The intensified effort to roll back the gains that Black people in the United States have made in their struggle for political empowerment and racial equality will be the subject of separate forums that will be held in New Jersey.
“The Attack On Voting Rights And The War On Black People,” will be the subject of two programs that will be held this week in two cities located in different counties in the Garden State.
The first forum will be held on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 5:30pm, at Roselle Memorial Library, Program Theater Room, 104 West 4th Avenue in Roselle. Roselle is a town located in Union County.
The second will be held on Wednesday, October 28th, 6:00pm, at the Masonic Temple, 224 Broadway in Paterson. Paterson is a city located in Passaic County.
Both events are sponsored by the People’s Organization For Progress (POP) a grassroots group that fights for civil and human rights. They been endorsed by the Martin Luther King People’s Convention for Justice and Resistance Planning Committee.
“We are having these programs in order to focus public attention on the sustained attempts to reverse the gains Black people have made regarding voting rights and other major areas of life,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.
“We are doing this not only to talk about the ground we have lost but more importantly to discuss the need to take action and to fight back,” Hamm said.
Speakers scheduled for the Roselle forum will include Philip Bauknight, Attorney At Law, and POP Chairman Lawrence Hamm. Zayid Muhammad, a representative of New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing will serve as program moderator.
The featured speakers for the Paterson forum will include New Jersey State Senator Benjie Wimberly, Assemblyman Kenyatta Stewart, Elease Evans, former Assemblywoman and Chairwoman, New Jersey Black Issues Convention, and Lawrence Hamm. Retired Lt Dalton Price will moderate the program.
“Having this discussion now is particularly important because we are in the middle of the midterm elections when we will elect members of Congress. This will be one of our most consequential elections.
“Who we elect to Congress will play a major role in determining whether or not we can slow down or put a halt to this country’s long backward slide on the issue of racial equality and justice.
“This is why we must vote in the current midterm elections. We must send people to Congress who will work for us and not for those who want to drag us back to the era of Jim Crow racial apartheid or even slavery,” he said.
Hamm said that at the forum people will be urged to vote in record numbers and to vote early. Mail-in voting is already in progress. Early in-person voting started on the October 24th and will continue to November 1st.
“And of course those who do not exercise the mail-in ballot option or early voting should vote in massive numbers on Election Day, November 3rd,” he said.
The upcoming forums in Roselle and Paterson are the tenth and eleventh of the series. Others were held in Montclair, Plainfield, Newark, Maplewood, Hackensack, East Orange, Riverton, and Jersey City. The next program will be held in Newark.
The programs will have two parts. The first part will consist of a panel discussion. The panelists will include community leaders and activists. The second part will consist of audience participation.
Hamm said the country is imperiled and facing a political and possibly a constitutional crisis.
“I believe that we are witnessing in real time an attempt right by Trump and his collaborators to steal the midterm elections,” he said.
“Trump has urged his followers to cheat like hell. He and members of his administration have said they are not ruling out sending ICE agents and National guard troops to polling places.
“They discussed seizing voting machines and ballots, prosecuting and jailing election officials, invoking the Insurrection Act, declaring a national emergency during the midterm elections.
“We oppose any attempts by Trump to steal the election, invoke the Insurrection Act, declare a national emergency, declare martial law during the midterm, or interfere in the election in any way,” Hamm said.
For more information please call People’s Organization for Progress at 973 801-0001.
