aim to focus
attention
on minority needs
Jobs, housing target
of civil rights march
Lakewood activists
aim to focus
attention
on minority needs
BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
LAKEWOOD — Jobs and affordable housing are sorely needed in town, community activists say, and they intend to underscore that point Saturday with a protest march and rally.
"The theme is United We Stand," said James Waters, president of the Lakewood branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). "(Our) motto is fight programs, not people."
Waters, who is spearheading the event, has spoken out on behalf of blacks, Hispanics and others who are unable to afford the escalating cost of Lakewood’s limited housing market.
He has been particularly vocal about the expansion of Orthodox Jewish developers into what had been primarily black and Hispanic communities, such as the Plaza I and II apartments, in an effort to accommodate newcomers’ housing needs. Unfortunately, he said, it comes at the expense of minority residents.
"I thought it was important to say that, because there is a (tendency) to misrepresent our motives with that argument about bashing the Orthodox community, and that’s not the issue," Waters said. "Red lining, where one community is shut out of housing that is given to another community, and denial of equal access to capital and credit are the modern forms of racism."
The march will underscore those issues, Waters said.
Those who wish to participate in the march will congregate at the Lakewood Community Center parking lot between 9 and 10 a.m. Marchers will then move up Fourth Street toward the Strand Theater before turning left onto Clifton Avenue. They will walk to Cedar Bridge Avenue (Route 528) to Martin Luther King Drive, the site of the Plaza I and II apartments. The group will then turn left onto John Street, where a rally will be held in the nearby field.
"We’re trying to get bleachers for those who are elderly or who have physical disabilities, as well as EMS units to follow the march," Waters said. "We don’t need to speed walk, just to walk at what appears to be a comfortable pace."
The rally will conclude about noon. The event will be held rain or shine.
Waters had announced his intention to hold the march during several recent Township Committee meetings.
Although he had said that New York civil rights activist and Democratic presidential nominee Al Sharpton would participate in the march, he said last week that Sharpton will not be able to attend. Instead, Waters said, Sharpton might be invited to speak to Lakewood’s minority community at a later date.
"(The) Rev. (Jesse) Jackson and Al Sharpton will be very instrumental in getting large numbers of people registered (to vote next year)," Waters said.
Waters views the march and rally as necessary instruments for social change here, and he remained hopeful they would accomplish their purpose.
"The world doesn’t get better unless we get rid of some of the wrong things, and it doesn’t get better if we do nothing," he said. "I don’t think the school board would have adopted the (NAACP) Call for Action program had I not brought pressure to bear. People that challenge the system bring about change. I think you need to bring attention to issues."
For further information, contact the Lakewood NAACP at (732) 364-3622; the Puerto Rican Action Board at (732) 886-9395; the Puerto Rican Congress at (732) 905-7217; Greater Love Outreach at (732) 773-5954; STEPS (Solutions To Ending Poverty Soon) at (732) 367-1640; A Little Help for the People of Ocean County at (732) 849-5050; Unity Development Foundation at (732) 901-6005; Mi Casa at (732) 886-9395; LEAD at (732) 364-4547; and area churches and senior communities.