Chet Ellis, a 15-year-old sophomore at Staples High School in Westport, described a discussion on getting into college one day during track practice. He wrote that a white friend said he would have no problem because he's black.
"I was stunned," he wrote, "and mumbled something instead of firing back, 'Your parents are third-generation Princeton and your father runs a hedge fund and yet you think my ride is free?'"
Chet was awarded the USD 1,000 top prize at a ceremony last night.
Living in a place where almost everyone is white, he writes, he wonders how his race affects how he's treated. He writes about being followed around by a manager inside a store and how it felt when a classmate said a racial slur out loud to describe an offensive sign. And he notes the knowing nods a track teammate receives when he explains a loss by telling others, "I mean I was running against two giant black guys." "As a black teen in Westport, race issues in and outside the classroom are unavoidable," he wrote.
"It's just about opening the dialogue," said Freeman, a sociology professor at the University of Hartford. "It's hard for him being one of the few African-American students, feeling like you have to speak for everybody.