Roland A. Foulkes 10/15/2009 9:39:00 PM
Jawhar Sadallah Badran
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Badran, Jawhar S., 50, of South Palm Beach, died Monday. December 29, 2008
Hudson Memorial Chapel, Delray Beach.
�And as for those who are slain in God�s cause, Never will He let their deeds go to waste: He will guide them [in the hereafter as well], And will set their hearts at rest, and will admit them to the paradise which He has promised them.� The Quran, Surah 47: 4-6
In light of this Quranic scripture, Allah, God, put to rest Jawhar �Joe� Sadallah Badran�s heart. That heart began its 50 year journey in Florida (Tallahassee) and 2, 144, 163,600 billion beats and 41,878,195 million gallons of blood later ended that journey where it began, in Florida
(just a few miles south, in Delray Beach). Jawhar was a Floridian, a native-born Floridian. Jawhar was a southerner; a real Southern Gentleman. Jawhar was an American; a native-born American. Jawhar was a Palestinian Muslim; a native-born Palestinian Muslim in exile. Jawhar was, above all, a Human Being; a child of the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omnificent God: Nothing more; Nothing less!
Mr. Jawhar �Joe� Sadallah Badran died in Delray Beach, Florida on Monday afternoon, December 29, 2008 and was buried according to Islamic practice in the Islamic Cemetery of Gastonia, North Carolina on Thursday, January 1, 2009, New Years Day. According to this practice, Joe�s body was wrapped only in white linens, buried touching the earth, without of a coffin, placed on his right side facing Mecca, and draped with his self-made Palestinian flag.
(January 1st was also the birthday of his eldest sister, Zahira Badran.) The official cause of death: Cardiac Arrest / Heart Attack. A Palestinian Arab American, fluent in Arabic and eloquent in English, Mr. Badran died both in the state (Florida) and country (United States of America) in which he was born, lived, loved, worshipped, and worked (as a Commodities Trader - Stocks).
Mr. Badran was the second of five children, and only boy, born to Mr. Sadallah Badran and Mrs. Khaldiya Kayed Badran, in Tallahassee, Florida, on September 11, 1958. He was the proud uncle of six nieces and nephews: Samar Dahir, Leena Barghouthi, Muhannad Barghouthi, Jenine Barghouthi, Feras Shammout and Nader Shammout. Their mothers, Joe�s sisters, are: Zahira Sadallah Badran, Linda Sadallah Badran, Reema Sadallah Badran and Khulood Sadallah Badran. Their fathers, Joe�s brothers-in-law, are: Nael Dahir, Eyad Barghouthi, and Bilal Shammout. In addition to these immediate family members, Joe leaves to mourn a huge extended family
throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Dubai, Palestine (Family ancestral village of Beiteen, known in English as Bethel), and other areas of the Middle East. And, he leaves to mourn a host of colleagues and friends throughout Florida.
Jawhar began his journey with the Diversity Committee (School Board of Broward County) on June 22, 2003, at Nova Southeastern University�s East Campus, following a presentation by Diversity Committee & Multi-Ethnic Advisory Board Member Roland A. Foulkes (Panelist) during
a symposium and panel discussion of Muslims and Non-Muslims entitled, �Islam: Contribution or Threat to American Society?� The Tri-County Women�s Islamic Committee in collaboration with JAM (Jews, Muslims, Christians and All) and the Muslim Student Organization sponsored this
event.
He assisted Foulkes in gathering over 200 signatures for a petition against a motion brought before the Diversity Committee by Joseph Kaufman (then-Citizens Against Hate, now Americans Against Hate and author of the April 17, 2003 frontpagemagazine.com article,Bringing Islamic Extremists into Our Schools�) through two Diversity Committee members
(Ronald Gunzbuger and Steve Kane). That motion (tabled at the May 1, 2003 and June 5, 2003 meetings and withdrawn by Gunzburger at the July 10, 2003 meeting was: �That the Broward schools prohibit any employees, officers, or spokespersons, of the Council on American Islamic
Relations (CAIR) from participating in the production of programs, videos, and other materials (of any nature) intended to be shown to students and teachers.� Through the efforts of Jawhar and other members of the Muslim community, nearly 100 Muslim men, women, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles attended that July 10, 2003 meeting at which the motion
was withdrawn.
From that pivotal moment, until 2004, Jawhar committed to attending nearly 100% of the Diversity Committee monthly meetings so as to fully understand the purpose, structure and function of the committee, prior to seeking a formal appointment by school board member Dr.Robert Parks. Both Jawhar and the larger Muslim community, especially Broward�s Palestinian Americans appreciated that politically courageous appointment by Dr. Parks who, at that time, and until November 2008, was the FIRST and ONLY member of the nine person board to have reached out to, and included this obviously and overtly and deliberately excluded segment of Broward County.
