Soledad O'Brien Brings 'Black In America' Town Hall Tour to Charlotte - February 18

Race is often something people have difficulty talking about, or they talk about too much but not in a constructive way. So it's great when you have an expert facilitating the discussion. That's what we'll get when Soledad O’Brien hosts her "Black In America" Town Hall Tour this Tuesday, February 18 in Charlotte. The event starts at 7 p.m. and is being brought to you by the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, but is actually taking place across the street at Knight Theater (430 S. Tryon St.) to accommodate more people. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through CarolinaTix.

Photo credit: Starfish Media Group

The conversation will focus on issues of race, class, wealth, and education, all of which stir frequent debate and division in this country. Directly after the discussion, she'll hold a book signing for her book, The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities.

Charlotte is the second of five cities on the "Soledad O’Brien Presents: Black In America" tour, taking place over the span of a week. And this tour is a part of the new ventures Soledad (@soledadobrien) is launching, as she branches out beyond her role as an award-winning journalist (she's still doing high-profile reporting, including for Al Jazeera America and this recent interview with Russell Simmons). She left her CNN morning show a year ago to launch her own media production company, Starfish Media Group, which, among other things, she will continue to produce documentaries in the "In America" series on CNN.

The newswoman-turned-entrepreneur has partnered with Google, which is sponsoring the Black In America initiative, and the tech giant is assisting Starfish Media Group by providing Google+ Hangouts, Google Apps for Business, and creating a YouTube channel to allow the company to reach a broader audience, according to The Huffington Post.

You can follow Black In America on Google+, and the first Hangout airs live this Wednesday at 6 p.m., from the tour stop at Towson University in Maryland. You can join in the conversation by uploading a photo of yourself holding a sign that says what "Being Black in America means..." to you, and post it using this hashtag: #iAmTheConversation.

Photo credit: Google+

Visit iamtheconversation.com for more details.