Seattle Freedom School Helps Youth Set Their Own Course All
young people have the inherent capacity to change the course of
their own lives—and even the world. AFSC helps them discover and
act on that potential. One method is the Freedom School based in
Seattle. Each year, the Freedom School mentors 300 young people,
ages 15 to 21, as they learn about social justice, the history
of activism, and explore civic engagement. Students examine
questions such as: Why are people poor? How does oppression
work? How can we organize for nonviolent change? Students
discover how institutions such as schools, prisons, and the
neighborhoods where they live affect their lives. One inevitable
lesson is that racial inequalities still exist in the United
States, and that they can and should do something to address
them. One of the participants in 2010 said, “Freedom School…has
been scary, uncomfortable, enraging, amazing. Through that
discomfort I have learned so much about myself. My eyes are now
open to the racism present aro