Young Voices: Rashida Asante-Eccleston

What do you do in your free time? For most of us youth, that varies. Sports, singing, or hanging out with friends could be on many people's lists. But some of us choose to write. I would like to congratulate all of the young people who read their work at the Bethesda Barnes and Noble on Sunday, April 25th. There were many talented young writers there reading excellent works. Some of the youth were from Writopia Labs, a writing workshop program, while others were winners of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. It was overall very enjoyable, and I wish all of the writers the best of luck.

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  Wednesday, April 21st was an interesting day to walk into Woodrow Wilson, my high school. If it had been my first time there, I might have been confused. Many of the students had gone silent for the day, in order to participate in the Day of Silence. They did so to raise awareness of and to protest against the bullying that members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community face.

      Before the day, students who wanted to participate were able to go the teacher that ran the Gay-Straight Alliance and pick up buttons and cards that explained for what they were staying silent. They could also register themselves on the official web site of the Day of Silence. While the GSA teacher was obviously involved in the organization of this event, the Day of Silence is all about youth participation, so there were students helping to arrange it as well.

      There are a multitude of reasons why people decided to participate in this event. “It seemed like a good way to bring awareness to bullying,” Alice, a Junior who help set up the event, said. “There are people who are GLBTQ and don't want to come out about it.”

Of course, there always has to be someone trying to prevent progress. In the weeks leading up to the event, I witnessed quite a few people continuously making comments about their unhappiness with the Day of Silence. This continued up to the day itself.

“There are always people who try to get you to talk,” Alice said. “It's not helpful, but playful and annoying.” In the last two Days of Silence that I have witnessed, I have seen participants annoyed by classmates trying to debate their silence.  For whatever reason, these classmates just can't seem to leave the silent participants alone.

 Despite those setbacks, the Day of Silence was a success. Many Wilson students participated.

“People actually did it,” Alice said. “People seemed to respect people being silent.”

      Want to protest against something? Try doing it by not saying anything at all. Just by walking around and seeing how many people were refusing to speak throughout the day, you could easily see that youth are truly making a difference in the issues that they care about. 

-Rashida Asante-Eccleston 

*Rashida attends public high and is a published writer at the age of 17. Her love for travel, drives her to learn languages and with her active writing she hopes to become a successful novelist one day. 
Edited by Tyler Mendolsohn