VICTORIA WRIGHT

Victoria is an eighteen-year-old senior at Freeport High School in Long Island, New York. After learning about Bobby Kennedy while taking the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Speak Truth to Power human rights education course, she decided to commit herself to social justice.

Pamela Schmidt, an inspiring teacher who has used the Speak Truth education program from Nepal to Haiti to Long Island, introduced me to Victoria.

Victoria Wright: The first time I heard about Robert Kennedy was freshman year, when my teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, brought the Ripple of Hope quote to one of our class meetings. She discussed some of his work and it was really very inspiring. I told her that hopefully I can be like him.

My take on Robert Kennedy is that he was an insanely giving person. Sometimes when people have so much, they don’t think about people in other situations, but he always did, and you can clearly tell that he was genuine and cared for other people. So, over our four years in our effort to be like Robert Kennedy and give back, our Speak Truth to Power club took on a community service project each year.

Our freshman year we sold bracelets made by kids who were trapped in forced labor as carpet factory workers in Nepal. Kailash Satyarthi started the home for those children. We sold the bracelets and then donated the money straight back to the home, to provide more for the kids.

We continued to sell the bracelets throughout high school, but we added other things. Sophomore year we also entered the Speak Truth to Power video contest.

Our video was based on how wasteful we Americans can be. One of our scenes was in the cafeteria. Students were taking food, deciding they didn’t like one of the foods on the tray, and throwing away the entire plateful. The message of the film was that maybe you should think about how you are wasting the resources that could honestly be helping someone else. We took third place in the competition.

Our junior year we sold Christmas tree ornaments made by children in Haiti who were orphaned or abandoned by their families because of the earthquake. Many of the kids had intellectual disabilities and were physically challenged. So a home was started for those kids, which our teacher visited.

Kerry Kennedy: That was started by Loune Viaud, Nancy Dorsinville, Paul Horan, and Paul Farmer from Partners in Health. The home is called Zamni Beni. All the kids were adopted by Loune, so now it’s a family—a large family, with sixty or seventy kids, but a family. So you were selling Christmas ornaments for them?

VW: Yes, and throughout each of the years we had the “Ripple of Hope” wall in our school. Each time someone bought an ornament or bracelet we would put their name on a piece of blue construction paper cut into the shape of a raindrop with the words “I am a ripple of hope” on it, and then we would pin the raindrop to the wall. By the end of the year the entire wall was covered with raindrops. It was very, very nice. We had pictures of raindrops growing on the wall as people donated.

KK: That must have made everyone feel like they were part of the community, and that they each had a role in making a difference. And then senior year?

VW: Our main thing this year was reverse trick-or-treating. I was deeply involved in this effort. First we watched a film and learned about the exploitation of children in the manufacturing of chocolate. I had no idea that 70 percent of the chocolate consumed in the United States is made by children in slavery or child labor, working so they cannot go to school. I cried when I learned about the terrible conditions. Sometimes it’s like an awakening—people shouldn’t have to go through this.

Then we made a plan. We decided to buy fair-trade chocolate—chocolate not made by exploited kids—and to give it to other students (“reverse trick or treat”) and explain what we learned about child labor to them. It was my idea to hand out the fair-trade chocolates with cards explaining the problem during the lunch period because that is when most kids are together and available. We handed them out and what was really touching was that usually you get teenagers who just don’t care—you just give them chocolate and they walk away. But all of the kids we spoke to actually wanted to know about what we were doing instead of just taking it and moving on. So we ended up actually having conversations in which we explained our project. It was just very touching because you don’t expect so many people to actually listen and care about what you are doing.

KK: Good for you! When you go off to college next year, do you want to continue working on social justice issues?

VW: Yes! I was accepted to a college program focused on social justice. I enjoy working on these issues and I want to do more. First-year students choose an organization to volunteer with as part of a service project, and for the next three years you can continue to work for that organization. I am excited to choose an organization that I am really passionate about. I don’t know which one yet, but I will be continuing my work.

KK: Come and work with us!

VW: It sounds amazing. The Ripple of Hope quote says you can touch another person’s life and that can lead to another person and that is how change happens. Robert Kennedy believed all of us can change things.

Instead of just focusing on his own life, he focused on making sure other people’s lives were better. If we had more of that in the world then we would not see some of these issues that we are seeing. He was a humanitarian, someone who cared deeply about social justice issues. If you are looking for work to follow and someone to be inspired by, look to Robert Kennedy.