Tonguetied? Rehearse What to Say

We've all heard these comments:  
"There's no prejudice in Princeton." 
"I don't believe there is such a thing as 'white privilege."
"If more blacks are in jail than whites, they deserve to be there." 

And so on. 

But often we don't know how to respond. The words just don't come easily. 

Barbara Fox will facilitate the Continuing Conversation on Race on June 3 at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Princeton Public LIbrary. 
"We will practice responding," she says. "Bring the statements you find objectionable and we will role play to rehearse possible responses." 

Continuing Conversations on Race are a friendly, safe, confidential opportunity to share ideas and voice concerns. They are planned and facilitated by Not in Our Town Princeton and held on the first Monday of the month from October through  June in partnership with the Princeton  Public Library. Welcome! 

Colorblind? Continuing Conversation on Monday, May 6

??COLORBLIND?? What does that word mean to you? As claimed by some,
since we have a black president, our nation is finally colorblind. Do you think that is true?
Often an individual says of him/herself that he/she is "colorblind"? What do you
think they mean by that? Do you think you are colorblind? Is being colorblind
a good thing, a bad thing, or some of each - in which ways?   Join Ann Yasuhara and others from Not in Our Town for a "Continuing Conversation on Race" on Monday, May 6, 7:30 p.m., on the second floor of Princeton Public Library. These conversations offer an opportunity to talk about diverse experiences in a warm, non-judgmental, and friendly atmosphere.  

Standing against Racism in Princeton 2013

Stand Against Racism - Today

Stand Against Racism 2013

Partners: 1) Mercer County Youth College, James Kearney Campus

2) Integrated Justice Alliance, Racial & Economic Disparities Committee

3) Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc, Delta Upsilon Social Action Committee

4) YWCA of Trenton/Princeton 2013 Stand Against Racism Project

Date: Friday April 26,2013

Activity: View and discuss the documentary, “Broken On All Sides”, By Matthew Phillischer.

Synopsis

The project began as a way to explore, educate about, and advocate change around the
overcrowding of the Philadelphia county jail system. The documentary has come to focus on
mass incarceration across the nation and the intersection of race and poverty within criminal
justice. The feature-length documentary is available for activists and educators to use in
order to raise consciousness and organize for change. Since its completion in February 2012
the director, Matthew Pillischer, has been doing a grassroots tour of the movie: setting up
meetings in cities across the country, where a screening of the movie can kick off discussions
by people who were formerly incarcerated and their families and allies on how we can
dismantle the system of mass incarceration. If your school, workplace, organization, or
religious institution can host a screening, please contact the director.

The documentary centers around the theory put forward by many, and most recently by
Michelle Alexander (who appears in the movie), that mass incarceration has become "The
New Jim Crow." That is, since the rise of the drug war and the explosion of the prison
population, and because discretion within the system allows for arrest and prosecution
of people of color at alarmingly higher rates than whites, prisons and criminal penalties
have become a new version of Jim Crow. Much of the discrimination that was legal in the
Jim Crow era is today illegal when applied to black people but perfectly legal when applied
to "criminals." The problem is that through subjective choices, people of color have been
targeted at significantly higher rates for stops, searches, arrests, prosecution, and harsher
sentences. So, where does this leave criminal justice?

Through interviews with people on many sides of the criminal justice system, this
documentary aims to answer questions and provoke questions on an issue walled-off from
the public's scrutiny

Contacts: Aula Maarufu Sumbry 609-638-7635; Donald Davis 609-570-3157

Friday and Sunday: Prison Reform Programs

An important prison reform conference is Friday, April 19, at the university. On Sunday, April 21, 15 12:15 p.m. all community members are invited to Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church , 112 Witherspoon Street, for a must-see movie presentation. 

The House I Live In questions why the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on drug arrests in the past 40 years and yet drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever.  The film examines the economic, as well as the moral and practical, failures of the so-called “war on drugs” and calls on the United States to approach drug abuse not as a “war,” but as a matter of public health.  We need “a very changed dialogue in this coun­try that understands drugs as a public health concern and not a criminal justice concern,” says the film’s director, Eugene Jarecki.  This film is being shown in conjunction with the ongoing The New Jim Crow book series. For more informa­tion call Michelle Peal (908-369-4753).

Tonight at 5 and All This Week: 'New Jim Crow' Readout