The disenfranchised should have a seat at the table
Pastor John R. Taylor had a message for media members who crashed a private meeting at his Friendship Baptist Church.
Taylor told press agents that the assembly registered as a by-invitation-only conference for politicians, police and other special guests.
One step into the secondfloor forum, cultivated after a mass shooting at Trenton’s Art All Night festival early Sunday morning, an assault that wounded 22 people and included a police killing of one alleged guntoter, showed an exclusive guest list.
Just the money spent on all the suits in the room could exceed the gross national product of a third world country or any neighborhood in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard area neighborhood.
My seat had warmed for one minute before Taylor delivered his unwelcoming insight.
Taylor’s dismissal exiled no other media. Snapped one photo then departed another hand-wringing, heartpounding, Bible-thumping session that made more promises about action.
Taylor should have implored his out of town guests to join hands and sing one rousing chorus of “We Shall Overcome.”
Taylor’s admonishment of the press collected chuckles as his version of trumpeted angst toward the media sounded much like verbal complaints offered by President Donald Trump.
This group offered another round of faux promises delivered as a stopgap, hoping to turn the tide of justified criticism aimed at leaders who deliver no solutions.
A personal appearance allowed double-minded intentions as columnist and city resident — a Trenton investor, unlike the men and women squeezed into Friendship Baptist.
Unlike suited gentleman and many others who own distant perspectives of Trenton, my life exists here.
Most of the alleged players know me while those people holding no invitations to private conversations understand my desire for programs and discussions that draw them into this circle.
Real change will arrive in Trenton when the disenfranchised have a seat at the table where decisions, plans and projects find origination.
With lives at stake, futures in the balance, invite us in or we will kick down the door.