We are pleased to announce that we have two distinguished speakers for the evening: Barbara Heisler and Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad.  Ms. Heisler and Dr. Muhammad are both community members who also have expertise on intentional integration as well as civil rights and African American studies.   They will initiate the community discussion with brief talks.

Please join us for this important opportunity to see how perceptions of race, how we talk about race to one another, and how we speak about different cultural groups in public discourse affect our day-to-day experience here.  We believe that with persistence and a willingness to speak frankly about difficult issues surrounding race, we can improve our entire community over time.

This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended because seating is limited.  To reserve a seat, please fill out the Contact Us form by clicking on the Contact Us tab on the right or call 973-761-6116.

Dorothea is being honored by the Friendly Fuld Neighborhood Center on Saturday June 9th.  The event will be held at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark from 8:30 until 11:30 am.  Friendly Fuld and its sister PCCI have both focused n the Central Ward of Newark and its needs.  The Awards Breakfast celebrates 107 years of Friendly Fuld’s service to Newark families.

If you are nterested in attending the breakfast, please contact Patricia Canning at 917-669-7710.

On April 12th, the Schools Committee of the Coalition hosted its Annual Board of Education Candidates Forum.  Each year of a contested election, the committee invites candidates to address how they will contribute to a school system in which students of all races are achieving academic excellence in an equitable and representative fashion.

There were over 85 people at the forum.  Candidates answered questions submitted to them in advance and then addressed questions submitted by the audience.  The responses gave the audience a good sense of the candidates’ positions and outlooks for the future of the school district.  In response to a question from an audience member that caused concern the night of the forum, the Coalition submitted the following response:

Last Thursday, the Community Coalition on Race held its annual BOE Candidates Forum.  We are noted for providing a safe environment for candid conversation—especially when it comes to issues concerning race.  That was our intent at our BOE Candidates Forum.   The format we have used since we began hosting these forums is to develop questions relevant to the Coalition’s mission, which we then provide to the candidates beforehand.  The questions focused on the relationship between school policies and integration, student success, and the minority achievement gap.  Each candidate prepares his or her responses in advance.  After these have been addressed, the Schools Committee gathers questions from the audience.  The committee groups these questions according to topic and selects the most representative items to submit to the moderator.
The forum was proceeding as planned with all candidates participating, a racially mixed audience of 85 to 90 attendees present and solid responses given to the advance questions distributed to the candidates by the Coalition.  The tone of the evening turned when a question submitted by someone in the audience questioned the affiliation of one of the candidates with a person named on the card who had made public statements expressing a viewpoint connecting race, culture and academic achievement.  The question was read because it represented a concern expressed on six other cards that had been submitted.
We feel a commitment to hold to our standard for candor in acknowledging a variety of opinions in the community.  We understand that questions that focused on a comment made on “black underachievement” at a BOE meeting submitted by the audience made some people feel uncomfortable.  We had to assess seven questions on the topic on the fly–in the midst of the debate– and to select one which seemed the most representative of all.  Given the number of questions submitted by the audience that focused on that issue, a decision was made to ask the question in the interests of being transparent and of bringing forward even those issues that are painful. 
The moderator appropriately offered to pull the question and to move on when concern was expressed by some of the candidates.  It is extremely important to the trustees of the Coalition on Race that we remain true to our mission to be candid about race in our community.  We feel that it was appropriately transparent and authentic to ask the question, but regret any perception that is was presented in a manner that did not allow all the candidates to contrast their points of view with that of the individual in question.  As always, our intention is to promote transparency in public discourse and we continue to strive to do so. 

Anthony Greene, Chair
Nancy Gagnier, Executive Director
South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race

Part of becoming certified by Sustainable New Jersey as a sustainable municipality is evidence of diversity and equity on boards and commissions.  That’s where the Community Coalition on Race comes in: part of our goal is to promote racial integration and inclusion in government, civic, and business organizations.  Plus, racially integrated neighborhoods contribute to the overall stability of a community and thus its sustainability.

Thanks to our trustees–Anthony Greene, Abby Cotler, and Len Grossman–who talked to visitors about our mission!

The Conference’s mission is to work with leaders to create and enhance a society that embraces social justice for us all, and to value diversity, educate and empower leaders, promote inclusion and respect in schools, workplaces and communities.

If you would like to attend the dinner on behalf of the Coalition, please contact the American Conference on Diversity at melissa@AmericanConferenceonDiversity.org before May 14th.

