In Kinloch’s “The Whitefication of the Hood,” she describes how Quentin found inspiration in Jasmine’s story. Although Jasmine was younger and lived in a very different community, Quentin really connected to her appreciation of black history in her town. Intrigued by her description of “old stores, slave houses and old family memories,” he noted “I can see some of Harlem in what she’s saying. When the new come, then there’s white-ification.” (Kinloch 67) By drawing parallels between Egypt, Texas and Harlem, NY, Quentin was consolidating common struggles in an attempt to amplify the voice of Black youth in gentrifying neighborhoods. Gathering similar experiences to highlight an issue is key to the success of any political or social movement. This is something that could be done in a classroom between students of the same age or different ages. I think it would be even more interesting for youth from separate schools to start this conversation. Not only was Quentin able to compare and contrast his life to Jasmine’s, but he gained inspiration that strengthened his own narrative. It can be really eye-opening for young people to get a taste of what its like to grow up in another state or community because of both the differences and the common threads that arise to pull two struggling people together.

“As educators, we face new responsibilities to facilitate a process whereby young producers project five, ten, even twenty years down the line to determine what it will mean for something they say in their teens to follow them into perpetuity, leaving them very little control over who sees it and how it is used.” –Drop That Knowledge, p. 112

I am intrigued by this ethical dilemma over how kids’ present day opinions will affect them in the future. While I realize that anything on the Internet can be accessed at anytime by future employers, admissions officers, or acquaintances, I think it is counter-intuitive for kids to compromise their current voices and opinions in hopes of securing a good job in twenty years. Our society has so many psychologists, educators, and politicians out there telling us how kids think and feel, but it is not the same as having youth themselves express their opinions and experiences. If students feel too much pressure to publish the “right” kind of attitude, they will inevitably censor the very important youth perspective. I can understand a student feeling apprehensive in admitting her struggle with peer pressure or her first experience with drugs or alcohol, but at the same time, if we encourage her to censor her story, it will be harder for adults to understand and appreciate the youth experience. If the purpose of Youth Radio and other young people’s publishing companies is to promote the perspective of youth, the last thing they should do is make kids feel so anxious about their future employers and dates that they can’t appropriately convey their experiences.