Human Rights Commission Plans Intergenerational Forum to Bridge Community Divide

By Barbara Taormina

The Human Rights Commission is moving forward with an event they hope will become a community tradition.

Commission members are working with Debra Peczka-DiGuilio, director of Revere Elder Affairs, to plan an intergenerational conversation with senior residents and senior students from Revere High School. By sharing experiences, concerns, challenges and fears, the commission believes it will generate a better understanding between different groups or generations.

Peczka-DiGuilio said the plan is to have a moderated panel discussion televised by RevereTV.

“It will show us how different, and how much the generations have in common,” Peczka-DiGuilio told the commission at their meeting last week.

And Peczka-DiGuilio said the conversation will cover more than seniors telling students about the horror of having one rotary telephone in a home.

“Seniors have such a wealth of knowledge, they have so much to give, but I think people don’t want to listen to them. And I think students feel the same way,” said Peczka-DiGuilio.

“It’s a way for them to get to know one another and close the gap,” said Commission member Sheila Johnson who is also working on the event. “Our goal is to bridge the gap and facilitate learning between generations.”

Commission member Lourenco Garcia, chairman of the Equity Advisory Board for Revere public schools, felt the project supported the commission’s goal of promoting inclusion. Garcia also felt that the project would contribute to the well-being of people watching this type of bridge-building conversation take place.

Commission Chair Chai Hossaini said she looked forward to seeing what effect the conversations might have.

“When we start bridging the gap, we will bring some level of change. We won’t see ourselves as different, we are part of the same community,” said Hossaini.

Hossanini also saw the potential for practical results from the conversations. If there’s a law or ordinance, local or state, that we want to change, building bridges through these conversations may help build coalitions behind different causes and issues and may lead to real change, she said.

The commission is also planning to use their next meeting on June 4 as an early Juneteenth celebration. The event will be held at Costa Park and include music, a spoken word performance, community speakers and an educational program. The commission is celebrating early so that a Juneteenth celebration video can be aired on Revere TV for the entire community on June 19.