HILLSDALE, N.J.—With diversity and inclusion committees gathering momentum in neighboring Montvale and Park Ridge, Mayor John Ruocco says that such an advisory body would not much improve on current efforts related to nondiscrimination here.
That said, signatories to a new petition demanding one here hope to change his mind. The document, authored by resident Helayne Kushner, has 42 names attached as of March 1.
“It has come to our attention that Mayor John Ruocco and the current Hillsdale town council have quietly denied the petition from residents to have a Diversity & Inclusion Committee in this town,” Kushner says in the petition, which she’s circulating online.
“Growing up in Hillsdale and returning briefly during the pandemic, I’ve seen how many can turn a convenient eye away from social issues under the cover of our ‘nice suburban’ town. Well, there is a time to start looking how to push forward and it starts in our hometowns,” Kushner says.
Beyond asking signers to email the mayor and council to urge a diversity committee, Kushner links to a September 2020 NBC-TV report that interviews five residents who voiced concerns about approximately a dozen incidents of stolen Black Lives Matter signs, verbal harassment, and vandalism in the borough.
“We have to hold our local officials accountable. Why do these members want to keep this town steps away from progress? What are they afraid of? Inclusion and Awareness are the way to a better town for everyone,”
Kushner says.
Asked for comment, Ruocco told Pascack Press on March 2, “The borough’s governing body has not concluded yet that the establishment of a [diversity] committee, with the specific functions and goals as proposed by several residents and members of a group known as PV CORE, would improve upon the borough’s excellent record of non-discrimination and equal treatment of all its residents under the law.”
We reported last summer’s incidents of stolen Black Lives Matter signs, vandalism of one homeowner’s property with spray-painted “Blue Lives Matter” on garage doors and a picket fence, and verbal harassment of several homeowners displaying BLM signage.
Resident Karina Downey told NBC-TV in September that “There is a bit of deep-rooted racism in this town that goes back a long time and … you have local officials who are not willing to address the situation head-on.”
Ruocco issued two letters, in June and August, addressing vandalism, racism, and free speech.
In both, the mayor denounced the vandalism and thefts. In the August letter, he said “an increase on social media of inflammatory comments” about the regional high school district school board’s retirement of Pascack Valley’s Indian and Cowboy mascots had “spilled over to other issues like support for or opposition to the BLM organization.”
Ruocco said, “The freedom to express those views as well as opposing ones is guaranteed by our Constitution. When residents’ personal property comes under attack for expressing views via a lawn sign, or when residents are summarily denounced as racists because they disagree with aspects of BLM’s positions, something is wrong, very wrong. And it runs contrary to the core of who we are as Americans and how our nation came to be.”
In early October 2020, Ruocco again spoke out at a council meeting after NBC-TV planned to run a follow-up report on thefts of local BLM signs. The report never aired but Ruocco spelled out the borough’s actions and where he stood.
“After the George Floyd killing [on May 25, 2020], I issued a letter to the residents denouncing his killing and offering my own personal situation (Black and biracial family members) and religious beliefs to frame the event,” Ruocco said.
He added, “After a handful of stolen or defaced BLM signs and an incident involving the defacement of property in town, I spoke out at a council meeting against these acts and memorialized my statement in a town notice to the residents. Both letters are available on our website.”
Kushner told Pascack Press last week that many in town are likely supportive of her goal.
“What I really hope for is to bring to light issues that are hard to look at but have to be if we ever want to progress as a town. I also know that Hillsdale at its best can be a welcoming and warm place but it also has a dark side. Our town has a troubling history to contend with and history/present time do not exist in separate vacuums,” she said.
She spoke to housing discrimination once alleged in Hillsdale and pointed to alleged pro-Hitler meetings at a local site as evidence of a darker history in town.
“I hope everyone gets heard, and that everyone in town, including the growing Black, Brown, and immigrant population, feels welcomed and listened to. I also think progress and awareness starts locally and starts at home. We can set great examples for children and families. Denying such a committee does not speak to progress,” she said.
Montvale, Park Ridge said yes
The boroughs of Montvale and Park Ridge have established diversity committees, with Montvale’s mostly focused on celebrating cultural diversity.
Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali said his diversity committee focused on Black History Month by recommending timely book selections for all age groups [“Black History Month sees book donations,” March 1].
Recently the committee has honored women by highlighting 174 women leaders and will walk a combined 174 miles in town.
Moreover, the committee has celebrated Lunar New Year [see page 19] and cultural expressions in art, craft, and cooking. Ghassali notes that residents in town come from 44 nationalities.
Park Ridge’s diversity committee has yet to convene, said committee coordinator and Business Administrator Julie Falkenstern. She said 15–20 volunteers hope to kick off the committee’s work in person in April, if it’s safe to meet then.
She said Mayor Keith Misciagna asked her to gauge local interest in such a committee following Black Lives Matter-led marches held last June, following the murder of George Floyd, 46, an African American man, in Minneapolis police custody.
Falkenstern said the committee does not yet have a specific charge or task but will develop that at upcoming meetings.
She said Misciagna’s motivation for the committee “was what was going on in the world last summer” relating to protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability, and that he believed that “maybe there was a need to have some conversations” related to local diversity.
She said a former resident and college student offered to share her experiences while participating in a local march for justice last summer and while at Park Ridge High School.
Hillsdale police respond
As part of his comments last year, Ruocco noted the police chief had met with several residents who were concerned over the thefts, vandalism, and harassment to assure them of what the town has done to bring the offenders to justice, as well as to educate residents on ways that “our community-oriented police force seeks to assure that all residents, regardless of race, color, religion, sexual preference, age, and gender identification, feel safe in our community.”
Ruocco said, “Bergen County has recently expanded training that the county is requiring of all new officers regarding implicit bias and racial discrimination. The Hillsdale Police Department is participating in that training. I am proud of their performance and reaction to the events of the past several months.”
Ruocco also noted that Hillsdale “aggressively participated in a multi-town response to the drawing of Nazi swastikas in our schools a few years ago by a very small group of juveniles. It was called Unity in the Valley, and drew upon support from school, religious, and community leaders to highlight the need for greater appreciation of the things that bind us together as a regional community, and to celebrate our differences rather than fear them.”
He said, “Our council is making efforts to explore with three other towns [Montvale, Woodcliff Lake, and River Vale] how that initiative might be reconstituted with the local grammar and secondary schools and expanded to the wider communities.”
Last summer, we provided front-page coverage of peaceful protests and racial-justice rallies in Hillsdale, Westwood, and Woodcliff Lake, part of a worldwide protest season in the wake of Floyd’s death and other grim incidents.