The Acel Moore Journalism Workshop is closed to white students starting in 2023.
by Meghan Dougherty
Since 2017, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Acel Moore Journalism Workshop’s goal was “to introduce Philadelphia-area high school students to the fields of print, digital, and visual journalism.” This year, it has a new requirement: All applicants must “self identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, Middle Eastern, and/or more than two races.”
This comes as companies including The Philadelphia Inquirer are expanding equity initiatives in the hopes that it will promote diversity. And as professional sports teams, universities, and hospitals across the country are growing their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
In addition to teaching students about the different types of journalism, the program also awards $1,000 scholarships to the top students who intend to study journalism in college.
The Inquirer gave no explanation for why they decided to change the requirement to exclude white applicants and it doesn’t seem like they understand how discriminatory this is. Isn’t mandating that you must be of a certain race as an application requirement the definition of racism? And the antithesis of what we fought to abolish during the entire civil rights movement?
Read the rest of the story at broadandliberty.com.
Meghan is a Clare Boothe Luce Center Alumna, a senior at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, and past Acel Moore Journalism Workshop student. In her free time, she does competitive gymnastics and CrossFit.
Image courtesy of Pixabay