On a recent Sunday morning at Judson Memorial Church in New York, seven-year-old Nova stood before the congregation and read from the children’s book We Are the Builders, calling on attendees to become disrupters and caregivers. The church is integrating children into its service and activism, rather than separating them into Sunday school.
Children as Participants in Justice
Steff Reed, Judson’s Sunday school director, said during his sermon: “Children are not merely recipients of justice. They are participants in the work of justice.” This approach reflects a broader trend in New York, where progressive spaces and parenting groups are involving children in organizing around issues like ICE presence, the Iran war, and the climate crisis.
Family Activism Groups on the Rise
Elizabeth Hamby, Nova’s mother, formed a justice-oriented families group called Seeds in the Bronx around the time Donald Trump retook office. About once a month, up to dozens of families gather to read civil rights books, sing resistance songs, and discuss protests. Hamby, an artist and civil servant, said: “There’s no roadmap for how we parent through this. There are no easy answers, and so having a space where we can talk about it, at least we can work on it together.”
Eduardo Rega Calvo, a Seeds member, noted that his six-year-old daughter Naira, born during the pandemic, has always been surrounded by protest, from Black Lives Matter chants to Washington Heights community organizing for Palestine. For the last No Kings protest in March, Seeds marched down Broadway with 75 people, children carrying a parachute that read: “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”
Integrating Organizing into Daily Life
The Hands Off NYC coalition helps families facilitate playdates with coloring pages, chalk, and teach-ins. Organizer Grace Lindsay said: “When you have young kids, you don’t stop having them just because the government is doing bad things that you need to protest. So there needs to be a way for those things to work together.”
Climate Families NYC, which has grown to 5,000 members since 2019, organizes park playdates and rallies for climate legislation like the Sunny Act, which allows renters to use plug-in balcony solar panels. Liat Olenick, the group’s program and communications director, took her four-year-old to the state capitol in support of the act. “He was wearing a sun costume, just bolting down the hall,” she said. “A four-year-old in Albany is hilarious by default, but he knows what the Sunny Act is, he knows who the governor of New York is.”
Historical Roots in Civil Rights
At Judson, the integration of children into activism nods to the tradition of Black churches as organizing spaces during the civil rights movement. Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at age eight, told the Guardian that King ensured children were included in discussions. “He took us by our hands and said: ‘Let them stand,’ and he brought us into that room, pulled up chairs and sat right in front of us, continuing to have conversations with us,” she said.
After the service, children ate ice-cream sundaes and painted butterfly wings for the Queer Liberation parade. Nine-year-old Ada, who topped her sundae with whipped cream, said she sees herself as a visionary. “I imagine a lot of good things, but I also imagine things that probably will never happen, like water parks with ice-cream and not water.” She added: “I would also like to see everyone helping each other, and more people respecting others, even though we’re different.”
