On Thursday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m., the Enslaved African Memorial Committee (EAMC) and Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Committee (NNJHMEC) will jointly present a virtual event to hear, rethink, reframe and give shape to the unheard as we explore the legacies of two distinct histories, chattel slavery and the Holocaust, and their intersections. Local high school students from Bergen County will join in the discussion to share their thoughts on this timely topic. The project will illuminate the intergenerational struggle against racism and xenophobia, while inspiring a collective responsibility to act.
The two-part forum will be moderated by a distinguished group of educators including Dr. Dennis Klein, director, MA program in Holocaust and genocide studies, Nathan Weiss Graduate College at Kean College; Dr. Jack Tchen, Clement A. Price Professor of Public History and Humanities at Rutgers University; Candace Pinn, president of The Westchester Alliance of Black School Educators; Tikvah Wiener, head of school at the Idea School; and Zainabu Conteh, secondary teacher at Benjamin Franklin Middle School.
This will be the first in a series of programs co-sponsored by the Enslaved African Memorial Committee and the Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Center, who both plan to create memorials on the Teaneck Municipal Green, to educate the local community about the histories and lessons to be learned from these respective tragedies.
The program is free to the public and available on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87841635262. The link will also be posted on nnjholocaustmemorial.org and eamc.org.
The program is being made possible by a grant from the Puffin Foundation.