Racism and Discrimination continues to be a problem. Local Community leaders in Nyack are doing thei

NYACK, NY – Local Community leaders in Rockland County are using their resources to open the conversation about race and important world issues to spark change. Some would like to believe racial prejudice is primarily a problem of the southern states. The truth of the matter is racism can be found everywhere. The relationship between blacks and whites in the United States has been at a deadlock, and it is no different in Nyack. However, Nyack is one of the most progressive towns against racism and discrimination in Rockland County. The Nyack Central School District requires its employees to attend anti-racism workshops. Through organizational effort, community effort, and individual effort, the people in Nyack are doing their part to set an example for the rest of the world on how Americans can work together to pursue a better future.

The scorching summer of 1967 saw the rise of 159 race riots throughout the United States. In June of that year, there were riots in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Tampa. In July, there were riots in Chicago, Birmingham, New York, Milwaukee, and Plainfield, New Jersey. The most serious riots were in Newark, NJ and Detroit, Michigan. On Tuesday, July 19th, 1967, Nyack police were dispatched to break up a disturbance in the downtown area. The Journal News, a paper published in Nyack, and distributed around Rockland County, reported a group of youths had terrorized the central village. The event resulted in 14 arrests, all of them of black descent.

A newspaper in New York City offered a much different version of the event. Severe race riots in nearby New Jersey and other cities had the village police apprehensive. Information gathered from sources explained the story received an immense amount of coverage for a minuscule event, compared to what was going on in other cities. The informants also described how law enforcement flexed their muscles to show the group of black youths who was boss.

“The actual situation in Rockland over the span of history turned out to be more a morass of lies than the elaboration of a single lie. The truth of black and white relations in Rockland County is to be found deeply embedded in that morass of lies,” said Carl Nordstrom.

The riots were portrayed as a black rebellion against the white establishment. The media and the National Government blame racial inequality and separation as the main source of civil unrest. Police Brutality is not a new phenomenon. The Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights has investigated police departments in several major cities across the country for allegations of racial discrimination and police brutality. Research has found that black males are viewed as aggressive criminals who are a considerable threat to law enforcement. The media also depicts black males in a negative light by the constant image of them in handcuffs. In the Criminological Theories of Race and Crime, Shawn Gabiddon coined the term Negrophobia. Negrophobia can be explained as fear of being victimized by Blacks, that can result in whites shooting or harming an African American based on racial stereotypes.

In Professor Carl Nordstrom’s book, Nyack in Black and White, he shows throughout the 19th and 20th centuries how attitudes of blacks and whites were like a slave/ master model. He observed incidents first hand and reflected on the issues going on in Rockland as a microcosm of the larger country which has resulted in centuries of confrontation.

Organizational Efforts

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the oldest civil rights organization in the United States. It was formed in 1909 to help people of color fight racism, injustice, and discrimination. The two local branches of Rockland County can be found in Nyack and in Spring Valley. However, at any branch the goals are the same. The organization focuses on Economic Sustainability, Education, Health, Public Safety, and Criminal Justice, Voting Rights and Representation, and expanding Civic Engagement with adults and the youth. Dr. Oscar Cohen, Department Chair of Education for the NAACP Nyack Branch, believes a primary goal of the organization throughout the country is getting people out to vote. Another primary goal is to find new ways to combat racism and discrimination. Racism has been prevalent since the establishment of the United States of America. The founding fathers, including the first eight presidents owned slaves. The country was built on difference, and whites believed one race was superior over the other. How do you stop something that has been engrained in society from the very beginning? Community leaders in Nyack believe a nation-wide conversation of race can be a start.

On June 14th, 1997, President Bill Clinton introduced the One America Initiative. This was an effort to fight racism and discrimination by engaging in community dialogue. Clinton believed the best way to reconcile race relations is through discussion that can address issues in a productive way. On March 18th, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama, delivered a speech, A More Perfect Union, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. He addressed the issues of racial tensions, white privilege, race and inequality, black anger, and white resentment. He revitalized the conversation that Clinton started, but the country still had been reluctant.