As the Coalition continues to focus on the minority achievement gap and integrated schools, it seems to us an ideal time to present a series of questions to the candidates that challenge them to consider the relationship between school policies and integration in our community. Candidates will be asked to respond to questions regarding the middle and high school restructuring, the minority achievement gap, and about ways to provide professional development for teachers, particularly in cultural competency and differentiated instruction.

While we are a strictly nonpartisan organization that does not endorse individual candidates, it is our opinion that a candid and open dialogue about race in our school district is an imperative step toward full integration in our  community. We want the candidates to consider how policies they propose will affect integration within the schools. 

We are interested in true integration and a school system that supports rigor, demands excellence, and provides an environment in which each student believes they can succeed.  Our Board of Education should be acting to assure that our schools bring the entire community together to create schools that are the first choice of families of all races and socio-economic backgrounds.  We want to see the minority academic achievement gap closed, and we look forward to a day when the school district is stably integrated overall, within academic levels, and schools– to a time when students of all races are expected and encouraged to excel in a community that joins together in pride and support of its schools.

Sitting together at tables, parents of elementary, middle, and high school students; Coalition trustees and volunteers; members of the high school staff; and a large representation of high school students played a game in which everyone learned something about our flagship high school with its famous graduates, its honored arts productions, excellent academics, and fine sports programs.

Participants asked each other: Is Columbia perfect?  Of course not. 

Is it a school where many students of all races say the best thing about their education is caring and stimulating teachers?  Yes. 

Is it a school whose students say that even though there are many small friendship and affinity groups, there is no single clique at the top, and people feel comfortable reaching across the groups to meet new people and form new relationships?  Yes, it is.
 
Using a game of sorting various statements, people engaged in serious discussion about which issues are facts, which are folklore– and which are fears. The goal of the workshop discussion was to create connections among our diverse population and to remind the community of how incredible our flagship high school really is.  Community members discovered that, for the most part, the student population is proud of their school and want the community to know it– and that our students are candid and open about what they’d like to see improved.

People came away with a fresh sense of pride in what we have and who we are, and of areas where we can work to make our school better.

This year’s production of the Verdi opera Aida for children was the vision of a team that included Lori Brown Mirabal, Doreen Oliver, Ruthanna Graves McQueen, and Audrey Rowe.  In keeping with the Coalition mission of integration, they chose this opera because of its theme:  people from very different backgrounds trying to overcome their differences. Ms. Mirabal, an internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano, music educator, and principal of ‘Opera Soup Productions, LLC’ adapted the music and story for children.  Ms. McQueen, a singer and actress who has appeared on and off Broadway, directed and choreographed.  The show was produced by the Coalition with Doreen Oliver, a writer and film producer who worked on the film Precious.

Using her talents as a music teacher, Ms Mirabal taught the audience a few opera basics before narrating the Aida tale.  Accompanying the narration was a dance interpretation of the opera. Paul Conrad, CHS graduate now studying music at Mason Gross, provided the piano accompaniment.  Soprano Mirabal and Tenor Dante Fiore punctuated the narration with arias and duets, thrilling the audience with their voices.

The children were invited to sit up front on cushions so that they had a truly up close and personal experience with the performers.  Even the three and four year olds were entranced by the story, singing and dancing.  There were a few tears among the adults when Ms. Mirabal sang ‘O Patria Mia,’ the incredibly moving aria sung by Aida, the Ethiopian Princess, now an Egyptian slave, as she recalls her home and family.

Saturday, March 17^th

Two shows: 10 AM and 11:30 AM

South Orange Performance Arts Center (SOPAC) Loft

Song! Dance! Drama! 
Last year our production of the musical “Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs & Ham” delighted over 400 children, parents and grandparents. This year’s production of AIDA will amaze and captivate young children with creative story-telling combined with excerpts from the original Verdi score. Inspired by the world renowned performer Leontyne Price’s children’s book of the same title, the production features internationally acclaimed Mezzo Soprano and local resident, Lori Brown Mirabal, performing the role of Aida,  Tenor Dante Fiore singing as Radames and dance performances by Columbia High School Special Dance and Inspirational Dance Companies. Directed by Ruthanna Graves McQueen, produced by Doreen Oliver, with choreography Kandice Point-Du-Jour and accompaniment by Paul Conrad.
 
Recommended for children ages 3 – 12 years.          
Tickets are $5: Priority seating guaranteed for the first 100 advance purchases at each show. 

To reserve seats, click on the orange Donate Now button in the upper right corner, then select the Buy Now button to use the PayPal feature or send a check to:
 
SOM Community Coalition on Race
PO Box 1309
Maplewood NJ 07040

This event is part of the Coalition’s Integration through the Arts Project. This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.