Black History Month Celebration
New Community celebrated Black History Month with an
intergenerational program that included song, dance, poetry, ethnic food
and a challenge from the keynote speaker to continue fighting because
we have not yet reached the Promised Land.
Students from Newark’s Newton Street School, located across the
street from New Community Associates, the senior building where the
program was held, read the William Ernest Henley poem, Invictus, and
one student also performed a praise dance. The late South African
president Nelson Mandela, who was incarcerated for 27 years, would
recite the poem to his fellow prisoners to help boost their spirits and
empower them to press on. Invictus ends with the oft repeated line, “I am
the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Jahaz Tillman, left, and Wellington Paulino,
students at Newark’s Newton Street School, read
the poem Invictus that inspired the late South
African President Nelson Mandela while imprisoned
“We don’t want to leave our older people out and wanted to share with
them what Nelson Mandela did ,” said Jahaz Tillman, 13, a seventh grader,
who along with Wellington Paulino, 11, read the poem, which is also the
title of a movie about Mandela.
Building her words around the theme of the landmark Civil Rights Act of
1964, which outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, Frances
Teabout, NCC Director of Mission, told the audience that “until we start demanding” freedom and respect, it’s not going
to happen.
“Don’t fool yourself. We have not yet arrived,” she said. “When our children are shot down in cold blood and (others)
are declared innocent...the lives of our children, we have to let them know they matter. We matter. Our grandchildren
matter.”
But she said respect will not come easily. It must be commanded, Teabout said, by teaching our children to carry
themselves like “kings and queens” and adults not accepting the status quo, but rather raising questions and overcoming
obstacles.
“A lot of people made a whole lot of sacrifices for us and even shed their blood. They were committed. They did not let
anybody turn them around,” she said.
The NCC Department of Health and Social Services sponsored the celebration, which was organized by Angeli
Martinez, director of activities. Sharon Pleasant-Jones heads the department.