I’m sure by now everyone knows about the methadone clinic approval in Bergen Square.  I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to stay the entire time (I left a little over an hour into the meeting) but did have the opportunity to see some of the meeting play out.  Needless to say, there was a lot of tension in the room that night between tons of community residents and the six older White gentlemen standing at the front of the room.

 

I think this planning board meeting was nothing more than a really strong performance of the power struggles that exist in this city.  It’s a sad thing to see moments like this in the city because it really does a disservice to relationship building – which I’m all about given my community development background.  The community still has (legitimate) reasons to dislike the methadone clinic and the clinic folks understand quite well that they’re not being received with open arms in Bergen Square, “‘At the same time,’ the lawyer said, ‘We understand that nobody in the room…wants us there’” (from Jim Walsh’s article).  So the question here is how does the methadone clinic, knowing well that they are not accepted by the community they are entering, still do its best to make meaningful relationships with the residents of Bergen Square?

One thing about the meeting that really struck a chord with me was the ultimate power dynamic being played out in front of everyone’s eyes.  It wasn’t a secret that a majority of the faces in the council chamber’s audience were Black and Brown folks from across the city, and it was even more oppressive-like to have six White men stand up one-by-one to introduce a plan to those Black and Brown faces they were not given proper time and space to contest, even long before Thursday night: “‘We were under the impression we’d come here to protest,’ said Corrinne Jones of Parkside, who was among several people to leave early. ‘But they’ve already made up their minds’” (from Jim Walsh’s article).  Not only were the plans being presented ones that the community had no input on, but the terminology and condescension toward the audience was just as heavy.  Lawyers, architects, and engineers were spouting off jargon either too technical to understand or at such a low volume (there was more than one occasion where the audience became irate at the fact that they simply couldn’t hear what the presenters were saying) that by the end of the presentation the community was just as “in the know” about the plans as they were before they walked in.  The planning board solicitor actually combatted with a few community residents who were already tired of the back-and-forth they knew would ensue, most likely because it’d happened so many times before. 

As much as I agree with the community on this issue, I will say that no matter how angry or upset I’ve been in previous moments of oppression, there is always going to have to be a little sleep, a little slumber, and a little folding of the hands.  The ones in power will always revert back to “the procedure in place to follow” that will be used as the cloak of being democratic (which we know that most times that isn’t the case), and the key for the oppressed is to comply just long enough to take away the excuse of oppression.  This is tough to consider knowing that there is a fine line between staying quiet just long enough and missing your opportunity to speak up, but unfortunately it felt like no good came out of the community screaming genuine questions and the board solicitor screaming generic answers.

So now the real question is what happens next?  The zoning board has done its part; the planning has done its part – neither to the community’s delight or acceptance – and so now who else comes into play?  Obviously Kris Kolluri (head of the Rutgers Camden Board of Governors) has to come out of the shadows soon to make more public and formal announcements about the new business school to be built on the site where the clinic currently sits.  I am sure that Cooper Hospital will make mention of the move, possibly in the hopes of creating new partnerships with either the methadone clinic and/or Rutgers.  Most importantly, and what I’m most interested in seeing come to fruition, is the community groups that structure and organize around this change to their environment. 

I am sure it goes without saying, but despite all of the instances of oppression and marginalization communities and neighborhoods in Camden have seen, there never seems to be a moment where someone is always willing to continue holding up the mantle towards a fight for greater and more equitable conditions in their city.

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