I have a friend who has been a longtime advocate for racial equality through her policy work. One day, she surprised by sharing how she was considering switching over to work in the entertainment industry. She thought appealing to the public opinion directly might be more effective as a mean of changemaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, I have been coming across non-profit organizations that support young people develop their skills to express their views by creating contents for various media platforms. For example, there is the International Youth Media Summit (IYMS: https:\/\/iyms.org\/)<\/a>. It was founded in the aftermath of 9.11 to “learn how to cooperate and understand each other \u2013 in spite of ethnic antipathies \u2013 when that cooperation was necessary to create a film that they were passionate about.” At their summit every year since, they have been bringing diverse group of young people from various international backgrounds to “work together on media projects that would motivate others in their generation to take action.”\u00a0 I was invited to their screening event in Hollywood last month. Some of the participants had recently lost their loved ones to armed conflicts. Some were victims of systems setup against people like them. Others were anxiously worried about their future. They produced short films to raise their voices against injustices and to promote healing, empathy and empowerment. I was moved. (Please watch their movies on their YouTube channel<\/a>) <\/p>\n\n\n\n