The Secret to Reconciling Political Polarization | Emma Zafari & Josie Jun | TEDxYouth@ArchesPoint

In today’s world, simply opening your phone can feel like an ambush of new controversies and divisive, rage-filled political news that demands you take a stance. In this talk, Emma Zafari and Josie Jun express the value of genuine communication and a balanced, productive discussion through shedding light on their own experiences with deliberative democracy and sharing astounding results from multiple studies.
Emma Zafari is a high school junior at The Marlborough School from Los Angeles, California. She is the co-founder of Teens Find Middle Ground: an organization that hosts biweekly Zoom discussions with teens from across the country with differing political beliefs on controversial issues in order to gain empathy and understanding. Furthermore, she is the West Coast Content Director at Foreign Policy Youth Collab: a non-profit that highlights youth voices on global issues to help to bridge the gap between politicians and teens across the political spectrum where she writes opinion editorials for International Policy Digest and founded Foreign Policy Youth Collab’s podcast entitled “Time out! Let’s Talk Policy.” Additionally, she was selected as a student journalist to cover the 2020 Iowa Caucuses from a youth perspective.

Josie Jun is a high school junior at The Harvard-Westlake School from Los Angeles, California. Along with Emma Zafari, she is the co-founder of Teens Find Middle Ground. At school, she founded the Political Discussion Club to facilitate a safe space for political discourse within her school community. She has interned on a Los Angeles city council member’s campaign and is also a part of the Mayor’s Youth Council in which she works closely with fellow council members to advocate for causes relevant to youth in the city of Los Angeles. Furthermore, Josie volunteers weekly over Zoom to tutor elementary students. In her free time, Josie loves to play volleyball, hang out with friends, go to the beach, or read a really good book. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx