The community forum, dubbed H.O.P.E. for Healing, Opportunity, Possibilities and Education, had the goals of "making connections to overcome barriers and challenges" and "closing the gap between community and police." The goals took on reality as Riley and other presenters described specific actions they are taking and answered questions from the large audience at Rose of Sharon Community Church.
In opening remarks, Mayor Adrian O. Mapp said Plainfield police do serve and protect well, but "all is not well," he said, when there have been "653 deaths at the hands of law enforcement in 2015 alone." He named several, including Sandra Bland, who died on July 13.
Mapp said inviting law enforcement "into our midst" and forming relationships will prevent incidents "so that we can be living in a Plainfield we can be proud of."
Dr. Gary Kirkwood, president of the Greater Central Jersey Clergy Association, said the group's theme is "respecting the past, embracing the future." He said when Mapp called on him, he felt the forum was immediately in line with the group's mission. Kirkwood spoke of the need to restore hope in people, saying "people whose hearts are broken tend to hurt other people." He encouraged everyone to "look deep inside ourselves and do some deep introspection."
"At the end of the day, we all need each other," he said.
Rev. David Rodriguez, pastor of Iglesia Hispana Emanuel, said his congregation wants to get involved "not just with Hispanics" and will voluntarily give up services on Sunday, Oct. 11 to go out into the community to serve. He said he has partnered with Kirkwood's Harvest Radio and has probably the only Spanish radio program.
Carlos Ponton, secretary of the Plainfield Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs, spoke of coming to the United States from Colombia and living in diverse communities before he and his husband chose Plainfield as their hometown. Embracing Mapp's "One Plainfield, One Future" slogan, he is a community activist who enjoys sharing information such as the opportunity in Plainfield for a business to get a free website for a year.
Evangelist Dianne Keel Atkins moderated the meeting and kept questions to a tight two minutes each. About 18 people asked questions or gave suggestions on how to advance the forum's goals. Richard Lear, president of the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District Association, suggested capturing some "positive moments" with the police cameras as well as the law enforcement interaction, and advocated more community block parties. Human Relations Commission President George Gore said he wanted to see greater representation of females on the police force. John Brinkley asked what re-entry programs were in place and Finance Director Ron West said the city was working with the Institute of Social Justice on an expungement program.
Mustapha Muhammad recalled how 500 men from Plainfield attended the first Million Man March and urged support of the 20th anniversary "Justice Or Else!" march on Oct. 10.
Inez Durham said, "One of the greatest things to bring about change is education" and suggested greater publicity for the school district. Other concerns were getting rid of the metal grates on stores downtown, cleaning up the city and convincing young men to pull their pants up.
In closing, Keel Atkins said she conducts forums all the time and congratulated the organizers on an exemplary event.
--Bernice
Excellent post Bernice. Mr. N.D. Muhammad.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT's what Plainfield is all about!!!!! Great post, sorry I missed it. One Plainfield, One Future.
ReplyDeleteThis was not the first meeting containing an undertone of animosity voiced by a segment of the African American community towards the Latino community, and echoing the sentiment of a former City Councilman who was quoted by the NY Times over a decade ago saying " "I endured all-white stores. Now I'm dealing with all-Hispanic stores." Clearly we need to be doing a better job so that Plainfield's heralded diversity is not the means to fragmentation. "One Plainfield, One Future" rings hollow when only controversy brings out all segments of our residents. Most City Council meetings are poorly attended by Latinos, as was the recent 1st Ward Family Fun Day. When a vacancy opened up on the school board which oversees a district with a pronounced Latino student majority, the board opted for a husband and wife tag team rather than empowering the Latino community with a fresh appointee representative of that majority. Sometimes our attempts are tokenism at best, but I know we can do a lot better on a daily basis if we put our minds to it and engage all corners of our city.
