- [Narrator] Funding for this program has been provided by... (upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Olivia, and welcome to "Young Creators Studio."

Today, we're at the grounds for sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, and we have some incredible stories for you this week.

You know sometimes as kids, it's hard for adults to hear our voices and concerns.

Just because we're young doesn't mean we're uninformed about what's happening around us, especially if it involves youth and our future.

In this episode, we focus on people making a difference.

(upbeat music) - [Girl] My mom, Sheena Bediako, is an immigration attorney who runs her own practice in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

- My name's Jerry Silverman, I'm a tour guide from Mural Arts Philadelphia.

- [Narrator] Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was born in Philadelphia on January 2nd, 1898.

- [Woman] Today we are celebrating our day of peace.

Students are creating signs to represent a social justice issue that means a lot to them.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to "Young Creators Studio."

Up next, we'll see videos of people using their voices for change.

From students participating in their school's International Day of Peace, to one student's mother helping refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

Let's take a look.

(pen scratching) - Doing immigration work does help people who are in need of having an advocate, having a voice.

I may never see most of my clients ever again and I'm satisfied with that.

Knowing that I've left them in a better position than the way that they came to me.

(ethereal music) - [Narrator] Compassion is contagious.

And by living every day to fight justice my mom, Sheena Bediako, is an immigration attorney who runs her own practice in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

Born to an immigrant father and American born mother, this field is very close to home for her.

She has been practicing since 2002 with the goal of upholding the law while empathizing with others.

The immigration system is an extremely tricky process to navigate, with a significant number of bureaucratic steps and ever-changing policies.

This process would be difficult for your average citizen to navigate but is nearly impossible for someone new to the United States.

Because of this, immigration attorneys are absolutely essential to defending the human right of asylum.

- A refugee is defined as anyone fleeing their home country, fleeing war, violence or persecution, and looking for safety.

Article 14 of the United Nations Declaration for Human Rights protects asylum seekers.

And we have globally agreed to protect those people needing safety.

Unfortunately, even though the United States does have the capacity to protect many of these people, in 2020, we granted asylum to as few as 3,000 refugees of 30,000 seeking asylum.

This is why lawyers play such an important role as human rights defenders, protecting individual asylum seekers, making sure that others believe they do have the legal right to seek safety in the country.

- [Narrator] The rule of law is essential to our political structure, especially as it protects the social and cultural dignity of all humans.

Jorge Cardozo is one of Ms. Bediako's clients whom she helps obtain asylum in the United States.

In our interview, Jorge described us the suffering that forced him to flee Mexico.

(Jorge speaking in foreign language) In his hometown of Guanajuato, the gang, Narcos, wished to punish his family for installing metal bars into their neighbor's windows, in turn preventing home break ins.

His father decided to stay true to his morals and defy the gang.

As a consequence of the stance, his family was decapitated and gored one by one.

Jorge knew that it was only a matter of time before they came for him next.

Jorge was only 18 at the time, but to this day, when he closes his eyes, he can still see the red of his family's blood splattered on the ground.

When he first met Ms. Bediako, he feared that she would only focus on legal rules and processes and be less interested in his story and humanity.

He soon realized that she genuinely empathized with him and wanted him to succeed.

Her commitment to human rights, to treating him with dignity and respect and her ongoing perseverance for the life he deserves, gave Jorge the faith that his life is worth living.

To effectively change what is unjust in the world, it is vital to have people that are willing and passionate to advocate for change themselves.

Compassion and perspective must be considered when making laws, and global humanity must be upheld.

Our world needs more people like my mom to stand up for those without a voice, and to use the law and compassion simultaneously.

- Every person deserves to be treated decently.

And if you're able to, because of your skillset, help someone else that is unable to for various reasons, lack of education, lack of language, lack of mental capability, lack of resources, then why wouldn't you wanna try to help make something better for somebody else?

(upbear music) (pen scratching) (ethereal music) - 1.2 billion young minds grown then hid, walking the earth with dreams that die, like doves thrown in a jar and sealed with the lid.

"Take flight," they say, but don't sore too high for you are just a kid.

- The world is on flame seasick, a world of shame.

I watch a stand for a better land despite our claims.

Advocacy, sustainability and action we proclaim.

They say we already protect the earth but I want to make real change.

(ethereal music) - Given a match the fire is forbid.

"Bring us light," they say, that I'm just a kid.

Don't climb the glacier, last time you slid.

But I've practiced more every day.

Maybe I'm not just a kid.

(ethereal music) - Young eyes look up to me, pleading for me to show them how to be, how to speak up for the change we want to see.

Adults try to dismiss our needs of how to be a woman navigating a patriarchy.

I will speak up for the oppression I see.

I am not perfect and I am who I want to be.

I don't always make my bed nor do I have a degree.

You say these are limits to my capabilities but I am more powerful than your elementary definition of me.

