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Youth reporters from 36 countries are taking part in the web series “Hate: What are YOU Going to DO.”
More than 100 youth reporters from around the world are working with producers in the United States on a video series examining racial and ethnic hatred and what young people can do about it.
The second episode of “Hate: What are YOU Going to DO” airs online on Nov. 24. It will examine how music and art can carry important messages against hate. Guests will include spoken word poet and activist Brandon Leake, who is also a winner of the “America’s Got Talent contest,” and rappers Big Sean and T.I. Four more 45-minute programs will air monthly.
The first episode, launched Oct. 20, features three young hosts interviewing Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and former white supremacist leader Christian Picciolini.
Picciolini talked about ways to counter white supremacist violence, which has been rising in the U.S. in recent years, based on reports from the U.S. State Department and data from the FBI.
Sana, a youth reporter in Austria, talked with young Austrians who have foreign backgrounds. A young black Muslim woman said she was discriminated against for wearing hijab. Others said their race and ethnicity made it harder for them to get jobs.
The organizer of a Black Lives Matter rally in Vienna described the outpouring of energy at the event.
The show also presented “person on the street interviews” ranging from Morocco to Colorado.
“It’s about young people getting out in front on the issues and showing what their peers are doing,” said Rick Rendon, senior partner of the Rendon Group, a communications company producing the series in conjunction with Emerson College and the Team Harmony Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to educate, inspire and engage youth to combat hate.
Toolkit and activist training
Emerson College and Team Harmony are also creating a toolkit for activists and an online course called the Virtual Institute for Activism.
The toolkit is for middle and high school students as well as youth workers and teachers. It encourages self-reflection and education on the issues, then empathy and good listening skills. Team Harmony created the toolkit with input from its coalition of groups, which range from Atlanta Public Schools to the Boston Globe to the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The Virtual Institute for Activism will launch on Jan. 16, Rendon said. It will teach peaceful advocacy by giving young people the background and the skills to engage in difficult conversations and raise awareness. Courses include “Using Social Media for Social Good,” “The Art of Organizing” and “Influencing the Influencer.” An inaugural class of 200 young people is planned.
The series name was inspired by a public letter of the same title written by the president of Emerson College, Lee Pelton, after the death of George Floyd.
To gather young reporters for the series, Emerson College made use of its network of colleges around the world, worked with U.S. embassies and put out a call on social media, Rendon said. Alumni of the Rendon Group’s Women2Women international leadership program also reached out to youth.
The Team Harmony website is still taking applications for paid youth reporters who can commit to being involved over a seven-month period.
