Sunday, September 17, 2017
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Simeon Booker Award for Courage forum will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at the DeYor Center for the Performing Arts, 260 W. Federal St. in Youngstown.
The Courage forum is part of October’s seventh annual Ohio Nonviolence Week, presented by The DeBartolo Corp.
The forum is free to the public through the sponsorship of The Muransky Companies, but a ticket must be obtained at the Ohio Nonviolence Week web site.
The free evening forum follows a fundraising dinner at 5 p.m. also at DeYor. Tickets are $100 and available online, too.
The award is given in honor of Simeon Booker, a Youngstown native and award-winning journalist. He’s nationally known for covering the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955. He was a pioneering African-American journalist during the Civil Rights Movement and was the first full-time black reporter at the Washington Post. His work helped unify America’s fight for equality.
The 2017 national recipient of the Simeon Booker Award for Courage is Ken E. Nwadike Jr., also known as the “Free Hugs Guy.” Nwadike is a peace activist and founder of the Free Hugs Project. The local recipient is Terry Vicars, a local activist with the homeless community.
The 7 p.m. free program will feature a panel discussion, “Intolerance in Today’s America,” with specific talks on anti-semitism, Islamophobia and racism.
The speakers include this year’s Courage award winner, Nwadike, Jr. Nwadike has attended protests offering hugs to both police and marchers. He will focus on racism in America and a need for protesters to see police as more than robots, and for police to see African-Americans as more than just the color of their skin.
Wajahat Ali will speak on Islamaphobia in America today. Often on CNN, he is a journalist, writer, lawyer, playwright, TV host and consultant for the U.S. State Department. Beginning in early 2017, as creative director of Affins Labs, Ali launched a global-startup incubator network aimed at identifying and fostering “emerging entrepreneurs from around the world who understand what makes the global Islamic economy special.” As a reporter, he has focused his stories on communities and individuals often marginalized or under-reported in mainstream media.
Anita Gray will discuss Antisemitism. Currently, Gray is regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Cleveland. Previously, she was a congressional liaison to Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, Cleveland director for AIPAC, the Jewish National Fund and campaign director of the successful 2010 Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services renewal levy.
In addition, she co-founded Ishmael & Isaac, a co-existence organization between Cleveland’s Jewish and Arab communities.
Tickets and more information for either the free forum or the $100 fund-raising dinner, visit www.ohiononviolenceweek.org or contact Penny Wells at pennywwells@sbcglobal.net.