Leaders should sound alarm for litany of emergencies
Trenton at-large Councilman Jerell Blakeley organized an emergency meeting on hate and anti-Semitism last week as the situation offered opportunity during this wonderful controversy that connects with anti-Semitism, bigotry, discrimination, ignorant-speech, racism, etc.
Council President Kathy McBride use of a negative Jewish offering and a litany of other missteps that followed allowed for discussion, finger pointing, silence and plotting for future political gains.
Earlier in the day, Blakeley had refused to answer whether he employs the N-word regularly. The N-word represents hate speech no matter how many people suggest otherwise. Sure, people can hate themselves, their own race, their own religion and even history.
With Blakeley out in front of this ignorance issue and being honored as the hallmark of honesty, paraded as a political paragon of propriety, let’s be perfectly clear — if his vocabulary shows regular N-word use — gotta find some other champion.
The person leading the charge for fairness, equity, non-bias behavior and other pro-humanity efforts should not indulge the nastiness of N-wordization — not even if he replaces “er” with “a”.
Temperature spiked to 101.5 degrees as each interview with Jewish people delivered their promise not to engage in commentary that derided their religion and culture.
(For the record, African-Americans who use Nword should employ a similar strategy. Pride matters.)
An emergency meeting? Blakeley should show such political dexterity and action about Trenton violence, blight, apathy and a litany of other issues that plague this capital city. Eight people shot and one killed in three days sounds like a need for urgency and emergency.
Generational poverty has surfaced as an acceptable life condition as many Trenton residents remain mired in next-to-nothingness on streets marked Walnut, Stuyvesant, Bellevue and the infamous Martin Luther King Boulevard. No urgency exists for undocumented residents who continue to face assaults and robberies but do not report these crimes based on fears of deportation.
No urgency existed when a 2-year-old girl suffered sexual assault, scalding and finally suffocation. No emergency exists for our homeless citizens or the fact that many of our students in that brand new $155 million high school lack reading skills necessary for successful higher learning.
Someone should start an emergency reading initiative, hold an emergency meeting for domestic violence or homicide; an emergency meeting about the garbage, weeds, plus landlords who get away with murder.
These opinions hardly minimize the seriousness of anti-Semitism and other issues of bias but the elimination of social negatives requires time and a painstaking, fearless attitude to fight bigotry wherever those seeds land daily.
Fallout of Donald Trump earning the presidency caused civil wars as families and friendships disintegrated. Ties rarely sever with bigoted spouses, biased friends or intolerance.
Soap operas never reach crescendo dramatic climax for a wife’s confession — I’m leaving William. He hates Jews, African Americans and made a donation to the anti-LGBTQ movement.
Adversity demands that we suffer through events without a rush to repair. Sure, it’s uncomfortable but almost necessary for the production of real progress. Shouting down racism rarely produces meaningful and lasting results.
Consider these thumbnail reports regarding anti-Semitism.
Mar 15, 2019 — Police investigated two instances of anti-Semitic graffiti that were found recently in bathrooms at High Point Regional High School, including one reportedly found carved into a toilet paper dispenser.
Apr 18, 2019 — Another symbol of hate - the sixth in five months - was found in the public schools in Summit, NJ, officials said. The swastika was located in a sixth-floor girls bathroom at the district’s middle school, and immediately removed.
June 12, 2019 — A swastika was found on the ground near a tree in front of a Teaneck home.
Jul 22, 2019 — A Monmouth County park was defaced with several swastikas over the weekend, days after an anti-Semitic flier was found at a municipal building in a Somerset County community.
July, 2019 — Two teens and another youth have been charged with placing Nazi-style graffiti in three different locations in Bayonne, the city’s Office of Emergency Management announced.
August 2019 — Two New Jersey teens have been accused of going on a booze-fueled vandalism spree in which they spraypainted swastikas around an apartment complex in Mount Olive, according to reports.
We act as if anti-Semitism made a secret move around our self-righteous flank.
A notice of the obvious underscores youth involved in these anti-Semitic behaviors. Left unchecked and propped by ignorance, they advance armed with angst into adulthood.
An interesting aspect of the Trenton issues involved communication with Charles Kaufman, president of B’nai B’rith International in Austin, TX. His opinions published Thursday in BackTalk. We had a wonderful conversation Wednesday
evening and followed up with exchanged emails on Thursday.
Adults can have an immediate impact on bigotry with discussions inside our homes — talking to children, teens and young adults before they consider swastikas, nooses and harsh words. Our message must show consistency and reflect unity.
Individuals should have emergency meetings with their own person, stand in front of a mirror for a face-to-face assessment of our own issues.
Kaufman noted that he lives with hope for his children and grandchildren. Same here.
Hope remains a valuable human commodity that offers cultivation of solutions and positive conversations.