments. Here, my thought resembles MLK Jr.’s comments in his inspiring ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. When you stand up for racial justice, I guess you start thinking alike!”

“I grew up in a Jewish family, and a lot of my friends are African American and Hispanic. Thanks to the risk-takers who integrated public schools in the 1960s, I have the opportunity to go to whatever school my family decides is right for me. I am glad that people have changed opportunities for everyone so that me and my friends can go to school together and we can be together. Unfortunately, because of President Trump’s law to let ICE in and bring people that are Hispanic back to the place they are native to, my community is losing a lot of our people. Now one of my best friends is moving back to Guatemala because her family does not believe that they have the equal rights that civil rights leaders fought for in the 1960s.”

“In today‘s generation, some groups of individuals are being targeted based on their race, similar to what African Americans experienced in the old times . . . Groups of activists have also gone into the streets to educate individuals, in particular Hispanic/Latino people, on ways to keep themselves safe and the importance of voting, just like the groups of CORE and the NAACP, who stepped up to educate individuals on the importance of voting in the 1960s. This issue occurring today affects me because my mom is Hispanic. Although she is a citizen, I often get scared that she will be targeted based on her skin color, even though she tells me not to worry. This is how this current issue is affecting me personally.”

“I consider the most important civil rights issues to be the digital divide and educational equality. Just as the trailblazers that literally fought for the right to sit in the classroom, MY generation must fight to have the same resources inside that classroom. In 2026, if one student has high-speed internet and a laptop at home while another student has NEITHER, they aren’t beginning their education on the same level. These are the modern-day ‘locked doors’ that prevent real freedom for all Americans. To open these doors, we must look to the strategy of leaders like A. P. Tureaud, who used the law to fix discrimination within it.”

“The effects of educational inequality can last for generations. Students who attend underfunded schools may have fewer chances to develop strong academic skills or explore career interests. This can affect college enrollment rates, job opportunities, and income levels in adulthood. When large groups of people face these disadvantages, it can widen economic gaps between communities. Over time, this can also affect social mobility, making it harder for people to move out of poverty and improve their living conditions. Septima Poinsette Clark once said, ‘I believe that education is the key to unlocking the world.’”

“I’m so enthusiastic about battling inequality and fighting for what’s right because, as an African American, I have experienced inequality firsthand. I’m talking about encounters with people who will look at you funny when you talk about how Black people are systemically oppressed, or who will blatantly say ‘that never happened’ when you talk about your experience: people who are so ‘comfortable’ around you that they think it’s ok to start dropping slurs that they are not at liberty to say. Experiences like these have molded the person I am today: from my beliefs to the ways I fight for them. I think that the best way to advocate for better treatment is to take it on ourselves: to demand it. We need to start calling out, correcting, and educating people. The system will never change from soft-launching our hatred for inequality.”

“A person raised in smoke never questions the smell of the ashes around them. A person denied equality long enough might forget it was even promised. I’m growing up in a time when many national issues are happening, compounded by major global issues, when traditional journalism can’t be trusted and every issue is polarizing, creating an Us vs. Them mentality. While the trailblazers of the Civil Rights Movement are from generations ago, it feels like we’re still experiencing some of the same issues again on an even more nuanced level.”

“The fight for educational equity has long been central to the civil rights movement. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court affirmed that access to equal education is a constitutional right. Yet decades later, structural inequities remain deeply rooted, particularly in Louisiana. In Orleans Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish, schools serving predominantly Black and low-income students continue to face underfunding, overcrowding, and a lack of mental health resources. These disparities undermine the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal protection and reveal how inequality has merely evolved rather than disappeared.”

“In the 1960s, Americans fought for the right to sit where they wanted, vote freely, and attend integrated schools. For my generation, the fight is expanding to something even more basic: the right to breathe clean air, live safely, and have a future on a livable planet. For my generation, the fight for a livable future is not just about environmental policy. It is about redefining civil rights and recognizing that climate justice and mental wellness are basic human rights. While the Civil Rights Movement fought against segregation and discrimination in schools, transportation, and public spaces, today’s struggles also include the right to live in a safe and healthy environment. Climate change does not affect everyone equally, and the communities harmed the most are often low-income communities and communities of color.”

“New Orleans reflects how history lingers in the present. Redlining and housing discrimination pushed Black residents into underresourced neighborhoods, shaping generations of unequal access. Meanwhile, parishes like Jefferson and St. Tammany benefited from investment, infrastructure, and innovation from these policies. These were not natural outcomes, but planned ones. Opportunity was mapped long before it was measured. Housing remains one of the clearest modern civil rights battlegrounds. Rising rents and displacement force families to move farther from jobs, schools, and support systems. A home is more than a shelter, but an anchor. Without it, everything else drifts. When people are constantly pushed out, they are free to move, but never free to stay.”

“Freedom should not feel divided. It should not depend on your zip code, your race, your income, or where you were born. It should not feel secure for some and uncertain for others. When someone lives in fear of deportation, discrimination, or instability, their freedom is only partial. And when freedom is partial for some, it is weakened for all. The people who marched during the Civil Rights Movement understood that freedom was not meant to be experienced halfway. They refused to accept being treated as fractions instead of full citizens. Their courage reminds us that freedom is not just a legal status; it is a human feeling—a right. It is the ability to wake up without fear and move through the world knowing you belong.”

“A little girl walks into her classroom on the first day of school, her pink backpack almost bigger than she is. Her hands still smell faintly of crayons, the same hands that spend afternoons coloring suns and stick-figure families without worry. She takes her seat, excited to learn, and looking around at other enthusiastic classmates. Minutes later, those same hands will press tightly over her ears as the classroom lights switch off during a lockdown drill, her teacher whispering for everyone to stay quiet. Somewhere between crayons and silence, my generation learned a different meaning of freedom.”