February 10th FORJ CityWide Meeting Recap
What a treat to hear from JoAnne Bland, Founder of Foot Soldiers Park! She leads thousands of visitors on tours of Selma each year, and in January 2020 met several Newton students on a trip organized by their synagogue, Temple Shalom of Newton. She was a child when her family members participated in the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, AL to demonstrate for voting rights. Ms. Bland is personally working to impress upon everybody the importance of every person’s role in the path to civil rights for all. The three students who joined the panel talked about their own transformed thinking from their visit with Ms. Bland to the historic sites in Selma, including the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge.
In the discussion, Ms. Bland and the students talked about the need to continue to talk about peoples’ experiences before Civil Rights legislation was passed and about the work still to be done. Ms. Bland visits schools in Alabama to tell the students about her experiences and hopes for a time when there will be featured stories about figures in Black History every day of the year.
Check out these upcoming FORJ events with our Newton Community
“Racism Not Race”: An Author talk with Joseph L. Graves, Jr. and Alan H. Goodman on Wednesday, February 23rd at 7PM presented by Newton Free Library. Register here.
Racial Representation in Pop Culture (e.g., “The Falcon & the Winter Soldier”) on Monday, February 28th at 8PM presented at the Burr FORJ February Meeting. Register here.
“How to Talk to Children about Anti-Semitism” on Tuesday, March 1st at 7:30PM presented by Hadassah Northeast, Lappin Foundation, Temple Emanuel and Holocaust Legacy Foundation. Deborah Gilboa, MD, attending family physician and parenting and resilience expert, will outline a framework for addressing antisemitism with children. “Dr. G.” will provide context for introducing and reacting to antisemitism, as well as an algorithm for talking to kids about any scary or difficult issue. Dr. G. will also give strategies for meeting children where they are and answering their questions as they come up, while strengthening their resilience and building your relationship with them. Register here.
FAMILIES ORGANIZING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE (FORJ) is a group of diverse Newton families helping our children learn about issues of power and inequality and how to stand up for racial justice. We seek to generate understanding and curiosity about differences in our society, and to work together towards racial equity.
For more information about FORJ, contact Lincoln-Eliot FORJ PTO Liaison Lanni Isenberg, lanni_harris@yahoo.com.