Social Justice Projects

“It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act.”
— His Holiness The Dalai Lama

In April 2018 a “Town Hall For Our Lives” was held at UW-Parkside. It was organized and hosted by three Kenosha students including Gianna Molini, then a freshman at Lakeview Technology Academy.

It was a rich community discussion about the terror of gun violence in our schools, receiving front page Sunday news coverage.

In 2018 Gianna was also featured in a poignant campaign video for Congressional candidate Cathy Myers, addressing the importance of common sense gun control.

“I believe that every living being has an inalienable right to pursue their full potential — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is unobtainable without a safe, livable climate.”
— Gianna Molini

In January of 2020, Gianna traveled by bus to Waterloo, Iowa to knock on doors of voters. She believes so strongly in the powerful and just policy positions espoused by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders that she was willing to spend her day off hitting the pavement in the cold to further the mission.

This was in addition to the hours of volunteer time she spent sending text messages to voters for Senator Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.

In 2017, Gianna kicked off a year+ campaign against the Kenosha Unified School District to get them to change their sexist dress codes and practices of sweeping sexual harassment under the rug with victim blaming tactics. She attended many school board meetings, prepared and delivered statements, and organized other students to tell their experiences, too.

In May of 2018, after a huge victory against Kenosha Unified School District’s misogynist dress code, Gianna Molini was published by the ACLU of Wisconsin. She told her story of being persecuted and victim-blamed, and inspired others to build campaigns against their school districts’ oppressive policies, too.

In addition to these projects, Gianna is passionate about #BlackLivesMatter and has advocated for racial justice in behind-the-scenes meetings with administrators at her middle school and high school.

Gianna has also written to public health officials about the need to protect students and the community from the worsening infection rates from COVID-19.

Gianna believes in stepping up tirelessly to bring justice to the situation at hand. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “The time is always right to do what is right,” have influenced her greatly.