In addition to his volunteer work on the Diversity Committee (School Board of Broward County), Joe, as he was known by members of this committee, was Co-Chair of the Jewish � Arab Dialogue Association (JADA) and active in the organization, Jews, Muslims, Christians and All (JAM). On the Diversity Committee, he served this district and its students for over four years. Between 2004 and his last meeting as a Diversity Committee member on Thursday, November 6, 2008, he contributed to the work of several sub-committees. These included: (1) Ad Hoc CCC Conditions / Indicators Sub-Committee (2004-2005); (2) Ad Hoc Name Change Sub-Committee (2006); (3) Nominations Sub-Committee (2007); (4) Hiring Practices Sub-Committee (Co-Chair,
2007-2008); and, (5) Ad Hoc CCC Report Response Sub-Committee (Chair, 2008). As Chair of this last sub-committee --- between September and November 2008 --- Joe played a major role in shaping that report. This is the Diversity Committee�s FIRST EVER formal written response to a Superintendent�s CCC Lawsuit Settlement Agreement Update Report (2007-2008) and Joe helped pioneer this pioneering initiative. Though he was no longer a member of this committee during its December 4, 2008 meeting, Jawhar took time from his active schedule to attend that meeting and
to contribute to its work. This is as he had done nearly 2 years prior to his formal committee appointment by School Board Member Dr. Robert Parks in 2004.
In each of these capacities, Jawhar did his homework, asked critical, and relevant questions, challenged groupthink, and made recommendations that enhanced and advanced
equity and parity and self-representation for EVERY student, parent, citizen, and taxpayer.
Eulogies, like this one, are typically reserved for those who have died, as Jawhar has done; who have been placed in the grave, as Jawhar has been; and who are being funeralized, as Jawhar was on January 1. But, since March 2008, and until December 2008, when the verbal,
printed, internet-based, broadcast news-based hate-filled onslaught against Jawhar began, and continued, by Joe Kaufman (Americans Against Hate/AHA) and Andrew Rosenkranz & David Barkey (Anti-Defamation League/ADL), several members of the Diversity Committee and many in the larger community were engaged, unknowingly, in a slow-motion eulogy of Jawhar.
Rarely, does one get to hear about the good that one has done, what others see that one is doing, both in one�s own life, and in theirs, while one is able to hear those accurate, truthful, life affirming, uplifting, edifying words. While one is alive: While one is living! Such truths of our lives are too often shared, regrettably, when one can no longer hear them, let alone appreciate them.
That was, however, not the case with Jawhar Badran.
To those who joined Diversity Committee Chair Roland A. Foulkes in speaking truth publicly on his behalf during consecutive meetings of the School Board of Broward County
between September and December 2008 (e.g., Mrs. Ernestine Price and Mrs. Marguerite Luster of the Diversity Committee and the community�s Mr. Nezzar Hamze, Mr. Altaf Ali, Mr. Sofian Abdellaz Zakkout, and Mr. Jack Lieberman), know that Jawhar wholeheartedly appreciated the time, thought and truth spoken to 400,000 households through the Broward Education and Communications Network/BECON on his behalf. To those who wrote letters to the editor defending and upholding Jawhar�s character and person (e.g., Mr. Randy Fleischer of the Broward Human Rights Board and Diversity Committee in his New Times piece), know that Jawhar was touched and moved deeply by your words especially since they were from a Jewish perspective. To those on the Diversity Committee who proposed unanimously passed motions to the School Board of Broward County (e.g., Mr. Julian Gazzano and Mrs. Barbara Williamson, Mr. Randy Fleischer and Mr. Michael Rajner) know that Jawhar was humbled at those votes on motions that acknowledged his positive contributions to the Diversity Committee and ALL of
Broward County�s students, teachers and parents. To those who went on record with truthful, accurate, portrayals of him in the print media (e.g., Dr. Robert Parks in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald), Jawhar thanks you for standing up to selfish bullies, rabid Islamophobes, their threats, their hostile directives, their smear campaigns, their character assassinations, by rebuking and repelling such attacks.
To all of you, who slandered and libeled him, who tore him down, Jawhar said, when he was living, �You are forgiven, and, may Allah, God, have mercy on you and yours.�
To all of you, who supported him, who built him up, Jawhar said, when he was living, THANK YOU and may Allah, God, bless each and every one of you.�
A TRIBUTE TO JAWHAR SADALLAH BADRAN � January 2009
by Roland A. Foulkes, Chair, Diversity Committee, School Board of Broward County, RolandAFoulkes@gmail.com
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The School Board of Broward County, Florida
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
T R I B U T E
Jawhar Sadallah Badran
September 11, 1958 � December 29, 2008
Thursday, January 8, 2009
6:30 p.m.
1st Floor Board Room
School Board of Broward County
Kathleen C. Wright Administration Building
600 South East 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
P R O G R A M
I. Welcome
II. Video Clip � Presentations before the School Board of Broward County
(Jawhar Badran and Others)
III. Eulogy � Roland A. Foulkes, Immediate Past Chair, Diversity Committee,
on behalf of Diversity Committee
IV. Individual Remembrances � Diversity Committee
V. Individual Remembrances � Dr. Robert Parks (Letter, School Board, Broward County),
Mr. James Notter (Presentation, Superintendent & Staff)
VI. Individual Remembrances � Community Members
VII. Circulation of Sympathy Cards for Signatures (To be sent to family in North Carolina)
VIII. Thank You on Behalf of the Family of Jawhar �Joe� Sadallah Badran
IX. Close
NOTE:
Throughout this Tribute, and the following Diversity Committee Business Meeting, a
photograph of Jawhar �Joe� Badran will remain on all monitors and on the large screen.
