Aleita Cook and Ahmed Sesay (18), have never taken an American Civics course during their high school education in Rhode Island. Ahmed says that he was never taught how to vote in school and most of his history courses dealt with conflicts. Aleita was also in a similar position. Aleita attended a high school in Providence, Rhode Island and states that she mostly learned about wars in her history courses.

To millions of students outside of Rhode Island the idea of not being educated about rights, how to vote, citizenship, and taxes seems almost unknown to them. However, these two students weren’t shocked about it. In an interview with The New Voice, Aleita said she wasn’t surprised to find out that her education compared to her peers was leaving her at a disadvantage. “The education system has always failed black and brown students,” Cooks says. When recognizing that they were being left behind Aleita, Ahmed, and other Rhode Island students filed a federal lawsuit against the government. They argue that civics classes are a Constitutional right, and the states failure to provide this has violated their rights. The case, Cook v. Raimondo, is a class-action lawsuit with 14 plaintiffs from various age groups arguing on behalf of their peers.

The story of involvement for Aleita and Ahmed is an interesting one. Alieta happened to stumble across the case after a friend informed her about it and later asked her to join. Ahmed, who attended one of the top schools in the state, was contacted by a lawyer recruiting students for the case. For both of them, this case hits close to home and they recognize how important the fight for quality education is. “Activism is very important to me and I feel like I can carry this out through my work on the case,” says Ahmed. Aleita also recognizes the larger implications the lawsuit has. “Activism is important in general. This fight isn’t just for me, I’m fighting for other people. I chose this because others don’t have time to change the system,” says Aleita.

Rhode Island’s failure to provide a civics education isn’t actually a new occurrence. When asked about the urgency of the case, Ahmed and Aleita emphasized that other people need this and they should know how their government operates. The state currently allows school districts to decide for themselves if they want to provide a civics course, but the lawsuit points out how this leads to inequality. According to the New York Times, “Students in affluent towns often have access to a rich curriculum and a range of extracurricular activities, like debate teams and field trips to the State Legislature, that are beyond the reach of poorer schools.” And the failure to provide a civics education is an issue that extends beyond Rhode Island. Around 23% of U.S. eighth-graders were at or above proficiency in a 2014 civic assessment.

It’s been nine months since the lawsuit was brought on and the fight for an equal education isn’t over. The Rhode Island court filed a motion to dismiss the case, as they say, there’s no Constitutional right for the state to provide such education if it can be done by local school committees. The plaintiffs filed an objection to the motion, but the R.I. court filed a rebuttal to the objection.

At this point, the case is up in the air as both sides wait for a scheduled hearing with a judge. Even if the case is shot down by the state court at the Federal level, Rhode Island students aren’t backing down. Aleita, Ahmed, and Attorney Rebell have their eyes set on winning this case, even if that means taking it to a higher court. “We are trying to push for the case to go to the Supreme Court,” says Aleita.

Outside of the civics course lawsuit, Aleita and Ahmed bring up that there’s a lot more work to be done in the U.S. educational system. Ahmed says “Our educational system has no representation and lacks diversity. I went to a school with 80-90% of students of color and most of the teachers and administrators were white.” Aleita also agrees on this issue, “ Administrators are white, but I’d see custodians and janitors that are people of color. Think about what that says to students.” They also think that the school curriculum needs to change, and Ahmed knows this struggle personally. Ahmed’s school didn’t offer a multicultural studies class, so he fought for one to be created. He said that it took two years for his school to implement this course, and that’s why he believes that this case is a gateway to talk about how schools should prepare students.

Though it may seem like the case it at a stall, the fight for a fair education is far from over for these two. Aleita and Ahmed embody activism through their passion and fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. When the case comes to end ends, no matter the outcome, don’t be surprised if you see either of these young activists fighting at the forefront of the next injustice.

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