To better understand others, walk a mile in their shoes.
The second of four community town hall-style events aims to explore the Trump Administration’s national policy shifts away from ensuring everyone gets a fair shake.
The community discussion will be held April 16 at 6 p.m. at the Middletown Township Municipal Building in Langhorne.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and Critical Race Theory discussions have been banished by the President Donald Trump via executive order since taking office on January 20.
“The goal is to become more informed and to jump into these conversations,” said Adrienne King, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Bucks County Chapter.
Persistent misinformation surrounding DEI and CRT programs hurts everyone, she explained.
“These are not things to divide or ‘one up’ others, but rather to create opportunities and get to the point where we can say ‘there’s an equal playing field,’” King said.
Hosted by the Bucks County NAACP, event moderators include The Hon. Clyde W. Waite and Kevin LaVigne Antoine.
Judge Waite is the first and only African-American judge currently serving on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. Antoine is a political analyst, New Jersey resident and longtime educator. He recently retired as associate vice president for student and veteran affairs and chief diversity officer from Bucks County Community College in Newtown.
“We want to get to the heart of the divide, and why people feel the way they do, and to change hearts and minds around this,” King said.
She said many at the Doylestown event shared their perspectives – from lived experiences to those in educational or higher education settings.
“What needs to happen to change the discourse is first to explain the history of what brings us to where we are today,” Waite said. “The term [DEI] has been politicized to the point of being unrecognizable. I don’t think it’s an innocent misrepresentation.”
Waite said DEI reflects “aspirational and ethical” treatment and perspectives. Legal rulings and civil rights legislations are in place to prohibit the use of race, sex, disability and any other “immutable distinctions” as illegal practices for employment hiring, firing and other financial or social advantages.
“Those legal requirements apply as much to white people [as they do] to those who are marginalized,” Waite said.
He said considering candidates for jobs, academic positions and placements should include the candidate’s record and potential for “industry, innovative work as a team member, talents and all those things.”
“It’s been an eye opener for me to speak at these town halls and interact with people at them. You learn from people with differing perspectives and what you end up with is a community,” Waite said.
King said she is optimistic, in part because the February event in Doylestown was a “packed” house.
“My biggest hope is to take some of the divisiveness away that has been happening over the past few years [along with a] sense of understanding about why these things are here, what they are for and they are not to divide but to bring us all together,” she said.
Where: Middletown Township Municipal Building, 3 Municipal Way, Langhorne
When: Wednesday, April 16 at 6 p.m.
What: Part II Town Hall Discussion on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Critical Race Theory
Who: Bucks County NAACP in partnership with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Omega Zeta Omega Chapter