(pen scratching) (upbeat music) - My name's Jerry Silverman.

I'm a tour guide from Mural Arts, Philadelphia.

When somebody goes on a mural tour with me, I always like to talk about more than just the art work.

I like to talk about the history of the city if we're passing by some important places of interest and give backgrounds to the artists and backgrounds to the mural itself.

Restorative justice program is for people who are out of prison and are looking for work.

So we provide jobs for them for a year.

We pay them, and then they can go to an employer with a pay stub and a recommendation and skills, construction skills, painting skills, metal work, whatever they might be doing with Mural Arts.

And they can say, "Look, I worked here for a year.

"I did a good job, please hire me.

"And you'll be pleased with my work."

And the great thing is that the rate of recidivism of going back into prison is about nine, 10% for our program.

Whereas in the rest of the country, it's 80 to 90% recidivism.

(upbeat music) Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor.

(upbeat music) The mural's called The Crown, and the word corona is Latin for crown.

And this was approximately the time of the coronavirus but also lots and lots of problems in the United States with respect to police brutality.

So the names all across the back of the mural, behind all the people are all victims of police brutality in the United States over the last several years.

And the artist Russell Craig himself, is featured in the mural.

As Jane Golden, our director says, "Art saves lives."

And when they had a dedication for one of our murals, they had a few men from the restorative justice program who had done the mural that was being dedicated.

And one of them spoke on behalf of the rest and said, "This program saved my life."

And that's what it's all about.

We help people in the community.

It's all about the community.

It's all about the City of Philadelphia.

And again, the art just happens to be the end result but it's everything that leads up to that, it's so important.

(upbeat music) (pen scratching) - [Narrator] Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was born in Philadelphia on January 2nd, 1898.

Her father, Erin Mossell, was an attorney who left after Sadie's birth, leaving Mary Mossell, Sadie's mother, to take care of Sadie and her two older sisters.

The family moved to Washington DC, there's more close family that would help to support Mary and the girls growing up.

Sadie came from a family of very well educated and groundbreaking people.

Her grandfather, Benjamin Tucker Tanner was Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Her uncle Henry Ossawa Tanner was a distinguished painter.

If you have ever been in a Penn Alexander Office, you may have seen some of his work.

(ethereal music) Another uncle, Nathan Mossell, was a physician and surgeon.

He later founded the Mercy Hospital in Philadelphia.

Sadie went to the M Street High School in Washington D.C. and returned to Philadelphia in 1915, to study at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her mother encouraged her to study in Philadelphia, and Sadie was able to keep studying at the university.

Pushing through the boundary set in front of her and that discrimination at the university.

Sadie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1918 with a MA and becoming the first black woman in the United States to earn a PhD, hers in economics.

After graduation, she became president of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority from 1919 to 1923.

She then made another first when she became the first black woman enrolled in law school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1927.

After graduating from law school of honors, Sadie began to work for her husband's law firm.

She started with cases in orphan core, and was soon working on cases against racial discrimination.

Sadie was a grant broker who made massive accomplishments in every field she entered.

She was the first African American woman who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Law School as well as one of the first African American women in the country to receive a doctoral degree.

Her achievements in the legal field, led to former president, Harry S. Truman, inviting her to be a part of the president's committee on civil rights.

The investigative work of the committee convinced Truman to create a law to ban lynchings throughout the country.

Sadie worked to pick a pathway for anyone, regardless of race or gender, to follow their hearts and dreams.

Not only did Sadie break many barriers set by race and gender, but she left an everlasting impact on our community.

You can walk around our neighborhood and see many of the buildings she learned and worked in.

She made history in our community and our school is named after a woman who changed the world for the better.

(ethereal music) (pen scratching) - My name is Asta Kundu, and I am a non-binary south Asian person.

As I felt like I was losing myself over quarantine, something that helped me cope with that was trying things that are unfamiliar to me.

I started writing with my left hand more and practiced.

Then I got way better at it than I expected.

Wearing clothes that I usually don't wear.

For example, putting hints and accents of south Asian clothing in my regular outfits and wearing more south Asian jewelry.

Just a very simple step to feel more connected to my culture, but it helped me find myself even more.

It also helped me feel more content in myself and in my personality, and just as a human too.

Try doing things for yourself more often.

I know it just sounds like a very selfish thing to say.

And sounds like a very basic thing to say, even.

I've not been myself like this, I have ever been before, which makes me feel so much more prouder in my own skin and in my own body.

And I'm very thankful for that.

(pen scratching) (upbeat music) - Today, we are celebrating our day of peace.

The students are creating signs to represent a social justice issue that means a lot to them.

Something that they want to learn more about and really develop their voice.

To speak out against that issue in the community, hopefully one day as well.

- We decided today to make a poster about racism because many people have died from racism, from police brutality at the hands of police officers.

