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Summit for Civil Rights 2023
We are seeking to Make America One Nation” The Other America, Dr. Martin Luther King, 1967
SUMMIT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS 2023, September 28 - 29, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio.
..."We are the Ones We've Been Waiting for"
The Summit starts 1:00 PM on Thursday, September 28 and ends 4:00 PM Friday, September 29. The deadline for registration is Friday, September 29. You can go here to register.
The 4th Summit for Civil Rights will be in Cleveland, Ohio on September 28 and 29, 2023.
Since 2017, the Summit for Civil Rights has convened multi-racial, non-partisan, gatherings of some of the nation’s top civil rights leaders in the field of organizing, labor, faith, academia, law, and elected office to respond to the powerful and dangerous intersection of enduring racial disparities, widening economic inequality, and rising political polarization throughout our entire society.
This year's summit will feature AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond. Secretary Treasurer Redmond will be the recipient of the James E. Clyburn "Vaults of Opportunity" Award.
Former Michigan Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence is this year’s recipient of Shirley Chisholm Breakthrough Leader Award for her extraordinary and inspirational rise to power. Ms. Lawrence is a breakthrough leader whose history and experience personifies the American Civil Rights Movement’s critical alliance of organized labor, and powerful Black elected office holders.
We are also very pleased and honored to have two giants of the Black Church who together represent a powerful arch of the past, present, and future of the Civil Rights Movement. Cleveland's own Dr. Otis Moss and the new president of the national Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rev. Dr. Freddie Haynes III, will be joining us to provide an inspiring message of hope and power.
Sadly, we will also be paying tribute to and remembering warmly, and with deep gratitude, the late William (Bill) Spriggs and John H. Bracey Jr., two brilliant scholars and heroic civil rights champions who were ealry members of the Summit for Civil Rights team.

This year’s Summit comes six decades and one month after the great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The Summit will reflect on the tremendous gains achieved for working people of all colors since 1963 while proposing action around the critical demands still not met for full and meaningful employment and an end to segregation in housing, jobs, and schools.
The Summit will start at 1:00 PM on Thursday, September 28, and end at 4:00 PM, Friday, September 29. Please mark your calendars and look out for more information including registration and sponsorship details.
2023 Summit Sponsors
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The first Summit for Civil Rights began on November 9, 2017 at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. It was held a year to the day after the election of Donald J. Trump and featured Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Vice President Walter Mondale and many others. Since then, we have held two more gatherings sponsored by Rutgers University School of Labor Relations in New Brunswick, NJ and Georgetown University Law School’s Workers’ Rights Institute in Washington, DC. Between events, a core committee of Summit organizers representing civil rights scholars, labor leaders, law students, clergy and elected officials have been assembling research and analysis to produce a set of recommendations for a strategic approach and a policy agenda to address some of the most critical issues facing our country.
The Summit for Civil Rights held this past July was the latest in the series of three convenings that included, among others: House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, NEA President Becky Pringle, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Vice President Walter Mondale, AME Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman; and many other civil rights activists, litigators, scholars and experts in education, housing, finance and labor .
Our third Summit was held virtually under the cloud of the health emergency and economic catastrophe resulting from the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the immediate crisis of the pandemic, the Summit for Civil Rights conference maintained its focus on addressing the three main interrelated topics listed above: racial injustice, economic inequality and political polarization in America. We did not ignore the pandemic. On the contrary, the still unfolding crisis has acted as an ill-timed and regrettable overlay that seems to have only magnified racial disparities, deepened economic inequality and widened the political divide.
This document is an attempt to summarize some of the key areas of transformational reform we believe can and must be pursued by Congress and the new Administration to move our country in a different and better direction. It hopes to unite the energies and the constituencies committed to racial justice and those focused on middle-class opportunity for all Americans—especially groups tied to civil rights and organized labor, including faith communities and local elected officials. Much of this argues for a regional, or metropolitan, approach to bringing us closer together as a country socially, politically and economically.
