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Letter from the YEO Team
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POLICY
MEMBERSHIP
Ryan Hurst
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I often talk about how we at the YEO Network stand on the shoulders of the progressive
giants who came before us. We carry on the work of our forefathers and mothers – and
so we will carry on Julian’s work.
Yours in service,
Andrew
YEO F r o n t l i n e N e w s • Q3 2015 • PG 3
MEMBERSHIP
YEO F r o n t l i n e N e w s • Q3 2015 • PG 2
With much
love
and
respect,
I will always remember Julian Bond’s support of PFAW Foundation’s youth leadership
programs and his presence in my own state as he stood in solidarity with the thennascent Dream Defenders movement. At the end of the Dream Defenders’ 31 day sit-in
at the state Capitol, Julian joined them and walked out with them when the protest
had ended. This passing of the torch is especially poignant now after his passing, as we
grapple with our own generation’s battles for racial and social justice.
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I look forward to seeing how you
expand your impact in the years to
come. Though I may not be there to
support you in the same capacity,
please know that I will be there as your
friend and that you can always “lean
on me.” Please feel free to contact me
at [email protected], add me on
Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or
add me on
LinkedIn.
G
The YEO Network Team
Supporting you all as you build a more
just and equitable society has been
an amazing experience. I will never
forget sharing the story of state Sen.
Chris Larson and the Wisconsin 14 as
they left the state in protest to protect
the rights of Wisconsin workers. I
will never forget reading the social
media updates from Missouri state
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal and
St. Louis Alderman Antonio French
as they stood with members of their
community and the movement to
declare that Black Lives Matter. I
Julian Bond dedicated his life to social justice. He was a
student of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Morehouse College, a
founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
chairman of the NAACP, and co-founder of the Southern
Poverty Law Center. He was a young elected himself – first
serving in the Georgia House of Representatives at the age of
25, having been refused initial seating in the Georgia House
Chamber twice, before finally being sat by order of the Courts.
He later served in the state Senate and in 1986 ran for the US
Congress, a race he lost to friend John Lewis. His name was briefly placed in nomination
for the vice presidency at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, before he was old
enough to assume the office. Julian was an activist, a writer, a poet, and a professor.
KIN
Onward.
I had the good fortune of encountering
my first YEO, City Commissioner
Andrew Gillum, seven years ago
when I was a student at Florida State
University. Since then, I’ve gotten to
know hundreds of amazing, young,
unapologetically progressive elected
officials from all across the country. I
have had the privilege of coming to
the office every day with a sense of
purpose and pride in my work.
This summer, we lost a champion for civil rights and a beloved member of the People For
family. Julian Bond was a long-time board member of affiliate People For the American
Way and a courageous but humble voice for change. PFAW
President Michael Keegan shared, “Julian will be remembered
as someone for whom intersectionality was not a buzzword,
but a principle he felt at the core of his being. He saw all the
issues we work on as connected by a broad commitment to
human dignity and equality.”
OR
In the face of such losses and such challenges, we recommit ourselves to this Network and
to what we can accomplish together. We are grateful for the leadership of our members
– for the courage and passion our Barbara Jordan Leadership Award winner, Missouri
state Sen. Maria Chapelle-Nadal, has shown. We are grateful for so many of our
members in Missouri and across the country doing the hard work of making progress and
breaking barriers. It was only fitting that we closed our convening with Baltimore City
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who offered many of us a sense of hope: a sense that
change is possible, that we can step into deeply flawed systems and effect that change, that
being young and being progressive matters, that our voices and our service matters.
To my friends at the YEO Network,
will never forget California state
Assemblyman Evan Low standing
in line at Campbell City Hall to
donate life-saving blood at a blood
drive he was asked to host as mayor
even though he knew he’d be turned
away because he is gay; and instead
of being defeated by that moment, he
successfully challenged the Food and
Drug Administration to review their
discriminatory policy on banning
gay men from donating blood. These
are just a few of the memories I will
treasure forever.
Remembering Julian Bond
TW
And we’ve also grieved. This year we’ve seen the loss of two transformational figures in
the greater People For family. Rev. and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney was a member
of both the YEO Network and the African American Ministers Leadership Council at
People For the American Way Foundation. Civil rights icon Julian Bond was a longtime board member of affiliate People For the American Way, and a friend and hero to
many of us. Two leaders of different generations, but both with inspiring passion, both
dedicated to the same cause of justice, both fighting the kind of hate and violence that
took Clementa’s life. We also grieve the many lives lost, the young people of color killed,
the Black churches burned, the communities hurting.
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This year marks the 10th anniversary of the YEO Network and our 10th National
Convening. We celebrated with our largest convening to date, a record number of new
attendees, and plans for an anniversary gala and new policy academies to come. We have
had important conversations about how this Network can and should continue to grow
and thrive. We’ve recognized and applauded the good and groundbreaking work so many
of you have done over the years, as a collective and in your individual capacities.
YEO Network
Announcement
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