From Vice President of the National YAB to President of the USA

Eighteen-year-old Micah Thomas dreams of becoming President of the United States one day.

“I always say, my plan isn’t to make America great again, but I’ll lead America to a great point where everyone has the rights and freedoms that we all deserve,” says the high school graduate who currently serving as the vice president for the National Youth Advisory Board (YAB) at Foot Soldiers Park.

Micah’s White House plans have a lot to do with YAB and the lessons that he’s learned from the Foot Soldiers Park founder Ms. Jo Ann Bland. The program, a part of the organization’s civic education and engagement work, nurtures and empowers young leaders, ages 14 to 18 to become the next generation of foot soldiers. The goal is to develop young activists who are informed by the rich lessons of the civil rights past, and armed to serve as strategic racial justice leaders and a national resource on young people’s needs and perspectives on social and political issues.

Micah joined YAB his junior year. He first learned of Foot Soldiers Park and the program when he saw its members marching in a local parade wearing their signature red blazers. “I love suits and I said to myself ‘I gotta get my hands on one of those nice red coats’,” he says. He started investigating Foot Soldiers Park further and discovered Ms. Bland’s contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. Micah was impressed by the possibility of being educated by someone with firsthand experience in the fight for voting rights and who is so passionate about the power of young people.

YAB educates cohorts of 20 young people from across the country on a range of topics, including civil rights history, organizing and social movements, building a strong network, social justice and advocacy. Its members are immersed in the civic ecosystem – providing an inside look at the institutions and careers affecting societal change, including law schools and legal advocates, the Alabama state house and the US Capitol and lawmakers and legislative advocates.

These experiences have shaped Micah’s career plans and his approach to becoming president. Similar to Ms. Bland, he wants to design pathways for underserved communities to share their perspectives more broadly. He’s particularly interested in first changing the prison system.

”I want to be a criminal justice lawyer, specifically leading pro bono cases,” Micah says.
“As I’ve looked into our criminal justice system, it doesn’t hold the promise that our country has guaranteed the American people. After practicing law, I want to go on the political side to help communities, go beyond the local level, and ultimately, become president.”

Already Micah is employing future-forward thinking as YAB Vice President and developing a YAB Alumni Association to facilitate those who have graduated from high school in staying connected to Foot Soldiers Park.

“The next generation of foot soldiers are those that know where we come from, know what we’ve been through. We’re not only people of color, but people everywhere that have helped and contributed to civil rights,” Micah says. “My task is to be a lawyer and fix the justice system. That’s the fight I’ve chosen as a next generation foot soldier. As Ms. Bland says, ‘We have to somehow change the world in our own way.”