PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—An area pastor, chief diversity officer, and mental health advocate hosted a virtual conversation Oct. 15 to explore ways to build and maintain “an inclusive community” in Pascack Valley, following a summer of racial unrest nationwide and thefts of Black Lives Matter signs and property damage in Hillsdale.
The 80-minute conversation was sponsored by PV CORE, or Pascack Valley Coalition of Rights and Equity, founded in July by Black residents and allies of all color to help bring about a more inclusive Pascack Valley.
The dialogue was held to focus “on the celebration, education, and understanding of different identities and experiences,” said a PV CORE event invitation.
PV CORE member Robyn Mate told Pascack Press that PV CORE includes nearly 300 members of all races, including many people of color in Hillsdale, and that similar online discussions, often uncomfortable discussions on race and inclusion, need to be held in every Pascack Valley community and “every community everywhere that is struggling to make their community more diverse and inclusive.”
Mate said the group is pressing Hillsdale to start a borough-sponsored Diversity and Inclusion Committee to help address such issues.
Initially, she said some local officials expressed interest, but nothing happened, and she lauded Montvale’s efforts to set up a diversity and inclusion committee, initiated there by a young resident calling on the borough to be more inclusive.
Reacting to Hillsdale’s sign thefts, the local police department has been praised by public officials and social justice activists alike for their immediate, caring and professional response to residents affected by sign thefts and property damage. Hillsdale detectives continue to investigate the thefts, which Mayor John Ruocco has attributed to one or two individuals.
In addition, Hillsdale’s mayor and council are looking to reinvigorate a Unity in the Valley coalition begun in 2019 with Pascack Valley towns “to highlight the need for greater appreciation of the things that bind our region together as a community, and to celebrate our differences rather than fear them,” Ruocco said Oct. 6 at a council meeting.
Ruocco was responding then to a PV CORE email (a link can be found on the council’s Oct. 6 agenda) repeating their call for a local diversity and inclusion committee.
PV CORE’s email notes members “feel strongly that this region needs to address issues of racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, racial-messaging theft, vandalism, and hate/bias speech in the community and should work on initiatives that include anti-racism, diversity, inclusivity and equity support.”
After the discussion, Pascack Press asked panelists what advice they might offer community leaders to address Hillsdale’s recent BLM sign thefts and vandalism.
Beato said there should be “massive ramifications for that type of behavior” and noted “leaders have an obligation to address these issues” and said the issue becomes “a very different thing when someone feels they are fully entitled to do something that is harmful to someone else.”
Christ Lutheran Church Pastor Marc Stutzel, a panelist, said people “who act in this way feel entitled to do this… having someone say no is a very important and very powerful thing that needs to be done.”
Beato, a Montvale resident and chief diversity officer at McCann Worldwide, defined the terms diversity and inclusion and said that unless “we come together and focus primarily on our collective interests, we lose the opportunity that we all feel secure because we’re not working together.”
She noted many factors affect the “public reputation” of an area and that a community being in sync on shared values such as the local economy, property values, family, children, schools, and children’s future success is critical.
Beato, also a candidate for a seat on Pascack Valley Regional Board of Education, opposes former Borough Councilman Michael Weaver on Nov. 3.
Beato noted that the Pascack Valley’s “public reputation has implications for all residents.” Beato briefly noted prior publicized concerns from 2015 through 2020 related to bias and racism cited by the media and discussed on social media.
She said if residents in the valley work together on common interests “together we do well” and pointed out if residents “demonstrate the right behaviors toward our neighbors, our fellow students” that can also help to enhance the area’s reputation.
If not, she advised, “we will see an increase in bad press and bad social media” that may indicate to non-residents that the area is not inclusive.
Stutzel urged listeners, “Imagine what your community looks like to people not in the in-group.” He noted the conduct of church services, budgets and church bulletins “reflect places where our values actually are.”
He said ways to create a more inclusive and diverse space involve honoring your life story “good, bad and everything in between” and honoring the life stories of others.
“Are their stories that challenge your own? Are their stories that make you feel uncomfortable? What do you feel when you hear other stories?” he said.