EACH PERSON SHOULD RISE BEFORE THEY SPEAK! PROJECT THEIR VOICES.

Ebony: Ladies and gentlemen. What you see before you are often the unheard. If you listen closely, with your ears and your hearts, their voices will speak a thousand truths. These are the voices and original words from their journal entries documenting their journey from Westwood to Pico Union the democratic national convention. Wait, I hear something. (pause) They are ready to speak!

All: Expectations! Expectations! And more expectations! (sitting down and slowly rising, getting louder and louder) Ebony gets closer as if to hear better! Voices are talking among themselves!

Tiffany: I expect to learn more about what this country stands for!

Nuria: Among my expectations is the one to learn to do research on urban issues that affect me directly. (applause from a few of the voices)

Victoria: I want to learn more about what's going on in my community and my neighborhood schools.

All: EDUCATE, DON'T INCARCERATE! EDUCATE, DON'T INCARCERATE!

Eduardo: I want to think about what is going on in this country, whether it be tracking, alienation, or the actions of the government.

Alejandro: [And] I want to have a clear understanding of what the main problems are to Latinos.

Corey: I think that this is a good way to have connections not only with students from Santa Monica High but also to establish a more wider connection with other students because that is what life is all about. Meeting other people one can see the different points of view that each one has about what we are going to study this summer.

Milinda: I also hope to achieve a better understanding of the convention and how youth play an important role in politics.

Wendy: I expect to learn about the issues that the candidates running for the presidency are going to talk about.

All: I look forward to learning more about our country's political process.

Tiffany: But, I'm not sure how politics work and I'm not sure I quite understand it. (sounding confused)

Angie: I don't know much about politics. Since I am undecided about my future career maybe this will strike a spark

All: or something! (loud)

Tanae: Imagine if we were the chairs of the convention, what would our issues be?

Anthony: How can you title something a national gathering when only a small group of the nation is at hand?

Victoria: I personally am sick of hearing about the same thing over and over again. (frustrated)

Tiffany: But if I were framing the agenda, I would talk about the same issues, for example education, economic status, violence.

Jane: I would emphasize environmental protection, education, youth rights, changing the voting system to make it easier for other parties to have candidates elected, and protecting free speech on the Internet.

Milinda: The main issues I would include are education, abortion, homelessness, foreign trade, and social security. These issues are important because they concern the public. They are also important because these issues need serious discussion and reform.

All: These issues are important to everyone and not just to a specific group.

Joi: [I would like to know] how well do our schools teaching our children?

Nuria: [So, we should look at] education reforms, youth intervention programs, stricter gun laws, free healthcare for everyone, fully paid college expenses for people of low income.

All: (Rise) People deserve to have free access to both education and healthcare. (sit)

Alejandro: Education is extremely important because educated people are going to be the leaders of the future. In order to be educated, a child needs to have access to education in every level!Applause! Highfive your neighbor!

Nuria: [Wait], It is [going to be] difficult to create a forum for everyone.

All: but it can be done with a lot of social conscience.

Wendy: [Well,] the voices that should be heard are the ones that will make change positively.

Nuria: Under the first amendment of the United States Constitution, everyone has the right to speak. If we begin excluding groups, it becomes harder to know where to draw the line. Soon we will be excluding groups without providing legitimate reasons but based only on personal prejudice.

Anthony: I feel that we need to embrace our differences in order to come to a common ground.

All: Isn't that a democracy? (Chanting) Democracy, democracy, those without a voice can never be heard! Democracy, democracy ... (whisper) those without a voice can never be heard!

Victoria: I strongly agree that all voices of America should be heard because it is vital to be aware of who exists in our country.

Corey: Everybody has issues that are important to them and that could effect their lives, their standard of living, their welfare, and their beliefs.

Nallely: I think that all voices should be heard no matter what the ethnicity or religion they have because we are all living in one nation and that should be more than enough. We help this country go further ahead and they live off all the things everyone does to better themselves.

Mireya: I would have a special hour each day arranged in which the common people could come to the candidates and ask them questions.

