Nominate a Local Activist for This Brave Nation Award

Posted by Erikka Yancy, Brave New Films at 11:43 AM on May 19, 2008.

Nominate a young local activist at BraveNation.com

I consider myself a socially conscious person. It's the way I was raised. My family attended a pretty progressive church — as far as churches go. Every year the church made a trip to Haiti to help repair a church and a house or two. I always wanted to go, but was too young. By the time I was old enough to go, the trips had stopped. But by then, I'd discovered the Peace Corps.

I went to a high school where the school motto was "live simply so that others may simply live." We were all required to do a minimum of forty hours of community service before graduation. I did 60 in the day care at a homeless shelter because it was fun! We colored, played games, and drew pictures of enormous houses with bright green yards filled with flowers and trees.

I was always so very pleased with all my socially conscious work. I volunteered, read books to kindergarteners and 1st graders in a "bad neighborhood" that no one else would go to — so brave, never gave less than a dollar to homeless people on the street, and recycled. Big pat on the back to myself — well done! But there was something nagging at me…

The idea of going into the Peace Corps never left my mind. I had researched the program. It was a 2-year commitment to helping others, awesome. 2 years going somewhere (I didn't know where) with people I didn't know, eating food I'd never heard of, uncomfortable in a weird bed with bugs flying in my ears and working in the sun, with no television. Did I mention it was 2 years of getting sick off of strange water and no phone? Yeah, I know I would be selflessly helping people, but hello, 2 years of complete discomfort! And then I had to face it — I wasn't as brave and selfless as I thought. The Peace Corps was about helping others and all I could do was think about myself.

The truth was that all the previous actions I'd taken — volunteering to play with kids, giving away spare change, recycling — those were great things, but they were just the things that made me a responsible adult. Venturing into the unknown, putting myself on the line, taking a risk for a cause — that was true bravery; those were actions of heroism. Those were and sometimes still are things I didn't have the courage to do. But some people are different. Some people have the natural capacity to be courageous. Some are built to be leaders in our communities. They know an injustice, see a need, hear a calling and step up.

Paula Crisostomo led the largest high school student protest in this country's history.

The Young Women of AWAAM – spoke out after being unfairly portrayed in the media as Islamic Extremists.

Your neigbor, your student, your child, your nephew, your sister, you.

Who is a local unsung hero that you know? Who has the bravery to put themselves on the line for a cause? Tell us about them. Send us a photo, a video, or an essay.

The Brave Nation Award was designed to celebrate the next generation of progressive activism. Too often the younger generation is overlooked and not given the recognition they deserve. There are many awards designed to celebrate the brave activists that have helped to build our country to the Brave Nation it is today, this award was designed to recognize activists leading us courageously into the future.

Nominate a young local activist at BraveNation.com

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