Fifty years after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic speech in Washington, my peers and I have not lost the desire for change and progress in society.
I have always wanted to be a youth advocate, and World Vision mobilized me to be an agent of change. It impacted my life by helping me impact the lives of others. With World Vision’s support, I was encouraged to begin a nonprofit organization of my own this summer to continue advocating for the daily injustices all around us.
Being involved with programs like World Vision’s Youth Empowerment Program and its National Youth Advisory Council showed me that many things are left to be done—and that I can be an advocate for change.
Daily injustices like sex trafficking and child labor still thrive in our country and around the world. If my peers and I allow the idea that there’s nothing left for us to do, we will ultimately undo the hard work and dedication of those who came before us and marched on Washington with Dr. King.
Since the Civil Rights movement, it’s easy to think that the fight is over and there is nothing left to do. The generation of young people at the March— those who were out on the streets protesting and fighting for what they believed—is getting older. So now it is my generation’s obligation to continue the burning desire for social advancement.
Written by Yemi Olugbuyi, an alumna of World Vision Youth Empowerment Program and a current sophomore at Penn State University in Schuylkill, Penn.
