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Connections

Coming up on Connections: Wednesday, April 4

http://fdfi.org/

First hour: Kenneth Morris, co-founder of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives

Second hour: How can we bring civility back to political discourse?

We sit down with Kenneth Morris, the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington. Until about ten years ago, Morris says he spent his life hiding from the legacy of his ancestors; he says it was too difficult to live in their shadows. But when he saw a National Geographic story about human trafficking, he felt it was impossible to deny his family’s legacy of abolitionism any longer. He and his mother founded the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives to help educate young people about modern day slavery and its parallels to history. He’s in Rochester to launch a new project that will distribute millions of copies of Douglass' life story to young people across the country. He joins us in studio for the hour.

Then in our second hour, are modern politics really more uncivil than most of our historical politics? Are we in a unique time in our history? We talk to the leader of a national institution that aims to bring civility back to politics. Carolyn Lukensmeyer is the executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse. She says this is a dangerous time for discourse, and our children are taking cues from us. We’ll sit down with her to see what she thinks will lead to change.

Connections
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.