IDC hosted Paul Fishman, U.S Attorney for NJ for a luncheon on January 25th to talk about "Balancing Civil Liberties and National Security". He started his speech with compliments to IDC. He said he learned a lot about the IDC when he was invited to the Iftar dinner during the summer. He thanked the IDC for the wonderful work that they had been doing to encourage dialog, promote understanding among many diverse groups in our state. The IDC with all of its programs is making a difference in NJ on the way that people listen to each other. He greatly appreciates the IDC.

In his speech he talked about the 8.7 million people living in NJ. Twenty percent of that number is foreign born.  “We are the most densely populated state; there is a huge amount of diversity. All of that means, this is an exciting, interesting, stimulating, rich and wonderful place to live”.  With all the different cultures living in NJ it also brings diversity conflict, chance of misunderstanding is present, and the potential for an ugly encounter is big.