Barnegat Church: Black Lives Matter Signs Keep Getting Trashed

BARNEGAT, NJ — Barnegat's Religious Society of Friends put out a lawn sign last month with the message "Black Lives Matter." A couple hours later, it was gone.

This has become a regular occurrence each week, according to the Quaker community. The religious group has placed a sign each Sunday since, only to find it either stolen or destroyed.

The group put a sign out a second time July 26, only for it to again disappear in a couple hours. They tried something different Aug. 2.

"On the third Sunday, we went out with another sign," said Agnes Maderich, a member of the group. "My husband wired it in with stainless steel wire. In a couple of hours, somebody kicked that sign to smithereens and it was broken and knocked down."

Members of the Barnegat Quaker Meeting are looking for answers. But they'd also like to expand a conversation about police brutality and racial injustice.

They have contacted Barnegat police, who said they would patrol the area, Maderich said. But they haven't found anyone taking or destroying the signs. Patch reached out to Barnegat police for comment and will post any updates.

Quakers have been historically active in social-justice causes, including slavery abolition and women's suffrage. The Christian denomination has been in Barnegat for more than 250 years and currently meets weekly for worship at 614 East Bay Ave.

The group meets at 10 a.m. each Sunday — services currently take place outdoors because of the coronavirus. Anyone is welcome to join the silent or "unprogrammed" services or to arrive at 11 a.m. for conversation, Maderich says.

Members emphasized that they aren't against police.

"The movement isn’t anti-police. It’s anti-police brutality," said member Barbara Reynolds.

The Black Lives Matter foundation exists as an organization, but the Barnegat Quaker Meeting says they aren't affiliated with them. They simply support the message that Black lives matter.

The movement began in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, a black teenager. Protests against police brutality and systemic racism have surged worldwide since May 29, when George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Since then, the Barnegat Quaker Meeting has been promoting discussion and educating themselves about the issues. They have studied "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo, a bestselling book.

Despite the fate of each sign, they keep trying. The fourth sign they placed Sunday lasted about a day before they found it broken behind their stone wall. So Maderich put another up Monday morning, which remained standing in the afternoon as members spoke with Patch.

"What we ask is that the sign be respected as our concern about what’s going on," said meeting clerk Carolyn Shafer, "and to respond and to act so we can begin a dialogue."

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