MINNESOTA YOUTH COUNCIL STATEMENT ON SCHOOL SAFETY
March 20, 2018
The Minnesota Youth Council (MYC) is a collaboration of youth and adults working together to empower and mobilize young people across the state to exercise their voices, opinions and ideas and take action on issues affecting youth. In 2013, the Minnesota Legislature formally recognized the work of the Minnesota Youth Council, passing into law the Minnesota Youth Council Committee Bill, which established the council as the “voice of youth” to the state legislature and the Governor- the only legislatively mandated youth council of its kind in the country. The following is a statement from the student members of the Minnesota Youth Council:
“The Minnesota Youth Council is the legislatively mandated voice of the youth of Minnesota, and as such, it has varied, unique and partisan individual voices. However, regardless of party lines, MYC members are in agreement that student safety and advocacy have always been and will remain non-partisan and massively important values. It is for this reason that the MYC would like to officially voice its support of the students rallying together, demanding that senseless acts of gun violence should never be a source of fear in public settings, most notably, in schools. Furthermore, the MYC recognizes its unique platform to promote change, which supplies it with the means to address legislators directly. We call on our policymakers to further increase safety within schools. As students, our education is something that should not be threatened by violence in any form, especially gun-based. Many members of the MYC are supporters of the second amendment, however, those of us who are will not sit-out from this important discussion. Many factors contribute to gun violence ranging from mental health issues, to flaws in our investigative system and the nuance should not be left out of this discussion. We have stood by the sidelines for far too long, watching preventable massacres occur, hoping that elected officials would take some course of action to protect our schools, concerts, festivals, and places of worship. This is unacceptable, and we now demand that those who represent us, with the power to establish laws, will finally act.”