Tiffany: Remember the first day of the DNC. (excited)

All: (sing) Do you remember the time? (Michael Jackson song)

Nuria: We did not go to that convention, we walked in the sweltering heat, past smelly trash containers (emotional)

Emely: Well, I noticed that there were mostly white elder males with cellular phones who had the access. Here the only people of color that I saw were two Latinos sitting outside not necessarily looking to get in. All the workers, such as the janitors and security were Blacks and Latinos.

Wendy: The roads were blocked by signs that said..

All: DO NOT ENTER!

Nuria: Police surrounded the area. They seemed ready for everything, They carried guns and pepper spray. They seemed well trained, marching down the streets, looking very intimidating. I saw no one causing trouble, not the typical image of protestors that the media provides.

Mayneth: street dogs, old cars, liquor stores. (shaking head) The adolescents are more likely to undergo harmful substances.

Milinda: There was a mural pertaining to helping youth in education and helping the community. This gives encouragement and shows that someone out there is thinking about the community.

Vicki: It was obvious that the people on the bus were mainly immigrants, probably illegal. Most were on their way to their low paying jobs.

Anthony: In Pico Union, there are no libraries, underdeveloped houses, no parks, overcrowded schools, no available social security and child care, and over 158 liquor stores.

All: We were at the Shadow Convention!

Ebony: We explored the political events from the alternative perspectives. First, we visited the shadow convention, the event sought to allow those issues excluded from the democratic convention an opportunity to express their issues and the issues that are not addressed in the other convention. The environment of this convention was different from what would be broadcasted on C-SPAN or any mainstream political media. The audience was a lot more diverse and alternative.

John: I didn't even know this existed. I was very interested when I found we were going to this event. During the middle of the convention I left the hall to go out to the front room to interview the media and the general public. I got to interview one member of the press, a member of the green party and a few of the protestors. After that, I went upstairs to the Lincoln Room to interview Jonathon Kozol. I was very pleased to hear his views on the political system.

Veronica: Today I saw the power and influence that ordinary people can have.

Anthony: I think the only way American society will ever have a democracy is if we make money no longer an issue. What I realized is that we have a long way to go because today

All: Money makes the world go round! (hold up dollar bills)

Veronica: But, I got chills listening to Jesse Jackson Jr. speak. He spoke with passion and a concern and this cannot be faked.

Alejandro: I was really amazed by the speakers! Out of all of the speakers that we saw the one that really left a deep impression on me was Angelica Salas' speech. I can honestly say that I felt like crying because of the excitement and the passion that she was incorporating in her speech.

Milinda: I thought that the shadow convention was a good experience and not as chaotic as the Staples Center .... plus John, Ernest, and Tony didn't need to hassle people for credentials.

Veronica: I believed that I would get to go inside and be a part of a...

All: "democratic society" (gesture quotes with hands)

Veronica: However it was not possible. It seemed as if I had been starving, had food put in front of my eyes.

All: Yet, I was not allowed to even touch it!

Joi: The experience I had was one of disappointment. I thought that we would be working right there on the Staples Center perimeter instead of around it. I had this whole picture of being surrounded by all the media and all of the so-called important people. I would right there in the middle.

Lucy: We're abstracted away from the group.

All: WHY?

Lucy: Because they think we aren't good enough.

Mireya: Just as I thought, the convention is all about brainwashing people. They try to impress people and ignore all of the common people like me!

Veronica: As I stood there I realized that this is how the youth feel!

All: ISOLATED!

Corey: It's funny because adults always say that young people never do things productive but when we do something productive, they never want to help us out!

Ebony: Throughout the day, we faced situations ranging from policies attempts to silence the voices screaming to be heard, to the mosh pit and excited fans chanting along with a band.

Lucy: We have to overcome any obstacle that might get in our way.

Anthony: Democracy Live was a clear testament to how youth are viewed in American society; as less than.

Nuria: Today, we witnessed what could be classified as.....

All: (SHOUT) staged democracy

Victoria: The "Democracy Live" was pretty interesting, in a sense that the show focused
on the incredibly successful youth who have accomplished commendable actions at such
young ages. The big turn-off was that that the show seemed too scripted.

