(Venue: NYU Global Center) (Date: Saturday, March 24th)

Real Justice PAC co-founder, activist and Intercept columnist Shaun King returns to New York for a crash course in media/writing. The former history professor began his presentation walking students through the significance of late German historian Leopold von Ranke, how his contributions helped decode the status quo, even drawing analog to the pop culture quote, “I freed a thousand slaves, I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” King illustrated in great detail our societal dip and rendered four keys to exit the dip: staying energized, organized, executing a well crafted plan and maintaining funding. He reminded students real change comes from working within a problem and deconstructing it from the inside to rebuild anew.

King then dove right into the writing aspect of the workshop. Drawing from his own experiences, he warned students to refrain from negative thoughts, “Your best ideas die in your mind.” Inspired by Stephen King’s On Writing book, he assured the class how rewarding writing can be. The social media maven revealed much of his success comes from simplifying complex issues, making content more digestible, micro storytelling and humanizing social justice narratives. He encouraged students to take risks, step into the gaps and be the change they want to see. Drawing from his own social media handles, Shaun demonstrated the power of image sharing, how they tell stories, how they resonate with viewers, and how condensing heavy narratives around images can influence people.

[Wolk Folks x New York Community Trust]

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