By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A community conversation on Wednesday at John Witherspoon Middle School will be a night of hearing perspectives, one of a black man, one of a white police officer, on the shooting of black men and police officers around the country.
Two clergymen, Jewish Center Rabbi Adam Feldman and Stone Hill Church pastor the Rev. Matthew Ristuccia developed the idea for the July 27 event, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium. The evening will be broken into two parts.
Tone Bellamy, a black member of the church, will share his feelings about the shootings of black men, while Princeton Police Officer Billy Kieffer will touch on the impacts the murder of police officers in Dallas, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have had.
Afterward, there will be four breakout discussion groups, led by a different clergyman, said the Rev. Ristuccia in a phone interview.
For his part, police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter said Wednesday that he had made an open invitation for members of the department to attend. He said he sees the event as an exercise in “empathy,” a chance for people — no matter where they stand — to get an understanding of the other side.
Next week’s event grew out of something similar that happened at the Rev. Ristuccia’s church after service on Sunday, when he had two church members — Mr. Bellamy and a white police officer — discuss how the events nationally had impacted them.
The Rev. Ristuccia said Rabbi Feldman had caught wind of what had had happened and suggested they take the idea public. Both men also are chaplains in the police department.
