By Donald Gilpin

“Hot Topics”— a community discussion on DEI, the “Defend Historic Princeton” controversy, and more — are on the schedule for high profile sessions next week, but the Friday, August 1 at 5 p.m. Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Community Princeton Safe Streets kick-off reception at Studio Hillier, 190 Witherspoon Street, has its own agenda.

The annual opening event of the nine-day celebration will feature a welcome for two new Princeton Public Schools (PPS) leaders; remarks from the Princeton mayor, the Mercer County executive and other public officials; presentation of four community service awards; and “Reflections” from 40 years in business by J. Robert Hillier — architect, managing principal of Studio Hillier, and Town Topics’ publisher.

New PPS Superintendent Michael LaSusa and new Johnson Park Elementary School Principal Stacy Young will be in attendance, meeting and greeting the public. The Rev. Gregory Scott Smith, pastor of Fisk Chapel AME Church, will present a poem for the occasion. Mayor Mark Freda, County Executive Dan Benson, Princeton Council President Mia Sacks, and Council Members Leighton Newlin and Michelle Pirone Lambros will deliver remarks. Witherspoon Media Group (Town Topics, Princeton Magazine), the Dorothea van Dyke McLane Association (Dorothea’s House), the Arts Council of Princeton, and writer/editor Pam Hersh will receive Mildred Trotman Service Awards.

Highlights in the following days will include a “Hoops and History Legend Salute” on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., following a 1 p.m. fish fry at the Elks Lodge at 124 Birch Avenue, and on Sunday at 5 p.m. a Gospel Music Festival and Recognition of Princeton Black Churches and Black Families at the First Baptist Church of Princeton at 30 Green Street.

At Saturday’s event Marvin Trotman Sr. will be honored as “The Greatest Witherspoon- Jackson Basketball player of All Time,” Pete Young Sr. will be acclaimed “All-Time Greatest Coach,” and an array of all-star players from the past will be recognized.

At Sunday’s gospel festival at 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Princeton, First Baptist Pastor Maureen Gerald and Board Chair Deacon Lamont Fletcher, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church Interim Pastor the Rev. Kenneth Ngwa, Mount Pisgah AME Church Pastor the Rev. Natalie Mitchem, and Not In Our Town Princeton (NIOT) Board Chair Caroline Clark will receive the Jim Floyd Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Sunday celebrations will also include a dance presentation by the First Baptist Church Revelation Praise Dance Ministry, a Black Family Legacy Presentation honoring 12 families, and musical selections by the First Baptist Church Choir, Karen Yvette Jones, Jennifer Bell, and Sam Frisby and Friends.

“The churches and NIOT are the social justice centers and advocates,” said Joint Effort Founder and Organizer John Bailey. “This is the Robesonian dynamic. It’s about social justice and opportunity and the fact that we’re dealing with Paul Robeson’s birth as an annual state holiday. That’s big. Legislators, including our own Andrew Zwicker pushed that legislation through.”

Later next week will see a full evening of events on Wednesday, August 6 at the Arts Council of Princeton, presentations, exhibits, and discussions honoring Princeton native Robeson and celebrating the state’s passing of a Joint Resolution to designate April 9 of each year as Paul Robeson Day in the Garden State.

The political issues will arise starting on Monday, August 4, with a discussion on “DEI: the National Pushback and the Impact on Local Communities” at the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. John Harmon, CEO, president, and founder of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and the Rev. Charles Boyer, founder and executive director of Salvation and Social Justice, will lead a fireside chat with an array of distinguished panelists.

“This theme comes at a critical moment, as DEI initiatives face growing national and local pushback,” said panelist and Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin. “The fear, alienation, and erasure of undocumented communities, the ongoing gentrification of neighborhoods, and the persistent barriers to affordable housing are just a few of the urgent issues on the table. These issues are not abstract — they are personal, historical, and generational.”

The “Defend Historic Princeton (Racism, Elitism, or Fundamental Public Policy Disagreement)” conversation will take place as part of the Saturday, August 9 “What’s Going On in Princeton Updates,” with subtopics, discussions, and expert panelists speaking on “A Vision for the Town, Princeton Schools, the Princeton Municipality,” and a Candidate Forum.

Noting the proliferation of “Defend Historic Princeton” signs around town, Bailey has challenged all sides to join the discussion on August 9 at the First Baptist Church of Princeton.

“Part of what I’m trying to do is create an opportunity for some authentic conversation,” he said. “If you have folks who are willing to engage, then you can have a good conversation. When it’s in the community, that conversation can be positive because conflict takes us to a higher level of understanding.”

Looking forward to the nine days of Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Community Princeton Safe Streets, Newlin noted, “This is a time when our churches, our streets, and the Arts Council of Princeton are all activated to host community-wide conversations about race, identity, belonging, and justice. To all those who still believe that civic engagement is the heartbeat of a functioning democracy and that it starts at the neighborhood level, come out and get into some Good Trouble.”

Written by: Donald Gilpin

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