CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The third and final day of the Un1ted As 1 program fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was not a coincidence. Fifty-seven sixth- through eighth-graders brainstormed some of the problems they’ve observed at school or in their community and how they, as young leaders, can begin to fix them.
Some of what they wrote is what you’d expect: bullying, cyberbullying, cliques and racism. But then it seemed each table brought up a new societal ill, ones you and I would have never thought of at 13 or even at our current ages. Body-shaming, ageism, sexism, discriminatory dress codes, ableism.