The election of Donald Trump has uncovered the heads of racists who in years past wore masks. The President has a long history of making racist comments. He has portrayed all Mexicans to be rapists, Haitian immigrants all have AIDS, and laziness is a trait of blacks. A prime example of outright racism occurred on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 15th, 2018. Harley Barber, a New Jersey resident and a freshman at the University of Alabama, was expelled for shouting, “I hate N-word” repeatedly on Instagram. The post went viral and caught the attention of people all over the internet. Her actions shed light on the fact that we have a long way go in the fight against racism.

White Privilege

“It’s my belief that you cannot grow up a white person in the United States without being enculturated as a racist. The best a white person can do in this culture is to be aware of their racism and to combat it. It’s like a recovering alcoholic, I would consider myself a recovering racist,” said Dr. Oscar Cohen.

White Privilege, per many experts, refers to advantages unearned and enjoyed consciously and/or unconsciously by people with white skin. White privilege is very much intertwined with racism, and the discussion of both topics is needed to fully understand what is going on in the world today. White, straight males in the U.S. are in a position of power, whether they want that power or not. There are two groups of Caucasians, one who understand and accept their privilege, and the other, who deny it. Those who fail to acknowledge their privilege could possibly have grown up in all white neighborhoods attended all-white schools, or rarely interacted with people of color. Dr. Oscar Cohen believes it is unfortunate that many white individuals are not cognizant of their power and privilege. He explained implicit bias, which are attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Americans have been enculturated to believe by reading the newspaper every day and seeing the people in handcuffs are usually people of color and the people who are being celebrated are white.

Community Effort

Visual Artists Carrie Mae Weems received the Edward Hopper Citation of Merit Award in November 2017. Her work tells stories of family relationships, racism, gender roles, classism, and politics through video and photography. An exhibition of her work was available to view at The Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack, New York from November 10th, 2017 to February 25th, 2018. Weems documented the culture of Beacon, New York and spoke with the African American community about how they viewed their city during a time of gentrification. This directly influenced Bill Batson, a writer, artist, and social activist from Nyack to construct the Nyack Record Shop Project.

“When Martin Luther King was assassinated fifty years ago on April 4th, the assassin wasn’t just trying to silence a man, he was trying to silence a people. What better way of reversing that logic then to record the stories of African Americans in the community,” Batson said.

The Nyack Record Shop project was launched on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and required him to collect oral histories to document the lives of African American residents in Nyack. The people interviewed were born before the Civil Rights Movement, were directly affected by it, and are alive today to tell their story. He wanted to honor Carrie Mae Weems, honor the memory of Martin Luther King, and do something positive in Nyack, simultaneously. Over the course of the project, Batson has collected over 50 oral histories. There are currently about 65 oral histories in the archives located in Nyack Library. Only eight of those are from an African Americans. After the oral history project, there are almost one hundred oral histories, and 33 of them are African American. Now at 33%, this over-represents the population of African Americans in Nyack.

“How often is there a critical area of data where African Americans are over-represented in a positive way?” We’re overrepresented in incarceration, overrepresented in being stopped by police, but hardly are we ever overrepresented in something as positive our inclusion in oral history collection,” Batson said.

Individual Efforts

Katie Elevitch is an artist, musician, and a single mother, who opened a gallery called 95 ½ Main that is located on Main Street in Nyack. While on her own personal journey, she never envisioned her business would allow her to connect with so many kinds of people in the community. The Undoing Racism Workshop has allowed her to better communicate with the people who walk into her business.

“Listening is a huge part of what I do here, 95 ½ Main is not just a gallery. One of my artists describes it as sacred space, I call it safe space, I am still struggling to figure out what that means and who it is safe for. But it is a place for listening, a place for healing, a place for self-care, and creative expression,” Elevitch said.

Elevitch believes the real human connection between people is how change can happen. Even the smallest interactions whether a mother gets involved with a PTA, or making sure the LGBTQ community is being supported in your area, or fighting racism for African Americans. This is all considered Healing Justice Work. This type work consists of providing healing and safe spaces so we can begin to collectively to heal from all the tragedy of the world.

The efforts of the people in the community of Nyack, New York cannot go unnoticed. They are setting the standard for the rest of the country on how race relations between Americans should be. It might takes years before we see any tangible evidence of their work. The goals have always been to create a conversation about race and how we can improve ourselves as people.