'Tired Of Feeling Fear' In Morris Co., Youth Demand Change

MORRISTOWN, NJ - The first demonstration in a series of coordinated actions planned throughout Morris County to grieve for George Floyd, Maurice Gordon, Breonna Taylor, and other members of the Black community who died in police custody began June 13 with a second on Friday.

Last Saturday, local youth, Black Lives Matter Morristown and Wind of the Spirit led approximately 1,000 protesters in a march from Madison High School to Emmett Park, in front of the Florham Park Police Department Headquarters.

“We demand radical change to policing and a safe space for Black joy and healing. That's why I lead chants and dancing throughout our demonstrations. You can’t just love Black culture and appropriate it, you have to love Black people.” said Anijah Slusser of Wind of the Spirit, a faith-based organization for all immigrants and non-immigrants who are moved by the tradition of hospitality.

According to participants, the demonstration was heavily policed and included Morris County Sheriff's officers, officers from Madison and Florham Park police departments, police dogs, bomb squad, undercover officers and police armored vehicles. Those in attendance said their presence didn't make them feel safe but rather made them feel "as if they were the enemy, under surveillance in a war zone."

Bethel Church of Morristown’s Reverend Sidney Williams opened the Civil Rights Teach-In and Vigil. Local youth shared testimony of their own experiences with racism in Madison, Florham Park, and Hanover, while educators and clergy echoed the students’ demands for equity in both the local police departments and school districts, according to organizers.

Organizers pointed to the Force Report, which shows in Madison a black person is 199 percent more likely to have force used on them than a white person, in Florham Park that number jumps to 273 percent and in Hanover it swells to 4,005 percent.

Their second rally, held in Boonton, that number was 747 percent.

Racism In Kindergarten

Hanover Park High School senior Jada Alcantara asked her fellow students from Madison, Florham Park, East Hanover, and other Morris County School Districts to raise their hands if they ever had a Black teacher. In a crowd of about 1,000, less than 10 raised their hands, organizers said.

“Racism education does not begin in middle school or high school, it has to start at the kindergarten level, Alcantara said. "If I had my first experience of racism in second grade, the education needs to start there too” Alcantara."

Montclair State University educator and Florham Park resident Awo Okaikor Aryee-Price noted the differences between a savior, ally, and co-conspirator, encouraging the crowd to speak up and stand up against racism.

“It’s not enough for us to feign shock and outrage or march in the streets when we learn that black students at Hanover Park make up less that four percent of the student population but more than 35 percent of those suspended," Aryee-Price said. "We must organize, study, and take collective and principled action to change those conditions for all black people in this nation—because when all Black people are free, we’re all free.”

Florham Park resident and Harvard student Ruva Chigwedere sang "Sing Out, March On," with fellow youth kneeling behind her, hands beating at their hearts.

“I am here to condemn the murderers and to demand that justice be brought upon them to the fullest extent of the law," Chigwedere said. "I am here to demand an upheaval of the system that has failed Black people in this country for centuries, and to demand action from all those who call themselves allies so that black people in this country and our children can enjoy a future of safety and full liberation."

Black Lives Matter co-founder Ollie Starnes joined Florham Park resident and Stevens Institute of Technology graduate student Jonathan Alcantara in a call to complete the census, vote, and demand changes from elected officials, including local board of education members. Drew University Seminary student Paola Marquez shared a closing prayer.

But it was Black Lives Matter Morristown founder T’anna Kimbrough that brought summed up the feeling of the summer series, organizers said.

“We’re sick and tired of feeling fear when driving through Florham Park, Madison, Hanover, and every town in Morris county," Kimbrough said. "Our elders marched and were killed for demanding civil rights in the hope that we could live without this fear. We will not tolerate the hate in these towns any longer.”

The next in the summer series will be June 27 in Rockaway and July 11 in Chatham. Details will be released when they are available.

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