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Arkansas' state motto is one of a kind: "Regnat Populus"--the people rule. But in the 2020 presidential election, Black voter participation lagged that of white voters by 11.4 percent (Arkansas Civic Health Index, 2023). Despite making up a significant portion of the state population, Black voter turnout remains disproportionately low. This is the direct result of exclusion, distrust, and systemic neglect.
However, from the Philander Smith students' sit-ins to the Little Rock Nine, history has shown that change is powered by youth. It doesn't always begin with a statewide policy shift; sometimes it starts in a single neighborhood, one trusted space, and a handful of young people willing to lead. By empowering Black youth through community-centered councils in Black spaces, Arkansas can begin to embody its motto.
As frustrating as the numbers seem, Black Arkansans have faced barriers from the moment they were made citizens. After Reconstruction, the existing Democratic leadership structure led by white officials struggled to maintain control. First partnering with Black Republicans to minimize the effects of carpetbaggers and the emerging Greenback Party, to later implementation of Jim Crow laws, the struggle to maintain power centered on the minimizing of Black voices. Black Arkansans have oscillated between scapegoat and ally for politicians who never had them in mind, leading to generations of Black Arkansans who witnessed their elders struggle to vote--if at all.
Changes wouldn't come until decades later with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but what remained was a framework built without them in mind. It's history and inheritance. It's the foundation of the barriers Black Arkansans continue to face today.
Disenfranchisement has only evolved. It shows up in subtle ways: through omission, inaccessible information, and generational distance. Though Arkansas requires all public high school students to take a civics course, the curriculum is built around passing a modified naturalization exam. This leaves little room to engage students in relevant policies that impact them. Civic education has to be made more accessible and grounded in the realities of those it aims to serve.
Change is easier for youth because we're still developing our identities, unlike adults. This is where "The Front Row" comes in. Named after the front pew that is usually reserved for church leaders, the Front Row is a youth-led council established in these spaces. They represent what it means to sit in the "front row" of their communities.
Churches are culturally significant, present in nearly every Black neighborhood, and are one of the spaces where large groups of Black youth can be found, making them the perfect headquarters. If the Black church has always been a center of refuge and resistance, then The Front Row is the next chapter in that story.
The Front Row will serve as a secular, youth-led council supported by community elders. Its mission is to build civic identity and increase representation through intergenerational engagement. The Front Row would employ several tactics, including hosting civic workshops and fairs where local Black politicians can offer nonpartisan guidance. Having speakers who look like us and work inside the system changes the conversation: it becomes a dialogue, not a lecture.
These experiences will hopefully plant a civic identity that grows with us, so by the time we're able to vote, participation will be familiar. That's what The Front Row is: a space where youth don't just learn about power. They understand how to use it.
Civic participation doesn't begin at the ballot box. It begins in the spaces where people can feel seen. And now, the "front rows" of civic life won't only be filled with faces that don't represent us--it'll be us.
Addison Thomas is a senior at Sylvan Hills High School. She wrote the winning essay for the Clinton Foundation's annual Ideas Matter Scholarship Essay Contest and received a $5,000 scholarship. She plans on studying English in the fall on a pre-law track.