EAST BRUNSWICK – Addressing bias, stereotypes and local demographic changes, the East Brunswick Human Relations Council hosted its first “Conversation and Coffee” event.
The first in a series of programs, “Conversation and Coffee: Bias and Stereotypes in Our Town” sought to engage residents in a conversation about biases and stereotypes and how the community can address these important challenges, according to vice Chairperson Erum Shakir.
More than 40 residents attended the event on July 24 where free coffee and refreshments were handed out in the East Brunswick Community Arts Center’s Community Room.
Rutgers University assistant professor of American and Africana Studies Louis Prisock was the facilitator for the event.
“Bias is cause to feel or show inclination or prejudice for or against someone or something. A stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or an idea of a particular type of person or thing,” Prisock said.
The community panel was composed of Mayor Brad Cohen; Janice Pennington, East Brunswick Department of Recreation, Parks and Community Services Daisy Recreation and Camps coordinator; Lou Figueroa, East Brunswick Public Schools assistant superintendent of Student Activities and Services; Atiya Aftab, Rutgers University Department of Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies adjunct professor and lawyer.
Cohen said in 2000, “Time” magazine published a picture of a woman who had the features of every ethnic group in the United States on its cover.
“The idea behind that magazine cover was that America was becoming a blended culture and that stereotypes and biases were starting to fade away … and that we were going to have to start thinking about policy and the direction of our government on the assumption that we are now one united country made up of many different groups that all got along,” Cohen said. “Then the 2016 election hit and to me that sort of drove home a little bit of a bubble I think most of us were living out.”
Cohen said bias still exists. Last year, there was a rise in anti-Semitic bias crimes that were reported by the East Brunswick School District Board of Education.
“To think we are better than everybody else or to be in judgment of other places really is foolish. So that is why I felt this was a really good time for us to take stock of where we are, speak honestly with one another [and] speak, not write,” Cohen said. “That’s why we called it ‘Conversation and Coffee’ because the only way you are going to turn back the momentum that’s moved away from the type of society I thought we were living in is to start conversations … person by person.”
During the event, Prisock read from the FBI’s bias information sheet detailing the 2016 hate crime statistics from the FBI’s website. Each resident was given a copy of this sheet.
In 2016, the FBI recorded more than 6,000 bias incidents and the one category that had the most incidents was racial bias. In 2016, 57 percent of the cases the FBI had taken notice of was in the category of racial, ethnic or ancestry bias. More than half the cases involving religious bias was anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim bias, according to Prisock.
“The FBI also measures location when these incidents take place and it was very surprising to me that the frequency in which bias incidents takes place happens to be in residential areas, in homes,” Prisock said. “So it’s really important to talk about what we can do as a community to strengthen the bonds of our neighborhoods given that this seems to be an area in which intolerance rears its ugly head.”
According to statistics that have been collected in East Brunswick, Prisock said that in 2012 there were two bias incidents that were reported. By 2017, that number had jumped to 31 reported bias incidents.
After each panelist delivered his/her opening remarks, residents had the opportunity to ask each panelist questions relating to bias and stereotypes.
Pennington is the coordinator for the Daisy program, which is a township program for children and young adults with special needs. She said the council wanted her to address bias and stereotypes pertaining to the disabled population.
She said people with special needs constantly face bias and prejudice when looking for a job.
“They have a very hard time with employment. They have a very hard time being accepted as adults – they are looked at as children, not as adults. So although it’s a different bias it’s a very tough bias that they see all the time,” Pennington said. “For my young adults, I have been to places with them where they’re in their 20s and people talk to me ignoring them next to me and telling me that they are not capable.”
Having been an educator for the past 30 years, Figueroa said he is also the East Brunswick public schools anti-bullying coordinator.
Addressing bias and stereotypes within the township schools, Figueroa said, “Our job here in the East Brunswick public schools is to educate, so our business is educating everyone, not only the students and our staff, but also our parents/guardians and community about what these bias and stereotypes are and how to tolerate if we want to become one group.”
Resident Ravi Goomer said has lived in the township for 25 years and said all of his children went through the public school system. Goomer asked Figueroa what constructive steps the district is taking to have a more diverse faculty at the schools.
“I am one of those constructive steps: I am Puerto Rican and I was interviewed for this position I have now and I got the job. … We are always looking to put the best person in the position and we are looking for diversity as well,” Figueroa said. “The people have to come out and want to be part of that position – in other words, we need teachers, administrators [and] we need all kinds of people to come out. … I think if you look at all of the different groups of people I am talking about we have made some improvements.”
Growing up in East Brunswick, Aftab said currently she is the co-founder and chair of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, a nonprofit organization that promotes Muslim and Jewish women’s interests.
“The stereotype of the Muslim when you see the media and you see it on television is the brown person, who is the Middle Eastern-looking man. So let’s check what our stereotypes and what our bias [are],” Aftab said. “Then the elephant in the room is always with the topic of terrorism and the statistics [show] that out of all domestic terrorism in this country self-described Muslims accounts for … six percent. So you should be scared of the white man and not the brown Muslim.”
To achieve more diversity within the education field, Aftab said minority parents should encourage their children to go into the education and arts field and not just the medical, legal or engineering fields.
Resident Miriam Eicher said that people must start using the word “respect” instead of tolerance when it comes down to address cultural differences within the community.
“I totally agree that we must learn to respect one another and it is hard to ask people to do it when they forgot what [respect] means,” Cohen said. “One of my most favorite sayings has to be from Martin Luther King Jr. [where he said], ‘In the end, we will remember not what the words were of our enemies, but only the silence of our friends.’ That is really the role I believe of what we are trying to do tonight.”
For more information about the Human Relations Council events, visit www.eastbrunswick.org/content/202/253/516.aspx or its Facebook page.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].