RISE UP: CELEBRATING YOUTH LEADERS – Marley Dias, age 13
From the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War protests and the fight for women’s rights, the youth of America have been at the forefront of leading and advocating for social change, and the young people of today are no different. In a new series titled “Rise Up: Celebrating Young Leader Activists,” Yahoo News profiles five up-and-coming leaders from the Gen Z and millennial generations. For our fifth and final installment, we talk to 13-year-old Marley Dias of West Orange, NJ.
Marley Dias has been in love with books for as long as she can remember, and thanks to some help from Mom and Dad, was exposed to various fables and adventures involving people of diverse backgrounds. That’s why it was a little disheartening for Marley when she discovered that the books she read in school had protagonists who were usually white and male. “In fifth grade, we read Where the Red Fern Grows, the Shiloh Series,…[and] Old Yeller. We only got to see this one type of character: white boys and their dogs!” Marley joked.
“I became frustrated because in my home library I have so many different characters that I get to see. I get to see young girls like me, people like my teacher, I get to see my friends, my family, my mailman, everybody.”
One day over lunch with her mother, Marley revealed how she felt about the lack of diversity in the books available at school and how she felt the need to do something about it. This led to Marley’s creation of #1000BlackGirlBooks in November 2015, a campaign for which Marley collects books featuring young black girls as the main character and then donates the books to various schools and communities. “The purpose of #1000BlackGirlBooks is to encourage teachers, educators and parents to understand that diversity and inclusion are important in developing a well-rounded kid, and developing a non-ignorant, non-hateful society,” she explained.
Although she was initially nervous to launch the program, the overwhelming reaction Marley received was confirmation that she was doing the right thing. Everyone from educators to celebrities quickly got on board with Marley’s plan. She was asked by Elle.com to write her own online zine, Marley’s Mag, for which she has interviewed famous people like Yara Shahidi and Hillary Clinton. She’s often invited to speak on news and talk shows, and has become a local celebrity back home — where there is a dedicated section to #1000BlackGirlBooks on display at the local West Orange, N.J., library.
Earlier this year, Marley worked with Scholastic to publish her own book titled “Marley Gets It Done”. “When Scholastic reached out to me about telling my story they were like, We’re going to do it this way,” says Marley “and then I was like, No, we’ve got to change the whole thing, we’re turning this into a Marley party!” Marley said the book is a how-to for people 10 and up on channeling their passion to pursue the things they love in a way that can help change the world.
Even though Marley has accomplished more at age 12 than many people do in their lifetimes, there is no slowing her down. Last month, Marley helped kick off the Green Ribbon campaign, which is focused on promoting positive mental health for young people, and she was able to get fellow students at her high school to wear the color green to support the cause.
“I think that young people around the world really need to speak up,” she says, “so I think we need to start from the standpoint of having every adult find kids’ ideas as valuable, as important, as innovative, as creative and as beautiful things. And then kids will … feel as though ‘I can step up to the plate and talk about whatever I want to talk about and express who I am and the adults around me really care to listen.’”
