The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
file photo by Boyd Loving
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Ridgewood NJ, February is Black History Month, and when considering the current state of race relations in the country, most Americans aren’t too optimistic.
Continue reading Only 15% of Americans Think Race Relations Are Getting Better
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Ridgewood NJ, In celebration of Black History Month the Ridgewood blog recognizes the contributions of Black Founders and Patriots who fought and contributed to the founding of this Great Nation .
Cyrus Bustill
Cyrus Bustill was born in Burlington in 1732. His father was an English lawyer and his mother a slave. Because the status of the child follows the status of the mother, this meant that Bustill was a slave. He was trained to be a baker by a Thomas Prior, who was a Quaker. At the age of 36, Bustill got his freedom. During the American Revolutiion he helped the army with something it had a great need for, bread. He was commended for this service and received a silver piece for General George Washington.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, In celebration of Black History Month the Ridgewood blog recognizes the contributions of Black Founders and Patriots who fought and contributed to the founding of this Great Nation .
Samuel and Elizabeth “Phoebe” France
Samuel Fraunces was a mulatto, a person with one whie and one black parent, from Jamaica. His was most likely born in 1734, though it could have been as early at 1722. At some point in his life he immigrated to the colonies and settled in New York City, eventually becoming the owner of a tavern. It was rumored that during the Revolutionary War, his tavern was used as a meeting place for Patriots. On December 4, 1783, George Washington delivered his farewell to his officers at Fraunce’s Tavern. Apparently Washington and Fraunces had a personal and business relationship. The two dined together at the Old 76 House in Tappan, New York, and Fraunces cooked for Washington at the DeWint House, which is also in Tappan. Fraunces also served a steward to President Washington in New York City, and in Philadelphia from 1791 to 1794. George Washington Parke Custis, Martha’s grandson, remarked on Fraunces at a state dinner, “Fraunces in snow-white apron, silk shorts and stockings, and hair in full powder, placed the first dish on the table, the clock being on the stroke of four, ‘the labors of Hercules’ ceased.”
A statue in honor of the black soldiers of the American Revolution
Black History Month : Black Rights and the Constitution
part of a much larger article https://iusbvision.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/black-heroes-and-founders-of-the-great-american-revolution/
By The Founders:
”When the Constitution of the United States was framed, colored men voted in a majority of these States; they voted in the State of New York, in Pennsylvania, in Massachusetts, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and North Carolina; and long after the adoption of the Constitution, they continued to vote in North Carolina and Tennessee also. The Constitution of the United States makes no distinction of color.”
~ The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution by Wm Cooper Neil & Harriet Beecher Stowe 1855
In fact, a number of state constitutions protected voting rights for blacks. The state constitutions of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania (all 1776), New York (1777), Massachusetts (1780), and New Hampshire (1784) included black suffrage. In 1874, Robert Brown Elliot, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina and a black man, stated ”When did Massachusetts sully her proud record by placing on her statute-book any law which admitted to the ballot the white man and shut out the black man? She has never done it; she will not do it.”
Continue reading Black History Month : Black Rights and the Constitution
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Trenton NJ, In response to a poster for airline JetBlue’s Black History Month campaign “honoring” Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973, Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez released the following statement. Chesimard escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba, where she remains at large.
“There’s no place in Black History Month, or any month for that matter, for us to pay tribute to a convicted murderer,” said Jimenez (D-Bergen, Hudson). “Joanne Chesimard made a career out of seeking out police officers to harm or even kill, and she tragically took the life of one of our brave state troopers. And as a woman of Cuban descent, it’s devastating to know she has been able to live free under political asylum in Cuba for decades. Chesimard does not belong on a poster or a pedestal. She belongs in an American prison. JetBlue’s actions were insensitive and extremely disrespectful to the heroic men and women in law enforcement and Trooper Foerster’s family. I’d like to express my full support for the New Jersey State Police and their outstanding efforts to honor Trooper Foerster’s memory and keep our communities safe.”
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Newark NJ, JetBlue, honors NJ trooper killer Joanne Chesimard,during Black History Month .
“Joanne Chesimard is a fugitive who was tried and convicted of the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. We appreciate Jet Blue removing the portrait of Chesimard out of respect for the Foerster family, the men and women of the New Jersey State Police, and all of the men and women in law enforcement who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. We will never forget the service of Trooper Foerster and remain steadfast and committed in our efforts to bring Chesimard to justice.”
-Colonel Patrick J. Callahan
Continue reading JetBlue Honors Cop killer During Black History Month
February 6,2018
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Ridgewood NJ, a petition is circulating to Stop the disruption of History, Stop Developers from building 6800 sq ft homes within an already sub-divided flaglot. Planning Board meeting scheduled for 2/6/2018 at 730pm.
The historic 1830s Ridgewood home at 315 East Glen Avenue where I grew up is currently being threatened with destruction so that the current owner can replace it with two houses to sell on this large property! The house shares many original architectural and decorative details with the Hermitage and Hohokus Inn and has a fascinating history with residents including the actor Edwin Boothe, and it was reputed to have been a part of the Underground Railroad. Aside from the beauty, history and trees/landscaping that would be lost with the destruction of this home, the proposed variances create issues for the town and neighborhood (detailed in the petition.) These proposed variances will be discussed this Tuesday, Dec. 19th at 7:30 at Village Hall – if you do not want to see this historic home lost, please consider signing the petition below, forwarding it to friends and/or joining us at the Planning Board meeting on Tuesday!
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-destruction-of-historic?source=c.em.cp&r_by=19358725
Mumia Abu-Jamal
By Sergio Bichao February 4, 2017 6:44 PM
WEST DEPTFORD — A South Jersey elementary school principal got a lesson on checking her work after assigning students as young as 6 a project that honored a convicted cop killer.
The school-wide assignment at Red Bank Elementary School was actually supposed to honor famous black Americans for Black History Month.
But the list of notable black figures included Mumia Abu-Jamal and Angela Davis alongside Louis Armstrong, Mohammad Ali, Crispus Attucks and George Washington Carver.
Abu-Jamal, a black nationalist, was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. He has maintained his innocence even though he was found wounded from a gunshot at the scene alongside his fired gun.
Davis, meanwhile, is a social justice activist and communist who was a one-time fugitive after being charged as an accessory in a violent and deadly 1970 takeover of a California courtroom. Prosecutors tried to tie her to the incident because the guns had belonged to her, but an all-white federal jury acquitted her.
What the principal failed to notice, many parents did — including Bryan Klugh, who alerted his friends on the police force.
Read More: Oops! NJ elementary school assignment asks kids to honor convicted cop killer | https://nj1015.com/ooops-nj-elementary-school-assignment-asks-kids-to-honor-convicted-cop-killer/?trackback=tsmclip