Red Bank community members came together Jan. 19 at the Mount Zion House of Prayer to discuss issues of concern in the community and possible solutions.
Bernice Goldsmith, Red Bank, holds hands with other attendees at a community forum Jan. 19. Borough Council members John P. Curley, Kathleen Horgan, Sharon Lee and Arthur Murphy and Mayor Pasquale Menna as well as Police ChiefMark Fitzgerald also turned out for the community forum at the Catherine Street church.
“There is no east side or west side. We are one town. That’s themessage we’ve been trying to convey. That is themessage we are trying to instill in people,” said Menna, who had to leave the forum early to attend the blessing of the waters of the Navesink River by the Rev. Serge Lukianov of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas on Pearl Street.
Menna continued, “I think all of us coming together with a constructive dialogue, as we’re doing today, aswe’ve done in the prayer service, as we’ve done at other community meetings, helps in the process not only of reconciliation that started that evening but also helps in the process of us growing together and trying to find collective and really constructive solutions to issues of community policing, issues of community awareness in terms of crime [and], also issues of advancement of our young people, [who] are our future.”
The Rev. Randy McNeill, of Mount Zion House of Prayer, and the Rev. Terrence K. Porter, of Pilgrim Baptist Church on Shrewsbury Avenue, led the discussion, which was a follow-up to the Dec. 7 candlelight vigil at Montgomery Terrace, the Tilton Avenue housing complex where two young men were shot and critically injured in November. One of the youngmen has not been able to walk since the incident, according to McNeill.
“Part of our problem in this community [with the youth] is somewhat of a mistaken identity. If we knew who we really were, we wouldn’t waste time shooting bullets, playingwith guns, having a fight. I really believe when these two men got shot … clarity came.”
He said the young men realized whatever they were fighting about really wasn’t that important.
“We failed our young people that night when the shooting occurred. Somehow we didn’t provide the facility for [them] to get the information that [they] needed to be productive in this community,” said McNeill.
Many clergy members were in attendance at the forum, all representing their churches and congregations.
“We have issues in Red Bank. The issues did not just startwhen those two youngmen were victimized. What happened to those two youngmen only exposed [to] the greater Monmouth County and the state of New Jersey that Red Bank’s got issues, and until we come to the realization that we do have issues,we will continue to walk around with blinders on,” said Porter.
He added, “Unless we take the blinders off and look at the reality of what is happening to all of our community, then we will see this as a west side issue versus an east side issue, and the tracks that separate us geographically and economically will be that which keeps one group from not benefiting from all that Red Bank has to offer.”
Porter said some of the issues in the community include violence, graffiti and not having a safe place for young people to go.
Featured speaker Don Franco, who grew up with McNeill in Linden, shared his history of growing up without a father and the struggles he faced as a youth.
“There are so many traps out there to trip up our young people,” said Franco.
Franco is the writer of a book titled “The FAMDO Way: A Commentary and Solution to theAfrican-American Crisis,” which deals with the urban crisis and possible solutions for it, according to McNeill. (FAMDO is an acronym for “for all my desiring ownership.”)
Franco said if he were a teen growing up at this time, he would notmake it because of outward forces such as gang activity, gun violence and the negative way in which African-Americans are portrayed in the media that are weighing down the psyches of today’s youth.
Once the floor was opened for residents to speak, the discussion quickly turned to that of the need for a community center for borough youths.
“The gap between the police and the [rest of the] community is because people associate the police with their family [members] going to jail. Until we can get the community center up and police involved in more community events, we [will continue to] feel threatened,” said Celestine Stone, Leighton Avenue.
Porter said in an interviewMonday that PilgrimBaptist Church has agreed to enter into discussions to use a parcel of the church-owned land at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Earle Street as a community or family life center.
“We thought this was a wonderful time to enter into discussions with anyone who wanted to champion this processwith us, for anyone who wanted to make a community center a reality,” said Porter.
He also said he spoke to Menna about the possibility of using the land, andMenna said he would discuss the possibility with the newly formed Community Center Task Force, headed by Councilman Michael DuPont.
“That’s an issue when a community has to have violence take place in this community before it wakes up and recognizes that we need a place of safety for all of our young people,” said Porter at the forum.
Currently on the parcel, which is located next to the church, are two vacant homes, which could be utilized for community cen- ter programs in connection with using the larger space at the church, according to Porter.
Porter said he wants to work with the entire community on the initiative and is offering the space, which the church will continue to maintain ownership of, as a solution to the issue of not having an appropriate location for a community center.
“We just felt that there is a need and we wanted to depoliticize this thing bymaking and discussing with the city utilizing a portion of our land to develop,” said Porter.
Another scenario for the property is to develop a larger space, which would house performing arts programs and recreational programs for the community, said Porter.
At the Saturday forum, Councilman John Curley also reminded audience members of the proposal he and the Parks and Recreation Committee put together, which was to partner with the Boys and Girls Club ofMonmouth County using the Count BasieAchievement Center building on Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue as the location of a community center.
Porter said that he had spoken to representatives from the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County about partnering for a community center as well.
“I’m excited about the idea of a community
center; it sounds like a great idea if, for nothing else, that it’s actually bringing people
together and causing themto talk about these issues. But I also am concerned that we might oversell it as the solution to all of our problems,” said Douglas Eagles, executive director of Aslan Youth Ministries.
He said there are facilities and resources in the borough that are not being fully utilized, and those include the approximately 40 borough churches, Community YMCA, Salvation Army and Aslan Youth Ministries.
“[There are underutilized organizations] that are specifically targeting working with kids and trying to provide them with mentors, with tutors, with opportunities to challenge them beyond the negative environments that they find themselves in.”
Eagles suggested at the next meeting, which will take place May 17, that a resource information fair should be planned. He said it would function like a job fair and would include getting all of the borough organizations in one location and have parents come out and see what community resources are already at their disposal.
Other initiatives that McNeill and Porter are planning include a multiracial and multicultural choir, a teenage movie night and a block party.