- So today we are having a school wide Peace Day where we all represent different problems that we would like to change, or we would like society to fix.

And we felt, you could use more peace to make a lot of things better.

The issue I most care about today is women equality and women rights.

How women in the industry or different industries is usually male dominated.

So women have to fight harder to get what they want.

- [Lady] Perfect.

- So today at Parkway we are still celebrating our International Day of Peace.

We are so excited to have our students be able to use their voice to speak their truth.

Getting our students to increase their voice and really speak up for what they believe in is something that's inherent at Parkway that we want within our kids.

So, since we weren't able to come out to Germantown today, we decided to have our celebrations here.

To take a pause with the academics for just a day, to have our students realize just a little bit more about the core values of our school.

So, my tutorial, for example, chose to do police brutality which sadly our students have been talking about for quite a few years, but we saw a lot of newcomers this year such as LGBTQ rights, equality.

I've seen a lot of world peace shirts and just a lot of equality ones, which I love.

- Alrighty, so let's start things off with class of 2022.

(students murmuring) (upbeat music) - We would raise minimum wage to $15.

I'm sure everybody wants that.

And lastly, a financial literacy course to be a mandatory requirement for all graduating seniors.

(students cheering) (upbeat music) - [Woman] No peace!

- [Man] No justice!

- [Woman] No peace!

- [Girl] No justice!

- [All] No peace!

- [Woman] No justice!

- [All] No peace!

- [Woman] No justice!

- [All] No peace!

- [Woman] No justice!

(upbeat music) ♪ I'ma do it like this, I'ma do it like that ♪ ♪ I'ma do it like this, I'ma do it like that ♪ ♪ I'ma do it like this, I'ma do it like that ♪ ♪ I'ma do it like this, I'ma do it like that ♪ ♪ Always flowing that plugin motion ♪ ♪ Sing for the blind, I need democracy ♪ ♪ Black for black, we're not open for blood shots ♪ ♪ I mourn the folk, over you get busy like it's applause ♪ ♪ Let them now tell me say something a buzz ♪ ♪ You were never too biggest fella ♪ ♪ You represent too wicked fella ♪ ♪ Shoot and get someone happy ♪ ♪ Lay dead to down desert the kid ♪ ♪ Own a bus 'cause I'ma ♪ (indistinct singing) - Hi, my name is Jacob.

- Hello, my name is Maya.

- [Trinity] Hi, I'm Trinity hunt.

- [Anna] Hey, my name is Anna.

- [Woman] Mental health has become-- - [Man] And how our relationship with death affects our mental health - [Girl] The pandemic - [Woman] Therapy, well, that's a white people thing.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] I'm lucky I had a light introduction to grief.

My first experience with death only came this past year.

When my grandmother passed away.

In the spirit of reflection, I thought I'd examined the way grief works and perhaps begin to understand why I felt the way that I did.

- [Woman] The reason why a lot of African Americans turn down therapy is simply because of the lack of representation within this field alone.

- [Announcer] Nationwide, It's estimated that just 1% of psychiatrists are African American.

- [Woman] My mom, and over time she's got more lazy with taking me there because she just sees it as, oh, I don't need it.

I mean, she was like, stop hurting yourself.

You don't really need therapy.

You don't need to go every week because they're gonna think something's wrong with you.

And I'm looking at it as what if that's the help that I need.

- The challenge is to sound as much as you possibly can like yourself, natural, like the way you sound when you're talking to a friend, but also sound in a way so that the listener can engage and can follow you and can really engage with the content you're putting out.

So I see voicing as really a performance.

It's not reading, it's not talking, it is to me, a performance, and you get yourself into a performance mindset, and you're performance-- - [Girl] I've been going through so much pain.

I've been going through so much, because my grandmother had passed away, my dad had left us, my house got on fire.

And so everything, my mom, all those stuff my mom had to go through and it was really hard because I would be going in the corners, I would be crying.

It's like you start crying, you would think that nobody would love you.

- [Instructor] So mental health is trending and it's bad, what do we do about it?

We need to change our language.

Just because I'm sad I finished all my coffee doesn't mean I'm depressed.

Just because I don't like when all my books aren't straight and lined up doesn't mean I have OCD.

If I go around claiming I have these mental illnesses that people struggle with every day, I am causing others to become desensitized.

- Awesome, I'll double check with the students to see if that works best.

I think it should, and we'll see you then.

(ethereal music) - All right, good luck guys.

- Thank you all so much.

Students, if you can stay on the Zoom, I just have a couple of announcements.

(ethereal music) (pen scratching) (rock music) - Thanks again for watching "Young Creators Studio."

I hope you enjoyed these stories.

And remember it's important for all of us to speak up when we see wrong and to seek change for a better future.

I'm Olivia and I'll see you next week.

(upbeat music)