Tuesday, April 13, 2021, beginning at 7 pm 

Diversity United

Before our next meeting of Diversity United, on Tuesday, April 13th at 7 pm, please watch the Netflix documentary “13^th,” which will be discussed at the second session.  You can watch it either on Netflix or YouTube.

After you see the film, answer the following questions:

• Do you know how many people were incarcerated in the US in 1972?
• Do you know how many people are incarcerated in the US, presently?
• Have you ever read the 13th Amendment?
• Are you familiar with the Economics of Incarceration and the Prison Industrial Complex?

If you have not yet registered to receive the Diversity United Zoom link, you can do so by clicking here: Registration Form. 

Diversity United is a year-long program of outreach to people of all faiths, ethnicities, and races in Newark and the surrounding suburban communities, to discuss an anti-racist agenda and create a tangible platform to work collectively toward a just society.  Our monthly meetings feature a roundtable discussion featuring:

Mildred Crump: This longtime community leader is Newark’s first African-American Councilwoman and first City Council President  

Rabbi Capers Funnye: “Obama’s Rabbi,” Michelle Obama’s cousin, the leader of 200-member Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago

Pastor Steffie Bartley: New Jersey Coordinator, National Action Network and Pastor, New Hope Memorial Baptist Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey

This month, the panel will also include a special guest, Dr. Pamela Boykin Jones, founding Sr. Pastor at Liberating Word Ministries, 126 Mt. Pleasant Avenue in North Newark. will be participating in our roundtable discussion of mass incarceration.

Pastor Pam brings a wealth of experience to the discussion of the challenges of mass incarceration.  She has extensive background in  providing services to the incarcerated – both pre and post release.

Over the next year, “DIVERSITY UNITED” will discuss issues of social justice, including mass incarceration, education, housing, healthcare, environmental justice, poverty, Jim Crow, and public monuments, all from the viewpoint of the systemic inequalities that have resulted from 401 years of American History.

The forum will be formatted as a book club, with participants viewing films and reading materials before each of the monthly meetings. The panelists, African-American leaders, who have spent their lives in the trenches battling for civil rights, equality, and justice, will lead discussion. 

Initial programs are being held remotely on Zoom.  When the nation’s health crisis abates, subsequent programs will be held in person, while permitting participants, who want to do so, to remotely participate as well.

To register and receive the link for this free program, click here: Registration Form.   

Before our next meeting, on Tuesday, April 13th at 7 pm, please watch the Netflix documentary “13^th,” which will be discussed at the second session.  You can watch it either on Netflix or YouTube.

At succeeding programs we will discuss the films, “When Heritage Equals Hate: The Truth About the Confederacy in the United States” by ACLU’s Jeffrey Robinson and “The Untold Story of Emmett Luis Till” by Keith Beauchamp and relevant articles and books.

For further information, contact Eric Freedman at 
cahavassholom@optimum.net or 201.988.3799.