2017 Summit Program and Agenda
2020 100 Day White House Policy Summit Agenda
Summary of Transition Recommendations
An Agenda for Racial Justice and Middle Class Opportunity for All Americans Within a Metropolitan Framework
On July 30 and 31, 2020, over 50 civil rights leaders, including renowned scholars and litigators, clergy and faith leaders, grassroots organizers, labor union presidents and elected officials including powerful members of Congress, convened with over 500 participants to examine and call for action on today’s triple crisis of deadly racial injustice, vanishing middle class opportunity and toxic political polarization. One of our central conclusions is that spatial disparities (segregation by race and income), especially across America’s metropolitan regions, are significant and critical drivers of structural inequalities in wealth, education and opportunity, widening both race and class divides and contributing to our already fractured politics. What follows are recommendations for federal action for reducing these disparities and expanding an inclusive middle class through structural reform at the regional level.
Leadership Training for Inclusive Communities, November 9 - 12, 2023
LEADERSHIP TRAINING BY BUILDING ONE AMERICA and the SUMMIT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
Thursday, November 9 through Sunday, November 12, 2023, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Because space is limited, interested individuals must apply to participate in this program. The application is available online and can be accessed HERE.
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FROM DIVERSITY TO SHARED POWER
Demographic diversity has been increasing throughout American society. While membership and even leadership in many organizations have reflected this change, power and decision-making often fail to keep up with the racial, ethnic, generational and gender make up of our communities and institutions, including labor unions, local government, and religious congregations. This failure has left us weaker and more easily undermined by those who do not share our values of inclusion and opportunity.
One reason for this persistent power gap is that we too often confuse the visual trappings of diversity with genuine equality and political and economic integration. When members of underrepresented groups secure leadership positions they frequently begin at a significant disadvantage. Generational layers of power, privilege, experience and networks of formal and informal relationships are at play in any public arena where power is wielded and important decisions get made. These dynamics are taken for granted or denied by the powerful, while often unseen or not easily understood by the powerless. We frequently find ourselves in organizations, committees, boards and leadership structures that are diverse in name and appearance, but in reality are decidedly lopsided when it comes to the exercise of power.
As Frederick Douglass famously reminded us, power never did and never will be given away by those who have it to those who don’t.
Building One America’s training does not claim to make people more powerful nor does it create diversity. But it does equip emerging leaders from diverse and working-class backgrounds to better understand and navigate the dynamics of power and politics and have the tools to compete effectively and further themselves and their values in the public arena. Moreover, it will help individual leaders to recognize more clearly their own potential and motivations to build a powerful and meaningful public life.
Because space is limited, interested individuals must apply to participate in this program. The application is available online and can be accessed HERE.
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Who: This training is for leaders from anywhere who want to become more effective in making a difference – including organizers, leaders and volunteers from the faith community, labor unions, electoral politics, public office holders and grassroots rank-and-file leaders.
What: The training teaches ordinary people to unleash their capacity to impact the social, political, environmental, and economic decisions affecting their lives. The training has been designed and will be conducted by experienced organizers affiliated with Building One America and the Summit for Civil Rights. The training is unique in combining elements of leadership training developed over the past fifty years by national community organizing networks, with a contemporary analysis and strategy for developing multiracial institutional and social power to build more inclusive and equitable communities.
Topics covered include:
- An orientation and reflection on power
- Understanding self-interest as a way to build membership, engage allies and adversaries, and become a more focused and self-motivated leader
- The role, value, and techniques of one-on-one organizing
- Conducting and understanding a power analysis
- Distinguishing the “public” from the “private” in order to build an effective public life
- The key principles and elements of strategy and tactics and issues and action
- Identifying and developing leaders
- The importance of organized money
- Principles and techniques for effective meetings
- Personal reflection, strategic planning and developing a personal path to power
The training is not just an intellectual exercise. It challenges and helps experienced leaders and emerging leaders to identify, reflect on, and overcome internalized attitudes and beliefs that stand in the way of becoming more powerful and impactful. The goal is to produce more powerful leaders and to facilitate the expansion of more powerful and more unified multiracial coalitions and structures.
When: The training will take place over four days starting Thursday, November 9 through Sunday November 12, 2023.
