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Finding Activism, Generations Apart

Dani Hayes
/
Utah Public Radio
Kolby Sorenson and Charles Salzberg

Kolby Sorenson is 27, Charles Salzberg is 75.  Ordinarily they would not mix, but when they came into the UPR studio, they discovered their life experiences had led them to a very similar place.

"So I grew up in New York City originally, in Brooklyn," Charles said. "A guy I just fell in love with - was so nice to me - a guy named Jamesy.  Probably the best athlete in the neighborhood. He was a black guy - loved him like a brother.  Then when I was 13 we moved to Florida, and then I went to Tallahassee to go to school at Florida State, and it was deep south.  I mean, I was just horrified. All I could think of was this guy Jamesy, so I became a civil rights worker."  

"Just being a naive, you know, white boy from Utah - just very little diversity," Sorenson said. "In my undergrad, I met one of my best friends named Luis and the other named Jose and they were both DREAMers.  Leading up to the 2016 election I saw a lot of threats to immigrants, some directly targeting dreamers. It bothered me a lot and I wanted to kind of turn my anger into action." 

Our new series, One Small Step, premiers in September.