Long Branch, N.J. – It is a normal routine for Avery Grant. On the scheduled days, the community activist, Long Branch Board of Education member, Volunteer Executive Director of the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Long Branch, NJ, and former runner for Mayor of the city attends the Long Branch City Council meetings. Grant says he attends the meetings to address his concerns as a citizen of the community.
Most recently, he has been going to the council meetings as a representative of the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Long Branch to get a permit for a plaque to honor two deceased chairpersons, Sharmaine Patterson and Julia Wheeler. But as his attendance to the meetings continued, Avery Grant saw how things can turn around in a blink of an eye.
On January 5th, Mr. Grant alleges he received very disparate treatment from Mayor Adam Schneider and council members while trying to make a professional presentation. Determined not to remain silent, on January 26th, Avery Grant returned for business as usual to fight for causes that concerned him. But this time his appeal to the council would end up having him interrupted and ultimately removed from the podium to speak. The video of Avery Grant during the Long Branch City Council meeting on January 26th has made its rounds on Facebook, and is what initially caught my attention.
That day Avery Grant says he attended the meeting to address the council about the treatment he received at the January 5th meeting and to continue his plight with the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Long Branch to request a permit for a plaque. But Avery Grant never got to finish his speech or his appeal as he was cut off mid-sentence by a council member and Mayor Adam Schneider. In the video Grant begins with stating the policy of a citizen to address the council. You must state your name, address, and the group you’re with, if any. Each person has five minutes to speak. Grant begins to address the council about the treatment he received on the Jan. 5th council meeting.
“I was appalled … I was appalled because in 1959, I received better treatment sitting at a whites only cafeteria counter in Louisville, KY than I received here. Maybe I should have expected this because some of your family roots probably go back to when the Ku Klux Klan marched down ..”. It then becomes inaudible as Grant is interrupted by Mayor Adam Schneider and a woman council member identified as the President. “I’m not going to stop, this is my time”, Grant says. The woman tells Grant to continue his speech, but the exchange words and interruption continued. You can hear Mayor Adam Schneider say “are you comparing me to the KKK? … That is offensive and a bigoted comment”. Grant never had the chance to finish and was asked to leave the mic and sit down. That he did, he says.
Grant says he was interrupted because of his comment on the KKK but he says he never said or his intentions were to say the Mayor or his family was a KKK member. In his speech that he never got to finish, Grant speaks of the history of Long Branch “when the KKK used to hold parades down Broadway – and blacks had to sit in the balcony at the movie theater”. Grant says he was only speaking of the history of Long Branch. It can be seen that he might have been connecting it to present day.
You can be the own judge and jury of the video. But Grant says the treatment he received from Mayor Adam Schneider and council members was “appalling and disrespectful” and this “isn’t the first time it has happened”. Grant has affirmed despite the treatment he received that night, he will continue his plight for the community of Long Branch, NJ and the Concerned Citizens Coalition.
When asked about how everything went down, Grant says he felt badly because that night was supposed to be about Sharmaine Patterson and Julia Wheeler and all the wonderful things they have done for the Long Branch community. “They deserve recognition and the plaque he is fighting for them on the Seaview Avenue Bridge,” Grant said.
The Concerned Citizens Coalition of Long Branch was formed by Sharmaine Patterson and Julia Wheeler when 30 – 40 residents in two public housing projects became very sick from fumes from the the excavation of highly contaminated soil at a site next to them. Grant was one of the people called by them to take the sick to the hospital. Patterson and Wheeler were instrumental in causing the new Seaview Avenue Bridge to be built, caused 292 residents to be compensated for personal injuries and sickness in $30 million lawsuits, caused the New Jersey Natural Gas company to give $5 million to support the rents for these residents to relocate, helped upgrading the Long Branch Sewage Treatment Plant to reduce toxious orders, and assisted with the approval of HOPE VI funding.
During my interview with Grant, he asserted that he feels Long Branch council should have more concern for the betterment of the community, which is predominately black. In regards for the plight against the toxic area around Seaview Manor, Grant said:
“The city is the first line of defense”. Meaning, the people of the community should feel comfortable coming to them first before going to anyone else.
Grant says Long Branch has transformed into a fine community but still needs to continue to work together for the betterment of the community.
Grant feels the sense of community has greatly diminished. Programs like the Soccer League, the International Festival no longer exist. And that the community is not directly benefiting from Pier Village and eminent domain has destroyed that. So just like any activist would, he feels like there is still more work to do.
Avery Grant says he plans to attend the city council meeting on February 9th to continue to keep addressing the concerns of the community and fight for the plaque for Patterson and Wheeler. He encourages people in the community to come to the meetings if they have issues themselves.
Long Branch City Council meetings are held 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 7:30 PM in the Conference Room.
Video Credit : Anthony DeLuca Jr.