Where: Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio
Cost: Tuition plus room and board is $625 per participant for affliaites and sponsoring organizations.
Because space is limited, interested individuals must apply to participate in this program. The application is available online and can beaccessed HERE.
TESTIMONIALS
The training institute helped me become a more powerful leader, acting more strategically, efficiently, and decisively, creating greater accountability for myself and others - Eloise Henry, President, Richmond Heights (OH) City Council
...a very powerful training. It equipped me with the tools to reinvent myself - Rev. Rohan Hepkins, Mayor, Yeadon, PA
This is the most relevant, intense and productive conference I have ever attended - Heather Sorge, Campaign Organizer, Healthy Schools Now
Despite 40 plus years in politics, I found the 4-day training to be new, useful, and refreshing. It was helpful in expanding my own political power and in understanding and dealing with others who are exercising theirs. Ant it led to new and significant relationships for me - Dale Miller, Member, Cuyahoga (OH) County Council
Completely caught me by surprise. I thought I knew what being a leader meant, but the training showed me parts of leadership that I knew nothing about. It really helped me with my networking skills and in my new position as President of CWRUs Black Student Union. I’m excited to see what it can do for more people in our community - Aliah Lawson Executive Chair, Black Student Union, Case Western Reserve Universit
It was helpful. Extraordinarily. Thank you! - Tomea Sippio-Smith - Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PA) Education Policy Director
Training was awesome. Confirmation for me as well as new found skills – Alexis Rean-Walker, HPAE, Secretary-Treasurer
Learned new skills for active listening and relationship development; clearer understanding of power dynamics that drive organizations and elected leaders; deeper understanding of structural causes of inequity and a path to racial integration; and practical steps to develop an inclusive and powerful network that can drive change - Tom Bullock, Member at Large, Lakewood (OH) City Council
Key learning moments were understanding my power, self interest and anger. Thank you! – Martha Camacho-Rodriguez - Cerritos College, Trustee, Norwalk, CA
I’ve become more confident and feel that I have fully stepped into my leadership role - Safronia Perry, Executive Director, Hope Station (PA) Area Neighborhood Council
I used to stay in the back of the room, rarely speak, and try to be invisible. The training helped me to find my voice - Darnelle Crenshaw, Student, Case Western Reserve University
Thank you. The training was awesome – Taylor Picket Stokes, Rescue Mission of Trenton
The training rocked my world and gave me a new roadmap for action. Amazingly intense and perspective-shifting. Great content, compelling examples, helpful exercises and an energized group of participants. - Gary Forman, Trustee and Executive Committee Member, SOMA Action
Sign-on to letter Condemning Racist Political Ads
January 6th Organizers Back AG Ellison’s Opponent with Racist Ad Campaign
Go here to add your name to this letter
The campaign against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has been funded by an outside dark-money group, which has blanketed the airwaves with a wave of vicious, false, and racially incendiary advertising. This far-right organization helped organize and fund the Jan. 6 rally that became an assault on the US Capitol. It relies on the same group of wealthy donors and far-right advocacy groups that led the decades-long – and now successful – strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate abortion rights nationwide. This group sees electing Republican candidate Jim Schultz as a key pillar of its radical agenda. He has happily accepted their aid.
The incendiary and false ads are designed to frighten voters with blurry images of crimes in progress, calling Ellison the “criminal's choice” and falsely implying that he has worked to shield violent offenders from the law. The ads unsubtly evoke the notoriously racist 1988 “Willie Horton” ad campaign, which was explicitly designed as an attempt to frighten white voters with stories of a black felon.
The amount spent on these ads attacking Ellison far outstrips all other advertising expenditures in the race, including by Schultz’s own campaign. In addition, Schultz’s own campaign staff appear to be illegally coordinating these ad buys, as identified in a DFL campaign finance complaint filed a week ago. This allows Schultz to effectively supplement campaign contributions, which are capped under MN law, with hundreds of thousands of unrestricted dollars from wealthy dark-money donors.
