AspenX Washington, DC
On Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, Youth & Engagement Programs’ AspenX will convene 24 Washington, D.C. area high school students for a two-day seminar experience around race led by founder of the Fellowship for Race & Equity in Education, Michelle Molitor. 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] For the young people living in and around Washington, D.C., one of the most segregated cities in America, turbulent race relations and misunderstandings are all too real.
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 a trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
The seminar is open to all D.C. metropolitan area public, charter, and private high school students.
AspenX is made possible through the support of Mercedes T. Bass, The Kimsey Foundation, and Gilchrist Berg.
[1] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/5-personal-experiences-with-discrimination/