Don't Wait: Three Girls Who Fought for Change and Won

Follows the stories of 3 young women activists of color fighting for some of today’s most pressing movements of defunding the police, environmental justice, and arts education

Girls of color have always been on the front lines of the fight for equal rights—to vote, to learn, to live—even when they are the last to benefit from the outcomes of their work. In Don’t Wait, journalist Sonali Kohli follows 3 teenagers’ efforts to make their communities safer, healthier places.

Don’t Wait highlights what propelled the teenagers into their activism to their experiences organizing and incorporates Q&As with important lessons from activists who have led the way.

The 3 teen activists include:

• Nalleli has lived across the street from an active oil well in South Los Angeles and at age 7, developed serious health problems. Nalleli and her mother take on an oil company and become environmental justice activists.
• Kahlila, following the murder of George Floyd and looking to help fight back, becomes involved with Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles and fights to defund school police in one of the largest school police forces in the nation.
• Sonia, an accomplished singer who was grappling with finding an creative outlet in the pandemic, strove to increase access to arts education in schools across California.

As the young women are transitioning from teen to adult activists, Don’t Wait reflects the powerful lessons they’ve learned in their activism while building movements in their communities that will continue to live on as they move forward.