By maintaining the legal fiction that these outside dollars are not under his control, Schultz may also be trying to shield his reputation from the scurrilous ads. Schultz, a young man with no courtroom experience and no public leadership experience or profile of any kind, has worked hard to downplay any ties to hard-right groups and their agenda. While he has admitted his powerful personal opposition to abortion rights, he has attempted to argue that these views would be of no consequence in public service. But Schultz’s well-financed supporters provide a strong, and disturbing, clue to his real agenda.
The entity behind the racist and misleading ads calls itself “Minnesota for Freedom.” But legally, no such group exists.
In reality, the anti-Ellison ads are not coming from Minnesota at all. Instead, Minnesota for Freedom is part of a right-wing dark-money organization in Washington, DC. That group is called RAGA, or the Republican Attorneys General Association.
RAGA is an ultra-right advocacy organization that helped set in motion the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Although the group’s nominal purpose is to elect Republicans to state attorney general seats, in 2020 it helped promote Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about a stolen election. In 2021, it was revealed that RAGA supported Donald Trump's January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally with a six-figure donation, and made calls to recruit more attendees for the rally.
When these facts came to light, a number of RAGA leaders resigned, including the executive director and the attorney general of Georgia. But the group was unchastened, and promoted as its new leader a man named Peter Bisbee – the very same person who had coordinated Jan. 6 recruitment. In other words, the people who organized the Jan. 6 riot are now attempting to elect Jim Schultz as Minnesota AG.
The hard-right rabbit hole goes even deeper. RAGA is heavily funded by dark money, provided by anonymous wealthy donors. However, in public filings, its largest named supporter over the past several years is a group called the Judicial Crisis Network.
The Judicial Crisis Network is a legal activist group dedicated to installing right-wing and anti-abortion judges at every level of US government. It was one of the main backers of the Supreme Court nominations of Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. The group also works to appoint and elect similar judges in places like Minnesota, so that they can help eliminate the state rights that are the final bulwark against the total loss of reproductive choice.
During their confirmation hearings, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh were cagey on the topic of abortion rights, assuring critics that they would respect settled law. Nonetheless, they received massive financial support from the Judicial Crisis Network, which knew they’d eliminate Roe v. Wade. Jim Schultz, in the Minnesota attorney general race, has been similarly cagey about abortion. But it’s a safe bet that dark-money supporters like the Judicial Crisis Network wouldn’t fund his election ifthey believed he’d protect women’s rights.
Right-wing activists are targeting Keith Ellison with racialized attacks because he has been one of the country’s most effective attorney generals. Ellison has been a consistent defender of justice and order. After George Floyd was murdered, he worked with law enforcement to reduce unrest on the streets of Minneapolis. He then spent a year ensuring that George Floyd’s killer went to prison. Any other result risked greater strife, perhaps nationwide. Ellison achieved what few others have: he used his office to defend public safety and civil rights all at once. The activists targeting him are trying to send a message: anyone who prosecutes a police officer will be punished, even if ignoring police wrongdoing would cause greater disorder.
Jim Schultz’s biggest backers believe in a different version of America – one in which some groups are controlled by the law, and other groups are above it. Women's long-established rights are sacrificed, while lawless rioters on Jan. 6 are treated as allies. These groups do not care about Minnesota; they’re not even from Minnesota. They’re here to push their agenda and to install another willing pawn in a game they’ve been playing for decades: dismantling the civil and human rights of women, workers and consumers. In doing so, they haven’t hesitated to reuse the racist smear tactics that defined some of the ugliest campaigns in modern American history.
