Overview
How can we face our present, if we don’t know our past? At a time when senior citizens, especially those in communities of color, are particularly vulnerable, we need their wisdom more than ever. Join us for a series of conversations with the elders in our community, as they share the insight they’ve accrued over their lifetimes, and offer guidance to us all as we navigate a uniquely treacherous time.
Every month, Pearls of Wisdom online gatherings will feature members of NJPAC’s’ Council of Elders in conversation with educator and current president of the Newark Branch of the NAACP, Deborah Smith-Gregory, and Susan Pope, an Ed.D. candidate at Columbia University and the founder of I Dance Because…., a nonprofit organization that offers social and emotional education to at-risk youth through dance.
Our Pearls of Wisdom conversation on September 1 will focus on the history of protest, with two veteran political leaders:
- Larry Hamm, founder of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) and a lifelong activist on progressive issues, who recently ran against incumbent Cory Booker in the primary election for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat, and,
- Bill Payne, former New Jersey assemblyman whose work in Trenton included passing legislation that established the Amistad Commission, which mandated the incorporation of African American history into New Jersey’s K-12 school curriculum, and legislation that criminalized racial profiling by law enforcement and civil service employees.
Learn the history of Newark’s community, and find strength for the struggle ahead, in these in-depth conversations with leaders who have decades of experiences to share.
