Representing All Residents
Over the course of 8 years as Bridgeton’s mayor, I’ve
received a lot of phone calls; or rather my secretary at City Hall has received
a lot of calls. Some are positive and others mean-spirited. My secretary does a
good job fielding all calls. But a handful of calls are downright bigoted. Many
people don’t leave a name and they block their phone number from coming up on
caller-ID. That’s understandable. Occasionally a caller makes my race an issue,
subtly of course, but it doesn’t surprise me because that’s how some people are.
But sometimes the angst is directed at the Latino community.
Recently a caller phoned City Hall in response to a news release
to ask if I knew about an upcoming informational meeting at a local church in
Bridgeton that had been scheduled for January 31st where members of
the NJ Attorney General’s office and the County Prosecutor met with residents,
law enforcement, and other stakeholders to discuss the AG’s Immigrant Trust
Directive. When the caller was told that I did know about the meeting, the
caller said “You mean to tell me that the mayor is in cahoots with the governor
to teach the illegals how to avoid the police?”
Informed that I not only knew about the meeting but planned
to welcome the Attorney General’s staff and participate in the session, the
caller promised to “get the word out” about my involvement. Being a helpful
sort, consider this my effort to help get the word out about my involvement and
more importantly, what this initiative is and why it matters, “cahoots” and
all.
The first thing I’ll say clearly for any who care is that I
am the mayor for the entire community, which means all residents, not just
some. My care and concern, along with my obligation and responsibility, extends
to all residents of the community regardless of race, ethnicity, economic
status, gender, orientation, religion, or status. This matters because the
assumption on the part of the caller was that I should put a stop to the
meeting because as the caller said “we have enough crime” and in the caller’s
mind at least, “undocumented” or “immigrant” or both, mostly equals “criminal”.
Having been defined by a few stereotypes over the course of
my life, I’m not comfortable with them whether personally or as framework for implementing
public policy. What I’m also not going to do is decide the merits of a given
policy or initiative based on stereotypes, even if some of those stereotypes
are a matter of faith amongst some of my constituents. That said I’m not at all
certain the caller was one of my constituents, but you get the point.
For the record, the Immigrant Trust Directive is meant to
build trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities- including
undocumented persons- by understanding and keeping separate the role of local
and state law enforcement from federal immigration authorities; acknowledging
that each has their respective role and those roles don’t always align.
There may well be important issues to be resolved in the
area of immigration at the federal level, but life gets lived in communities,
day-to-day, at the local level with all that this implies. Whether an
individual is documented or undocumented, they are still people and so long as
they call Bridgeton home, they are among my constituents and what happens to
them here and how it happens is of concern to me because it’s part of the
“mayoring” business and something I choose not to ignore.
When things happen in the community that might possibly involve
law enforcement, I want residents (regardless of status) to feel comfortable
communicating with our officers. Few things are ever made easier or better by
fear and mistrust and few crimes solved through silence.
If you buy into the stereotype that “immigrant” or
“undocumented” mostly equals “criminal”, then I suppose the solution is to hunt
them down like prey or at least assist those who do the hunting regardless of morality,
costs, or consequences- intended or unintended.
But if you see immigrants, including the undocumented, as
people in the community and you happen to be a mayor, then you do other things
like build trust, establish lines of communication, collect taxes, issue ID’s,
educate youngsters, clarify how laws will be enforced, and get on with the inglorious
business of daily living.
So yes Virginia, I knew and now so does everyone else.