How a Jazz Club Became a Hub for Racial Healing

Through Healing Sounds of Newark events, student and community participants come together for positive vibes and connection.

At Clement’s Place, a jazz club on the Rutgers-Newark campus, the Healing Sounds of Newark initiative is fostering racial healing through the arts. Through poetry, music, interpretative dance, and performance, students and community members come together to share their experiences, sparking conversations that might not happen otherwise.

The initiative provides a platform for students to express themselves, allowing their stories to become catalysts for connection. Sehrish Taqweem, a Rutgers-Newark alumna, participated in the 2022 event, performing a poetry piece about the power of community. She credits the experience with helping her learn to communicate with people from different backgrounds.

Now a special education math teacher, Taqweem describes her participation as transformative—not just because of her own performance but because she witnessed others sharing their truths as well. “That represents racial healing when so many of our stories are turned into a form of art,” she says.

Healing Sounds of Newark is part of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) campus center, which fosters an environment of healing and connection. Students of all academic disciplines are encouraged to participate, even if they are not majoring in the arts.

Dr. Timothy Eatman, inaugural Dean of the Honors Living Learning Community, has helped plan the event since its inception in 2018. Past themes have included the Newark Water Crisis, HIV awareness, and vaccine equity. Regardless of the topic, the goal remains the same: to create a space where creative vulnerability is celebrated.

The upcoming March 10 event will highlight Women’s History Month, focusing on advocacy and awareness. Sophomore students Jaila Benson and Rihobott Mamo will serve as co-hosts. Both have seen firsthand how vulnerability in artistic expression can foster deep connections among participants.

Clement’s Place, which hosts most Healing Sounds of Newark events, is deeply tied to the history of jazz and social justice. Rutgers-Newark houses the world’s largest jazz research archive and is home to the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and Modern Experience. The club was named after historian and former Rutgers-Newark professor Dr. Clement A. Price, honoring his belief in the power of thoughtful dialogue and the arts.

Eatman hopes that Healing Sounds of Newark continues to transform students by helping them align their academic and personal purposes. For Taqweem, that transformation has carried into her career. Reflecting on her experience, she expresses gratitude for being part of an event that amplified voices and experiences different from her own.

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