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Diversity Activist
Local student earns first award from
law enforcement/community coalition.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
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Wednesday, December 9th
at 8pm on Channel 56
Detroit Public Television and award-winning filmmakers
Sue Marx and Allyson Rockwell take you on a
remarkable stroll down memory lane.
With a blend of interviews and archival photographs,
this documentary showcases the history of
Detroit's Jewish community
The Old Days • Growing Up in Detroit
The Schools • Discrimination
Politics and Civil Rights • Tradition
Tzedakah — Giving Back
Leadership and the Future
The premiere broadcast will feature live, in-studio interviews with Jewish historians
and community leaders, with your opportunity to support DPTV
and receive a copy of the film.
20
December 3 • 2009
B
arrie Schwartz is a world
traveler, but she admits that
one place she doesn't get to
very often is Detroit. That helped make
it more special when she received the
Excellence in Youth Leadership Award
at the first awards banquet of ALPACT
(Advocates and Leaders for Police and
Community Trust) on Nov. 19 at the
Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.
Schwartz, 20, of West Bloomfield is
a junior at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor pursuing a major in
English and a minor in peace and
social justice. She was honored for
her leadership in promoting civil
and human rights, and promoting
understanding and interaction among
diverse cultures, religions and peoples.
In her acceptance speech to the
more than 500 people gathered, she
spoke of the importance of dialogue in
promoting a just society and world.
"To break the cycle of believing there
is an 'other' in society, you have to first
personally understand and interact
with people that come from different
experiences:' she said. "By breaking the
cycle of conceived perceptions of peo-
ple foreign to ourselves, we can move
closer towards equality:'
Schwartz was nominated by
Betsy Kellman, director of the Anti-
Defamation League/Michigan Region,
who introduced her at the dinner. Also
honored were the Rev. Dr. Wendell
Anthony, longtime president of the
Detroit Branch of the NAACP, and Paul
Sorce, an 18-year FBI veteran who died
earlier this year.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,
the first African-American to hold our
nation's top law enforcement position,
was the keynote speaker.
ALPACT is a community-based
coalition launched in 1996 to facili-
tate dialogue and honest discussion
between community and law enforce-
ment agencies in Southeast Michigan.
Comprised of more than 100 leaders
from federal, state and law enforce-
ment agencies as well as civil rights,
advocacy and community organiza-
tions, it meets monthly to collaborate
on issues affecting police-community
relations, public safety, policy and
41/1 4■ 111
Barrie Schwartz of West Bloomfield
speaking at the ALPACT dinner
practice.
ALPACT is co-chaired by Andrew
Arena, FBI special agent in charge, and
Nabih Ayad, chairman of the Michigan
Advisory Board of the American
Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC). ADI:s Kellman is the sole mem-
ber representing a Jewish organization.
Schwartz is the daughter of
Robert and Karen Schwartz of West
Bloomfield, and the older sister of
Josh and Mitchell. She is a graduate
of Frankel Jewish Academy in West
Bloomfield and a member of Adat
Shalom Synagogue, Farmington Hills.
She teaches Hebrew at Temple Beth
Emeth in Ann Arbor, recruits students
for professional internships abroad
through the global student organi-
zation AIESEC and is an editorial
assistant with the U-M Public Affairs
Department.
In 2005, Schwartz was a participant
in the Grosfeld Family ADL National
Youth Leadership Mission to the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, D.C. She was an intern for
the Michigan ADL in 2006-07.
In 2008, Schwartz took part in the
Aish Hatorah's Hasbara Fellowship
program in Israel. She has been to
Nepal, Peru, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey,
Greece and Israel. In January, she will
head for five months to Thailand to
study development and globalization.
Not surprising, her father Robert
was beaming at the dinner: "This
award is very well deserved. She's done
some wonderful things, and she has
a very big heart, which she puts into
everything she does." Cl