Nuria: The show was scripted to such a degree that it seemed ridiculous and useless to have
hosts.

All: (stand and pause ... wait for everyone to stand) I felt like a prop (strike a pose), just another piece of furniture.

Angie: In the live broadcast of youth to youth the majority of the questions were coming from the computer. Even though they did chose a few from the audience to ask questions, we felt that we were denied the opportunity to express our beliefs. Why? Because they gave priority to the computer questions.

Nuria: I was very disappointed by the show but more so by the denial of access to other areas of the convention center.

Angie: Then, we tried to get into convention, after about four tries we were not allow to go in.

Tiffany: But, someone made it in to the convention!

VOICES APPLAUD!

Angie: As soon as we got in, I felt my heart stop. (excited) l really don't remember breathing. When we finally got to where we were supposed to be at we really couldn't see Gore. We got there in the middle of the speech. The people clapped and cheered. It looked so beautiful, people cheering like crazy!!!

All: In four weeks we have become critical researchers! (applaud!)

Anthony: To be a critical researcher one must emphatically prove his point of argument leaving no doubt in the reader's mind, so that once anyone has read your thesis they can accept it as fact, instead of theory or opinion.

(Voices nod in agreement)

Jane: Becoming a critical researcher seems to mean focusing on "practical" questions rather than fundamental ones.

Wendy: We must also be patient in what we are researching, think thoughtfully and an issue and challenge an issue.

Veronica: As a researcher, one must have an open mind.

Leticia: You have to work really hard!

Joi: It takes a lot of work and discipline.

Milinda: Being a critical researcher means including details and getting deeper than one usually would,

Eduardo: Becoming a critical researcher is tough, it takes a lot of thinking and a lot of analyzing of situations critically. When researching you have to come up with thought provoking questions and have to be sure to go deep into your analysis, don't settle for something.

All: Open your mind!

Victoria: Thinking critically is like thinking beyond what comes to mind when you first think of something. Okay here's an example. You are in a store and a person standing next to you steals a loaf of bread. Now, you are the researcher, so you are supposed to research. You're saying in your head 'hey, that person jacked a loaf of bread. What should I do? Should I tell someone? He/she is stealing.' But now, you're realizing that you're a critical researcher so you start thinking a little more wisely and critically. Now that you've realized that you are a critical researcher, you say to yourself, or in your head, "I wonder why he/she stole that bread. There has to be a reason for it. There's a big chance that he/she is stealing because his family is hungry.

Tanae: For me, I want to find out what the schools are doing to help out in poorer communities.

Eduardo: Because of my background, I am interested in issues and research that affect people of color. I like to research topics that effect the oppressed people or the underrepresented voice.

Anthony: I am interested in doing research on African American culture and history rather than European. I think it has to do with my educational experience in that the only reference or material I've ever really studied dealing with African American culture has been slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.

Corey: As an African American what would influence my research perspective would be African American issues such as education, economics, single parenting's influence on gang life of African American males, and the large incarceration rate of African American males.

Cythnia: I am a Chicana and that influences me greatly. It makes me want to learn about Chicanos/Latinos and blacks and see why they aren't receiving the same treatment, I thought that being proud was wrong. I would say that people like to make a big deal of nothing, but slowly by researching I learned that everything is a big deal. Now, I realize that if we don't speak up then...

ALL: WE WILL NEVER BE HEARD! (loudly)

Veronica: I would also like to research the lack of access in schools that minorities students face.

Mireya: Being a Hispanic has allowed me to focus a lot on racial segregation. It has allowed me to come the conclusion that racist people and racist actions are still out there. Hence, I have become concerned with all the Hispanics and other minority groups that are affected in society.

Ebony: With a beginning like this, I can't wait to see how it ends.

All: (speak slowly, hut with passion and energy) I leave cynicism behind, but not the anger. I will take the anger with me everywhere I go from now on, where ever that place may be. It is anger that leads to action and action to changes. This place needs changes and someone to help achieve them.

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