AspenX Philadelphia
Today’s youth live in a society where celebrities include not only athletes, entertainers, and politicians, but also community activists and men and women of color killed by law enforcement officers. The Pew Research Center reports that seven-in-ten black Americans and five-in-ten Hispanic Americans say they have personally experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity.[1]
At AspenX, participants will reflect on how race manifests in their daily lives, and on how it factors into the national dialogue around immigration, police-community relations, and economic development. The goal of AspenX is to create a “civil space” where difficult topics and personal experiences can be shared and explored through moderated conversation. Conversations will be guided by book excerpts, newspaper articles, scholarly articles, videos, news clips, documentary films, submissions to Michele Norris’ The Race Card Project, and trips to the Philadelphia History Museum and the National Constitution Center for experiential learning.
The program is open to all Philadelphia metropolitan area public, charter, and private high school students.
AspenX is free of charge, meals are provided, and transportation assistance to and from programing is available upon request
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[1] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/5-personal-experiences-with-discrimination/