Go here to add your name to this letter
Eddie Glaude, Princeton University
john powell, Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley
Ms. Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University
Dr. Khalil Muhammad, Harvard Kennedy School
Adolph Reed Jr, University of Pennsylvania
Rev. Cornell Brooks, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA
John C. Brittain, UDC Professor of Law, Washington, DC
Dr. William Jones, University of Minnesota
Mary Frances Berry, Professor of History and Africana Studies, UPenn
William Jordan Jr., President, Minnesota/Dakotas Area State Conference NAACP
Robin Davis Gibran Kelley, Professor of American History at UCLA, Los Angeles
Professor Rucker Johnson, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley
Rev. Darryl Gray, Progressive National Baptist Convention, St. Louis
Yusef Mgeni, NAACP, Saint Paul
Robin Davis Gibran Kelley, Professor of American History at UCLA, Los Angeles
Professor Rucker Johnson, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley
Rev. Darryl Gray, Progressive National Baptist Convention, St. Louis
Yusef Mgeni, NAACP, Saint Paul
Dr. Susan Eaton, Brandeis University
David Rusk, Washington, DC
Julie Borgerding July, NAACP, St. Paul
Marcus King, President, Teamsters Local 331
Andy Dawkins, Former Legislator, Saint Paul
Gary Orfield, Ph.D., UCLA Civil Rights Project
Rev. Dr. Willie D. Francois III, Co-Chair of the Social Justice Commission of the Progressive National Baptist Convention
Paul Jargowsky, Rutgers University, Camden
Professor David Troutt, Rutgers Law School-Newark, Newark
Dr. Camille Charles Ph.d, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Rev. Elijah McDavid, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Minneapolis
Richard Tolson, Retired-Bricklayers Union
Rev. Angelique Mason, Bridge Maryland Inc., Baltimore
Jessica Care moore, Black Women Rock!, Detroit
Tolulope Olasanoye, Collective PAC, Washington
Rev. Stephen Green, Faith for Black Lives, New York
Chad Franklin, Gatekeeper’s, New York
Dr. Miriam Aschkenasy, Harvard Kennedy School
Kimberly Muhammad, South Orange
Nasin Yousuf, Bloomington, MN
Courtney Stein, Duluth, MN
Mrs. Patricia Nima-Mohammed
Jocelyn Ryan, South Orange
Dr. Camille Charles Ph.d, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Rev. Elijah McDavid, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Minneapolis
Richard Tolson, Retired-Bricklayers Union
Rev. Angelique Mason, Bridge Maryland Inc., Baltimore
Jessica Care moore, Black Women Rock!, Detroit
Tolulope Olasanoye, Collective PAC, Washington
Rev. Stephen Green, Faith for Black Lives, New York
Chad Franklin, Gatekeeper’s, New York
Dr. Miriam Aschkenasy, Harvard Kennedy School
Kimberly Muhammad, South Orange
Nasin Yousuf, Bloomington, MN
Courtney Stein, Duluth, MN
Mrs. Patricia Nima-Mohammed
Jocelyn Ryan, South Orange
Rev. John L Smith, The Episcopal Diocese of Newark
Michael Kruglik, Building One America
Rev. Alan Traher, St Martins Lutheran Church
Jessica Switzer, Chicago
Walter Johnson, Atlantic City NAACP
Mary Anne Degenhart, EMBRACING RACE - The Conversation
Robert Hennessey, Retired attorney, Lakeland, Minnesota
Julia Silverstein, J.D. Candidate at the University of Minnesota Law School
Jeff Levy, Attorney, Providence, RI
Councilman Tom Bullock, Lakewood City Council, OH
Rev. Michael Granzen, Second Presbyterian Church
Michael Kruglik, Building One America
Rev. Alan Traher, St Martins Lutheran Church
Jessica Switzer, Chicago
Walter Johnson, Atlantic City NAACP
Mary Anne Degenhart, EMBRACING RACE - The Conversation
Robert Hennessey, Retired attorney, Lakeland, Minnesota
Julia Silverstein, J.D. Candidate at the University of Minnesota Law School
Jeff Levy, Attorney, Providence, RI
Councilman Tom Bullock, Lakewood City Council, OH
