Summit for Civil Rights Advances Agenda for Racial Justice
Leaders from across the country gather at Rutgers to discuss how to bolster civil rights
Civil rights leaders and prominent lawmakers from around the country came to Rutgers for the second annual Summit for Civil Rights to develop a renewed national agenda to defeat segregation, promote racial justice and provide economic equality.
Presentations during the two-day event, which brought together more than 100 scholars and activists, focused on the state of racial segregation in America today and how to expand middle class opportunity for all Americans. Panels addressed segregation in housing, schools and infrastructure investments.
The summit took place in a location with its own ties to the civil rights movement: the auditorium of the School of Management and Labor Relations’ (SMLR) Labor Education Center, a space that was dedicated by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he spoke at Rutgers in 1963.
Speakers included House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the third highest-ranking member of the House of Representatives, who was honored for his work to expand opportunities for disenfranchised and underrepresented populations in South Carolina and around the country.
He called the U.S. “a great nation—not a perfect nation—but a great nation,” and encouraged the diverse audience to work together in the fight for social justice.
“The goal for all of us has got to be making this world a better place for our children and our grandchildren,” Clyburn said.” "Let’s do that, learning to accept and respect that there is background and experiences that we bring to this effort. And let’s see what we can do to complement each other as we move forward together.’’
SMLR Dean Adrienne Eaton and state Senate President Steve Sweeney gave opening remarks at the event, which began Thursday.
“New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the country and I believe that is a source of strength,” Sweeney said. “Civil rights are basic rights that should be extended equally to each and every member of society, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion. By coming together, we can advance a program of social and racial justice and expanded middle class opportunity for all Americans. A multi-racial coalition of people is the most effective way to advance civil rights.”
The event’s speakers included two other members of Congress – Frank Pallone and Bonnie Watson Coleman. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP; and Rebecca Pringle, vice president of the National Education Association also spoke. Additional scholars and activists participated in panel discussions.
In her opening keynote Thursday, Ifill said, “We need to understand there are instances of segregation that are hiding in plain sight. We just believe that some people live here, and some people live there, without a full acceptance and recognition about how all of this was created largely through segregated government and segregated government policies that have cascaded down over decades.’’
“But I believe whatever is created can be recreated. As frightening as these challenges are, they invite us to be more bold than we have been in the past in fighting for this democracy and the country we truly want to see. During this summit, I ask you to be bold, be courageous and strategize well,” Ifill said.
Naomi R Williams, assistant professor of labor studies and employment relations at SMLR, said the sessions offered engaging conversations between politicians, academics and social justice activists “exploring the harms of segregation on everyone, not just marginalized groups.’’
Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, gave the closing keynote Friday, saying “Civil rights and social justice are not a competition but a way for us to collectively work together for a common goal: to make democracy work for everyone. After almost three years of bitter partisanship and heightened racial rhetoric from the current administration, we need to repair the state of ‘race relations’ that have deteriorated under this president’s watch, so that we can reestablish a stronger movement of equality and solidarity.”
Others who were recognized for their contributions to civil rights, in addition to Clyburn, included Rutgers alumna and Atlantic County Freeholder Ashley Bennett. She made national news in 2017 by defeating an incumbent who had asked if Women’s March participants would be home in time to make dinner.
The event was presented by SMLR’s Labor Education Action Research Network, the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and Building One America, with support from the Ford Foundation, the United Auto Workers Union and the American Postal Workers Union. Building One America organized the event.