Mile Square Theatre Launches “Community Resilience” Programming on August 26, with Panel Discussion on Women’s Suffrage

Mile Square Theatre launches “Community Resilience” programming with a special event celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States on Wednesday, August 26 at 7pm.

“Mile Square Theatre recognizes the platform it has in the community” says MST Education Director Annie McAdams. “We want to use this platform to discuss some of these important topics. I am so grateful to our outstanding panelists that have agreed to be a part of it!”

“Community Resilience”
We are facing many problems in the world today—but we know our community is resilient, especially when we work together. This series will bring together experts, thought leaders, activists and other community members to discuss issues that are important to all of us, helping us think about the local impact and actions we can take to make a difference.

For our first Community Resilience event, Mile Square Theatre is hosting a panel discussion celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. It took 72 years of fighting to pass the 19^th Amendment guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. The passage marked the “largest expansion of democracy in the history of our country,” according to The American Bar Association.

Our panel will discuss the historical context of the struggle to attain women’s suffrage within the current context of concern about voter suppression, democracy, and social justice as exemplified by the Black Lives Matter movement. What is Hudson County doing to keep our community resilient?

Noelle Lorraine Williams—Panelist
Noelle Lorraine Williams lives and works in Newark, NJ. Her work examines the ways African Americans utilize culture to imagine liberation in the United States. Her practice as a curator, artist and writer is where history, spirituality, culture, and rebellion meet. Her work has been mentioned and critiqued in the Star-Ledger, New York Times, ArtNews, and other publications. Recently, the exhibition she curated “Radical Women: Fighting for Power and the Vote in New Jersey!” received the Giles Wright Award for significant contributions to African American history in New Jersey. She recently received her Master of Arts in American Studies with a focus on Public Humanities at Rutgers University-Newark. She is currently curating and researching “Black Power! 19th Century: Newark’s First African American Rebellion.  Her website is www.noellelorrainewilliams.com and you can follow her on Instagram at black_abolitionists_newark and radical_women_vote_nj and radical_women_nj_vote.

Ekow Yankah—Panelist
Professor Yankah holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Columbia Law School and Oxford University. His academic work focuses on questions of criminal theory and punishment and political theory and particularly, questions political obligation and its connection with justifications of punishment. His work has appeared in law review articles and peer-reviewed legal theory journals and books. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Jerusalem, a Visiting Professor of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto and a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Dickson Poon School of Law. He has also been recognized multiple times by his students for his dedication to teaching.

His interests have also led him to develop expertise in voting rights and election law and he served for a decade as the co-chair of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, the voting rights arm of the New York Democratic party, the coordinating arm of the DNC believed to be the largest voting rights group in the country. In 2020, he was appointed to New York’s Public Campaign Finance Board, charged with implementing the statewide legislation for campaign finance reform. He sits on the Board of the Innocence Project and has served on the Board of the American Constitution Society (NY Chapter). He has written for publications spanning The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Huffington Post, among others, and has been a regular commentator on television and radio including MSNBC, BBC and BBC International.

Annette Chaparro—Panelist
Annette Chaparro is a Democratic member of the New Jersey General Assembly currently serving her third term representing the 33^rd District.  Assemblywoman Chaparro is proud to be the first woman from Hoboken to represent the 33rd District which includes the Hudson County municipalities of Hoboken, Union City, Weehawken, and a portion of Jersey City.

Assemblywoman Chaparro is the Vice Chair of the Law and Public Safety Committee, Vice Chair of the Special Committee on Infrastructure and Natural Resources, a member of the Community Development and Affairs and Transportation and Independent Authorities committees.

She was born and raised in Hoboken and attended Hoboken High School. A mother of three young men and a grandmother of four, Ms. Chaparro is employed by the City of Hoboken. Ms. Chaparro is also a member of the New Jersey Legislative Latino Caucus.

Beyond focusing her community efforts on helping seniors, especially during the ongoing pandemic, and on improving the quality of life in Hudson County, Ms. Chaparro has also represented New Jersey in the Garden State’s efforts to assist in the re-building of Puerto Rico through both legislative and personal volunteer efforts.

Thaler Pekar—Moderator
Both the BBC and the Smithsonian Institution have hailed Thaler as one of the world’s leading experts on institutional narrative. For 15 years, she and her team at Thaler Pekar & Partners have advised leaders around the world on gaining confidence, insight, and influence through communication. Thaler is an award-winning video producer; has delivered keynotes on four continents; and has completed philanthropy’s largest oral history project. She is a long-time resident of Hoboken; a founding board member of MST; and serves on the Historic Preservation Commission. Thaler always crosses the street to walk on the sunny side.