West Orange Man To United Nations: Sports Can Bridge Culture Gaps

WEST ORANGE, NJ — “Sports is one thing where people can come together, even where there is violent conflict.” Those were the words of Akil Khalfani, a longtime West Orange resident and professor at Essex County College (ECC), after he got a chance to address the United Nations (UN) during its recent “International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.”

Watch a video of the West Orange resident speaking at the UN here.

Khalfani, who serves as the vice president of the West Orange African Heritage Organization and a commissioner for the West Orange Human Relations Commission, was the keynote speaker at last month’s UN event, which focused on the unifying power of sports.

Accompanying Khalfani – the director of ECC’s Africana Institute – were students Tiffany Felton and Alhaji Jabbie, along with several local middle school students, the college reported.

To his point on the power of sports to overcome cultural differences, Khalfani offered the high-profile example from the recent Winter Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There, during both opening and closing ceremonies, South and North Korean athletes marched under a unified flag, Khalfani pointed out.

The two nations also fielded a unified women’s ice hockey team, the sociology professor said.

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Photo: Essex County College

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