African-American critics of Marge will be shown the door
For the second time in three months an African-American man faced removal from a meeting after a heated conversation with North Ward Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson.
Caldwell-Wilson, one of three Caucasian city council members, received defense from City Council President Kathy McBride as a security guard escorted critic Paul Bethea out of a second-floor Chambers meeting Tuesday evening.
“I know you never understand, Marge, because that’s why people in the North Ward are around there killing each other,” Bethea, his voice raised and moving upward, said.
“You’re not walking the streets. So, I don’t care what you say Marge. I don’t care about what you say.”
McBride interrupted with a request for a “certain decorum” as Bethea continued his verbal barrage. “I’ll hear anything you gotta say. Anything you gotta say. Anything,” he replied to Caldwell-Wilson who requested a response.
“There’s a certain decorum necessary when you come before us. And I’m not going to tolerate anything less than that, Mr. Bethea,” McBride interjected. “You will be escorted out because you can’t just do what you want to do.”
“May I speak now,” CaldwellWilson said derisively. “I’m really getting tired of you calling me out and saying that none of these people up here seated at these desks do nothing. I’m tired of you saying that. I go in my ward, am in my ward. But I don’t need you to escort me in my ward. And I don’t need you to tell me that I do nothing. And, you’re being very childish and rude so you might as well just leave ..... You’re being extremely rude and I’m tired of it.”
Caldwell-Wilson made a similar accusation against Marvin Ward during a summer meeting at the East Trenton Collaborative. Ward voiced a parallel judgment about the third-term representative’s “unimpressive” community service record. Mayor Reed Gusciora attended the meeting as a police officer removed Ward.
“I did not have a hand in him being escorted out of the meeting,” Caldwell-Wilson said. “He was being rude, belligerent and constantly interrupting. The people running the meeting made the decision for him to leave.”
Ford said he used no vulgar language and caused no serious interruption. “If that’s what Marge said that she misrepresented what happened. It’s just a way to silence people who criticize her,” he explained.
McBride’s protection order of soulmate sister Caldwell-Wilson, part of The Gang of Four, including East Ward Councilman Joseph Harrison and veteran warhorse South Ward Councilman George Muschal, all part of the Caucasian power grid that shades Trenton with apartheid.
These removals of critics amount to suppression that rivals moods and modus operandi employed by Donald Trump. If you disagree with criticism then simply remove the critic, as if this motion resolves issues. The election of Reed Gusciora, as the first openly-gay mayor and first Caucasian mayor in nearly 30 years, has cultivated white pride, people who dissented black leadership now high-stepping, energized and ready for revitalization as their people oversee their concerns. Any black man who screams about the pain of death, violence and poverty in the North Ward, raises his voice toward CaldwellWilson, faces an unceremonious public dismissal. Any person who accuses Caldwell-Wilson of not fulfilling her duties on Sanford St. or Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, will be hustled out by the elbow. If politicians spend time only with their constituents then they never really understand the heartbeat of communities. Political service demands that government representatives incorporate empathy and to detach from oversensitivity. Anger builds in the City of Trenton as despair, poverty, weeds, garbage and death overshadow neighborhoods. McBride and Caldwell-Wilson allowed Muschal his opportunity for loud and obnoxious rebuttal. His disrespect collected no rebuke. Muschal directed his anger toward Darren “Freedom” Green who had spoken for City Council to renew the contract of Deputy City Clerk Cordelia “Dee” Staton. Muschal will not support that resolution. “And you can shake your head until the cows come home over there but you have no idea what’s going on here,” Muschal told Green. “Everyone who came up here to speak (on behalf of Ms. Staton) had no idea what they’re talking about. No idea. You have no idea.”