A 15-year-old African-American male student recently won an essay contest and national attention for his piece on White privilege while living in an affluent Connecticut town, reports the New York Daily News.
https://twitter.com/APEastRegion/status/849326305472544768
From New York Daily News:
Chet Ellis, a sophomore at Staples High School, won the competition’s $1,000 first prize for writing about the “unavoidable” racial incidents growing up in Westport [, Connecticut,] which is 93% white.
“I can come at the issue from a young black teen perspective rather than all the old white men of Westport,” he told the Daily News Tuesday, a day after receiving his award.
The contest put on by the town’s diversity council TEAM Westport gained widespread attention after some residents reacted strongly against it, saying it was an indictment of an affluent community that considers itself welcoming…
Sixteen-year-old White student Josiah Tarrant’s essay “White Privilege and Me” earned him second place in the contest, with third place having gone to Claire Dinshaw — an 18-year-old Staples High School senior who is White — for her piece “The Privilege of Ignorance” exploring disparities non-white students in Westport face, reports Westport News.
SOURCE: New York Daily News, Westport News
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