By Kevin Coughlin
What does Morristown’s Black Lives Matter movement want?
It resolved to answer that question after a public forum Wednesday at which blacks, Latinos and whites engaged in a frank exchange with Police Chief Pete Demnitz, who repeated an invitation to clergy and civic leaders to ride with his patrols on late-night dispatches to poor neighborhoods, to put minority youths more at ease.
The 90-minute session at Calvary Baptist Church was the follow-up to a Black Lives Matter march downtown earlier this month to protest police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
A variety of police and social issues were raised at the church gathering.
While most gave good marks to Morristown police, some African Americans questioned how effective clergy rides with cops might be in improving community relations.
Councilwoman Hiliari Davis, who is black and represents the Second Ward, called for more black and Hispanic police officers.
(The NAACP and Morris County Sheriff’s Office are hosting a recruitment drive at 7 pm on Thursday, July 28, 2016, at the Morristown Neighborhood House.)
Davis and others also advocated creating a civic center as an alternative to street corners for minority kids.
“There’s a lot less for kids now than there ever was,” acknowledged Chief Demnitz. Mayor Tim Dougherty expressed support for a civic center.
Amidst calls for more civility by citizens and cops, an official with the NAACP said Black Lives Matter is about more than police relations. The movement strives for social equity, too, he said.
“Black Lives Matter means the ability to vote, the ability to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said the official.
Reporters were admitted to the forum with the condition that they not quote speakers from the public by name, to encourage candid dialogue.
So what’s next?
“You need an end game. You need to know what it is you’re trying to solve,” an African American man suggested, to applause.
BLM organizers T’Anna Kimbrough and Jerry Carter III said the next meeting would focus on hammering out specific goals.
“How can we get kids off the streets?” Carter said.
“I see people want action now,” said Kimbrough, who praised the honesty of Wednesday’s participants.
One of them, a longtime Morristown resident who is African American, said her three grandsons all live in fear of being pulled over by police.
“This has been going on in our community for years. It has to stop,” she said, adding she resents young blacks being instructed to avoid wearing hoodies and other clothes that might provoke police.
“We are a culture, just like white people,” she said.
In a perfect world, she intimated, everyone would be color-blind. “See the person. Don’t see the skin. If I cut anybody in here, what color will I see? Red. We’re all the same.”
It’s time we stop feeding and enabling behaviors that are rooted in a basic lack of core fundamental values. The race card days have now been exploited, and are running the risk of firing up negative emotion and divisive thinking. We live in a time where we have a BLACK president, the highest office capable of achieving in America. A position appointed by the American People.. The same “white america” , dominated, strictly from a numbers perspective. The days of tirading down streets, chanting like animals on megaphones, disrupting the peace and pleasantries of a town that is rebuilding, redeveloping and initiating efforts to draw commerce and bring families out locally, is UNACCEPTABLE . If you don’t like the culture here and prefer a zoo like setting where graffiti and unemployed government resourced individuals spend their days doing everything other then respecting authority, following rules, abiding by laws, working, self improving, volunteering,self evaluating, being productive– then GO to those environments, ironically where sheets hang on Windows and zero sense of self respect exist. It is an individual choice, made daily, to live like a parasite. 2nd and 3rd generation welfare is a choice. Attending public school and electing to rebel, have zero self control and no goals.. Those are CHOICES. STOP BLAMING RACE, it’s OLD and an excuse. Rather then running around bringing down everyone else, why don’t you unify yourselves as a culture of individuals living in the past, and READ, COMMIT and ALTER your lifestyle to resemble the actions of positive / productive societal members? I realize it’s not as fun for you because that’s WORK..
As for the hoodies… Tough shit, don’t wear them. I notice Obama didn’t roll into the Democratic Convention wearing hoodies and speaking in Ebonics , I say this not in a disrespectful way but in a truth effecting way… You are what you believe, what you speak, wear and do in your daily lives. So either make a decision to lead your children by example or do as you are, breed contempt in young minds, teach the youth racism and divisive emotion, and then ask yourselves how proud the historical leaders would be to see that you all brought it back to square one. INNOVATE, don’t recreate a playbook. We don’t need or want a civic center. There’s ample churches that are in financial distress, gather up all your like minded individuals, agree to donate 10 percent of your weekly incomes to the local churches, fund your programs and bring your youth together and lead by example. Get educated. Work. Make positive change and impact. Nobody wants to hear or see crowds screaming down south street. As for safety and officers, act the part and don’t look or act like trouble and you won’t find it. The effort the media affords people today to have a platform for rhetoric and agenda is disgusting. The police should not be watered down and restricted to such a degree that they no longer have instinct without having to think about regulatory censored political faction. It’s going to weaken the police and their own safety as well as those they protect in their communities. From a numbers standpoint, ask yourselves why minorities are always the majorities when it comes down to criminal and deviant behavior. Get a grip on yourselves. Its 2016. Do the work, get a mentor, commit to your individual part in the cycle of change. Stop acting racist . If you don’t see your actions and wording as racist, how will you react to ” white lives matter” and ” white entertainment awards” and ” white points on exams” … This isn’t about race– it’s about individual motivation and discipline. The furthest component of preservation within your culture should be the ” hoodie”. Again, Obama didn’t ” push up” in a hoodie and ” pop off” on the convention stage to ” light dem bitches up”. Take responsibility and stop creating public glorified tantrums that are disruptive to the town. We should not have to deal with it. Go have your meetings in your chosen venue and scream at each other. DONT RUIN SOUTH STREET AND ALL THE FAMILIES DINING SO YOU CAN STORM THE GREEN LIKE A BRIGADE. Be the change you wish to see……