Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Program Topic: A discussion about race and racism between grandfather and granddaughter who are 56 years of age apart. Roy is Black and Jasmine is a woman of color. Roy lives in Maine and Jasmine lives in Ann Arbor, MI.

Discussion of how the death of George Floyd affected them
Discussion of racism that they have seen in their lives
Discussion of whether they are optimistic about reducing racism toward black people

Guests:
Roy Partridge: Has worked for many years at Bowdoin focusing on addressing racism
Jasmine Bose Partridge: She is Roy’s 18 year-old granddaughter and will be attending Barnard College next fall in New York City

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download