Brooklyn Religion Briefs
Forum Addresses ‘New Jim Crow’ Imprisonments
The imprisonment of young men of color is the topic of a Community Forum next week at First Unitarian Church.
First Unitarian Church’s Weaving the Fabric of Diversity Committee of Fist Unitarian Church of Brooklyn joins forces with St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Harlem to present “THE NEW JIM CROW: The mass incarceration of young men of color.”
This forum, open to the community, will discuss the reality of this justice crisis in today’s society, and the social consequences for the country as a whole, based on issues raised in Michelle Alexander’s best-selling book of the same title.
Presenters will be New York State Senator Eric Adams, Chris Johnson, head of Horizons Leadership Project; Glenn E. Martin, VP of Development and Public Affairs of The Fortune Society, a non-profit organization devoted to the successful reentry and reintegration of individuals with criminal histories; and Jason Meyers, adjunct professor of writing at William Patterson University and Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Prior to his election to the State Senate, Adams served as a police officer in the New York City Police Department for 22 years, during which time he co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group for black police officers, and he often spoke out against police brutality and racial profiling.
As head of the Horizons Leadership Project, Chris Johnson works with youth at risk. He is a former coordinator of the New York Religious Coalition Against Police Brutality through the New York Civil Liberties Union.
A parishioner at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Harlem will also give testimony about personal experience with these issues.
Moderating the forum is Alex Wolf, a member of First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, and Instructor of Biology at Bronx Community College.
Attendees will be given an opportunity for questions after the speakers’ presentations. The First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, a Unitarian Universalist
The forum takes place on Saturday, January 19, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in the Chapel of First Unitarian Church (Enter to the right of the main sanctuary building’s front steps. Admission is free.
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The Abolitionists Series Airs On PBS’ American Experience
Many readers may have viewed the first episode of new PBS American Experience series, The Abolitionists, which began this past week. This three-part documentary (with re-enactments) follows the path of five abolitionist allies—Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown and Angelina Grimké—as they turn a despised fringe movement against chattel slavery into a force that changes the nation.