In conjunction with the National Public Media anti-hate initiative Not In Our Town, KCPT has been working with local schools to highlight student perspectives on hate and bullying. On Monday February 13, 2012 KCPT will air PSAs created by Kansas City, Kan. high schools students at Schlagle High School and Fairfax Learning Center.
The PSAs about physical and cyber-bullying will air before and after the broadcast of Not In Our Town: Class Actions, a documentary that shows how schools and college campuses across the country are standing up against hate. In addition to airing the PSAs, KCPT will make these student created campaigns available to teachers across the metro along with anti-bullying resources from Not In Our Town.
Not In Our Town: Class Actions highlights three stories of students confronting hate and bullying, and working together to build safe and inclusive communities.
Narrated by Yul Kwon, the half-hour documentary will debut during Black History Month on Feb. 13, 2012 on PBS stations nationwide.
The first story, “Ole Miss: Facing the Change,” is a contemporary civil rights story. Fifty years after James Meredith integrated the University of Mississippi, black and white students stand together to stop a segregationist chant. When the chancellor supports their action, the Ku Klux Klan protests on campus. Across the country, teen suicides devastate the community of Lancaster, Calif. A middle school counselor starts an anti-bullying program that inspires a citywide campaign. In the Midwest, anti-Semitic attacks at Indiana University rattle the college town, but community members, faith and civic leaders unite against hate and intolerance.
“Not In Our Town: Class Actions profiles courageous people stepping out of their everyday lives to seek solutions to the deep challenges of intolerance and bullying,” said Charene Zalis, producer of Class Actions. “In Class Actions, we learn from young people and community members who are brave enough to examine their own choices.”
