SWAMPSCOTT — A new speaker series presented by Congregation Shirat Hayam and co-sponsored by the Swampscott Public Library will look at racial issues locally and nationally.
Former Gov. Deval Patrick, who was the state’s first Black governor, will kick off the series on Wednesday, April 7 in a talk titled “Race in America,” moderated by state Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead).
“Racism has been in this country for hundreds of years, but the past few years it seems like everything has come to a head,” said Barbara Sidman, a member of the congregation who helped organize the series. “Every time we turned on the TV or read the paper, it seemed like there was some horrible thing happening to people of color in this country. How long can you look the other way?”
Barbara and Alan Sidman, along with other members of the congregation, formed a group called Tzedek LaKol (Hebrew for “Justice for All”) this past fall to help educate the community about race and equity issues. The speaker series is the first event organized by the group.
“We wanted him to give us a national perspective on where we are with race,” Alan Sidman said of Patrick. “The speaker series is not the end of what we want to do. It’s just the beginning, really, where we stop talking and start doing something.”
In addition to Patrick, the series will include Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum of Brookline for a talk titled “What Does Judaism Teach Us About Racial Justice?” at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 18. Lynn pastor, the Rev. Dr. Andre Bennett, will give a talk at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 27 titled “Racial Justice: Local Perspectives, Local Impact.”
The series will wrap up at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 3 with a meeting on “Moving from Conversation to Action at Congregation Shirat Hayam” for participants to discuss what they have learned from the other events.
All of the events are free and open to everyone, and will be held virtually. To register for one or more of the talks, visit shirathayam.org.
“We’re not going to solve any problems with our speaker series, but we have to put one foot in front of the other,” Barbara Sidman said.
