COURTESY PHOTO

Award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien will host the Black in America Town Hall in Charlotte Feb. 18.

Critically acclaimed journalist, educator and mentor Soledad O'Brien will host a town hall discussion at Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.

The discussion panel, presented by the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and PNC Bank, will focus on taking a challenging look at the often divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity.

"My consciousness about race was really implanted in me by my parents,” said O’Brien, who is of mixed-race heritage. “I'm black because my parents said I'm black. I'm black because my mother's black. I'm black because I grew up in a family of all black people. I knew I was black because I grew up in an all-white neighborhood."

Directly after the discussion, O'Brien will hold a book signing for her book, “The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities.” In addition, those who attend the town hall discussion will have free admission to the Harvey B. Gantt Center exhibitions upon showing their ticket stubs through Feb. 23.

O'Brien, an award-winning journalist, documentarian, news anchor and producer, is the originator of CNN’s “Black in America” and “Latino in America” series, which are among CNN’s most successful domestic and international franchises and continue to be produced by O’Brien’s production and distribution company, Starfish Media Group.

Tickets for the Black in America Town Hall Tour are $15 for Gantt Center members, $20 for the general public and $10 for students. Visit www.GanttCenter.org or call (704) 547-3700 for more information.

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