Iowa City youth practice activism inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

IOWA CITY — Harry Epstein, 18, practiced walking in the shoes of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., speaking out against the “harmful” bills being proposed this month in the Iowa Legislature affecting gay and transgender youth.

Epstein, a transgender girl and a senior at Iowa City High School, was one of a dozen youth who spoke Friday about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights, racial and gender equality and gun violence at an open mic night at the United Action for Youth Center, a youth social services organization in Iowa City.

The open mic night is part of a monthlong series to celebrate, educate and honor the life and legacy of King, sponsored by United Action for Youth and the Iowa City Public Library. The night was a way for youth to learn from the legacy and use their words to create change, said Victoria Fernandez of the Iowa City Public Library.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday that honors the civil rights icon who was assassinated in 1968.

Kylie Buddin, with United Action for Youth, said in studying the life of King, they are learning how many acts during the civil rights movement of the 1960s “were not huge or major” individually by themselves.

"Lots of small actions of good trouble lead to big change,“ Buddin said, quoting John Lewis, another one of the leaders of the civil rights movement.

“The grand organizations were great, but simply showing up and sitting at a counter you weren’t allowed at was a huge act that created big change,” Buddin said, referring to the sit-in in 1960, when young Black students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., and refused to leave after being denied service.

Students are writing letters to Gov. Kim Reynolds and other state leaders, voicing opposition to bills recently introduced related to gay and transgender youth.

House File 8 specifies that schools cannot provide instruction or material on sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade.

House File 9 would prohibit school districts from providing any accommodations intended to affirm a student’s gender identity without written consent from the child’s parent or guardian.

Learn more about King

Youth are invited to participate in free events this month held at the United Action for Youth Center, 355 Iowa Ave. in Iowa City, from 5 to 7 p.m. every Friday this month, in partnership with the Iowa City Public Library.

The next event, on Jan. 20, will be about “creating.” Students will take a field trip to the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa before returning to the United Action for Youth Center to create work inspired by the civil rights movement.

The series will end Jan. 27, with an opportunity to serve. Students will learn about service projects during the civil rights movement and donate food that’s being collected throughout the month to CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank in Iowa City.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com