Jelani Alladin reflected in a new way on how his experience as an ABC House of New Canaan scholar could benefit others in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25 killing.
The 27-year-old, a 2010 New Canaan High School graduate who works as a Broadway, TV and film actor—he starred in Disney’s “Frozen” and will be in the upcoming “The Walking Dead: The World Beyond”—said he found people around him wanting “to increase their awareness of the issues, increase their knowledge of history.”
“I have started a long journey communicating with very different types of people,” Alladin told NewCanaanite.com. “For me, the Broadway community is having big reckoning with race, as are other institutions, and I saw that New Canaan began to have that.”
Alladin last month joined fellow NCHS alumni in calling for the Board of Education to hire more people of color, further expand curriculum to address systemic racism and inequity, and hold twice-yearly events to educate students and faculty on racial justice. (The Board is debating now whether to adopt new district-wide goals on equity, diversity and inclusion.)
“Many of us are searching for answers of how to be anti-racist, how to be an ally, how to dismantle systemic racism and how to check their own privilege,” Alladin said. “And I want people to be able to answer that beyond reading a book and beyond watching a movie.”
Together with fellow ABC scholars Daryl Cummings and Devaun Bovell, Alladin starting Thursday will host a free multi-part Webinar designed to improve inclusivity by unpacking the experience of the students in New Canaan. “A Chance To Unpack” (sign up here) is to be held 7 to 9 p.m. Friday (the session is titled “What is ABC?”), and 12 to 2 p.m. Saturday (“A Look Into NCHS”) and Sunday (“Allies and Friends”).
“We are trying to develop a safe yet brave space,” Alladin said. “These are taboo conversations on race, privilege, ally-ship and charity as they relate to the ABC program,” Alladin said.
“For me, personally, the answers to these questions begin with: How can I be a better human?” he added. “At end of the day, how can I see another person who is of a different race or has cultural background different from my own, and accept them for tiger individuality while holding them as part of my community? A lot of people say, ‘I don’t see race’—that is not conducive to a healthy environment, either. There is a balance to anything and how fantastic is it that there is in the community of New Canaan this one-of-a-kind niche program that has been trying to do the work we are so hot about, for 40-plus years now? And I firmly believe that ABC of New Canaan is a vital part of the community. And I want to see more awareness and an increase in serviceable actions to support the program.”
The interactive Webinar series will feature ABC alumni as well as ABC board members and two NCHS teachers, among others, he said.
Asked for some insight on his own ABC House of New Canaan experience, Alladin said, “It’s a balance between trying to operate as a normal teenager—because at the end of the day, they’re just teenage boys if you strip race and culture away—but also trying to navigate a space where, walking down the halls, you do not see yourself reflected at all.”
“And trying to assimilate in some ways with other people who have been friends for years on end, attending same schools, playing sports, and trying to find your way into tight circles that have already been well established. And there also, due to some gaps in the U.S. education system, there is the hurdle of joining such a rigorous academic program and rising to its challenges. Each [ABC] scholar is there because they’re talented enough to do that, but there is no transition, it’s just moment-to-moment.”
Raising awareness of the program and talking to New Canaan people about his own experience could help future ABC scholars, Alladin said.
“I want more people in the community to be like, ‘Hey, I will actually lend a hand for this program because it is here in my town, something right in my backyard that I can help change,’ ” he said. “Whether that be through donations, through helping boys rake leaves or to be an ally—‘Hey, I want to give rides to these guys’ or ‘I want to create internships wherever I work to make sure that if this boy is interested there’s a place to go.’ ”
Alladin said he holds himself accountable for helping raise the visibility of ABC House of New Canaan and is seeking to do more than in the past.
“To be honest, I have failed as an ally,” he said. “I have failed. I graduated from New Canaan High School and I did not look back to the New Canaan community until it was calling out to me. And I was like, ‘Oh my god, I forgot about those young men.’ And nobody else knows what it is like unless you have done it.”