Standing
inSolidarity
Listening. Learning. Sharing. Taking action. Advancing ideas and solutions to accelerate social justice demands that all of us take these simple, powerful steps. Everyone at NJPAC stands in solidarity with those fighting against structural racism, societal inequity, and police brutality, and for civil rights, multiculturalism and authentic inclusion. Changing the world requires the efforts of everyone. Now, more than ever, each of us has an indispensable part to play.
To bring our community together, and to encourage everyone to take part in the movement to ensure civil rights for all, NJPAC has launched a series of events and initiatives focused on promoting racial equality. On these pages, you can find resources that will help you take action, in the voting booth and elsewhere, and join us for conversations and discussions that can help you understand the issues we’re all grappling with today. Join us here to learn more, do more and help our nation achieve the more perfect union it always promised.
TAKE ACTION
Make an impact! Harness your power as a citizen with these tools, which will guide you through registering to vote and contacting your representatives in Trenton and in Washington, D.C., to make your voice heard.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Location: Virtual
Poet: Jesse Burns, Executive Director, League of Women Voters of New Jersey
Description: The discussion will focus on the power of elected officials to mitigate the upcoming changes to federal policies and their direct impact on services and budgets. The discussion will emphasize the importance of voting and the direct impact of voters on services, budgets and policies.
Location: Virtual
PSEG Social Impact Film: Immigration – Love Me and Finding Home
Poet: Hugos dos Santos
Description: Social justice issues in the Ironbound focused on the Portuguese, Cuban and Mexican communities.
Location: NJPAC
Poet: Paul LaTorre
Description: The conversation will focus on mental and physical health and is tied to Movember, a movement supported by NJPAC that advocates for men’s health and early detection of diseases such as testicular and prostate cancer. Panelists may include psychologists, community activists and representatives from local hospitals, and the discussion will highlight programs that support men’s health. Resource tables will include screenings, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and resources on how to get in shape.
Resource Tables: Newark Health Department, Chef Hassan and NJPAC’s Wellness ERG and Arts & Well-Being Department
Location: Virtual
PSEG Social Impact Film: Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Poet: Saleem Hue Penny
Description: The panel, co-curated by Eyes Like Mine, will explore the passage of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its impact more than 30 years later. The event will include an ASL interpreter from a woman-owned business that hires BIPOC interpreters.
Location: NJPAC
PSEG Social Impact Film: City Rising
Description: This is a continuation of the virtual event which took place in February 2025 and attracted over 300 attendees. The conversation will focus on the impact of gentrification on the costs of housing. ACLU of New Jersey and the Newark Office of Film and Television are potential partners.
Location: NJPAC
PSEG Social Impact Film: Basic Black, African-American Fraternities and Sororities – The Divine Nine
Poet: Cortney Lamar Charleston
Description: The program will discuss the significance of the Divine Nine — the nine African American fraternities and sororities that are part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council — and their powerful legacy of leadership development, scholarship and social action. Co-curated by local Pan-Hellenic Chapter.
Location: NJPAC
PSEG Social Impact Film: Set Her Free: Exposing the Trauma to Prison Pipeline
Performance: Ritual4Return, a programming partner of NJPAC’s Arts & Well-Being (AWB) department.
Description: This program will be produced in association with Women@NJPAC in honor of Women’s History Month. The content will discuss ways to help victims of trauma and women who are unfairly incarcerated. AWB plans to host a dinner for Rutgers University–Newark students before the event.
Location: Virtual
PSEG Social Impact Film: Caregiving
Description: In partnership with the Caregivers Employee Resource Group at NJPAC, this program will discuss the burden, joy and struggles of caring for parents or other loved ones. Financial issues and healthcare are included among the burdens of caregiving.
Location: NJPAC
PSEG Social Impact Film: Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority
Poet: Sarah Gambito / Joseph Legaspi
Description: The program focuses on obstacles to advancement for Asian Americans and strategies for breaking the bamboo ceiling. The evening might include an ERG and social impact leadership pre-reception in partnership with Wells Fargo. Also, ASCEND, the largest Asian American networking organization, will lend support as they have in previous SIS seasons.
Location: NJPAC
The concluding Standing in Solidarity event of the season will be programmed adjacent to Prudential North to Shore Festival 2026.
Explore Our Resources
Dying While Pregnant: The Crisis of Black Maternal Health
- PATIENT & CAREGIVER QUESTIONS TO ASK PROVIDERS
A Roof Over Every Head: Affordable Housing Crisis
-
NJ Urban News – NJPAC Hosts Panel Tackling the Affordable Housing Crisis
- New Jersey Department of Community Affairs – Home Page
- New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) | Offices & Programs
- http://dcaid.dca.nj.gov/
- DCA SAGE [Request more information – Grid]
- New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) | 2025 to 2035 Affordable Housing Calculations
- FourthRoundCalculation_Methodology.pdf
Undoing Latino Stereotypes in the Media
Notes from America with Kai Wright
Democracy, Voting, Census: A Conversation About Power
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: 13th Directed by Ava DuVernay
- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010);
- Khalil Gibran Muhammad, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (2010);
- James Forman, Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017);
- Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (2017).
