Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists Are Saving the Earth
INTRODuCTION Greta’s time have been speaking out rising up and demanding their leaders leaders take action Their stories inspired me and in an increasingly scary world gave me hope So in 2019 I wrote an article for the Washington Post about teen climate activists in the United States hustling to save the planet Until this point my reporting had not focused on the climate but that article sparked the idea for this book My goal was to spend six months interviewing 25 climate activists under age 25 from around the globe I thought the hard part of writing this book would be finding activists but every time I interviewed someone I heard Oh you should speak to so-and-so They led me to one another They also introduced me to their moms dads siblings and close friends I spoke to girls and young women from the United States Pakistan Iran Colombia the Dominican Republic Brazil Jamaica the Marshall Islands Indonesia Kenya Uganda England Ireland the Netherlands India and Australia These activists are fighting for the world they have inherited Their age does not deter them During my interviews they reminded me there can be no climate justice without racial justice I’m a White middle-class woman and part of writing this book has been unlearning my own internalized privilege My older daughter is Black but still the lens through which I write is a White privileged one One of the rules that my first editors all White men taught me in the newsroom was never share your story with a source before publication Yes you can verify quotes by reading them out loud but if you share your story with a source you’ll no longer be in control of it But how are these rules upholding a system that has kept White people in a position of power throughout history With the support of Kara Rota my editor at Chicago Review Press I sent the stories to every activist before publication I’m grateful for their corrections corrections and for the times they pointed out places where I needed to say more As I finished writing this book I cast my vote for the 2020 US presidential presidential election Then along with the rest of the world I waited as our heroic x
INTRODuCTION poll workers counted the votes And then I waited some more When my older daughter yelled out Joe Biden won I felt so much relief and joy We did it I’m so ecstatic that Kamala Harris is our first-ever Black woman vice president We have much more work to do Every activist knows this Interviewing and writing about these 25 Girl Warriors has changed me We can’t go on like this is normal We need to fight for this planet for the future and for the futures of all children We need to rise up in our resilience I hope that reading their stories will stir something deep inside you too and inspire you to create a new future xi
Daphne Frias Born January 13 1998 Lives West Harlem New York United States Loves Crafting Instagram frias_daphne Pronouns she her hers On September 20 2019 Daphne Frias was scheduled to be one of the official spokespeople for New York City’s climate strike The strike was supposed to start in in the Battery a park 10 miles from her apartment in Harlem which is practically on the other side of Manhattan Daphne wasn’t sure how’d she’d make it there She gets around in a wheelchair and because fewer than half of all subways in New York City are wheelchair accessible taking the train was not an option There was no way a cab would make it through the already crowded streets in time but she refused to give up If there’s one word to describe Daphne it’s determined She called a cab to drop her off as close as possible to the march From there support showed up in the form of a tall guy named Sammer who helped clear a path through the quarter of a million people in the streets so Daphne could get to the front of the march Amy Goodman from Democracy Now would be waiting there to interview Daphne Along the route Daphne laughed as she rolled past everyone There are so many people she gushed It’s so beautiful Instead of stressing out 1