ReplyDeleteAlan, did you take into account that the majority of Hispanics in Plainfield may be undocumented and here illegally? You can’t force people to do what you want them to do. The effort of the administration to be all inclusive of Plainfield residents was evident. Let me post a disclaimer for what I’m about to say; for the record, by no measure am I a racist. I am black, I have relatives (through marriage) that are Caucasian and Hispanic. However, I cannot agree with spending of tax payer dollars on a translator for city council meetings or printing every document that goes out from city hall in Spanish. We don’t do it or even discuss it for any other non-English speaking cultures, Spanish should be no exception. This is American (although a melting pot) our first and main language is English. You cannot go to any other foreign country and expect them to conform to a language that is not their own. It just doesn’t happen. They don’t print street signs or papers in English to appease any persons that might migrate there. On a local level, neither should we.
DeleteI guess my biggest pet peeve on this subject is how some people in our city want to compare the Hispanic plight with the plight of the African Americans and our fight for civil rights; I have one thing to say about that, we were forced here in shackles, abused and denied a live worth living, we had to fight or die! The majority of Hispanics chose to come here and dare I say, mostly for monetary gain. I suspect that it wouldn’t matter how much we try to include Hispanics , the ones that are here illegally will most likely shy away in fear. Instead of certain people coming to city council meetings demanding a seat at the table, they should focus on getting the un- documents registered for citizenship. Immigration is a real concern, as it should be. Until changes are made on a national level, you can’t expect a small town like Plainfield to not have certain reactions that may be misjudged on this issue. I doubt that Plainfield’s issues is as simple as blacks against Hispanics, after all, if you know history, they are not that far removed from African American as one might think.
As far as the lady that made the comment on the stores in Plainfield not employing any blacks, don’t patronized them, but don’t fault anyone either. American is a the land of free enterprise, for anyone that wants it.
For the most part the meeting was great and positive. There was positive solutions to real problems, let’s focus on that.
Thanks, Bernice. Nice to see you out. The event was inspiried and a great contrast to the previous administration. People were there to improve Plainfield and make a bright future for us. I was glad to see the crowd grow, even if many arrived late. I hope we continue in this vein and we can build a better and brighter Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteBob Bolmer
Ward 2, District 1 City Committe Member and
Secretary of the Human Relations Commission
I agree 100% with anon, 1:18 PM. It should also be noted that Alan's remarks are divisive and seems like he is trying to start a race war between Latinos and African Americans.The meeting on the surface seemed positive and productive, but that is how this administration works. They make the public think that all is well and the city is doing wonderful, this is not the case. We are one of the most dangerous cities in the state, and definitely the county.Highest in unemployment, terrible school system,taxes going up, streets need paving,recreation Dept., puts out wonderful brochures and do nothing worth while, but if this admin. tells it all is well.We have major problems in this city,and people need to be honest and stop Stroking this mayor's huge ego.The focus should be on making things better for everybody not just a select few. Get everybody a job not just your friends.
ReplyDeleteAlan's comment was divisive ? Hector Projector.....
DeleteDisgruntled 2:28PM - you are angry and a hater. WE know who you are because you mentioned Recreation. You did not mention any other division within this beautiful growing city -Plainfield. You are the Disgruntled Recreation Hater! Stop it already! Move on with your life.It is Okay. You will be fine.
DeleteI was at the meeting and didn't hear the mayor or anyone say that all if well in Plainfield. I heard that we need to work to improve the city and make sure we don't become like other cities where innocent people are killed and riots ensue. It seems that you want to knock the administration, which has made mistakes, but they are at least trying to move the city in a positive direction. This is refreshing after eight years of a do nothing, negative administarion under Sharon.
Delete2:28 judging by your comments, you can't possible agree with me 100% or even understand my post. While I may not agree with everything that happens in the city, overall I do think the Mayor and his administration is doing a good job. As far as giving jobs to friends are concerns, you must have the Mayor mixed up with another political figure here in Plainfield. If you were not so busy posting negative remarks on this blog you may have seen there was a job posting on the city’s website for recreations, you most likely missed it by now. Too bad, so sad.
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