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: White Fragility
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: John Lewis: Good Trouble
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: Educational Justice
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: She Did That
Black Women In The Workplace
- In Her Shoes Blog
- Renaebluitt.com
- These Black Women Are Bringing Representation To The Podcast Space
- Sign up for Gifts From Dee
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace — Trends for 2021
- Therapy for Black Girls
- Newark unveils homeless shelter made from converted shipping containers
- Hustle Pro
- How I Built This
- She Did That
Violence, Empowerment, and Allyship: The Asian Experience in America
- How You Can Join the Stop Asian Hate Movement Article
- Anti-AAPI Racism Resource List by Heidi Cho
- A toolkit to address anti-Asian bias and discimination
- Read this article on ways to support your Asian American colleague
- Watch this video from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Pandemic Fuels Anti-Asian Racism
- NYU Silver’s Social Justice Praxis Community’s Instagram Handles to Follow
- GoFundMe’s Hub of Fundraisers that Support AAPI Community
- Recording of “Coping with Contextualizing Anti-Racism and Pandemics” and Office of Global Inclusion playlist of programs addressing systems of oppression
- A group of AAPI leaders created The Asian American Foundation, committed to educating the public and collecting data on anti-AAPI crime. Support the group by participating in events throughout AAPI heritage month
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: Black-Jewish Allyship Through Creative Expression
-
7 Ways to Practice Active Allyship/Harvard Business Review
-
Monuments to the Unthinkable/The Atlantic
Democracy: A Users’ Guide
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: Chinese and Black Allyship in the South
Democracy, Voting, Census: A Conversation About Power
- Need help filling out your ballot: https://youtu.be/Eo37gJSkY20
- Are you a young adult interested in running for office? runforsomething.net
- Step to step guide of how to vote by mail: www.newarkvotesbymail.org
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Online Games: https://www.icivics.org/games
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: 13th Directed by Ava DuVernay
- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010);
- Khalil Gibran Muhammad, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (2010);
- James Forman, Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017);
- Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (2017).
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: White Fragility
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: John Lewis: Good Trouble
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: Educational Justice
PSEG True Diversity Film Series Presents: She Did That
Black Women In The Workplace
- In Her Shoes Blog
- Renaebluitt.com
- These Black Women Are Bringing Representation To The Podcast Space
- Sign up for Gifts From Dee
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace — Trends for 2021
- Therapy for Black Girls
- Newark unveils homeless shelter made from converted shipping containers
- Hustle Pro
- How I Built This
- She Did That
Violence, Empowerment, and Allyship: The Asian Experience in America
- How You Can Join the Stop Asian Hate Movement Article
- Anti-AAPI Racism Resource List by Heidi Cho
- A toolkit to address anti-Asian bias and discimination
- Read this article on ways to support your Asian American colleague
- Watch this video from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Pandemic Fuels Anti-Asian Racism
- NYU Silver’s Social Justice Praxis Community’s Instagram Handles to Follow
- GoFundMe’s Hub of Fundraisers that Support AAPI Community
- Recording of “Coping with Contextualizing Anti-Racism and Pandemics” and Office of Global Inclusion playlist of programs addressing systems of oppression
- A group of AAPI leaders created The Asian American Foundation, committed to educating the public and collecting data on anti-AAPI crime. Support the group by participating in events throughout AAPI heritage month
Online Content:
- A Sense of Safety: Makoto Hirano on Assimilation, Fear, and Gun Reform
- “America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
- Calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan Virus” or “China Virus” is inaccurate and xenophobic by Marietta Vazquez
- It’s Time for Philanthropy to Address Its Erasure of AAPI Voices and Perspectives by Grace Nicolette
- Maintaining Professionalism in the Age of Black Death Is… A Lot, by Shenequa Golding
- ”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)
- The 1619 Project (all the articles) | by Nikole Hannah-Jones | The New York Times Magazine
- The Combahee River Collective Statement
- “The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)
- “Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?” by Courtney Martin (June 1, 2020)
- “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)
- Working for Equity and Social Justice? Know What Your Asian Colleague Is Experiencing
- 400 Years Now by New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
- Meet Three Gen-Z Activists Who Are Fighting for Environmental Justice
- Newark Reducing Unsheltered Homeless Population, Plans New Initiatives in 2025
Books:
- Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
- How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
- Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold
- Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander - The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
by Grace Lee Boggs - The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga
- When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
- A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross
- Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry
- Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
- White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
- You Can’t Teach What You Don’t Know by Gary R. Howard, edited by James A. Banks
- Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- White Lies Matter: Race, Crime and the Politics of Fear by Tim Wise
Films & TV:
- 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
- American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
- Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent
- Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) — Hulu with Cinemax or available to rent
- Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent
- Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
- I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
- If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
- Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent
- King In The Wilderness — HBO
- See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
- Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
- The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Available to rent for free
- Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story — Amazon Prime
- Freedom Riders — Amazon Prime
- Talks to help you understand racism in America — Ted.com
Podcasts:
- 1619 (New York Times)
- About Race
- Code Switch (NPR)
- Fluency with Dr. Durell Cooper
- Hustle Pro
- How I Built This
- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
- Seeing White
- Power of Story: “A Dying Mule Always Kicks the Hardest”
Online Resources:
Books:
- Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults
- 20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace & Do Good
- 13 Children’s Books About Race and Diversity
Podcasts:
- Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’
- Fare of the Free Child podcast
- Integrated Schools podcast episode “Raising White Kids with Jennifer Harvey”
Articles:
- How White Parents Can Talk To Their Kids About Race | NPR
- Teaching Your Child About Black History Month | PBS
- Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good
Black stories:
- Parker Looks Up by Parker Curry and Jessica Curry
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo
- Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
- Hair Love by Matthew Cherry
- I am Enough by Grace Byers
- Hands Up! by Breanna J. McDaniel
Activism:
- Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
- A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
- Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All
LGBTQIA+/Gender:
- Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
- Pickles and Ocho by Dan Wellik
- When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff
- Who Are You?: The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee
- Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
- Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer
- Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev
- A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
- I Am Human: A Book About Empathy by Susan Verde
- Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
- You Matter by Christian Robinson
- I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien
We encourage you to volunteer, donate, and support these organizations that are working hard to impact change!
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