At The Table Saturday Brunch
Racial Justice Project Aims To Bring Awareness & Support To Black Owned Businesses In The City
The Racial Justice Project at Trinity Episcopal Church has launched a campaign aimed at supporting and bringing awareness to black-owned businesses. Their first event will be held from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Saturday at At The Table, located at 311 Bond Street.
“We will be getting together with old and new friends for Saturday Brunch to build community and get to know each other,” organizers said in a written statement. “We are supporting black business in Asbury because Asbury is 58% black and has very few black businesses. If our community is able to support black businesses, more black businesses will be able to thrive. This is a start and a small way to make sure we have diverse businesses in our city.”
Founded in 2015, the group’s mission is to advance racial equity through education and justice work inside Trinity and throughout the Asbury Park community.
The Racial Justice Project members include an all volunteer group comprised of Liza Minno Bloom, Derek Minno Bloom, Mary Jane Dodd, Joanie McCoy, Adrienne Wert, Chris Rapaglia, Maureen Shaffer, and Deacon Gail Bennett.
“We define racism as radical prejudice plus systemic power to enforce that racial prejudice,” the group said in written material. “Examples are, land theft from the indigenous, slavery, Jim Crow, and now the prison industrial complex.”
Since its inception the group has conducted 11 watch/read-and-discuss roundtables. Their workshops have included Is It Racist? A Pop Culture Summer Series – a three-part series covering Native American mascots, Hispanics in film and media, and celebrity protests in Black community; and Interrupting the ISMs – a 2½ day conference on the Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice. Their social justice movie and speaker series have drawn more than 700 attendees through partnerships with Second Baptist Church, Garden State Equality, Islamic Society of Monmouth County, the Shabazz Center, as well as faculty from Monmouth University and Georgian Court.
The Racial Justice Project at Trinity Episcopal Church meets from 5 to p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month at the 503 Asbury Ave church. For more information, email derek@trinitynj.com or visit their events listings at bit.ly/racialjustice-trinitychurchap.
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