CHAPTER 1 Representative GOVERNMENT North Carolinians participate in a Moral Mondays protest in 2014 MADISON KIMREY SUPPORTER OF VOTING RIGHTS When twelve-year-old Madison Kimrey’s family took her to Jacksonville Florida in early 2013 it was for fun She was going to visit one of her closest friends She didn’t expect to get involved in politics But when Madison heard about a protest happening at a children’s museum she wanted to learn more The museum had discriminated against a same-sex couple saying that they had to pay extra for a family membership because according to the museum they weren’t really a family Madison joined the protest When her vacation ended and she returned home to Burlington North Carolina she thought about what she’d done It had felt good to stand up for something she cared about So she began to read political blogs and she started writing a blog of her own She wanted to find other causes to fight for 6
Something caught her eye right away North Carolina was considering passing a law that would take away the right of older teens to preregister to vote Supporters of the law said it was needed to cut down on voter fraud The office of the state governor Pat McCrory also said the preregistration program was confusing to teenagers and a bureaucratic burden Preregistration helps encourage young people to vote It increases voter turnout which means more people are represented in their government Madison went to the governor’s office and asked for a meeting with him She wanted to discuss voter preregistration for teens but the governor turned her down I realized then that they’re not taking me seriously Madison told a reporter That’s when I started my petition because I really wanted to sit down and listen to what Pat McCrory had to say Governor Pat McCrory speaks at an event in May 2013 Madison started a petition on MoveOn org that gathered more than thirteen thousand signatures The petition asked Governor McCrory to meet with her to talk about voting rights But the petition did not change the governor’s mind When he was asked about Madison he said that she was being coached by her parents on what to say He called her a prop for groups that opposed the new law After she heard that Madison went to a Moral Mondays event in Raleigh At Moral Mondays North Carolinians protest laws they 7
feel are unfair or wrong At the protest Madison gave a speech She told the crowd I am not a prop I am part of the new generation of suffragettes and I will not stand silent while laws are passed to reduce the amount of voter turnout by young people in my home state Her speech was recorded and put on YouTube Soon Madison was getting attention from across the country She went on national TV shows including Melissa Harris-Perry and she was featured in a story on the Huffington Post The law stopping early registration for teenagers went into effect in 2013 and has not been changed But Madison continues to fight for voting rights as well as other causes she believes in She even started an organization called NC Youth Rock The organization helps to educate young people about important issues It asks North Carolina’s elected officials to make decisions beneficial to young people in NC JOSHUA WONG YOUTHFUL LEADER OF THE UMBRELLA REVOLUTION A few months after Joshua Wong was born in Hong Kong the government of his homeland changed It went from being a British colony to being ruled by mainland China China is a Communist nation which means the government owns all property and products In a democratic capitalist system such as the United States these are owned by people or companies Another difference is that in democratic countries people help choose their leaders in fair elections That doesn’t happen in a Communist country At the time of this change China agreed to a one country two systems formula Hong Kong would keep its capitalist economic system and partially democratic political system 8
It didn’t take long however for things to get sticky between the Communist government and pro-democracy Hong Kong citizens China’s government got more and more involved in Hong Kong’s government while the citizens pushed back Joshua Wong was one of the most passionate citizens He was only thirteen the first time he joined a political protest An especially controversial topic in Hong Kong was the education system Chinese authorities tried to install a pro-Communism anti-democracy curriculum in schools Government textbooks encouraged students to love China and left out ugly parts of history such as the Tiananmen Square massacre In that 1989 incident government soldiers killed thousands of pro-democracy protesters with assault rifles and tanks in China’s capital Beijing Joshua Wong hands out flyers in Hong Kong on November 16 2014 Joshua was fifteen when he organized a hunger strike and a 120,000-person protest He wanted to stop China’s plans to put this so-called patriotic education in Hong Kong’s schools He stood on the front lines of the protests and fought for an education that taught kids about democracy and freedom of speech He wanted students to ask questions instead of believing everything they were told In a loud voice Joshua criticized the adults who supported China’s pro-Communism curriculum His passion won over many followers 9
