Faced with heavily redacted federal records while researching unsolved civil rights crimes, a New Jersey high school class took action by drafting their own legislation. Their grassroots effort won bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into federal law, showing how young citizens can transform a classroom assignment into a powerful instrument for national transparency.
“A high school class in Hightstown, New Jersey, has found an impressive way to shed light on unsolved civil rights crimes from the 1950s and ’60s.
The AP class, studying US government, drafted a bill that would create a board to review, declassify, and release documents related to such cases. The students … went to Washington, walked the halls of Senate office buildings and passed out folders with policy research and information about their bill, said former student Joshua Fayer.
Their efforts caught the attention of Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois, who introduced the bill – modelled after the JFK Assassination Records Act – in March 2017. Later Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas signed on. The House and Senate versions … passed late last year, and President Trump signed the bill into law on January 8.
Former student Jay Vainganker said the class was initially trying to solve unresolved hate crimes from the [civil rights] era. They filed public records requests for information from the FBI and Department of Justice, and they got back redacted responses from the government. In some cases, entire pages were redacted.
That’s when their focus changed, Vaingankar said. They decided to draft a bill that would make the government “a little bit more transparent.” The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act creates “a board that would be authorized to look at these documents and see what should be redacted, what isn’t relevant, what should be released,” he said.”
CNN News Feb. 26, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/26/us/new-jersey-students-civil-rights-bill…
Source: https://www.weboflove.org/
Pic: Cold Case Act students pose in Washington during a lobbying trip to the nation’s capitol. Courtesy https://press.coldcaseact.com
Sept. 2026 update: Following the passage of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act, President Joe Biden nominated—and the Senate confirmed—an independent review board composed of civil rights historians and legal experts. Operating out of the National Archives, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board has since unsealed, digitised, and made publicly accessible thousands of pages of previously classified or heavily redacted FBI and Department of Justice files, offering long-awaited answers and closure to the families of victims of racially motivated Civil Rights-era violence.
To ensure this critical work continues, lawmakers have consistently acted to expand the board’s mandate. After an initial congressional extension through 2027, lawmakers introduced further bipartisan reauthorisation measures to extend the board’s mandate through 2031. This ongoing effort solidifies how a single high school government assignment grew into a lasting instrument for national transparency and historical justice.