PSEGTrueDiversityFilmSeriesPresents:EducationalJusticeAmericanPromise

Film screening: At your home, via YouTube, now through February 14, 2021

The panel discussion took place Mon, Feb 15 and is now available here:

What role does education play in achieving social justice?

That question is at the heart of American Promise, a PBS documentary 12 years in the making, which follows two Black Brooklyn boys from kindergarten through high school graduation. Both are accepted as five-year-olds into a prestigious, and largely white, private school, which their parents hope will boost their fortunes. But as they grow from chubby-cheeked tots into young men, a host of barriers rise between them and the futures their families envision for them.

Join us for the next PSEG True Diversity Film screening at NJPAC, when we’ll look at the role that education plays in advancing — and denying — justice to children of color.

Before we meet, we’ll screen the PBS documentary American Promise, which explores how Black children, and in particular, Black boys, are educated, and what impact systemic racism has on their experience in the classroom and beyond.

This season, the films NJPAC will present through the PSEG True Diversity Film Series will focus on social and racial justice, in response to the uprisings against systemic racism that have spread around the globe in 2020. To continue these presentations safely during the pandemic, we have redesigned this series to work like a book club: We’ll all watch the selected films at our homes, then come together on a Zoom video conference to discuss the film with panelists who can offer context and insight.

We encourage everyone to view American Promise on YouTube. Then, join us for a virtual panel discussion at 7PM on Monday, February 15, 2021, which will focus on the role race plays in our schools.

Moderated by Ron Chaluisan Batlle, the Executive Director of the Newark Trust for Education, our panel will discuss racism in school curricula, the lack of anti-racist educational programs, the impact that COVID-19 has had on schools that serve communities of color, and how our educational system can be reformed to better serve all students.

Our panelists: