Possible Welcoming Community Resolution Warmly Received In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ— While no formal moves have been made, members of the Borough of Chatham Council had positive reactions to a possible welcoming community resolution in the borough.

"There is no question in my mind that this is a welcoming community," Chatham Borough Mayor Bruce Harris said at Monday night's town council meeting.

The topic came up after Colleen Markley, a borough resident, presented the council with a petition calling for the resolution. So far, 153 people have signed the petition, a direct response to two moms discussing the inclusion of Islam in the school curriculum on Fox News.

"...[T]he recent national and international stories about Chatham, our school curriculum, our teachers and administrators, have led to a misimpression that we are a close-minded community, unwilling to accept multiple viewpoints and cultures. Depending on which website or social media platform you read, Chatham is either a town of liberal politically-correct elitists, or Islamophobic bigots. We attest that we are neither of these," Markley wrote in the petition, which she read out loud at the meeting. She asked for a formal resolution to declare Chatham Borough a welcoming community.

Council Member Leonard Resto volunteered to write a resolution, sharing his own experiences with intolerance.

"I was incessantly bullied in high school [...] and those words mattered. That was 47 years ago, and I remember those words as if it was yesterday, and so every time I get an invitation to a high school reunion, it goes right in the trash," he said, sharing some of the slurs and stressing the importance of word choices.

"I can tell you, in my case, after four years of being bullied and taunted, at the age of seventeen, I tried to commit suicide," Resto said. (You can watch his full remarks below, which contain strong language.)

Mayor Harris's Remarks:

Council Member James Lonergan's Remarks:

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