Rev. Michael Granzen, Second Presbyterian Church
Melinda Anderson, Maplewood
James Wade, Minneapolis
Louis Moore, Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Kokayi Ampah, Director and Producer, Beverly Hills, CA
Francis Porbeni, Woodbury, MN
Dr. Irma McClaurin, Raleigh, NC
Timm Lippert, NAACP, St Paul
Dennison P Nyberg, Minnetonka, MN
Elsa Batica - Coalition of Asian American Leaders, Saint Paul, MN
Lisa Tabor, Minneapolis
Victoria McWane-Creek, Organization 4 Full Participation, Fergus Falls
Nieeta Presley, NAACP St Paul Roy Wilkins Branch, St Paul
Earl Ross, Minneapolis
Karen Carey-Bonner, Maplewood
Jean Webb-Bradford, Richfield
James Wade, Minneapolis
Louis Moore, Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Kokayi Ampah, Director and Producer, Beverly Hills, CA
Francis Porbeni, Woodbury, MN
Dr. Irma McClaurin, Raleigh, NC
Timm Lippert, NAACP, St Paul
Dennison P Nyberg, Minnetonka, MN
Elsa Batica - Coalition of Asian American Leaders, Saint Paul, MN
Lisa Tabor, Minneapolis
Victoria McWane-Creek, Organization 4 Full Participation, Fergus Falls
Nieeta Presley, NAACP St Paul Roy Wilkins Branch, St Paul
Earl Ross, Minneapolis
Karen Carey-Bonner, Maplewood
Jean Webb-Bradford, Richfield
Pastor Loyace Foreman Jr, New Vision Faith Center, St. Paul
Dr. Charles L. Gill, Pilgrim Baptist Church, St. Paul
Minister James & Pamela Muhammad, NOI, Atlanta, Georgia
Victor Rosenthal, St. Paul
Art Serotoff, Minneapolis
Tom Sengupta, RetiredPharmacist,
Jean Webb-Bradford, Richfield
Karen Carey-Bonner, Maplewood
Joanna Lees, St. Paul
Virginia Richardson, Minneapolis
Abdur R. Yasin, Firefighter, West Orange
Hazel Tanner, Minneapolis
Mary K Boyd, Roseville
Cheryl Chatman, Maplewood
Vernice Carter, Maple Grove
Alvin Stafford, Eagan
Emma Eklof, New York
Sheron Thompson, Minneapolis
Jane Prince, City of Saint Paul, Saint Paul
John Mannillo, Saint Paul STRONG, Saint Paul, MN
Tom Goldstein, Lawyer, St. PaulDr. Bara Berg, Family Physician, St. Paul
Mr. Barry Cohen, Ph.D.., Saint Paul
Bob Goonin, , Minneapolis
Kathleen Witcher, Irvington NAACP, Irvington
Rebecca Hamblin, , Minneapolis
Andrea Bond Esq., , Saint Paul
Sylvia Schwarz, , St. Paul
Rukhsana Ghouse, Woodbury
Farida Sadrud-Din,, Chicago
Sue Snyder, St Paul
Ellen Olsen, Public school educator, Saint Paul
Dr. Virgil Mathiowetz, MEPN, St. Paul
Mr. Dan Kaisershot, Minneapolis
Mr. Bill Ostrem, Collingswood
Victor Rosenthal, St. Paul
Art Serotoff, Minneapolis
Tom Sengupta, RetiredPharmacist,
Jean Webb-Bradford, Richfield
Karen Carey-Bonner, Maplewood
Joanna Lees, St. Paul
Virginia Richardson, Minneapolis
Abdur R. Yasin, Firefighter, West Orange
Hazel Tanner, Minneapolis
Mary K Boyd, Roseville
Cheryl Chatman, Maplewood
Vernice Carter, Maple Grove
Alvin Stafford, Eagan
Emma Eklof, New York
Sheron Thompson, Minneapolis
Jane Prince, City of Saint Paul, Saint Paul
John Mannillo, Saint Paul STRONG, Saint Paul, MN
Tom Goldstein, Lawyer, St. PaulDr. Bara Berg, Family Physician, St. Paul
Mr. Barry Cohen, Ph.D.., Saint Paul
Bob Goonin, , Minneapolis
Kathleen Witcher, Irvington NAACP, Irvington
Rebecca Hamblin, , Minneapolis
Andrea Bond Esq., , Saint Paul
Sylvia Schwarz, , St. Paul
Rukhsana Ghouse, Woodbury
Farida Sadrud-Din,, Chicago
Sue Snyder, St Paul
Ellen Olsen, Public school educator, Saint Paul
Dr. Virgil Mathiowetz, MEPN, St. Paul
Mr. Dan Kaisershot, Minneapolis
Mr. Bill Ostrem, Collingswood
Kelly Robinson, Maple Grove
March on Washington Anniversary Policy Forum
Nearly 150
community leaders and clergy from congregations and civic organizations from across Essex, Union, Passaic, and surrounding counties gathered at St. Paul Baptist Church in Montclair Thursday, August 25 to celebrate the March on Washington and to demand action today on its yet unmet demands.
Keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Willie D. Francois said ending school segregation was the 1st and 3rd demand of the 1963 march, “…and yet here we are”, said Pastor Francois, “these 6 decades later..., in this liberal state - one of the wealthiest in the country - and we’re having to have conversations about how children don’t have to be trapped in pockets of airtight poverty and racial exclusion?” Francois blamed “political inaction and cowardice”. “This is not just about diversity” he said “it’s about opportunity…, this is about power."
Hosted by St. Paul Senior Pastor Dr. Bernadette Glover and moderated by Dr. Terry Richardson, of first Baptist Church in South Orange, the post Covid capacity crowd responded with shouts of “Amen!” and "that Ain't Right!” to the powerful message.
The group did more than preach, agitate, and inspire. The clergy and community coalition (a part of Building One America and the NJ Coalition Against Racial Exclusion NJ-CARE) presented a detailed list of specific legislative actions and called on Governor Murphy and legislators to enact policies aimed at dismantling the “opportunity destroying and stigmatizing scourge of school segregation” without delay.
Senator Joseph P. Cryan and Assemblywoman Mila M. Jasey, the co-chairs of the Legislative Joint Committee on The Public Schools committed to work with the group and advance their initiatives in the New Jersey General Assembly this fall. Jasey was also representing the Legislative Black Caucus as its Education Chair.

Dozens of leaders handed in cards vowing to continue the fight and to participate in upcoming hearings and organizing activity. “We will reconvene” declared Pastor Dana Owens of Messiah Baptist Church in East Orange “we will gather momentum – we shall trouble the waters”. Next steps for more leaders are clergy to joining this fight will be the Leadership Training for Congregations and Community - Building Power and Building Community - Saturday, October 29, 2022, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Messiah Baptist Church, 13 Oak St, East Orange, NJ 07018. Go here to register.

March on Washington Anniversary Policy Forum - August 25, 7PM
August, 2022 marks the 59th Anniversary of Great March on Washington.
Of the 10 demands made at the 1963 March, the 1st and the 3rd demand called for the immediate desegregation of America's public schools. Today, as we enter our 6th decade since the March (and 7 decades since Brown v Board was filed), schools in New Jersey have become some of the most segregated in the nation – more segregated than almost any state of the former confederacy. [1]
This was not by accident. It was result of deliberate policies that are still in place today and still segregating our children by both race and poverty and denying them equal opportunity to a decent life.
On Thursday, August 25th, we will convene a powerful gathering of community, faith, education and labor leaders along with parents, policy makers and elected officials. The purpose will be to review and react to current and proposed legislation aimed at reversing those policies that drive segregation and repairing the damage it has inflicted on children, families, and communities.
We will be joined by key policy makers including those who have introduced and supported legislation as well as experts and practitioners in the field of education and civil rights including host Rev. Dr. Bernadette Glover and Co-Chair Rev. Dr. Willie D. Francois along with (invited) Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, Legislative Black Caucus Chair Shavonda Sumter and Senator Joe Cryan. Register here to attend this event.
[1] Among the states that rebelled against the Union, only Texas is more segregated than New Jersey today.
Clone of Clergy, Faith and Community Leaders Against Racial Segregation
Join us for a Zoom meeting for updates and next action steps in our struggle for Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity
Tuesday, June 28, 1:00 PM
Last month, our coalition celebrated a major win in the fight against racial segregation with the Acting Commissioner's denial of the Absecon secession petition. We must now press ahead to see that statewide reforms are enacted that will reverse and repair the damage of school segregation across the state.
Join us for a conversation about progress that's been made and action plans proposed to keep up the momentum as we engage the Governor and legislative leadership around a transfomative agenda for racial juctice and opportunity for all New Jersey students.