Long Island Civil Rights Group Elects Two New Board Members

SYOSSET, NY—ERASE Racism, a regional civil rights organization based on Long Island, recently announced it has elected two new members to its board of directors, the Honorable Jerald Shirley Carter and Jim Smith.

Judge Carter, a resident of Mineola, was first elected to the Nassau County District Court bench in November 1997. After receiving an appointment as an Acting Supreme Court Justice, he was re-elected in November 2007. He retired from the bench as the Senior Judge of the County Court in December 2017.

He currently serves on the Touro School of Law Board of Governors and the Holy Cross High School Board of Directors. He is a prior member of the Fisk University Board of Trustees and Chief Judge Judith Kaye's Probation Reform Task Force. He has received the Outstanding Young Men in America Award, the Norman Lent Award for judicial excellence, the NAACP Legal Leadership Award; the COBANC Fidelis Jury Award for distinguished service; and, he has been named Honorary Law Enforcement Man of the Year. Born in Harlem and raised in Queens, he is a cum laude graduate of Fisk University, where he was student body president, and he graduated sixth in his class of 126 at Howard University School of Law, winning the Jurisprudence Criminal Justice Award.

Jim Smith, a resident of Port Washington, is a former Newsday reporter and editor, who covered five Super Bowls and nine Stanley Cup Finals, and an active volunteer and champion for ERASE Racism. He is the author of Point of Attack (McGraw-Hill), a look at New York Giants' linebacker Harry Carson's 1985 season.

Smith's long list of community involvement includes service on the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock and the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock. He has also served on the Boards of the Westbury Friends School and the Mineola Athletic Association. He is currently Vice President and former President of United Veterans Beacon House, having served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1973. He is also a member of ERASE Racism's Education Equity Working Group.

A graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, Smith received an A.A. degree from Nassau Community College and a B.A. in History from Hofstra University.

"ERASE Racism is delighted to have these two outstanding Long Islanders join our distinguished Board of Directors," said Elaine Gross, President of ERASE Racism. "Jerald and Jim are deeply committed to Long Island, to civil rights, and to civic engagement. We are excited to have them bring their experience, expertise, and passions to the vital work of ERASE Racism.

ERASE Racism exposes and addresses the devastating impact of historical and ongoing structural racism, particularly in public school education and housing. It does so through research, policy advocacy, legal action, and educating and mobilizing the public – driving policy change at local, regional and statewide levels and through national coalitions.